GETTING READY FOR OUR GOLDEN JUBILEE

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1 THE MESSENGER The Monthly Newsletter of St Michael s, Plas Newton, Chester 50p Issue No: 259 GETTING READY FOR OUR GOLDEN JUBILEE An interesting programme of events has been worked up by the Jubilee Working Group and PCC. Saturday 17 th (Church Hall) from 2pm to 6.30pm - Exhibition of photos and memorabilia Memories : Open Mic time at 3.30pm Children s activity : upstairs from 4.00pm Golden Tea party : at 4.30pm Celebration in song with the Deo Gratias choir : at 6.00pm Sunday 18 th (Church) Morning worship (preacher Andy Bull) : at 10.00am Community Hog Roast on the front lawn: at 12.30pm (inside if wet) Evening worship (preacher Ian Hobbs): at 6.30pm October 2015 Plans for the weekend of 17 th and 18 th October Plus- Mini exhibition in Kings Way Café all week Jubilee Photo Directory History booklet Fifty Golden Years Welcome to all, past and present. Come and invite your friends. Confidence in Jesus Invitation for everyone Give thanks to the Lord for he is good: his love endures for ever! (Psalms 106, 107, 118 & 136)

2 Dear Friends It might be getting colder, and the nights are drawing in, but OCTOBER at St. Michael s is FULL of events and celebrations. It s almost TOO much to bear in one month, but let me try and whet your appetite. THE VICAR WRITES We give God thanks for the Harvest on 4 October. This is a very old event in England, with lots of contemporary applications and challenges. We will gather for All Age Worship at 10am when our speaker will be Martin Jones. It will be a great opportunity to bring a friend, and refreshments will be served after the service as usual. In the evening at 6.30pm, we will be involving different members of the congregation in a Harvest Songs of Praise service. Again, it will be relaxed and informal, a good opportunity to invite someone to come with you and the goodness of God will be proclaimed faithfully and clearly. On Sunday, 11 October, at 6.30pm we worship the living Lord using the words of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, with traditional hymns played on the organ by our friend, Dennis Jones. Our guest speaker is Fane Conant, who was formerly Vicar of Kelsall. Fane is a gifted evangelist, but he also has an intriguing link to the Book of Common Prayer through a relative from centuries ago! Edward Reynolds was the Bishop of Norwich from 1660 (two years before the Prayer Book was written) until he died in 1676, and his daughter married a Conant. They were Fane s grandparents 8 generations ago. As well as being a Bishop, he was made chaplain to Charles II. His contribution to the Book of Common Prayer is The General Thanksgiving which you can find just before the Collects, Epistles and Gospels. Over the weekend of 17 and 18 October, we are celebrating 50 years of life and ministry at St. Michael s with a full programme of events and special services. These are set out in full in another part of the magazine, but on the Sunday morning, we welcome Andy Bull, Vicar of Bredbury, who grew up here at St. Michael s some years ago. The same evening, we welcome Ian Hobbs as our guest preacher. He was curate in charge at St Michael s from 1980 to Finally, on the evening of 25 October, we are delighted to welcome Bishop Keith to St. Michael s. He will encourage us and challenge us as we face the next 50 years. October also sees the return of one of our Mission Partners, Iris Ho. Iris arrives home on 19 October and will be living in Vicars Cross. It is more than three years since Iris left us, and it will be good to see her and learn more of her language progress and plans for the future. A busy month, then! Busyness of course, is not the same as fruitfulness. But if we celebrate with our focus on the Lord of the Church, we will be encouraged and challenged afresh as we recall all that God has done, continues to do, and calls us to do in the future here at St Michael s. Rob

3 MY LIFE AND MY FAITH Margaret s Journey from Heald Green to Plas Newton This month s My Life and my Faith features Margaret Barker, who grew up in what is now South Manchester but was then leafy Cheshire. Margaret Goulding, daughter of Arthur and Ada lived in Heald Green (just down the road from this writer!) and life centred around St Catherine s Church, the church she was eventually to be married in. This cheerful little girl really enjoyed her school, Etchells Primary, Cheadle and continued to enjoy her education at secondary school with Geography being her particular love. At the age of fifteen, Margaret left school and moved into the world of finance. Her first job was in the actuarial department of the Refuge Assurance office in Manchester. Six years later she moved to the accounts department of Reynolds Chains where she worked on the latest electronic accounting machines, forerunners of the early computers. In her early twenties, Margaret met John who lived not too far away in Knutsford. Friendship grew into affection, then love and marriage. Their faith was very important to them and they worshipped regularly at each other s churches. They married on February 7 th in 1959 at Margaret s church. They lived briefly in Knutsford but John s work soon brought them to Plas Newton Lane and they have lived in the same house ever since, some 56 years. In the first years they worshipped at Hoole but as soon as a congregation started meeting at Plas Newton they joined in. They attended the opening and dedication of the new Church Hall in 1965 and have worshipped there ever since. They would say that the friendships they made then have proved to be lifelong a gift from God. Worship is at the centre of their life and will remain there for ever. Soon the family grew as Alison came along in 1966 and Paul rapidly followed in As a family they loved to get away for holidays. They really enjoyed being under canvas at the church camps and for main holidays staying in cottages in or around the Lleyn Peninsula which is still their favourite area. When the children were old enough to go to school, Margaret started working at Woodfield Infant School (sadly now gone) as a mid-day assistant with the reception children. She also got involved with school trips, residential visits and other activities. She stayed there for 30 years and retired when 67. However the school couldn t cope without her and they talked her into returning for another three years! To close, a few words from the lady herself- My faith is central to my life and the close friendship of the Church family has carried me through all the good times and the difficult times, in particular, when John had recent medical problems. The certainty that God has made a place for us with Him ensures I can carry on from day to day, living in Him. Garry Scargill

4 TWO WORLD FIRSTS An unusual book launch at St Michael s Ken Lewis and his co-author Trevor Dennis held a launch of their book The Circle of Peace in St Michael s in early September before a full house. Many people came from our own church as well as many local churches, including the Cathedral where Trevor Dennis had been a Residentary Canon for many years. The book appears to be unique in that a practising Cognitive Behavioural Therapist and a Theologian have co-written a book on this important subject in the field of mental health. This was the first First. Ken and Trevor explained how the book had found its origins in a fortuitous discussion whilst they were together on a church visit to Russia back in They went on to illustrate the thrust of the book in a stimulating and entertaining presentation, involving Ken expanding on the acrostic P-E-A-C-E, and Trevor applying Peace to a personal story. There followed a dramatic presentation entitled Re-Dressed (by Les Ellison and very movingly acted by him and Julie). This was the second First. The programme also contained some brilliant live input from an ad hoc jazz band of local home musicians The Depression Session, whose vigorous input included foot-tapping versions of What a friend we have in Jesus and Amazing Grace. This memorable evening began with the Town Crier, and ended with a signing session as book purchasers fittingly sought to have their copies autographed. THE CIRCLE OF PEACE : AN ANTIDOTE TO DISTRESS A résumé of the book Many of us go into each new day with a vague sense of apprehension. Worry, depression, low self-esteem or a sense of hopelessness prevent our lives being all they could be. How, we wonder, may we move into the freedom and peace that Christ holds out to us? This reassuring book, full of engaging stories, has been written by a chartered psychologist and a priest with a distinguished teaching and pastoral ministry. Through practical exercises, The Circle of Peace enables us to understand where the discomfort we feel may originate; it encourages us to alleviate our pain by being courageous enough to experiment with small but beneficial changes. Above all, this compassionate book communicates the healing truth that encountering the love of God frees us to love our neighbours and ourselves as we should in the full enjoyment of God s exhilarating company. [Published by SPCK: 2015 (ISBN ) 10.99]

5 A HIGHLY RECOMMENDED CHESTER BIBLE FOCUS Rob Peters specially recommends* the next speaker Can I commend to you two Chester Bible Focus evenings on 6 and 7 October (7.30pm at All Saints, Hoole), when the speaker, Wallace Benn, will address issues of Church Leadership from Acts 20 and Hebrews 13? In one of his books, Wallace addresses critical questions for any church today; What kind of leaders does our Lord and Master want in His church? His priorities should be ours, not the latest fashion, or old tradition, or the pressing expectations of 21 st century people. Wallace was Ordained in Chester Cathedral in 1972 and served as Curate at St. Mark s, New Ferry and St. Mary s, Cheadle before becoming Vicar of Audley, near Stoke and Harold Wood in Essex. He was made Bishop of Lewes in the Diocese of Chichester in 1997 and served there until his recent retirement. He is President of the Church of England Evangelical Council, and founding Chairman of the Bible by the Beach Convention in Sussex. He is a well-known and enthusiastic Bible teacher, and is involved in events like Chester Bible Focus on a regular basis. His research interests include the work of the 17 th century Bishop Usher. Wallace is married to Lindsay and they have two children and one grandchild. Outside Bible teaching, Wallace enjoys supporting the Ireland Rugby Union team and watching motor racing. He will lead four sessions about Church Leadership from Acts 20 and Hebrews 13. Good leaders are vital in a church in danger of drifting. But what sort of leaders should they be? And what sort of church leadership actually builds the church? Everyone is warmly invited to come and benefit from what will be two challenging and encouraging evenings. *Rob says, And I can vouch for Wally (as he is familiarly known): he was my best man when Esther and I were married at St Mark s, New Ferry in YEAR MEMORIES As a young couple with no children, the Blackmores arrived in Kingsway West in late The first church person to greet us was Joe Burrows the curate, who warmly invited us to All Saints, and then, shortly after, equally warmly, invited us to help in the Sunday School (Christine) and Pathfinders (David). Christine took up a teaching job at Woodfield School in the weekdays, and on Sundays she began to teach at the Sunday School which had just started up. David took on the older group of six (mostly boys) who formed the first Pathfinder class, which took place in the dining room of Pinetops, on Coniston Road. But memories don t work for us for the grand opening in October 1965 of the Dual-Purpose Church Hall, All Saints, Newton, as the church was called, quite a mouthful! Christine s excuse was that she had by this point a new-born babe in arms, our first son James (now, yes, just 50 years old himself). So she has no recollections at all. As for David, being unaware of the mid October date, he had organised the young Pathfinders to go on a day-out to a big teenage celebration event in Manchester that same afternoon: no contest for them! So while between us we can remember all sorts of people and events over the next 50 years, we draw a complete blank on the big opening day of our church. Sorry about that!

6 THE KINGS WAY CAFÉ NEWS The big news is that the Café is, from early September, open again on Saturday mornings. The computers are getting regular use. A nice memorial plaque has just appeared on the bench opposite the Council drop-in office, to honour the memory of Steven Jones. Steve was well-known in our café, but died earlier this year. Other news is that there are still job opportunities available for volunteers (see or chat to Tina ).

7 ST MICHAEL S NEWS Our newest Church Warden We are delighted to record the appointment of Liz Jones as our Church Warden to work alongside Judith Green. She was elected by a Special Church meeting after morning service on Sunday 2 August. And then on 29 th August she was formally admitted to the office in a meeting with the Rural Dean (as the Archdeacon was on sabbatical). Welcome Liz, and we look forward to your term of office. two years, and will be travelling to Dorset for several weeks for intense study each year. We hope to interview Jonathan at a morning service early in November. Prayer We meet for prayer at Church (not café) at 8pm on Wednesday, 14 October (the date was changed because of Chester Bible Focus the previous week). Clocks British Summer Time ends this month and clocks should be put BACK one hour before going to bed on Saturday night, 24 October. PreSchool Manager vacancy A qualified and enthusiastic person is needed to manage our Pre-School as Ali Jones moves on at the year end. We are looking for someone with qualifications and experience of working with children in an early-age setting. They must have had at least some supervisory experience as well as an active Christian faith. Application forms are available from Jackie Hockley in the Church Office (tel ). The closing date for applications is 13 th October. Clergy duty Rob will be off duty from 26 October until 4 November PCC The PCC met on Monday 21st September. There were reports on Children and Youth work and one from the Fabric committee. The question of Safeguarding was also discussed. A full report of the meeting can be found in the minutes on the noticeboard in the hall. Patches and Zenaida news Patches licensing in Ferndown, on 1st September, did not take place as planned due to a technical problem with his work permit. At the time of going to press there is no new news from Patches and Zenaida. They remain in Ferndown, waiting to discover what happens next. Jonathan Taylor Jonathan (a young member of St. Michael s) begins a course of Applied Theology at Moorlands College, Christchurch, Dorset, this term. He will be based largely on the Isle of Man, where he has been working for the past From the Registers Baptisms Hallie Rebecca and Theo Archie Pearson, of Ann Close, Ellesmere Port, baptised 26 July. Daniel Karl McLeod, of Thirlmere Road, baptised 16 August. Jake Isaac Alexander Davies, of Craithie Road, baptised 6 September. We welcome these young ones in the name of Christ

8 DIARY DATES OCTOBER Sun (4) TRINITY 18 - HARVEST 8.00am Holy Communion 10.00am 6.30pm All Age Harvest Service - Martin Jones Songs of Praise for Harvest - Rob Peters & the Congregation Tue (6) 7.30pm Chester Bible Focus Wed (7) 7.30pm with Wallace Benn (All Saints, Hoole) Mon (19) am Iris Ho returns to Chester from Sun (25) 7.30pm Central Asia PCC Meeting Last Sunday after TRINITY 10.00am 6.30pm Morning Service and Baptisms - David Blackmore Holy Communion with Bishop Keith Sun (11) TRINITY am 6.30pm Holy Communion - Alison Linfield Evening Service (Prayer Book) Fane Conant Tue (13) 11.00am Standing Committee Meeting Wed (14) 8.00pm Prayer (Café) Thu (15) 9.30am Vicar and Wardens Meeting Sat (17) 8.00am PCC Prayer Breakfast 2pm onwards 50 th Anniversary Celebrations Sun (18) TRINITY th ANNIVERSARY SUNDAY 8.00am Holy Communion 10.00am 12.30pm 6.30pm Morning Service Andy Bull, guest speaker Hog Roast on the church front grass Evening Celebration Service -Ian Hobbs FOR YOUR INFORMATION... VICAR: Rev Canon Rob Peters St Michael s Vicarage 22 Plas Newton Lane Newton, Chester, CH2 1PA rob.peters@tiscali.co.uk YOUTH DEVELOPMENT CO-ORDINATOR: Andy McConville WARDENS: Judith Green Liz Jones DEPUTY WARDENS: Graham Cooper Estelle Byrne PCC SECRETARY: Alison Pantony TREASURER: Mary Webster HALL BOOKINGS: Mary Webster CHURCH MAGAZINE: David Blackmore CHURCH OFFICE: BOOK KEEPER: Fiona Prichard (Mon & Tues) finance.stmichaels@gmail.com CHURCH SECRETARY: Jackie Hockley (Thurs & Fri) office@stmichaelschester.com Open for enquiries: Mon & Tues 9.30am 3.00pm Thur & Fri 10.00am 5.30pm WEBSITE: w w w.stmichaelschester.com