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From the Editors ...

...to TrinityTrinityTrinityTrinity

As I write the 2012 Olympic

Games are well underway in

London, and seem to have

captivated most of the

parish. The 1948 games do

not seem to have had such an

impact however - see Stella’s

look back through the

archives on page 24.

Following recent feedback

(p11) I hope you may notice

some subtle improvements to

this edition. These include a

number of opportunities to

get to know members of HT

better (pages 3, 8, 18 and 26)

and a crossword to keep your

minds active.

Finally, Trinity is now also

available via our website -

welcome to those new

readers that may have

accessed this on-line - happy

reading!

Louise

PS Please support Church

fellowship - see page 21 3

Contents:

John Routh writes 2

Introducing our new Curate 3

Through a glass darkly 4

Youth Matters 5

New Beginnings 6

Profile of our new warden 8

More of you know who 10

Trinity Survey - the verdict 11

June PCC meeting 12

Trinity Lights Update 17

Celebrating 30 years 18

Church Fellowship 21

From the registers 23

From the archives - 1948 24

Meet the learning & training committee 26

Holy Trinity Crossword 27

Trinity & Bible verse 28

Stella 329 2101 s_thebridge@yahoo.com

Roger 308 1185

roger.smallwood@btinternet.com

Louise 240 6366

louisejharden@hotmail.com

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John Routh writes - Hatching, matching & despatching

It goes without saying that a minister spends quite a bit of time hatching, matching and despatching people. Or to put that more plainly ... I spend a lot of time organising and taking baptism, wed-ding and funeral services. We all have a calling to be pastoral minis-ters to those around us; but mine takes on a particular focus at these three types of service.

For the minister it's part of the job, but every last family I deal with sees their service as being hugely important. So it's important that I give my all to every one of those services. Often, that has to be a conscious effort, because in truth I don't really know the people in-volved that well. But once in a while I do know the family, and at those times there is no effort involved whatsoever.

For example, this year I've baptised Daniel Chubb and Jessica Swin-bourne. Because I know the parents of both children, the occasions were special - for me as well as the families.

As for weddings ... in the last month I've been back to St Chad's twice to take two services. The brides are now both in their mid-twenties, but I have known them since their early teenage years. It was quite something helping them both take this major step in their lives. I'm sure Paul felt much the same when he took the wedding of Rebecca Parkin recently.

And then there are the funerals. Over the years I've taken funerals for quite a few congregation members - rather more of them than I care to remember. As I write there have been two in the last few weeks - Betty Sewell and Dora Bridges. I must confess that I often find taking the funerals of people I've got to know a real emotional challenge: will I make it to the end without tears!

But whether I know the family or not, it's an amazing thing to be in-volved in all these intimate family moments, these major rites of pas-sage. Sometimes I'm more emotionally involved than usual. But al-ways, they are times when I feel I am doing something of real value for people, God's people.

John

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Introducing … our new curate

Dear friends

My name is Phil Morton, and I joined the Sutton Coldfield Group in July as the Curate. It’s been great to start my life in ordained ministry with you, and I’m enjoying my work serving the parishes of St. Peter’s, St. Chad’s and Holy Trinity.

All of this marks the next stage of what feels like a long journey so far! I was born and raised in London, but came to Birmingham in 2002 to study. Once my studies were over, Birmingham had come to feel like my adopted home so I stayed to find work (in the public sector) and to explore a vocation to ordained ministry. I met my wife, Ruth, at Birmingham University. She comes from Solihull, so we’re both enjoying being back in the West Midlands.

I had a great time studying for ministry in Durham, with some wonderful and highly formative experiences, but I’m equally excited to be back in the Diocese of Birmingham and continuing my ministerial training as your Curate. I think that this is an exciting time to be part of the Church of England, and I’m looking forward to being part of your community and to working with you all.

I look forward to getting to know you all better over the summer!

Phil

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Through a Glass Darkly - OUR CHRISTIAN FAITH

The readings which we shall hear in church during early autumn encapsulate most of what our Christianity means to us. We are reminded that help in trouble is available when we call on God, that he promises to strengthen and support us when suffering comes and also that unrepentant wrong-doing will carry with it punishment. On the other hand, we are taught that if we truly repent and turn away from evil we shall be forgiven. The trouble is that we are deeply flawed beings, developed by evolution to contain deep within us an instinct for the preservation and cherishing of self that over-rides almost all others. So-called civilized life has extended this instinct beyond the basic to a selfishness that runs through everything we do, say and think and against which we have to do constant battle. This means that much of our falling-away is unconscious and cannot, therefore, be repented. Only the death and resurrection of Jesus is sufficient to pay for this enormous weight of sin. This is the heart of our Christian faith.

One of the difficult sayings of Jesus reported by Mark is the one about the possession of wealth. It puzzled even the disciples, those closest to him, for we all have possessions and their retention is part of the working of our selfish gene. We can rationalise its retention in many ways – independence, consideration for the family and so on – but this leads to worry and stress which, as the parable of the sower demonstrates, crowd out and distract us from the word of God just as weeds can choke the growth of seedlings. If we can, with God’s help, sit lightly to our possessions, be they few or many, they need not be a stumbling block to us and we can learn to use them wisely and generously. We need God’s help to do this as we cannot turn off the selfish gene ourselves. As Jesus says : ‘With man it is impossible, but with God all things are possible’.

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The last readings emphasise service, faith and constancy. There are qualities which we see less of these days, but they are still to be found, celebrated and cultivated. We must work to keep these seedlings free from the weeds of greed, avarice and self-ishness.

Jean Schneider

YOUTH MATTERS

As I write we are in the midst of the Olympic Games and, on the Beeb at least, nothing much else is on telly. Even the news is full of Olympic news as opposed to world news. There are tem-porary new priorities to determine what is newsworthy, which is fair enough in one way but it can make one feel a bit cocooned from real daily life; a bit like living in a bubble.

One of the questions we asked at JCYG the other week was whether the kids felt that TV influenced their behaviour. Inter-estingly, those who said ‘yes’ felt it influenced them in a good way. I think I would be reluctant to agree with that. I know there are a lot of good role models on TV but increasingly it has become sensational, violent and sexual and I can’t help feeling that there is responsibility to be taken there by the programme makers for exacerbating the corresponding decline in acceptable societal behaviour.

Especially in the soaps. Many of us know they are not real but a surprising amount of people think they are and that that is how life is. Well would you want to live in Coronation Street or Albert Square? Would you feel safe? (Hospital dramas are not usually much better; most of the characters seem to be disturbed in some way. Would you want to be treated by people like them?)

Continued overleaf

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Continued from previous page

What is really shocking is that ‘nasty’ characters get abused in real life as their character! I ask you?! THEY ARE ACTORS! Why don’t people realise that?

So to further confuse the process and blur the boundaries, what does EastEnders do? Well they had one of the characters, Billy, running in the Olympic Torch Relay in real time, (i.e., that bit of the episode shown was live) as Billy, not as the actor to plays him (Perry Fenwick). How confusing is that? It was very clever

but confusing, not least, I imagine, for Perry himself as he had to run in real time doing a really high profile privileged task but act at the same time, especially as the Torch went through the EastEnders’ set with other characters cheering him on.

I do struggle to get my head round how that must have felt and I certainly wonder what our Youth Club kids made of it and will be interested to find out when JCYG restarts in September. I’d like to know what you think about all this too and even more than that I wonder what God thinks!

Susie Walker

SAVE THE DATE!

New Beginnings

4pm on Sunday 9th September in the Trinity Centre with

worship, craft activities and food

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Born in Hull and a proud Yorkshireman, I studied Maths and Geography at Leeds Uni. After starting as a Computer Programmer I moved into the public sector and eventually “retired” from a Chief Officer role at Walsall Council running their Leisure & Community Dept. Since then I have been working part time including things like consultancy, recruitment & training, exam invigilation and marking GCSE papers. Married to Steph in 1975 we settled in Sutton Coldfield in 1979 and have two grown up children, one living in Four Oaks and one in Sydney. Now with one grandson, other interests include any sport (support Liverpool FC and Hull Kingston Rovers RLC) , golf, holidays, travelling and food-especially Italian. Recently retired as Group Chairman of our 4th SC Scouts Group, I am involved in our cluster youth groups and am also a local -now Birmingham JP and currently a Team Leader at the London 2012 Olympics.

Profile on: Mike Somers - our new Church Warden

See inside cover for a photo of Mike - Ed

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I've been coming to Holy Trinity for .... about 30 years.

I started coming to Holy Trinity because .... Steph first started coming with our young daughter Rebecca to the Pram Service run by William & Edna Wood and Andrew Williams on Wednesday afternoons. I remember my first service was at Har-vest Festival. Although we actually live in St Chad’s parish we were impressed with the warm welcome at Holy Trinity and car-ried on coming from then on.

My favourite memory of Holy Trinity is …. the fabulous mu-sical event “Joseph” which the church put on 20 years ago-it in-volved all the church including lots of young people and brought everyone together.

I find a lot of satisfaction …. in seeing young people develop and have been active for several years with our Scouts Group having recently retired as Group Chairman. I have also been happy to help lead our new Cluster Youth Work initiative for young people.

My pet hate is …. those people who want to moan or find fault rather than look as to what can be achieved. I guess I’m a glass half full sort of person!

What does it mean to be a warden? I’m still learning what it is like being a Churchwarden having only been talked into it ear-lier this year. However, being one of a number of Deputy Churchwardens for 5 years was an important training ground. It is vital that both the Churchwardens and the Deputies all work together as a team and we are fortunate to have a talented and motivated team at Holy Trinity, together with all that vital advice and support from the ex-Wardens.

What is the most challenging part of being a warden? The most challenging part of being a Churchwarden is to ensure that we maintain an active and thriving church whilst developing things for the future. This can be the most rewarding part too -when things go right! Perhaps the best Churchwarden ensures everyone is happy but is not noticed!

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More of you know who...

Two dear friends of ours - they are unlikely to read this - are in the habit of visiting us and taking us out for lunch. I involved them in an arduous task for which we could not reward them (...have you heard of money? unthinkable...) so I sent them a a rather lengthy trilogy - in one volume - by an American writer (I have mentioned him before in these notes): Cormac McCarthy. I listed three books by him and the first was All the Pretty Horses,

the second The Crossing and the third Cities of the

Plain. These three I have read for a second time and it

is rare for me to take such a shine to an author - let alone an American author. I was surprised and de-lighted to get so much pleasure from re-reading the books. I didn't actually send the omnibus. I got Amazon to send it. I am not in the pay of Amazon but if they read this - fat chance - money talks and I am

always listening… And am determined to read everything that McCarthy has written...

I had seen the film of No Country for Old Men and so have read that and was not disappointed. A creepy script which deals with a deranged psycho-path. (I suppose psychopaths are all deranged...) It is quite a short book - a holiday/travel book. McCarthy lives - I guess - on the border between USA and Mexico. He seems to be an accomplished Spanish speaker and for the sake of realism he sticks to some conversations in Spanish in the four volumes I have read by him.

I have been too lazy to speak to a councillor to ask what is going to happen to our defunct library. Will it be restored to its former glory? Jill and I used to depend on it as a civilised meeting place after our scurry round the shops. But a more serious and defensi-ble support should be given to get it back to normal. I used to visit the Library at least once a week. I shall try to search out the remaining novels of Cormac Mc C. [I have found Amazon - as a

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bookseller - so I shall try to get help from them to enrich my mind further - there are plenty of unused brain cells...]

If you value my opinion you could search out the books I have given above. They are absorbing and not evil. The first, All the Pretty Horses, has a main character as a young man. He knows a lot about horses and is captured and tried. Quite a lot of Spanish is used in this novel but if I remember aright translation is not neces-sary as I think the purpose is to bring realism to the forefront (I think it is a better device than ve-'ave-vays- of- making-you-talk to remind you that the characters are using a foreign language. And the eccentric ways McCormack uses with grammar is soon for-gotten and this reader has soon forgotten the absence of inverted commas and question marks).

The remaining two novels deal with our hero's experiences as he grows older and the last is a mission to recover the remains of his younger brother killed in Mexico. Money back if not satisfied!

Derrig Ferguson

Trinity Trinity Trinity Trinity Survey - the verdict

Many thanks to all of you who completed the survey on Trinity included within the last edition. Your views are important to us and we are keen to shape the magazine to satisfy our readers.

The feedback was largely positive, with most of the suggestions for improvement relating to ideas for content. The parish profile in particular, is clearly very popular and there is a definite thirst for puzzles. To address this, I hope that you will notice the sub-tle improvements to this edition, in particular the information on our new curate and warden, the personal feature on pages 18-20, and the crossword on page 27.

Finally we have now launched an online edition! Don’t worry you will still be able to obtain your paper copy, but we hope by launching electronically that we may be able to attract a wider readership.

Louise Chubb

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Margaret’s memories from the June PCC meeting

♦ The meeting began with Holy Communion

♦ Much of the PCC’s work is delegated to committees and working groups and the membership of these was agreed – Worship, Mission, Children & Young People, Pastoral Life & Prayer, Social, Trinity Centre Management, Church & Grounds, Re-ordering & relocation and updating of external notice boards

♦ PCC’s are being encouraged to have a Legacy Policy and this has been agreed

♦ The renewal of the insurance of the church & Trinity Centre was looked into along with correspondence from the Diocese on ‘Chancel repair liability’

♦ The terms of reference for the Sutton Coldfield Group Council were agreed.

♦ We received a report from the Treasurer who stated our giving was falling short of the budgeted amount

♦ Birmingham Council has approved their part of the re-ordering plans. We await the appointment of a new Diocesan Chancellor before any other approvals can be given

♦ A Reflection Day is planned for 29th September

♦ Reports were received from all the committees, working groups and inter-church committees

♦ Plans for various services & social events were noted. Details can be found else-where in this publication, on the website, on facebook, or in the weekly notices

Margaret Le Brocq

PCC Secretary

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THE SUTTON COLDFIELD AREA FOR OVER 26 YEARS

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Trinity Lights update

Over the past few months, Trinity Lights have been continuing with the Emmaus Course. The course was written just over ten years ago and covers the basics of the Christian life. It is aimed at new Christians and those seeking to deepen their knowledge and understanding of God.

The material is organised into 15 sessions and is designed to be worked through in groups.

Each session begins (after the necessary tea and biscuits) with prayer and also includes bible study (usually from Luke’s Gospel), group exercises and lively discussion. Topics covered so far include:

♦ God is there and he matters

♦ We need God in our lives

♦ Jesus – his ministry and death

♦ The Resurrection of Jesus

♦ The Holy Spirit

♦ Reading the Bible

As you can imagine from those headings, there is quite a lot of material to get through within each session and hence there is plenty of food for thought to be mulled over for the rest of the week.

Upcoming discussions will be focussed around Living the Christian life and include topics such as ‘Your money and your life’ and ‘Sharing the faith’.

Special thanks to Becky Stephens for all her hard work in leading and preparing for our sessions.

Its not all been so serious, we have enjoyed another curry evening at Bashundora and further social events are planned shortly - watch this space!

19 Louise Chubb

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Celebrating 30 years….Celebrating 30 years….Celebrating 30 years….Celebrating 30 years….

During July 2012 our rector John Routh and his wife Kristina, and our Warden Colin Ingley and his wife Sue, celebrated 30 years of marriage with a party for the congregation at the Trin-ity Centre (for photos see inner cover). Sue and Kristina shared their memories of meeting, dating and marriage to date.

Sue and ColinSue and ColinSue and ColinSue and Colin

Colin and I met at school and have known each other since the age of eleven. I suppose from the start, beginning with the sneaky smiles across the desk rows, there has always been a bit of sparky chemistry between us. Officially though, we did not start going out together till we were in the Sixth Form, our first date being to see 'Romeo And Juliet'.(How 'cheesy' is that? It's still however, a special story for us)

After, we carried on seeing each other all through student days. Of-ten we tended to go out to places in and around Tamworth, where Col's Godparents lived. Maybe this explains why we ended up booking our Reception at the 'Moat House' there!

Col proposed whilst we rested on a bench, after a long walk in Sutton Park. We decided that to be sure we were making the right decision, we would have a break from each other for six weeks. This would surely be the true test. For me, I didn't even hold out for the first week, never mind six! We had our answer!

So from then on, wedding plans began. I don't know who was more ex-cited, mum or I. We all had great fun in choosing dresses, cakes, flow-ers etc and preparing for the great day.

What a fantastic day it was too! Everything went well to plan and we loved every minute. It was like being a film star, with lots of posing and flashing cameras! We were married here at Holy Trinity at 11.00am, by Reverend Nicholas King, with six bridesmaids (all looking beautiful in white) six ushers and wonderful hymns and music. As mum and I were Barry Manilow fans, we just had to have 'One Voice' played as well !

After having loads of photos taken in the gorgeous Vesey Grounds, we then headed off to our Reception at the Moat House in Tamworth. Food and drink were divine! We had a sort of Christmas dinner replica, with apple pie to follow. After cutting the cake and a lot of mingling, we then headed out for our honeymoon in one of Col's infamous kit cars.

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My brother Matt and his friends had slyly decided to decorate this for us before our departure. So we set off, complete with dangling Doc Martin boot at the back bumper and confetti covered seats and car-pets. The only trouble was, the heavens opened and (as the car's roof

cover wasn't too watertight) things got a little damp and yucky! The dye running from the wet confetti made us look a little bit like tutti fruity ice-creams! Then, as we turned the corner, by the Jolly Sailor pub, having waved goodbye to all, the en-gine started to splutter and finally came to a grind-ing halt - a tad embarrassing or what! Still, after a bit of twiddling under the bonnet, Col managed to fix it ( as always) and we made a final get away!

From start to finish, our wedding day was brilliant and I always tell others to savour every minute, because it regrettably goes too fast! Fortunately, we have a video of it, so it's been great to relive bits again and again and notice things you may not have before. Its also interesting to see how things have changed and remember those sadly no longer with us.

So....., here we are thirty years on. People often ask, 'What is the secret of a long marriage?' To be honest (and not wanting to tempt fate) I don't really know. Each couple are always unique and have got their own formulae. How-ever, I guess for Col and I, it would have to be, to enjoy being to-gether, but respectfully accept, that at times you are going to differ and need space (Col says it's "Yes Love" to what ever I say). Most of all though, make sure to always be the best of friends!

John and KristinaJohn and KristinaJohn and KristinaJohn and Kristina

We met at Oxford in 1979 when I was in the first intake of women into a previously all male college - Magdalen. We are officially the first Magdalen couple to get married! John proposed at a Commemo-ration Ball at Christ Church in Oxford (although we had already dis-cussed it and indeed had earlier chosen a ring together). I was 18 and John was 20 - so young!

We got married in a huge church in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. As I was away at University my mum made all the plans and did all the work - I think she enjoyed that.

Continued on page 21

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If You would like to Advertise in this space

Please contact our Parish Administrator

for details

urine

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It was actually quite a small wedding, and I don't remember much about it except that there was a thunderstorm when my Dad and I left the house.

We had a lovely honeymoon in the Scilly Isles although it started rather unpleasantly with me being sick eleven times on the boat over there. John was heroic in looking after me and we came back by helicopter!

I couldn't possibly tell you the best thing about John - there are so many good things! As anyone who comes to Holy Trinity regularly knows he is a lovely, intelligent (handsome!) man who has a soft spot for children and teddy bears - what's not to love?

I'm not sure what my favourite memory of marriage so far would be - probably one of the times we were on holiday together as a family - John is a great Dad.

I have no idea what the secret is to a long marriage - I think we have been very fortunate. I guess it helps that we are still best friends after living together for thirty years. Also that he likes my cooking!

(With thanks to Sue and Kristina for their memories - Ed)

Church Fellowship

This is a short message to announce that church fellowship is having a cri-sis over recruiting new members, both men and women. Our numbers have

fallen dramatically over the past two years.

If any members of the congregation knows of neighbours or friends that

would be interested in joining us please tell them about our meetings.

At our AGM in July, we have decided to meet only once a month on the FIRST TUESDAY, and not to met during January and February 2013.

We do have some interesting speakers and there is always somebody to have a conversation with and a cup of tea, coffee and cake.

Our intention is to continue to meet for one more year but if numbers do

not increase we may have to close the group here at Holy Trinity.

Please help us to find new members . Christine Das

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FROM THE REGISTERS ...

Baptisms

8th July Frankie May Taroni-Rencher

Francesca Collinge

Anna Collinge

Ella Rose Kay

15th July Jessica Swinbourne

Noah Finlay Leach

Lily Grace Nicholls

5th August Shylah Hansen McMullen-Zaman

We welcome these children into new life with God, as part of our church family

Marriages

14th July Simon Williams and Rebecca Parkin

27th July Sam Empson and Melissa McGloin

28th July Andrew Patrick and Leona Candelent

2nd August Neil Painter and Katie Sadler

4th August Liam Cole and Charlene Butterworth

11th August Steven McNeill and Emelia Wells

We wish these couples every blessing in their future together.

Funerals

19th June Gary Ian Dawson

21st June Betty Sewell

22nd June Emily Elizebeth Baslow

6th July Denis Lakin

25th July Dora Bridges

8th August Thelma Masy Floresice Banks

14th August Percival Bernard Cross

We remember all who have died and ask for God’s comfort to sustain all who are bereaved.

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From the archives - Why 1948?

I was asked to research the magazine issues for 1948 to find out how Holy Trinity marked the London Olympic Games that year. Sadly, there was not a mention! So 64 years ago there was no pre-occupation with this international sporting gathering, although it is certain some parishioners would have found their way to the Games. This takes on new meaning when we read at the beginning of the year that the attendance of members at the “Parish Church Children’s Church” “is being well maintained, although the loss of the basic petrol ration makes it very hard for some who live some distance from the Parish Church”. This sounds like a worsening of petrol availability and it reminds us how incredibly hard on the heels of the second world war came the planning and execution of those London Games.

It would be wonderful if those who do attend this year would send in a few lines about the sport they saw, who was taking part and the result. I will then compile a summary so that future readers are able to look back on some of the happenings this time round, and any thoughts people have generally from their armchair observa-tions would also be welcome!

So what was the preoccupation of our church in 1948? Well the Lambeth Conference is well reported from January through to its actual taking place in July/August. It was momentous because it had not taken place since 1930, as the 1940 session was clearly a non-starter. The magazine also reported that the World Council of Churches had its first session in August 1948. Rather touchingly, the Rector’s letter in December 1948 opened as follows:

“The news of the birth of a son to Princess Elizabeth on 14 Novem-ber has been received with joy by us all. The members of the Royal Family have set us all a very high standard of devotion to duty and all their actions too emphasise the importance of home life. There-fore it is very natural that we should be glad about this event in the lives of Princess Elizabeth and her husband, the Duke of Edinburgh. The bells of the Parish Church were rung during the evening of 15

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November in honour of the birth of a Royal Prince, and the illumina-tion of the Parish Church and the Vesey Gardens is a further re-minder of our joy.”

This neatly partners an item in the January magazine recording the bell-ringers’ news:

“On November 22 [1947] a visiting team of bell-ringers rang a peal of Cambridge Surprise Major, 5056 in 3 hours and 42 minutes in honour of the Royal Wedding.”

Parochial matters dominate, however, with groups and societies du-tifully reporting their activities, including requests for more to come forward to lead the Scout and Guide groups, healthy numbers being confirmed from both congregations, and of course the continued role of groups like the “Moral Welfare” group. The Faculty for the organ was approved and the contract signed for its installation….

St Chad’s was still a ‘daughter’ church and so its news was incorpo-rated into the Holy Trinity magazine. The church was in the 21st year of its consecration, and the St. Chad’s Hall Building fund was helped by the issue of collecting boxes in the larger Parish Church. A full page in the December issue lists the pounds, shillings and pence in each box, totalling just over £154! There was a clear sense of mis-sion to new or far-flung estates and communities, notably through the active Falcon Lodge and Reddicap Hill Missions.

Finally, food for thought came from the Rector’s endorsement of the Bishop of Birmingham’s earnest entreaty to refrain from gambling, including making it quite clear, if it had not been before, that this included raffles. “We deprecate the raising of money by the State or by any organization through sweepstakes and similar methods, how-ever good may be the object for which the money is raised; and we warn men and women of the danger of acquiring the habit of gam-bling, which has led in so many cases to the deterioration of charac-ter and the ruin of homes.”

Discuss. Stella Thebridge

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Meet the Learning and Training Committee

The Learning and Training Committee was formed some years ago under the ‘umbrella’ of the Mission Committee. There are currently six members of the committee and we seek to encour-age people to deepen their faith and spiritual understanding by setting up opportunities for Biblically based learning.

This we have done in a number of ways by having a Study or Away Day once a year, by setting up House Groups and by com-bining with St Peter’s and St Chad’s for study and worship dur-ing Lent.

On the Study Days, held at The Trinity Centre, we have consid-ered such subjects as Wisdom in the Bible, Christianity and Sci-ence and Medical Science and Religion, all led by some out-standing speakers. We have successfully opened these meetings to people in the whole diocese as well as the Holy Trinity con-gregation.

On other occasions we have organised a smaller Away Day for the congregation at a local venue, different from Holy Trinity, which has given us the chance of reflecting on a Bible passage or the context and purpose of a whole book such as that of Luke’s gospel.

We regularly organise House Groups, meeting in people’s houses, usually in the autumn and sometimes during Lent. These groups mean that we can meet each other in an informal setting over a period of perhaps four or five weeks and not only deepen our Christian faith but also cement our openness and friendship with each other.

Our future plans, for this year, include a quiet Away Day at Can-well Church Hall on Saturday 20th October and a series of House Groups beginning at the end of October. Watch out for details! Why not join in, especially if you have never done so before?

Nina and the Team

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ACROSS 2 Location of the old rectory (7,4) 5 Given by Bishop Vesey in 1530 (5) 6 Bishop Vesey's alter ego (4,6) 7 Patronal saint of the first free chapel in Sutton (6) 8 Location of the only remaining traces of the earliest building (4,6) 11 The original home of our Choir Stalls (9) 12 Oldest item in the church (4) DOWN 1 The current Bishop of Rochester (5,9) 3 The last part of the church to be built (5,6) 4 Removed from the tower in 1884 (5) 9 The first name of our rector (7) 10 Group whose one rule is Respect (4)

Holy Trinity Crossword

Answers in the next edition - Ed

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Trinity

Arrangements for 2012

The cost per issue is 60p, and an annual subscription £3-50.

If you are a casual reader who would like to subscribe regularly or ad-vertise, or if you have any other queries relating to the magazine, please contact the Trinity Centre in the first instance on 321 1144 or admin@htsc.org.uk

Publication schedule

Cover date Copy deadline Publication date

Nov/Dec 2012 7th October 21st October

Jan/Feb 2013 2nd December 16th December

Please submit material for the next issue by the deadline above to :

Roger Smallwood email: roger.smallwood@btinternet.com

Written text: Please leave in the “Magazine” pigeon-hole in church OR in the Trinity Centre office.

Contributions on any topic or photographs are always welcome. A page contains about 400 words.

Bible verse for this issue

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“Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is

true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,

whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, what-

ever is admirable—if anything is excellent

or praiseworthy—think about such things.”

Philippians 4 v8 (NIV)

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