Parish Who’s Who

The Reverend Richard Morrison The Vicarage, 1 Broadgate, Whaplode Drove, Spalding, Lincolnshire, PE12

OTN 01406 330392

Reader Sally Clifton, 9 Broadgate Sutton St James PE12 0EL 01945 440168

Authorised Lay Ministers Jane Spriggs 01945 700004 Jane Sivers 01406 331330

ChurchwardensSutton St Edmund

Jane Spriggs ‘The Acorns’ Broadgate 01945 700004Meg Norman 8 Cross Road 01945 700798

Sutton St JamesPauline Stebbings, Willow Farm Jarvisgate 01945 440285

Sally Clifton 9 Broadgate 01945 440168

Gedney HillRoy Houldershaw 70 North Road 01406 330981

Dave Ingle 36 North Road 01406 330732

Whaplode DroveMorris Stancer Morvista Avenue Farm, Dowsdale Crowland

01406 330544Jane Sivers 10 Chapel gate 01406 331330

Village ReportersSt Edmund - Jane Spriggs

St James - Pauline StebbingsWhaplode Drove - Jane Sivers

Gedney Hill – Janet Coles & Marilyn Collishaw

Magazine EditorsJane Spriggs 01945 700004 Sally Clifton 01945 440168

Elloe Fen Benefice MagazineServing the Parishes of St John the Baptist Whaplode Drove, Holy Trinity Gedney Hill (w) St Polycarp’s, Sutton St Edmund and Sutton St James.

June and July 2016

May God grant that our hearts, our eyes and our handsMay receive His inspiration,

Enabling us to glorify this house with the beauty of the leavesAnd blossoms which He has created.

Sutton St James Parish Church Flower Festival

Once again we had the most amazing response to our annual flower festival. Thank you to all the wonderful arrangers who contributed such beautiful displays. New arrangers this year included Stacey Cooper who did a delicate lilac and cream arrangement using the maypole as a theme, and Annette working with Marjory, did a lovely arrangement in lilies in the porch. Pat used some fantastic Gerberas in her maypole on the font. Gail placed a mannequin in a lovely wedding dress at the centre of her May Queen display; husband Peter had to man handle the naked torso and legs separately to get her (the mannequin, not Gail) into church, to the merriment of the ladies working there. Mandy arranged a splendid ‘Star Wars display with a life sized Yoda, to commemorate Star Wars Day (May the 4th be with you!) The 90th birthday of Her Majesty the Queen was marked by a lily decorated throne in front of the pulpit. Pentecost was done by Sally, in orange and fiery pink and red roses on the top south window, and Elsie did Ascension in yellow and white on the south west window. The stained glass windows in the apse were decorated in beautiful blush roses, lilies and lisianthus by Pauline. Janet N. did two elegant matching arrangements in deep lilac coloured roses in front of the altar and Rene created a spectacular display in yellow roses and orange lilies behind the pulpit and down the pulpit steps. Janet G did a lovely red display by the war memorial and Maggie and Yvonne did a lovely arrangement each in the north windows. Jane put together lilies under Our Lady and Michael contributed two of his hanging baskets. Gwen and Pam, helped by other

arrangers did lots of little pots with orange gerberas as the accent colour. The various children’s groups contributed craft displays to the flower festival. Rainbows and the playgroup made paper flowers in long displays placed around the choir stalls and the Brownies made two floral banners which were draped along the altar rails. The youth club contributed images of football players which were stood in the youth club goal under the oak trees, a floral football hung from the crossbar. The school children all coloured in flower heads which were pinned to red ribbons and hung in a maypole display in front of the bell tower. On Friday afternoon the whole school came over to the green in front of the church and did some maypole dancing. It was a lovely afternoon and everyone sat on the grass and enjoyed the spectacle.

The ladies and gentlemen who manned the stalls on the green in front of the church had better weather this year. Thank you to everyone who contributed their time and energy to working on the stalls. A huge thank you to the lovely people who gave gifts for the tombola, plants, home made cakes, books and cds and jewellery. We were lucky to have some talented people run their own stalls

alongside us this year. Marion Potter from St Edmund brought along a selection of her hand made bags. Lucy Stebbings did craft work to order, and John Clifton and family brought a wonderful selection of plants. Thank you to all of you, you helped make the green a really interesting place to visit and we hope that you enjoyed meeting all the wonderful visitors. Once again we provided lunches in the church hall, thank you to all our patrons and we hope that you enjoyed your meal. New for next year will be a roast dinner on the Sunday, but we will need bookings for that one. Thank you to our lovely waitresses/washer uppers, Lucy, Georgina and Kirsty, for all your hard work and for brightening up the lunchtimes. A huge thank you to the ladies who assisted in the kitchens over the three days – Judith, Sylvia and Mandy. And we are very grateful to everyone who provided sweets – Marilyn’s cheesecake went down a treat again this year!On Sunday evening, we enjoyed a Songs of Praise following the ‘Merry Merry Month of May’ theme. Judith read the Magnificat in honour of Mary. Geoff read a lovely excerpt from ‘England, My England’ by DH Lawrence, in which he describes an English garden in early summer. Kirsty read ‘Maypole Dance’ by Michael Nyiri. Thank you to Tony for leading us so joyfully in the many hymns. And to the churchwardens for the usual punch!

Bishop’s Letter for June

So by the time that you read this, Ascension will have gone, Pentecost will have gone, the Archbishops’ initiative of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’, an eight-day call to prayer for the renewal of the Church and the confidence to share what we know to be true, placed between those two great Christian festivals, will be over, and the Church will have entered into what we unhelpfully call ‘Ordinary Time’.

Of course, no such time exists for the Church, unless by ‘ordinary’ we mean a time when we simply get on with the business of being the Church that we are called to be: living, proclaiming and growing the kingdom as Jesus told those who would follow him would be their task.

I recently took part in the annual Christian Aid walk across the Humber, meet-ing half-way with the Bishop of Hull, who was coming from the opposite direc-tion. We stopped and with others we prayed the simple prayer ‘Your kingdom come, Your will be done’. Simple, but profound and what we’re called to be about as Church particularly when we also seek to be the answer to the prayer we’ve prayed.

Eight Days of Prayer was the call of the Archbishops; but what if we continued and went beyond that? So that ‘Ordinary Time’ became what it was always in-tended to be, ‘getting on with the business’, ‘simply growing and doing the work’ time. What if we each committed to stop, to find a quiet space, and to pray daily a prayer like the one below. I wonder how ‘ordinary’ that time would then be?

Almighty God, source of our hope and of all good things; you have called the Diocese of Lincoln to be a healthy, vibrant and sustainable Church,

transforming lives in Greater Lincolnshire. Lead us through this vision, give leaders wisdom and direction, equip your disciples to

love you faithfully, others joyfully and to grow confidently through word and deed. So that through us the world may catch a glimpse of the love you have for each one of

us, through your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen.

+ David Grimsby – June 2016

Letter from Bishop Christopher

One of the many privileges of being Bishop of Lincoln is the joy of travelling round the beautiful counties of the diocese, discovering so many interesting places and meeting more inspirational and humbling people than I could ever

number. During the month of July, I will be travelling much further than usual, however: to Fiji, to represent the Church of England at an international consultation. I will be one delegate among many from around the world, all of whom will be representing their part of the Anglican Communion. My fellow delegates and I will gather from dioceses and provinces as diverse as Brazil, The Philippines, Central Africa, The Indian Ocean, Aotearoa, New Zealand and Polynesia, and Jerusalem and the Middle East, as well as from England.

We meet as delegates of USPG, a mission agency that believes that every person and every community should be able to live a full life. I will be travelling right around the world to attend the consultation, and meeting partners who face very different challenges from our own. Many of them face daily struggles with the effects of climate (or climate change), geography, war, poverty or famine. Yet I am struck by how similar USPG’s belief is to our own desire here in the diocese of Lincoln to see lives transformed through an encounter with the living God.

As members of the same human family across the world, all of us created and loved by God, we are united by so much more than the things that might divide us. I continue to pledge myself to do my part in the building up of God’s kingdom in our diocese, so that all the members of this part of the human family have the opportunity of a full life, and to become the people that God has created them to be.

May God bless all his people, wherever they may be, and may the message of his love for the world continue to inspire us in the work of transformation to which he has called us.

Bishop Christopher

What’s happening at Whaplode Drove?Church Services at St John the Baptist

Sunday 3rd July Holy Communion 11.00amSunday 10th July Holy Communion 8.00amSunday 17th July Family Worship 4.30pmSunday 23rd July Holy Communion 11.00amSunday 31st July United Service @ 10.30am

At Gedney Hill – Church venue to be confirmed In the past few months the WHAPLODE DROVE WI have welcomed a speaker from Riding for the Disabled and enjoyed a craft evening with the two Carols. The meeting on July 5th will be their birthday party and they have invited Alan Lamb the Fen Storyteller to entertain them. There will be a competition to add to the merriment; Ladies you are asked to produce a flower arrangement in a ramekin. Can someone take a photograph of the winning entry and send it to the church magazine please because that sounds like an interesting challenge.

St John the Baptist Gift Day Congratulations to the ladies who organised the lunches in the church rooms, I never got there this year but I understand they were well supported as always and made a profit of £376. The gift day for the church was also well supported but figures have not yet been released. Well done to everyone.

St John the Baptist Church FeteSunday 17th July

Bottle Stall Cakes

Plant Stall Bric a Brac Games

Afternoon Tea Everyone 2.00pm to 4.30pm Welcome

Sutton St Edmund Church Services and Village NewsSunday 3rd July Morning Prayer @ 9.15am Sides person Meg Reader Roy Organist June Sunday 10th July Holy Communion 9.15am Sides person Meg Reader Henry Organist June Sunday 17th July Morning Prayer @ 9.15amSides person Meg Reader Roy Organist JuneSunday 24th July Holy Communion @ 9.15am Sides person Jane Reader Henry Organist June

Sunday 31st July United Service @ 10.30amAt Gedney Hill – Church venue to be confirmed

St Edmund Village Hall Tombola St Edmund Short Mat Bowlers Wednesday 20th July Meet every Tuesday Doors open 6-45pm 7pm to 10pm Eyes down 7-30pm in the Everyone Welcome Village Hall The snowball is up and running New members always welcome Good prizes & refreshments available

The snowball, worth £40, was won in June by Mrs N Brown so well done & congratulations. A new snowball starts on July 20th.

After the service on the 12th June, June Neale was given a surprise party to celebrate her 80th birthday. The congregation celebrated with cake and sherry and sang Happy Birthday. Congratulations June from all your friends.

Last week we had a visit at the church, of Christine the niece of Bob and Olive Bush, with her family and friends from America. Christine had very kindly bought with her a wooden bowl with a brass plaque, inscribed in memory of Bob and Olive, which was accepted by Jane. During the Sunday's service, the bowl was blessed in their memory. It was lovely to meet Christine and family and show them the church and the grave.

On Sunday 26th June, we held a songs of praise service and the following folk who took part; Henry read the lesson, Roy read the poem ‘Reflection of a Thankful Heart’ by Helen Steiner Rice, Zoe Norman read the poem ‘Summer sun’ by Robert Louis Stevenson. Jane took the service, Meg, the collection and June played the organ, a big thank you to all who took part.

Sutton St James Church Services & Church NewsSunday 3rd July Morning Prayer @ 10.30am

Sides persons Gail & Fred Readers Peter & Sall Prayers SallSunday 10th July Holy Communion @ 10.30am

Sides persons Gail Readers Geoff & Fred Chalice Gwen Prayers Sall No Service in Church on Sunday 17th July Junior and Teen Church from 10.15am in Church Hall

Sunday 24th July Holy Communion @ 10.30am Sides persons Gail Readers Geoff & Cherril Chalice Pauline Prayers Richard

Sunday 31st July United Service @ 10.30amAt Gedney Hill – Church venue to be confirmed

Sutton St James Parish Church Coffee Morning

Saturday 9th July 10.00am to Midday Refreshments Raffle & fellowship

Thank you to Judith for hosting the May coffee morning and Peter & Gail for hosting the June Coffee morning. We are opening in July to help the many visitors to the Yard Sales in aid of the Lincolnshire Air Ambulance.

Thank you to Alan Johnson, Fred Rose and Andy Cooper, Mark Campling and Matthew & Edward Harrison for cutting the grass in the church yard. Thank you Doug Bowker for doing the paths, and many thanks to Andrew Downing for emptying the churchyard bins just before the flower festival.Junior Church starts in Sutton St James on Sunday 17th July, led by Reader Sally Clifton and assisted by Stacey Cooper. If you are aged between 5 and 10, and want to enjoy getting to know Jesus and his friends better through singing, dancing, games and arts and crafts then come to the church hall in Bells Drove at 10.00am. If you are aged 11 & above and want to discuss issue such as Nike or Adidas; which would Jesus choose then come to Teen Church at 10.45am. Games, quizzes & coffee are also on offer. Call Sall on 01945 440168 for more information about both sessions.Sutton St James Church Youth Club meet in the Church Hall and Paddock from 6pm to 9pm every Friday during the summer

FunDog

Show

months. If you are aged between 10 and 14, live in the village or went to the village primary school and want something very active to do on Friday evenings call Sall on 01945 440168.

Sutton St James 100 Club Winners Week 13 Rick Merrison £5 Week 14 £5 Rosalyn Mayle Week 15 £5 David

Godfrey Week 16 £5 J E Tanner Week 15 £25 Julie Leuty Week 16 £5 J E Garner Week 18 £5 Rosalyn Mayle Week 19 £5 Andrew Wilkinson Week 20 £5 Mary Owen

Week 20 £75.00 Marion Bates

The Good Companions will be holding their annual coffee morning from 10am to midday on Thursday 7th July at the Vil-lage Hall (seating outside if the weather is kind). Happy memor-ies of the coffee morning that used to be held annually at Jean Garners will no doubt add to the joy of the occasion. Normal meetings will be held from 2pm on the 6th July and the 27th of July. Bingo, also at 2pm, will be in the main hall on the 13th July, and the annual summer outing will take place on Wednesday 20th July. This year the members will be going to Wroxham Barns and then a drive around the coast. For details about join-ing this group which welcomes anyone over the age of 55, con-tact Jean on 01945 440535.Sutton St James Women’s Group are off to Oxburgh Hall in Norfolk on the 29 th June and hope to hold their annual BBQ in Ashy’s garden on 27th July. For further details, please call Cherril on 01945 440319.

Sutton St James Church Fundraising CommitteeInvite You All to our Annual Church

Saturday 9th July from 5.30pmChurch Hall Paddock Behind the

Church Hall in Bells Drove

Book places beforehand & Pay on the Night Tickets £7.00 eachBring Your Own Drinks

Please add your names to the list on the font or call Pauline on 01945 440285 or Sall on 01945 440168 to book tickets. GOINGS ON AT GEDNEY HILL

SERVICES AT HOLY TRINITY AND ST POLYCARP’S in JULYSunday 3rd St Polycarp’s Holy Communion 9.30amSunday 10th Holy Trinity Evensong 4.00pmSunday 17th Holy Trinity Holy Communion 9.30amSunday 23rd Holy Trinity BCP Matins 9.30am

Sunday 31st July United Service @ 10.30am At Gedney Hill – Church venue to be confirmedIf you have worries or concerns for a friend or family member and you would like them to be included in the parish prayers, please tell your church wardens. Janet Coles on (01406 330441) has agreed to take the names of those in especial need of our prayers in Gedney Hill & Holbeach Drove.

Fun & Games

at theGedney Hill Family Fun Day

Sunday 3rd July 2016 12 - 4pm

TUG OF WAR Go for it Girls

And The Vikings Are Coming!!

Everyone Come Along & Join in the Fun in Your Village Family Fun DayGedney Hill W.I.

Gedney Hill W.I.met on the 22nd of June, first we had the report from the W.I. AGM, held in June in different places every year.  One person goes as a representative for our groups and reports back, this year Crowland W.I. had that pleasure in Brighton!  Won't bore you with the details but it is the root of our cam-paigns for years to come.  This year it was the care of dementia patients in hospital and food waste, both of which we can lobby for support and put some pressure on the powers that be to change things for the better. Back to our meeting, due to illness, some of our members were missing so a few of us had the speaker to ourselves.  Dr Somerville is one of our most favourite, we had Quacks and quackery a few months ago and this time he was talking to about the Opium Eaters of the Fens, goodness me, this talk had us laughing and gasping in horror as he described the opium habit of the Fens, it is well known that fen men always had a clump of white poppies in their gardens to make a mild form of opium which they used for malaria, which was fairly common in the marshes, but it seems that too much of a good thing was a good thing!  Most of this came about because we as a nation were importing vast amounts which landed in London and then came to Ely which became the wholesalers of the Fens, the most opium was bought in Wisbech who then supplied the sur-rounding towns.  It was frightening how much they were imbib-ing, but as Dr Somerville pointed out, the more take the more resistant you become.  It caused a lot of infant deaths but strangely, adult addicts were living 20 years longer than their contemporaries. 

At last in 1896, aspirin arrived, and more robust licensing of medications such as opium and morphine, although you could still buy things with in until the 20th C.  I could go on, but I would urge you to seek out any talks that Dr Somerville is giv-ing, you may found out what a scruple is...........................?  Anyway, lots to do this year, we seem to have a lot of invita-tions.  Two of us went to the Houses of Parliament for a tour and a Q&A session with our MPs, next week we are going to Lincoln University for a tour and talk on forensics, can't wait.  Join the W.I. and you too can find out the origin of the carat and the grain!!Next month is the garden meeting but the October meeting is Moles Feet, Black Dogs and Grey Goose Feathers, I'm intrigued.. Patty

Holbeach Hospital is RecruitingAre you a qualified RGN/RMN who eitHer wants full/part time work or bank to supplement your existing job and have a passion to deliver excellent, evidence

based care.We are a 39 bedded home delivering high quality, gold standard care

to the local people of Holbeach.Due to retirement we have full and part-time vacancies available.

Please call Maxine or Liz on 01406 422283 for an application form or call in for a look round at

Holbeach and East Elloe Hospital Trust, Mill Lane, Holbeach PE128AQ

CHILD POVERTY ACTION GROUPChildren don’t care that the markets are in turmoil or that polit-ical parties are locked in in-fighting, that half the country is celebrating while the other half mourns. What our kids do care about are the little/big things – being able to have their friends round for tea.

Seeing a new place on a school trip. Not having to hear their parents stress about money. Figures out today show that 200,000 more children are in poverty than the year before – up to 3.9 million in total. Each one of those children is an individual, potentially missing out on the things he or she needs to thrive. These children don’t yet have a vote, so it’s up to all of us to speak for them.Whoever leads our main political parties, as they navigate the referendum aftermath and prepare for the next election, we want them to campaign on a platform that will address the real issues children and families are facing in the UK: low wages, high costs of housing and childcare, inadequate children’s be-nefits and a shortage of decent jobs. Help us by calling on your MP to ensure that their party leadership puts children first.Best wishes, Jessica Sinclair Taylor CPAG

Tales from the Bell Tower Sojourns of a Wet Summer Evening The evenings adventures were a repeat of our July 22nd 2014 outing, much en-joyed by Carolyn Gentle who requested, "another go". So Tuesday, June 14th saw us again at St James, Newton in the Isle and St Giles, Tydd St Giles where we thoroughly enjoyed call changes, Bob Doubles and Bob Minor. We thank Alan Paterson, Church Warden at St Giles, for meeting us at Newton and ringing with us at both towers. Alan mentioned that Newton bells had not been rung since March and indeed both towers no longer have active bell ringers; a sad indictment of modern life. However, there is an unusual design of chiming apparatus in the base of the tower from which the fifth bell is chimed during communion services. Interestingly this was installed by our old friend, James R Jerram in 1879. Readers may recall that James was once Church Warden at Fleet and his marked grave is some 50 yards or so from Fleet tower.

The detached tower at Tydd St Giles was constructed during extensive work in the 1880's, under the direction of Sir Gilbert Scott when the church was re-built. The earlier eastern end tower collapsed in 1741, taking part of the

with it, the probable cause being poor foundations and a strong wind, though local lore has it that the Devil pushed the tower down because he didn’t like the sound of the bells. Well I cannot say that the present ones are particularly tuneful.

Arriving at the Crown and Mitre car park the heavens opened, the rain ham-mering on the roof of my car. Through the spray I glimpsed the shadowy fig-ures of Doug and Terry racing for the dry-shall I -shan't I-oh well, may as well get wet. And so ended our evening in the warmth and comfort of the Crown. Incidentally this pub derives its name from a certain Nicholas Breakspeare, one time a curate of this parish, who, in 1154 became the only Englishman to oc-cupy the Papal Throne becoming Pope Adrian IV. Well, Pope Adrian, were you alive today, would you approve of this commemoration of your existence? Ob-serving our enjoyment, I think you would. J Bennett

Please pray for your Churchwardens – many of us couldn’t get to a visita-tion service in Sleaford or Freiston in May so Archdeacon Justine will be coming to All Saints in Holbeach on Sunday 17th July at 6.15pm.

Eternal God, when you call your servants to task, you promise to give them grace and strength to accomplish it. Mercifully

look upon those who have special responsibilities in your Church as churchwardens, that begin-

ning their work in reverence, following it through with obedience and completing

it in faithful devotion, they may be renewed by your Holy Spirit to live in

constant thankfulness to you; through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.

in East Ace A Service of prayer for the

PERSECUTED CHURCH 7.30pm on Wednesday 13th July 2016 in East Elloe At All Saints Church, Moulton