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Totnes & Bridgetown Parish Magazine, Oct 2017
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Mary Harris’s garden party in aid of St John’s windows fund. Photos contributed.
Above: Mary and Rev’d Steve Jones . Below: No explanation needed!
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COVER PHOTO: Totnes weir with the twin Archimedes screw tur-
bines going flat out after recent storms. The electricity generated pow-
ers hundreds of homes and the aluminium foundry on Totnes industri-
al estate. Salmon going up and down the fish passes are automatical-
ly photographed and counted, providing valuable statistics and an
educational resource for children at nearby Kevics School.
Above: more pictures from Mary Harris’s garden party.
Below: the St John’s Wednesday morning Café in full swing.
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SUNDAY SERVICES
May be subject to change: check the weekly bulletins or website for updates
1 Oct
Trinity 16
8 Oct
Trinity 17
15 Oct
Trinity 18
22 Oct
Trinity 19
29 Oct
Last Sun
After Trinity
JO JO SJ JO JO/SJ TOTNES 8.00
- JL Harvest
11.00am United service
HC X Ext
LW
TG
Iona
BRIDGE-
TOWN
9.30
SJ/JO United service
- HC X Ext
LW
JO TOTNES
11.15
Compline
Evensong?
TOTNES
6.30
Sacred Space
DP
BRIDGE-
TOWN 630
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"You
can't
see me,
can
you?"
she
would
say,
screw-
ing her
eyes
tightly shut the moment I found her.
Melissa was three years old, with
rosy cheeks, blond hair and blue
eyes. She was one of the children I
looked
after at
home
while
their par-
ents were
working.
Melissa
lived on
the family
farm. She
liked to
play qui-
etly by herself and when the noise
and excitement of other three and
four year olds charging around be-
came too much for her, she would
"disappear" to a peaceful place for a
while.
Many of us experience times when
the pressures and demands, the
overload of news and information,
and the constant noise of everyday
life seem overwhelming and we long
simply to disappear, to be invisible, to
escape......just for a while.
We are continuously invaded by too
many words, sounds, ideas, opinions
and images. We are entertained, but
burdened by, a surfeit of stimuli, filling
any space or silence. The internet
offers round-the-clock research facili-
ties, news, entertainment and games,
banking and commerce, shopping,
auctions, property purchase, job
search facilities, voting and gambling,
healthcare advice and advertising.
Every day
we are
subjected
to an esti-
mated
3000 -
5000
marketing
messag-
es and
receive
the equiv-
alent of
174 newspapers of information. We
become addicted to the buzz of new
data. We're afraid of missing a vital
phone call. Instant messaging and a
long list of Facebook "friends" give a
sense of relatedness, and getting
many emails makes us feel that peo-
ple need us and want us - now.....but
at what cost?
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To receive the full colour edition
of this magazine via email every
month, please send a message
to:
The World Health Organisation
warned twenty years ago that noise is
a major threat to health and wellbe-
ing. It affects digestion, blood pres-
sure, foetal development, mental and
emotional health, and our quality and
length of sleep. The 24/7 society di-
vorces us from our natural rhythms,
including Sabbath rest. Technology
increasingly impinges on our home
life and holidays. A noisy environ-
ment, constantly receiving messages
and seeking information make us
restless and increase an already driv-
en pace of life. Listening and breadth
of conversation are cramped, togeth-
er with concentration and creativity.
The more input, the greater the need
for assimilation and reflection. "Come
away with me," Jesus said to his
friends when life became overcrowd-
ed. "Let us go alone to a quiet place
and rest for a while". We need to
make space for peace and quiet, si-
lence and solitude to live a balanced,
healthy life. Like Melissa, we need
“you-can't-see-me, can-you?” times
when we can withdraw for a while
and rest in the love of God.
The Rev’d Gill Still
CALLING CHARITY CHRISTMAS
CARD SHOP VOLUNTEERS! Could you join the friendly team man-
ning the Totnes Cards for Good Causes
pop-up charity Christmas card shop?
Cards for Good Causes are seeking more
volunteers to help run their charity
Christmas card shop in Bogan House in
the lead up to Christmas. The shop will
be open from 20 October to 09 Decem-
ber.
Volunteers are asked to
just give three hours of
time once a week or
fortnight over seven
weeks to help raise
funds for national and
local charities.
Training is provided and volunteers usu-
ally work either a morning or afternoon
session.
It can be a chance to meet new people,
get some work experience or simply get
involved in something worthwhile and
rewarding.
Anyone interested should contact Frances Guy, Regional Organiser, 01392 439599 [email protected]
SACRED SPACE is at 6.30 - 7.15 p.m. on Sunday October 1st. The theme is "The river of life"
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It’s just a thought
The flight had been cancelled and a long line formed at the desk. Sud-denly a man pushed in front and said, ‘I want a seat in first class’! The attendant told the man to go back to his place in the queue. At this the man said in a loud voice, ‘Don’t you know who I am’? The attendant looked at him, and then announced, ‘We have a passen-ger here who doesn’t know who he is, if any-one can help please come to the desk”!
We all love a fun-ny story and none more than the Jewish peo-ple. In fact the Jews just loved stories and used them to tell truths about God and about life.
One Old Testament story tells of the Israelite city of Samaria which was under a great siege from an enemy army. So great was the siege that the Israelites were starv-ing to death. They were reduced to eating donkey’s heads and drinking dove’s dung, whatever that was: and even resorted to some canni-balism.
Now at the gate of the city there were four lepers who said to each other, ‘If we stay here we shall die. Let’s go over to the enemy camp, we have nothing to lose’. So they went over and had the surprise of their life because the enemy, hav-ing heard a great noise, had ran off and left everything behind, clothing,
food, water, mon-ey, just every-thing.
So the lepers had a good tuck in and began to hide the stuff away so that they could come back later and make them-selves rich. But then they had a touch of con-science and said, ‘This is wrong. Let’s go back to the city and tell the King the won-derful news’, so they did, but the King didn’t be-lieve them and
said it was a trick. But after some time the king was persuaded and the people scrambled through the gates to enjoy life again.
We can interpret this story in many ways but for me I think there can be times in our own life when we feel besieged and imprisoned by cir-cumstances. There seems to be trouble on every side and there is
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no way out.
Even our faith in God is challenged and we cannot feel that deep peace within us – and the shadows of dis-belief creep over us.
It must be the same for those hun-dreds of thousands who in the past month have lost everything in the raging storms, floods and the move-ment of the earth. Those who lost friends and loved ones must have wondered if they would ever eat or drink again or have a home and see their family.
But in the Bible story there was an-other voice, the voice of Elisha, the man of God whose words to the king had been that it would not al-ways be like this and that his peo-ple would live again.
These were wonderful words of hope, and hope is precious and life giving.
Sometimes we cannot see past our present situation and like the Israel-ites feel life has gone out of us for good. I know that when feelings of grief and loss overpower us it is not easy to feel the presence of God around us. At these times in the darkest of days we must listen for that still small voice of hope and dare to believe that one day we shall thank God for carrying us through the wind and rain and earth moving trials of our life.
So take courage my friend - you may not have a first-class ticket but God will remember who you are.
Rev’d Cliff Berdinner
St Mary’s: The Reformation?
A personal view by Ian Wintersgill(continued from last issue)
From the Elizabethan settlement to
the 1662 Book of Common Prayer,
through more bloody conflict, what
we term "Anglicanism" was forged,
the appearance in 1611 of the King
James Bible being another land-
mark. Anglicanism is a synthesis. In
many ways St. Mary's reflects that.
From near the High Altar, which my
parents would always term
"Communion Table" -- same shape,
same position, same purpose —
you may see lovely Victorian
stained glass, a glorious mediaeval
screen, a fine organ, plus the mon-
ument to the Blackhall family. We
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have the Seymour Bibles, the Ru-
bens engraving and Yenning me-
morial. Walter Smith (died 1555),
three times mayor,
who possibly saved
the church by dis-
sociating it from the
Priory at the Disso-
lution and then in
1553 built the new
north aisle, is re-
membered.
My own favourite
plaque, above the
Friends' corner,
tells of Mary Jane
Eames, 1823 -
1911: "37 years of
faithful service as
caretaker and sex-
toness in this
Church." So, the Reformation? The
title of Diarmaid MacCulloch's mag-
isterial tome on the subject is, simp-
ly, " Reformation." We had one in
the 10th century, instigated by Saint
Dunstan. Luther's actions were,
in this view, part of a process,
which perhaps continues. In his
preface to the King James Bi-
ble, "The Translators to the
Reader," Myles Smith likened
the translation to the opening of
a window, so that light might
enter. This seems to me an apt
metaphor, not only to describe
the action of eliminating the corrup-
tion and obscurantism of the Catho-
lic church in the time of "The Refor-
mation", albeit at
the cost of many
lives and terrible
wars, but to illus-
trate what we hear
each Christmas
Eve in John's Gos-
pel concerning the
Light of the World.
We have
"Reformation" win-
dows, as I like to
call them, in Saint
Mary's, simple and
unadorned. As with
life, the light does
not always come
through them in
great continuous
streams of blistering brightness
(certainly not in my life!) but often
seeps through a murk of mist or
storm, but it never ceases.
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“It is more fun to talk with someone who doesn’t use long, difficult words but
rather short, easy words like ‘What about lunch?’” Winnie-the-Pooh
“A day without a friend is like a pot without a
single drop of honey inside.” Winnie-the-Pooh
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God has a plan - trust Him
‘He makes everything work out
according to his plan.’ Ephesians
1:11
The Bible says, ‘The LORD will
withhold no good thing from those
who do what is right’ (Psalm
84:11 NLT). Sometimes we pray
for a certain thing, believing it’s
good for us. But God, who has a
plan for your life, knows what
would be ‘good’ and what would-
n’t be. Billy Graham’s wife, Ruth,
said if God had answered all her
prayers when she was young,
she’d have married the wrong
man - several times. Two tear-
drops were floating down the river
of life. One asked the other, ‘Who
are you?’ The second replied, ‘I'm
the teardrop from the girl who
loved a man and lost him. Who
are you?’ The first teardrop re-
plied, ‘I am the teardrop of the girl
who got him.’ That’s the way life
goes, isn’t it? We cry over what
we don’t have, not realising we
might have cried twice as hard if
God had given it to us. The ex-
pression ‘walking by faith’ means
trusting the plan God has already
worked out, and will reveal to you
on a need-to-know basis. Paul
said, ‘I have learned in whatever
state I am, to be con-
tent’ (Philippians 4:11 NKJV).
Clearly his contentment didn’t
come from his surroundings,
since he spent all but seven years
of his ministry in prison. So,
where did it come from? The
knowledge that God ‘makes eve-
rything work out according to his
plan’. Does that mean Paul under-
stood every detail of God’s plan?
No, but when he didn’t under-
stand the plan, he trusted the
Planner! And that’s where Paul’s
peace, joy, and contentment
came from. The same goes for
you.
‘From UCB's Word for Today, a free
publication available in both our
churches and throughout the UK.
Web www.ucb.co.uk
ANTHONY STILWELL RESTORATIONS
Antique and modern furniture restored and repaired
French polishing undertaken
Tel : 01803 863030
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Learn Spanish with a very unique native
speaker who has developed
her very own methods to
facilitate language tuition to
every single individual (15
years experience) in the com-
fort of your own home or
come out !
Interested ?
Call on 01803 862912
So many people enjoyed a wonderful tea at Mary Harris’s Garden Party at the end
of July. With generous donations the final figure is over £1600 .... to boost the fund-
raising for St John's new windows Appeal. Mary would like to thank all who helped
from all our churches in Totnes a fine Ecumenical effort of fellowship over the tea
pots and bric a brac !
Advertising charges
Totnes & Bridgetown Parish Magazine
Based on A5 pages, 12 monthly insertions
Circulation: 100 printed copies + approx. 200 sent via email.
Contact Mr Julian Hall, t: 01803 867537, e: [email protected]
Full page Half page Third of
page
Quarter
page
Sixth of
page
Black & white/
greyscale (inner
pages)
96.00 48.00 32.00 24.00 16.00
Colour
(Back page only)
240.00 120.00 80.00 60.00 40.00
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Team Rector, The Reverend Prebendary Julian C OuId 01803 865615, The Revd. Deborah Parsons, Team Vicar 01803 840113
Licensed Reader/Safeguarding Officer Liz Waterson 01803 849345, (Childline 0800 1111) The Reverend John Luscombe 01803 864514, [email protected]
Licensed Reader, Tony Gregg 01803 813885,
Support Group: This group is open to anyone who is suffering from bereavement or any other kind of loss. For full details contact
Rev'd Debbie Parsons on 01803 840113.
TIMES OF SUNDAY SERVICES
St Mary's Totnes
8.00 am ..
11.15 am ..
6.30 pm Alternate 1st Sunday
6.30 pm 3rd Sunday
St John's, Bridgetown 9.30 am ..
Eucharist
Sung Eucharist
Compline
Sung Evensong
Family Communion
TIMES OF WEEKDAY SERVICES—St Mary's, Totnes
7.45 am Tues, Thurs Early morning prayers 8.30 am Fri, Sat .. Morning Prayer 10.30 am 2nd & 4th Wed .. Eucharist
Major Saints' Days
9.00 am at St Mary's Eucharist
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Submissions for the next Newsletter by 20th of the previous month please.
Churchwardens
Martin Harvey
01803
868336
Julian Hall 01803
867537
Deputy Churchwarden
Vacant
St Mary's Totnes
Verger
Vacant
Jan Dietz, Director of Music 01803
77051
Jane Mountford, St Mary's bookings 01803
862499
Jenny Griffin, Church Hall bookings 01803
865685
St John's, Bridgetown
The Reverend John Luscombe
Contact details on previous page
Liz Chandler, Director of Music 01803
669199
St John’s bookings
K Courtice, Team Administrator
01803
865615
Misc.
Julian Hall Weekly envelope
and Gift Aid recorder
01803
867537 [email protected]
Rev’d Cliff Berdinner (Retired) 01803
840730
Jane Mountford, weekly newsletter 01803
862499 [email protected]
Julian Hall, monthly magazine 01803
867537 [email protected]
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