GRATWICH NEWSLETTER - MARCH 2022 MARCH SERVICES IN ST. MARY’SSUNDAY 6th March 7.00pm EVENING PRAYER via ZOOMSUNDAY 13th March 11.15am HOLY COMMUNIONMOTHERING SUNDAY 27th March 7.00pm EVENING PRAYERThe link for Zoom service will be posted on the Facebook page each weekif you would like the link emailing to you, please let Jenny know.Spring seems to be on its way, snowdrops and crocus out in flower, daffodils not far behind and more daylight hours. At last the fields are dry enough to let our sheep and lambs out, lets hope the grass keeps growing and the storms keep away!Lots to look forward to this Month – St. David’s Day,Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, St. Patrick’s Day, Church Auction Evening, official beginning of Spring, Mother’s Day.April is looking busy too – Lent, Holy Week, Easter and a Barn Dance on 22nd April.WOMANS WORLD DAY OF PRAYER – Friday 4th MarchThere are two services: 2.30pm at St. Mary’s, Uttoxeter & 4.00pm at St. John’s, Kingstone.Kingstone’s event will start with refreshments at 3.30pm followed by the service.CONGRATULATIONSWe send our congratulations and lots of love to Paul and Katie Emery on the arrival of their baby girl in January.LENT GROUPThe Lent Group this year will be exploring the Queen’s Jubilee from biblical, historical, personal & national perspectives. It will be on Monday evenings during Lent, 7.30pm – 9.00pm in the Elkes Room in St. Mary’s Parish Church, Uttoxeter. If you would like more information please contact Lesley at the Area Office (01889 562915)AUCTION EVENING 19th MARCH 7.30pmPlease join us at The Blythe in Kingstone for an evening of Auction excitement, refreshments and a chance to have a boogie afterwards.The catalogue and photos of the auction items are on St. Mary’s Facebook PageFairtrade Fortnight 21st February – 6th March, 2022Fairtrade Fortnight started on 21st February this year. This is an annual opportunity to particularly promote Fairtrade, highlight Fairtrade products and help people in the developing world who are less fortunate than ourselves. Fairtrade gives farmers and workers in developing countries a minimum price for the goods they produce and extra help for their community, enabling them to provide a better life for themselves and their families. Climate change is making things worse and Fairtrade is helping them deal with the effects of climate. There is a range of excellent Fairtrade products in all our local Supermarkets, bananas, chocolate, wine, sugar, coffee, tea etc. Look out for the Fairtrade logo. ST. MARY’S IN GRATWICH ANNUAL PAROCHIAL CHURCH MEETINGWill be held in church on Tuesday 5th April at 7.30pm. It is an open meeting, all are welcome to attend. Those on the church electoral roll are entitled to vote at the meeting. The electoral roll will be revised from 4th March and will be on the church noticeboard from 24th March. If you are not already on the electoral roll and wish to apply or would like to take on the role of Secretary, Treasurer or Churchwarden please contact Jenny Talbot, PCC Secretary (01889 502471)Clergy Letter for March 2022I was born and brought up on the east Suffolk coast, in a village called Kessingland, nestled anonymously between Lowestoft and Southwold, in turn the most deprived and most affluent towns in the county. One of the features of that coastline is that it is changing shape over time, sometimes dramatically overnight during a storm, sometimes almost imperceptibly at each high tide. One of our traditions as teenagers was to race down to the sea at midnight on New Year’s Eve to greet the waves in the way that hopefully only teenagers do. The distance was anything between 10 metres and 0 metres, as the waves crashed up against the sea wall at high tide. My brothers and I did it again in our early 30s and only one of us made it without stopping, as the sea was now 100 metres further out, as the sand washed up from down the coast had built up against the groynes. A few miles walk along the beach is a village called Cove Hithe. In 1672 the parishioners decided that they could no longer afford to maintain the 14th century church building and so got permission to re-use the stone to build a smaller chapel within the old walls. I didn’t realise this until last week when I watched a programme called Kate Humble’s Coastal Britain on My5. To be honest I hadn’t given it much thought at the time and just assumed that the building had collapsed over the years and something smaller built inside. But no, the parishioners (and by that it may only have been the few who probably attended) made an active choice to change what they saw as church.Today, 340 years later, the church still has a service every week, served by a House for Duty priest who has three other churches. She will retire in December and what will happen then is unknown. The Churches Conservation Trust own the ruins and the Tower, so it is only the small nave chapel which is owned by the Diocese. People gather from up to 25 miles away to keep worship alive.In 2022, St. Andrew’s, Cove Hithe faces an even greater threat to its existence than affordability. The sea is encroaching at a rate of 3 metres every year and the church sits just 100 metres from the cliff. The path I walked along as a youth has been washed away. What will the churchgoers do once the actual building no longer exists? Will the gathered church gather at another church nearby, or individuals go to their local church? Will that particular church community still choose to worship together as a house church? What will ‘church’ be in 30 years’ time when the stones and mortar have washed up onto Kessingland beach?What inspires me about this story is that 340 years ago churchgoers made an active decision to remain ‘church’. They made a realistic decision about what they could afford and used what they had (the larger building) to make something new.We are facing questions about our existence today, partly because of COVID but also because of a fall in church attendance over many decades and overly ambitious church building over several centuries.What decision will we make as individuals, as individual churches and as an Area? How can we try and ensure a community of faith exists in our villages in 340 years’ time, due to decisions we make over the next few years? How will the people ensure that ‘church’ remains where they live? Because in the end it is the people, not the Church of England governing bodies who will be church. Priests come and go, as do bishops, but in the apocalypse, when Synods and diocese no longer exist, it is the people on the ground who will have power – if they have the courage – to be a community of faith.This is not a letter championing the closure of churches. Indeed, that is not what happened in Cove Hithe. This is a letter championing brave decisions, imaginative and realistic thinking and local people making local decisions both for themselves and for generations to come.Peace and prayers, JoeRev Joe Cant, Team Vicar UAP.For further information about anything in the newsletter, please contact:Rev. Charles Dale 01889 500428: email: revcharles.dale@btinternet.comJenny Talbot: 01889 50241 email: jenny477@btinternet.comFacebook: St. Mary,s Church Gratwich
Hello,I was born and brought up on the east Suffolk coast, in a village called Kessingland, nestled anonymously between Lowestoft and Southwold, in turn the most deprived and most affluent towns in the county. One of the features of that coastline is that it is changing shape over time, sometimes dramatically overnight during a storm, sometimes almost imperceptibly at each high tide. One of our traditions as teenagers was to race down to the sea at midnight on New Year’s Eve to greet the waves in the way that hopefully only teenagers do. The distance was anything between 10 metres and 0 metres, as the waves crashed up against the sea wall at high tide. My brothers and I did it again in our early 30s and only one of us made it without stopping, as the sea was now 100 metres further out, as the sand washed up from down the coast had built up against the groynes. A few miles walk along the beach is a village called Cove Hithe. In 1672 the parishioners decided that they could no longer afford to maintain the 14th century church building and so got permission to re-use the stone to build a smaller chapel within the old walls. I didn’t realise this until last week when I watched a programme called Kate Humble’s Coastal Britain on My5. To be honest I hadn’t given it much thought at the time and just assumed that the building had collapsed over the years and something smaller built inside. But no, the parishioners (and by that it may only have been the few who probably attended) made an active choice to change what they saw as church.Today, 340 years later, the church still has a service every week, served by a House for Duty priest who has three other churches. She will retire in December and what will happen then is unknown. The Churches Conservation Trust own the ruins and the Tower, so it is only the small nave chapel which is owned by the Diocese. People gather from up to 25 miles away to keep worship alive.In 2022, St. Andrew’s, Cove Hithe faces an even greater threat to its existence than affordability. The sea is encroaching at a rate of 3 metres every year and the church sits just 100 metres from the cliff. The path I walked along as a youth has been washed away. What will the churchgoers do once the actual building no longer exists? Will the gathered church gather at another church nearby, or individuals go to their local church? Will that particular church community still choose to worship together as a house church? What will ‘church’ be in 30 years’ time when the stones and mortar have washed up onto Kessingland beach?What inspires me about this story is that 340 years ago churchgoers made an active decision to remain ‘church’. They made a realistic decision about what they could afford and used what they had (the larger building) to make something new.We are facing questions about our existence today, partly because of COVID but also because of a fall in church attendance over many decades and overly ambitious church building over several centuries.What decision will we make as individuals, as individual churches and as an Area? How can we try and ensure a community of faith exists in our villages in 340 years’ time, due to decisions we make over the next few years? How will the people ensure that ‘church’ remains where they live? Because in the end it is the people, not the Church of England governing bodies who will be church. Priests come and go, as do bishops, but in the apocalypse, when Synods and diocese no longer exist, it is the people on the ground who will have power – if they have the courage – to be a community of faith.This is not a letter championing the closure of churches. Indeed, that is not what happened in Cove Hithe. This is a letter championing brave decisions, imaginative and realistic thinking and local people making local decisions both for themselves and for generations to come.Peace and prayers, JoeRev Joe Cant, Team Vicar UAP.
Our Area Staff letter for December 2021Dear friends, As I sit writing this letter to you all I am reminded by the weather of how the seasons progress through our lives. Last night we put our clocks back an hour rising this morning in expectation of a light and bright morning. But no, it was dark and dismal until ten thirtyish. All of a sudden the sun shone brightly through the church windows dazzling everyone inside. All this helped me to focus on this December letter. As we approach the celebration of the arrival of the Christ child into our world, and probably more importantly into our lives, we spend Advent preparing ourselves to greet Christ. In preparing any letter or talk about Jesus I always try to place myself in his time so that I can attempt to understand something of what he was talking about, in the context of the world as it was then. How would the people of Jesus’ time have seen today? Would they have been able to comprehend the freedom we have? Would changing the hour on the clocks make them smile and say “you cannot change the weather or the happenings of the seasons”? Could they take on board the busyness of our lives? As the people struggled under the weight of the Roman occupation the promise from the Prophets of better things to come must have seemed like a bright beacon before their eyes something to look forward to, a promise of freedom, a promise of light and the fulfilment of God’s covenant with his people. When you read this letter will we be in similar circumstances? Listening to the experts on the news and in the papers it would appear we are heading for a time of severe shortages. With the aftereffects of the pandemic still hovering over us are we in a similar position to the people of Jesus’ time? The threat of another lockdown looming over us. The rising numbers of infections. Seeing the nurses and doctors straining to cope. The times of darkness seem to be all about us, but, as Pip says in Dickens novel, we have “great expectations” in the fact that God has never ever turned away from us and always pours out his unconditional love on us all the time, in the sending of his Son, Jesus, born in a dark and oppressed time, in a dark and dismal stable to bring us all hope and love, not just over the Christmas period but in all our lives.All God’s blessings. Chris.Revd. Chris Brown
GRATWICH NEWSLETTER <span style="font-size: 1rem;">DECEMBER 2021</span> GRATWICH SERVICES IN DECEMBER <span style="font-size: 1rem;">IN ST. MARY’S</span>SUNDAY 12th 11.15am HOLY COMMUNIONCHRISTMAS EVE CRIB SERVICE 7.30pmWith Mulled wine & Mince Pies Please wrap up warmly when you come to the Crib Service as the heating is not working!It would be lovely if everyone wore their Christmas Jumpers/Hats/Nativity Costumes.Well, what a year we have had – this time last year we were in lockdown, all services were via Zoom and Christmas was very quiet! This year we have the problem of no heating in church whilst we await the rewiring in the New Year. Fund raising is going well, so far <span style="font-size: 1rem;">with your help, we have raised £2500 and only just started. As soon as the estimate comes </span><span style="font-size: 1rem;">in for the rewiring we will be able to start applying for grants from various organisations towards the costs.</span>Many thanks to Carolyn for starting the fundraising off last month by holding the lovely Bonfire & Firework Party (and everyone who helped her) it was so good to see everyone. We also have lots of exciting events planned from now until September 2022 the dates of which will be in January Newsletter.Starting with the Carol Singing Evening and Auction 11th December (see attached flier).At the Carol Singing Evening there will be an opportunity to hang a card to remember <span style="font-size: 1rem;">loved ones on the Christmas Tree, Sue will have some cards at the event.</span> On December 12th, the community in St George’s Chapel, Windsor will be praying <span style="font-size: 1rem;">for us, as one of the Dean and Canons’ patronages.</span>I have taken the liberty of sending them our Area prayers for December so they may <span style="font-size: 1rem;">pray our prayers with us.</span>They send their good wishes to us all too.Kind regards,LesleyLesley J White (Mrs), Area Coordinator and PA to Area Rector for Uttoxeter Area of Parishes.EVENTS IN DECEMBERCHRISTMAS MARKET Saturday 4th December 10.00am – 3.00pm at St. Michael’s Church Rocester (Santa will be there 1.00 – 3.00pm) CAROL SINGING EVENING Saturday 11th December 7.00pm onwards on St. Mary’s CHURCH CROFT, GratwichWith an opportunity to hang a remembrance card on the treeCHRISTMAS COFFEE MORNING Tuesday 14th December 10.30am – 11.45amMarchington Woodlands Village Hall with a raffle, mince pies, jams & pickles, cardsCHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL 19th – 24th December 10.00am – 4.00pm daily in St. Mary’s Church, Uttoxeter 100 CLUB – November - drawn at the Zoom service on Sunday 28th November 1st Rosemary Hollins2nd Angela & Matt Downing3rd Sophia CapewellThe next draw will be at the Crib service on Christmas EveCLEANING ROTACarol Woolley & Jenny Talbot Area Staff letter for December 2021 from Rev. Chris BrownDear friends, As I sit writing this letter to you all I am reminded by the weather of how the seasons progress through our lives. Last night we put our clocks back an hour rising this morning in expectation of a light and bright morning. But no, it was dark and dismal until ten thirtyish. All of a sudden the sun shone brightly through the church windows dazzling everyone inside. All this helped me to focus on this December letter. As we approach the celebration of the arrival of the Christ child into our world, and probably more importantly into our lives, we spend Advent preparing ourselves to greet Christ. In preparing any letter or talk about Jesus I always try to place myself in his time so that I can attempt to understand something of what he was talking about, in the context of the world as it was then. How would the people of Jesus’ time have seen today? Would they have been able to comprehend the freedom we have? Would changing the hour on the clocks make them smile and say “you cannot change the weather or the happenings of the seasons”? Could they take on board the busyness of our lives? As the people struggled under the weight of the Roman occupation the promise from the Prophets of better things to come must have seemed like a bright beacon before their eyes something to look forward to, a promise of freedom, a promise of light and the fulfilment of God’s covenant with his people. When you read this letter will we be in similar circumstances? Listening to the experts on the news and in the papers it would appear we are heading for a time of severe shortages. With the aftereffects of the pandemic still hovering over us are we in a similar position to the people of Jesus’ time? The threat of another lockdown looming over us. The rising numbers of infections. Seeing the nurses and doctors straining to cope. The times of darkness seem to be all about us, but, as Pip says in Dickens novel, we have “great expectations” in the fact that God has never ever turned away from us and always pours out his unconditional love on us all the time, in the sending of his Son, Jesus, born in a dark and oppressed time, in a dark and dismal stable to bring us all hope and love, not just over the Christmas period but in all our lives.All God’s blessings. Chris. For further information please contact:Rev. Charles Dale 01889 500428: email: revcharles.dale@btinternet.comJenny Talbot: 01889 50241 email: jenny477@btinternet.comFacebook: St. Mary’s Church Gratwich
