SERVICES

JULY

5th July – The Fourth Sunday after Trinity 10.00 am Short Service of the Word 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

12rh July – The Fifth Sunday after Trinity 10.00 am Short Service of the Word 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

19th July – The Sixth Sunday after Trinity 10.00 am Short Said Communion Service 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

26th July – The Seventh Sunday after Trinity 10.00 am Short Said Communion Service 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

AUGUST

2nd August– The Eighth Sunday After Trinity 10.00 am Short Said Communion Service 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

9th August – The Ninth Sunday After Trinity 10.00 am Short Said Communion Service) 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

16th August – The Tenth Sunday After Trinity 10.00 am Short Said Communion Service 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

23rd August – The Eleventh Sunday After Trinity 10.00 am Short Said Communion Service 10.00 am Family Service with Holy Communion at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

30th August– The Twelfth Sunday After Trinity 10.00 am Short Said Communion 10.00 am Family Service at the Church Centre

Both services will be followed by

time for private prayer until noon.

WEEKDAY SERVICES

There are currently no weekday services being held

Magazine Copy Deadlines

16th Aug for September

13th Sep for October 18th October for November

15th November for December/January 2021 Magazines are placed in the churches on the Sunday on or before the 1st of the month. The time between the deadline and magazine issue is to allow for typing, formatting, compiling the magazine, proofreading, printing, collection and distribution. These all take time and have to be fitted around the volunteer editorial team’s other commitments. We would therefore be very grateful if you would keep to the deadlines set. St Paul’s News is printed by Millennia Print Ltd, Crowborough

From the Vicarage

Dear Friends, Thank you for your continued support, prayers and hard work, especially during this period of increased challenges and uncertainties. A very big thank you to everyone involved in our online concert in which some members shared some of the ways they have been using their time during the Lockdown – and a very special thanks to Fiona and Nic for organising it. Special thanks too to Deborah and Sue and their editorial team and contributors for their amazing work in continuing to produce our Parish Magazine. As you know, it is online but please contact the office should you need a hard copy. I mentioned in my last letter that the earliest we could return to Church was the 5th of July. I’m delighted to write that we will be having services at both the Parish Church and the Church Centre from the 5th of July. We’ve assessed the risk and the Wardens, the leader of the ‘Family Service’ and I believe that it is safe to do

so. Just before I started writing this piece, I received news from Freetown of the death of someone who played a silent but very important role in my upbringing in our village of Kossoh Town. Mr Oseh is the one circled in the photo. He always wore a permanent smile and I have never

seen him angry. Growing up, he was the only one I allowed to cut my hair. He worked away and returned to Kossoh Town every three or so months and during his annual leave – and I always waited for him. No one else was ‘allowed’ to cut my hair. He later got ordained and the custom in Sierra Leone is to call every priest ‘Reverend’ but he didn’t mind me calling him ‘Mr Oseh’. I saw him every time I visited Freetown and this photo was taken during my Study Leave last year after a service at St Thomas’ Church, Hastings where he served as an assistant priest following his retirement. He will be sorely missed by all who knew him. May his soul rest in peace and rise in glory.

I recently attended a Discussion Group organised by Bishops James and Simon via Zoom in response to the killing of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter (BLM) campaign in order for ministers of Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) heritage in the Diocese to share their ‘experiences, reactions, thoughts, challenges and ideas’ with the Bishops. Although all of us present shared something about some of the racism we have experienced and sometimes painfully endured, most of it wasn’t done in an atmosphere of animosity. In fact, the general mood of our conversations was quite positive, considering what was being discussed. Of course, there was a call for action and Bishop Simon, who chairs the Diocesan Board of Education, promised to do all he could to get Church Schools to include more about Black history in their curriculum. Bishop James lamented the fact that with Archbishop Sentamu having retired, the Church of England seemed to have taken a backward step with regards BAME in leadership and hoped that the few Suffragans would soon become Diocesan Bishops. As I reflected on our discussions afterwards I realised how easy it is for ‘well-meaning’ people to demonstrate

‘unconscious bias’ – which can be deemed racist or have racist slur without them intending to or even realising it. I will give one humorous example on this. Some years ago during Archbishop Rowan’s tenure we had a meeting in Tunbridge Wells. As I entered the chair cheerfully acclaimed ‘here comes Rowan Williams’ brother’. Instantly someone else said ‘no, you mean John Sentamu…’ Some laughed rather ruefully, while some simply looked down at the floor. Interestingly though, I don’t remember this person saying anything to me – perhaps they felt too embarrassed and didn’t know what to say. ‘I don’t really know what to say’ are

words that have passed through our lips or, at least, gone through our minds at some point but as Disciples of Christ we are called to be caring for one another. In fact, St Paul suggests that we should not only ‘rejoice with those who rejoice’ but also ‘weep with those who weep’ (Roman12:15). This sentiment is superbly

encapsulated by the Church Mission Society (CMS) Community Prayer with which I will end. It was written by Bishop Simon Barrington-Ward, former CMS General Secretary who died recently: Lord, as you have entered into our life and death and in all the world you call us into your death and risen life, forgive us our sins; and draw us we pray, by the power and encouragement of your Spirit, into an exchange of gifts and needs, joys and sorrows, strength and weakness

with your people everywhere; that with them we may have grace to break through every barrier, to make disciples of all peoples and to share your love with everyone for your glory’s sake. Amen.

From the Registers

At rest - the sympathy of the Parish is extended to the family and friends of

Audrey Humphrey

Diana Grace Easton Alison Turner

From the Editorial Team

Hello! Is there anybody out there? When the magazines were printed you could see the pile reduce and know that somebody was reading the magazine. Now we are online I have no idea whether I am writing for the parish or just myself! If anyone is reading this, first I must apologize for the late arrival of this magazine. It would seem that, paradoxically, the less material there is to squeeze into the magazine, the longer it takes to produce it. I was doing so well until I tried to improve the performance of my home computer with disastrous results. Do please email us at magazine@stpaulsrusthall.org.uk to let us know what you think of the online magazine. Have you been reading it successfully? Do you enjoy the extra colour? Would you be happy for it to remain online or are you desperate for a paper copy that you can read in the garden even if it's sunny?

I am hoping that this will hit the website just as we gather for our first service in church since March. Won't that be lovely - though as singing isn't allowed I think it's going to be a difficult experience akin to being stood by a buffet and told I mustn't eat anything! Something to get used to though I guess, and I really hope the weather is good enough for some distanced chat as I have been missing seeing everyone at church. The

online singing for services is not without its challenges. Trying to juggle music, a recording device, a device to display Fiona conducting, and headphones to listen to the backing track yet still enable you to hear whether you are singing in tune is a nightmare, and hearing what you sound like alone, in awful acoustics without the benefits of accompaniment or fellow singers is, frankly, soul destroying! I feel so sorry for Nic Farman who puts all the recordings together. The choir is desperate to be singing together again but, as Fiona explains later, this is not likely to be allowed for some time.

I was able to see my son and his partner last week. They have bought a friend's cast off car so that midnight dashes to the maternity hospital can be achieved without resorting to public transport. Having driven it to them in Walthamstow, it was lovely to see them settling into their new maisonette and sit in the garden and chat. The journey home via Underground and train from Charing Cross was bizarre. Admittedly I had waited until 7pm so that I would avoid rush hour, but there was only one other lady in the tube carriage and just 3 of us in the carriage of the 8pm to TW. I was, of course, wearing my face covering, and have now

made several for various members of the family. Humorous masks are now beginning to appear. Here are some of my favourites.

Did you manage to catch the Concert on YouTube on Saturday 27th June? It celebrated the Dedication of St Paul's Church in July 1850. Ginette di Palma has been rummaging in the archives and found a details of the Dedication Festival Hymn, which was sung at the concert and in the following day's service, in a pew leaflet for the 121st birthday of the church on 11th July 1971. The vicar at that time was Norman Mantle but he was assisted by two curates, Collin Symes and Anthony Randall. The additional help was needed because there were five services each Sunday at that time, a said communion at 8am, Family Communion at 9am,

Family Service at the Mission Church at 10.30, Mattins (with sermon) at 11 am and Evensong (again with sermon) at 6.30pm.

The magazine is taking its annual holiday during August. We will be back with our September edition so please send us articles by 16th August. Sadly there is little live sport to watch, but enjoy the highlights being replayed and have a cornet for me at the beach.

Stay well, safe and socially distanced!

Deborah Bruce, Sue Hare and Mione Palmer

G. S. Anderson Gardening and Maintenance

Service

Do you need help with your gardening

or decorating?

Cannot manage the mowing?

Fed up with the weeding?

Want to cut out the pruning?

Need small decorating jobs done?

Why not give me a call – I will do most

gardening and decorating jobs

Contact me on 01892 532922

or 07879 245793

to discuss your needs

A Musical Note

We remain hopeful that it won’t be too much longer before we can resume services in our churches, but of course we realise that the structure of our services will have to be very different to how they were pre Covid-19 at least in the short term, For the choir there appears at the moment very little chance of a return to rehearsals and live singing in services due to the worry about respiratory aerosols which can spread beyond the required distancing regulations. There have been well reported cases of choirs and church services where the virus has been spread and scientists have advised choirs and performing arts groups that they should not resume rehearsals until a vaccine is produced, I am hopeful that ways will be found to facilitate a return to singing soon, but in a safe way and with clear guidelines on how this can be achieved. This week in a letter to The Guardian some of the top choral musicians in the country (Bob Chilcott, John Rutter, Harry Christophers, Ben Parry, Andrew Carwood and many more) signed a letter entitled 'Covid-19 has silenced choirs - we must find a way to restart singing together'. In it they set out that Britain has a world leading choral music tradition and that we need to find a way to restart this otherwise a great part of our heritage will be lost. I think the Church of England feel that they have a little time before these decisions actually need to be made. With schools being closed and almost at the end of term now, our choir schools are not operating and will not now reopen until September. Most church choirs don’t sing in August anyway as they have a month off in the summer holidays (at Rusthall we are very much in the minority by singing for services every week of the year) and with concert venues and theatres all being closed, scheduled performances are now postponed until October at the earliest and likely not to be staged at all until 2021. We absolutely will not restart singing until we know that it is safe to do so but we need to start thinking about how we can achieve this and how our setup

will need to change in order to accommodate social distancing guidelines. The letter ends like this, ‘Singing in a choir is not only about communality, social cohesion and harmony; for many it is an essential source of emotional wellbeing and positive mental health. Moreover it is a powerful expression of our culture and humanity, and it cannot be allowed to fade away.’ The choir at Rusthall is about much more than singing and I know that we all miss being together. However, I would like to thank everyone who is taking part in the singing and playing for our online services as they are doing an amazing job and to Nic and Jennifer who have to

piece all of our individual contributions together to create the finished product it is lovely that we are still able to make music together. For our junior choristers the summer is usually filled with the excitement of Summer Camp, usually cited as a highlight of their year. Obviously sleepovers in the church will be impossible, but I am hoping that some activities, socially distanced or virtual, can be planned for them to enjoy.

Fiona Johnson

www.RusthallVets.co.uk

20 ASHLEY GARDENS, RUSTHALL,

TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT, TN4 8TU.

Telephone (01892) 511715

Monday to Friday 9.00-11.00 am 4.30-6.30 pm

Saturday 9.00-11.00 am closed

E. R. HICKMOTT & SON

FUNERAL DIRECTORS Members of N.A.F.D and S.A.I.F.

The only long established family-owned funeral directors in Tunbridge Wells.

Golden Charter Pre-payment funeral plans available.

Owned and run by the family in Tunbridge Wells for six generations.

Twenty-four hour emergency service – Qualified Funeral Directors.

41, GROVE HILL ROAD

TUNBRIDGE WELLS

Tel: (01892) 522462 (two lines) Fax: (01892) 533807

Secretarial Services

1 High Street Rusthall TN4 8RL

01892 515188 suzanne@kmj-secretarial-services.co.uk

Faxing Photocopying

Typing Handmade Greetings Cards

Stationery Items

Book Review

“On God’s Side” by Jim Wallis.

“Who Jesus is and why it matters”

Most of us were brought up to believe, quite rightly, that Jesus came to “Save our Souls”. It’s a clear teaching in the Gospels. In essence, this usually means if we believe in God we will go to heaven when we died. But not so many of us were also taught that Jesus came to show us the Kingdom of God here on earth. In fact, Jesus came to save the whole world. And we would be changed as well, so we could become Jesus’ agents in his mission for the whole of creation.

So if we are called to be practical as well as hopeful Christians, we need to know a bit about the man Jesus himself. And why he came to this earth. As usual, the best place to start to answer these questions is the Bible. In Matthew’s gospel we read, “When Jesus came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, he went to the synagogue on the Sabbath day as was his custom. He stood up to read, and the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was given to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where it was written:-

'The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives, recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed

go free, and to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favour”. (Luke 4 verses 16 - 19)

Later on, as Matthew records, Jesus spoke what we now call "The Sermon on the Mount” beginning with these words, “Blessed are the poor in spirit….those who mourn…the meek….those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” etc .

Taken together, these sayings of Jesus are known as Jesus’ Manifesto. Jesus is saying from now on, things are going to be different. Instead of Romans and the complicit leaders of the Temple, God is in charge of the world and Caesar isn’t. This was treason in those days but to us it can easily become just another story. Whereas, Jesus

was and is encouraging us all to follow him and to do all we can for the Kingdom of God.

This is still a valid message for today, and perhaps especially so during this coronavirus pandemic. We have seen that the leaders of the world are vulnerable humans beings, and that their messages are not always designed for either the physical or the spiritual the health of the nations. It’s up to us to decide our priorities, guided by the spirit of God as shown in Jesus, for the sake of all God’s creation.

Jim is a US theologian, minister, author and well known speaker at the UK’s Greenbelt summer festival. He was Barack Obama’s spiritual adviser and is married to an Anglican priest, Joy Carroll, who was the model for the Vicar

of Dibley!

Tony Rutherford

MR JOLLY CHIMNEY SWEEP 27 Apsley Street, Tunbridge Wells, TN4 8NU

Tel: 01892 618324 Mobile: 07752 130577

Honest Reliable Friendly Service

Free Smoke Test, Certificate Issued

No Mess, No Fuss

Please help us to preserve the church buildings

and ministry by leaving a legacy to St Paul’s

Rusthall in your will.

Thank you

Easy Payment Terms

Income from magazine sales is important to us at St Paul’s. If everyone paid the £1 cover charge

we would raise over £1500 a year, which would not only cover the cost

of producing the magazine but also contribute to other costs such as

leasing the photocopier. If you often find yourself fumbling

for the right change, perhaps you might like to pay in advance for a

year’s “subscription”, 10 issues for

the sum of £10, (you might even feel

tempted to be more generous!) Your contributions are much appreciated.

Please make cheques payable to

St Paul’s Church, Rusthall and send them to the Parish Office

Tamarix Holiday Bungalow, Winchelsea Beach

Tamarix is a 2 bedroom family quality three star bungalow situated in a no-through road, and set in a large fenced shingle and grassed garden. It is ideal for those looking for a quiet and comfortable self-catering accommodation to enjoy a tranquil break along the stunning Sussex coast. Sleeping four, the cottage can be used for a wonderful family holiday or just a cosy romantic break for two. Pets are welcome by arrangement and Tamarix is perfectly situated for walking, bird watching, cycling, and the beach. Holidays are on a weekly basis only in high season, but short breaks may be possible at other times.

Weeks for this year (April to October) are available from

£380.00 per week

Please call 01892 528538 or email karen_miller_2@hotmail.co.uk

for more information.

We are your local family run

Estate Agents based in Rusthall High Street

We offer a good, personal and

professional service with

competitive fees and flexible contract terms.

Call us today for a FREE Market

appraisal

01892 515188 sales@kmjproperty.co.uk

Ride and Stride

Saturday 12th September 2020

At the time of writing this article we are unsure whether or not the Kent Ride and Stride will take place this year. If not, it would be a great shame, given the amazing amount of money raised each year to help maintain Kent’s churches.

Ian and I have the tandem oiled and ready for action to do our usual trek down to Appledore and around the 20 or so beautiful churches around there. It is an ideal area for children to cycle on as the roads are very flat and quiet and the route can be expanded or reduced to suit all abilities (the important thing is to include the most beautiful

churches and those which provide the best cakes!!!).

Here are some stories from last year’s Ride and Stride day courtesy of Friends of Kent Churches website:

2019 Ride & Stride – 8 stories

Philip Harris of Headcorn cycled to 17 churches in

Ardeche, Western France, covering 73 miles (or should I say 117 kilometres).

The Church of the Good Shepherd, Borough Green, organised a four-parish pilgrimage walk, vising Borough Green, Ightham, Wrotham and Platt, singing a psalm and a hymn at each.

75 year-old David Silsbey, the Churchwarden of St. Margaret’s Hucking, used a battery-driven electric motor to assist his bike over the hills of the North Downs.

Joy and Derek Russill organised two walks from Saltwood church, one with 12 children and 14

adults, and the other with 17 adults. There were also 2 cyclists and 12 welcomers, making a total of 57 people taking part. Not quite as many as last year, but still far more than any other church.

The nine riders from St Alphege Seasalter included two 5-year-olds on the back of their father’s tricycle.

A group of five from Folkestone Methodist church walked to eight churches in the town; the group consisted of someone in a non-electric wheelchair, an eight-year-old, an adult and two therapy dogs.

5-year-old Henry Amos travelled round eight churches in Sevenoaks on his scooter, with Grandma trying to keep up. He surprised the ladies at the Friends’ Meeting House by scooting up straight up their wheelchair ramp! Sian Edwards’ family of son, daughter -in-law and three grandchildren came from Cornwall to Greatstone

to take part.

If you are interested in taking part in any way – manning the church at St. Pauls, walking or cycling in Tunbridge Wells or Romney Marsh please contact me. Look out for further announcements on St. Paul’s website and local posters nearer the time to see if it is going ahead.

Jane Goldsworthy

07846 266085

Jane_goldsworthy@yahoo.co.uk

Rusthall St Paul's

School Report

The end of this strangest of school years is drawing to its conclusion. Only the children in Reception, Year 1 and Year 6 are attending school regularly at the moment but they are enjoying being back with their friends, even if they do have to keep in their 'bubbles'.

Children are currently being kept in groups of no more than 15 pupils to minimise risks of transmission should anyone catch Covid19. This is hampering many of the activities that would normally take place at this time of year, when the September Reception intake usually visit and classes all have time with their next teacher. New safe ways are constantly having to be developed to cope with the many and constantly changing government guidelines. Sports Day has gone ahead and before the end of term every child will have been invited in to meet next year's teacher.

The teachers seem to be working twice as hard. Some have a class to teach during the day but all also have other pupils working from home. The website is now loaded with work to do each day and the teachers check work sent back to school. We know that for some pupils and their families this has been a very difficult time and many have been finding it difficult to keep to a normal routine without regular daily attendance at school. It will be good to have everyone back in September. One face that will not be there is School Secretary Kathleen Elwood. Kathleen is retiring at the end

of this academic year and has been preparing her successor, Naomi Barclay. We wish her well for a well-earned retirement. The school Governing Body has continued to meet using Zoom. It has been tricky for all of us to get used to this new technology, and with the greater discipline required to not interject. However, we are getting better at it gradually. There are changes within the Governing Body as the year ends. Chair of Governors Graham Clark will be leaving us after a very active term of office which

included a very successful Ofsted Inspection and many challenges thrown up by the rapidly changing education system. The Governing Body will be in the hands of Vice Chair Jean Kerr until elections are held at the next Full Governing Body meeting in September. Our clerk, Anne

Carwardine, who has coped brilliantly taking minutes at our virtual meetings is also leaving. Her role will be taken by Jan Davies. We send

Anne and Graham on their way with our thanks and best wishes for the future. While I am here I would also like to give an enormous vote of thanks to the school's leadership team, Miss Caroline Powell and new Assistant Headteachers Sandra Sheldrake and Caroline Clark. They have coped remarkably well with this unique period of extended school closure. They have dealt with the stream of ever-changing guidance from government, local authority and diocese and have ensured that the school has

continued to provide for all its pupils. No doubt they will have to continue to keep abreast of new developments over the summer holidays, already we have heard that the Kent Test has been put back until October. We hope that they and all the staff and pupils will have a restful break. Here are some photos from Sports Day.

Deborah Bruce, Governor

Poems for Summer 2020

This summer feels like one in which we are being forced to confront the differences and distances that can

keep people apart. Yet it is also a time of being newly aware of how much unites us, how much we humans have in common, and the solidarity and friendship that can help us feel and be close.

Susan Barber

I Look at the World I look at the world From awakening eyes in a black face— And this is what I see: This fenced-off narrow space

Assigned to me. I look then at the silly walls Through dark eyes in a dark face— And this is what I know: That all these walls oppression builds Will have to go! I look at my own body With eyes no longer blind— And I see that my own hands can make The world that's in my mind.

Then let us hurry, comrades, The road to find. Langston Hughes

No Problem

I am not de problem But I bare de brunt Of silly playground taunts An racist stunts, I am not de problem

I am a born academic But dey got me on de run Now I am branded athletic, I am not de problem If yu give I a chance I can teach yu of Timbuktu I can do more dan dance, I am not de problem I greet yu wid a smile Yu put me in a pigeon hole But I a versatile.

These conditions may affect me As I get older, An I am positively sure I have no chips on me shoulders, Black is not de problem Mother country get it right, An just for de record, Sum of me best friends are white

Benjamin Zephaniah

A Note Left on The Door

There are these: the blue skirts of the ocean walking in now, almost to the edge of town, and a thousand birds, in their incredible wings which they think nothing of, crying out that the day is long, the fish are plentiful. And friends, being as kind as friends can be, striving to lift the darkness. Forgive me, Lord of honeysuckle, of trees, of notebooks, of typewriters, of music, that there are also these: the lover, the singer, the poet

asleep in the shadows. Mary Oliver

Thanks Listen with the night falling we are saying thank you we are stopping on the bridges to bow from the

railings we are running out of the glass rooms with our mouths full of food to look at the sky and say thank you we are standing by the water thanking it standing by the windows looking out in our directions

back from a series of hospitals back from a mugging after funerals we are saying thank you after the news of the dead whether or not we knew them we are saying thank you

over telephones we are saying thank you in doorways and in the backs of cars and in elevators remembering wars and the police at the door and the beatings on stairs we are saying thank you in the banks we are saying thank you in the faces of the officials and the rich and of all who will never change we go on saying thank you thank you

with the animals dying around us our lost feelings we are saying thank you with the forests falling faster than the minutes of our lives we are saying thank you with the words going out like cells of a brain with the cities growing over us we are saying thank you faster and faster with nobody listening we are saying thank you we are saying thank you and waving dark though it is

W. S. Merwin

Short Story

Passing Sentence

‘Muuum….’

My son is home for the first time in over a year. His lean figure and dark skin carry the memory of travels to the Far East and beyond. This man is no longer my boy but always will be.

‘What is it, Will?’

‘…where did you put my ….’

What is it with these guys who cannot see what’s under their noses? His father was just the same.

‘… rucksack?

It was in the hall.’ And I’d tripped over it at least three times before I threw into the cupboard.

‘Under the stairs,’ I called over my shoulder as I grabbed my briefcase. I was due in court at ten, needed at least half an hour’s preparation in the office beforehand, and it was already eight thirty-five.

I sit as a magistrate in the County Court, have done for fifteen years now. No names registered

when I glanced down the list for that day, although the crime with which one of the accused had been charged was a little unusual and caught my eye. I might not have recognized the man himself had I not glanced around the courtroom at the members of the public and seen Sally. Late teenage, long hair and fierce eyebrows. Not sulky today but uncertain, and on the edge of tears. She gazed around, looking bemused, and then stared intently at the young man. His name was Graham Sutton, and the charge was that he’d committed arson reckless as to whether life was endangered. He sat

facing forward, eyes closed, hands clasped

between his bouncing knees.

I had hardly noticed him at the wedding blessing nearly six months earlier, which was the previous time I’d seen him. We knew Michael, the groom, because he is Sally’s father. He had few other supporters on his side of the church. His parents were dead, his brother unable to come over from the States, so his only blood relatives were the son and daughter from his first marriage. ‘We’ were four friends who wanted to be there to support him, in spite of our misgivings regarding the volatile woman who was now his wife.

We were well outnumbered by the bride’s Liverpool Irish extended family. You could see the resemblance, narrow bodies and faces, deep-set eyes, from the 95-year old matriarch holding court on a chair placed almost in the middle of the room, to granddaughters and great-granddaughters

who danced enthusiastically to cheesy 80’s music as the evening wore on. After the church blessing and wedding breakfast, this was the evening

reception, to which additional people had been invited. We’d found a quieter spot in a corner away from the disco DJ, and I was watching a quartet dancing, clutching pints of beer and wine glasses as the young people do. Paul, Michael’s son, had grown into an assured young man, with a friendly, open face. We’d known Sally - a troubled teenager who’d caused her father much angst as she struggled to cope with the family breakup. Now she displayed that sulky look that hinted at a capacity to cause trouble.

It had been clear that evening that the slim young

man in front of me now was her boyfriend. I was struck me with how uncomfortable he looked, standing on the edge of things, one hand in his pocket jingling keys or coins. He probably knew four, maybe five, of the eighty or so people in the over-heated room. He’d looked shy, moving from foot to foot, not talking very much. When he did dance, he gripped his near-empty tumbler, and the remaining liquid jumped up and down in time to the beat. His smile was fixed. It was impossible to tell what was going on in his head, but I didn’t get the sense that he was enjoying himself.

I couldn’t remember the last time I’d heard a case of arson, but did recall explaining to Will, when he was doing a school project on the judicial system, that the motivation for such actions seemed to fall into two categories: revenge or political. Political with a small ‘p’: a protest against an establishment or organization. Revenge came from when someone felt they’d been unfairly treated. Will had been fascinated; he was preparing for an exam in psychology. Now the three magistrates, of whom I was the chair, were faced with a young man whose actions were as clear as his motivation was opaque. The report showed that he went in to

pay, purchasing two cigarette lighters. He left and drove his car over to a bay where there was a pump to provide air for tyres. I saw that timed camera evidence showed him sitting with the door open until a white van pulled up to the pumps nearest the kiosk. Then he got out and ran to the far pumps, shielded by the van from the attendant in the kiosk. He pulled two of the nozzles off the pump structure, pushed something in so that they would deliver fuel and used the cigarette lighters to ignite the flow of liquid. The pictures showed that he ran quickly away to escape the fireball, and stood watching the flames from a safe distance.

Luckily the white van had driven off by this time, so the attendant’s view was no longer blocked, and his reaction was to hit an emergency cut-off button to stop the supply of fuel and then rush out with a fire extinguisher to douse the remaining flames.

It must have been a frightening incident for that man. The stills were silent, of course, and black and white, but my mind couldn’t help but fill in

the ‘whump’ sound from the ignition of the fuel, and the colour and heat that would have billowed out in all directions. They showed the accused clearly, both in his car and at the pumps before and after he filled the tank, so there was very little argument to be made in his defence. His solicitor advised the court that his client was pleading guilty. We then had to consider mitigating circumstances, and a possible referral for psychiatric reports. I know that arson is viewed as a serious offence and can carry a life sentence, but no-one had been hurt and there was only minor

damage to the pumps, so I didn’t think we would be taking a really draconian view of things.

‘Stand up please, Mr Sutton,’ I instructed from my position in the middle of the bench. He was obliged to look up at my colleagues and me on our dais. I saw red-rimmed eyes, and heard shallow breathing. He couldn’t have been more than a couple of years older than Will. ‘Would you like to tell me how this all happened.’ His solicitor half rose, subsiding quickly as I looked sharply at him. ‘I’d very much like to hear it in your own words.’

Graham looked away at a middle-aged couple who leaned forward in mute support.

‘It will help us to understand the circumstances in which you could take this sort of action.’ And would help us to assess whether a psychiatric report was necessary. I offered him an encouraging smile.

‘I’m not sure, I can’t…’ He gulped and looked down.

‘Come now,’ I prompted, ‘just take it step by step. Had you been out that evening?’ He nodded.

‘You need to speak so that the court can record your responses.’

‘Yes, out.’ His voice was little louder than a whisper.

‘And your car needed petrol?’

‘Yes, I’d been up to London that day, so the tank was nearly empty.’

‘And what happened then?’ I was accustomed to patiently teasing information out of accused and witnesses.

‘I went and filled up where I usually do.’

‘So it was quite a normal thing?’

‘Yes, then I went in and paid.’

‘Do you smoke, Mr Sutton?’ asked Ben Miskin, sitting on my right.

‘No, I gave up two years ago.’

‘Then why did you purchase the lighters?’ Graham Sutton was withdrawing into the memory of that night. I watched the conflicting emotions rushing across his face like the flickering lights he would have seen as he drove through the dark towards the petrol station. When did he decide to do what he did?

‘Mr Sutton…?’

‘I … I don’t know…. it just came to me.’

‘What was that, Mr Sutton?’

‘She said I couldn’t do anything, that I was boring, and she didn’t want to go out with me anymore. She said it on the phone, before I left London, like.’ The words were coming in a rush now, his eyes fixed on the royal coat of arms above my head. ‘So I thought, I’d show her, like do something that wasn’t boring and ordinary, then she’d have to take notice of me, wouldn’t she?’ The pitch was rising. Now he’d started talking, it had unleashed a flood of words. ‘Then she wouldn’t want to get rid of me, would she?’ I wanted to put my arms around him and tell him

that it would all be all right, that people would understand it had been a moment of madness. But it wouldn’t have been true.

The gasp came from the public gallery. I looked over and saw Sally bend to pull tissues out of her handbag. She was crying, and the girl beside her put her arm around Sally’s shoulder.

‘I didn’t think about what would happen like, I just wanted to do something, y’know, like dramatic. I thought it might get me in the papers, I thought it’d shock her back into loving me again.’

So this is what it came down to. Rejected suitor,

heartless beloved – how many times had we heard it before? I recognised that each time it was an individual life a little more battered, a little more injured by what life has thrown in its path. Inside I prayed that Will would never have to face anything like this.

It would have to be a custodial sentence, his mother would lose him for three years, or at least eighteen months if he behaved well. How to bear that? I couldn’t imagine.

Joanna Mace

Behind the scenes

there were human beings

Part 3

Once the Children of Israel stopped being nomadic houses became the norm, but they were very basic, but also practical. There would usually be just one large room with a raised platform at one end where the family would sleep and, in bad weather, eat. In small niches cut into the walls were placed the bed rolls, the lamp, and other family belongings. On the lower level the farming implements were stored and the grain and oil kept in large jars for the winter. It was here that the manger was placed and the animals stabled for the night.

On the upper level of the room, usually in the middle was the fireplace - a ring of soft earth about 10 to 15 centimetres high, inside which burnt the fire, for cooking and warmth. In some of the wealthier houses there was a brazier to hold the fire. At night, when the bed rolls were laid out, all the family slept with their feet towards the fireplace.

On the whole the most important animal to the family was the goat, with its long floppy ears. The

Jewish people were not great meat eaters, but one of the advantages of the goat was that it could obtain food in most inaccessible places and from the poorest scrub. It provided milk which had to be drunk quickly for it soon turned sour in the heat. It also provided leather for sandals, belts and water bottles.

The donkey too was a very useful animal. It was hardy and not often ill. It was easy to feed and capable of hard work. Many families would own one or two sheep which would be looked after by the village shepherd. Sheep provided people with wool, skins for clothes and meat when eaten. This mutton would usually be boiled in a large pot of water over an open fire.

The job of the village shepherd was hard. The sheep were taken from place to place to find good,

rich pasture. Even in the daytime there was a risk of wild animals attacking the sheep. At night they might have to sleep out on the hills with their

flock, but if they were near home they were brought back to the village sheepfold. A sheep or more particularly a lamb was an important animal often offered to God in worship.

Pride of place was given to the lamp. For the dark evenings and the gloom of the interior of the house it provided the only light, apart from the little that came in through the open doorway or one of the small windows. The lamp was made from clay fired in a kiln. It had a tapering spout which held

the wick while the bowl of the lamp was filled with oil.

In the darkest corner of the house stood the earthenware jars which would contain the family’s stock of oil. Light and air soon turned the oil rancid, so these containers had long, thin necks. The same oil – olive oil – was used for cooking as well as lighting. The early Israelites regarded the olive tree as the King of the trees. It was an easy tree to cultivate. New wood had to be grafted on to an older fruit tree bearing roots. This grafting process helped to keep the tree short, stocky and gnarled so it was easy to climb and shake down the fruit when harvest time came. Most families had at least one tree each, which provided oil for the whole year. Gathering the olives was a job for the boys and women and it was they who either shook

the tree or stood beneath it beating the branches so that the olives fell to the ground.

To make the oil the olives were lightly crushed by a round stone, and the oil oozed out of a small scoop in the press wall. The oil that was extracted first was the finest oil. Afterwards the olives would be pressed again and this oil, although not so pure, would be used for cooking.

The olive tree not only provided the much needed oil but the fruit – either fresh or pickled – would be eaten as a breakfast food with bread. It could be used to make a torch to be carried to light the way outside. A rag or a bundle of reeds tied to a stout stick and soaked in oil was a very primitive torch.

And surprisingly – in some cases – it was used to wash the face in the morning.

Water was very important, as it is today in any hot and dry country. The Israelites had learned much from the Egyptians about irrigation and how to collect and transport water and this stood them in good stead when they reached the land of Canaan. Usually it only rained heavily twice a year – in March and again in October.

To save water for all-the-year-round use the people dug wells and lined them with stones. Then they were covered so that the water could not evaporate

in the hot sun. Like oil, water was stored in earthenware pitchers, which, being unglazed, allowed the water to soak away slowly through the porous sides and bottom, and evaporate. This kept the water inside the pitcher delightfully cool.

The stone jars at The Wedding at Cana

Twice a day, in the cool of the morning and in the evening, the women would take their pitchers to the nearby well to be filled with fresh water. They

carried them home balanced on their heads. The water was drawn from the deep, bubbling spring by a leather bucket on the end of a rope. Carrying water to and from the wells was a woman’s job and no man would dream of helping her. However in towns and villages it was a common sight to see a man selling water from a goat-skin.

Daphne Pilcher

An archbishop led by the Spirit

John Barton, a former adviser, writes a personal

tribute to Dr Sentamu, as he retires.

PADr Sentamu next to his tent in St John’s Chapel, York Minster, during a seven-day fast and prayer vigil

for peace in the Middle East, in 2006

His faith was formed in Uganda, where the East African Revival had planted a Western renewal movement in African soil. Before escaping the Amin regime, in 1974, Dr Sentamu had been a judge in Uganda. His legal training and experience

were utilised when, as Bishop of Stepney, he was appointed an adviser to the Stephen Lawrence inquiry. He later chaired the Damilola Taylor review.

As a priest, bishop, and archbishop, Dr Sentamu could be unpredictable, which was disconcerting to those who wanted the future mapped out. His staff, who are fiercely loyal to him, were at times breathless because they didn’t know what he would do next. He was aware of this, explaining that he tried to heed the Holy Spirit, who could not be second-guessed.

When he was Bishop of Birmingham, the city’s Rover car factory was on the brink of closure, and a whole community was about to lose its livelihood. Dr Sentamu joined them on the picket line, and then bought a Rover car out of his own

pocket, as an act of defiance and hope — like the prophet Jeremiah, who invested in a field in his home country, knowing that it was about to be

overrun.

Later, when invited to comment on a particularly alarming development in the Middle East, he said “Words, words — what can they achieve?” He cancelled a week’s holiday, shaved his head, and pitched a tent inside York Minster, in an Ezekiel-like symbolic action. He fasted for a week, and led prayers on the hour. During that time, visitor numbers shot up. One of the canons said that he had had more conversations about God that week than at any other time.

In 2007, at the height of the crisis in Zimbabwe, Dr Sentamu was invited to review the newspapers on the BBC’s The Andrew Marr Show. He had

secreted a pair of scissors to cut up his clerical collar. This was his identity, he told Mr Marr, and he was destroying it in solidarity with Zimbabweans, black and white, who were losing their identity under the repressive and racist regime of President Mugabe. The plan had come to him at five o’clock that morning. Ten years later, when Mugabe was deposed, he put his collar back on.

These demonstrations were dismissed as publicity-seeking by a few who thought the proper impact to be made by an archbishop was by means of a nuanced speech in the House of Lords or the General Synod. As a member of that Synod, he famously said that the Church of England had the engine of a lawnmower and the brakes of a juggernaut.

His time in Birmingham had been short but incisive. That secular city, which knew little of the Establishment, couldn’t get enough of him. He designated the diocese “Middle Earth”, much to

the delight of Brummies, who were fed up with being disparaged by snooty southerners. On a visit to the Central Mosque, he said: “I greet you in the name of Jesus Christ — to you, a prophet, but, for me, my Lord and Saviour.”

HIS appointment as Archbishop of York was widely welcomed. There was a tidal wave of correspondence, which took months to clear. Soon, he was named Yorkshireman of the Year. There were a few detractors elsewhere, one of whom, knowing nothing about him, asked: “Couldn’t they find a white man?”

He walked the length and breadth of the diocese, stopping to visit schools and workplaces (including a racing stable), say prayers in churches, and hand out prayer cards and beads. He corralled the northern bishops into joining him on evangelistic

missions, and was in demand as a speaker and columnist.

Dr Sentamu believes that God called him to be an evangelist who also has a passion for social justice. We await the final report of the Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission, which he chairs. Oil companies in that part of the Niger Delta are exploiting irreplaceable resources, ravaging the land, and flouting human rights.

He also chaired the independent Living Wage Commission, which successfully campaigned to replace the “minimum” wage with the recognition that family incomes should be enough to live on. Today, he says that paying NHS and care workers

a living wage would be the best recognition of their dedicated service.

His lifelong commitment to young people led him to start the Archbishop of York’s Youth Trust, which, working with schools and communities, inspires young people to develop their leadership potential. At the end of one of many public meetings held when he arrived in Yorkshire, he invited questions. The last one came from a little boy, whose parents must have delayed his bedtime so that he could see the new Archbishop. “Why do you believe in God?” the boy asked.

The Archbishop beckoned him to the front, and, noticing that the boy’s shoelace was undone, knelt down to retie it. “When I was a boy,” he said, “someone told me that Jesus could be my friend. So, that night, I knelt by my bed and asked Jesus to be my friend. And do you know something? He is still my friend.” You could have heard a pin drop, as grown-ups wondered whether that could be true for them, too.

The Ven. John Barton is a retired Archdeacon of Aston, in Birmingham diocese. On his way to York, the Archbishop brought him out of retirement, first to handle communications, then as his Principal Adviser.

Activity Pages

Which is the Odd One Out and Why? 1. Peter Andrew Luke John James 2. Galilee Nazareth Capernaum Jerusalem Jericho 3. Ruth Miriam Esther Rachel Delilah 4. Samuel Daniel David Job Amos 5. Jordan Damascus Ur Bethel Sidon 6. Peter Thessalonians Timothy Corinthians Jude 7. Lazarus Paul Mary Philip Martha 8. Nineveh Babylon Joppa Egypt Samaria 9. Ararat Bethlehem Bethany Tyre Antioch 10. Elizabeth Zacharias Simeon Anna Gabriel

Take a trip around the world and name the country 1. Converted to Christianity by St. Patrick 2. I have a geographical feature liken to a table 3. Many years ago we were joined to it 4. I am often known as ‘down under’ 5. My bulbs cheer people up after a long and dreary winter 6. I have a forest black by name 7. My stone monuments have been part of history for many years 8. In ancient times I was famous for my Cedar trees 9. I give my name to a Christmas nut 10. I am supposed to be the home of Paddington Bear 11. I might claim to be the home of the waltz 12. Home of the Andes 13. I am famous for my casino at at Monte Carlo

14. The main producer of Balsam my old name was Land of Jewels 15. I am an independent Grand Duchy between Belgium, France and Germany 16. I contain the Khyber Pass If you now take the first letter of each of the countries you will be able to make up the names of four creatures you might see down on the Farm

Try this THIS and THAT quiz 1. How many in a score 2. How many sides has a hexagon. 3. What tree is connected with Mr. Toad 4. What fills the Long Jumpers pit 5. Which sportsman may use maggots and flies 6. Who was the enemy of the Sheriff of Nottingham 7. Which is strongest – a gale or a hurricane 8. Is a cat biped, triped or quadruped 9. Which Treasure Island pirate had one leg 10. Which monster did St. George kill 11. What is American’s most popular summer sport 12. What do seals have instead of arms and legs 13. What sport is played at the Oval 14. A mint or a game played on horseback 15. The capital of France 16. Mary Poppins said this helped the medicine go down 17. Which toy is launched on a string and has a tail

18. In volleyball what do you use to hit the ball 19. On a motor racing track what are ‘garages’ called 20. Name Britain’s commonest butterfly 21. Used to play a musical instrument or perhaps worn in the hair 22. Name the film where a beautiful girl falls in love with a huge, ugly monster.

Riddle-me-Rees Out and About with Nature 1. My first is in both lamb and crab 2. My first’s not in house but it is in home My second’s not in jib but it is in jab My second is in both dog and bone My third is in both row and rock My third is in both salt and sea My last is in both key and lock My last’s not in he, but it is in she 3. My first is in both lip and leg 4. My first is in water and tea My second is in both tent and peg My second’s not in me, but it is in we My third is both hand and arm My third is in both hit and miss My last is in fir but not in palm My last is in hug but not in kiss 5. My first is in life but not in line 6. My first is in both cave and rock My second is in both coffee and wine My second is in both shoe and sock My third is in both train and car My third is in both tin and can

My last is in near but not in far My last is in men but not in man This word search contains the names of creatures mentioned in the Bible. The creatures are all in the singular and covers insects and birds as well as animals. At the end you will be left with five unused letters and these will spell out the name of a bird connected with the story of Noah.

Y F O X D R A G O N

Q E L R C O F R O G

U E K A N S G I A L

A W M N C A P B N W

I E N H O R S E T O

L W T O O D A A A R

B O V C E G O R N R

M L S K L G N E E A

A F I E N O I L Y P

L D R A Z I L P H S

ANT BEAR CALF CAMEL DOG DONKEY DRAGON EAGLE EWE FOX FROG GOAT HORSE HYENA KID LAMB LION LIZARD MOTH OWL PIGEON QUAIL SCORPION SNAKE SPARROW WOLF Using the Good News version of the Bible find all the above creatures. The references may be either singular or plural. 1. Nehemiah ch 4 v 3 2. Proverbs ch 30 v 28 3. Matthew ch 21 v 12 4. 2 Kings ch 17 v 25 5. Lamentations ch 3 v 10 (first creature mentioned) 6. Jeremiah ch 8 v 6 7. Numbers ch 11 v 31 8. Acts ch 20 v 29 9. Job ch 21 v 11

10. Isaiah ch 13 v 21 (first creature mentioned) 11. Zechariah ch 9 v 9 (first creature mentioned) 12. Ezekiel Ch 2 v 6 13. Proverbs ch 6 v 6

14. Revelation ch 16 v 13 (first creature mentioned) 15. Ecclesiastes Ch 10 v 8 16. Psalm 22 v20 17. Luke Ch 12 v 6 18. Hosea ch 8 v 1 19. Numbers ch 6 v 14 Type of lamb for a sin offering 20. Leviticus 22 v28 - goat connections 21. Luke ch 15 v 27 22. 1 Chronicles Ch 5 v 21 (first animal mentioned)

23. Luke ch 12 v 33 24. Isaiah ch 30 v 7 - nickname for Egypt 25. Isaiah ch 13 v 22 (first creature mentioned) 26. Psalm 114 v 4 (first creature mentioned)

It is all a question of logic - Can you answer these? 1. A big Eskimo and a little Eskimo went fishing together. The little Eskimo was the big Eskimo’s son; but the big Eskimo was not the little Eskimo’s father. How do you explain that? 2. Two fathers and two sons went to the cinema. None of them were allowed in for less than the full admission price, yet they only paid the price of admission for three. Why did they get away with it? 3. A farmer was standing in a field together with half a dozen horses, a dozen dogs and six dozen sheep. How many feet were in the field? Can you name twelve creatures you might see in the continent of Africa. 1. Z ___ ___ ___ ___ 2. ___ ___ ___ ___ L 3. ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ Y

4. ___ I ___ ___ 5. ___ Y ___ ___ ___ 6. ___ ___ P ___ ___ A

7. ___ ___ ___ ___ F ___ ___ 8. ___ L ___ ___ H ___ ___ ___ 9. ___ ___ O ___ ___ ___ D

10. ___ ___ ___ K ___ 11. G ___ ___ ___ ___ L ___ 12. ___ H ___ ___ T ___ ___

If a job is worth doing, it is worth doing well, We all have talents. It is how we use them that matters. Galileo was a man of many talents and he put them to good use. One day, in the cathedral at Pisa, he watched a lamp swinging to and fro. He noticed that, though the length of the swing became shortened, the length of time taken for each swing was exactly the same. From this discovery, the pendulum was shown to be an accurate method of measuring time. Marconi was another man who was blessed with talents. He made his own laboratory in which he could study electricity. There, and in his garden, experimented with wireless telegraphy until he felt sure that he could send messages through the air. In 1897, he sent messages through the air across the Bristol Channel,

then between the Isle of Wight and Bournemouth and later across the English Channel. But would it work over greater distances? Marconi set out to prove that he could send messages across the Atlantic. He built a transmitting station at Poldhu in Cornwall and then, with three companions, travelled to St. John’s in Newfoundland. There on a very windy day a kite was flown from which an aerial led to the receiving set. It was Thursday 12th December 1901. Marconi and his friends waited patiently. Suddenly there was a click, followed by the letter ‘S’ in Morse Code, which had travelled thousands of miles through the air from Poldhu. This first, faint signal introduced a means of sending messages which has been of the utmost benefit to mankind. There can be few people who are better known for their unselfish use of talents than Dr. Albert Schweitzer, born in Alsace on 14th January 1875. Schweitzer was a brilliant scholar with many talents. He proved very able at his studies at university and became a Doctor of Philosophy. He also studied religion and became a

Doctor of Theology. For most people this would be plenty, but not Schweitzer. He also studied medicine and qualified as a medical doctor. Then, just as one would have thought he was at the height of success, he announced that he was going to a remote part of Africa in order to help the people. Many people thought he was made to throw away all his gifts like that, but Schweitzer believed that God had given him his talents and this was how God would have him use them. In 1913 he sailed for Africa and set up a hospital at Lambarene on the Ogowe River. There he spent the rest of his life, except for a few brief absences, some of them to raise money for his hospital and one, 1952, to receive the Nobel Prize for Peace. He is known as the Genius of the Jungle and he had no doubts as to how his talents should be used – For the Glory of God.

We all have talents of some sort or another. They may not be great, but by making good use of our time we can improve them and use them to serve God and so help other people.

ANSWERS The Odd One Out and Why

1. Luke was not one of the 12 Apostles 2. Galilee is a lake – the rest are towns 3. Esther was a Queen 4. David is not the name of a Book of the Bible 5. Jordan is a river 6. Jude has only one book, all the rest have two 7. Paul is the only one not to have seen our Lord 8. Egypt is a country 9. Ararat is a mountain 10 Gabriel is an angel Take a Trip around the world and name the country

1. Ireland 2. South Africa 3. France 4. Australia 5. Holland 6. Germany 7. Egypt 8. Lebanon 9. Brazil 10. Peru 11. Austria 12. Chile 13. Monaco 14. El Salvador 15. Luxemburg 16. Pakistan Four Creatures Down on the Farm - Sheep Pig Calf Lamb

This and That Quiz

1. 20 2. 6 3. Willow 4. Sand 5. Anglers or Fishermen 6. Robin Hood 7. Hurricane 8. Quadruped 9. Long John Silver 10. Dragon 11. Basketball 12. Flippers 13. Cricket 14. Polo 15. Paris 16. A Spoonful of Sugar 17. Kite 18. Hand 19 Pits 20. Cabbage White 21. Bow 22. The Beauty and the Beast

Out and About with Nature

1. Bark 2. Moss 3. Leaf 4. Twig 5. Fern 6. Cone Creatures in the Bible Word Search - The remaining letters spell out Raven

Bible References

1. Fox 2. Lizard 3. Pigeon 4. Lion 5. Bear 6. Horse 7. Quail 8. Wolf 9. Lamb 10. Owl 11. Donkey 12. Scorpion 13. Ant 14. Frog 15. Snake 16. Dog 17. Sparrow 18. Eagle 19. Ewe 20. Kid 21. Calf 22. Camel 23. Moth 24. Dragon 25. Hyena 26. Goat It’s All a Question of Logic

1. The big Eskimo was the little Eskimo’s mother 2. Because there were only three of them – grandfather, father and son 3. Two - The Farmer’s All the rest were paws and hooves Creatures of Africa

1. Zebra 2. Camel 3. Monkey 4. Lion 5. Hyena 6. Impala 7. Giraffe 8. Elephant 9. Leopard 10. Snake 11 Gorilla 12. Cheetah

General Information

Vicar Rev Ronnie Williams, 521357

The Vicarage, Bretland Road, Rusthall

Readers

Mr Tim Cripps, 10 Muskerry Court 543355

Miss Daphne Pilcher, 37 Stephens Road 521691

Churchwardens

Mr Clive McAllister, 7 Rustwick 532817

Miss May Graves, 21 Hill View Road 680274

Deputy Churchwardens

Mr Graeme Anderson, 51 Westwood Road 532922 Mrs Mione Palmer 667951

Mrs Susan Powley 545067

Mrs Margaret Brown 680455

Parochial Church Council Secretary Mrs Pat Churchill, 4 Rusthall Road 531541

Treasurer and Planned Giving Mrs Pat Cripps

c/o Parish Office 521447

Child Protection Officer c/o May Graves 680274

DBS Officer Clive Brown c/o the Parish Office 521447

Bible Reading Fellowship Secretary Vivienne Sharp 543263

Choir Leader Miss Fiona Johnson 07540273302

Magazine Editors Deborah Bruce, Sue Hare and Mione Palmer

c/o the Parish Office

email – magazine@stpaulsrusthall.org.uk

Flower Arrangers Mrs Daphne Hodges 533492

Parish Hall Bookings Enquiries to Parish Office 521447

Rusthall St Paul’s Primary School Headteacher - Miss Caroline Powell 520582

Churchyards Enquiries to the Parish Office

CHURCH ELECTORAL ROLL

All worshippers who are baptised members of the Church of England,

and aged over 16, should have their names entered on the Electoral Roll.

This entitles them to attend and vote at the Annual Parochial Meeting.

Forms for enrolment will be found in the Parish Church or the Parish

Office and should be sent to the Vicar.

Organisations

Julian Group

Mrs Pat Stevens 529187

St Paul’s Parish Fellowship

Mrs Zillah Witt (Chair) 523028

Mrs Muriel Reeves (Secretary) 520468

Group Scout Secretary

Mr K Powley 545067

Scout Membership Secretary

Merissa Patrick

Email – rusthallscoutwaitinglist@yahoo.co.uk

Beavers: beaversrusthall@gmail.com

Cubs: rustahllcubs@hotmail.co.uk

Scouts: rusthallscouts@gmail.com

Guide Senior Section

Helen Deller 07720 252481

Guide Guiders

Ms Tina Francis 545877

Brownie Guiders

Mrs Wendy Anderson (Thurs) 532922

Ms Tina Francis (Mon) 545877

Rainbows

Mrs Mary Saunders 543572

Email – saundi@aol.com

Mothers and Toddlers

Mrs Annie Softley, 21 Woodside Road 548366

Rusthall Local History Group

Dennis Penfold, 18 Meadow Road 537939

Rusthall Lunch Club

Mrs Ros Rodwell 862652

Rusthall Community & Youth Project

Barry Edwards 680296

Rusthall Village Association

Alex Britcher 07967 011467

Rusthall Parish Council

Council Clerk 07805 475397

Rusthall Bonfire and Fete Committee

Annie Sofley 548366

Friends of TW and Rusthall Common

Clive Evans 534040

The Parish Office

Parish Administrator - Mrs Ginette di Palma

St Paul's Parish Office, Church Centre, Rusthall Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN4 8RE

Telephone (01892) 521447

Office email: office@stpaulsrusthall.org.uk

Magazine email: magazine@stpaulsrusthall.org.uk

Website: www.stpaulsrusthall.org.uk

The Office is currently closed to visitors.

However, it is attended regularly and emails and telephone messages left

are being screened and responded to.