August:- from Sylvia and the churches .
From Sylvia. So we come to harvest time. Whilst we are concerned at the rising cost of food and, along with Prince Charles, about the security of our food supply, we do at least have plenty at the moment. Harvest is one of the occasions during the year when the church, by tradition, remembers those less fortunate than ourselves.
This year we are supporting two charities. Firstly Uzuakoli - our Lent collection went to Nigeria with Pat Griffiths to support the Motherless Babies Home in Uzuakoli. Her visit, and continuing commitment to the people she met, encourages us to fund further work.
But secondly we will be supporting Anglicans in World Mission, in their work in Uruguay. An economic crisis in 2002 cost many Uruguayans their savings and their livelihoods. From being a relatively wealthy nation, Uruguay is now home to many poverty stricken communities where delinquency, addiction and domestic violence are common problems.
One such community is Villa Felicidad where Anglican deacon
Alejandro Manzoni, of San Pablo church, is developing projects that
encourage the community to look out for their neighbours and begin to help themselves. Projects to date have included cookery workshops, kitchen gardens, the refurbishment of a health clinic and a train station, and a theatre group.
His idea is to be ‘a church that listens with one ear to the people and one ear to God.... It reflects a God who walks with the people, suffers with the people and rejoices when the people rejoice.’
Now that is a universal message.
Hope you enjoy the harvest services around the parish during
September and October.
Every Blessing. Sylvia
FROM THE CHURCHES
LEINTHALL STARKES.
Apologies that last month's article was accidentally cut short and so some of the items below are a month late but still worthy of note!
A few people have not been well recently including Martin Ellis of Fox House and Doreen Hunt of Huntley Lodge but both are now on the road to recovery and we wish them well.
Congratulations to Sebastian Rochfort of the Old Rectory for achieving his Masters in Chemistry at Warwick University and straying over the village border (just), also to Tom Bilbrough of Petchfield, Elton for gaining his BA in Classical Civilization at London University.
In August we await several exam results for young people in the village.
Congratulations to Kim Probert of Bramley House on her recent 21st birthday and to her sister Georgie on turning 18!.
Welcome back to Margaret and Gary Ward who have returned to live in the village.
The Hog Roast at Orchard View Leinthall Starkes in July raised £464 for church funds-many thanks to all for assisting and attending
Margaret Peach would like to thank everyone who helped her raise £205 in the Cancer Research Race for Life sponsored run.-Abby raised £1000!
Congratulations to Margaret and Stuart on the birth of their new grand daughter, Poppy, born on 30th July to Mary Jane and Rob and also to Nick and Sue Aldridge on becoming grandparents for the first time with the birth of Evie to Emma and Ross.
Dates for the Diary
Harvest Festival will be held on Friday 10th October at 7pm
Church Flowers and Cleaning
14th September-Sue Aldridge and Joyce Probert
DOWNTON ON THE ROCK
We have had a very busy month, with joy and sadness in equal measure.
On Tuesday 22 July the funeral of Kath Ward was held. She had lived in Downton for a number of years and latterly in Ludlow, and regularly attended St Giles. She had worked for the Clarke family over a number of years.
The Clarke family then returned to the church on Saturday 02 August for the marriage of their daughter Samantha to Andrew Davies. It was a lovely day, and the church was beautifully decorated.
The following Friday 08 August the marriage took place between Hannah Collett and Mark Cranfield. Again the church looked wonderful and again the weather held. We wish every happiness to both couples in their future lives together.
On Friday 10 October in the church there is to be a talk and slideshow on Richard Payne Knight and the Downton landscape given by David Whitehead. This starts at 7.30 pm. Tickets are available at £4.00 each from Rod Rees, telephone 01568-770463.
We have our joint service with Pipe Aston to celebrate St Giles at 6.30 pm on Sunday 31 August, with a barbecue afterwards at the home of Roy Major. RR
Saint Andrew’s Adforton
Many brave enthusiasts tackled the road chicanery to join us for the Red Cross Walk in the forest on Wednesday 6th August. The rain only started to hasten us back for soup and pies a little sooner than some years. Thanks to all of you, we are pleased to be sending £210 to the British Red Cross.
( At the time of writing) We shall hope, one can always hope, that the rain will not have prevented the ‘Godly Play’ families from having a picnic in the forest on Sunday 17th August. Teddy Bears would have been devastated!
The next excitement will be our ‘Cycle Ride’ round the parish on September 13th, 27 miles of easy exercise. Speed is not our priority, we shall give ourselves time to visit the ‘Loose Goose’ festival en route. Please have churches open to welcome us.
On Sunday 21st we celebrate our Harvest Festival with a service at 6.30pm followed by supper and of course you are very welcome. There will be some good singing.
The Fifth Sunday Choir has made an encouraging start with a group of fifteen hopeful singers at the first rehearsal. A.V.
LEINTWARDINE
On 3rd August a gathered service was held in the Church for the Licensing of June Emberton for pastoral work in the Parish. Several of her friends joined the congregation and the choir was joined by two relatives of the Attwoods, together with extra very experienced Bell-ringers from all over the country who were visiting the tower during a tour of this area.
All the Churchwardens from Wigmore Abbey who were present welcomed June during the rousing service. June is obviously going to be a great asset to the whole parish.Stephen Bainbridge, from Offa’s Dyke Books, has recently discovered an ancient volume which is a biography of Owain Glyndwr. There are several pages in it about Glyndwr’s negotiations with church authorities in Leintwardine so that he could fight his battle at Pilleth without having the countryside around rise against him. This colourful episode will be added to the new History of Mary Magdalene being compiled by Adams, Jones, Thompson-McCausland, Williams and others for the Friends of Mary Magdalene launch next Easter.The Loose Goose festival takes place in the Churchyard on September 13th. Come and join in with all the fun of the fair. M. P-W.
BRAMPTON BRYAN
On the Feast of St Mary Magdalene we were at the Lunch at Leintwardine House, the home of Mr and Mrs Colin Beard. One long table was laid out in their lovely peaceful garden, in front of the terrace near the trees and we lunched “en famille”. It brought to mind meals in France, Italy and Greece and there was certainly a Mediterranean atmosphere about it! The food was excellent, as we have come to expect of Jenny, and the company was humorous and entertaining. Colin and Jenny were delightful and generous hosts and we all had a very enjoyable meal.
The Olympic Games came to Brampton Bryan on August 3RD in the form of our Scarecrow Sunday. From early in the morning the village was a hive of activity with everyone setting out stalls, preparing tables for Lunches and Teas and arranging the Scarecrows. By 11.00 am we were “Open for Business” and we were busy throughout the day until 5.00pm. As usual there were visitors from near and far including two families from Scotland and one from Australia. The Castle Tour is becoming a very popular attraction, with more people than ever this year, which is not surprising because Edward Harley gives such an interesting tour and talk about the history of the castle and village, the Civil War and his ancestors. The children enjoyed the Scarecrow Trail, the games, the Olympic Sports and the Leintwardine Fire Engine and crew, whist adults bought generously from the stalls and enjoyed a glass of wine.
At 6.30pm Festal Evensong was held in our beautifully decorated church, with floral arrangements representing some of the countries taking part in the Olympic Games. A lovely service conducted by the Rector, assisted by Alastair and his Scarecrow guest, brought a very happy day to an end. Many many thanks to everyone who worked so hard to make the day a success.
Finally, this month we say goodbye to Domenica and Philip Dunne as they leave Trippleton House and we thank them for giving their time and their home so generously to raise funds for all the churches of Wigmore Abbey Parish including ours. We wish them every happiness at Gatley Park.
MMM.
