FROM THE EDITOR
Oh well, Autumn is closing in after what was must count as a bit of a pathetic summer really. Still, we did go down to Cornwall for a few days, and had some good weather on the beach at Watergate Bay, where my dad lives.
'Watergate Bay- is one of those places that has been revamped in the past few years since it got Jamie ()livered Now it has gone all up market, and the clientele resembles that of the Waitrose car park. Watergate has changed beyond all recognition. \\Tell, apart from that it is still . a beach, obviously.
Gone is the past) and chips cuisine of yore; this time I had a darling little Greek Salad, with a recycled wooden forky thingy, that doubles as a spoon and can opener, packaged in an environmentally friendly cardboard box assembled by hand, so the rustic sticker informed me. The seagulls weren't remotely- interested.
Also, the surprise announcement was that my father is going to start editing his parish magazine. Alas, instead of being inspired by my great endeavor, as I was quietly hoping, he said that he thought if I could edit a parish magazine, it couldn't be that hard. Thanks Dad!
Anyway, I await with baited breath what ideas l can pinch from him. My father is a brainy professor, and the only person that l know who I can google, so he will no doubt produce something very highbrow and of geological interest.
A little while /a/cr...
Have just returned from phoning my dad to say l am writing about him, and he says he will be putting in a load of really bad jokes. Ho Hum, bang goes my plan for intelligence by association
Lots of fun was had with the `Ride and Stride' at the weekend, and the weather was actually perfect. I think my son must have achieved some kind of record by visiting 5 (lurches in 4 hours using 3 bikes.
Now I see that Harvest Festival time is upon us. Fantastic, I can see if anyone wants those courgettes that just grew and grew and are now inedible.
Ros
THE RECTOR'S LETTER
Dear friends
have been struck recently by how gloomy the news always seems to be.
Perhaps there is a streak of pessimism in even the most optimistic of people
and the media knows only too well how to tap into it. Of course it is also true that there is an awful amount of tragedy in the world, and it can produce a fatalistic attitude to life. There is the story of the man who, on his first parachute jump, was assured that if his rip cord failed to work there was a second cord which would certainly open up his 'chute; and even then, in the highly unlikely situation that the second one also failed, he still had a third to ensure his safe return to the waiting truck below. Thus, reassured, he jumped, pulled the rip cord, and nothing happened. Undaunted he resorted to the second emergency one, and again nothing happened. A little anxiously he pulled the third, and the parachute remained firmly in its packing. As he continued hurtling towards the earth, he said to himself `I might have guessed it, and I bet that truck isn't down there below either!'. A silly story, but it encapsulates the feelings that often develop in a sadly dysfunctional world. As one cynic put it `Current events are so grim that we don't know whether to watch the 6 o'clock news and be unable to eat, or the 10 o'clock and be unable to sleep!'
In contrast to this, the New Testament rings wish hope. It is not an escapist optimists that pretends that everything in the garden is lovely when it clearly isn't. It faces up squarely to the realities of a violent and suffering world, but it also sees beyond. The apostle Paul talks from his own personal experience of the whole range of injustices and hardships he endured. Ile gives the list of things he had been through which included beatings, betrayal, rejection, false
imprisonment, shipwrecks, sleepless nights, hard labour, the list goes on and on. Yet he speaks of himself as being `sorrowful yet always rejoicing; poor vet making many rich: having nothing yet possessing everything.' What was his secret? Again and again in the letters he wrote, he comes back to certain stunning event which has enormous implications for the world that we live in.
The way that Jesus had demonstrated unforgettably and for all time that love is at the centre of the 1 Universc; and more than that, had not only died a sacrificial death, but had risen from the dead. So that Paul faced the future, regardless of how ghastly things were, with a certainty that life was worth living, that death was not the end but the beginning, and that ultimately love and justice would prevail. Day by day he would wake up with his heart full of thanksgiving for the encouragement and the energy and the opportunities that would be his. As Corrie ten Boom, the Dutch watch maker who was sent to Ravensbruck concentration camp for rescuing Jews from the hands of the Gestapo, used to love saying: ' However bleak the outlook may, be, the uplook is always streaked with glory.'
Harry. MacIines
CONCERT IN SHILTON CHURCH
Saturday I7 October 6..30 pm
The concert in Shilton church on October 170, is now taking shape. A number of young people and adults will be playing including Adam New, son of choirmaster David, and two of his friends from Malvern school. The programme will be varied including a mixture of jazz and classical. Instruments include tuba, trombone, violin, clarinet, organ and string quartet and there will be singing as well. The concert starts at 6.30pm and will last about an hour followed by a party afterwards in Shilton Village I Hall. Tickets cost": 7.50 each, contributions of food and drinks will be welcome as we hope that we will be able to make a generous contribution out of the proceeds to Oasis, a charity supporting autistic children. Applications for tickets can he made by email to me on donaldechamberlain@;:btinternet.com or call 01993 843014, to jean Roberts on 01993 841194, or to Caroline Simmonds on 01993 841345.
Donald Chamberlain
CHILDREN'S CHURCH
If you have children between the ages of 3 and 12 and would like to come along, we meet every second Sunday of the month at 10.15am in the Village f fall in Shilton for about 40 minutes of fun and creative Christian based activities before we join the main body of the church for the Parish Communion Service.
Our Services until Christmas are:
Sunday October 11th, at 10.15 am
Sunday November 8th at 10.15am (Remembrance Service)
Sunday December 13th at 10.15am (Christingle Service)
If you would like to know some more about what we do, or where to find us, either give me a call on 01993 847049 or The Rev'd Harry MacInnes on 01993 845954.
Delis Price
FROM THE REGISTERS
WEDDINGS
5r5 September Filkins Matt Jerome and Leanne Cross
FUNERALS
21 August Filkins Mrs Margaret June Robbins
(died 14th August aged! 78) 22',d August Alvescot David Leonard Percy
(died 29" June aged 49)
25th August Kingsdown Crematorium Mrs Florence Emil Jackson (died 17" Angus/ aged 91)
PARISH & BENEFICE SERVICES
Sunday 4th October Trinity XVII (Green)9am
11,30ant / Langford Holy Communion
Broadwell Harvest Festival / NUW'
HM/PW
3.30pm / Kelmscott Harvest Festival / AM
6pm
Sunday I
9am
9am
9am
10.30am / Shilton Harvest Festival with choir / HM/PW
I IM
PW`
AM
PW'(
October Trinity XVIII (Green)
Alvescot
Broadwell
\Vestwell/l loiwel
Broughton Poggs / Holy Communion
Matins
Holy Communion
Harvest Festival
10.30am / Shilton / Parish Communion and
11am / little Faringdon / Children's Church
Harvest. Festival / AM
6pm
6pm / Black Bourton
Kencot / I (Harvest Festival.
Evensong / PW
HM
Sunday 18th October Trinity XIX (Green)
9am
9am
10.30am / Holwell
B Bourton/ Alvescot
Langford / Holy Communion
Holy Communion
Harvest Festival / I [NI
PW
Ham
6pm / Alvescot
Broughton Poggs / Harvest Festival
Evensong / L J
HM
6pm / Westwell / 1 Harvest Festival / P\,:,
EJ
HM/PW
Sunday 25th October Bible Sunday (Green)
9am
9am
10.30am / Kencot/ Broadwell
Shilton
Alvescot/ BBourton. / HoIyCommunion
Holy Communion
Parish Communion
I0.30am
10.30am / Filkins
Broadwell / Family Communion
Matins / I J
PW'
l lam
6pm
6pm
Sunday I" / tattle Faringdon
Holwcll! Westwell
I Langford
November All Saints (Gold or / Parish Communion
Evensong
Evensong
White) / HNI
PW
HM
I HM/NUW
10.30am / \Vestwell/l / Benefice Ciommuninn
6pm / Broadwell / Benefice Evensong / NUW
6pm / Filkins / All Saints Memorial Service / EJ/PW
Celebrants
The Rev'd Liz
The Rev'd I
`The Rev'd .Dr / & Service Leaders
Johnsont
Harry ;Maclnnes
Alistair McGrath / The Rev'd Martin Peppiat
The Rev'd Neville Usher-Wilson
The Rcv'd Patrick Wheaton
LECTIONARY
4th' October Trinity XVII (Green)
Genesis 2.18-24 Psalm 8 / Hebrews 1.1-4; 2.5-12 / Mark 102-16
11t October Trinity XVIII (Green)
Amos 5.6, 7, 10-15 Psalm 90 / Hebrews 4.12-end / Mark 10.17-31
18th October Trinity XIX (Green)
Isaiah 53.4-end Psalm 91 / Hebrews 5.1-10 / Mark 10.35-45
25th October Bible Sunday (Green)
Isaiah 55.1-11 Psalm 19.7-14 / 2 Timothy 3.14-4.5 / John 5.36b-end
John 11.32-44
Ist November All Saints Day (Gold or White)
Isaiah 25.6-9 Psalm 24.1-6 Revelation 21.1-6a
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
Our next meeting will be on Wednesday 7th October at 3.00pm in the Methodist Church Schoolroom. The speaker will be Mrs Elizabeth Duffy of Faringdon. Refreshments will be provided as usual. All are welcome.
Barbara Edwards
FILKINS AND DISTRICT ROYAL BRITISH LEGION
Remembrance Service. This will be held at St Matthew's Church Langford on Sunday 8° November. The Act of Remembrance and laying of wreaths will take place at the village memorial prior to the service. Further details will be included in the next issue of the Parish Pump. As has been the case in recent years, a Field of Remembrance will be set up at the village memorial to enable individuals to remember those who were known to them who have died as a result of war. Small wooden crosses will be available from village Poppy Appeal representatives and at the
Remembrance Service.
Branch Committee Meeting. The next
Committee Meeting will be held at Dovecote
House, Little Faringdon on Tuesday 6° October at 7.30pm. Please note the change of venue. Branch AGM. This will be held on Tuesday 3rd November in the 5 :Alls Filkins. All members are most welcome to attend.
Jeremy Taylor
POPPY APPEAL
This year's Poppy Appeal will take place from Saturday 24th October until Saturday November. Village collectors will be making house-to house collections during this period. Please give them every support as they brave the elements on behalf of this essential fund-raising appeal that supports the
welfare of ex-Senicemen and their dependants. Iast year the Broadshire villages donated over £2,200 towards this Appeal. it would be marvellous if we can raise even more this year as the demands for help increase with an ageing population that served in the Second World War and the large number of more recent
servicemen, who have been casualties in the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. Many of them, or their families, require considerable help during these difficult times. Boxes will also be available at the usual static points in the Broadshire villages.
Rachel 'Taylor
SHILTON BAPTIST CHAPEL
I have recently had a new fence fitted and it needed to be painted, I was not looking forward to the job but I decided to start on a Saturday morning. I started to paint and had almost finished one panel when my neighbour came and said that he would finish the job. What a relief' I almost said no thank you but I think that would have hurt his feelings.
Being a good neighbour reminds me of t:he parable of the Good Samaritan found in Luke chapter 10, verses 30-37. I was not in the same predicament as the Jewish traveller, he certainly needed help and he did not refuse it.
Think for a moment about three different people; the first would not visit the doctor because she did not trust him, she died after she \vent into a diabetic coma. The second went to the doctor but would not accept the treatment the doctor offered; she still feels unwell. The third did what the doctor advised and is feeling much better.
Help is available and we should not refuse it when it is offered Psalm 46, verse 1 says 'God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble'.
Janet Whitfield Preachers for October
4th October Informal with Debbie Newman from Helping Hands
11th October Graham Sparrowhawk followed by communion
18th October Barry Shepherd
25th October David Earl
All our services are at 6.00pm and visitors are always very welcome.
Elizabeth Hadfield
ALVESCOT
St Peter's
HARVEST FESTIVAL AND VILLAGE LUNCH
This year our harvest festival is at 11.00am on Sunday 18'h October. It's a lovely seasonal service of readings and hymns and will be followed by a two course lunch of wonderful home cooking in the Village Han. There will be a bar. Tickets for the lunch are available now from me on 01993 842435 or Sue Cave on 01993 846696, priced £15.00 for a family, L6.00 adult and £3.00 for a child. Everyone is very welcome to this popular traditional village get together.
We will be decorating the church at I0.00am on Saturday 170 October and everyone is welcome to come along and participate. Gifts of garden flowers and produce would be much appreciated.
There are also lots of jobs to be done outside so there will also be a churchyard tidy-up at the same time so please come along if you can spare a couple of hours; your help is needed. Gardening gloves are useful but not essential. Coffee and biscuits will be provided