St Michael & All Angels, Bude Haven St Winwaloe, Poundstock Our Lady & St Anne, Widemouth Bay St Mary the Virgin, Week St Mary St Marwenne, Marhamchurch St Anne, Whitstone SEPTEMBER Free 2021 MAIN CONTACTS FOR OUR BENEFICE: Please contact any of the following for information or enquiries about Anglican Church life in the Benefice: Our Parish Priest & Rural Dean: Father David Barnes,The Rectory, The Glebe, Week St Mary, EX22 6UY Tel: 01288 341670 [email protected] Our Churchwardens: St Anne’s, Whitstone: Mervyn Collins: 01288 341598 Phyllis Walter: 01288 341699 St Marwenne’s, Marhamchurch: Rob Corney: 01288 359754 Angela Grills: 01288 361247 St Mary the Virgin, Week St Mary: Lesley Booker: 01288 341221 Linda Cobbledick: 01288 341468 St Michael’s, Bude Haven: Contact PCC Secretary Gail Brace 01288 352412 Our Lady & St Anne’s, Widemouth Bay: Judy MacDonald: 01288 362254 St Winwaloe’s, Poundstock: Contact PCC Secretary: Liz Jones 07904 088779 Stratton Deanery website: www.strattondeanery.co.uk/ Editor of Voices Together: Clare Hicks, Trelowen, Lynstone, Bude EX23 0LR. 01288 352726; [email protected] NB change of email Copy deadline for October 2021 issue— by Friday 17 September please ELECTRONIC COPIES OF VOICES TOGETHER If you would like to receive a copy of this magazine please email Lesley Booker: [email protected] 2 PARISH NEWSLETTER Dear Friends In spite of all that has happened throughout this year with the pandemic and all that brought to our lives I can’t believe that the year is going by so fast. August gives way to September and the year changes from Summer to Autumn; from light nights to long nights, from balmy Sumer days (poetic licence) to Autumnal coloured landscapes. The world turns and the seasons change. There are several certainties in this life which affect every- one living on this planet, one of them being change. Everything but everything changes, nothing stays the same. There is to be a change in the structure of our Benefice, please don’t panic, this is going be a good change. We are going to have an addition to our staff. The reverend Mark James is going to be licensed as a non-stipendiary assistant curate on the 26th September by the new Archdeacon of Bodmin, Kelly Betteridge. The service will take place at St. Michael’s at 10.00am, please come along and support Mark on this special day. Change is not confined just to places and landscapes, it happens to each one of us as we already know. We all get older, maybe wiser, certainly greyer and some of us even balder, the ravages of time affect us all. However, change is not just a physical thing it should also occur in our spiritual lives as well. Over the last 50 years we have seen the Church’s liturgical life change as well; in the way we sing, in the way that we pray, in the way that we just sit and wait on God and in the way we are with each other and with God. There is only one thing that remains constant both in life and in death and that is GOD and his love and care for his people. Throughout the whole of the bible, we see the people of God as a travelling people. In the Old Testament they are constantly being led towards him, by the patriarchs, prophets and kings, In a way, the New Testament changes up a gear when God sent his son Jesus to be the way the truth and the life. One of the common factors of both the Old and New Testament is that 3 knowing God changes people’s lives. As Christians we have an obligation to know God more clearly. The closer we move to God the more we will get to know him and what his will is for each one of us. Being a Christian is not an easy option. However, it is an exciting and challenging way of life that will change us as we grow nearer to the God who loves us and has made us his children Yours in Christ’s service David IMPORTANT MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR The unthinkable has happened! For some reason I have lost contact with my email account and all my contacts. My sincere apologies to anyone who sent me articles or adverts for this edition of the magazine and finds that they are not included. Fortunately I had received most contributions before disaster struck. I have tried to contact people who might have been sending me copy but may have missed some. My email address is now: [email protected]—please use this from now on. Sorry again, Clare. THIS MONTH’S MAGAZINE HAS BEEN KINDLY SPONSORED BY DI & MAC McDOUGALL IN CELEBRATION OF THEIR GOLDEN WEDDING ANNIVERSARY. THEY WERE MARRIED AT ST MICHAEL’S ON 4th SEPTEMBER 1971. 4 Services on zoom We will continue Zoom services for as long as there is a demand for them. If there are any types of service other than Sunday morning prayer, Family Service or Holy Communion and Wednesday morning prayer that you miss and would like to see especially on Zoom either regularly or as a one off, please let me know and I will see what can be done. Lesley Booker [email protected] For times of all church services for Sept please see pages 14 and 15. Each Sunday there will be a “zoomed” service and Morning Prayer on Wednesdays will continue to be on zoom.at 9 am. Voices Together during the Coronavirus pandemic Magazines are now available in church, but there are still various places where you will be able to collect your magazine. David Williams has kindly offered his house, Rock Haven, Upton, as a collection point and you can also collect one from the Crescent PO and shop in Bude, the Beach House shop at Widemouth and usually in the village shops. The magazine will also be available on the Voices Together facebook page and St Michael’s facebook page and also on the Stratton Deanery website. Lesley Booker will also send out as a pdf attachment to emails (see bottom of page 2 for Lesley’s details). Any problems with obtaining a copy please contact either Heather Whit- lock (07771 964672) or Clare Hicks (01288 352726) Sponsoring Voices Together Please would you consider sponsoring our magazine? It is partly through the generosity of our readers that we are able to keep the magazine free of charge. Any amount, small or large, will be grateful- ly received. For more information please contact Heather Whitlock on 07771 964672 or Clare Hicks on 01288 352726. 5 BABY & Meet ’n’ Eat TODDLER Next Soup and Sweet COFFEE POT CLUB Lunches Meets every Tuesday 10am—12pm in Week St Mary Parish Hall Start date Join Coffeepots Baby & awaited Toddler Group on Facebook or email [email protected] Widemouth Bay Summerhouse Activities We meet on the 2nd & 4th Friday of each month Join us and off load any prob- lems, have a cup of tea and cake. Some- times we play a game. Whatever we do it get us out of our house to enjoy time with friends. Ring Hilda on 01288 361323 for more details 6 Locally reared, pasture fed beef and lamb Restaurant quality, rare breed beef and traditional lamb. Low food miles, supporting local jobs, local delivery available. 10 or 15Kg Beef boxes, mixed joints, steaks & mince etc. !/2 Lamb packs approx 10 Kg Email [email protected] or phone 01288 361 666 to order 7 Persecuted Christians in Tanzania Tanzania in East Africa has a population of some 50 million people. It has a diverse mixture of ethnic and religious groups. Muslims make up around 35%, Christians around 51% with the rest following traditional African religions. However the island of Zanzibar and its surrounding islands and the nearby coastal regions are about 96% Muslim and practice Sharia Law. This is where the problems start to appear. The strength of the Muslim expansion is backed by Muslim groups out- side Tanzania. They are working to try to establish a Muslim caliphate in the country, as is happening in many other countries of the world, especially in Africa. With that encouragement, many Muslim Tanzanians, through hard work and dedication over many years, have worked their way into positions of authority throughout the country, and are now able to exert a disproportionate influence on the population as a whole, especially the majority Christians. Although the government generally seeks to protect Christians from per- secution, this is becoming increasingly difficult. Discrimination is on the increase, especially against converts from Islam. Violence is also increasing with damage to Christian businesses, shops and property. This is especially true in Muslim dominated areas. Some radical Muslim groups go further, using bullying, harassment and physical attacks. It is becoming more difficult to obtain building permits, registration of new churches, permits for assembly and even preaching and instruction. Pastors and church workers are singled out for harassment. These militant groups also want to introduce Sharia law over the whole country and over the whole population. So far this idea has been rejected by the President. In spite of this, there are still many places where Christians and Muslims live peaceably together and where the churches are still growing. Prayers: Give thanks for the many places where Muslim and Christian are able to live together in peace, and pray that this will continue. Give thanks for the President for refusing to give in to the demands for country wide introduction of Sharia law. Pray for God’s protection over our brothers and sisters, their families, property, and livelihoods, and help the perpetrators to be caught.