Sunday Car Parking Charges

Transcription

1 Number 99 Spring 2009 Inside Holiness + Risk Nakba Gaza 2009 Remembering St Brigid LASSN Mission Staff (Superintendent Minister) Telephone: The Revd Pat Creamer (Sector Minister) Telephone: The Revd Philip Bee (Sector Minister) Telephone: Deacon Ruth Hinch Telephone: Mr Trevor Parker (Mission Administrator) Telephone: Chair of the District The Revd Dr Elizabeth Smith Telephone: Circuit Stewards Dr David Waller Telephone: Mrs Gwen Pridmore Telephone: Local Preachers 1980 Deacon Ruth Hinch 1984 Mr R K Lolley 1986 Mrs P Goacher 1991 Mrs E Waller 1994 Ms J Aitchison Local Preacher on Trial Miss Hannah Goacher Leeds City Council is considering charging for city centre car parking on Sundays. This would cover pay-and-display on-street parking (such as we have outside the Oxford Place Centre) and those car parks run by the Council which are at present free on Sundays. The privately owned car parks already make a charge on Sundays. The Council has made it clear that retailers will be consulted and report that many are in favour. However, we heard at the March meeting of the Leeds City centre Churches Group (LCCCG) that there have been objections from at least one retail group. The argument for charging is that it reduces the length of stay allowing more people the opportunity to park and shop. The argument against suggests that shoppers will go elsewhere such as out-of-town retail parks like the White Rose Centre. Coventry Sunday Car Parking Charges Traders in Coventry fear a 50 per cent hike in Sunday car parking charges could accelerate a steady decline in end-of-week shoppers to the city centre. Andy Talbot, chairman of the city centre Business Improvement District, who speaks for more than 300 shop owners, said the number of Sunday shoppers had already tumbled since a 1 charge was introduced in summer Leamington Coventry Telegraph 20 Feb 2009 Sunday shoppers in Leamington town centre will soon have fewer places to park for free. Leamington Spa Courier 16 March 2009 Where do the churches stand? This question was asked at the LCCCG meeting. The group thought that we (the Christian churches) should not get involved in the debate about shoppers. There is a strong feeling that allowing shops to open on Sunday has made Sunday much like any other day of the week, and that removal of free parking would be another step in the same direction. However, the main concern is the effect that charging might have on those of our people who drive to church in the city centre. Would some people not come? Would some find that public transport was cheaper but less convenient? There are indications that the charges would not be as high as during the week, but if they are not sufficiently high might the desired effects not occur. One suggestion that has been made in some quarters is that there might be some free parking but limited to, say, two hours with no return with in one hour. This might allow (Continued on page 4)

2 In the middle of February I joined the Chair of District and two other members of the District at Swanwick for a Connexional event entitled Holiness and Risk. It was a gathering of people from around the church, led by the Revd Dr Martyn Atkins, the General Secretary of the Methodist Church. Through conversations, presentations and workshops, we considered the nature of the church and our place in the world today. The challenge that came to me from the weekend is the call for us to regain our confidence in what we have to offer, to find our voice to tell the Gospel story, to become authentic as Christian people present in the world. We met recently with senior officers from West Yorkshire and British Transport Police forces and of Leeds City Council in order to talk about the Street Chaplains project in Leeds City Centre. At one point it was asked whether the street chaplains pray with people on the streets. Our reaction was to be reticent and hesitant in claiming this part of our work. The questioner affirmed that it would be good for us to do so before we had the confidence to state that this was indeed part of our mission! Chris Elliott, one of our Connexional Secretaries, will shortly be attending the United Nations as part of a delegation of NGOs and churches. The churches have received a plea from the United Nations to be church and not to get lost amidst the wider grouping of NGOs. It is recognised there that is distinctiveness to being church that is not present in the broader world of charitable and non-governmental organisations. The challenge, then, is to regain confidence in who we are and what we have to offer. There have been times in Christian history when the characteristic of mission has been going and at other times the characteristic has been coming. We have had periods in the lives of our churches where we have consciously gone out in mission, reaching out to people and places where the Gospel message has not yet been heard. These missionary endeavours have encompassed the expansion of Christianity through the world in the work of overseas missions, as well as in those times of expansion and outreach to the non-believer at home. At other times in our history the church has been satisfied with a mission of being present and available for people to find their own way to it. There has been an approach which could be caricatured in saying We are here come to us! come to us and we will marry you, baptize your babies and bury your dead and we won t worry too much if we don t see you inbetween these events! However, I think now that the church must find a way to combine the coming and the going of mission in a new way we need both in juxtaposition and in harmony. We need both the outreach of evangelistic discipleship going beyond the boundaries of the Christian communities and the invitational presence of the stable Christian community. It might well be that we need to distinguish different communities as having different roles in this overall challenge and, therefore, to offer the possibilities of varying resources being available. Maybe we need to identify the centres of missional outreach and the places of invitational presence and resource them differently. This is, of course, a broad brushstroke of a comment and it is quite possible that some places will succeed in being centres of both missional outreach and invitational presence. I think that in finding this new confidence, in recognising the call to missional outreach and invitational presence, the church is also called to tell the story of itself differently to itself and to others. For a while now the story has been dominated by decay and decline and we have come to believe the story and the story has come to be the dominant truth. We need to tell a different story both to ourselves and to the world. We need to tell of our confidence, we need to tell our good-news stories, we need to tell of the places of growth and development and we need to keep telling those stories until they become the common story and the perceived truth. So, what I bring from the weekend is... The challenge to new confidence in who we are and what we have to offer. The call to recognise missional outreach and invitational presence as both being authentic expressions of church. The demand for us to tell the new story of life and growth and to keep telling it until it becomes the dominant story. Deadline for the Summer issue is 14th June This will be the 100th issue! 2 Life and Work 99

3 Good Friday Witness This year the ecumenical Good Friday Witness organised by the Leeds City Centre Churches Group will take place at the junction of Albion Street and Bond Street/Commercial Street Boots Corner. It will start at and be preceded by a procession from Holy Trinity Church in Boar Lane which will set off shortly beforehand. Church Anniversary Sunday 3rd May am Preacher Deacon Sue Culver Warden of the Methodist Diaconal Order Visiting worship leader Ms Morag Walder who is chair of the Connexional Local Preachers Committee will be with us on Local Preachers Sunday (19th April). Morag is a health visitor in Rotherham and is a trustee of LWPT (Leaders of Worship and Preachers Trust). Visit from Brno During the weekend 19th 21st June we will be welcoming Jana Křížová, her son Miky and four other members of the United Methodist Church in Brno (Czech Republic). Jana will help lead worship on Sunday morning and in Time to Talk in the evening. More information will be available nearer the time. Street Chaplains The Leeds Churches Street Chaplains have been out in the centre of Leeds on four Friday nights in February and March. The number of volunteers has increase to over forty and there is a distinct possibility that enough teams can be formed to go out almost every Friday. A meeting at which all the volunteers can come together and at which others who are interested can hear about the Street Chaplains experiences will take place in the near future. Look out for more information. On this page we usually have a feature in which we list items marking events in the lives of Our Church Family and Friends. Births, marriages and deaths are recorded along with special birthdays, baptisms, comings and goings, and so on. This information is carefully collected by Jean Whewell. However during the last quarter nothing has occurred that merits inclusion. This has never happened before so instead we have a picture of the crocuses and daffodils that are brightening up Woodhouse Moor at the moment. Leslie Hodson who hasn t been able to attend worship for some months always, at this time of the year, made a point in Sharing Time of giving thanks for the crocuses on Woodhouse Moor. Life and Work 99 3

4 churchgoers to attend a worship service but would inhibit churches having events that required a stay of longer than an hour or so. Around the country, as you will see in the adjacent panels, charging for Sunday parking has been an issue for some time and continues. There are indications from a small number of council documents from various authorities that some councils see this as a money-raising operation rather than traffic management In Leeds, the Anglican churches have already written to the council expressing the view that Sunday parking charges should not be introduced because of the difficulties it will cause their congregations. LCCCG is sending a similar letter on behalf of all Leeds city centre churches. In addition to these letters we are all urged to write to our local councillors expressing our concern at the proposals. It is suggested that you make your letter short and do not offer alternatives that the council might consider. You can back up your objection with the information as to how it might affect you personally. The more individual letters that the councillors receive the more likely they are to take action. Ken Tait Contact information for all councillors can be found at (select Council and Democracy and then Find your Councillor) or ask me. East Hampshire Sunday parking could be free in some Petersfield car parks after East Hampshire District Council reviews its charging scheme East Hampshire District Council has overhauled its Sunday car park charges to make them fairer for church-goers, recreational users and residents with no off-street parking. Salisbury Petersfield Post 13 January 2009 In July 2006 Salisbury District Council introduced charges in their car parks on Sundays. The on-street pay and display bays remained free of charge. In order to ensure that Sunday charging is applied consistently across the board, Wiltshire County Council has agreed to extend the hours of operation of the on-street pay and display bays to cover 10 am to 4 pm on Sundays. Salisbury District Council 10 February 2007 Salisbury District Council (SDC) Cabinet proposes to reduce car park charges in Salisbury on Sundays.... SDC only recently introduced these charges, Derby Salisbury District Council 10 December 2008 Derby City Council is suggesting introducing Sunday charges at several car parks, where people can currently park for free. It will also affect churches whose congregations use street parking meters, which will also introduce Sunday charges. Aylesbury Derby Evening Telegraph 22 October 2008 PLANS to raise 50,000 by way of a flat-rate Sunday parking charge h a v e m e t w i t h s t e r n opposition...parking in the town centre is currently free on Sundays The proposals stem from [the] belief that Sunday is now effectively a normal trading day and its fear that consumers are deliberately moving their shopping day to Sunday to exploit free parking. Plymouth The Bucks Herald 3 October 2007 Penny-pinching council chiefs have been slammed for scrapping free Sunday morning parking for churchgoers - because it discriminates against other religions. Every week around 1,000 people take advantage of free car parking in Plymouth city centre to use one of two main Christian churches. The council has allowed free parking until noon since parking charges on Sundays were first introduced in so congregations can park for free and walk to church. The little one In 1992, as part of my pastoral work at the Universities of Leeds Chaplaincy, I was called to a flat in Ellerslie Hall. There I found a very small young Sri Lankan girl who was very distressed. She had been born into a strict Buddhist family, but her later education had been in a Roman Catholic school and college in Lancashire where she followed her Christian faith against the wishes of her family. Throughout her three years studying medical microbiology and during the subsequent MSc she feared that her uncles would arrange her return to Sri Lanka. Later, when she was living in the Mary Morris International Residence in Headingley, I visited her regularly. She told me that her father would allow her to continue with her MSc provided that she agreed to an arranged marriage with V. This put her under great stress but she wanted to give her life to Christ through medical work so she agreed to the marriage. When she completed her masters degree the University of Liverpool offered her a place to study for a doctorate. She married V in Colombo in Sri Lanka. Divorce and illness followed. In 2003 I lost contact with her. Eventually I received a letter from Thailand where she had been taken in by the Little Sisters of the Poor and was being cared for in their convent. She wanted to be a nun but did not feel strong enough to join the Missionaries of Charity founded by Mother Teresa. Since then she has moved to Adelaide in Australia. She is now in the second year of formation with the Sisters of the Lamb. I remember the little one as she followed the Cross on Good Friday in Leeds with a group from Oxford Place, and as one who continues in witnessing and prayer. Mavis Freeman 4 Life and Work 99

5 LASSN LEEDS ASYLUM SEEKERS' SUPPORT NETWORK Our Charity of the Year raised by end of February This last quarter a number of events have taken place in the city which have reminded us about the issues faced by Asylum Seekers. Voices from the Edge at the Carriageworks in January was a presentation of stories about people living on the edge, commissioned for Poverty and Homelessness Action week. Amongst many stories, we heard about a French speaking family from the Democratic Republic of Congo who were in jail, and with the help of a Catholic priest were able to flee to Britain and eventually claim asylum because one member was a dependent under 18 years of age. However, when she turned 18 and became separated from the family unit all were harassed and their status was became uncertain again. The event was well attended and introduced by the Liberal Democrat Leader of the City Council Councillor Richard Brett. A play (and a book) and a film At the Playhouse in February the play The Hounding of David Oluwale (based on the Book by Kester Aspen) told the true story of a Leeds Asylum Seeker from Nigeria who in 1969 was found murdered in the city following a period of persecution and prejudice. The film, The Visitor (Bradford, January) told the story of a US university professor who visits his New York apartment occupied by two asylum seekers from Senegal and Syria. The group connect sharing common interests until the Syrian man is arrested on the subway and taken in to custody as an illegal immigrant. He is moved out of New York and soon deported to Syria despite the fact that he has not been there for over 10 years and came to the US as a child. The mother also turns up in New York but cannot visit the son but connects with the professor and then too has to return to Syria to be with her deported son. A very moving movie! New minister at Blenheim Baptist Revd David Humphries was minister at Scapegoat Hill Baptist Church in Golcar, Huddersfield and Baptist chaplain to the town s university. As well as being the minister at Blenheim, David will join the chaplaincy team for the two universities. Through his experience as an NHS Health Visitor in former coal mining communities he gained insight into the realities of deprivation and has also worked on a number of medical teams overseas developing community health programmes. He is also a JP, chair of City of Welcome, City of Sanctuary The Yorkshire Evening Post reminded us that Leeds is a City of Welcome with more than 130 nationalities. The Council is seeking to encourage a sense of belonging in the community, to improve communication and information, to break down tensions within communities and publish a Cohesion and Integration Priorities Plan to put these issues at the heart of council decision-making. As part of the research efforts to promote Leeds as a City of Sanctuary I wrote to Richard Brett who is my local councillor. The discussions around this matter are ongoing and it is an aspiration of the Council to be a part of this and encourage organisations and companies to take this on board in a similar way that the Fair Trade city initiative did. The Refugee Council is taking this initiative forward. Our fund raising this quarter includes Kath Harwood s Lent fast and concert; the collection in March; and A mug of money, cups for small change. Paul Berry school governors and chair of trustees for a local charity. A new church is under construction as part of Broadcasting Place, the new development by Leeds Metropolitan University on the site recently occupied by the BBC. The new building is expected to be completed in the summer and fully operational by November. Life and Work 99 5

6 Nakba Gaza 2009 The Sabeel Conference that took place in Galilee last November focused on the continuing Nakba (Catastrophe) for Palestinians that began in Little did any of us at that conference foresee the brutal attack, from both air and invading ground forces, that hit the already desperate people of Gaza on 27th December, and continued day and night for 22 terrifying days, killing 1400 people and injuring thousands more. Few western leaders had any conception of the desperate plight of the 1.5 million trapped in this narrow strip of land separated from the rest of the West Bank, a plight they have endured not only in recent moths but for years before. Eighty per cent of those in Gaza are refugees from other parts of Palestine, from the 1948 and 1967 wars. Most of them live in either overcrowded refugee camps or the squalid closely packed concrete houses of Gaza City. Gaza has been one huge open-air prison for years. There is no port for the import and export of goods. In 1989 I visited the brand new international airport in Gaza. Within months it was totally destroyed by Israeli bombs, killing Palestinian hopes of freedom of movement of both people and goods, and of independence from the occupying forces. There are only two checkpoints: one into Israel in the north, the other into Egypt in the south. Both are ruthlessly controlled. Since Hamas, the democratically elected government, came to power in 2006, there has been a virtual close-down and sealing-off of Gaza. This has resulted in long term shortages of food, water, fuel and medical supplies. Many factories have had to close because vital raw materials and components were not allowed in. The people owe their survival to the hundreds of tunnels leading into Gaza. These have become major lifelines A woman sits with her child on the rubble of her destroyed home. [Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa courtesy of for essential supplies to Gaza. They were extensively destroyed in January. As part of my Lenten fasting I hope to send 250 to Gaza through the Culture and Free Thought Association (CFTA). CFTA is a Christian Aid project which carries out psycho-social work, particularly with children who have lived through deeply traumatic events during the conflict. From other events I have given another 350 and the Leeds District Network has sent me a cheque for 1000 to be channelled into this project. Many thanks to all who have donated. There is still time to contribute as the money from those who sponsored my fast will not be collected until Easter. What are the chances of raising the overall total to 2000? Kath Harwood Liz Our District Chair writes... Each month the Chair sends out a letter for publication in church magazines. As Life and Work appears quarterly, then it maybe some time before the Chair s letters appear on this page. Occasionally we will omit a letter that, in the Editor s judgement, seems out of date. Remembering St Brigid The first day of February is St Brigid s Day. It is also the day of Imbolc, the Celtic season that marks the coming of light after the dark days of winter, and the start of the lambing season. All this is notably earlier than our customary celebration of Spring at the time of the equinox in March. The Celtic calendar was clearly attuned to marking the very earliest glimpses of light and new life, rather than awaiting a host of golden daffodils! St Brigid, who began life as a child in a poor family close to the land, continues to be remembered as one who churned the milk, made butter, and shared it with strangers. Later in her life she founded a large monastery in Kildare, where her commitment to hospitality meant that a fire was always burning to welcome the stranger. It has been said of Brigid that she raised hospitality to a divine art. The hospitality that Brigid cultivated was not only about the provision of physical food and shelter, but a commitment to what we might call a hospitality of the soul the showing of mercy to all in need. She is also remembered for the simple St Brigid s cross, which she is said to have made from rush-matting, as a gift for a pagan Druid whom she nursed back to health. There is much in the story of St Brigid to continue to inspire us today. We are reminded that as Christians we always seek the coming of light into dark places; that we are entrusted with guarding the flame of welcome and hospitality, of compassion and grace, for all who are in need. In these straightened economic times, we are 6 Life and Work 99

7 reminded by Brigid s story that mercy and hospitality do not require immense wealth, but simply a kindly and generous heart. We are also reminded that in our engagement with others there can be real gift in sharing the simplest of resources that are at hand bread from the oven, a warming drink, a make-shift cross. The span of 1500 years and the very different worlds of early Irish Christianity and twenty-first century Yorkshire seem of little consequence. May we continue to be mindful of the blessing of Imbolc and St Brigid and be willing to offer them generously to others. O to be in England, now that April s there! April is the cruellest month The sentiments expressed in each of these lines of poetry in all their contradiction speak to us of the breadth of human emotion associated with Passiontide and Easter. We make the journey from the appalling cruelty and suffering of Good Friday through to the daffodils and primroses and resurrection of Easter Day, amidst all kinds of external and internal contradictions. I suspect the authors of each of these lines of poetry were influenced as much by their own internal landscapes as by the external calendar month. The first may conjure images of daffodils and greening trees, but it also conveys the longing of the deep heart s core, to quote another poet. The longing for life and for homecoming and for delight and possibility and promise are all encapsulated in those few words. Eliot s judgement as to the cruelty of the month of April, is also I suspect a betrayal of his inner emotions in lines that speak of loss and bleakness and desolation. They evoke for us the feel of a bitter wind blowing across an apparently kindly landscape: the cruelty all the more bleak because it contradicts expected warmth and gentleness. We will each make the journey through Passiontide and Easter from the uniqueness of our own internal landscape and current experience of life. For some, the pain and grief of Good Friday will resonate powerfully with our own raw emotions of loss and even despair. For others, the joy and elation of Easter morning will echo our own desire to celebrate, dance and sing. For many of us either one of these will be touched with hints of the other. For all of us, may we know in this month of April the presence of God s love holding and accompanying us through all of life s contradictions, and may our experience of Easter be more than a chocolate-coated holiday. A note from the Editor The entries under Weekdays and Looking forward on the back page have, in the past, been based on entries in the Church Diary. This book which is kept in the administrator s office has increasingly become a diary of room bookings, giving details of events which may be of little direct interest to readers of Life and Work. In this issue we have restricted entries under Weekdays to events at Oxford Place related to the life of Leeds Methodist Mission. Looking forward has been replaced by a panel giving Other dates. These are either of wider interest or sufficiently far in the future that only the date need be given as more detailed information (if appropriate) will be available later. Not all information that might sensibly be printed in Weekdays and Other dates will inevitably come my way. If you know of an event or happening that you feel could be usefully published then I would be pleased to be told about it. You can use any of the ways of contacting me that are given on the back page. It may be necessary in the light of what is received to consider further changes to the back page. We are also interested in receiving short articles about past events, views and opinions, and news of all kinds that is linked to the Life and Work of the Leeds Methodist Mission, the Methodist Church at Oxford Place. Ken Tait, Editor Life and Work 99 7

8 April May June 5 Palm Sunday Deacon Ruth Hinch 12 Easter Day Holy Communion Mrs Liz Waller 6.30 Reflective Service 19 Local Preachers Sunday Mrs Pat Goacher Ms Morag Walder 26 Easter Mr Rob Lolley Sundays 3 Church Anniversary Deacon Sue Culver 10 Easter Holy Communion Deacon Ruth Hinch 6.30 Reflective Service 17 Easter Mr Rob Lolley 6.30 Time to Talk 24 Easter Deacon Ruth Hinch 31 Pentecost Mrs Pat Goacher 7 Trinity Sunday Holy Communion Mr Rob Lolley 14 MHA Sunday Mrs Pat Goacher 6.30 Reflective Service 21 Refugee Sunday The Revd Jana Křížová 6.30 Time to Talk The Revd Jana Křížová The Revd Philip Bee The Sunday Service is for all ages. Except during school holidays the Junior Church go to their own session for part of the time. Tea and Coffee are served after the service. Time to Talk is an informal worship service in the Lounge Café. Weekdays Other Dates April See separate panel for Easter services pm Lent Group Redemption & Restitution: Then and Now Lounge Café Closed 18 Singing is Fun am Resourcing Ministry An Ecumenical Event pm Oxford Place Management Committee pm Pastoral Committee May am Resourcing Ministry An Ecumenical Event 9 District Spring Synod Richmond Hill Circuit June pm Harwood Singers pm Leeds Festival Youth Choir Concert All meetings at Oxford Place unless otherwise stated. April 7 World Health Day 19 National Volunteers Week May 2 Concord (Leeds Interfaith Fellowship) Walk of Friendship 10 Christian Aid Week June 1 National Recycle Week 4 World Week for Peace in Israel and Palestine 5 World Health Day September 6 Vice President of Conference David Walton, at Oxford Place October 2 Sisters in Harmony Weekday Worship at Oxford Place Wednesday 12.30pm Service of Holy Communion Easter at Oxford Place 9th April 7.30pm Maundy Thursday Holy Communion 10th April 12.45pm Ecumenical Good Friday Witness (more on page 3) 2.15pm Good Friday Worship 12th April Easter Day 8.00am Holy Communion 10.30am Holy Communion 6.30pm Reflective Service LIFE AND WORK of the Oxford Place Methodist Centre is published quarterly: Winter (January), Spring (April), Summer (July) and Autumn (October) by Leeds Methodist Mission. Correspondence and contributions should be addressed to: The Editor, Life and Work, Oxford Place Methodist Centre, Oxford Place, Leeds LS1 3AX. Telephone: (0113) (office hours) or may be sent by to kenneth.tait@btinternet.com (Text attachments are preferred in plain text, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Publisher, RTF, or Open Document format. Images and pictures can be accepted in most formats.) Please visit our web site at