THE PARISH of BARWELL with STAPLETON and POTTERS MARSTON

NOVEMBER 2020

CONTENTS

Rev. Philip Watson 01455 446993Views From The Pond Page 2Woodland Calendar Page 4England’s Cathedrals Page 5Memory Verses Page 14Parish Prayer Calendar Page 15Bible Readings Page 16Weekly Prayers Page 17Thoughts For The Month Page 18Churches Together / Forthcoming Events Page 19Children’s Society Box Opening / 100 Club News Page 20Churchyard Memorials Safety Inspections Page 21Poem To Make Us Think Page 22Patient Participation Group (P. P. G. Meeting Page 23Puzzle Page Page 24Poetry Page Page 25Recipe Page Page 26Answers To Puzzle Page Page 28Rotas’ Page 29Contacts Page 30

Views from the pond…

As I look out over the garden today I am at first struck by the wonderful and vibrant greens of the trees and bushes. As I look again I am caught by the contrast of dark and light greens and am reminded of the contrast we find in the two major Christian Festivals celebrated at the beginning of November. As we approach the month of November these two Festivals have been on my mind. Over the years they have played an important part in my Christian life. These two Festivals are All Saints and All Souls. The church I was curate in was a medieval church dedicated at All Hallows (All Saints) and our Son Richard was Baptised at the Patronal Festival Communion Service in our first year there. Since then All Saints has always been a time when I am reminded of our hope of heaven and all these caring loving Christians who have been part of my Christian journey and helped me in my faith. It is a time of great thanksgiving.

When I think of ‘All Souls’ I am reminded of the many people I have met over the years who have grieved over the death of someone they love. As I have spent time with people and learnt about grief I have realised how important it can be to recognise our grief and be honest about it when we can. I like many in England was brought up to have a ‘Stiff upper lip’ and there are times when this is good and helpful, but there are times, if we are honest, when we need to let our emotions come to the surface. Times when it can help to recognise our sadness and hurt and bring them to God. For me All Souls is one of those times. As many of you know I was fortunate to have a Sabbatical when I was able to look at ways of helping us in our times of grieving through worship. During that time I visited many places looking at the things different Christian organisations were doing to help people grieve. I was able to hear about different things we can do in special services, like lighting Candles etc which can help us. Most of all though I think I learnt the need to be honest before God and sometimes each other about the way we feel. Sometimes long after the people we love have died when for most of the time we are getting on with life but inside we still

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hurt. For me All Souls is the one time we can be honest about this and bring all we feel to God. After all God knows what it is like to see the death of someone you love as he watched His Son Jesus die on the Cross. He can empathise with us and comfort us when the rest of world has forgotten about our loss.

For me the two contrasting festivals speak to the two sides of death for the Christian. At All Saints we give thanks to God for those known and unknown who have kept the faith and can help us in our journey. There may be people who have loved you and helped you because of their faith.

St. Pauls calls all Christians Saints so whether they are well known or not we give thanks for them. All Souls on the other hand I believe allows us to be honest with God about our grief and hurt in loosing those we love. Not to dwell on it but to be honest about it and bring our sadness to God.

Sadly we have not been able to keep either of these festivals in church as we would normally do, but I am glad to be able to tell you that St. Mary’s in Barwell will be open for private prayer on a Saturday afternoon from 2pm – 4pm so if you wish to come and seek Gods comfort or wish to give him thanks then the church will be open for us to do so. We are not at the moment asking people to book a place but it would help if you do know in advance that you wish to come if you could let me know.

Philip

Woodland Calendar Hi, I've finished a morning workout in the wood. The birds have provided a musical accompaniment, which has been most welcome. Though one blue tit has been scolding something (me?) nearby with a harsh chirp. It's a beautiful morning if a bit cold. But the sun is out and its highlighting the early autumn colours. The oaks are shedding theirs leaves now, there is a steady fall in the breeze. These are tending to be the leaves that have been attacked by insects or fungus. The healthy leaves are staying put for now. Acorns are falling everywhere and will provide food through the winter. A sudden breeze in the tree tops brings down a shower of leaves, acorns and water from yesterday's rain. There's a near constant buzz of aircraft or traffic, which is annoying. But there aren't many places left to get away from such sounds. I tend to focus on a blackbirds or a Robin's song. Like meditation blocking out the rubbish. When the breeze springs up in the tree tops that grabs my attention and it can take you to the seaside, so alike waves it sounds. I've put a few pictures on my Instagram leetaylor770. The ivy is flowering down here and the wasps that are still around are loving it. It’s a useful plant for insects and birds, but needs controlling. Well it's time for me to jog home...love Lee x

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A BRIEF INSIGHT INTO ONE MORE OF ENGLAND’S CATHEDRALS

We continue the series in which we look at some of England’s Cathedrals, this month we look at Canterbury Cathedral.

Canterbury is England’s premier cathedral. It is also the nation’s most exhilarating gothic building. From Bell Harry Tower to Becket’s martyrdom, from the ghosts of Chaucer’s pilgrims to the Norman crypt capitals, it forms an incomparable collection of medieval art. Canterbury’s inspiration, like Westminster’s always lay in France. King Ethelbert of Kent’s marriage to a Frankish princess in 580 led to his conversion to Christianity and to Augustine’s mission to Britain in 597. He founded the first cathedral, possibly on the site of an old Roman church. Five hundred years later, the invading Normans demolished the old building and deposed its Saxon

archbishop, Stigand. William 1 replaced him with his trusty lieutenant, Lanfranc, Abbot of St-Etienne in Caen. Lanfranc’s new cathedral was in the Norman style, built by Norman masons and using Norman stone. It was greatly enlarged after1093 by his successor, Anselm, with transepts, a choir and apsidal east end. Beneath the choir, Anselm constructed an extensive crypt, a cathedral in miniature, with nave, aisles and side chapels arranged amid a forest of twenty-two columns. This crypt survives and is the most vivid relic of Anselm’s church. Barely a century later, Canterbury witnessed an event that ensured its pre-eminence throughout the Middle Ages. On the afternoon of 29th December 1170, the archbishop, Thomas a Becket, was murdered by followers of the Plantagenet king, Henry 11. Such a deed, committed at a cathedral altar, horrified all Christianity. The cause was the archbishop’s refusal to submit to the king’s authority, chiefly in matters of church appointments. Within moments of Becket’s death, townspeople flocked to dab their garments in his blood and miracles were instantly reported. A monk, Gervase, left a diary of the period following Becket’s murder and recorded that, ‘The blind see, the dumb speak, the lame walk, the sick are made whole from all manner of disease.’ Becket’s murder, ostensibly by a king, struck at the power of the Roman church across Europe. Yet such was the reaction that this power was enhanced. As Henry craved forgiveness – securing Becket’s canonisation within two years – Rome reasserted its sovereignty. Becket became the object of a fanatical and highly profitable cult, making Canterbury a premier destination of pilgrimage from all over Europe. Money poured into the cathedral’s coffers and the shrine grew so splendid that, three centuries later, even the sceptical Erasmus was lost in admiration. When in 1536, the ‘Becket question’ was abruptly answered by the onset of Henry V111’s Reformation, Becket’s shrine in the Trinity Chapel was dismantled and all traces of him were to be eradicated in churches across the land. The cathedral became no longer an outpost of the Vatican on British soil but emphatically the citadel of the new Church of England. Any visit to Canterbury must start with the prospect of the cathedral from afar.

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In 1890, the American critic Mariana Van Rensselaer declared the view of its three towers from the adjacent Kent hills the finest in the land. It should be seen, she wrote, on ’one of those summer afternoons when the witchery of sloping light enhances the charms of colour, and shines through the perforations of far-off pinnacle and parapet’. Of these towers, the central Bell Harry is supreme. It was completed in 1509 to the design of John Wastell and named after its donor, Prior Henry. It ranks among the final glories of the Perpendicular age, as perfect in profile, proportion and decoration as is Salisbury’s spire. The cathedral originally had two west towers. The first of these was replaced in 1458 but the second survived until its collapse in 1832, when it was replaced with a copy of the first. The buttressing of these towers is heavier than Bell Harry, a little ungainly as a result, but the overall effect of the three towers from a distance is that of a fantasy Tudor palace. There are even miniature pennants flying from the pinnacles. The remainder of the exterior is largely a reflection of the interior. Canterbury is second only to Winchester in length, mostly by virtue of its extraordinary eastern arm, rebuilt after a devastating fire that destroyed Anselm’s building in 1174, just four years after Becket’s murder. The fire had left only the nave and eastern side chapels standing. Such was the trauma, wrote Gervase, that when a temporary altar was erected in the surviving nave, ‘the grief and distress of the sons of the Church were so great … they howled rather than sang matins and vespers’. The monks of the priory – as custodians of the cathedral – now faced a remarkable opportunity. Becket’s shrine, then in the crypt, was as lucrative as any in Europe. It needed a mausoleum worthy of such an attraction. The monks duly ‘called together both French and English architects’ for a grand consultation. The outcome was the arrival of the most famous architect of the age, William of Sens. He won the job, says Gervase, ‘on account of his lively genius and good reputation … the work of a different fashion from the old’. Above all, William had pioneered the pointed or ‘broken’ arch at Sens cathedral outside Paris. It is even conjectured that a pointed blind arch in the wall of the

south choir aisle was William’s sample demonstration. For the next century and a half, Canterbury was to realise his vision. Every element in the plan was to elevate a new Becket shrine as a pilgrim attraction. This took total precedence. The old nave was left to languish in Norman darkness while pilgrims crowded the transepts, crypt and presbytery. A visit to the cathedral must start, somewhat uncomfortably, at the end of its story and progress to the beginning. The entrance is directly into the Perpendicular nave, which is that of a very different church from that of the eastern end. It was begun in 1378 and completed in 1405. The contrast with Anselm’s Norman and William’s tentative gothic is total. The nave’s architect was the royal mason, Henry Yevele. He was required to construct his building on the old Norman piers and this meant that, to achieve spectacular effect, his only tool was height. The height is indeed astonishing. Nine bays of rolling shafts soar upwards before splaying out into a lierne vault. Nothing impedes their ascent, certainly not the recessed triforium and clerestory. The only visual punctuation on the piers are two shaft-rings, described aptly by John Newman (in Pevsner) as ‘a mere whispered interruption’. The light source into the nave from aisles and clerestory is hidden behind a corrugation of vast trunks. Yet when shafts of sunlight burst through them, they dance with refracted colour. The climax of the show is the west window, great sheets of reset Norman and later glass, a picture book of Bible scenes. These include the famous depiction of Adam delving in the Garden of Eden. The font, now located in the north aisle, is a renaissance work of 1637 in black and white marble beneath a tabernacle rich in rococo scrolls. Nearby, a classical pediment by Nicholas Stone frames a bust of the composer Orlando Gibbons (d. 1625). The spectacular canopy of the archbishop’s throne was probably designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and carved by Grinling Gibbons. It is in the form of two trios of fluted columns linked by an arch, strangely at ease beneath Yevele’s gothic vault. The crossing at Canterbury is raised on a platform which acts as a performance space for the nave, with the transepts as wings and the nave as auditorium. Over its towers the fan vault of Wastell’s Bell Harry Tower, best seen by lying on

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the ground beneath it and gazing upwards. It is so refined it looks more 18th century than medieval. Eight semi-and-quarter-circles of ribs spin in mid-air like fan-dancers. The capitals and bosses are brightly coloured, as is the central roundel, all lit by side windows. The work was commissioned by Henry V11’s archbishop (and tax-efficient chancellor) John Morton, reputedly to celebrate his elevation to cardinal. It was completed in 1509. As backdrop to the crossing, the pulpitum divided the east and west arms of the cathedral. It dates from the 1450s and is formed of a portal flanked by six statues of English kings, allegedly Ethelbert of Kent and Edward the Confessor followed by Richard 11, Henry 1V, V and V1. Like the similar screen in York, this was the work of political propaganda, eulogising the house of Lancaster. The iconoclasts respected these secular masterpieces, confining destruction to saints. The south transept introduces the first great display of Canterbury’s stained glass, its collection being second only to York’s. The main south window contains tiers of 15th –century figures and shields, while below are 12th – century depictions of Christ’s ancestors, including an alert and expressive Methuselah. This ‘ancestor’ window has probably the most ancient glass extant in England, some of it believed to date from Anselm’s pre-fire cathedral. Reset in a Perpendicular frame, it is a wonder of medieval art. The north transept signals a change in key. We now enter the pilgrims’ zone of the cathedral, shifting from grand ceremonial to mystical pilgrimage. It begins with the reputed site of Becket’s murder, the so-called Martyrdom. The fatal altar is marked by a grim modern sculpture of jagged swords, by Giles Blomfield (1986). Overlooking it is the chantry of Archbishop Warham, determined to lie as close as possible to where Becket met his end. Warham died in 1532, narrowly escaping the denouement of Henry’s Reformation. Next door is the gloomy Lady Chapel, overlooked by two Jacobean monuments. One is to Dean Fotherby (d.1619), its chest encrusted with ghoulish skulls. The other is to Dean Boys (d.1625), who sits at a desk, looking up towards the altar, apparently surprised at death calling him from his books. Overhead is a fan vault of 1468, hovering in the darkness as over some mysterious banqueting hall.

From the Martyrdom, steps lead down to the crypt, the most extensive and impressive in England. It dates from Anselm’s first Norman cathedral and is high enough to have its own windows. Low piers and vaults stretch in all directions, so that any division into naves, aisles and side chapels can seem confusing. The pier capitals are among the finest works of Norman carving in England. Apparently carved in situ – some are unfinished, others even un-started – they vary from the geometrical and floral to entire stories carved in stone. Almost all are either comical or violent, with jugglers, animal musicians, men fighting beasts, wyverns fighting dogs. The historian T. S. R. Boase wrote of them that ‘The snapping jaws are never far behind men’s heels… frail, naked humanity is for ever caught in the coils’. To Newman, these capitals constitute ‘the most ambitious, most finely conceived, and best preserved early Romanesque sculpture in the country’. In the centre of the crypt is an evident intrusion, the Chapel of Our Lady of the Undercroft, candle-lit and with delicate Perpendicular screens. Into its side is cut a rich monument to Lady Mohun in fashionable dress, and another to Archbishop Morton, both heads furiously mutilated by iconoclasts – perhaps victims of the latter’s taxation. A side chapel of 1361 was created by the Black Prince in thanks for the Pope allowing him to marry his cousin, Joan, the ‘fair maid of Kent‘. It was long allocated to French Huguenots escaping from persecution across the Channel. Of the other crypt chapels, St Gabriel’s is the best preserved. Its capitals are satirical, with animals playing musical instruments. The walls carry an almost complete set of Norman murals (c1130), rediscovered after being walled up. We can only wonder how the rest of the crypt must have looked when covered in such pictures dancing in the light of flickering candles. The pilgrim route now leads from the Martyrdom along the north choir aisle. For pilgrims who might have travelled hundreds of miles from home, this was the visual and emotional climax of the journey. As they progressed eastwards from the transept, they would have climbed ascending steps, lined with chantries, monuments, murals and windows. Overhead were arcades with pointed arches, such as few pilgrims would have seen elsewhere. There was the smell of

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incense, the sight of candles flickering and the sound of monks chanting. Erasmus in the 15th century recorded this progress as ‘a pilgrimage within a pilgrimage’. It was faith as theatre, the purpose being to overawe the pilgrim, uplift the spirit and extract donations. It is near impossible even for modern Christians to think themselves into the responses of these people, witnessing something so utterly different from their everyday experiences, infused by a belief that they were encountering the aura of the Almighty, with Becket as intercessor. It was both a religious and a commercial phenomenon. Canterbury’s pilgrim income was believed to be second only to Rome’s. The cathedral’s eastern arm is essentially the church as created by William of Sens after1174 and completed by ‘William the Englishman’ who took over after the first William was crippled by a fall from scaffolding in 1179. In planning his new structure, the first William faced a challenge. The fire had left two chapels standing at the east end of the choir and these had to be retained even as he pushed the new Becket shrine further east. This meant constricting the aisles past the chapels before opening them out again for the shrine. Beyond the shrine, there was a further constriction for the Corona Chapel, which was to house Becket’s heart separate from the shrine. As a result the walls of Canterbury’s eastern arm seem to bulge in and out, creating a sense of baroque excitement. To purists, the Early Gothic of William’s eastern arm is unsophisticated. The rounded piers of the arcades remain Norman in form. Their capitals are heavy, of a style found as far afield as Norman Sicily. Acanthus leaves grip the tops of the columns like Corinthian capitals in a Greek temple. The arches are still ‘transitional’ or barely pointed. The Purbeck shafts framing the triforium allow neither a horizontal nor a vertical rhythm to predominate. Unsophisticated it may be, but we are here witnessing a critical moment in what was to be the greatest stylistic innovation in European architecture. The first portion of the arm, the choir, is unspectacular. The stalls are medieval but lack the customary canopies, whilst those backing the pulpitum are classical, of 1682. The Victorian archbishop’s stall is enormous. The tempo only rises as the sanctuary is reached. This is flanked by chest tombs and chantries of a

quality second only to Westminster Abbey. The finest, in the north choir aisle, is the tomb of Archbishop Chichele (d.1443), a Perpendicular triumphal arch, peopled with saints and bishops and angels brilliantly coloured and maintained by Chichele’s foundation, All Souls College, Oxford. The only disconcerting feature is the gruesome cadaver lying beneath. Across the aisle are two survivors of what would have been high points of the pilgrim route, windows telling the story of the New Testament as foretold in the Old. There were once twelve. In the north-east transept is a 12th –century rose window representing Moses, a Norman relic of Anselm’s church. We now ascend past the ‘squeezed’ entrance of the ancient St Andre’s Chapel to reach the Trinity Chapel and the former site of Becket’s shrine. When the commissioners arrived in 1538 to dismantle it, its coating of gold and precious stones was so rich that the Venetian ambassador declared it ‘passing all belief’. It was said to fill twenty-one carts which were to be taken to London for sale. All that remains is a simple Protestant candle. Overlooking the site of the shrine is one of Canterbury’s great treasures, the tomb of Henry 1V (d.1413) and his wife Joan of Navarre. The effigies are carved in alabaster and reputedly a close likeness of both. Henry was buried here because Westminster Abbey at the time was declared full, although his enemies said it was because he was a usurper. Across the ambulatory is a chantry dedicated to Edward the Confessor, with carved Perpendicular screen and fan-vault. Canterbury’s medieval glass is now full flow, much of it re-arranged and infilled by the Victorian craftsmen Clayton & Bell. The windows in the Trinity Chapel portray the many miracles of St Thomas. Those in the Corona Chapel portray the events of the Crucifixion. The glass is complemented by medieval tiles, some brought back by crusaders from the Levant and surviving round the site of the shrine in rich browns and yellows. Canterbury here offers total immersion in the art of the Middle Ages. On the south side of the chapel is the tomb of the Black Prince (d.1376), a warrior prince in gilded copper armour. Beyond we reach St Anselm’s Chapel, with a wall painting of St. Paul shaking off a viper. Guarding the chapel from the

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aisle is the tomb of Archbishop Meopham, a strange 14th–century design in black Tournai marble. Continuing round the ambulatory to regain the south transept, we finally reach St Michael’s Chapel by the main south transept, dominated by the tomb of its donor, Lady Margaret Holland (d.1439), lying flanked by her two husbands. The rest of the chapel is post-Reformation, of the 17th century. Suddenly we have left behind kings and archbishops and entered a world of military bravura. The walls are crowded with banners and Jacobean monuments. The cathedral close retains the ambience of a medieval enclave. Walls, gates and the outbuildings of the old priory quarter survive. Beyond the north transept lies the great cloister, dating from the Norman cathedral but much amended, its walks rebuilt in the Perpendicular period. The doors into the monastic chambers form a textbook of gothic decorative devices, scallops, dogtooth, zigzag, stiff-leaf, crockets, leaves and grapes. The cloister vault is composed of liernes inserted by Yevele’s pupil Stephen Lote and our adorned with some 850 bosses, mostly heraldic. A boss in the north-east corner depicts the murder of Becket, but with room for only two murderers. The screens to the central garth carry ogee arches, lending the place a gently oriental air. Off the cloister is the chapter house, an oblong hall with a wagon roof of c1400, covered in decorated panels forming a patchwork. Beyond are the ghosts of the dissolved priory, fragments of a lost city within a city. The jutting staircase of the monastery’s North Hall is the most notable survivor. Dating from Becket’s day, it has an elephantine entrance stair more Roman than Romanesque. Canterbury is the most visited English cathedral and therefore can be the most crowded. Yet its vastness can embrace all-comers. Just as its history straddled the Middle Ages from Conquest to Reformation, so its architecture covers the spectrum from Norman to Perpendicular. Canterbury is the story of the English cathedral, complete unto itself. .

Next month we look at Carlisle and Chelmsford Cathedrals.

Magazine Material

All magazine material for December/January issue to be in by Wednesday 11th November please. New material always wanted funny or sad stories, puzzles, and poems. All material to Colin Sewell 2 Howard Close Barwell Tel. 01455 842944 or 07557 966219 E-mail: sewell-colin@virginmedia.com

MEMORY VERSES FOR NOVEMBER 2020

Week beginning :

November 1 st Jeremiah 29 v 13

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”

November 8 th Lamentations 3 v 22/23

“Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness”.

November 15 th Hosea 6 v 3a

“Let us acknowledge the Lord; let us press on to acknowledge him. As surely as the sun rises he will appear ...”

November 22 nd Micah 6 v 8

“He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.”

November 29 th Habakkuk 2 v 14

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“For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.”

PARISH PRAYER CALENDAR FOR NOVEMBER

Week 1. ALL SAINTS AND ALL SOULS: we remember all the departed and those who attend our special services

Week 2. REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY: for all who served and all who gave their lives for their country, and for all who serve their country today. For the Royal British Legion and other associated organizations.

Week 3. CHILDREN’S SOCIETY: for all who help neglected and abused children everywhere.

Week 4. COMMUNICATIONS AND PUBLIC SERVICES: for those who enhance communications within our community as postmen, telephone engineers etc. We also give thanks for the provision of public transport.

Week 5. FOR THOSE WHO HOLD LAY OFFICE IN OUR CHURCH: that their ministries may grow and for people exploring ministry.

Week by week we pray for the residents of:

Week 1. Waterfall Way, Waters End

Week 2. Wensleydale Avenue, Wensleydale Close

Week 3. Powers Road, Crabtree Road

Week 4. Hinckley Road, Ashby Road

Week 5. Those living in Stapleton and Potters Marston

Bible Readings to use on a Sunday

1st Nov All Saints DayRevelation 7.9-endPsalm 34.1-101 John 3.1-3Matthew 5.1-12

8th Nov Remembrance Sunday Wisdom of Solomon 6.17-20Psalm 701 Thessalonians 4.13-endMatthew 25.1-13

15th Nov 2nd Sunday before Advent Zephaniah 1.7,12-end Psalm 90.1-8 1 Thessalonians 5.1-11 Matthew 25.14-30

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22nd Nov Christ The King Ezekiel 34.11-16,20-24 Psalm 95.1-7 Ephesians 1.15-end Matthew 25.31-end

29th Nov Advent Sunday Isaiah 64.1-9 Mark 13.24-end

PRAYER FOR EACH WEEK – NOVEMBER 2020 Week beginning:

November 1 st All Saints Lord God Almighty, you call us to be your saints and unite us in the fellowship of your Church: help us in our earthly life to follow the example of your saints in heaven, and to share with them in the joy of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

November 8 th Remembrance On this day of Remembrance, O God, as we recall those who died in the service of their country, we pray for the peace of the world. Guide the leaders of this and every nation and give them understanding of your righteous will; that the tragedy and horror of war may be averted for the coming generation, and people everywhere may be able to live in the freedom and fellowship of your kingdom; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

November 15 th 2nd Sunday before Advent God our Father, make us to think more of what we can give to life and less of what we can get out of it. May we be mindful that we hold our gifts, our talents, our possessions, our life itself, in trust for you and the service of all. Save us from thinking only of our own needs and desires; and help us to remember that it is more blessed to give than to receive, according to the teaching of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen.

November 22 nd Christ the King Christ is the King to whom all authority has been given in heaven and on earth. We own Him as our Lord. We yield Him our obedience. We dedicate our lives to

His service. Come, Lord Christ, and reign in us, and make us the agents of your kingdom in the world, to the honour of your name. Amen.

November 29 th Advent Sunday Grant, O God, that as we rejoice in the hope of the coming of our Saviour, we may seek to prepare the way of His coming by advancing His kingdom in the world and caring for the needs of our fellow people; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

November’s ‘Thought for the Month’ Graham

What’s on your Mind?

Yes! What’s on your mind a month before Christmas?Will there be restrictions as we’ve experienced before, or will we have to endure more Government guidelines and further limitations to our social and private lives?

However our lives pan out, we need motivation and encouragement. Usually this from a long desire for something we have set our heart on. For others, it may be a jog from a family member or friend. Whatever the source, don’t you just get a buzz when you see light at the end of the tunnel?

We need pick-me-ups; Things to look forward to, a willingness to strive a little harder to reach that goal or purpose. Happiness comes from ‘happenings’. Hmm!Joy, on the other-hand comes from putting Jesus first, Others second and Yourself last. To help you and of course me with this one, we need to pray. Pray for what? In all things, let your requests and supplications be known unto the Father in the name of our Saviour Jesus Christ.

Some people may think you cannot pray for such things as parking spaces and find a good bargain on an article of clothing, but you can.The Scriptures are full of incidents of prayers being answered and blessings and favour poured out by God.

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We and you are loved very much by God; so much so that Jesus has already paid our debt. There is nothing you can do that will make God, love you more or even less than He does now.

Wow! Thank God for what Jesus has attained for you and me through the Cross and Resurrection. ‘It is finished’, He said.

Take heart! Study the ‘Word’, gives God your thanks and praise, be mindful of others and pray without ceasing. Remember, have faith and believe you have already received what you’ve prayed for.However, you might have to wait, but hopefully it’s worth it. Amen

Barwell & Earl Shilton Churches Together

“Are you interested in helping to keep links between our local churches?”

Barwell and Earl Shilton Churches Together are looking for a volunteer secretary. This doesn’t involve a great time commitment, or previous experience. Duties involve linking with the chairperson to develop an agenda for meetings (held 4 times a year), taking notes from the meetings and circulating these to the Church representatives. The secretary also acts as a central point of contact to let other churches know of activities occurring e.g. special celebrations, events.

If you are interested or would like to know more, please speak to Rev. Philip, Graham or Colin (your Churches Together reps.) or contact Lilian (our current secretary) on 01455 213275 (evenings) or email Lilian at: LMBAXE@googlemail.com

Colin

Forthcoming Events for your Diaries

800 Year Celebration Events Barwell SUBJECT TO CONFIRMATION: Saturday 5th December Christmas Concert by the Cantamici Choir 7:30pm in Church

Sadly our celebration events have had to be put on hold for now. As soon as we are allowed we will pick up our events and will look to re-schedule those we have not been able to hold yet.    Philip

Children’s Society Box Opening 2020

Due to current Government Guidelines and Restrictions I am unable to do the usual Box Opening this year. Could everyone please open and count your own boxes and then forward to me a cheque for that amount payable to ‘The Children’s Society’ , I can then collate all the cheques, fill out all my paperwork, records etc, and bank letting Sheila know the total.

Any problems or queries please feel free to contact me on 01455 842944 or 07557 966219, or you can email me at sewell-colin@virginmedia.com If you would like to know more about the work of The Children’s Society or would like a collection box please contact me on the above numbers. I will be very pleased to talk to you and answer any questions. God bless you all. Colin

100 Club Members IMPORTANT MESSAGE

All outstanding draws will take place via zoom in November, this will be 10 draws (March – December).

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To be in the draws all subs MUST be paid up to the end of the year by Wednesday 11th November. So that there is enough monies for the prize draws could you please arrange to let me have your subscriptions in cash.

Please forward your subsciptions to me at 2 Howard Close Barwell LE9 8HY or phone me on 01455 842944 so that I can arrange collection.

Colin

SAFETY INSPECTIONS OF MEMORIALS ST. MARYS CHURCHYARD

A safety inspection by Hinckley & Bosworth Borough Council will take place on all Memorials in our Churchyard between November 2020 and March 2021.

Memorials will be tested in accordance with the Councils Memorials Safety Policy and where a risk is identified the following action will be taken. Negligible Risk – no action. Low Risk – safety notice Medium to High Risk – Memorial laid flat or cordoned off.

If yyou find a safety notice on a memorial you are responsible for please contact the Borough Cemetery Office for advise and information on 01455 255707

The Friendship Book of Francis Gay November 13th 1993

I had a chuckle at this story I was told recently. A spell of severe weather and an outbreak of flu had sadly depleted the congregation and, as the minister surveyed the tiny choir and sparsely-filled pews, he announced with great feeling, “Our first hymn this evening

is ‘Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing …’ ”

Poem to make us think …

“Mummy, oh Mummy, what's this pollutionthat everyone's talking about?”“Pollution's the mess that the country is in,that we'd be far better without.It's factories belching their fumes in the air,and the beaches all covered in tar,now throw out those sweet papers into the bushesbefore we get back in the car.”

“Mummy, oh Mummy, who makes pollutionand why don't they stop if it's bad?”“Cos people like that just don't think about others,they don't think at all, I might add.They spray all the crops and they poison the flowers,and wipe out the birds and the bees,now there's a good place we could dump that old mattressright out of sight in the trees.”

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“Mummy, oh Mummy, what's going to happenif all the pollution goes on?”“Well the world will end up like a second-hand junk-yardwith all of it's treasures quite gone.The fields will be littered with plastics and tins,the streams will be covered with foam,now throw those two pop bottles over the hedge,save us from carrying them home.”

“Mummy, oh Mummy, if I throw the bottleswon't that be polluting the wood?”“Nonsense! That isn't the same thing at all,you just shut up and be good.If you're going to start getting silly ideasI'm taking you home right away,'cos pollution is something that other folks do,we're just enjoying our day.”

Anon. Lynda from the Harvest Festival Sermon

Barwell and Hollycroft Virtual Patient Participation Group (PPG) Monday Nov 9th 6pm Zoom Video Meeting All patients and Befrienders at Barwell & Hollycroft Surgeries are invited to their Patient Participation Group (PPG) Zoom Meeting. During these far from normal times we have had to postpone “Face to Face” PPG meetings and transfer to the use of Video conferencing software “Zoom”. Our last meeting went very well. Invitations will send out to all people who have supplied their email addresses at previous PPG and Befrienders meetings a few days before the meeting. If you want to receive an invitation and do not know if we have your email address then drop a request to alanplumpton@aol.com. If you require any telephone help with setting up Zoom then let Alan know. Agenda Update from Dr D. Jackson on Covid 19 and surgery situation

Carers Update Local Area Coordinators Update Talk on Barwell becoming a “Blue Zone” helping to increase longevity. The introduction of surgery group consultations Plans for development of LRI, General and Glenfield hospitals AOB

Any suggestions for AOB and future meetings drop a line to the same email address or telephone 07533 276 118

PUZZLE PAGEBONFIRE NIGHT WORDSEARCHF S P A R K L E R J R L E CI I R R E D W O P N U G R AR A F G E T Q A I D E U R TE W E T A R S T A R S Y E HW E P E H E I O R V G F B OO G O W E A D F F E T A M LR Y I Y K S S I N W A W E IK H L P L O T U G O S K V CS J K N M N R N B N B E O IP R O T E S T A N T C S N X

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GUY FAWKES FIREWORKS GUNPOWDER BONFIRE TREASON SPARKLER PLOT STARS PROTESTANT FIFTH CATHOLIC NOVEMBER

BRAIN TEASER TWO SIZES OF APPLES

A man had an apple stall and he sold his larger apples at 3 for a pound and his smaller apples at 5 for a pound. When he had just 30 apples of each size left to sell, he asked his son to look after the stall while he had lunch. When he came back from lunch the apples were all gone and the son gave his father £15. The father questioned the son. “You should have received £10 for the large apples and £6 for the 30 small apples, making it £16 in all”. The son looked surprised. “I am sure I gave you all the money I received and I counted the change most carefully. It was difficult to manage without you here, and as there was an equal number of each sized apple left, I sold them all at the average price of 4 for £1. Four into 60 goes 15 times so I am sure £15 is correct.” Where did the £1 go?

November

Yet one smile more, departing, distant sun!One mellow smile through the soft vapoury air,Ere, o'er the frozen earth, the loud winds ran,Or snows are sifted o'er the meadows bare.One smile on the brown hills and naked trees,And the dark rocks whose summer wreaths are cast,And the blue Gentian flower, that, in the breeze,Nods lonely, of her beauteous race the last.Yet a few sunny days, in which the beeShall murmur by the hedge that skim the way,The cricket chirp upon the russet lea,And man delight to linger in thy ray.

Yet one rich smile, and we will try to bearThe piercing winter frost, and winds, and darkened air.

William Cullen Bryant

Bare Boughs

The bare boughs reach across the windowpane It’s hard to think they’ll ever live again It seems to me a thing incredible That there should be so great a miracle.

Patience Strong

Christmas Cake

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Ingredients: 5 tablespoons of liquid Brandy & Rum mixture or Orange & Cranberry Juice (for those who do not like alcohol). 900g dried mixed fruit (apricots, glace cherries, blueberries and candied peel), chopped into 1cm pieces. 500g dried vine fruits (blackcurrants, raisins, sultanas, cranberries). Zest and juice of a large orange and a big lemon. 350g soft butter, at room temperature. 300g of soft brown sugar (muscovado). 5 large free-range eggs. 100g ground almonds 150g shelled and roughly chopped nuts. 1 tsp baking powder 350g plain flour

Method: The night before you bake the cake, warm your liquid by simmering in a small pan 9do not boil it), then pour over all of your dried fruit and zest in a bowl. Mix thoroughly and leave to cool and soak overnight – your fruit will be juicy and plump in the morning – perfect for baking. Leave your butter out of the fridge overnight too, to soften up.

On the day, pre-heat your oven to 160C / 325F / Gas Mark 3 and double-line a round 20cm baking tin with parchment, leaving a couple of cm sticking out of the top. Combine your soft butter with the sugars in a food mixer or mixing by hand in a large bowl. Cream until a light fluffy mixture forms, the fluffier the better.

Crack in the eggs one at a time, with a little spoonful of ground almonds each time to stop the mixture curdling. Once combined, add in the flour,

baking powder and the remainder of the almonds, and the nuts and mix until just combined. Then add in the pre-soaked fruit and any liquid that is left. Mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is combined.

Pour the mixture into the cake tin until its ¾ full and ensure the top of the mix is flat, so you get a nice evenly-topped cake.

Bake for 1 hour, then turn the cake around, reduce the temperature to 150C/300F/Gas Mark 2 and bake for another hour. Check the cake to see whether it’s done by inserting a skewer, if needed cook up to another ½ hour.

Leave the cake to cool inside the tin before taking out and covering with marzipan and icing. Decorate to your taste.

Enjoy

Answers To Puzzle Page

BONFIRE NIGHT

F S P A R K L E R J R L E CI I R R E D W O P N U G R AR A F G E T Q A I D E U R TE W E T A R S T A R S Y E HW E P E H E I O R V G F B OO G O W E A D F F E T A M LR Y I Y K S S I N W A W E IK H L P L O T U G O S K V CS J K N M N R N B N B E O I

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P R O T E S T A N T C S N X

TWO SIZES OF APPLES

This is a common trap in mathematical tests. The charge for the apples should be 33.1/3 pence for large apples and 20 pence for smaller apples, so the average charge per apple should be 33.1/3 + 20 divided by 2 which would be 26.2/3 pence and not 25 pence, which the boy collected. If the 60 apples had been sold for 26.2/3 pence each, the boy would have received 60 * 26.2/3 pence or £16.

The son was charging too little for the apples and the pound went to the customers.

INTERCESSORS for NOVEMBER

MORNING EVENING

1st STEVE LYNDA

8th TBC GRAHAM

15th MIKE IRA

22nd DAVID PHILIP

29th GRAHAM MIKE

Could you all please contact Mike Smith by the previous Wednesday so that your Intercessions can be recorded in time for the Services.

BIBLE READERS ROTA NOVEMBER

MORNING EVENING

1st MIKE GRAHAM & PHILIP

8TH TBC MICHAEL P. & PHILIP

15TH DAVID MIKE & GRAHAM

22nd SHEILA DAVID & PHILIP

29th PAULINE GRAHAM & PHILIP

THE PARISH of BARWELL with STAPLETON and POTTERS MARSTON

Parish Priest Philip Watson tel: 01455 446993 or e-mail him at frpwatson@virginmedia.com

Licensed Readers St. Mary the Virgin P.MMrs D Watson 446993 SecretaryMrs L Plumpton 449244 Mrs N Holt 272321Associate Readers Potters Marston Hall

TreasurerMrs S Newbury 845244

Church WardensSt. Mary’s Barwell

St. Mary/St Christopher’s Mothers Union

Mrs Gill Brown 845400 Branch LeaderMr David Bendell 457427 Mrs P Bendell 457427Assistant Wardens 46 Galloway Close

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Mr J Nottage 447110 OrganistsMr G Armstrong 446587District Church WardensSt. Martin’s Stapleton Church Lads & Girls BrigadeMrs S Howe 844412 Mr V Cooper 450025St. Mary the Virgin Potters Marston

Village Hall

Mr M Jones 282748 Mrs P Bendell 457427Secretary St. Mary’s BarwellMrs P Bendell 457427Treasurer U,s RepresentativeMrs S Newbury 845244 Mr T Smith 07890 537554St. Martin’s Stapleton Christian AidSecretary Mrs P Bendell 457427Mrs S Howe 844412 Friends of St. Mary’sTreasurer TreasurerTim Porter Mr C Sewell 842944Bellringers Membership OfficerMr M Pickering 636945 Mrs M Braund 444595Children’s Society Magazine EditorMr C Sewell 842944 Mr C Sewell 842944

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