CLAVERDON, PRESTON BAGOT
AND WOOTTON WAWEN
CHURCH REPORTS FOR 2008
You are warmly invited to
the Annual Parochial Church Meetings of:
- All Saints, Preston Bagot
Monday 20th April 2009 at 7.30pm in the Old Rectory
- St Peter’s, Wootton Wawen
Thursday 23rdApril 2009at 7.30pm in the Chancel
- St Michael and All Angels, Claverdon
Monday 27thApril 2009 at 7.30pm in the Church Centre
Please note that to vote you need to have registered on the appropriate electoral roll
Our parish vision isto “grow” the Christian presence within our geographical area and its networkings through friendship, involvement in community activity, collaboration with other churches, and by offering opportunities of worship, prayer and discussion for people of all ages.
LAWRENCE’S REPORT ON 2008
The highpoint of the year, without question, was the Midsummer Celebration of Village Life, affectionately known as the Scarecrow weekend, but actually so much more than that. The response to the special eight-page colour brochure circulated round our three villages was remarkable; well over 100 scarecrows, but also enthusiastic participation in dog shows, concerts, cricket, flower events, you name it. There’s a report elsewhere in this booklet. Enormous thanks are due to the organising groups in each of our three villages: the churches proved to be at the heart of each individual community and also a uniquely unifying network between them. It was a fun way for us to rediscover what being the Body of Christ is all about.
Another major community initiative was Claverdon’s community shop, which celebrated its first anniversary in October. This was not a church project, but a project with which the church readily identified. The shop has become a focal point of the village, and it was entirely appropriate (and very effective) that the ‘Scarecrow’ service took place outside it.
One of the leading protagonists of the shop was Nigel Goodrich, whom we shall miss as he moves north: he was responsible for organising the 3-parish Rogationtide walk. It’s his wife who drags him away: we’ll miss her too. Nancy gets ordained in Blackburn Cathedral on June 27th and, although she has been busy training for the past three years, many in our parishes will have valued her contribution as a preacher, leadership team member, and quite simply as a friend. Our prayers go with them both, and with Florence and Lily. This is a good place to say how much we have come to benefit from our own curate, Cathy – and indeed Haydn, Helena and Lucy.
One of the best ways of engaging with the community is for the church to welcome people as they move in. Claverdon has a long tradition of doing so, and held another memorable party for three-years’-worth of newcomers in May. It was a great occasion and many friendships were forged, thanks to Tricia and the team. It is notable that newcomers are increasingly a feature of Wootton worship too, and a strategy is evolving to build on that.
It seems no accident that we are being ‘trained up’ to see God as much out there in our communities as inside church. Over the next months we will be considering new patterns of managing and developing our multi-parish ministry as I prepare for retirement in late 2010 or thereabouts. Already a number of people have undertaken modules of the Bishop’s Certificate in Discipleship, thereby creating a rich pool of trained laity to work alongside the Readers. And of course ‘laity’ have a far better foothold in the real world than the clergy do!
I have high hopes for our parishes as we look to the future. It may seem that our resources our stretched ‘in church’. But suddenly we’re better equipped than ever in those places beyond our holy walls where Christ himself was content to proclaim the Kingdom, and to work for a world where justice, peace and love prevail.
Canon Lawrence Mortimer
REPORTS OF JOINT CHURCH ACTIVITIES
MINISTRY LEADERSHIP TEAM
After its rebirth following the interregnum in 2003, the MLT initially focused on encouraging us to be a group of outward facing churches and the rest of this booklet is testimony to how far we have come. At the three parish evening in November many people commented on quite how extensive our outreach and mission activities had become. The establishment of a Church and World group with representatives of all three churches is a positive consequence of all this.
One of the other MLT journeys is that of trying to see how our collective church can be ‘bigger’ than the sum of its three parts. There has been very helpful joining up of our activities in areas such as children’s ministry, youth ministry, alpha and house groups. Worshipping together on 5th Sundays and being together for our away weekends help to make the ‘plurality’ something we can all value.
During 2008 the MLT members were keen to give more time to listening to God to discern his purpose for our churches. At an away day in Alcester we began to see a picture of a church like that painted for us in Acts 2. At the three parish evening some of that picture was described and everyone in each church was invited to join in that prayer focus and to share back what they believe God may be saying. Three themes of outreach, simplicity and stillness were used as the basis for prayer. Clearly that is not trying to be a new vision for the churches and equally recognises and appreciates all the essential ministries we enjoy whether they fall under these three headings or not.
In the period ahead it is clear that an important area of focus for the MLT will be to try to anticipate how we can best be church in the event we are part of an even bigger cluster. There remain many unknowns but it will clearly help to understand how other larger church groups have adjusted to their situation. Phil Hanson
CELTIC SERVICES
The monthly midweek Celtic service started in August 2005 as something of an experiment after the three-parish visit to Holy Island. Since then we have enjoyed over 40 services in the sanctuary at Wootton Wawen, and during August in Preston Bagot. The attendance has been remarkably faithful and averages between 25 and 30. The subjects chosen for inspiration have spanned the entire Christian history: during 2008 they ranged from St Oswald right up to John Wimber, the 20th century evangelist. It has been a great blessing to have such a range of volunteers both to lead and to speak at these ecumenical services, which are appreciated particularly for being quiet and reflective times of worship. Phil Hanson
CHURCH AND WORLD GROUP
The work of the Church and World (CAW) group is right at the heart of the outreach that is such a vital part of the mission of our three parishes. Lawrence has led us with considerable wisdom through our formative months as the Mission Groups of the three parishes have coalesced in the hope that we will be able better to discern and enact God's will for the world beyond our boundaries. We’ve even established a mutual ‘observer’ relationship with the equivalent group in Henley. What follows is Lawrence’s summary of his last months as Chair.James Holden
2008 was a bumper year in terms of our international connections. In some ways the most dramatic was Ingrid Moss’s sponsored walk along China’s Great Wall in the wake of her missionary forebears. She raised over £3,000 for CMS.
But we also had Julian and Caroline Lott with us on well-deserved furlough while three teams from Claverdon went out to Malawi in turn to cover food distribution.
Sue Woodcock (SAMS) came from Spain to preach at two of our services and at Henley.
Jane Hill from CORD spoke both at ClaverdonSchool and in Claverdon church about refugee life in Burundi, and succeeded in selling lots of Christmas cards through St Peter’s church gift stall.
CAW also promoted Fairtrade and through James and Laura’s involvement encouraged new developmentsat Hampton Magna’s Open Door shop, not least with publicity in the magazine. All users of Claverdon Church Centre were given a Fairtrade ‘welcome pack’ in the autumn and encouraged to replenish it in the Community Shop. All meals organised by CAW are based on LOAF principles (Local, Organic, Animal-friendly, Fairtrade).
With the Glenfall/Greenbelt theme (see below) focussed on God’s Creation, CAW grappled at last with its other major remit, concern for the environment. It is seeking to establish some ongoing link with the work of A Rocha. Lawrence Mortimer
GLENFALL
What a wonderful three parishes away weekend we enjoyed at Glenfall House - Gloucester Diocese's retreat house near Cheltenham Racecourse - over the August Bank Holiday weekend. It was great for the 44 of us there to be together as a worshipping community and very pleasing to experience the way that a blend of events at Glenfall that we had developed ourselves worked with visits to the Greenbelt Festival at the Racecourse. We were dependent on the weather, and as more than one or two people commented ‘it could all have gone horribly wrong!’A major focus for our time together was ‘Care for God's Creation’ and the image that held our whole weekend together was that of a rainbow. Dave Bookless (from the leading Christian environmental charity A Rocha) joined us one evening to tell us how much he prayed that the story of Noah could be re-vitalised for us as a sign of God's hope and forgiveness for our groaning planet. I think we all felt refreshed and re-invigorated to start living our lives differently as a result of our time together with God. James Holden
MIDSUMMER CELEBRATION OF VILLAGE LIFE
In 2008, the three parishes celebrated the fifth anniversary of their amalgamation, and such a milestone could not be allowed to pass without some kind of event to mark the occasion. Everyone felt it was time to celebrate rural life in all its many guises. And so, the idea of a Midsummer Celebration of Village Life began to take shape: a weekend of events and displays in which everyone in the community could participate. The joint team from all three parishes felt that this should be an outreach to the village communities, to make the value and benefits of being involved in them obvious, and above all to demonstrate pride in the communities in which we live and worship.
What a weekend! The memory of it all runs riot with different impressions; churches bedecked with glorious flowers; literally myriad inspirations and rainbow colours. Events of all types and imagination - some, such as the musical concerts at Preston Bagot and Wootton Wawen churches, which touched hearts and emotions as musicians and singers brought beauty to the ear on warm summer evenings; the treasured photographs and pictures of the history of the villages, displaying with pride the heritage and yesteryear of the communities. Alongside the records, the modern, up to date skills on show: paintings, embroideries, quilting, decoupage, all traditional crafts lovingly kept up to date by younger residents. The displays of current village organisations and activities - some, such as the Women’s Institute, with a long history; others, such as The Open the Book Project, of comparative youth. The sound of dogs barking and children’s shouts and laughter at the zany Dog Show at Preston Bagot. Beautiful, dainty miniature horses; traditional Cotswold sheep, and carefully, lovingly tended gardens thrown open for friends and neighbours to enjoy. The quiet calm and tranquillity of the churches, lit by the summer sun, which mercifully shone all weekend. All of these things leaving animprint not just on the mind, but the heart. The huge crowds that gathered at the Open Air Service outside the Community Shop, to hear Lawrence speak of the underlying story of the humble scarecrow.
The common theme that linked all three parishes was that of a Scarecrow Trail, which caught the collective imagination of the villages. There were 110 registered scarecrows, plus a few more “unofficial” ones lurking in odd places.
What happened that weekend could not have been predicted. Three separate communities became as one; the church community was joined with the village community in one sunny weekend of smiles and happiness, all giving thanks in different ways for the rural world in which we live - but above all, working and playing together as one.
Thanks are due to very many people for this excellent weekend – but above all to Tricia Hardy who, with David’s support, provided the inspiration and energy to make the weekend a great success.
Norrie Moore
OPEN THE BOOK
The Open the Book project in Claverdon and Wootton Wawen is now coming towards the end of its second year. It involves a gifted and dedicated team of storytellers from our three parishes going into our Primary schools each month to tell Bible stories in a visual and accessible way. All the children can enjoy the stories whether they have a Christian background or not. The children very much look forward to the team going in and increasingly this year, as well as joining in with sound effects and crowd scenes, children are coming ‘on stage’ to play characters in the stories. Future plans include developing another year’s worth of stories for the academic year 2009/2010 so that there is a 3 year cycle of stories to offer to schools. Many thanks to the team for their ongoing commitment and enthusiasm and to the schools for their warm reception of the project. Cathy Davies
WORSHIP
Seven people went on a Worship Leaders course last year, run by the diocese, conveniently down the road at Snitterfield: they were Natasha Butler, Gill Evans, Norrie Moore, Penny Hanson, Sheila Brown, Liz Rayner and Sue Jacques. There have been debriefing occasions since, and already several opportunities to put theory into practice. Norrie introduced Compline to Preston Bagot, and the others have either got stuck into Family Worship or confidently lead the liturgy. We find ourselves now well resourced, and congregations seem to like the variety! But a special thanks as ever are due to our two Readers, James and Phil, and to Cathy, our curate.
In September the family service at Claverdon church reverted to its original 11am time-slot, which meant a continuity could be maintained with the time of Sunday Club in other weeks. It is hoped the service will develop as the Sunday Club’s monthly visit to church, and thereby attract other young families.
It is becoming clear that, alongside the liturgical repertoire and less formal ‘praise’ and family worship, there is an enthusiasm for simplicity and silence. The Celtic service is now well established, but now Claverdon’s Candlelit Church has progressed from being a much-anticipated annual event to happening twice a year: a taster inserted into the three-parish event at St Peter’s in October proved to be the most memorable five-minutes of the evening.
The set-piece services, like Remembrance and Carols, continue to attract packed churches, as do baptisms and funerals (not many weddings in 2008); it’s likely that these events serve as our most effective Christian outreach and should not be underestimated as such.
But our scarecrow service outside Claverdon’s community shop attracted some attention as well! Lawrence Mortimer
CLAVERDON CHURCH REPORTS FOR 2008
CHURCHWARDENS’ REPORT
Rosemary Holding stood down as churchwarden in April after completing several years of dedicated service, and was replaced by David Markham. Rosemary was tremendous at ensuring that ‘things got done’, andwith the minimum of fuss. We are very grateful to her – not only for her time as warden, but also for her continuing support to us afterwards.
Although ours is a small village church, there is thankfully much going on. We are so grateful to the countless number of people, seen and unseen, who contribute their time and talents to the life of our church. This report amply demonstrates the scale of involvement of people in our church community, and there are many others besides – whether it be those who wash the altar linen, or bank the collections, or change the liturgical colours, or help in a myriad of other ways. To them all we give thanks. Jonathan Evans and David Markham
ALPHA COURSE
The 2008 Alpha Course took place between January and April 2008 and was, as usual, stimulating and challenging for everybody involved. Like a good bottle of wine, the quality of hospitality provided by our army of volunteers seems to get better and better with each passing year. Despite the fact that we have been running the course in this small community for over a decade now, there still appears to be a real appetite for the unique opportunity the course provides to explore the Christian faith in a relaxed and informal environment and it is wonderful to see lives being transformed as a result of God’s work through the Alpha course. The leaders of the course would like to extend huge thanks for the overwhelming support that they have yet again received from the wider church community, but also in particular from Lawrence and Gill Evans, who are in many ways the real driving forces behind the operation of the course. David Markham