Appleford Pressings November 2009 Copy deadline 25th of preceding month Youth Club Parish Trust We are re-opening the Appleford Youth Club. Report of meeting on 23 October Club. There will be two age groups: 10–12 years and 13–17 years. The Trust has £120,575 in a It is proposed that the club will meet on savings account and £91 in a current Wednesday evenings from 5–7 p.m. for the account. We are agonising over a the younger members and from 7–9.30 p.m. way of improving the interest on our p.m. for the older group. investment (currently 0.2%) and are There will be an open evening on Wednesday seeking advice. Wednesday 4th November at 7 p.m. hosted by Marga Beuth has served the Trust well for hosted by the Oxfordshire Association of for several years, latterly as both Young People. We would be pleased if parents Chairperson and Treasurer, but now needs parents would attend. needs to step down due to pressure of Village Hall Management Committee work. We are seeking a replacement trustee, desirably someone able to take on the treasurer’s role. Please apply in the Bonfire & professional the first instance to the Trust Secretary, Mary Hancock, Church Lane firework display Cottage, Church Street. The appointment will be made at our next Saturday 7 November next meeting in January. Mary Hancock Secretary to the Parish Trust Fire 6.30 pm & fireworks 7.00 pm Family ticket £5, adults £2, New email address for the children £1 Pressings Appleford Recreation Ground [email protected] www.applefordwebsite.co.uk Ed Vaizey Shadow Minister for the Arts and and Member of Parliament for Wantage and Didcot Upcoming surgeries are Faringdon Corn House of Commons London th SW1A 0AA Exchange on 6 November and King Alfred Tel 0207 219 6350 Alfred Drive Community Centre, Didcot on [email protected] on 20th November from 5.30–7 p.m I launched the Poppy Appeal for oxfordshire constituency at the general election, and which oxfordshire this year in Wallingford, and made which I have recently visited. And in made a donation from the funds I have raised Shrivenham we have the Defence College, raised for charity since becoming an MP. I effectively the "post-graduate" university of will be attending the Remembrance Day of the armed forces, which I have been to on Parades at Wallingford and Didcot on on several occasions. Most poignantly of all, Remembrance Sunday this year. It is always a all, every serviceman and woman who is always a very moving occasion, and most returned from Afghanistan travels along the people have noted that the crowds swell each the A420 on their way to the John Radcliffe. each year. This is not surprising given the Radcliffe. Many members of the Royal British prominence that the conflicts in Afghanistan British Legion stand salute in Watchfield and Afghanistan and Iraq have taken. But it is and on the A420 at Faringdon, and I have been nonetheless very welcome. been privileged to stand with them on several As the MP for Wantage I am conscious of the several occasions. the huge contribution local people are making In Parliament I am a member of the Armed making to the conflicts. Although RAF Benson Armed Forces Parliamentary scheme, which Benson is not in the constituency it is on the which means that I spend time with the Royal the doorstep, and many of its personnel live in Royal Marines and try and get a better live in Wallingford and Cholsey. Like the understanding of the pressures our Forces face. Rifles, RAF Benson enjoys the freedom of the face. I have visited them at their headquarters, the town. I have visited Benson, and been headquarters, and in Afghanistan and the taken up in a Merlin, which is one of the most Falklands. most modern helicopters available. In this This is not the right place to discuss the respect at least, our troops are well provided politics of the conflicts our armed forces are provided for. It is home to Flt Lt Michelle are involved in, simply to take the opportunity Goodman, the first woman to win the opportunity to salute them and pay tribute to Distinguished Flying Cross. In Didcot, we to some of the bravest men and women in our have Vauxhall Barracks, which I have also our country. It is a privilege to know just a few visited, home to the bomb disposal team, who few of them. who sadly lost Warrant officer Gary O'Donnell O'Donnell earlier in the year. Grove resident resident Claire Griffiths received national Oxfordshire County Council prominence when as staff sergeant she was the Mobile Library 2008–2009 was the only woman in Afghanistan to drive an Thursdays 9.35–9.50 a.m. every fortnight drive an armoured vehicle in combat fortnight in the Carpenter’s Arms car conditions. In Abingdon, we have Dalton park: Nov 5, 19; Dec 3, 17, 31 Barracks which will become part of the www.applefordwebsite.co.uk St. Peter & St. Paul, Appleford Psalm 46:1: “God is our refuge and strength. A A very help in trouble”. For Christians down the centuries, this has been a been a great source of comfort as they remember remember the great things that God has done for for them. The ability to remember is a wonderful wonderful gift that God has given to us; in a flash flash you can be a child again, skimming rocks rocks across a pond, or walking in a meadow. Some of our memories are happy and we can recall recall wonderful experiences, but some of our memories are sad and we may weep. The problem, problem, though, is that sometimes memory fails fails us and sometimes we forget. For that reason alone, Remembrance Day and the Remembrance Sunday Service are really really important services in the Church’s calendar, CHURCH SERVICES NOVEMBER calendar, because it helps us not to forget Sunday 1st November why we have the freedom that we enjoy today. Of today. Of course Remembrance Sunday is not just 9.15 a.m. Service for all ages on All Saints just a reminder of those who died in the First and Saints led by Laura Hodges and Second World Wars – important as they were. Monday 2nd November were. It is also a reminder of other conflicts that 7.30 p.m. All Souls’ Remembrance and that our armed services have been in and most Thanksgiving Service at Sutton Courtenay most recently the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts. It Courtenay conflicts. It gives us an opportunity to say “Thank “Thank you” for the sacrifice that so many made – Sunday 8th November made – so that we in the United Kingdom can No service in Appleford as we are joining enjoy peace. joining with Sutton Courtenay for a 10.00 10.00 a.m. Parish Eucharist followed by an It is appropriate too, to come to a Christian Church an Act of Remembrance at 11 a.m. Church to hold a service of Remembrance because th because the Church building itself should remind Sunday 15 November remind us of the greatest sacrifice of all. For in the 9.15 a.m. Holy Communion with Josie in the New Testament we read of the story of God Midwinter God sending his own Son Jesus into the world to Sunday 22nd November to bring mankind back into a right relationship 6.00 p.m. Evening Service for Christ the relationship with God. And to do so, Jesus made King led by Becky Fisher with Ian Cook made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf on the preaching the Cross, where through His death we are brought brought to peace with God and reminded how God th Sunday 29 November how God wants us to live. 6.00 p.m. DAMASCUS Group Evening To “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, Service at Milton Church heart, with all your soul and with all your mind (Mt mind (Mt 22:37) and to “Love your neighbour as 100 Club 2009 as yourself” (Mt 22:39). This November, let us pray that these become more the pattern in our As there was no coffee morning in October, our world, such that God’s peace would reign. October, the winners will be drawn at the reign. the coffee morning at Walnut Tree Cottage Cottage on 17th November. Paul James (Sutton Courtenay and Appleford Ministry Team) www.applefordwebsite.co.uk CHURCH DIARY FOR NOVEMBER Bradstocks Charity Monday 2nd November 7.30 pm The Bradstocks Charity has a small A special service for All Souls will be held amount of money to give away for held at All Saints' Church to provide an educational purposes (student books, opportunity to remember and to give thanks etc). If anyone would like to apply please thanks for the lives of those we who have please write to Mrs. R. Allen, The have died. Everyone is welcome. During Orchard, Mill Lane, Sutton Courtenay, During the service, the names of those we Abingdon OX14 4BE before December we wish to remember will be read out and a 1st. Telephone 01235 848667 for further and a candle lit in their memory. If you further information. wish a particular name to be read out, please add them to the list at the back of Church Nativity of each of the churches or leave a message Walk on Sunday message on the answerphone at the Vicarage. 13 December Tuesday 24th November and Village Hall Tea The posada through the village starts at the the end of November.