totnes & ridgetown parish magazine, may 2018€¦ · totnes & ridgetown parish magazine,...
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Totnes & Bridgetown Parish Magazine, May 2018
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COVER PHOTO. Reflections in the River Dart above the Totnes weir by J.H.
In celebration of the royal wedding come and
enjoy a delicious devonshire cream tea while
listening to the talented Mr Ripley (aka. Gywn
George) play the piano. Donations graciously
requested for the friends of st. Mary’s stained
glass window restoration fund. Reflecting prince
Harry and Meghan’s wish that gifts be given to
charity on this happy occasion.
Friday 18th may 2pm to 4pm
The parish and priory church of st. Mary the virgin,
High street totnes. Everyone is welcome.
(Charity no.1144918. Further information Sandra tel.01626 330049).
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SUNDAY SERVICES
May be subject to change: check the weekly bulletins or website for updates.
6 May
Easter 6
13 May
Easter 7
20 May
Pentecost
27 May
Trinity
3 June
Trinity 1
JO SJ JO SJ JO TOTNES 8.00
JL
SJ
SJ
JO Iona
TG
JL SJ
BRIDGE-
TOWN
9.30 /11.15
JO JO
SJ/JO SJ JO TOTNES
11.15
Compline JO/SJ
Evensong
JO/SJ
Compline JO/SJ
TOTNES
6.30
BRIDGE-
TOWN 6.30
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Whenever I get
gloomy with the state
of the world, I think
about the arrivals gate
at Heathrow Airport.
General opinion’s
starting to make out
that we live in a world
of hatred and greed,
but I don’t see that. It
seems to me that love
is everywhere. Often
it’s not particularly dig-
nified or newsworthy,
but it’s always there –
fathers and sons,
mothers and daugh-
ters, husbands and
wives, boyfriends, girl-
friends, old
friends........ When the
planes hit the Twin
Towers, as far as I
know, none of the
phone calls from the
people on board were
messages of hate or
revenge – they were
all messages of
love....... If you look
for it, I’ve got a sneaky
feeling you’ll find that
love actually is all
around.'.....Hugh
Grant's opening lines
in the film Love Actu-
ally.
With three of our chil-
dren having the taste
for travel and working
in different countries
around the globe,
we've spent a fair
amount of time hang-
ing around the arrivals
gate at various air-
ports, waiting excited-
ly, anticipating that
moment of recognition
as they walk through
the doors, looking for-
ward to a joyful reun-
ion. This means, of
course, that we've al-
so endured the depar-
tures gate experience,
struggling to hold back
the selfish tears and
hide the heavy heart,
dreading the moment
of that last hug before
they walk away with-
out looking back.
The pain of parting is
countered by pride in
their achievements
and in their grasping
of opportunities way
beyond the reach of
our generation, and
joy in their growth to
adulthood - but not
before that pain is tru-
ly felt. I recall the
words of Kahlil Gibran
in the Prophet..... 'for
even as love crowns
you so shall he crucify
you'.
In the poem Walking
Away, C. Day Lewis
describes the moment
he knew he must let
his son go '....like a
winged seed loosened
from its parent
stem....'. He contin-
ues:
I have had worse part-
ings, but none that so
Gnaws at my mind
still. Perhaps it is
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roughly
Saying what God
alone could perfectly
show –
How selfhood begins
with a walking away,
And love is proved in
the letting go.
I reflect on familiar
words from John's
gospel.....'For God so
loved the world that
he gave his only
Son.....'. I reflect too,
on my ministry at the
hospice - for some, a
final departure lounge,
where love actually is
all around, so evident
in the give-and-take of
life.....and I continue
to pray daily, and
would encourage oth-
ers to do so too, 'In
the pleasures and
pains of life may I
know the love of
Christ and be thank-
ful'.
With every blessing
Rev’d Gill
Still
14 - 18 May 2018
Make or update your
Will during Rowcroft’s
Make a Will Week and
support your local
hospice to make every
day the best day pos-
sible for over 2,000
patients and families
in South Devon.
Each May, for one
week only, local par-
ticipating solicitors
waive their entire fee
for making or updating
Wills in return for a
donation to the hos-
pice. The suggested
donations are £175 for
a single Will and £225
for mirror Wills. For
Wills requiring special-
ist advice, a fee can
be agreed in advance.
Making a Will ensures
that your family’s fu-
ture is secure and that
your wishes will be
followed through. It is
also important to
leave something for
your local Church: just
1% of your Estate
could fund some
much-needed im-
provement to its fab-
ric, music or mission!
If you are interested
please talk to Church-
wardens Martin Har-
vey or Julian Hall, or
one of the Clergy.
To make or update
your Will as part of
Make a Will Week
please get in touch
with one of the local
participating solicitors.
Please mention
Rowcroft’s Make a
Will Week when book-
ing your appointment.
The participating So-
licitors in Totnes are:
Windeatts, 19 High
Street, Totnes TQ9
5NW. Tel. 01803
862233. A list of other
Solicitors in the Tor-
bay area is available
on request.
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You will all know that Totnes is a
Fair Trade town. Many of our busi-
nesses and organisations work hard
to support Fair Trade.
As a volunteer for Traidcraft, the
original fair trade company, I am
passionate about helping people to
buy as
much as
possible of
their regu-
lar grocery
shopping
from fair
trade
sources.
Increasing-
ly super-
markets are not stocking fairly
traded products and of course we
recently lost the Co-op in the town.
Traidcraft is an independent trad-
ing company which sells a huge
range of groceries with the flow
mark i.e. they are certified as being
Fairtrade and so producers get a
fair price and are free to decide
locally how to spend their fair
trade premium to benefit the local
community. Traidcraft also regular-
ly pioneers new products e.g. their
household range made with
fairtrade palm oil from peasant
farmers not plantations. Traidcraft
trades with the most vulnerable,
most remote and marginalised
farmers who could not cope with
the demands or scale required by
big business or supermarkets.
Traidcraft Exchange, the charity
wing of the company, runs projects
developing people's potential to
trade their way out of poverty and
gives farm-
ers the
skills base
to farm in
challenging
environ-
ments of-
ten made
worse by
climate
change.
There is also a campaign wing which
lobbies big business and govern-
ment for fundamental changes to
the way trade works so that it ben-
efits, rather than exploits, the
poor.
As a fairtrader for Traidcraft, I
am able to provide fairtrade goods
from peanut butter to teabags,
from washing up liquid to organic
dates, from good quality coffee to
tasty geosticks, at prices which are
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discounted from those you would
pay from the Traidcraft catalogue
or website.
You can order from me at any time
([email protected]) and I will
happily deliver to you but I am in-
tending to have more stalls in Tot-
nes in the future. Here are the
forthcoming ones:
Wednesday April 25th 10am - 12pm
St John's Community Cafe, Bridge-
town
Sunday May 6th after the 9.30am
service at St John's
Wednesday June 6th 10am - 12pm
St John's Community Cafe
Sunday July 8th after the 11.15am
service at St Mary's
More details from Viv Elce 01803
813915
It’s just a thought. By Revd, Cliff Berdinner
Hello again, do you remember in the Bible a man called Abraham? He lived in a place called Ur in present day Iraq. He is probably the most important man in the Old Testament because God was
able, through Abraham and his wife Sarah, to become the spiritu-al father of the great monotheistic faiths – Judaism, Christianity and Islam.
In the Bible, Abraham is called the Friend of God. Why is he called the friend of God? Well because one day Abraham got a call from God. No, not on his smart phone, but in his mind he heard God say, ‘Go forth from your land, and from your birth, and from your father’s
Back by popular demand, St
Mary’s Tuesday Coffee Mornings
throughout the Summer months
from 1st May.
Tables and chairs outside the
Church, weather permitting.
Toasted Teacakes a Speciality.
From 10.00am to 1pm. Music by
Mair Pattersun (most weeks
11am). In aid of The Friends of
St. Mary’s stained glass window
restoration.
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house to a land that I will show you’. In other words, leave your comforts behind, your security, your upbringing and your culture and go on an unknown journey to another land.
And Abraham just said ‘Yes’!
I suppose we have all said yes when we have been asked to do things. It has come quite easily, and then we wish we hadn’t, es-pecially if the going gets a bit hard.
So there needs to be another kind of yes. This time it is not a simple yes of the head but a yes of the heart.
Abraham decided to put his trust in what he believed God had told him to do. And it is because of Abraham’s faith that he is called the friend of God. The yes of the heart is the desire to journey wherever God may lead us. So it is not so easy this time to say yes to God’s call to what is a deep commitment. But Abraham’s faith assured him that he would not travel alone. This acceptance, however, did not mean that he would find the journey easy going. In fact there is no guarantee that anyone who sets out on a journey with God will float along without facing unexpected challenges.
Of real significance is the fact that when we do say yes in our hearts we begin to realize that we are
being drawn by God and that it is all about God, and we are not as important as we may have thought we were. We become, as the Shaman healer would say, a ‘hollow bone’ through which the Spirit of healing can flow.
And did you think that was it?!
Well not quite because there has to be another yes. This time it is the yes of the feet! This is the yes of willingness. I love those words in scripture that say, ‘How beauti-ful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace…’. Have you got beautiful feet? Oh dear, mine are all arthritic, corns and painful joints!
Yet our willingness to let God walk with us, and lead us, and through us bring peace and comfort to those we meet on the way, make our feet beautiful. Yes, you can have beautiful feet!!
So there we are dear friends. When God calls us, we need to say yes not once but three times. Yes to our head, then yes to our heart, and finally yes to our feet. And that last yes is our enthusi-asm and passion to get up and go – in faith - and we, too, will be-come a friend of God.
So my prayer for us all, and no less for myself, is that God will richly bless us on our spiritual journey through all its ups and downs.
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Be grateful for God’s grace
‘To me, who am less than the
least of all the saints, this grace
was given.’ - Ephesians 3:8
One day the Pharisees caught a
woman in the act of adultery. The
law of Moses was clear; she must
be stoned. And the Pharisees
were ready to do it. This woman
probably thought that Jesus, be-
ing righteous, would agree. She
had no lawyer to defend her, not
even a character witness! But
suddenly Jesus stoops and be-
gins to write in the sand. Some
scholars think that perhaps He
wrote down their sins, including
times and places, etc. When He
looks up, the woman’s accusers
have gone. He says to her,
‘Neither do I condemn you; go
and sin no more’ (John 8:11
NKJV). That day Jesus lifted her
from a position of undeniable guilt
to one of unconditional pardon.
She didn’t deserve it; she didn’t
even know it was possible. And
that’s your story too, isn’t it? One
day Abraham Lincoln watched a
plantation owner bidding for a
slave girl. Figuring he was going
to buy her and abuse her, Lincoln
paid the price to set her free.
‘Does this mean I can go wherev-
er I want to go?’ she asked. Lin-
coln said, ‘Yes, you’re free!’ With
tears streaming down her face
she replied, ‘Then, sir, I will go
with you.’ The word ‘grace’ is so
important Paul mentions it three
times more than any other writer.
Remembering the violent life he
lived, he writes, ‘To me, who am
less than the least of all the
saints, this grace was given.’ The
word ‘grace’ comes from the
Greek word charis, meaning ‘pure
joy’. Although you don’t deserve
it, God considers saving you to be
a ‘pure joy’
From UCB's Word for Today, a free
publication available in both our
churches and throughout the UK.
Web www.ucb.co.uk
ANTHONY STILWELL RESTORATIONS
Antique and modern furniture restored and repaired
French polishing undertaken
Tel : 01803 863030
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Learn Spanish with a very unique native
speaker who has developed
her very own methods to
facilitate language tuition to
every single individual (15
years experience) in the com-
fort of your own home or
come out !
Interested ?
Call on 01803 862912
Advertising charges
Totnes & Bridgetown Parish Magazine
Based on A5 pages, 12 monthly insertions
Circulation: 100 printed copies + approx. 200 sent via email.
Contact Mr Julian Hall, t: 01803 867537, e: [email protected]
Full page Half page Third of
page
Quarter
page
Sixth of
page
Black & white/
greyscale (inner
pages)
99.00 49.00 33.00 25.00 18.00
Colour
(Back page only)
240.00 120.00 80.00 60.00 40.00
A Polish immigrant went to get an eye test. The optician showed him a card with
the letters. On the bottom row were these letters: 'C Z W I X N O S T A C Z.'
'Can you read this?' the optician asked. 'Read it?' the Polish man replied - 'I know
the fellow.'
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Team Rector, The Reverend Prebendary Julian C OuId 01803 865615, The Revd. Deborah Parsons, Team Vicar 01803 840113
Licensed Reader/Safeguarding Officer Liz Waterson 01803 849345, (Childline 0800 1111) The Reverend John Luscombe 01803 864514, [email protected]
Licensed Reader, Tony Gregg 01803 813885,
Support Group: This group is open to anyone who is suffering from bereavement or any other kind of loss. For full details contact
Rev'd Deborah Parsons on 01803 840113.
TIMES OF SUNDAY SERVICES
St Mary's Totnes
8.00 am ..
11.15 am ..
6.30 pm Alternate 1st Sunday
6.30 pm 3rd Sunday
St John's, Bridgetown 9.30 am ..
Eucharist
Sung Eucharist
Compline
Sung Evensong
Family Communion
TIMES OF WEEKDAY SERVICES—St Mary's, Totnes
7.45 am Tues, Thurs Early morning prayers 8.30 am Fri, Sat .. Morning Prayer 10.30 am 2nd & 4th Wed .. Eucharist
Major Saints' Days
9.00 am at St Mary's Eucharist
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Submissions for the next Newsletter by 20th of the previous month please.
Churchwardens
Martin Harvey
01803
868336
Julian Hall 01803
867537
Deputy Churchwarden
Vacant
St Mary's Totnes
Verger
Vacant
Jan Dietz, Director of Music 01803
77051
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Jane Mountford, St Mary's bookings 01803
862499
Jenny Griffin, Church Hall bookings 01803
865685
St John's, Bridgetown
The Reverend John Luscombe
Contact details on previous page
Liz Chandler, Director of Music 01803
669199
St John’s bookings
K Courtice, Team Administrator
01803
865615
Misc.
Julian Hall Weekly envelope
and Gift Aid recorder
01803
867537 [email protected]
Rev’d Cliff Berdinner (Retired) 01803
840730
Jane Mountford, weekly newsletter 01803
862499 [email protected]
Julian Hall, monthly magazine 01803
867537 [email protected]
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ST MARY’S CHURCH, TOTNES
Come and support our sale of homemade
outside the Church on Saturday 26th May 10am-12.30pm
All proceeds to be divided between the Church Flower
Fund and the Senior & Junior Choir Fund Registered Charity number 1128123
Jams
Marmalades
Chutneys
Cakes
& Bakes
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Earthwoodtrees A tree surgery and landscaping
business based in Totnes, offering a trustworthy, professional service
We offer emergency call out day or night covering South Hams Torbay and Teignbridge.
Free no obligation quotes ● Friendly service ● Fully qualified & insured. Call 07791 839960 or visit www.earthwoodtrees.uk for more information.