St Mary’s Parish Magazine – October 2002
Fudge, Fuchsias and
Frittenden
WHAT’S ON THIS
MONTH? - October
Readings for
Sundays in November
Daily prayer topics
in October
On Saturday November 2 – All Souls Day – there
will be a Sung Requiem at 7.30pm with the Faure Requiem sung complete by
the choir. There is a list under the tower for you to add the names of departed
loved ones whom you would like commemorated during that service.
Sutton WelCare is holding a tea
party to celebrate its work within the London Borough of Sutton. If you would
like to join them on Saturday October 12 at the Secombe Theatre Function
Room, Cheam Road, Sutton, at 3.00pm call 8643 6285 so that someone knows you’re
coming.
At 7.30pm on Saturday October 12 Andrew
Wilson will be at the organ to give a concert in his own inimitable
style. Composers will include Bach, Widor and Franck as well as theatre organ
pieces. Tickets from £5 downwards at the door.
Margaret Treasurer has some beautiful black and
gold cards of the Nicholas and Isabelle brass. She will happily sell you
one for 50p - catch her in church.
On the evening of Monday October 7 a St
John’s Ambulance instructor will give a “Life Saving” instruction course
in the Church Centre. It lasts for about 2 hours. If you are interested give
June Allen a call on 8647 5366.
On Saturday October 5 the choir of Hertford
Parish Church will be joining our own choir for Choral Evensong. On the
following day Evening Prayer will be said.
The Social Committee is busy preparing for the Christmas
Fair on December 7. Retail
and entertainment therapy and refreshments will all help to boost church funds.
Get in touch with Pat Kingsbury for more details.
At the last Diocesan Synod back in July, Bishop Colin Buchanan, Bishop
of Woolwich, gave the presidential address. After his visit to us at the
Confirmation I thought you could picture him giving the address: he carried his
lap-top to the lectern, opened it up and used the screen as an auto-cue.
Between Advent and Easter last year Bishop Colin had visited every one
of the churches in his Episcopal area to discover what “mission” meant to the people
in Woolwich. Woolwich is the smallest of the three archdeaconries in Southwark,
very much so in size and by less a margin in the number of parishes. There are 33 parishes divided into four
deaneries: Southwark and Newington, Dulwich, Camberwell and Bermondsey.
Bishop Colin said that today many secular establishments use the word
“Mission” in their policy statements but he found that many Christians seemed
unfamiliar with a concept of mission. He wondered if they associated it with
putting money into collecting boxes to provide Empire-building English
expatriates with funds so they could bring civilisation in western Christian
dress to benighted parts of the earth a long way from here.
Instead of using the word mission he asked the question “What is St
Mary’s here on earth for?” (That is if he had come to us.) In the
purpose of God what is this congregation supposed to be and to do? What purposes has God got that can only be
fulfilled through the obedience of his people here?
Bishop Colin said mission was about purpose – we are sent by God. It is
the task of the church to find out what God’s purpose for us is. He broadly
divided mission into two main streams; evangelism and service to society. He
said that for PCC members, synod members, ordinary lay Christians (his words
not mine), regular and irregular Christians alike there are three watersheds to
cross if a missionary spirit is ever to break out imaginatively in a parish.
One, we have to pass from thinking of Christianity as Sunday morning
only to recognising there is action, learning, prayer and discipleship to be
exercised throughout the week. Two, we have to pass from thinking of our part
in Sunday mornings as being wholly passive, to thinking of worship as also
energising and sending us out on the Lord’s tasks. Three, we have to cast out
the peculiarly English and Anglican notion that our faith is private, personal
and even embarrassing, and become someone who is confident in our Lord, and to
be sufficiently informed of our faith to be unembarrassed in talking about it.
The new confirmation service asks the candidates if they will proclaim
by word and example the Good News of God in Christ; should we not ask this of
ourselves? In his feed-back meetings with the Deaneries of Woolwich he spoke of
the three themes as charters for us all to have the Good News on our lips, and
charters for lay people to develop robust and mature discipleship.
He then changed tack slightly saying that Woolwich was the poorest of
the three Episcopal Areas in the diocese which is highlighted in the fact that
40 per cent of the Fairer Shares income of Southwark comes from the Croydon
Area, 40 per cent from Kingston and 20 per cent from Woolwich. It is the
smallest area, but it is also very true that there are a number of struggling
parishes and a higher proportion of the not-well-off than the other two areas.
He urged his flock to wrestle with the how parishes are to lift their
horizons back to mission in other parts of the world, not least in relation to
our linked diocese in suffering Zimbabwe. He also covets more care to be
expressed within the narrow distances in miles that separate the
near-millionaires from the unemployed and underpaid people – often in amazing
juxtaposition and often in the same parish. He also asked the people in the
well-heeled parts of the diocese if there were any people with time to spare
who could give it to another parish.
Bishop Colin said he had found it very encouraging to stand near to the
parishes in his area and learn what they were doing, what mission purposes they
are pursuing, but he was very aware of the downside in their actual weaknesses.
He made me think how lucky we are generally; most of us have enough
money to live and some of us have enough income to have lots of holidays and
other luxuries. We have a beautiful church with reasonable facilities although
we are struggling a bit with finances to maintain the building for which we are
today’s stewards. I wonder if we should ask ourselves the question “What on
earth is St Mary’s here on earth for?” and I asked myself “What on earth has God got for me to do here
on earth? And how are we; how am I doing?”
Heather
Cosgrove
Our Dedication
Festival will as usual be celebrated on the first Sunday in October, which this
year is Sunday the 6th. That is also Friends’ Sunday, and following the
invitation issued last year it is possible that there may be some former
members of St Mary’s Youth Fellowship making a return visit too.
That
Sunday Betty Walker also celebrates 25 years as a Reader, and is taking the
opportunity to reflect on those 25 years in her sermon at the 9.30 Eucharist.
Then she’ll attempt to retire (again!) – and so this is my opportunity
to record, in print, the enormous gratitude of St Mary’s congregation over
those years to you, Betty, for your faithful and influential ministry and
example in so many ways, both formal, informal and personal. I’d also like to
place on record again my own sincerest thanks for your loyal and strengthening
support for me as our parish priest (and I’m sure I speak for my predecessors
David and John too). Well done!
Selwyn
Tillett
The sponsored bike ride to raise money for the Surrey Churches
Preservation Trust on September 14 was a sunny day when we jumped on our
bikes to start our quest to cycle round 10 local churches.
We started at Carshalton Baptist Church and worked our way round via the
Methodist Church in Ruskin Road, Wallington URC, St Patrick’s in Park Road, St
Elphege’s, etc, finishing at St Mary’s.
We did not realise how hilly parts of our borough are, or perhaps we are
not as young as we were, but we managed the ride in just over two hours for the
five miles. None of the churches we visited were manned so we had to ask
passers-by to sign our sponsor sheet to verify we had attended. The only church
which had a reception was ours and was looked after by Diana Harries, who also
supplied refreshments - which were very welcome. A break in the middle seemed a
good idea so we visited the Farmers’ Market in Wallington and topped up our
Parmesan cheese supply.
Our sincere thanks go to all our family, ringers and friends in the church
who very kindly sponsored us and we are delighted to say we raised £170 on the
day and a good percentage will come back to us in due course. We thoroughly
enjoyed our day out and are pleased the event was successful with the help of
you all.
Stan and Valerie Coleman
I think I might enjoy being lay-chair of our Deanery. I went to my first
Croydon Bishop’s Council, without a
Bishop of Croydon of course but with our Archdeacon, the Very Rev Tony Davies,
in the chair and with Bishop Tom visiting.
The meeting started with a short act of worship; it is certainly
uplifting to be part of a group of about 40 people confidently saying together
Psalm 96, the Magnificat and the Lord’s Prayer.
The main part of the meeting was a fact-finding exercise about the
appointment of a new Bishop of Croydon. We heard that it will be impossible for
us to have a new bishop before March at the earliest, especially if he has not
been a bishop before, because there will be a period between the Archbishops of
Canterbury when there will be no consecrations. I believe the new Bishop of
Kingston will be consecrated at Archbishop Carey’s last ‘do’ and Bishop Tom
hopes that ‘Croydon’ will be slotted into the first consecration by Rowan
Williams.
Bishop Tom asked us what our new man should be told about the Croydon
Episcopal Area. There were some interesting thoughts from clergy and lay
representatives of our area.
* Rich and poor cheek by
jowl e.g. St Paul’s, Roundshaw, is one of the poorest areas very close to the
richest square mile somewhere in Purley.
* Great ethnic
diversity.
* Consists of urban,
suburban and rural areas.
* A divide north and
south between the urban areas in the north and the rural areas in the south.
* Diverse towns and
villages.
* Great civic pride in
the centre of Croydon.
* There is a Croydon
Establishment.
* Croydon being one of
the country’s largest shopping areas - there are 22,000 shops in Croydon.
Therefore there are many people coming to the area to shop.
* There is a lot of
regeneration.
* It has its
hospitals, homes, hostels and schools but no prison.
* There is a true
ecumenical mix.
* Our cathedral tends to
be a ‘hidden cathedral’ as many look to St Paul’s to the north and Guildford to
the south.
To name but a few…
Bishop Tom is drawing up a profile of the kind of man Croydon feel they
would like as their bishop. He will then look at the makeup of the bishops in
Southwark and identify where “the team” needs new strengths. Putting the two
together he will then go out looking for someone to fit the job profile. If his
draft job profile is anything to go by the new man will have to be super-human.
If anybody feels strongly about the attributes we will be looking for in
our new bishop, Bishop Tom will welcome ideas - at this stage he does not want
names - please write to him or give me a note and I will pass it on.
Heather Cosgrove
Sutton Deanery Synod met at St John’s, Belmont, on 19 September. The
Revd John Gould opened the meeting by welcoming our new Lay Chair, Heather
Cosgrove, who was elected at the July meeting.
The evening’s speaker was Graham Peters of the Board of Visitors to
Prisons (not the same as prison visitors). Their task is to act as watchdogs on
prison conditions and to report back to the Home Secretary. There are 19
members on Mr Peter’s board, two of whom are JPs, and there are 1,600 members
nationally. They visit the prisons weekly for inspection and to interview
prisoners - prisoners may request to see a board member at any time, to make a
complaint such as assaults by staff, or to request a transfer. The Board
members are appointed by the Home Secretary and have authority to enter prisons
at any time. They attend any serious incidents and put in a report.
The Board produces an annual report for public awareness and copies are
sent to local libraries. The work is done on a voluntary basis and only
expenses are paid. Each Board member is assigned to a particular prison.
Mr Peters then gave a brief description of Highdown Prison which is for
people on remand or with short sentences. It has a capacity for 699 Category B
prisoners, ie, those who are not of serious risk to the public. Like most
prisons it is overcrowded and double cells have been reorganised to include
three people, which is apparently within the prison regulations.
The kind of people who are more likely to end up in prison are those who
have been in care as a child, those excluded from school, or those with poor
literary skills. Some 60-70 per cent use drugs; many have mental disorders and
some are suicidal. Facilities are good but there are insufficient staff for
educational projects.
A parish profile of St John’s was given by Revd Edward Probert. St
John’s has a magnificent new Community Hall, which has five separate rooms
which, when partitions are pushed back, can become a hall for 150 people. The
rooms are used by the Scouts, Guides and other groups as well as for church
meetings, etc.
The building is a united Church of England and Methodist Church with a
single church council. As we know at St Mary’s, a lot of time, energy and money
has gone into establishing the new building, but they are looking forward to
future priorities and to using what they have.
Reports were received from representatives on the Diocesan Synod and
Boards. A successor to Bishop Wilfred is being sought for the Croydon Episcopal
Area and a proposed job description from the Bishop’s Area Council meeting was
read out. After hearing this Revd John Gould, the Rural Dean, summed up what we
were probably all thinking - that only the Archangel Gabriel need apply!
Jenifer Davison
In the chill, grey dawn of August Bank Holiday Monday, half-a-dozen
intrepid ringers set up shop for the Sutton Environmental Fair in Carshalton
Park. The Kimbers’ gazebo had never been raised so swiftly and efficiently -
good to have an engineer on board, Mike!
We had a very varied range of goods on offer, from fudge to fuchsias. (Many
of the plants had seen better days; end-of-line from a local trader. One
gentleman asked Sonya for the price. “50p each,” she said, “or two for £1.”
“That’s a bargain,” he replied. “How about three for £2?” “Done,” said Sonya!)
We felt our odd assortment fitted in quite well with the surrounding
stalls. Next to us was a “wholefood” vegetarian stand, which even sold
vegetarian toothpaste! One of their staff, after close interrogation as to the
contents of our home-made marmalade, bought a jar and sat and ate it all with a
spoon! One wickedly-minded ringer stood in front of them munching with obvious
relish on a pork pie.
You could buy anything from tambourines to tea-towels but the weather
was miserable and the crowds stayed away. By 6 o’clock we were cold, tired and
hungry. (The butter bean, goats cheese and olive roll had been “interesting”
but the memory was fading.) We had made a little over £200 but were left
wondering if all the effort had been worthwhile.
* * *
Foray into Kent
Very worthwhile, though, was our annual outing, this year south into Kent.
The organisation had been a little fraught, the main obstacle being we couldn’t
find anywhere for our meal. (Those of you unfamiliar with our outing, we “do
our own thing” for lunch but have a sit-down meal together in the early
evening.) We needed to fit in somewhere between our last two towers and
either the pubs didn’t do food or they were involved with the Headcorn Flying
Day. Also, there had been a misunderstanding with the coach booking and, with
10 days to go, we had no coach!
But fortune smiled on us and all was well on the day. We had a
comfortable coach, a friendly and cheerful driver (not always standard) and a
satisfying meal.
The sun shone as we left the Plough and made our way to Wye. Here, at
the church of St Gregory and St Martin, are 10 excellent bells, very similar to
how ours will be when refurbished! Their facilities enabled us to make
ourselves coffee and tea to wash down the Master’s biscuits.
Then it was on to St James, Sheldwich, where we were told the key would
be in the apple tree! (Big apple-growing area, Kent - which tree?)
By the time we reached Canterbury, it was time for lunch. We dispersed
around the town with orders to meet in the south transept at 2 o’clock. The
Cathedral now charges £3.50 to get into the precinct. However, by explaining we
were going to ring for the 3.15 service, we were all waved in free. Places like
Canterbury Cathedral do have to raise money for their upkeep but we felt that
if people just wanted a quiet sit in the Cathedral surrounds, it hardly seemed
fair to charge for their little bit of peace.
The 12 bells at the Cathedral have been much improved and our band did
them justice. Some people get very nervous when they think about ringing in
such a famous place but once you’re in the belfry, it’s really much the same as
anywhere else. All bells are different, of course, and Canterbury’s are almost
twice the weight as ours but that’s the idea of an outing - to experience the
differences.
The 45-minute drive to High Halden enabled some to fit in their
afternoon nap - the coach went very quiet. The church of St Mary the Virgin
contains a ring of six bells rung from the ground floor. “Ground floor” is an
important piece of information on a Beddington outing. Every year Chris Kimber
runs a sweepstake - guess how many steps the ringers will have to climb and if
a tower is listed as “ground floor” it can be eliminated from the calculations.
The eight bells of St Mary, Frittenden, were next. The tower captain
here and his wife, very old friends of ours, had accompanied us round for the
day. The addition of two such experienced ringers was a great help.
On our frantic search for somewhere to feed our charges, we had finally
found The Bull at Sissinghurst was able to accommodate our needs. It was a
friendly, welcoming place and everyone enjoyed their chosen meal.
Our final tower was All Saints, Staplehurst. The newly-augmented 10
bells here caused another streak of envy
to enter into our band. One day
. . ! Thanks must go to Stewart, who had somehow survived the stresses of the
previous weeks to lead us all on yet another successful outing.
Jean Kimber
You don’t need to be a ringer to enter the sweepstake. This year’s lucky
winner was Sheelagh Willis - Diana Harries’ mum.
Sept 6 John
Albert Grounds, 3 Bute Road, to Faye Louise Grounds
21 Mark
Leyland, 55 Bristow Road, to Rachel Derrick
28 Peter
John Field, 16 Rosemary Close, to Sandra Rose Bell-Wardley
Sept 11 Lillian
Weller, aged 99, of St Jude’s Nursing Home, Sutton
|
Tue |
1 |
Parents and Toddlers meet, Church |
10.00am |
|
Wed |
2 |
St Mary’s Guild meets, St Mary’s Court |
2.30pm |
|
Thu |
3 |
MU&OG: “Soap Box”, a chance to sound off about things that really
bug you. Church Centre |
8.00pm |
|
Sat |
5 |
Choral Evensong |
5.00pm |
|
Sun |
6 |
Dedication and Friends Sunday |
|
|
Mon |
7 |
Magazine Panel meets, 2 Peaks Hill |
2.00pm |
|
Sat |
12 |
“From Ancient to Modern”, music played on the organ by Andrew Wilson.
Church |
7.30pm |
|
Sun |
13 |
TRINITY 20 |
|
|
|
|
Guides and Brownies attend Eucharist |
9.30am |
|
Wed |
16 |
MU Corporate Eucharist |
10.00am |
|
Thu |
17 |
MU&OG: “Croydon Airport”, a talk by Frank Anderson. Church Centre |
8.00pm |
|
Sun |
20 |
TRINITY 21 |
|
|
Fri |
25 |
Prayer Group meets. Carew Chapel |
7.30pm |
|
Sun |
27 |
LAST AFTER TRINITY |
|
|
|
|
British Summer Time ends |
|
Sun Nov 3
All Saints
Revelation 7: 9-17 (page 416)
1 John 3: 1-3 (page 417)
Matthew 5: 1-12 (page 418)
Sun Nov 10
3rd before Advent
Wisdom 6: 12-16 (page 425)
1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18 (page 427)
Matthew 25: 1-13 (page 428)
Sun Nov 17
2nd before Advent
Zephania 1: 7, 12-18 (page 430)
1 Thessalonians 5: 1-11 (page 433)
Matthew 25: 14-30 (page 434)
Sun Nov 24
Christ the King
Ezekiel 34: 11-16, 20-24 (page 435)
Ephesians 1: 15-23 (page 438)
Matthew 25: 31-46 (page 438)
Fri 4 Francis of Assisi, friar, deacon,
founder of the Friars Minor, 1226
Wed 9 Denys, Bishop of Paris, 250
Fri 11 Ethelburga, Abbess of Barking, 675
Sat 12 Wilfred of Ripon, bishop, missionary, 709
Tue 15 Teresa of Avila, Teacher of the Faith,
1582
Fri 18 Luke the Evangelist
Fri 25 Crispin and Crispinian, martyrs, 287
Sat 26 Chad and Cedd, bishops and missionaries to
the East Saxons, 7th century
Mon 28 Simon and Jude, apostles
Tue 29 James Hannington, Bishop of Eastern
Equatorial Africa, martyr in Uganda, 1885
Sun Oct 6
Said Evening Prayer
Sun Oct 13
Canticles: Arnold in A
Anthem: Through the night – Morley
Sun Oct 20
Canticles: Holman in F Minor
Anthem: Salvator Mundi – Tallis
Sun Oct 27
Canticles: Plainsong
Anthem: I will lift up mine eyes – Walker
Tue 1 Our parents and toddlers group
Wed 2 Those recently confirmed
Thu 3 Board of Church in Society meeting today
Fri 4 The Franciscans
Sat 5 Priests being ordained in parishes today
Sun 6 St Mary’s church and Friends
Mon 7 Our Bible study group
Tue 8 Bishop Tom and his staff
Wed 9 Local voluntary workers
Thu 10 Our Social Committee
Fri 11 Local homeless and those who work with
them
Sat 12 The concert being held in St Mary’s
tonight
Sun 13 Retreat centres and leaders
Mon 14 Retired clergy living in the diocese
Tue 15 Board of Finance meeting tonight
Wed 16 Our Guides, Brownies and Rainbows
Thu 17 Trustees and residents of St Mary’s Court
Fri 18 All who work with families in need
Sat 19 The Bible Society and translators of scripture
Sun 20 Hospital chaplains and helpers
Mon 21 Our local police and firefighters
Tue 22 Young people on remand
Wed 23 Local industries, shops and offices
Thu 24 Peaceful resolution of world problems
Fri 25 For greater awareness of the importance of
prayer
Sat 26 University lecturers and students
Sun 27 Thanksgiving for the Bible - God’s Word to
us
Mon 28 Readers Admission Service in the Cathedral
tonight
Tue 29 Mayday University Hospital and St Helier
Hospital
Wed 30 Croydon Area Mission Team
Thu 31 Archbishop George Carey as he begins his
retirement
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