The Loddon Valley Link Church and Parish Magazine for Sherfield-on-Loddon, Stratfield Saye and Hartley Wespall with Stratfield Turgis Issue 440 October 2011 Services for October 2011 Sunday 2nd October Trinity 15 No Service due to road works St Leonard’s Sherfield 10.00am Harvest Family Service St Mary’s Stratfield Saye* & Baptism 6.30pm Evensong with St Mary’s Hartley Wespall Holy Communion Sunday 9th October Trinity 16 10.00am Morning Worship St Leonard’s Sherfield With Children’s Sunday Club Friday 4.15pm Messy Church Sherfield Park Community Centre Sunday 16th October Trinity 17 10.00am Holy Communion St Leonard’s Sherfield with Children’s Sunday Club 10.00am Matins (BCP) with Communion by Extension St Mary’s Stratfield Saye* 6.30pm Evensong St Mary’s Hartley Wespall Wednesday 4.00 pm Toddlers St Leonard’s Church Sunday 23rd October Last of Trinity 8.00am Prayer Book Communion St Mary’s Hartley Wespall 10.00am Family Service & Baptisms St Leonard’s Sherfield Sunday 30th October 4th before Advent 10.00am Benefice Communion St Leonard’s Sherfield Sunday 6th November 3rd before Advent 10.00am Holy Communion St Leonard’s Sherfield 10.00am Family Service St Mary’s Stratfield Saye* 4.00pm Evensong with St Mary’s Hartley Wespall Holy Communion *Drive up close to the white gates, which will open automatically . Children are welcome at all our services. Services in italics are particularly geared to children and families. BCP = Book of Common Prayer. Page 2 Cover photo by Brian Archer Navigation On 22nd October 1707, four British warships struck rocks and sank off the Isles of Scilly with the loss of 2,000 crew. The problem was navigation and it was one of the big mysteries of that time. Latitude was no problem (circle location points going round a globe) but nobody could work out how to mark longitude Revd. Bob Politt (circle location points going from north/south). Parliament set up a commission and offered a huge reward for anyone who could find the answer. For centuries the greatest minds tried to solve this problem. Amongst them were Galileo, Sir Isaac Newton and Halley (of the comet fame). The Observatory at Greenwich was established for this reason and many believed that the answer lay in the stars and the movements of the moon. Then a self taught watchmaker, called John Harrison, came up with a preposterous idea: he said that the problem could be solved with a special clock, a chronometer. For decades he was mocked, humiliated and rejected until proven right. His mechanical invention was an affront to the greatest of minds but he was right. It’s suggested that his invention paved the way to Britain becoming great and ruling the waves. On holiday recently I enjoyed doing at bit of basic map reading. Navigation is about measuring, something we do all the time: cooking, weighing, DIY, scoring for games, gardening etc. Everything we do seems to be about measuring, and to measure something you must have a basic standard from which to work . This is fine until it comes to human behaviour. What standard should we use to measure right and wrong? We have the law of the land but Human Rights legislation can push this aside. Lots of us measure our standards of behaviour from other people by saying: “Do to others what they do to you.” This is OK if people do nice things to you. Some follow the 10 Commandments which are good but how do you make them work? Like John Harrison’s clock, this may seem a most unlikely source of measuring, but God has given us the standard, the measure of his own life, in his Son who said: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, follow me.” The Creator’s life is on full display in his Son, Jesus, and he offers to share his life with all who are willing to receive him. Christian greetings, Page 3 BREACH LANE CHAPEL Sherfield on Loddon Contact: Rev Chris Russell 01276 21469 Geoff Belsham 01256 882534 October 2011 Every Sunday 10.30am Family Worship Every Tuesday 10.30am Open Morning (please phone to check) Every Wednesday 2pm Kurling at Ridgeway Centre, Buckskin (with Mencap) Thursday 6th 7.30pm Bible Study at 9 Coopers Lane Sunday 9th 3pm Bible Study in Chapel 5.30pm Informal Worship - New Time Saturday 15th 2.30pm Disabled Christian Fellowship at Camberley Baptist Church Wednesday 19th 7pm Swimming at Tadley Pool (with Mencap) Sunday 25th 3pm Bible Study at Chapel CATHOLIC SERVICES Church of St Bede, Popley (www.vinntec.co.uk/hg/) Contact Fr. Dominic Golding, at the Parish Office Tuesday to Friday 9.30 - 1.00pm Tel: 01256 465214 Sunday Mass 9.00 am, 11.00 am, and 6.30pm Page 4 Editorial Harvest time rolls round again. I’ve just been watching the last of the corn stooks been taken off the fields and the plough’s out already. As if that wasn’t enough the clocks go back this month. Lots of beautiful produce, flowers, arts and crafts were on display at the annual Sherfield show. A ‘flavour’ of the event can be seen on page 23. I was also involved in the bicentennial cricket match at Stratfield Turgis celebrating 200 years of cricket in the village. It was a great day in all respects. Pictures on page 26. We’re still actively looking for another editor. For this and anything else please contact us at [email protected] We would like to thank everyone who attended Roy Best’s funeral for a lovely afternoon celebrating his life . We would also like to thank everyone who helped on the day making sure everything ran like clockwork (he trained us well) from the parking to the seating arrangements . The flowers in the church were wonderful thank you . Finally we would like to thank Stratfield Saye Estate and their staff for all their help. Thank you all very much. The Best Family Page 5 Church Toddler Time for Babies to 5’s The next ‘Toddler Time’ will be Wednesday 19th October 2011 4.00-4.20pm At St Leonard’s Church on the Red Carpet Nursery Rhymes, Story, Prayer. Healthy refreshments. All welcome Contact Bob Politt for more information 01256 882209 [email protected] Report from the Evergreen's Club for the over 60’s Our guest speaker for the September meeting was Steve from Whitewater Nurseries. He gave a very interesting, informative talk and demonstration on the planting of autumn/winter pots. Steve brought with him a variety of perennial plants and also pansies, cyclamen , violas and ivy and demonstrated different arrangements for pots. Members were also able to purchase plants and Steve also answered any questions from the floor. The meeting closed with tea and a raffle. The next meeting is our Harvest Festival October 3rd at 2pm. We would like to say a big thank you to the White Hart pub and Sandhurst Marquees of Sherfield for putting together a wedding reception for us on Saturday 3rd September with less than a weeks notice! When things went wrong with our planned venue I made a quick visit to the White Hart on August bank holiday weekend and from there our new venue and ten hour party was arranged. Luckily for us, Glenn from Sandhurst Marquees had availability for the date and put together a fabulous marquee in the pub gardens. Manager Paul & chef Richard from the White Hart worked quickly with us to plan menus and arrange our outside bar facilities. Our two course lunch and evening buffet were exceptional, receiving lots of compliments from our guests. The service by all the White Hart staff on the day was efficient, friendly and helpful. Thanks to everyone involved, you made our day perfect! We really do appreciate all your hard work. James & Sarah Johnston, Sherfield on Loddon Page 6 www.LoddonValleyLink.hampshire.org.uk Renowned for delicious food, great ales and a warm welcome www.whitehartsherfield.co.uk White Hart, Reading Road, Sherfield on Loddon, Hants, RG27 0BT 01256 882280 Wellington Farm Shop - 01189 326132 www.wellington-farm-shop.co.uk Located on the A33 at the Riseley roundabout between Reading and Basingstoke Page 7 www.LoddonValleyLink.hampshire.org.uk SHERFIELD 0-5’S Every Tuesday 10.00am to 12 noon Sherfield Park Community Centre Climbing frame, toys, parachute games, singing, juice and biscuits, tea and coffee. A great place to meet new people and make new friends – everyone welcome! Come and join us! designed to wear out your children! Contacts: Louisa 01256 881229, Beccy 880894, Kerry 880167 BRAMLEY ART CLASSES Antonia Dewhurst is teaching classes in Drawing & Painting. Monday 10.00-12.00am, 12.45-2.45pm and 7.00-9.00pm £90 for 10 weeks. £80 OAPs Situated in Cufaude Lane, Beginners & Improvers welcome. Tel: 01256 883876 [email protected] Page 8 ST. LEONARD’S CHURCH Saturday Open Days On the 8th & 22nd October from 10am until 4pm. A list of all the Open Day dates for the year is displayed in the Lych Gate at the Church. Everyone is welcome to visit for quiet reflection, a prayer, to study the architecture and history of the church or to view with a wedding in mind. Parish Registers Weddings Kerri Harvey 24.09.11 Sherfield & Jason Dunderdale Funerals Roy Best 07.09.11 Stratfield Saye Anna Lewis 16.09.11 Sherfield Percy Sims 21.09.11 Sherfield Church Harvest Festival Family Service St Mary’s, Stratfield Saye 10.00am Sunday 2nd October Please bring fresh or tinned produce to the services which will be donated to the Loddon School.