DECEMBER 2005
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A CHILD
I, like many of you, will have watched Children In Need. It’s always fun and uplifting and at the same time moving. Children bring hope – to a world which is often cynical and careless. Children come into the world dependent and vulnerable. How we treat them and welcome them says a lot about who we are and what we value. At this time of year we remember that God comes to us as a child, dependent and vulnerable, to be beside all those who are vulnerable in today’s world. God comes to us as a child to give us hope in what can seem a weary world. How we welcome this particular child says a lot about how we see the world and how we want it to be. Your local Church is open this Christmas season so that we can all hear and respond to that message of hope in our own lives and in the world. Make a little time for him this Christmas.
With every blessing
[signature of KH]
SERVICES FOR ADVENT AND CHRISTMAS
Below are the highlights of the services for this season. For full details see the calendar overleaf.
Wed 14th 2 pm A United Carol Service at St Luke’s
Sun 18th 10.45 am Family service with Drama by the Trekkers Sunday School
6.30 pm Service of Nine Lessons and Carols
Wed 21st 6 pm Christingle Service
Sat 24th 4 pm Blessing of the Crib
6 pm Carols at the Methodist Church in Bowdon Vale
11.30 pm Midnight Communion
Sun 25th 8 am Holy Communion
9.30 am Holy Communion at St Luke’s, Joint Service with the Methodist Church.
10.45 am Family Service
“O COME, LET US ADORE HIM”
A Warm Welcome awaits you
THE CHRISTMAS TO EASTER CHALLENGE – SEE BELOW
Each month sees encouraging results from our Appeal for the Parish Centre, a building for the Church and the Community. Fund-raising events continue, providing different ways in which people can support the Appeal.
It’s good that the momentum continues: as we are all aware building inflation is running well ahead of the general rate, and so delays in fund-raising will mean increased building costs. That’s why it’s important to meet the target as soon as we can.
GIFT-WRAPPED
You may well have your Christmas presents
ready ... but haven’t got round to wrapping them yet. This Christmas the
Explorer Scouts are offering a gift-wrapping service. All you need to do is to
bring your gifts to the Scout Hut behind Stamford Cottage from 10.15 on the
mornings of Sunday 11 and Sunday 18 December – leave then with the Scouts and
then to collect your personally wrapped gifts at midday. In return the Scouts invite a
donation to the Building for Bowdon Parish Centre Appeal – according to
size and degree of difficulty. Mulled wine and mince-pies on offer too, and
the Scouts promise no clove-hitches, sheep-shanks or bowlines!
GIFT-WRAPPING SUNDAY 11 AND 18 DECEMBER
A BRASS BAND CONCERT by Timperley Brass Band will help raise funds for the Appeal and for The Band following their recent relaunch. See the accompanying article on the Band and the Concert, on 3 December.
FIT FOR THE WEEK
The ongoing “Fit For The Week” group meets in the Johnson Hall on Monday mornings from 10 am. While there is a core group of members, it’s fine to come along to any of the sessions. Participants simply make a donation to the Appeal.
For more details contact Tricia James on 01565 830061.
RINGING FOR BOWDON
You may have heard the bells ringing and
wondered what particular occasion it marked. On Sundays they ring for services
and on Saturdays for weddings; Thursday nights are practice nights. But on
other occasions they may be rung by a visiting team of ringers, or by our own
team tackling a new method. But they could ring for you! The team of ringers
will ring to mark an occasion special to you – a birthday, an anniversary, a
gift for someone you know. The team invite donations to the Building for
Bowdon Parish Centre Appeal of (at least) £25. The team are also
offering to give a visit to the tower to include 20 – 30 mins ringing, a
tour of the bells and how they work, trip to top of tower for photographs, and
“ have a go” at ringing for a larger donation. To arrange this or for further
details contact Doug Reeson on 01625 250715 or Keith Hine on 928 2468
The Wine-Tasting planned for November ran into transportation difficulties in France and has had to be postponed. Watch out for a new date for this event in the New Year.
The fund-raising events are a marvellous way of involving lots of people, reaching out and sharing the vision of a Parish Centre for the Church and the Community with more people. I know already that people are planning events for the New Year and Spring. Fresh ideas are always welcome, so if you have an idea which we can make happen, please contact me (928 2468).
GRANTS
By early December we will have heard from Onyx the result of our bid. The good news is that the Regional Panel, in response to our bid and presentation, has recommended to its Board a significant grant for our project. While aware that not all recommendations are accepted, we look forward to a positive response. The Fund-Raising Team continue to seek grants from other organisations. If you have contacts with any organisations which make grants to such a project as this one, please do contact me or Sue Sinagola on 928 3082.
CHRISTMAS TO EASTER: A CHALLENGE AND AN INSPIRATION
A MEMBER OF THE CHURCH HAS MADE THE VERY GENEROUS OFFER TO MATCH ANY DONATION WITH 10%!
A member of St Mary’s has made a generous personal donation and now wants to encourage others to do the same by offering to match any donation with a further 10%. This will apply for any donations made between Christmas and Easter. So, if you give £100 this will be matched by £10 ... if you give £10,000 it will matched by £1000! And beyond! This is a real inspiration and encouragement. . . and we are grateful to this Church member, who, like so many of us, wants to see this vision become a reality. If you are still considering making a personal donation I am sure this will encourage you to give generously, knowing that the amount you give will be met by a further 10% and, of course, if you are a taxpayer, there will be a further 28% from gift-aid. So your donation can go a long way towards Building for Bowdon.
For further details on how to make a donation, please contact the Appeals Secretary David Manning on 928 1472
The TOTAL RAISED FOR THE BUILDING for BOWDON
PARISH CENTRE APPEAL stands at £650.000
CHRISTMAS CONCERT TREAT: THE SOUND OF BRASS
TIMPERLEY BRASS BAND will be performing a Christmas concert at the Church on Saturday 3 December, starting at 7.30pm. The concert is in aid of the Bowdon Parish Centre Appeal and the Band. Admission is £5.00 on entry to the Church.
The ‘new’ Timperley Brass Band is quite a story. At the beginning of 2005 Timperley Band actually folded and the Chairman, Tony Kennedy was in the process of winding up the Band’s affairs including disposing of the instruments. In June 2005 a group of friends who live in the area approached Tony to see if the band could be reformed – friends who included players from some of the top brass bands in the country including Black Dyke Mills, Fairey Engineering (now Fairey FP Music) and Wingates, in addition to one of the most talented young brass band conductors in the UK, David Evans.
From its first rehearsal in September the Band has gone from strength to strength and secured some of the finest exponents of the art of brass band music by gaining a full compliment of 28 highly talented brass musicians who have previously played with the country’s top bands, and are accomplished soloists in their own right, winners of national awards. The Band is led by the inspirational conductor David Evans. David is recognised as one of the most gifted and flamboyant young conductors on the British Brass Band scene.
Timperley Band held its relaunch concert in October at Timperley, performing to a capacity audience in the presence of the Deputy Mayor of Trafford. The Band are looking forward to performing at Bowdon Parish Church and will play a varied programme of music including traditional Christmas favourites, classical, jazz, film and music specifically written for brass band.
Timperley Band playing in the magnificent setting of Bowdon Parish Church is definitely not to be missed! For further information – (Church) 928 2468 or (Band) 980 5611
Admission £5, including refreshments. Proceeds towards the Parish Centre Appeal and the Band
PARKING ON GREEN WALK : Please remember that if you are attending an evening event at St Mary’s there is a parking restriction on north side (the ‘Clinic’ side of green walk. In recent years tickets have been issued!
ADVENT REFLECTIONS: PROMISES, PROMISES
We make all kinds of promises. This time of year children may remind us what we’ve promised to buy them for Christmas. We may promise ourselves we won’t spend so much or eat so much. We may make a promise that this month we really will write more than ‘Happy Christmas’ in our cards this year. Promises, Promises. Advent, that period the Church makes as a preparation for Christmas and the coming of Jesus Christ, is a time of promises. The Bible tells us how God’s people waited patiently for the God to bring them peace and freedom from oppression that he had promised. The Scriptures gave them assurances that God would come, and gave the challenge too that they should be ready for his coming, for God’s promises are both reassuring and challenging. Advent prepares us not simply for the coming of a babe two thousand years ago, but for the God who comes to meet us in our lives today. “Promises” is the theme of our Advent reflections this month. Each evening, on Thursdays at 8 pm, is an informal time of worship, with music, readings, prayers and meditation on this Advent theme. Refreshments are served to round off the evening. Though the evenings follow a theme, each is a ‘stand-alone’, so it is not necessary to come to all the evenings – even one will bring a little perspective into our lives at this time of year.
ADVENT REFLECTIONS : 8 pm on THURSDAY1st, 8th and 15th DECEMBER AT ST LUKE’S CHURCH
CONFIRMATION SERVICE
This year we welcome Bishop Colin Bazley to lead the Confirmation Service at 10.45 on Sunday 4 December. Please come and support the candidates who are taking this important step in their journey of faith, and please remember them in your prayers. It has been a delight and an encouragement to prepare them for Confirmation and we look forward to celebrating with them and their families and friends on that day.
BRING A CHILD IN FROM THE COLD
Each year thousands of children run away from home or from care to escape violence, abuse or neglect. Some are sleeping rough, frightened and alone on back alleys, graveyards and among rubbish bins, facing danger on the streets. Money raised by the Children’s Society through its supporters can give many runaways hot meals, a shower and clean clothes. This is the first step in building children’s trust. Then help can be offered in listening and counselling and in trying to resolve the issues which led them to run away. A safe place can be offered if it isn’t safe for them to return home.
Our annual Christingle Service is an important way of raising funds for this work. Come along to the Service with a generous offering for the work of the Children’s Society. Collecting ‘candles’ are available in Church from the beginning of December.
There is too the opportunity to ‘gift-aid’ your offering, increasing its value at no coat to yourself. The Service itself is always very enjoyable, as we light our Christingles and thank God for Christ the Light of the World, and thank God that we too in some way can bring light to the life of others.
Christingle Service 6 pm Wednesday 21 December
PARISH PROJECT
St Mary’s with St Luke’s maintains a Parish Project, by which funds are raised to support the work of a charity or an organization outside the parish. Over past years we have supported the building of a church in Aru, in the Congo; the refurbishment of the Booth Centre in Manchester, and an extension in St Mary’s Partington to create a meeting place for young people. Over the past two years we have been raising funds to support two members of the Melanesian Brotherhood in their training at Chester College. They have now returned to Melanesia, where they will pick up the work of sharing the gospel in a country with considerable unrest and need. The Melanesian Brothers are one of the groups which are held in respect by the different factions in the civil unrest there. That particular link and support has now come to an end.
Into 2006 The Church Council has agreed that the Parish Project for 2006 will be to support a community in Azad Kashmir following the terrible events of the earthquake and its aftermath. Through a member of the Church Council we have a direct link with a VSO volunteer who has worked in the area for several years. She and her colleagues are now dealing with the desperate need for shelter and supplies as the weather worsens. The Church Council has already made available an amount, along with generous donations from individual Church members. Adopting this as our Project for 2006 means that we can continue to send funds as the community is rebuilt. The direct link means that we will see how the money is being spent and will be able to receive regular updates via email. We have already received photos of the trenches and coverings which will provide shelter in the medium term. We will bring more information on the Project in
the New Year. Look out for more news and for the events in the coming year through which we can raise funds for this work.
TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND ST MARY’S CHURCH
Orange Telecommunications installed equipment in the tower of St Mary’s a number of years ago. This was done after consultation with all interested parties, and the arrangement has worked well. Orange has now approached the PCC with an outline plan to upgrade their existing equipment. The PCC has given this considerable attention, mindful of the issues of health and safety in particular, but also that of the structure and appearance of a fine Grade II* listed building. A sub-committee of the PCC has looked into the current information and research on telecommunications masts. On the basis of its findings the PCC has agreed to proceed with the next steps in its negotiations with Orange, and there will be a period during which plans will be prepared, and the necessary permissions sought. If you have any questions or comments please contact Dr John Gardner 928 1158 or myself KH
SUNDIALS
Last
month we featured an article on the Church clock. Not many of our readers will
know that a much more ancient method of telling time, a sundial, stands in the
Churchyard. Sundials are thought to have been used
to mark the passage of time from the very earliest man. As early as 3500 B.C.
the Egyptians began building slender, tapering, four-sided obelisks which
served as timepieces. The moving shadow of the obelisk formed a type of
sundial, and markers arranged about the base separated the day into divisions
as well as indicating the longest and shortest days of the year.
Have you ever noticed on a sundial that the shadow thrown by the stick, its proper name is a gnomon, only goes half-way round the circle, unlike the hands on a proper clock? As the sun only moves from east to west its shadow can only move in that one direction also, which will be therefore only be 180 degrees. The shadow will always move clockwise – which is where we get that expression from.
Before mechanical clocks began to be commonly used in the fifteenth century many churches had a sundial on the wall to show when the ‘Mass’ would take place. They were constructed differently and vary in form, size, detail and position in the many ways. But they all have a central hole in which the gnomon or style was fixed and from which lines, if any radiate. One line is usually marked better than the others – the usual hour of the mass in that church. In Medieval days the walls of churches were coated with a form of cement and lime washed both inside and out. Mass or Scratch dials were then painted in the scratched lines near the main door or the priest door at about four to five feet above the ground. Since then many churches have had parts rebuilt or porches added, so the mass dial can end up almost anywhere inside the building, even on a north wall.
The one in St Mary’s is now listed and stands just to the south of the church building.
Calendar for December
Morning Prayer is said in St. Mary’s at 8.45 am
Monday to Friday. Entry through the vestry door.
1 (Thu) 10 am St. Luke’s, Holy Communion, with Mothers’ Union.
10.30 am Coffee drop-in at St. Luke’s.
8 pm Advent Reflections at St Luke’s
4 Second Sunday of Advent
(First Sunday in December)
8 am Holy Communion.
9.30 am St. Luke’s Holy Communion.
10.35 am Trekkers.
10.45 am Confirmation with Holy Communion.
Confirmation with Bishop Colin Bazley
Oblations: Confirmation Group.
followed by coffee at the back of the church.
6.30 pm Choral Evensong for Advent
7 (Wed) 11.30 am Holy Communion.
12 noon Lunch Club.
8 (Thu) 2 pm First Steps - “Christmas.”
8 pm Advent Reflections at St Luke’s
11 Third Sunday of Advent
(Second Sunday in December)
8 am Holy Communion.
9.30 am St. Luke’s Holy Communion.
10.35 am Trekkers.
10.45 am Holy Communion, (Order One).
followed by coffee at the back of the church.
6.30 pm Evening Prayer
12 (Mon) 2.30 pm Bible Reading Fellowship meeting at 34 Bow Green Road.
13 (Tue) 7 pm Bowdon Church School Carol Service.
14 (Wed) 11.30 am Holy Communion.
12 noon Lunch Club.
2 pm Altrincham Preparatory School Junior Carol Service.
2.15 pm St Mary’s Mothers’ Union shared Carol Service at St Luke’s Church with the Methodist Ladies.
8 pm A Service of Healing.
18 Fourth Sunday of Advent
(Third Sunday in December)
8 am Holy Communion.
9.30 am Said Matins.
9.30 am St. Luke’s Holy Communion.
10.45 am Family Service with presentation by Trekkers.
followed by coffee at the back of the church.
6.30 pm Service of Nine Lessons and Carols.
19 (Mon) 11.15 am Altrincham Girls’ Grammar School Carol Service I
2.15 pm Altrincham Girls’ Grammar School Carol Service II.
20 (Tue) 11 am Altrincham Boys’ Grammar School Carol Service.
21 (Wed) 11.30 am Holy Communion.
12 noon Lunch Club.
6 pm Christingle Service.
24 (Sat) Christmas Eve.
4 pm Blessing of the Crib.
11.30 pm Midnight Communion Service.
Oblations: The Churchwardens.
25 Christmas Day
(Fourth Sunday in December)
8 am Holy Communion.
9.30 am St. Luke’s Holy Communion
10.45 am Family Service.
followed by coffee at the back of the church.
7.00 pm Night Prayer (said) for Christmas
January
1 First Sunday of Christmas
(First Sunday in January)
8 am Holy Communion.
9.30 am St. Luke’s Holy Communion.
10.45 am Holy Communion, (Order One).
Oblations: The PCC.
followed by coffee at the back of the church.
6.30 pm Evening Prayer.
4 (Wed) 11.30 am Holy Communion.
12 noon Lunch Club.
7.30 pm PCC Meeting in the Johnson Hall.
5 (Thu) 10 am St. Luke’s, Holy Communion with Mothers’ Union.
10.30 Coffee drop-in at St. Luke’s.
8 First Sunday of Epiphany
(Second Sunday in January)
8 am Holy Communion.
9.30 am St. Luke’s Holy Communion.
10.45 am Family Service.
followed by coffee at the back of the church.
6.30 pm Choral Evensong.
Each week we pray for people living in the Parish.
|
Wk/begin |
We pray for those living in |
|
4 Dec |
Blueberry Road. |
|
11 Dec |
Eyebrook Road and Barry Rise. |
|
18 Dec |
Wolsey Drive, Kings Acre, Courteney Place. |
|
25 Dec |
Royal Gardens, Windsor Drive and Sandringham Close. |
|
1 Jan |
Vicarage Lane and Brereton Close. |
|
8 Jan |
Hall Road, Side Avenue, Hopkins Field and Vale Court. |
REGISTERS
Baptism We welcome into God’s Church family
Judah Fletcher Jacob and Millie Baama
Weddings We congratulate
Martin Storrs and Amy Stageman
Funerals We commend to God
Arthur Simcock Michael Starkey Marjorie Heaford
Bulletin Board
The Sixty Club
Monday December 5th at 7.30 for 8 pm.
Speaker: - Mo Holland
“Libya - Treasure House of the Ancient World.”
St Mary’s Christmas Cards
A few left at:-
St Mary’s
St Luke’s
Helgason’s Chemist, Bowdon Vale.
Richard’s Fruit Shop, Park Road, Hale.
Michael Peckett Hairdressing, Hale
Enquiries Mrs M Murdie 928 0188.
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