St John the Baptist In the Wilderness

Cragg Vale

Benefice of Erringden

Newsletter

November 2013

2

CHURCH SERVICES in November 2013

CW1 = Yellow book CW2 = Green book

3 Nov

4th before Advent

09.30 16.00

Family Communion All soul’s Service

10 Nov 3rd before Advent

Remembrance Day 09.30 CW1 Holy Communion

17 Nov

2nd before Advent 09.30 CW2 Holy Communion

24 Nov Christ the King

Last before Advent 09.30 CW1 Holy Communion

<><><><>

SSppeecciiaall PPaarriisshh MMeeeettiinngg Since the AGM in May we have only had the one Churchwarden instead of the two that we should have. Geraint has been doing a splendid job, with much help from Ed and from Julie.

We are happy to announce that Amanda Farthing has agreed to become a Churchwarden. We are all delighted about this, but certain things have to happen before Amanda can officially commence her duties.

The first thing that has to happen is that she is properly elected by the Parish, not just the PCC.

Therefore we will hold a Special Parish Meeting after church, around 10.30 a.m., on Sunday 10th November. Anyone resident within the Parish is welcome to attend.

Once she has properly elected we can then arrange for Amanda to be sworn in by the Archdeacon.

3

November - the month for memories and remembering

We start the month with All Saints on the 1st November, an ancient feast which has been celebrated since the 4th Century. The Church had always commemorated the date of the death of its notables particularly when they had been martyred such as Peter and Paul. But what about those who had died and not been well known? So the Festival of All Saints was inaugurated to celebrate all those who have died in the faith. All Souls day is the day after; this festival in its original form has virtually fallen by the wayside now. Its purpose was to pray for those who had not received the Last Rites before death and so were said to be in purgatory. These days a simple service in memory of those who have died is generally held around this time of year. This is to give those who are mourning an opportunity to remember, and thank God for their loved ones. This service this year at St John’s is at 4pm on the 3rd November. In addition, some of the local funeral directors are holding a special service of carols and remembering at St. Michael’s on the 11th December at 7pm. Everyone is welcome to join us for both of these services.

The 5th November of course is Guy Fawkes Night, remembering the Gunpowder Plot of 1605. Is it just me who thinks that we have perhaps remembered it enough? I’m prejudiced I know; I do not like fireworks and never have. We will of course still be having our Bonfire Party on Friday 8th November, see the poster for full details.

Finally on the 10th and 11th we turn our eyes towards remembering all those who have died serving this country in war. Not forgetting all those who have been injured physically or mentally by their service. I am looking forward to sharing this special time with you at all of the Acts of Remembrance.

So November is a reflective month, a sad month, which seems matched by the weather. It is not a time of forsakenness though. God is still with us; we are not left bereft and forgotten by Him. Pray, Love, Remember. May these three things guide our thoughts this month.

Cathy

4

CCHHUURRCCHHWWAARRDDEENNSS’’ RREEPPOORRTT October has been another busy month. We’ve had a baptism and a wedding, both of which were lovely occasions enjoyed by everyone involved. Ethel Elspeth Lawes Brown was very well behaved and it was a real pleasure to welcome her and her family in to our church family. The hard work and genuine enthusiasm shown by so many people in preparing for Chris and Kaomi’s wedding demonstrated once again the spirit of loving friendship that is alive in our congregation and community.

We are hugely grateful to Amanda Farthing who has offered to step in to the breech as churchwarden. We are having a special parish meeting (see details) to formally elect Amanda after which she can be officially sworn in by the Archdeacon and really start to put us all in our place!

Thanks to everyone who gave so generously on Gift day this month and to all who contributed to our food collection for Harvest festival. This will be distributed to those in need through the food bank in Todmorden.

Thanks also to those who have offered help with the upkeep of the churchyard – a lot of work has been done in the last month and with a bit more effort in November we should be sorted for the winter. Please see the jobs list on the notice board if you’re able to help in any way, and thanks in advance! Geraint

<><><><>

When my back is too old to bend,

When my knees are too old to kneel, When my hands are too old to tend,

And fingers far too old to feel, When my ears will not hear again,

Leaf moving, or sound of rain, When my eyes are too old to see

The apple orchard’s ecstasy, O memory, stay young with me!

Fay Inchfawn

5

PPCCCC MMiinnuutteess There is not a lot to report from the September meeting of the PCC as we are still waiting for the finalised plans for the Church from the Architect. The removal of the organ, however, appears to be progressing. The Church in France is still very interested and making all necessary arrangements. We are hoping these will reach fruition. David Baker is to produce a CD, which we shall be able to sell for Church funds. It is hoped that he will include some Cragg carols Offers of help in the Churchyard have been received, but the strimmer is not fit for purpose so we need a new one. A list of jobs has been circulated so that volunteers will know where to start. Any more volunteers will be most welcome. Offers of help with storage during the alterations have been received from two people. The Treasurer reported that a further £2,500 has been paid to the Common Fund and that we still have some money, but of course, could always use more! We are to buy smart water to protect the lead on the building from theft. Beryl Horsfall, Secretary to the PCC

FFrroomm tthhee RReeggiisstteerrss

Sunday 6th October, the Baptism of

Ethel Elsbeth Lawes Brown

We are pleased to welcome Ethel into Christ’s family.

Saturday 26th October, the wedding of

Christopher John Thomas Murty and Kaomi Jones

We wish them a long and happy life together

6

Yorkshire Countrywomen’s Association

Cragg Vale Branch

At the October meeting the speaker was Ann Kilbey whose subject was ‘Dawson City and the building of the Walshaw Dean Reservoirs’. With a desperate need for water in an expanding Halifax, having received permission from Parliament, tenders were sought for the construction of 3 reservoirs at Walshaw. Enoch Tempest, a construction engineer from Stockport, put in a bid for £170,000, which was accepted.

Work started in September 1900, and included the waterman’s cottage, which turned out to be a huge house with stables and even a Carrera marble fireplace. Tempest first built a railway from Heptonstall to the reservoir site. Huge teams of horses were used to pull engines up the hill. Bridges were built of pitch pine, the largest one was at Blake Dean. The trains then carried men and goods to the reservoir site. Huts were built to house navvies and their families and the village became known as Dawson City, a ‘City in the Hills’. A hospital was built, and a mission hut for church services, classes and social events. A room in the headmaster’s house at Heptonstall school had to be used to accommodate the navvies children.

In 1907 the reservoirs were officially opened but after a month all 3 were leaking and remedial work was needed, though not through bad workmanship, it was due to geological faults. In 1910 Halifax Corporation took over the reservoirs and by 1915 all work was completed.

Muriel Morgan thanked Ann for a fascinating insight into another world and another time.

The Macmillan coffee morning held at Jane Redman’s house raised £545. Well done, and thank you very much to everyone who contributed.

The next meeting is on Monday 11 November and is the AGM.

Muriel Morgan

7

Lest We Forget Sunday 10th November is Remembrance Sunday, when we think about the men from our Parish who gave their lives in the two World Ward. Geraint will read the list of names, but thanks to Mike Edwards, who has made a study of the fallen from Calderdale, I can tell you a little more about a few of them:

Gibson Broadbent, Formerly of Cragg Vale, moved to Lumbutts, missing in action in 1918, though also reported to have died as a P.O.W.

Walter Clegg, 49 years old lived at 13 Church Bank, Cragg Vale. His mother was Alice and father Ellis. Walter was unmarried, he was a twister at Hinchliffe & Sons, cotton spinners, he played for Cragg Vale Cricket Club. Walter’s father Ellis had already lost his wife in 1905 and six of their children (various ages) when Walter was killed in 1916. Walter has no known grave.

Albert Hartley son of Joe and Mary Ann of 5, Birks Hall, Cragg Vale, worked on the railway. Older brother of Wilson (below), killed in France in 1918, aged 27.

Wilson Hartley like his brother Albert attended St John’s Church and Sunday School , played cricket for Cragg Vale CC, worked for Redman Bros. in Mytholmroyd, killed in 1916, aged 23. Fred Helliwell 26 years old, lived at Vale Bower, Mytholmroyd, went to Cragg Vale Wesleyan Sunday School, worked for T.Shaw & Co. Central Works, Hebden Bridge, killed in 1917, no known grave.

Herbert Bentley Heseltine 37 years, lived at 5 East View, Mytholmroyd, attended St. John’s Church and Sunday School, a member of Cragg Vale Lodge of Free Foresters , and played cricket for Cragg Vale and Mytholmroyd Cricket Clubs, was engaged to Miss Ada Whitaker, and worked at Hoo Hole Dyeworks, killed in 1917.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young. Straight of limb, true of eyes, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted, They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old: Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, We will remember them. Laurence Binyon

8

St John’s, Cragg Vale

BONFIRE and FIREWORK DISPLAY

At ‘Springfield’, Cragg Vale

Friday 8th November

Bonfire lit at 6.30 pm Fireworks at 7.15 pm

Adults - £2.50 Children - £1.50

Under 16s must be accompanied by a responsible adult

Refreshments available

QQuuoottaabbllee QQuuootteess In faith there is enough light to believe and enough shadows to blind those who don’t.

Faith is the bird that sings when the dawn is still dark.

Some things have to be believed to be seen.

To believe with certainty we must begin with doubting.

Faith is building on what you know is here, so you can reach what you know is there.

9

Renting the Best Seats in Church by Christopher Howse One Sunday, Elinor Burnett stepped into Alison Brown’s pew at All Saints church, Oxford, and bade her “give her elders and betters some room.” Mrs Brown refused to give way and replied that “she did acknowledge her to be her elder, but not her better”. That was in 1596, but it was not the first falling out over seats in church, nor the last. The trouble was that people would insist they owned pews, and had paid good money for them. A court judgment in 1612 had declared that a church “is dedicated and consecrated to the service of God, and is common to all inhabitants”, and therefore it belonged to the Bishop to decide the question of ownership of a seat there. This confirmed a decree of the Synod of Exeter in 1297. Yet pews were still being rented annually as late as 1970, at Much Wenlock, Shropshire, and their sale and traffic, though illegal, or at least unlawful, continued for centuries with connivance of churchwardens and clergy. Some pews were erected with a diocesan faculty (establishing their right to exist in the church). These, and others built by those who used them, were naturally regarded as a sort of private property. At Warrington, in 1631, Thomas Ireland set up a pew “in the manner of a scaffold 12 feet high on pillars of wood overlooking the pulpit and congregation”. At Yeovil in 1837 pews in the parish church sold well at auction, on behalf of the churchwardens, fetching between £16 and £90 each, some bought by investors, one of whom bought 13. The scandal, if it was seen as such by a firmly stratified society, was that the poor were edged out to perch on benches and stools in the odd bits of space left at the back or middle of the church. To the outsider the effect of rented pews in church could be off-putting. “I did go once,” a Monmouthshire man wrote in 1882, “but the people were all shut in, and the folk in the boxes looked at me as if I had in without paying: so after walking up and down a few times, like a man at the station trying to get a seat when the train is full, I went home.”

10

Although preaching formed a prominent part of services after the Reformation, many in the congregation sat in their pews perforce facing away from the preacher. Worse inconveniences occurred. At Llangattock church in Carmarthenshire, “Mrs Crawshay brought her dogs and had tea served on a table in her pew during service.” In other cases fires were stoked in pews by snug owners oblivious of the disturbance. Some churchmen out against “pew abomination”. In the 17th century, Archbishop Laud’s objection was not so much social division as the chatter or “jangling” when people were seated. The great movement against pew-rents came in the 19th century. In 1842 the engaging ecclesiastical reformer Francis Paget published a novel, Milford Malvoism, or, Pews and Pewholders, with its moral that “the wealthy few have driven, in many places, the Poor from our churches”. Among the forces against reform were the pew-openers. Unusually for people with power in the church, these were women, often energetic types who filled their week with charring and taking in washing, although the census of 1851 put down 658 of them as being employed in connection with the “learned professions”. On the eve of his marriage, David Copperfield dreamed of one of these formidable figures “arranging us like a drill sergeant before the altar rails”. The end of rents came with the physical removal of pews, and the parallel dismantling of a society where substantial citizens all went to church. Our thanks to Mrs June Mowbray for supplying this article.

!"!"!"!"!"!"!

“Mummy has no idea how to raise children”, said the child to his father. “How can you say such a thing?” replied the father. “Well, Mummy always sends me to bed at night when I’m not tired, and wakes me up in the morning when I am not.”

11

BBooookk CClluubb

The next meeting of the Book Club will be at St. Michaels at 7pm on

Tuesday, 3rd December to discuss 'The Colour Purple' by Alice Walker.

Anne Beard

Quick Guide to Forthcoming Events

11 Nov YCA, St Johns, 7.30 pm. AGM 18 Nov St Johns PCC, 6.30 pm at the back of church. 27th Nov to 1st Dec St Michael’s Amateurs present

The Wizard of Oz. For tickets ring 07717 128 210

For more information about what’s going on in our Benefice

Log on to www.erringdenbenifice.org.uk

Professor to a student: “Can you think of a solution to end unemployment?” “Yes, sir! I’d put all the men on one island and all the women on another.” “And what would they be doing then?” “Building boats.”

Date Sidesmen Readers Servers Coffee

3 Nov

Dorothy & Barry Shepherd

Hugh Morgan Victoria Doris Wheelwright

10 Nov

Sylvia Maudsley & Doris Wheelwright

June Mowbray Margaret Carol & Patrick Taylor

17 Nov

Amanda Farthing & Ed Talbot

Doris Hirst Mary Anne Beard & Beryl Horsfall

24 Nov

Betty Disley & Beryl Horsfall

Jaqui Knowles Gordon Dot & Barry Shepherd

Parish Contacts

Vicar Rev Cathy Reardon 01422 883944

Assistant Minister Rev Martin Macdonald 01422 881543

Churchwarden Geraint Harris 01422 885183

Editor Ann Kilbey 01422 882858 ann.kilbey@btinternet.com

Published by St John the Baptist in the Wilderness, Cragg Vale, in the Benefice of Erringden.

Rotas for November 2013

Deadline for contributions for the December/January magazine is 24th November please.