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ST MICHAEL & ALL ANGELSCHURCH (Anglican)

Mildred Ave. / Durban Rd.Watford

WEST WATFORD FREE CHURCH(Baptist)

‘Church opposite the shops’Tolpits Lane, Watford

SWORDL E P

PARISHMAGAZINE

Price60p

November2012

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A Pastoral Letter.......

Dear Friends,

The time between Michaelmas and All Saints, along with All Souls, always feels to meone of special poignancy, a sort of in -between time compounded (if we are lucky) byautumnal mists and sun, hinting at the life we share with the Angels, the Saints and ourdeparted loved ones –when the veil between earth and heaven is briefly parted and past,present and future are seen to be all of a piece.

For a number of reasons I’ve found myself thinking recently of how much of our life islived in the future, in anticipation, waiting for something to happen –a holiday, a betterjob (or just a job) recovery from sickness, an exam result, the healing of a damagedrelationship and so on. Often the attainment of our hopes lies within our grasp –we knowwhat we want and can plan how to get there. But not always. For all of us there are thosesituations when we seem to be powerless, not knowing what to do, much less how to getthere and where all we can do is watch and wait –not easy but nonetheless integral to ourspirituality.

Which doesn’t mean we have to be simply passive, for the best way of helping to shapethe future is by affirming the present. ‘Every day should be well lived’ wrote the late FrHenri Nouwen –‘did I offer peace today? did I bring a smile to someone’s face? did I saywords of healing? did I let go of my anger and resentments? did I forgive? did I love?’

Sainthood doesn’t belong only to the big names in the Church’s history –to those whosewitness was public and heroic; it belongs also to others now whose witness may be lowkey and even anonymous but who, in the manner of their living as they watch and wait,make a difference - both to the present and to the future.

So, the next time you brighten someone’s life and are told that you’re a saint it’llprobably be true!

With love and prayers

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ST MICHAEL’S MOTHERS’ UNION DIARY

Thursday, 15 November Members will attend the 10 am service of Holy Communion and afterwards have coffee and a business meeting.

Saturday, 17 November Members will look after the cake and preserves stall at the Church Christmas Fair. We also hope to have a Christmas cake to raffle. Help from members will be appreciated both by serving on the stall for part of the fair and by providing cakes and preserves to sell.

Pat Gandy

HARVEST OFFERINGS

Many thanks to all who contributed to our Harvest Sunday this year.

At the 9.30 service the children enjoyed Father Geoff’s demonstration of “How to makea Cake”. If you missed that you will have to ask one of the children to explain it to you!

Many bags of useful items were given for the Watford and Three Rivers Refugee Projectand these were soon collected and are, no doubt, being distributed, and thankfullyreceived by those they care for.

The envelope cash collection for the Christian Aid Harvest Appeal amounted to £202.02.£114 of this was Gift Aided which will, at 25% , add another £28.00.

“All good gifts around us

are sent from heaven above;

then thank the Lord, O thank the Lord,

for all his love”.

Pat Beach(On behalf of Mission Committee)

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HELLO FROM LITTLEBURY CHILDREN’S CENTRE

We are in the fortunate position of using Littlebury Hall during the daytime to runa Surestart Children’s centre for parents and under fives in the local area and Ithought it might be useful for church colleagues to know a little about children’scentres and why we have them.

Surestart children centres are government funded and ultimately the responsibilityof the local authority, in this case Herts County Council. The council havedelegated the management of the Children’s Centres to ‘lead agencies’ , in our caseit is the Watford YMCA.

We have a manager, an administrator and two workers and it’s our job to put on arange of services which local parents would like to see. These range from Stay andPlay sessions, baby massage courses, groups for new mums and babies, parentingcourses, healthy eating courses, we are open all day most days throughout the year.There are also other regular events e.g. we have a baby clinic run by the healthvisitors every Wednesday morning where families can come in and have babiesweighed and talk to staff.

We run different events during the holidays, this year we took families to theseaside and had a fantastic time, some children had never seen the sea before, so itwas quite an exciting day!!!

We also have different people in to speak to the parents and children during thesessions, we’ve had speech and language colleagues, money advice information,we promoted safety in the home by giving out safety packs and most recently thefiremen came in to speak to the children and parents about bonfire night ( verypopular with the mums !!)..

Do come along and have a chat, if you are a parent, a carer, a volunteer, or justwant to know more we’d love to see you.

Barbara, Baljit, Angela and Jess.

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BIKE & HIKE - 8' SEPTEMBER 2012

Thanks to your generosity as sponsors my ride has raised .over £300 which I will handover to Phil Gough in due course, he being the Historic Churches Bike Ride coordinatorfor St Michael's. He may way wish to give a full and final report in a subsequent editionof SWORD, for he has monies to add from other participants.

As for the ride, there were no excitements such as a puncture which bedevilled me onthe last occasion I cycled. The route I followed comprised 9 church in NE Watford and19 in St Albans. I had hoped to ride back through Kings Langley and down HempsteadRoad, but that proved too optimistic. Also, we were to attend a function in the eveningat Whitton. Time as a commodity was too short. I know - excuses, excuses. One of thechurches visited was Gary Russell's (St Mary in Marshallswick). He asked me to passon his regards.

I chose not to wear a lycra one-piece outfit in bright colours like the Tour de Franceriders as I lack that kind of courage. As to quality of ride and general fitness, there wasno cause for either Bradley Wiggns or Sir Chris Hoy to suffer sleepless nights. Iunderestimated just how hilly St Albans is. I know now.

Robert Bilson

QUIZ NIGHT - 6 OCTOBER 2012

Your support for the evening raised a net total of £375 arising from ticket sales,donations, and participation in the raffle. It seems participants enjoyed the evening andwe received some useful feedback. We would have liked more people to attend, butmany thanks to those who did attend. Five teams took part and each scored high markson their joker rounds.

Iola and I are grateful to Jane Talbot for preparing the food in advance but was unable toattend in the evening. Thanks are due also to Norma Twitchin who leapt out frombehind pillars to sell raffle tickets.

As to the future, we think there should be quizzes more than once a year, but we haveno desire to monopolise the quiz scene. We are prepared to carry on but if there is to bemore than one in a year, others should have a go and do it their own way. As it is, wewill review the way we do it. Nothing is set in a tablet of stone so far as we areconcerned.

Robert Bi/son

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GOLDEN WEDDING

On behalf of Roy and myself, I would like to thank all friends from St Michael’sand further afield (who must have read it in the electronic version of SWORD or

on the church’s website) for the lovely Anniversary cards.

Your kindness is truly valued,

Yours sincerely,

Norma

17THWATFORDBROWNIES

We had a great evening at Lees Wood using the Boulder Box. The girls enjoyed italthough some of them complained that their hands were hurting afterwards! A few ofthe more confident ones were looking longingly at the climbing wall so that might haveto be our next Lees Wood adventure – but perhaps not until next summer. Although theweather had been very wet during the day, the rain actually stopped while we were there,and we were able to enjoy a torchlight walk through the woods after everyone hadfinished climbing. This visit to Lees Wood enabled some of the girls to complete theirLees Wood Challenge badge.

We have made balloon-powered cars, some of which worked better than others, and madecompasses using magnets and needles. We have also had an evening of differentPromise-related activities, leading up to our four new Brownies making their Promise.

We had a visit from the Guide leader and two of the Guides who told the girls about whatto expect at Guides. After half term some of the older girls are going to visit Guides foran evening to experience it for themselves.

Marilyn Tozer

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DIARY OF EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER

1st Thu ALL SAINTSHoly Communion with reading of Chantry List 10.00amFairhaven during morningChoir Practice 7-8.30pm

2nd Fri ALL SOULSHoly Communion 7.30pm

3rd Sat (The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church All day)

4th SUN MEMORIAL SERVICEHoly Communion (Fr Geoff)SUNG EUCHARIST (Pres and Preacher: Fr Geoff) (SundaySchool) Names of the recently departed will be read andcandles lit

8.00am9.30am

Evening Prayer (Off: Fr Geoff) 6.00pm5th Mon Schools return after half term

Service at River Court 3.00pm6th Tue Social Committee (6 Cassiobury Park Avenue 7.45pm7th Wed PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL 7.55pm8th Thu St Anthony’s during morning

Choir Practice 7-8.30pm10th Sat RSCM Examinations Choir Vestry) 9am-3pm

11th SUN REMEMBRANCE SUNDAYHoly Communion (Fr George) 8.00amSUNG EUCHARIST (Pres & Preacher: Fr Geoff) ( SundaySchool) Laying of wreath on War Memorial in Lady Chapel11.15 Service of Thanksgiving & Praise

9.30am

11.15am(The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church 1-5pmEvening Prayer (Off: Fay Storey) 6.00pm

12th Mon Emmaus Course (Vicarage) 1.00pm13th Tue Emmaus Course (Vicarage 7.00 m14th Wed Service at Home Manor 3.00pm15th Thu Meeting of Mothers’ Union in Church after the 10.00 o’clock

Service of Holy CommunionChoir Practice

10.00am

7-8.30pm16th Fri Set-up for Christmas Fair 2.30 pm onwards17th Sat CHRISTMAS FAIR 11-2.30 pm

Followed by clearing up after 2.30 pm

18th SUN SECOND BEFORE ADVENTHoly Communion (Fr Geoff) 8.00amSUNG EUCHARIST (Pres: Fr Geoff; Preacher: Violet Allen-Smith) (Sunday School)

9.30am

The SIX O’CLOCK SERIES – CHORAL EVENSONG 6.00pm

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DIARY OF EVENTS FOR NOVEMBER (continued)

FINAL COPY DATE FOR DECEMBER SWORD:-MIDDAY on Sunday 18th November 2012

Please submit copy before this date if possible -hard copy or e-mail to:-dhbeach@sky.com

19th Mon Emmaus Course (Vicarage) 1.00pm20th Tue Service at The Chase Care Centre

Emaus Course (Vicarage)2.30pm7.00pm

22nd Thu Choir Practice 7-8.30pm

25th SUN CHRIST THE KINGHoly Communion (Fr George) 8.00amSUNG EUCHARIST (Pres and Preacher: Fr George)(Sunday School) followed by Bring-and-Buy Sale

9.30am

(The Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church 11.30-5pmEvening Prayer (Off: Fr Geoff) 6.00pm

26th Mon Emmaus Course (Vicarage) 1.00pm27th Tue Emmaus Course (Vicarage) 7.00pm28th Wed (Wedding rehearsal 7.00pm)

ADVANCE DATES FOR DECEMBER

1st Sat Wedding 1.00 pm5th Wed Christmas Coffee morning 10.30-128th Sat Performance of Amahl and the Night Visitors 5.00pm9th Sun CHRISTINGLE SERVICE 11.15am

Service for Compassionate Friends ?6.00pm15th Sat Concert by the South Oxhey Community Choir

Morning Prayer is said daily in the Lady Chapel (Monday to Friday) at 9.00 am.

A service of Holy Communion is held every Thursday at 10.00 am. Both this andthe 8 am on Sunday morning are Order One in Traditional Language.

Tea, Coffee & Squash are served in Church every Wednesday from 10.30 untilnoon.

The Toddlers’ Group meets in Church (or Choir Vestry) every Monday from 10.00 –11.30 am except on Bank Holidays

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SUNG EUCHARIST DUTY LIST (November)

Sunday 4th November (9.30 am) Deacons M Simon, V Alan-Smith Intercessor V Allen-Smith Chalice V Alan-Smith, B Hutchinson, A Kiddle Lesson Readers tba Sidespeople A Makin, C Dixon, P Ricketts Tea/Coffee Duty J Alexander, P Hart, E Jones

Sunday 11th November (9.30 am) Deacons J Wareham, V Alvarez Intercessor P Jenkins Chalice V Alvarez, P Gough Lesson Readers B Bilson, I Bilson Sidespeople J Ochola, H Moring , V Blacklock Tea/Coffee Duty V Matthews, M Matthews, B Bilson

Sunday 18th November (9.30 am) Deacons V Alan-Smith, J Wareham Intercessor S Dunning Chalice J Wareham, S Moring Lesson Readers J Alexander, P Chandler Sidespeople J Hart, J Alexander, P Hart Tea/Coffee Duty A Makin, M Watkin, E Watkin

Sunday 25th November (9.30 am) Deacons V Alvarez, V Allen-Smith Intercessor G Mordue Chalice V Allen-Smith, M Watkin Lesson Readers M Watkin, E Watkin Sidespeople J Chandler, P Allen-Smith, J Talbot Tea/Coffee Duty P Gandy, E Vidler, G Heath

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St Michael & All Angels ChurchMildred Ave. Watford,WD18 7DY

www.stmichaels-watford.org.uk

THESIX O’CLOCK

SERIES

C H O R A L

E V E N S O N G

SUNDAY18 DECEMBER

A Positive Start to the WEEK

A Positive Start to the Week

CHORALEVENSONG

SUNDAY18 NOVEMBER

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St Michael & All Angels ChurchMildred Ave./Durban Rd. WD18 7DY

CHRISTMASFAIR

Sat 17 November 201211.00 am - 2.30 pm

In Church

Come forgifts, cards, cakes,

preserves, fun&

lunchAll proceeds to Church funds

Please come and support your parish churchSt Michael’s Reg. Charity Number 1132010

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WEST WATFORD FREE CHURCH (BAPTIST)

TOLPITS LANE, WATFORD

PASTOR: GARTH WOODHEAD

NEWSLETTER

Regular services:

Every Sunday:10.30am Family Service.11.00am The children leave the main meeting to go into the SundaySchool.

Holy communion is celebrated on the 4th Sunday of each month.

Tea, coffee and biscuits are served in the church at the end of the service,please stay and get to know new people or chat to long-standing friends.Either way enjoy a time of fellowship.

3pm L’EGLISE FRATERNITE meet for worship and bible teaching. Thisis of course the official name of the French speaking church who meethere. Everyone is welcome and they do have an interpreter for those whoare not fluent in French.

Friday @ 7pm Glory Of God Illuminated Church (Tamil) meet for worshipand bible teaching. Children are welcome and have a separate time in theback hall.

What else is happening?

Monday 10am - 12noon: Prayer meetingTuesday 9.15am - 12.15pm: Cafe West.Wednesday 7pm: Bible study / Prayer meeting

BMS Prayer guide:-

November 4 - 10: Latin America. Although within South America BMSpersonnel are present only in Peru and Brazil, partnerships are still activein Paraguay and Ecuador with Baptist conventions. Please pray for the

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leaders and workers that God may guide them to minister according to Hiswill through His love.

November 11 - 17: Nepal. Education is highly prized in Nepal andfamilies make big sacrifices to enable their children to learn. Smallchildren walk miles over rough and mountainous terrain to attend school.Many local churches have opened Christian schools as part of theircontribution to the community. Please pray that these will be wellorganised and a good example in society.

November 18 - 24: Lebanon. Lebanon is seen by tourists as the homeof liberty and luxury in the Arab world. What they probably don’t see isthat 30% of the population lives below the poverty line, these figures donot take into account migrant workers and refugees. Pray for theChristian Churches in Lebanon, unity and the emergence of more leaders.

November 25 - December 1: World Aids Day: Aids was officiallyrecognised in 1981 and since then more than 30 million people have diedfrom Aids related diseases. Pray for those who live with Aids and for theirfamilies as many will feel excluded, stigmatised, lonely and afraid.

Other things to pray about:

The homeless: Pray for all who are sleeping rough as the weathercontinues to deteriorate and for those working so hard to provide forthem.

Missionaries: Especially for those who go abroad that they would settlequickly into the new culture and be able to learn their new language easilyin order to spread the gospel effectively.

Operation Rudolf: Pray for those who are organising this event againfor wisdom in the use of the donated gifts; for workers to distribute themand that those in need will be put forward for a hamper.

For all in leadership: Pray for all who are in authority. Church leaders;teachers; police; governments and monarchs.

The emergency services: For many of them in order to help othersthey often have to put their own safety at risk. Thank God for them.

Phil 4:6Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, withthanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.

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November birthdays:- HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

10th Christian South-Davies (9yrs)13th Garth Woodhead19th George (11yrs)

What is a Grandparent? Written by an 8 year old.

Grandparents are a man & woman who have no children of their own.They like other peoples’.

A grandfather is a man’s grandmother.

They don’t say ‘Hurry up’.

Usually grandmothers are fat, but not too fat to tie their shoes.

Grandmothers can take their teeth and gums out.

Grandparents don’t have to be smart.

They have to answer questions like ‘Why isn’t God married?’

How come dogs chase cats?

Everyone should try to have a grandmother, especially if you don’t havetelevision - they are the only grown-ups who like to spend time with you.

And finally .....

A little girl is out in her garden digging a large, deep hole.Her neighbour glances over the fence and asks her‘Why are you digging that large, deep hole?’.‘My goldfish died’ she replied with a sob‘I’m really sorry to hear that’ answered the neighbour ‘but why such alarge hole?’The little girl gave the neighbour a truly filthy look and said‘Because it’s inside your cat’.

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