Secretary’s Chat
Ok where does the time go? When I retired, I thought I would have lots of time to do, well, whatever I wanted to do. Not true. The saying if you want something done ask a busy person is so true. As I type this, we are heading very quickly into the Winter months. Forget the sun I think it’s gone to bed. Maybe even time for the heating to go on…not in my house! I remember last year a lady called in and said “Oh sorry are you going out?” NOooo my husband was wearing his winter coat hat and gloves. Ian gets cold quicker than I do. Yes, it’s time to put your vest on folks. Don’t worry Derek is back and he will put the heating on in church.
Time to look forward to Christmas…. Too soon? Our Harvest Service is held at the end of September when all the produce we collect is being donated to the Food bank. Our thoughts and prayers are with all those who don’t have what we have. The things we take so much for granted, like a roof over our heads. Warm beds and food on the table. If there is anything you can do to help in any way, please do. Every little bit helps. Thank you all for supporting our coffee mornings held on the first Saturday of the month. September coffee morning supported The Hospice of the Good Shepherd. Along with the money Ian and Lesley raised walking the 7 Locks plus the Coffee morning we raised £700. This October we ask you to please come along and support Stand Up to Cancer. There will be the usual wonderful bacon butties, lovely cakes and scones and raffle for you to purchase. Your support is wonderful and very much appreciated. I would also like to thank the Parish Council for their Awards evening when Vicars Cross church received a few nominations. Best front garden, well deserved nomination. Volunteer of the year and Unsung Hero. Whether we actually win anything is not the point the fact that you folks nominated us is something we cherish.
Dates for your diary. Christmas Fair will be December 6th 1.30 – 3.30 p.m. We are also intending to have our Soup and Sing on Friday November 28th when we would like to sing round the Christmas tree, but weather permitting. It was rather chilly last year but the soup was delicious.
We are still without a minister but please be assured any problems you have and wish to talk to someone in the church or even get a visit please contact any of the Elders and this will be arranged. While we are in vacancy, we have two wonderful Interim Moderators Rev Anthea and Alan Wickens who are looking after us and leading us in the right direction.
May the Lord bless you and keep you safe until we meet again.
Sheila
Hello, just wanted to (nag!!!! cos I am good at
it😂😂😂) and remind you to please, please, please,
remember the foodbank when you’re shopping to help those who are struggling to
get even the basics of food. It could be you, a loved one, or a neighbour who
is in this position. Just one extra item a week in your shop to donate would
help someone. I know things are difficult with the rising cost of just about
everything, but the need is rising too and any help you can give would be so
appreciated. I would be really grateful (and happy!) if the box could be filled
to top every week.
Please help where you can, it will mean a lot.
Drop it in the box outside 62 Barkhill Road.
Anything you can give in support and thank
you for all you do give, our community is fab 😊
Tinned meat/fish
Long life milk/juice
Tea/coffee
Tinned veg/potatoes
Instant mash
Desserts/custard/rice pudding
Sugar
Biscuits
Soups/cuppa soups
Toiletries/toilet rolls even!
All in the month
of October
It was:
750 years ago, on 27th Oct 1275 that the city of
Amsterdam in the Netherlands is traditionally considered to have been founded.
200 years ago, on 25th Oct 1825 that Johann
Strauss II, was born. This Austrian composer is best known for his waltzes,
including The Blue Danube.
125 years ago, on 20th Oct 1900 that the American
aviation pioneers the Wright Brothers made their first untethered glider flight
at Kill Devil Hills, in North Carolina.
100 years ago, on 13th Oct 1925 that Margaret
Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher, was born. She was the first woman Prime Minister
of Britain (1979-90). (Died 2013.)
90 years ago, on 12th Oct 1935 that Luciano
Pavorotti, Italian operatic tenor, was born.
Considered one of the finest tenors of the 20th century, and
one of the most commercially successful of all time. (Died 2007.)
80 years ago, on 12th Oct 1945 that US Army combat
medic Desmond Doss became the first conscientious objector in US history to
receive a Medal of Honour for heroic actions. He saved the lives of 75 men
during the Battle of Okinawa. The film Hacksaw Ridge told his story.
70 years ago, on 20th Oct 1955 that The Return
of the King, the third and final part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of
the Rings, was published.
65 years ago, on 12th Oct 1960 that, at a meeting
of the UN General Assembly in New York, the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev is
reported to have removed his shoe and pounded his table, in protest at a speech
by another delegate.
Also 65 years ago, on 30th Oct 1965 that Diego
Maradona was born. The Argentine football player, manager and coach is regarded
as one of the greatest football players in history. (Died 2020.)
60 years ago, on 8th Oct 1965 that the Post Office
Tower (now the BT Tower) in London was officially opened. It was the tallest
building in the UK until 1980.
50 years ago, on 9th Oct 1975 that the IRA
detonated a bomb near the Ritz Hotel in Piccadilly. One person was killed and
at least 20 injured.
40 years ago, on 1st Oct 1985 that riots broke out
in Toxteth in Liverpool and Peckham in London. Five days later (6th
Oct) Met Police Constable Keith Blacklock was killed in the Broadwater Farm
housing estate riot in Tottenham. He was the first British constable to be
killed in a riot since 1833.
Also 40 years, on 26th Oct 1985 that the
Australian government returned the ownership of Uluru / Ayers Rock to the local
Pitjantjatjara people, on condition that they lease it to the National Parks
and Wildlife Agency for 99 years and allow it to be jointly managed.
25 years ago, on 26th Oct 2000 that the BSE
Inquiry Report was published in the UK. It concluded that the BSE (Mad Cow
Disease) epidemic was caused by the use of infected meat and bone meal in
cattle feed.
20 years ago, on 3rd Oct 2005 that Ronnie Barker,
TV comedian, actor and writer, died.
Known for The Frost Report, The Two Ronnies, Porridge, Going Straight
and Open All Hours.
Also 20 years ago, on 18th to 26th Oct
2005 that Hurricane Wilma, the most intense Atlantic hurricane ever recorded,
hit the Caribbean, Central America and the eastern USA. 63 people died. The
storm caused £18.1 billion worth of damage.
15 years ago, on 13th Oct 2010 that 33 Chilean
miners who had been trapped underground for 69 days following the collapse of
the San Jose copper-gold mine were rescued. Around one billion TV viewers
around the world watched them being pulled to the surface one-by-one, in a specially
designed capsule.
10 years ago, on 26th Oct 2015 that the Hindu Kush
earthquake hit Afghanistan, India and Pakistan.
At least 399 people were killed, and 2,536 more injured.
Those magnificent men in their flying machine…
It
was 125 years ago, on 20th October 1900, that the American aviation
pioneers the Wright Brothers made their first untethered glider flight at Kill
Devil Hills in North Carolina.
This
was a key moment in the history of aviation, although their first powered
flight of a heavier-than-air aircraft came three years later, on 17th
December 1903, also at Kill Devil Hills, which is near Kitty Hawk.
Orville
and Wilbur Wright, who lived in Dayton, Ohio – more than 600 miles from
Kitty Hawk – were the sons of a bishop in the Church of the United Brethren in
Christ, and were both named after clergymen. However, they became inventive
mechanics and owned a bicycle shop at a time when cycling was becoming safer
and popular. They chose the Kitty Hawk area for flight attempts, based on
advice from the US Weather Bureau.
There
had been many unpowered glider flights in Europe before, and the Wrights, who
were in their thirties, were particularly impressed by the successful German
pioneer Otto Lilienthal, who had been killed in 1896. The Wrights’ big leap
forward, however, was a system of three-axis controls that made fixed-wing
powered flight possible. It enabled the pilot to steer the aircraft and
maintain its equilibrium. It remains standard on aircraft today.
Flying
changed the world for us all. It had long been a dream, dating back at least as
far as the Greek legend of Icarus and Daedalus, and including kite-flying in
China and ballooning in 18th-century France, with the Montgolfier
brothers. A small piece of the Wright Flyer is now on Mars – a piece of cloth
attached to a small but active reconnaissance helicopter called Ingenuity.
The Iron Lady of Britain
One
hundred years ago, on 13th October 1925, Margaret Thatcher, Baroness
Thatcher of Kesteven, was born. She was the first woman Prime Minister of
Britain (1979-90).
Her
father, Alfred Roberts, was a grocer and Methodist local preacher in Grantham,
and she was brought up as a strict Wesleyan Methodist. At one point just before
the Second World War, the family gave sanctuary to a young Jewish girl who had
escaped the Nazis.
Margaret
later became a lay preacher herself, and was married at Wesley's Chapel in City
Road, London, where her children were baptised. Afterwards she and her husband
Denis (later Sir Denis) attended Church of England services and became
Anglicans. She felt her policies as a Conservative aligned closely with
Christianity.
She
was the longest-serving Prime Minister of the 20th century and,
partly because of her resilience, aroused strong feelings both for and against,
having to weather difficulties and misjudgements, such as the poll tax. Those
opposing her described her policies as ‘Thatcherism’, but others put a positive
slant on this. Her nickname of Iron Lady – first used by a Soviet
journalist – aptly described her leadership style and lack of compromise.
Before
becoming Prime Minister, she had studied chemistry at Oxford, and then the law,
qualifying as a barrister. She became an MP – for Finchley – in 1959 and
progressed to Secretary of State for Education and Science before defeating
Edward Heath in the 1975 Tory leadership election, making her leader of the
Opposition and the first woman to lead a major UK political party.
When
she arrived at Downing Street, she adapted a prayer of St Francis beginning
“Where there is discord, may we bring harmony”. She died from a stroke while
staying at the Ritz Hotel in London in 2013 at the age of 87, having been
unwell for some years.
The
brave Desmond Doss of Hacksaw Ridge
Eighty
years ago, on 12th October 1945, US Army combat medic Desmond Doss
became the first conscientious objector in US history to receive a Medal of
Honour for heroic actions. He saved the lives of 75 men during the Battle of
Okinawa. The film Hacksaw Ridge told his story.
Doss
was born in Virginia in 1919, and became a strong believer in the Bible,
especially the Ten Commandments. As a devout Seventh Day Adventist and
conscientious objector, he determined to join the Army after Pearl Harbour –
his goal being to save as many lives as possible, and to kill no-one.
He
enlisted as a medic and refused to carry a rifle, despite receiving abuse from
his fellow soldiers and officers. This diminished when it became clear that he
bore no grudges and was the first to help when anyone got into difficulty.
He
served in combat on the islands of Guam, Leyte, and Okinawa – but it was the
last that was most remarkable, because the fighting took place on the top of a
sheer 400ft cliff with booby traps and hidden machine gun nests. Doss refused
to retreat with his battalion and kept on returning to the battlefield before
lowering injured comrades down the cliff (known as Hacksaw Ridge). He thought
he had saved 50 men – praying aloud each time “Lord, please help me get
one more”. His comrades thought he had saved 100: the official report split the
difference.
Of
the 16 million Americans in uniform during World War Two, only 431 received the
Congressional Medal of Honour. Before leaving the Army Doss had contracted
tuberculosis, and eventually he had to have a lung and five ribs removed. He
lived with one lung to the age of 87.
***
Surge in violent attacks on A&E nurses
18th October is the feast day of St Luke, who is
the patron saint of physicians. So this is a good month to pray for those in
the NHS…
A&E nurses face an increasing barrage of punches, kicks
and spitting - and having weapons aimed at them. One was even threatened with
an acid attack.
The violence has been blamed on enforced long waits in
A&E departments, corridor care, and chronic staffing problems.
The Royal College of Nursing report that the number of
attacks has doubled in five years, from 2093 cases in 2019, to 4054 in 2024.
One senior charge nurse in the East Midlands said:
“Even patients you would expect to be placid are becoming irate because of just
how long they have to wait. So, you can only imagine the behaviour of those
who are already prone to violence.” She herself has been punched in the face by a “drunken
six-foot-two bloke.”
A senior sister in an A&E in
east London was knocked unconscious after being punched in the head by a
patient. “The violence is awful,” she said. “And it’s just constant. Nurses,
doctors, receptionists – none of us feels safe.”
Another nurse said: “It’s not
going to help with our retention and recruitment if you think you’re going to
be clobbered every shift.”
The RCN warns that such attacks
lead to both physical and mental scarring, lengthy time off and sometimes staff
never returning.
******
The scary amount of money spent on Halloween
When did you first spot Halloween-themed items in the shops
this year? Some were on sale in August. Seriously. August.
But perhaps no wonder – as in the UK Halloween has become the
third-largest retail event after Christmas and Easter. In 2019 we spent
£474million. By last year it had grown to £776million.
Who spends all this money? Millennialists and young children
are driving the sales, with about £40 spent on each costume. The supermarkets
are the most popular places to buy the costumes, and then there is all the
party stuff and trick & treats to add to the shopping trolley…
Some retail analysts predict that America will spend about
$12 billion dollars (£8.8 billion pounds) on Halloween this year. The UK might
spend about £800 million. That may be frightening enough, never mind the
costumes.
*****
Have you flown recently? What did you think of the airport? A
recent survey considered the various merits of our 30 biggest airports, and
chose the following for its ‘Top Ten’ best airports in the UK.
10. Jersey - 1.5milion passengers in 2024. 17 destinations
across five countries. One of the airline’s hangars (now disused) was built by
the Luftwaffe during WW2.
9. Aberdeen - 2.3 million passengers in 2024. The only British airport with an outdoor beer
garden.
8. Inverness - 800, 000 passengers in 2024. All flights only
to Amsterdam.
7. Birmingham - 12.8 million passengers in 2024. Seventh
busiest UK airport with flights to 130 destinations across 40 countries. In
2012, they considered renaming it the Ozzy Osborne Airport.
6. London Gatwick - 43 million passengers in 2024. Second
busiest UK airport with flights to 205 destinations across 69 countries. Has 37
bars and restaurants.
5. Newcastle - 5.1 million passengers in 2024. Flights to 76
destinations across 28 countries. Once partly owned by Copenhagen Airport.
4. London Heathrow - 84 million passengers in 2024. Flights
to 216 destinations across 82 countries. The world’s fifth busiest airport. 20
four-star hotels within two miles.
3. London City (in Docklands) - 3.6 million passengers in
2024. 31 destinations across 15 European countries. Short-haul specialist.
2. George Best Belfast City – 2.39 passengers in 2024. 23
destinations across four countries. Most punctual airport in UK, excels as a
short-haul hub, and is only five miles from the city centre.
1. Liverpool, John Lennon – is considered our best airport. 5
million passengers in 2024. 70 destinations across 29 countries. The
airport’s motto, painted on its roof – ‘Above us only sky’ – is from John
Lennon’s 1971 song Imagine.
The survey was carried out by the Daily Telegraph. The
consumer magazine Which? has also named Liverpool Airport as best in the
country.
**
Is
there a spiritual revival going on among our young people?
A
leading Roman Catholic professor of Pastoral Theology at the University of
Vienna thinks that this may well be so. For the Revd Paul Zulehner says that
while Church is still losing young people, it is also gaining them.
“We’re clearly witnessing a protest against mainstream
secularisation, as groups of youngsters yearn for re-spiritualisation or
re-enchantment. Many are looking for meaning beyond material success, when such
perceptions have become enfeebled in our pluralistic societies.”
Professor Zulehner was speaking to the Church Times after
the recent Roman Catholic Church’s Jubilee of Youth, which attracted a
million-strong gathering in Rome, led by Pope Leo XIV.
Meanwhile, in Britain, Youth for Christ, an international
evangelical youth ministry, has reported that weekly church attendance by young
people had doubled from four to eight percent in five years. YFC said that half
of young people were now declaring a belief in God, and 96 per cent express an
openness to “supernatural experience”.
The report also said that the number of younger people claiming to
pray regularly had also increased sharply, although it is still small. 65 per
cent said that they now viewed churches “positively”, compared with just eight
per cent in 2020 — defying “every prediction about declining religious
engagement”.
Professor
Zulehner added that while many young people are sceptical about institutional
Churches, they have found a “medium and language” through social media for
sharing their religious interests.
He
told Church Times: “Gospel influences are at work through Instagram, TikTok,
and the networks today’s youngsters rely on, which may ultimately prove as
important in finding followers for Christ as the Church’s leaders and
traditions.”
JUST A
LITTLE LIGHT RELIEF
Eating in
the UK in the Fifties
* Pasta had not been invented.
* Curry was a surname.
* A takeaway was a mathematical problem.
* A pizza was something to do with a leaning tower.
* Bananas and oranges only appeared at Christmas time.
* All crisps were plain; the only choice we had was whether to put the salt on
or not.
* A Chinese chippy was a foreign
carpenter.
* Rice was a milk pudding, and never, ever part of our dinner.
* A Big Mac was what we wore when it was raining.
* A Pizza Hut was an Italian shed.
* A microwave was something out of a science fiction movie.
* Brown bread was something only poor people ate.
* Oil was for lubricating, fat was for cooking
* Bread and jam was a treat.
* Tea was made in a teapot using tea leaves and never green.
* Coffee was Camp, and came in a bottle.
* Cubed sugar was regarded as posh.
* Only Heinz made beans.
* Fish didn’t have fingers in those days.
* Eating raw fish was called poverty, not sushi.
* None of us had ever heard of
yoghurt.
* Healthy food consisted of anything edible.
* People who didn’t peel potatoes were regarded as lazy.
* Indian restaurants were only found in India .
* Cooking outside was called camping.
* Seaweed was not a recognised food.
* Pancakes were only eaten on Pancake Tuesday
* “Kebab” was not even a word never mind a food.
* Prunes were medicinal.
* Surprisingly muesli was readily available in those days, it was called cattle
feed.
* Pineapples came in chunks in a tin; we had only ever seen a picture of a real
one.
* Water came out of the tap, if someone had suggested bottling it and charging
more than petrol for it they would have become a laughing stock.
The only thing we never
had on our table in the fifies was elbows
Another batch of Findings
I have missed contributing to the last couple of magazines, so I thought
you might like a few more of Miss Churchill’s words of wisdom - plus a couple
of things I found while ‘surfing the net’!
Beauty is the medicine of God - the oil He pours upon our wounded minds
and sudden beauty is His miracle of healing.
Jerome Keiley
Serendipity is a clumsy sort of word. But I like its meaning. It is the
art of stumbling upon happy, pleasant or lovely things by chance.
Anon.
Here is a version of the old ‘once begun, half done’ quotation
If a task is once begun, never leave it till it’s done,
Be the labour great or small, do it well or not at all.
Lord, when we are wrong make us willing to change,
And when we are right make us easy to live with.
Peter Marshall,
Scottish born Caplain to the USA
An interesting fact:
The Roman Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool was designed by a Protestant
And the Anglican Cathedral was designed by a Roman Catholic!
And my offerings:
In Sunday School, they were
teaching how God created everything, including human beings. Little Johnny
seemed especially intent when they told him how Eve was created out of one of
Adam's ribs. Later in the week, his mother noticed him lying down as though he
were ill, and said,'Johnny what is the matter?'Little Johnny responded,'I have
a pain in my side. I think I'm going to have a wife.' side.
A little boy opened the big and old family Bible with fascination, and
looked at the old pages as he turned them. Suddenly, something fell out of the
Bible, and he picked it up and looked at it closely. It was an old leaf from a
tree that had been pressed between the pages. 'Mummy, look what I found,'
the boy called out. ‘What have you got there, dear?' his mother asked. With
astonishment in the young boy's voice, he answered: 'I think it's Adam's suit!'
Six-year-old Angie and her four-year-old brother Joel were sitting
together during church services. Joel giggled, sang, and talked out loud.
Finally, his big sister had enough. 'You're not supposed to talk out loud
in church.'
'Why? Who's going to stop me?' Joel asked.
Angie pointed to the back of the church and said, 'See those two men standing
by the door? They're hushers.'
Liz