Newsletter August 2016

Transcription

1 Newsletter August 2016 Welcoming and active at the heart of the Parish

2 Church Officials Vicar: The Revd. Cathy Helm The Vicarage, Burton CH64 5TJ Curate: Revd. Mark Turner Church Wardens: Mr John Carsley Mrs June Pickard PCC Secretary: Mrs. Alison Allen PCC Treasurer: Mr. George Makin Bell Tower Captain: Mr. Frank Parry Visit our website:-

3 A Message from Our Vicar A poster outside a church read If your day is hemmed with prayer, it is less likely to unravel! People pray for all sorts of reasons and at different times...prayer can be impulsive in an emergency, it can be a set pattern, it can be heartfelt pouring out of emotion, it can be sung, it can be said out loud or uttered in the quietness of our hearts, it can be said together, it can be chanted or whispered, you can pray in church, in the car, in the shower, in a group...prayer needs to be like our mobile phone, we can t live without it! Paul writes in Ephesians 6 for the church there to pray in all occasions with all kinds of requests and prayers...to the Thessalonians...to be joyful always and pray continually and to the Corinthians in 1 Cor. 7...devote yourselves to prayer. The implication is that we need to keep the communication lines open! The pattern Jesus gave us in the Lord s prayer is a good place to start. 1. To praise and thank God for who He is. How often do we start our prayer with what we want and forget to thank him for all the wonderful gifts he has already given to us? 2. To ask for his will to be done...is this the one we find the hardest? Because what if God s will is not what we want? What if God is prompting you to change something in your life you don t want to! 3. To ask, for our needs for the day, both physical and spiritual needs. He really does what to hear about our concerns and what s on our mind.

4 4. To ask his forgiveness for the wrong we have done, for the things we haven t done and should have as we remember how much it cost Him to forgive us. 5. Then we ask for the wisdom and courage to resist temptation, how will we be strong to resist if we re not aware of where our weakness lie. It ll be different for each of us, but God can help us if we ask him too. One of the great joys of my job is praying with and for people, so many times when I ve prayed with people who cannot communicate in any other way...they will still join in with the Lord s prayer. Cathy The weekend of September is National weekend of prayer. You will read about our 400 year old bell later in this newsletter. June made this superb cake in celebration of its birthday. It came complete with rope and the ribbon around it was in the colours of a sally. Not a crumb was left when it was cut at a recent service!

5 Church Services All at 11.30am 1st Sunday (in the month) 2nd Sunday 3rd Sunday 4th Sunday 5th Sunday All age Worship (Family Service) Holy Communion (Book of Common Worship) Morning Prayer (1662 Prayer Book) Holy Communion (1662 Prayer Book) Holy Communion (1662 Prayer Book) Shotwick bell ringers recently won the six bells striking competition of the Wirral Branch of the Chester Diocese Guild of bell ringers. Congratulations to all!

6 What s On Saturday 20th August 2pm Thursday 15 th September 7:30pm Saturday 8 th October 10am - noon Sunday 9 th October 3pm Sunday 13 th November 10:50am Thursday 17 th November 7:30pm Sunday 18 th December 4pm Wednesday 21 st December Repeat visit to Chorlton Hall (now fully subscribed) Talk by John Crane Cato Crane Auctioneers Decorating church for Harvest Harvest Festival with Bishop Peter preaching Remembrance Sunday Lost halls of Wirral. A talk by Gavin Hunter Service of nine lessons and carols Christmas bedtime story Make a note in your diary! Frank and his team are always looking for people to try bell ringing. Practice night is on a Friday at 7pm. Give Frank a ring on for more details.

7 Shotwick Stained Glass The last newsletter reported on the famous stained glass at York Minster. Did you know that Shotwick has some very old and historic stained glass with direct links to York? Not the wonderful East window glass depicting St. Michael, the story of which appeared in the August 2013 Newsletter (Click to view),but the fine 14thC quatrefoil tracery lights showing in the vestry, the West window and the East window Altar Tracery Although the glass dates back for so long, it was not until 1947 that they were re-discovered following restoration of the windows after rain and wind had taken their toll. Sometime in the 19 th C the lights had been protected by sheets of plain glass. In the years that followed, numerous generations of church spiders had found an undisturbed asylum between the sheets, each bringing their own ration of dirt and dust. and in time they had disappeared from view and memory. However, during the repairs, the fragments of old glass were recognised as being of a very rare group representing the angel Gabriel's announcement to the Virgin Mary of the Incarnation and dating to the 14 th C. They were sent to the stained glass works at York Minster for careful restoration and were returned to the church in 1948

8 The vestry tracery with Gabriel standing facing right against a plain red background with a green halo. His wings are yellow streaked with a darker yellow stain.he is clad in a light blue under-robe over which is a long outer garment of amber ornamented with a pellet border: both garments reach to the floor, but do not cover the feet which are bare. He points with his right hand to a scroll held in the other hand on which is written AVE MARIA. The Virgin Mary faces him in the companion light and is similarily dressed while clutching a white glass inn her right hand, while the left holds a small yellow book. Note that both images have no face whatever happened to them is unknown. Tower Tracery

9 Bell Matters Last year we rang the bells in celebration of the Queen becoming our longest serving monach, this tear we rang to celebrate her 90 th birthday. What a remarkable lady she is and I don t think that I exaggerate when I say she is loved and admired by, if not all than at least 99.9% of bellringers As I have just mentioned the Queen is 90 this year, but we have something more personal to celebrate at St. Michael s Shotwick as our tenor bell is 400 years old this year, being cast in 1616 by William Clibury of Wellington, and I quote from the history of Cheshire Bells, and was returned to the church as a fine example of the bellfounders craft with that excellent lettering and ornament which was a feature of Clibury s work The lettering that is referred to above says JESUS BE OUR SPEED The bell weighs 8cwt 3qrs (bells are still weighed using imperial measure) which is not particularly heavy for a tenor bell but the sound is lovely and pure. It has been suggested to me by one of our churchwardens that in honour of the occasion we should give the bell a name what a good idea John! Have any of our readers got any suggestions? Perhaps I should point out that bells are normally referred to as female but that the tenor is always given a male name, so if you have a name that you think would be good for our tenor bell then tell either John Carsley or myself. Come on folks - let s name that bell! On Tuesday 12 th July, Joyce and myself hung new bell ropes on the 1 st and 2 nd bells and this means we have hung new ropes on all the bells in the last 3 or 4 years so that barring accidents, the bell ropes should be good for many years to come.

10 To finish I would like to tell you about a statistic that never ceases to amaze me, the people who should know what they are talking about tell us that church bells being rung well are accurate to 1 16 of a second in their striking. Now when you consider that a person pulling a rope (64 feet at Shotwick) which is attached to a wooden wheel which turns an axle which has a big lump of metal attached to it (i.e. the bell), can be accurate to 1 16 of a second without the aid of modern technology and not a computer in sight, now that is amazing! Frank Harvest Festival This year, the celebration of harvest will take place on Sunday 9 th October at 3pm, when Bishop Peter will be preaching at the service. Our traditional harvest ploughman s supper will be held in Church after the service. We will also have home made produce available and welcome gifts of cakes, chutney jams etc for sale. If possible please use standard 1lb jam jars with screw on lids (available from June) and avoid pricing items so we can set standard prices.

11 Trip to Much Wenlock & Morville On 30 th June a coach load from St Michaels and St Nicholas with friends spent the day at Much Wenlock and Morville. The trip was organised by Susan Costello and Vanessa Stevens. Much Wenlock is a town with no hypermarkets so the small shop prevails. The modern Olympic movement was reinstated after a visit by Pierre de Coubertin in the 1890 s as Much Wenlock already had their own Victorian Olympiad. Brookes and the Modern Olympic Games, and the geology of Wenlock Edge. A short stroll from the town centre are the dramatic ruins of Wenlock Priory ruin, laid upon the site of St. Milburga's Abbey at around 680 AD. The town museum was excellent. Displays tell the story of the town and surrounding area, the links between Dr. William Penny Anne and Geoffrey Parsons in the Priory grounds Katherine Swift is the National Trust tenant and creator of the Dowerhouse Garden, Morville and also the author of the Morville Hours featured on Radio 4. She started the garden from scratch in 1988 and it is in sections that reflect eras in gardening history and hence national history. The themed planting is totally authentic. Foxgloves wander about while yew hedges give a cloister effect. We were let loose in the Dower House garden for an hour.

12 Part of the new flower garden. Katherine spent a summer describing David Austin roses at the nursery in Albrighton. As a consequence her preference for white roses of different shades gave way to colour. The staff as far as we could make out were few. Katherine and one other gardener were full time. The garden is 1.5 acres. Describing the garden in rich prose (Nigel Slater) and maintaining it have evidently been more than a full time occupation. The atmosphere at Morville is a strange combination of homely and very educational. Free press is therefore an area of importance and interest. Jenny Frank and Eunice enjoying the best scones in Shropshire at the Dower House, Morville. Find the recipe elsewhere in this newsletter

13 Pewter Pewter is an attractive metal which has been used for the production of household and other items in Britain since Roman times. It is an alloy consisting mostly of tin which has been mixed with small amounts of other metals such as copper, lead or antimony to harden it and make it more durable. Once the Romans had left in the 5th century little pewter was made here until the craft was reintroduced in the 12th century, probably by Cistercian monks. They used the metal to make chalices, patens and spoons for ceremonial use but the versatility of pewter was soon recognised by the wider community. During the 17th and 18th centuries pewter would have been found in every household. Jugs, plates, buttons, pilgrim badges, tankards, wine cups, inkwells, candlesticks and spoons are just some of the many items for which it was used. Finding this postcard picture on ebay I instantly recognized the alms dishes and the old oak chest which are all in current use, but what of the communion plate? Exploring the depths of the church safe I found all the pewter plate shown plus an old ink well! The flagon was made by Christopher Baldwin ( ) of Wigan (a very important centre of pewter manufacture) and is dated 1685 with an inscription John Hale William Briscoe Churchwardens of the Parish of Shotwick 1685 Interestingly, this is the same inscription that appears on our silver chalice used for holding communion wine and must have been bought at the same time.

14 Perhaps wine was consecrated in the large flagon and then transferred to the silver chalice as needed. The footed dish has the makers mark of one Mark Baldwin and various 17 th C pewter marks and would be used to hold communion bread. The two pewter alms dishes (only one shown on the new photograph) were much later additions and were made by James Dixon & Sons, Sheffield. This company was set up in 1806 when James Dixon and Thomas Smith set up in Silver Street, Sheffield as Dixon & Smith. In 1823 Smith left and Dixon was joined by eldest son William Frederick Dixon creating James Dixon & Son. In 1835 the firm became James Dixon & Sons when James Willis Dixon joined, so our dishes must date after this time. The company went out of business in The inkwell is undocumented in our church schedules and nothing is known about it at the moment, but I am hopeful that further research will add to our knowledge of our pewter heirlooms. John Crane Thursday 15 th September 7:30pm With a life long fascination in the history of Antiques and Fine Arts, John Crane has over 35 years experience in valuing and selling works of art and antiques. John is also a well known television and radio personality and writes for regional, national and specialist publications. On Thursday 15 th September at 7.30pm he will be talking to us in Church about All Things Auctioneering. It is certain to be an interesting evening, so make a date in your diary now! Admission, including refreshments, will be 5.You are welcome to bring items for valuation.

15 The Narrow Boat Outing The weather during the week leading up to the bell ringers outing which was on a narrowboat on the Llangollen canal was awful wind, rain etc. we had it. So it was with some relief to wake up on the Saturday morning and see blue skies followed by sun. We all had to be at Trevor Wharf for 8-45am where our boats were waiting ready for the off at 9 sharp. Di had organised the trip for the bell ringers of Shotwick and Pulford and whoever else wished to come. We had three narrow boats with ten people in each, every one with a skipper and skipper s mate who both went through the itinerary with the gentleman from the boat yard who was very good. Then it was cast off and set sail. We were really blessed; everywhere was so lush and green due to the awful weather before us but we had the sun and what a glorious day it was with wall to wall sunshine. Everyone had brought their own picnic plus June had done some home baking so we all had her delicious cakes, along with a plentiful supply of tea and coffee and whatever else took your fancy. Lunch time we moored up at the pub in Chirk where it was lovely to sit outside and watch the world go by. The scenery and wildlife was stunning with lots of opportunities to take good photographs. Skipper John was excellent as he kept us on course, Frank, tower captain of Shotwick bells, came and had a go (I will leave you to imagine the comments such as more used to pulling a bell then guiding a boat etc). All good fun and lots of banter. We arrived back at Trevor with the boats still intact where they were handed back to the nice gentleman who ran the yard. A really lovely day very very enjoyable. Thanks Di we await next year, Joyce

16 Poppies & Remembrance Sunday We would like to create a display of knitted poppies for Remembrance Sunday on Sunday, the 13 th November. If you would like to volunteer to knit one (or more) please see the pattern below: Body of Poppy (use double knitting wool and around size 3 1/4 (10) needles) Using Red, cast on 120 stitches. Rows 1-4 Knit Row 5 Knit 3 stitches together across the row (40 stitches) Rows 6-9 Knit Row 10 Knit 2 stitches together across the row(20 stitches) Rows Knit Row 15 Knit 2 stitches together across the row (10 stitches) Cut yarn leaving a tail of about 20cm Thread tail through yarn needle and slip all the remaining live stitches onto the yarn tail and pull tight. Pull around into a circle and then mattress stitch (or use whatever stitching you normally use) to seam for an invisible seam. Sew in ends. Centre of Poppy Using Black, cast on 16 sts. Cast off. Coil into a tight spiral and sew base to the centre. Or use a black or green button with 4 holes and sew to centre of poppy.

17 Other patterns are available on the internet if you prefer to crochet. If you want help with your poppies then give June a call. Recipe for A Dozen Morville Scones 1 lb plain flour 2 teaspoons bicarbonate of soda 4 teaspoons cream of tartar 2 teaspoons sugar 4 oz soft margarine A scant half pint of milk Sultanas if liked Sift flour with bicarbonate and cream of tartar. Add sugar and cut in margarine with a steel blending knife. Add a few sultanas and milk. A dry mix will provide scones easier to cut. A wet mix will cause scones to bubble up delightfully in the over. Cook 425 deg F or 220 deg C for 10 minutes

18 Website Updates If you haven t visited our website for a while, there are a couple of enhancements you may have missed. Run your mouse over the archive newsletter month field and a dropdown box will appear showing the newsletter contents. A search facility has also been added just enter a search term in the box. Note that '*' and '?' wildcards are supported. A list of hits is then displayed that you can click on for more information. upgrade it to allow fuller searches. Note that not everything is yet indexed particularly the later newsletters. We are currently using a free version of the search software which has some limitations in it. If the facility proves useful we may

19 Burton Fete Once again we were represented at Burton Fete in June. Our many thanks to all those who helped on the day and to those who made cakes and produce for sale. We managed to raise around 400 at the event an excellent result for all your hard work. Our decorated stall at Burton Fete

20 Building Update In the February newsletter, we reported the findings of the Diocesan Architect who had recently completed his 5 yearly inspection of the Church. As a result of his report the PCC prioritised a number of items for remedial action this year. You may now notice that the gutters and downspouts have had all the surface rust removed, the insides of the gutters treated with red lead paint, and the external metal work painted with black gloss. In addition the doors and gutters of the toilet/boilerhouse have been similarly painted, while the doors of the Church have been treated with linseed oil. You will also be pleased to know that the Portaloo in the toilet has now been replaced with a proper flushing porcelain item, connected to the village sewage system. Our stonemason has recently visited the Church and identified many areas where repointing is necessary to prevent ingress of water into the Church and damaging the interior. His recommendations are in line with the architect s report. We are currently awaiting his estimate of costs and subject to PCC approval hope to undertake this work soon. The specialised lime mortar used for pointing will not set if the temperature is too low and we must either complete the work by October or delay it until spring. Work on converting the rear vestry to a kitchenette with a stove, refrigerator, sink and storage shelving is awaiting final approval from the Diocese. This should be given by the end of the month.