Carousel

Thank you very much - the Editor and his wife had a wonderful time in Australia. You can read about some of our adventures on page 9.

On Monday June 11, the feast of St Barnabas, the Eucharist will be celebrated at 9.30 am; and on Friday the 29th, the feast of St Peter and St Paul, there will be a Choral Eucharist at 7.30 pm.

"Called by God?" - a diocesan Vocations day - will be held at Southwark Cathedral on Saturday June 9 from 10.00am till 3.30pm for all who want to look seriously at using their own gifts in a wide variety of service for God’s kingdom. Might God be asking you to train as a Reader, a SPA, a priest? Could you work as a chaplain or with young people? Come and listen, talk, think and pray - what is the next step? Further information and application forms from Selwyn.

On Sunday 3 June, from 2.30 to 5.00 pm in the church centre, we will be celebrating the arrival of summer with an afternoon of Tea & Symphony. Cream teas will be served, with continuous light musical entertainment, the latter being presented by a select team made up of Les Cozens, Selwyn and Cassie, Zoe White from Chimes and Emma Cavadino. Prepare for some nostalgic toe-tapping and singing along to well-known tunes. The cream teas will cost £1.50, plus whatever you care to contribute in appreciation of the musical entertainment. Come and enjoy a highly civilized afternoon in aid of church funds.

On Saturday 7 July there is an evening of wine, desserts and cabaret at the Englands’ home, 19 Redford Avenue, under the familiar title Pudding & Plonk. Have your main course at home and then join the party! Gerrie and Eileen will soon be calling for volunteers to provide some of the delicacies. Selwyn, Cassie and Carolyn are tuning up their vocal chords. In past years this evening has been a tremendous success, thoroughly enjoyable, and has raised a goodly sum for church funds - do come and help to make it so once again.

Rector’s notes

A Bible Study Group will begin on Tuesday June 5, meeting weekly for a total of eight sessions, finishing on 24 July. There will be coffee at 7.30pm - the group proper to begin at 8.00pm and run for an hour and a half. The venue will be decided once we see how large the group might be - so please, if you are interested in attending, sign up on the list on the table under the tower. If Tuesday is not a convenient night, please add your name to the list anyway but indicate which night or time might be better in the future.

There is a local Confirmation once again this autumn; this year it is the turn of St Michael’s to host it, and it will take place on their Patronal Festival, Sunday September 30, at 10.00am. If anyone is interested in being confirmed, please speak as soon as possible to me, Heather, Jenifer or Betty. In preparation for the Confirmation there will be a total of eight sessions, as usual following our own adaptation of one of the “Emmaus” courses, and these will run as follows on alternate Wednesdays and Mondays at 7.30 pm:

Wed July 4, Mon 9th, Wed 18th, Mon 23rd;

Wed September 5, Mon 10th, Wed 19th, Mon 24th.

If anyone simply wants to come to a general “Christian refresher” group, this would be an admirable one to join!

As usual we shall be keeping the first Sunday after Trinity, June 17, as Corpus Christi (or the Day of Thanksgiving for the Gift of the Eucharist). This is the annual occasion to think about Christ’s generosity in giving us the weekly or daily celebration of his death and resurrection, and to thank him for all that the Eucharist has meant, at the heart of the church’s worship, ever since.

Over the past few years we have marked this day particularly by inviting all those who have a regular part to play in the conduct of our Sunday Eucharist - our servers, readers, intercessors and ministers of the chalice - to attend the 9.30 Eucharist and be “recommissioned” for what they do to lead our worship in the year ahead. So, if you fall into any of those categories, please do be with us once again for that service, so that we can thank you for your own ministry and pray for you as another year of it begins.

On Sunday 1 July, at 7.00 pm at St Elphege’s in Stafford Road, there will be a Festival of Christian Music. Choirs and musicians from many of our local churches (including our own handbell ringers and choir) are getting together simply to celebrate the joy of offering their gifts of music in God’s service, and to represent the great diversity of Christian music which is regularly offered locally. Accordingly, in the hope that many people will want to come and take part in this celebration, there will be no Evensong that night at St Mary’s.

Selwyn Tillett

Quiz the candidates

There is an Election Forum - a public meeting to put questions to our local candidates in the General Election - on Monday June 4. It takes place in Wallington Public Hall and will run from 7.40pm until 9.30pm. This has been organised by Carshalton Churches Together, following the success of the similar evening organised before the last election, and is supported by all the churches of Beddington & Wallington Churches Together.

The Chairman for the evening is Gordon Ironside, Headteacher of Sutton Grammar School, who is a member of Springfield Church. Potential questions to be submitted beforehand, in writing please, to John Pope, 20 Downside Road, Sutton.

USPG visitor

USPG (The United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel) is one of the organisations to whose work St Mary’s makes a regular annual contribution. Having stood at £750 for several years, the Finance Committee has been glad to increase this to £1,000 this year, which represents our major charitable giving to the missionary work of the church.

USPG celebrates its 300th birthday in this month, and participating parishes like our own have been asked to mark this with a special act of worship and thanksgiving. Our celebration will coincide with the Guides’ and Brownies’ next visit to join in our worship - that is, at the 9.30am Eucharist on Sunday June 10. Valerie Bradfield, USPG’s Mission Adviser for Chichester, Guildford, Portsmouth and Winchester dioceses, will be with us at that service to talk to the largest possible audience about their continuing work.

That Sunday is also Trinity Sunday, but displacing the Trinity (ever so slightly) causes the least disruption to the pattern of our other Sundays this month - June being complicated this year, as you will see from the table of Sunday Readings elsewhere in the magazine. Accordingly, as well as celebrating the Trinity at the 8.00am Eucharist on Sunday the 10, there will be an additional Sung Eucharist for the Trinity on the Saturday evening, June 9, at 7.30pm. So no-one with a particular devotion to the Trinity need feel done out of the opportunity to “keep” them in style with suitable words and music!

A hunt for treasure

On Saturday June 23 there is one of the most fun events of the summer - a car Treasure Hunt, organised by the Social Committee. If you want to take part, absolutely no prior preparation is needed - simply turn up in Sainsbury’s car park in Warlingham from 9.30am onwards, ready for a prompt start at 10.00am.

There will be 25 questions to answer, and you can choose your own route for getting around to as many places as possible to discover the answers. But, importantly, this is not a race.

It will probably take about two and a half hours to complete, and final instructions will be given on the day for finishing at a specific country pub for lunch, answers and prize-giving. The trick lies in choosing an experienced navigator for your car-load…

Lots of fun for everyone, and all for just £3 per person, payable on the day, or £10 per family (2 adults plus children). Further details from Dee Hyatt (8774 2183 or 8647 1014). All proceeds to the Shopping List, so please do come along and make this a profitable event as well!

From the registers

Baptisms

May 5 Victoria Evelyn East, 16 Claydon Drive

Jakelyn Nana Adwoa Adams, 158 Richmond Road

Tony John Fido, 129 Croydon Road

13 Daniel Leonard Bond, 19 The Brandries

Samuel Luke Jeffrey, 3 Bute Road

Elise Jean Borrowman, 23 Raleigh Avenue

Weddings

Apr 21 David Morrisey to Kirsten Harding, 36 Bond Gdns

Apr 21 Steven Hawkins to Kim Tupper, 52 Crispin Cres

Apr 28 Simon Ledger to Jayne Addams, 137 Stanley Park Road

May 5 Steven Pallen to Julie Ellson, 46 Bute Gardens West

May 5 Richard Hainsworth to Samantha Jann, 4 Harlow House, 19 Kingston Gardens

May 19 Russ Marchese, 1 Rookwood Avenue, to Esther Coleman

May 19 Michael Duffy to Lucille Saunders, 7 Green Leaf Avenue

May 19 Paul Frost to Tina Jones, 8 Arlington Drive

The Land Of Oz

It was never on our list of places to go but when it was suggested that the Surrey Association of Church Bell Ringers should take a band to Australia for an International Ringing Competition, we thought that as Stewart is the Master of the Association, we ought to be there.

And so it came to pass that an assorted group of 22 ringers left Heathrow on Maundy Thursday. No familiar night vigil for us - just a 12-hour flight to Singapore, there to change planes.

The handbells, which must have mystified the X-ray machines, were put into use in the roof Cactus Garden, where the temperature at 6.30am was over 90º and the humidity like a hot bath. Singapore Slings went down a treat for some, then it was back on a plane for the rest of the journey to Perth.

PERTH: April 13 - 17

Ringers from around the world had gathered in Perth over the Easter weekend for the “Swan Bells” Festival. Several years ago, the old bells of St-Martin-in-the-Fields, in Trafalgar Square, had been sold to Australia. A glass and steel tower was built on the banks of the Swan River, more bells were added and a truly fine ring of 16 bells came into being. This is only the second ring of 16 in the world, the first being in Birmingham. After a wash-and-brush-up, we found ourselves in the Swan Tower and on the end of ropes, too jet-lagged to argue. This is very unusual for a Good Friday, since it is traditional for bells to be silent from Palm Sunday to Easter Day. However, this being a secular tower, the rule seemed not to apply. Also, by using the very efficient sound control, the bells became barely audible outside.

No matter where in the world ringers come from, the language is the same. There we were, 12,000 miles from home and, apart from the number of bells, it could have been Beddington! Strangers have to work together immediately and we soon made friends from all parts of the globe.

The next day was, thankfully, fairly quiet, with a ring at the Swan Tower and a short trip to the eight bells at St Hilda’s Girls’ School in Mosman Park - a very smart suburb towards the mouth of the Swan River. The river gets its name from the number of black swans to be found in the area.

Easter Day some of us rang a Quarter Peal at St George’s Cathedral before the morning service. The large church was packed. We sat in the south transept but still had difficulty seeing at times, due to the clouds of incense! The service was mostly familiar, though the order confused us at times. The preacher was the Archbishop of Perth, who gave us a most interesting sermon about chocolate! (It made us think of the mini Easter eggs, thoughtfully provided by elder son, back in our hotel room.)

Easter Sunday lunch was rolls or emu-burger on the quayside. Then it was off on another bus tour, to ring at Christ’s Church, Mandurah and Rockingham Civic Centre. Mandurah was a nice little place where the bells are rung from the ground floor, and with welcome cups of tea and Anzac biscuits. The Civic Centre at Rockingham, a quite industrial area, seemed to have been built nowhere in particular. There was nothing else there - hardly a centre. The bells were up the top of a very tall tower (135 steps) and open to the elements. They were extremely light, the heaviest weighing just 3½cwt (cf St Mary’s at 18cwt) and not very musical.

At that latitude, there is very little twilight and it was odd to go up a tower in daylight and come down half-an-hour later and find it almost dark. Having the sun in the north at noon also took some getting used to!

Easter Monday - and another trip out. (We thought of you on your cold Open Day - it was 90° in Perth). This trip was to York. Australians seem either to use the Aborigine name or pinch an English one for their places names. York is Australia’s oldest inland town. The Church of the Holy Trinity housed a nice light ring of six and stood beneath shady trees. A kookaburra fell about laughing at the ringing and there was a scary rope-bridge to cross from the church to the town.

The next day, the main Surrey party left for Adelaide but we had elected to miss that city in order to go to the Great Barrier Reef. We spent the spare day in Fremantle - the port at the mouth of the Swan River - going by ferry and returning by train. We paddled in the Indian Ocean and admired the United States Aircraft Carrier, Constellation, complete with escort ships.

Then it was time to leave Perth. The local ringers had been so kind and friendly to us, we’ll never forget them. They arranged a big Inaugural Dinner for their newly-formed St Martin’s Society, a barbecue in the Bush and a Pizza Party in the Swan Tower. They have a huge job ahead of them. The tower is owned by the state, which demands that the bells be rung every day, except Monday, from noon - 2.00pm and 6.00pm - 8.00pm. The locals said they needed to recruit about 100 ringers to be able to do that. Good luck to them!

THE TROPICS: April 18 - 20

To our surprise and delight, our flight to Cairns touched down briefly at Ayers Rock (Uluru). The rock is not very visible from the airport but the view from the plane was stunning. One of our party took a trip there and actually climbed it. Because it’s a holy place to the Aborigines, he had to climb the last bit barefoot and was seen limping around for several days after.

We stayed at Port Douglas, to the north of Cairns. It’s well in the Tropics, very lush, hot and with amazing bird life. We spent a morning in a Habitat, having breakfast with the birds (different menu though), stroking koalas and hand-feeding wallabies. Later we hired a car and drove north into the rainforest - but it didn’t rain.

The next day was spent snorkelling on the Great Barrier Reef. That has to be one of the most unforgettable experiences of the trip. We were told that the reef covers an area many times larger than the British Isles. It’s an amazing sight.

To complete the picture of Port Douglas - our “holiday home” faced a 4-mile stretch of unsullied beach!

SYDNEY: April 21 - 28

Sydney had had rain till we arrived but the sun accompanied us south. Here the ringing began in earnest. A walk through Hyde Park took us to the Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Mary with a fine ring of 12, where one of the competitions was to take place. A practice there was followed by another on the eight bells at St Philip’s, venue for the other competition.

During the week we fitted in ringing at Burwood, Randwick, Darling Point, Turramurra, Parramatta, Christchurch St Lawrence and St Andrew’s Anglican Cathedral, all reached by the highly efficient public transport system of buses, trains and ferries.

One day was spent in the Blue Mountains, including ringing at Castlereagh and Lithgow. Castlereagh had a new ring in a little tower on a Methodist campus. It is at the end of the Olympic rowing venue, the stands at the finishing line being clearly visible from the grounds.

Lunch was taken in a Working Men’s Club but the place was a far cry from the pictures conjured up by such a title - very swish indeed. A trip on a steam train on the Zig Zag Railway completed

that day out - more satisfactorily for us than for everyone else, since we were the only two to see a kangaroo in the wild! It was bounding up the hillside through the scrub in the fading light. (We also saw a dingo, a wombat and emu in the wild.)

April 25 is ANZAC Day and Sydney grinds to a halt. The day is filled with services and marches and the bands really do play “Waltzing Matilda”!

This was the day of the 12-bell competition. It was a shame no other bands had entered, either from England or anywhere else. It was left to the little Surrey band to carry the British flag against the might of the Australians. It was rather a David and Goliath contest, only this time David didn’t win.

Australia rang first and when we’d finished, we knew we were second! However, down the bottom of the tower was a life-saver with 12 “coldies” for us - ripper! We fared better in the 8-bell competition, coming second again, but beating an Australian team.

Another day out was spent up the Hunter Valley to visit the wineries. We had a tour round McGuigan’s Winery and indulged in the obligatory wine-tasting. We also rang at a couple of towers up the valley - Maitland and Singleton. Singleton had new bells and we were their first visitors. Most of the village seemed to have turned out to meet us. They’d brought their garden chairs and their picnics and sat in the churchyard to listen. Singleton is three hours drive from the nearest tower in Sydney so they won’t be getting many visitors! There was a marvellous spread for us in the hall and the new ringers were so excited to ring with us, it was most touching.

We’d met this Australian hospitality in many places. There was tea, coffee, sandwiches and cakes wherever we went. It was quite difficult sometimes, as not long after breakfast you felt obliged to force down the “Lamingtons” - special Australian cake - and coffee and an hour or so later, do it all again! But we were very grateful to them for making us feel so welcome.

We had a “free” day in Sydney - Bondi Beach, here we come!

The evening was spent wining and dining in the Sydney Opera House restaurant, prior to a concert - another unforgettable experience. We felt, along with others, that Sydney was the one place where it came home to us just how far away from England we were. The views of the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge are so famous that it was quite awe-inspiring to be standing looking at them “for real”. We really knew we were on the other side of the world.

ON TO MELBOURNE: April 29 - May 3

When Census Day dawned in the UK, we had been on the road for six hours. We rang at St Saviour’s Cathedral, Goulburn after the morning service. This unusual practice is the norm for them, but then, they are “down under”. Sunday lunch was in a nice warm bakery. Goulburn is very high up and it was rather chilly, despite the sunshine.

We called at St Clement’s, Yass, in the afternoon. Their contact ringer has a delightful email address: bigbear1@ozemail.com.au.

Our final destination, both to ring and to stay, was Wagga Wagga (Aborigine for “place of many crows”). The church of St John had six good bells and the locals had produced the familiar Lamingtons and tea. That evening, all 22 of us managed a meal together. It was a Chinese Banquet in a local restaurant. We had a marvellous meal, piles of food, wine, the lot, all for £10. We were lucky the British pound was so strong against the Australian dollar - it made eating out very cheap.

Three more towers were collected the next day. Beechworth, in Victoria, was a fascinating little place, dating from 1850 and very colonial in its architecture. It sported another bakery for lunch and an enticing jewellery shop for gold and iron ore, both mined locally. When the six bells were installed in 1995, Beechworth was the first country town in Victoria to have a ring of bells.

The tower at the Cathedral Church of the Holy Trinity, Wangaratta, had to be seen to be believed. The large cathedral is built of attractive stone and at one end stands a wood and steel campanile. It rocked about so much during ringing it was like being on a tube train. (And the churchwarden worries about ours!)

Albury was our last stop and was followed by a drive of over 300km to our hotel in Bendigo. The tarmac roads are good in Australia, no street lights but red and white reflectors lining the roadsides. And if we hadn’t known better, we’d have said the Romans built them.

Our visit to St Paul’s church, Bendigo, the next morning, attracted some attention. The Bishop turned up (probably for the Lamingtons and coffee) and questioned us carefully about the “old country”. Then the press arrived. Stewart’s Press Card was revealed and due deference shown! Interviews were given and photos taken. We’re waiting for the “Bendigo News” to plop on our mat.

The tiny idyllic hamlet of Blackwood, deep in the Bush (kangaroos in the garden dawn and dusk), was the quietest place we’d come across. Even the kookaburras watched us in silence. The General Stores (the only shop) also provided lunch. We saw no one else.

Geelong was entirely different. The church was set on a road so busy one took one’s life in one’s hands to cross it to get a photo. The bells were extremely noisy too, as if they had to compete with the traffic outside.

After a nightmare drive contending with Melbourne’s rush hour, we collapsed in the bar of our new hotel, only to find it closed at 8.00pm and the restaurant had run out of food!! We retreated to a Thai restaurant on the banks of the Yarra River and drank it out of red wine!

St Pius X Primary School in West Heidelberg houses a light ring of eight bells. They were at the end of a train ride, bus ride and a long walk and everyone was pretty hot on arrival - and no tea! Evening ringing was at St Paul’s Cathedral in Melbourne.

St James, Gardenvale, was attached to another RC primary school. The bells were very light and were so quiet outside that the children on their break made more noise than the bells and didn’t appear to notice us ringing. St Bartholomew’s, Burnley, was another light six which didn’t have the most pleasing of sounds, being rather harsh and difficult to hear.

Ballarat was once in the heart of gold-mining country. After a visit to a Gold Museum, we went on to ring at the Town Hall - a most impressive building. Ringing is very restricted there, owing to numerous council meetings. They have a heavy ring of eight which sounded really good. We finished the day along the road from the Town Hall at the church of St Peter. Here, Stewart and I had to bid farewell, not only to the Surrey group, but to Australia. That night we flew out to Hong Kong to break our journey home for three days.

HONG KONG: May 4 - 6

On our visit to the Cathedral Church of St John, we discovered the only bells in Hong Kong. Under the tower is a plaque commemorating a new peal of bells in honour of the Queen’s coronation in 1953. From the apparatus we saw, we could only assume they were a carillon and not hung for English-style ringing. St John’s was granted cathedral status from the day it opened in 1849. During the Japanese occupation from 1941-1945, the cathedral was converted into a club for the Japanese. Although many of the fittings had been removed before the occupation, none of the pre-war stained glass windows survived. Many of these had been designed by the firm of William Morris.

Hong Kong was very hot, crowded and expensive but like nowhere we’d ever seen. When son Nicholas was there nine years ago, it was very cheap but it seems its reversion to Chinese rule hasn’t helped the British tourist. We couldn’t eat out - all the menus were in Chinese with no translations. Stewart’s Press Card rescued us and the Foreign Correspondents’ Club provided a cheap meal one evening.

Should you ever go to Hong Kong, the two most contrasting attractions we’d recommend are a visit to Aberdeen Harbour to see the houseboats (we hired a sampan that took us in and out of all the boats) and distinctly colonial afternoon tea in the Peninsular Hotel on Kowloon. These two places seem to represent the extremes of life - both from another age, both extraordinary.

Back home after a 12½-hour flight to Heathrow, landing at 5.05am, we found a note on the fridge door reminding us there was an Open Day at church and we were in charge of tower tours. Home sweet home!

It was a great adventure. We saw so much and did so much - and the sun shone all the time. It was brilliant. Good on yer, Australia, for making us so welcome!

P.S. If you lost count - we rang in 33 different towers!

WHAT’S ON THIS MONTH? - June

Sun	3	PENTECOST
		“Tea and Symphony” in the Church Centre	2.30pm
Mon	4	Election Forum, Wallington Public Hall	7.40pm
		Church Centre Committee meets, 19 Redford Ave	8.00pm
Tue	5	Parents and Toddlers meet in Church	10.00am
Wed	6	St Mary’s Guild Garden Party	2.30pm
Thu	7	MU&OG: An evening with Les Cozens. Church Centre	8.00pm
Fri	8	Social Committee meets, 2 Caraway Place	8.00pm
Sat	9	Sung Eucharist for the Holy Trinity	7.30pm
Sun	10	Guides and Brownies at Eucharist	9.30am
Mon	11	Eucharist for St Barnabas	9.30am
		Magazine Panel meets, 2 Peaks Hill	10.15am
Sat	16	St Mary’s Court Trustees meet, St Mary’s Court	10.00am
Sun	17	CORPUS CHRISTI
Wed	20	MU Monthly Corporate Eucharist	10.00am
Thu	21	MU&OG: Eileen England talks about her experiences in South Africa. Church Centre	8.00pm
Sat	23	Treasure Hunt (see page 00)
Sun	24	BIRTH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST
Fri	29	Sung Eucharist for SS Peter & Paul	7.30pm