SIX PARISHES NEWSLETTER for St Giles’ Church. Badger St Milburga’s Church. Beckbury` St Andrew’s Church. Ryton Rector: Rev’d Keith Hodson tel 01952 750774 Email: [email protected] Web Site: www.churches.lichfield.anglican.org/shifnal/beckbury/ Rota of Services in the 6 Parishes – September 2013 Badger Beckbury Ryton Kemberton Stockton Sutton Sunday Maddock 9.30 am 9.30 am 8.15 am 11 am Sept 1st Communion Matins Communion Communion 9.30 am 11 am 11 am Sept 8th Matins Morning Matins 9.30 am Sept 15th Morning 11 am 6.30 pm 11 am Sept 22nd Harvest Evensong Morning 9.30 am 9.30 am 11 am 6.30 pm Sept 29th Matins Communion Harvest Evensong LT Abbreviation: KH = Revd Keith Hodson; TD = Tina Dalton; LT = Local Team; PRAYER OF THE MONTH Father God, we pray for our schools and colleges at the start of the new year. Give to teachers enthusiasm to teach, and give to pupils enthusiasm to learn Especially for those beginning at a new school or university this month. For Jesus sake. Amen Next Newsletter Contributions for next month’s newsletter to either – David Tooth at Havenside, Beckbury – 01952 750324. Email – [email protected] Or Ruth Ferguson at Tarltons, Beckbury – 01952 750267 not later than 14th of this month, please. FROM THE RECTORY Photo Martyn Farnell Dear Friends, I guess that many of us born in the 1950s had summer holidays “at the seaside”. I was brought up in Warwickshire which is about as far from seaside resorts as one can get. Every year we headed down to the south coast for a family holiday in a ‘b & b’, and part of the day was spent on the beach or walking along ‘the front’ and taking in the ‘sea air’. Perhaps because we never saw the sea at any other time of the year, those annual holidays were always to a seaside resort, and even now when I go to the coast I find myself looking for that first glimpse of the sea from the car as I get nearer. My selective memory tells me that the sun always shone back in my childhood holidays. Recent summers in the UK have not been so good, certainly last year’s wash out summer, and more people now take their holidays overseas to guarantee sunshine and blue skies, a trend that started years ago with the advent of cheaper travel and ‘package holidays’. However the current economic situation has affected some families’ plans to go away on holiday, both overseas and in this country. I wonder if you have good memories of beach holidays, either as a child or as a parent. For us in Warwickshire, travelling distances in all directions were about equal, and people headed for East Anglia, North Wales, the south west and the south coast. I suspect that many families from Shropshire went to Wales which is the nearest coast, even if the weather may not be as dry as in the east or south. I spent my second curacy on the edge of Eastbourne, and we soon learned to avoid the main roads on summer weekends and bank holidays as ‘day trippers’ headed for the seaside. I remember that in our first year we went on Christmas Day to Birling Gap - where there is access to the beach along the Seven Sisters near Beachy Head - and thought how special it was to be ‘at the seaside’ on Christmas Day. Strangely we soon took the seaside for granted; it was ‘home’ ‘work’ and ‘school’, so not a special place for holidays. There is not a lot about the sea in the bible. The fishermen who followed Jesus fished on a ‘lake’, and the few references to the sea picture it as a place of monsters and the home of ‘leviathan’. In the last book of the bible (Revelation) St John’s vision includes a ‘new heaven and a new earth and there was no more sea’. There is a story of a bishop who used this verse for his address to cadets passing out at the end of their training at Dartmouth’s Royal Naval College. Imagine the cadet’s shock to hear that there is no need for sailors in the New Age! But, of course, the Book of Revelation is full of symbolism, and John’s vision goes back to the Genesis creation story in the first book of the bible where ‘in the beginning darkness was upon the face of the deep and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters’. It’s a very different and dark use of the symbol of the sea compared to our brighter happier summer holiday images and memories. I trust you have some good holiday photographs to remind you of your time away this summer as we move into September and towards the autumn. Keith Hodson DIARY DATES FOR September Every Monday to Friday Oasis Christian Shop in Shifnal open 11am - 3pm Every Saturday Oasis Christian Shop in Shifnal open 11am - 1pm Sunday 1st 12.30 pm Harvest Praise at Drayton Lodge Farm, Shifnal Wednesday 4th 7.30 pm Beckbury Parish Council meeting in Beckbury Village Hall Saturday 7th 11 am Beckbury Show opposite the Seven Stars Sunday 8th Beckbury Show: charity auction and clay pigeon shoot opposite the Seven Stars Tuesday 10th 12 noon Friendship Club meeting by the Church for a picnic Monday 16th 7 pm Beckbury Parish Plan meeting in Beckbury Village Hall Sunday 22nd 11 am Harvest Festival at Beckbury and lunch in Village Hall Wed 25th 7.30 pm Deanery Synod meeting at St Andrews Church, Shifnal Sunday 29th 11 am Harvest Festival Service in Kemberton Church CHURCH NEWS Thanks to all who helped at the Lammas service and picnic on 4th August with singing, decorations and refreshments. Churches Together in Shifnal and District have their annual Harvest Praise at Drayton Lodge 12.30pm - 4pm on Sunday 1st September with the outdoor service at 3 pm. The Six Parishes are responsible for the Produce Stall so contributions of cakes, chutneys, jams and vegetables can be given to Jacky Butlin or Angela Chatham beforehand. Work on Ryton Church roof should now begin in mid September. This will affect Sunday services, but not funerals. Harvest Services begin in the Six Parishes on 22nd September at Beckbury with a lunch in the Village Hall after the service. Kemberton’s service is at 11 am on 29th September, followed by refreshments in church. Stockton’s harvest in on 6th October and Sutton Maddock’s on 13th October, both at 11 am. Deanery Synod meets at Shifnal Church on 25th September. BAPTISMS Congratulations to Sienna Cox, daughter of Adrian and Nikki. who was baptized on 11th August 2013 at Kemberton Church. WEDDINGS Congratulations to Matthew Nicklin and Natalie Chappell who were married on 27th July 2013 at Ryton Church. CONDOLENCES We extend our sympathies to the family of the late Jessie Cooper, aged 86, of Broseley who was buried on 25th July 2013 at Sutton Maddock Church. - 3 - SIX PARISHES CHOIR 2014 CALENDAR The Six Parishes Occasional Choir Singers 2014 Calendar, containing a series of lovely photos of all six churches inside and out on different occasions, will be available to purchase in early October when we will be having a launch evening. Each calendar will cost £10.00, with all money raised going to the six churches. More information will be available in the October newsletter. CHURCHES TOGETHER IN SHIFNAL Harvest Praise on Sunday 1st September 2013 At Drayton Lodge, Shifnal By kind invitation of Mr Frank Dakin 12.30 - 4 pm…..3 pm Harvest Praise Service Affordable BBQ, Produce Stall, Rollicking Rounders, Salvation Army Band All are welcome The Six Parishes are responsible for the Produce Stall So if you are able to help or have any items please contact; Jacky Butlin - 01952 730500 SIX PARISHES FRIENDSHIP CLUB We held our annual bring & buy at Havenside in August with luck on our side as we chose the only dry day of the week to enable us to sit outside until around 4.30 pm. What a lovely time we had, chatting with friends and catching up on gossip, we had unexpected guests when Richard Turner and daughter Jenny arrived and were made most welcome. The bring & buy raised just over £40.00 for our club funds. Our September meeting is for members only when, weather permitting, we will be having a picnic in one of Beckbury’s beautiful gardens. We meet at 12 noon by the church before proceeding to the gardens, and a maximum of a 15 minute walk is involved. If the weather is wet our meeting will be in Beckbury Village Hall. BECKBURY PLAYING FIELD Beckbury Parish Council purchased the playing field for the Village in 2007. At that time we were fortunate in having a number of people who were interested in the management of the field and a committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Carl Steventon. Sadly the members of the Committee have since dwindled away and we need to recruit some new volunteers. If there is anyone who is interested in being part of the team to help run and organize the playing field please contact either Carl Steventon on 750251 or Peter Gibbins on 750293. Please volunteer, your Playing Field needs you. - 4 - WOLVERHAMPTON ORPHEUS MALE VOICE CHOIR Saturday 26th October at 7.30 pm Beckbury Village Hall Tickets £5.00 each Refreshments available during the interval For more information please call John or Linda Shorthouse on 01952 750239 All proceeds to Beckbury V C Trust.