Does this sound like Elstead United Reformed Church? Well it was on Saturday January 1st 2005, a 48 hour miracle and it worked. Thanks to a very varied team of helpers.
Let me start from the beginning. Thursday 30th of December 2004 at approximately
8pm I received a phone call from a friend who told me his son John had had a
brilliant idea, to hold an Auction to raise funds for the TSUNAMI DISASTER APPEAL,
but it would have to be held on
Saturday January 1st due to work commitment. They needed a venue, no problem
the URC was available, helpers, leaflets to be printed and distributed, an Auctioneer
to be found, radio advertising organised, refreshments, helpers, so much to
do. A Gazebo in case of inclement weather.
By 9pm on that Thursday evening Michael rang me back having started to make inroads into the long list. An Auctioneer from Godalming had been enlisted to run the Auction a Mr. David Ford, distribution had been sorted and quite a lot more was coming together.
Friday Michael and his family spent the day telephoning, printing, arranging, delivery of posters etc. So much to do, would they make it? YES. Saturday arrived and by 10am all sorts of items were pouring into the hall to be got ready for the Auction. From jewellery to bicycles, toys to wine, unwanted presents, you name it I believe we had it. The Auction started at 2pm and ran for two and a half hours: Over a hundred lots went through the efficient hands of David Ford.
A BIG Thank-you to our varied team of helpers, from W.I. to Parish councillors, URC members, Family, Friends and neighbours.
Thank - you ELSTEAD for your support and for coming up with the goods to make it possible.
BUT lets not forget the BRAINS and hard work which made it possible. A well done pat on the back for the Organe Family, for a fantastic idea and a wonderful result. (GOOD ON YER!)
TOTAL MADE ON THE DAY £2,680. WELL DONE EVERYONE.
Pam Chandler.
click here for more about the auction including pictures
PS. We would like to know the history of the big brass bell sold at the end,
as it is being resold at Honeypot Antiques, in Elstead, to raise more money
for the Appeal. Knowing its history could increase its value to a collector.
PPS. If anybody took away a bundle of four tennis rackets with some other sports gear by mistake, they were a different Lot and sold to somebody else!
michael.organe@btinternet.com
Dear Friends,
This month I am writing to some of you twice ! Once in this letter, and again in a personal letter to each household from the leaders of our three churches here in Elstead asking you what your churches can do for you. I say “to some of you” because we are going to be writing to a different part of the parish each month for a year, so you may have to wait a while ! We pray for different areas of Elstead month by month, and so each month we will be sending to those for whom we will be praying.
Our first question will be, “who would you like us to pray for ?” As a church, we pray for the people of this parish week by week (and, indeed, day by day), but we often will not know what your real needs and concerns are - so we are offering this opportunity for you to tell us. Your concerns may be for our world, for an event (like the recent tsunami, or something joyful that deserves celebration), or they may be local or personal, sad or happy - and if you wish our prayers to be confidential, rather than public, then we will of course keep to your wishes - but please let us know what they are.
It may be that there is something else that we might do for you, in addition to praying, and again we would like you to let us know: would you like someone to visit you ? Do you have a question of faith that needs an answer ? Would you like the Village News delivered to you ?
It is so easy for any group or organisation to become bound up in its own affairs - and churches are no exception - so we are genuinely trying to redress that tendency here in Elstead… with your help ! But all we are asking is that you reply to your letter when -you get it - if you have anything to say, we will do the rest !
**********
This year sees an early Easter, which has made the schools start back very early and break up on Maundy Thursday, and that means that Ash Wednesday and Lent are also early.
Ash Wednesday is 9th February, and we will be having a special service of Preparation for Lent at 8 pm on that day. Our well-received Beta Course runs on until 10th February, after which it will be followed by a series of four different ecumenical events during Lent, to all of which you are invited.
A service of Marriage Re-Dedication will be held at the United Reformed Church, Milford Road, on Sunday 13th February at 3 pm, followed by a Tea. An open-afternoon entitled “Explore Village Life” takes place on Saturday 26th February, 2pm to 4pm in the Village Halls, and at the same time there will also be a Family Treasure Hunt. An informal evening of Music and Poetry - `Celebrating Death and Resurrection` - is to be held in the United Reformed Church on Wednesday 16th March at 8 pm. Lastly, a service `Celebrating Baptism and New Life` will be held at St. James’ Church on Sunday 20th March at 3pm, and will be followed by a Tea.
Why not come along ?
William Lang.
In amongst other things, I brought my daughter’s boyfriend a jigsaw puzzle for Christmas. Nothing particularly amazing about that, you may think, but this was a jigsaw puzzle with a difference. It is called a “Wasjig” and the difference is that the picture of the puzzle on the box is not the picture of the puzzle in the box. The picture on the box merely gives clues as to what is contained within. The person attempting to complete the puzzle needs, first of all, to try and answer the clues to get some idea of what they are aiming for.
Life, it seems to me, resembles a jigsaw puzzle. The four corners, which are the pieces you normally locate first when attempting to build a puzzle, represent the foundations of our lives. The building blocks, the criteria from which we build our personal framework. Just as we move on from the four corners of the puzzle to find all the straight edged pieces, so in life we grow out from our foundations. Having created the framework, we are then faced with the joy or challenge of fitting all the pieces into the picture. The placing of some pieces is obvious – some pieces go together to make a small picture or shape and we often find ourselves with several disjointed groups of pieces. Each a whole in its own right but dependent on being connected with all the other pieces in order to make sense and be complete.
Sometimes, often, there are pieces that look identical, a blue sky, or a swathe of green grass. It is hard to know exactly where they fit. We can only establish the correct place by trial and error and making many “mistakes” as we test out where a particular piece goes. In our lives too, we often have to make mistakes in order to establish a way forward as we struggle to make sense of what is going on.
And, like the “wasjig” we are attempting to build the picture, which is our lives, without any prior knowledge of what that picture actually looks like. The best we can hope for are clues to help us along the way.
Our clues come from God. For God is the only one who knows what the completed picture should look like and God is the only one who can help us.
Rosemary
We have earmarked a part of our budget for next year to repair Woolfords Lane
near the cemetery and the entrance to Thursley Road Recreation Ground. In the
meantime a group of local residents have done some repair work on the surface
of the worst part of Woolfords Lane for which the Council is providing some
financial assistance. Many thanks to all the temporary road workers !
Vandals damaged the new fence around the children's play area at Thursley Road Recreation Ground even before it was completed. Our contractors have now constructed the new gates and strengthened the fencing. The next stage is to put in the seating and one more piece of equipment. There are mixed views, we hear, about the look of the fencing. We do not intend to have it painted as it is of treated natural wood which will weather in time. It is to provide security for the children because of proximity to the road and to keep out any stray dogs. Also it has been requested by parents and recommended by our insurance company as a safety measure in a similar way to areas in other villages.
We are still concerned about the number of horse riders who are illegally crossing the village green as they will soon be damaging the surface. Riding a horse on a footway is also an offence and we have alerted the police to the increase in riders ignoring this law. We will probably have to erect warning signs and also issue formal notices.
Car parking around the village green continues to be a problem giving rise to complaints from residents. The short entrance road to Back Lane is particularly narrow and should not be used for car parking.
Denis Holmes Chairman
In the wet and windy days before Christmas I saw two swans flying past. When
they take off they appear ungainly, and have to produce a tremendous effort
to gain speed, struggling hard to get airborne. These two were already established
in the air and flying with necks outstretched showing strength and grace against
a backcloth of black clouds and dark lifeless trees, it gave a lovely impression
of power and purpose, they looked beautiful.
Another day five more flew over but their bodies were a grey/brown which made us think they must be young ones in their first year as adults.
The ground of our front garden has been claimed by another cock pheasant as his territory. He looks rather nice in his winter colours, a dark green head and dark red and gold body with a white ring around the neck.
Birds in our garden
January is an important month to feed the birds as most berries or fruit have now been eaten and insects are hibernating. We put out seeds and peanuts in three separate feeders. The little flock of long tailed tits have come back and occasionally monopolise the feeders much to the annoyance of their smaller friends who perch close by glaring at them severely but without the courage to challenge.
The other frequent visitors are great tits, cole tits, blue tits, nuthatches, and a greater spotted woodpecker. The male is the one with the red patch on the back of his head. Robins prefer to feed on the bird table - we put out crumbs and cheese for them. Fat and suet is also good.
I saw three sparrow hawks zooming high above the fields. I suspect that one was last years youngster as it kept calling out in a high pitched screech. They flew over next door's garden and a few moments later a flock of doves (or pigeons) appeared flying in all directions. I don't mind them taking these birds as food as there are so many of them and it stops them coming into our garden and frightening the smaller birds. We do sight the feeders near to dense bushes which does help the small birds with their safety.
Recipe for bird cake
8oz of suet or lard melted. 1lb of a cake mix consisting of seeds, nuts, oats, dried fruit, cake or bread crumbs. Put the dry ingredients into a mould (put a piece of string in the mix with it's ends outside to hang the cake up afterwards), pour on the melted fat, stir and leave until set before turning out. Tie in a tree or put on the bird table.
Other bird food can include sunflower seeds, suet, peanuts (not salted) bacon rind, porridge oats, cheese, baked potatoes, soaked dry bread, or cake. I always put the food out in the mornings this gives the birds time to eat. Left over food should be removed to prevent encouraging rats and mice to scavenge.
Plants of the month
Snowdrops - although mine have yet to emerge, and Winter Aconite, a member of the Buttercup family; these are the first flowers to appear, a herald to the Spring.
Richard and Di
The first Friday in March will see the Elstead Branch of the Women's World Day
of Prayer (WWDP) flying balloons and cutting a celebratory cake to mark forty
years of observing this annual service in our village. WWDP is a worldwide movement
of Christian women who come together to observe a common day of prayer on the
same Friday each year. The day begins as dawn breaks over the islands of Tonga
in the Pacific and continues across each continent until the last services are
held back in the Pacific in Samoa, circling the world in prayer for about 36
hours. Over 60 languages and 1,000 dialects from over 170 countries unite women,
men and children from the majority of Christian denominations. In the U.K. alone
5,000 services are held.
So we in Elstead are a very tiny part of the whole but that is not going to stop us from making an extra loud noise this anniversary year. We look forward to welcoming you all to our service on Friday 4th March at 10.30 a.m. in St James Church to be followed by coffee and cake in the Church Room. Then we'll go by car to the United Reformed Church for the Lenten Lunch. Don't hesitate to phone 703219 for car lifts.
The service this year comes from Poland and is entitled "Let our Light Shine". And who is the speaker we hear you ask? None other than the President of the WWDP in the UK, Marlene Moore, who will be travelling all the way from her home in Northern Ireland to be with us. Do come and meet her and your friends, join in the fun and help us celebrate our forty years!
Jessie Cowell (Secretary)
We always end the Christmas term with our Wishing Service. Children are always excited by all that Christmas brings and they are usually very clear about what they want from Father Christmas! However, the Wishing Service makes children think of others close to home and around the world who may not be as lucky as them. The children in each class discuss how the world could be better for us all and they decide on a wish for the world. At our service, we sit in a circle in the darkened hall and representatives from each class come out and say their wish and then light a candle. Each class also chooses a favourite song, hymn or carol for us all to sing. We finish with a simple prayer with the lighted candles as a focus. It is a simple and very moving service and a lovely way to end the term together. Our wishes for the world this year are (starting with our youngest class):
Penguins – We wish that all the poor people in the world have enough toys, drink and food.
Owls – We wish that cruelty to animals and children is stopped so they do not have to die or suffer in pain.
Robins – We wish that all the soldiers could come home for Christmas and that there were no more wars.
Kingfishers – We wish for all hearts to be happy.
Woodpeckers – We wish that people would stop cutting down trees and be kind to nature.
Eagles – We wish that a cure will be found for all life-threatening diseases, such as aids and cancer.
Having made these wishes for 2005, the children returned this term, very upset by all they had seen and heard since Boxing Day in South East Asia. They wanted to do something themselves to help. Each class discussed what we could do and the School Council met with me on that first day back. I was impressed with the range of their ideas and it was difficult to choose the events which would have the most impact. They agreed that they would not have something like a cake sale, which they all enjoy because they like eating cakes. They explained that the parents make the cakes and give them the money to spend so they really do not have to do much, except enjoy the cakes. They decided they wanted to work for the money or give up something. The first activity was for them to earn money by doing jobs for parents, relatives and friends. After four days they brought in £179. 30, which represents a huge number of jobs. They ranged from tidying bedrooms, washing up, dusting after the decorations came down, writing thank you letters, cleaning out cupboards to grooming a dog. The car wash raised another £112 on the first day and many children chose something special to give to the Bring and Buy sale. The children will have worked to raise several hundred pounds which will help in some way towards granting some of their wishes for the world. An Oxfam sign says, “Many little things done by many little people will change the face of the world. It is so good to feel that because they care, they can make a difference. We can all make a difference.
Thank you so much to everyone who has supported the children. We have all been struck by the generosity of our parents, staff and the people of Elstead
Ann Tann
Garden Club
Elstead Garden Club heard from Peter Barwick of Blackmoor Nurseries that " Apples Don't Just Grow on Trees" at their December meeting. The actual growing of apples, or any fruit, is, as our speaker reminded us, only part of the story. Large nurseries do indeed have to take enormous care of their trees - Blackmoor has over 10,000 planted, and they reckon to pick 40 kilos, 100 lbs, of apples from each tree, if it is bearing well.
It is most important to be sure your tree is growing on the right rootstock if its size is to be properly controlled. M9 produces a tree of about 5 feet in height which is the right size for a commercial orchard. Pruning is also of the utmost importance - at Blackmoor it starts in October and goes right through until May, and each tree is pruned by hand. Regular watering and weeding between trees in the orchard are also important. Much of the nursery at Blackmoor is on top of a hill, so frost and water tend to collect at the bottom, leaving the orchards clear. Although the level of spraying has been cut down in recent years, trees do still need to be sprayed, particularly for mildew. It is not practically possible, our speaker told us to grow high quality fruit organically in this climate, and those who claim to do so are being dishonest.
This led us to what happens to the apples once they have been picked from the trees, and a very interesting insight into what the large supermarkets demand from commercial growers, and the stranglehold they have on the market. Sample apples have to be sent each week for assessment, and meticulous records kept of where spraying is done, and when. If the sample is accepted, then apples of that variety can be retrieved from the store for packaging. There is a special camera that grades apples for colour. Gala apples must be 50% red, Cox's 30% red to please the supermarket customers.
We were urged not to dismiss genetic engineering, as it could be used for many good purposes, such as fighting disease. The worst problem the fruit industry faced, our speaker said, was the stranglehold the big supermarkets had on the market. Suppliers were caught in a strait jacket of having to produce certain fruit in a certain way, and the consumer was ultimately deprived of choice.
Our January meeting sees the start of a new year, with subscriptions due, and the programmes for the coming year available. Our February meeting will be on the 14th, in the URC Hall at 7.45 p.m. Do try and come, we would love to see you. There are many more fine gardens in Elstead than the garden club has members!!
Gillian Drew
Part of SPEAK's wider Trade Justice campaign.
The Day of Action is February 21st 2005 and so far the plans are:
| 9.00am | Worship in St Martins in the Fields |
| 10.30am | Gather at the Big Dress near the Houses of Parliament. |
| 12.00am | Repentance action lead by the Bishop of Barking. |
| 1.00pm | The MP’s lobby will start: people will have the next 3 hours to meet their MPs and show them round the dress.. |
| 3.00pm | Prophetic catwalk action. A creative expression of our campaign - moth-eaten clothes, the poor being trampled and a levelling of the land based on James 5. |
| 4.00pm | There will be an ending celebration with the first gig inside the dress! |
The dress will be the largest in the world, the height of a 4-storey house, with a skirt 20 metres wide and constructed as a huge tent. It has been made from squares contributed by supporting organisations around the country.
SPEAK aim to gather 600 people - as the 3 richest people control more wealth than the poorest 600 million, this will be a symbolic number. The more people who attend, the greater the impact will be. Join them if you can.
The aim of Speak and the Big dress is to call for trade justice - for trade rules to favour the poor, to bring about a reduction of poverty.
For more information:
Visit http://www.speak.org.uk
Or contact hannah@speak.org.uk
Jean Wheatley
John Harrison from Milford Rd who is 90 years old started competitive swimming at the age of 79 when he responded for an advertisement by the Royal Navy for ex-Navy personnel to join the Royal Navy Swimming Association and also joined the Godalming Swimming Club. The Masters Swimming Association is made up of swimmers within 5 year age groups, from 25 years as far as you can go!
His latest record breaking time at Barnet Copthall in London was for the 1500 metres freestyle which he completed in 40min 43seconds, 4 minutes faster than the existing world record of 44 min 49 sec.
In all he has broken 23 British Records, 9 European and 3 World record times. He has also won many medals and cups for his activity.
He trains at Farnham and Charterhouse, and competes on behalf of both the Royal Navy and Godalming Swimming Club.
His experiences in the Navy included being on HMS Belfast in 1939 when she was blown up by a mine. It was reported that the bow of the ship where John was working as an Ordnance Artificer rose 20 feet. It took him some time to recover from this incident and so he missed out on some of the other action during the war.
His wife Doris is very proud of his achievements.
Keith Williamson
The recent January meeting of Elstead Afternoon Women's Institute opened on a note of sadness at the sudden demise of a valued and popular member, Jean Beaton, and deepest sympathies were extended to her husband Arnold. Sympathies were also extended to the family and colleagues of James Bowman, the chief reporter of The Farnham Herald, who died just before Christmas. He was so supportive of local organisations and will be sadly missed.
The Christmas luncheon held on 13th December was a great success with all the food provided by members and entertainment by the Drama Group. With fifteen guests and fifty members the event started the Christmas season off to a memorable beginning.
Charities to be supported during year 2005 are the Thursley Road Pavilion, St. James's Church and the Phyllis Tuckwell Hospice.
Many members rallied to attend the Tsunami Appeal Auction on 1st January in
Elstead, with president Ann Moon and her husband, together with the president
of the Evening
W.I. May Deaville, organising and serving tea and cakes. The auction raised
over £2700.00.
The activity group leaders reported all starting dates for year 2005, with a New Year luncheon of the Discussion Group planned for 20th January at the Woolpack Inn, Elstead.
Gill Grainge, President of Burpham W.I. gave a fascinating talk entitled ‘The
Sleeping Dragon Awakes’. She described her two week visit to China, illustrated
with colourful slides, explaining the regional weather variations, and the ancient
historical background, bringing us to the present day in the city of Xi-an which
is near the Terra Cotta Warriors. Next she travelled along the banks of the
Yangtse river to Beijing, viewing the Great Wall and the Ming Tombs with their
beautiful gardens containing statues of lions and elephants, before continuing
to Shanghai. On a social level, the one child policy has now been
relaxed, also, the children must learn English as well as at least half of the
sixty thousand characters of the Chinese language.
A vote of thanks was proposed by Lindsay Sellers, and the competition for an oriental ornament was won by Sheila Clarke.
The next meeting will be on 3rd February when Mr. K. Bartlett will talk on ‘Dogs for the Disabled’.
Submitted by Christine Welland.
Meeting held on Tuesday 11th January
With an audience augmented by relatives and friends to over fifty, and after a very short business meeting May Deaville, President, welcomed local hero John Wills to the URC Church.
Along with skipper, Mark Stubbs, ex SAS diver Peter Bray and Jonathan Gornall, John gave us a vivid account of their courageous endeavour to row across the North Atlantic from New Foundland to Falmouth in the summer of 2004.
In 1896 the first mariners to achieve this goal were two Norwegian clam fishermen, immigrants to the U.S., who took 55 days. This record has never been broken.
In their ‘Barbie’ pink boat, sponsored by Pink Lady Apples, John and the team trained every weekend from January to June last year in Poole Harbour. The boat was equipped with solar panels for power to desalinate seawater, provide light and communications along with a back-up generator. At the end of May it was shipped out to Canada and they spent four days carefully loading and preparing for the journey, including sheepskins for their rowing seats!
The weather router advised them when to leave and they set off in their 30’ long x 5’ wide craft, with a strict 2 hours on and 2 hours off routine. Each member of the crew had to compensate for another’s movements to keep the boat upright and had to work strictly as a team member. After two fine days they were then holed up in their extremely confined cabin for 36 hours because of bad weather. Even their favourite food tasted horrible after a while and John hasn’t eaten porridge or apple and custard since. Two wet wipes a day was the ration to prevent salt and sweat build-up and there was no privacy in such confined conditions. The temperature for July and August was most unusual, going down to 3 degrees and it was very foggy. The usual good weather window was not there last year. In spite of strong side winds and bad weather conditions they made progress but at night if it was too stormy they could only steer. It was compared to being on a rowing machine, on a bucking bronco, in the pitch dark and being deluged with water!
At the half-way mark they celebrated with a shot of Screech (rum) and clean underwear. They only had two days of hot, balmy weather to dry out their equipment but were able to see schools of dolphins fishing, Minky whales and many types of sea birds. John and the team had a music system on board but had to be vigilant in removing their earphones every 15 minutes to be aware of any shipping.
On their final lap they were warned that Hurricane Alex was heading straight for them. On the night of 8th August the conditions very quickly deteriorated with a confused sea and 30’ waves before dark. The sea anchor was employed but by 1.00 a.m. it was so windy they were confined to the cabin which was like being inside a roller coaster. At 2.00 a.m. there was a violent explosion and they were instantly under water. A 60’ wave had ripped into the Pink Lady and she folded in two. When he came to the surface John clung to the flashing emergency beacon which was sending an instant signal to RAF Kinloss, where they scrambled the rescue services.
During this horrendous weather their training kicked in and Peter Bray dived under the raging waters twice to recover the life raft and emergency bag with global positioning device. They were 20 minutes in a Force 11 gale before being found by an RAF Nimrod and then picked up by a Scandinavian reefer. The rescue was major news for two days.
John emphasised that they were no fools, all preparations had been thoroughly made and they had received compliments from the Falmouth coastguard. A few days later they flew to Kinross to meet and thank the team that aided their rescue.
John lost his log along with thousands of feet of video, but the pictures he showed us that had been e-mailed back during the journey gave us graphic illustrations of the incredible conditions they endured. He was warmly thanked for giving us all the privilege of sharing in his amazing adventure.
Diane Tulett
Hello to you all once again and I hope you are all well.
At our Christmas meeting we were entertained by Arthur Brown on his accordion, we sang lots of festive songs and carols and had a thoroughly enjoyable evening. The competition was a Homemade Christmas Card 1st Betty Burton 2nd Peggy Dorey. The Christmas raffle was drawn and the first prize was a Christmas hamper, which was won by Peggy Royes.
Seasonal refreshments followed served by the Committee, we all went home feeling very festive.
Our next meeting will be on February 17th when Mr Geoff Lunn will be making a return visit this time to talk about “Wildlife on your doorstep.” The monthly competition will be a photograph of when you were young, so we will try and guess who’s who.
We meet in the Legion Barn on the THIRD Thursday of each month new members are always very welcome.
Sue Taylor
One great friend in the village calls me ‘the mad woman’ and I think
she may well be correct as my challenge for 2005 is to run the London Marathon.
You may well have seen me pounding the local lanes. Five years ago you would have seen me walking with a growing bump. Then the bump became a baby and she, pram and I went for long walks. These continued for two years until her brother was born. I then discovered the freedom and escapism that running provides, and there has been no stopping me since – apart from hills, rain, tiredness etc!
My name is Sarah Anderson–Edward and I am married to Simon. We have a
four and half year old daughter called Tabitha and a twenty-two month old son
called Jamie and have lived in
Elstead for twelve years.
I have always wanted to ‘do’ something with my life and have a challenge. I have been very lucky to have been offered a charity place in this April’s London Marathon to run for CHASE. This is a wonderful local charity caring for life-limited children and their families.
I am asking you all to sponsor me – a little or a lot it is up to you. You can either email your sponsor to www.justgiving.com/sarahelizabeth or call me on 702643. I appreciate that most people have just donated after the terrible events in the Indian Ocean, so please be assured that all money I raise really does go to a very worthwhile cause too.
Thank you very much in advance and I’ll let you all know how it went……
S Anderson-Edward
It was not particularly nice weather the morning we started out for our Christmas lunch and a look around at Avenue Garden Centre, but the brightness and colour of the decorations and lights took us into a different atmosphere. After everyone had given in their personal choice of menu, we all sat down and enjoyed our meal together, after which we had time to look round in the various departments, which were all displayed very artistically, with china toiletries and household, not forgetting of course the various Christmas Plants, Stationary and decorations 'to Deck The Halls' at this festive season. We Joined our coach for the return journey, many with bags and packages of various shapes and sizes, presumably all to be suitably wrapped on arrival at home for relations 'and friends.
Our Christmas Tea showed a number of empty chairs around the tables, which was rather a shame, some members being low because of illness, and also 4 of our guests could not attend. The usual cards and gifts were given to them in appreciation, and Mr Bruce in thanking us, also told us that our donation earlier in the year for the planting, of bulbs in the Fields of Hope in Memory of Cancer loved ones had gone towards the many thousands of bulbs planted. Browne also thanked us for his invitation, and said how much he had enjoyed his visit earlier in the year, and would be quite willing to make another visit if we wished.
We then had a few minutes thinking about change. Not the change you have in your purse or pocket, but the change which comes about in people and attitudes at Christmas Time when celebration of The Nativity means so much to so many, and this of course is the dating of our history calendar B.C. and A.D. Why is it folk become more cheerful, helpful, generous and caring? Something which we sing about in our carols, and is more fundamental than lights, decorations etc! Two stories were told as an example. A Teacher who had never got on well with a pupil, did not do well at lessons, always disobeying, giving her sleepless nights, but had she looked at his little life history a little sooner, she would have seen that his Mother had died when he was very young. Breaking up for the Christmas holiday, gifts were given to her, including one from the little chap, not wrapped in pretty paper like the others, but a brown paper parcel tied up with an old piece of string. She conveyed her thanks and opened it, and found a brooch with many stones missing, and a half used bottle of perfume. She straight away put on the brooch and smelled the scent. He stayed behind after the others had gone, and enquired as to whether she liked the presents. He then said, I am so, pleased you liked them, you remind me of' my Mummy, that was her brooch and her perfume. From that time on the teacher's attitude changed, and in years to come, cared for him in what way she could, attending his University Degree Presentation, and later his Wedding.
A delicious tea was served by the hostess for each table, having been prepared by the ladies in the kitchen previously, cards were given out to each member from the Committee, and friends who had given them in, and an extremely good raffle. Chair was presented with a basket of bulb hyacinths, which was much appreciated, and when the time came to go home, a small gift was taken from our Father Christmas Sack, all of which had been donated by each member bringing one on their arrival.
Ben was kind enough to be in charge of the music for the afternoon, and Peggy worked very hard, although both were guests. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it, and we now look forward to our year ahead, with varying program.
A few days after, I was asked if I had heard the special message put through over the radio from Southern Counties, thanking us for a really nice afternoon. The person telling me about it did not remember the name of the person sending, it, but I straight way jumped to the conclusion that it was Chris Bruce as he had done just this, after coming to talk at our meeting earlier in the year, so it is the second time we have been mentioned on Southern Radio!! EIstead in the News. He seemingly enjoys our food.
F. C. Sheppard
St James Ladies Fellowship.
St James Ladies Fellowship held their Christmas party in December, and the usual good time was had by all. This is always a very pleasant evening, with lots of good food, conversation, and the odd competition to tax our wits, and provoke a bit more laughter!
In 2005, we are changing our venue to the Church Room, and on January 25th. we will be hearing from Myra Hardy about aromatherapy and hydrotherapy. On Feb 22nd, our own Barbara Bartlett will be talking about the important subject of foster care - Someone Else's Children. All meetings are at 2.30 p.m.. We are a very friendly little group who would be delighted to see some new faces in 2005. Just come along, or phone Gill Drew on 702237.
Gillian Drew