From the Vicarage,

A few weeks ago I went with some members of the Mothers’ Union to see a dramatisation of the life of Mary Sumner. Mary was, as many of you are probably aware, the founder of Mothers’ Union and their first President.

It was a very good presentation and as I reflected upon her life, two things struck me that I would like to share with you.

Firstly, Mary had great determination and faith. She worked tirelessly to achieve her vision and what she achieved was phenomenal.

Secondly, I was really impressed by her husband and friends. They were so supportive and encouraging and I think that without them she may not have been so successful.

The presentation reminded me that whenever we want to achieve something then we need to encourage and help each other.  If we want our church and community to thrive then we should try to support fund raising events and new ventures.

 If we are able, we should visit those who are unwell and support those we know who are in need of help. If we have creative ideas then we should share them with each other. Like Mary we need to ask God to help us and bravely step out in faith.

As we prepare for the Christmas Season maybe we could all pray for someone we know and then invite them to come along to a social event or service?

Our church fellowship will only grow if we all reach out to others.

Thank you to all those who prepared and served the delicious Harvest Supper and to those who decorated our church for Harvest. The church looked beautiful.  

God bless,     Tim and Norma

Extracts From The

Parish Magazine

Lesson Readers

If you are unavailable on your allocated date, please arrange to change with someone else.

Sidesmen Rota

From the Registers

Baptism

Connie Blissett 14th October

Wedding
Scott Larsen and Kathryn Beardmore 19th  October

Funerals
Alan Breese, 73 10th October

Sydney Broadhusrt, 88 10th October

Items for inclusion in the next month’s magazine should be

sent to Judith Dewdney by the 20th November.

30 Henbury Rise Henbury

Tel:-  01625 439753 email:- judith.torview@gmail.com

Pastoral Care

If you know of anyone who you think would benefit from a visit by one of our Pastoral Care Team, please contact Tim or Norma (425510), Carole (611477), Christine (511784) or Linda (424505).

MOTHERS’ UNION

This month sees us take part in 16 Days of Activism which runs from 25th November (International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women) until 10th December (International Human Rights Day).  This time is important to our organisation as our members from all over the world engage in vigils, hold church services and other campaigns to raise awareness of the issues of gender based violence.

Thinking more about the plight of others was brought home to me recently when I was fortunate to attend the preview of “Journey Into Light”, an exhibition of artwork produced by prisoners from HMPs Styal and Thorncross both of which we, as an organisation, support through our prisoner release bags, Christmas cards and other initiatives.  I also acted as steward on the first morning of the exhibition on the Tuesday and was overwhelmed by the response of the people coming to view the fantastic exhibits.  Offering people programmes and explaining to them what the exhibition was about, I got to chat with several people.  One couple had heard the interview of a former offender involved in the exhibition on the radio that morning and had felt the need to travel from Birkenhead straight away to view it.  The male told me he was a former offender and had served 21 years for the importation of drugs and whilst in prison he had started to paint on his bed sheets.  He had become involved in the chaplaincy within the prison who had supported him and he had eventually held an exhibition of his paintings and on his release he opened up his own art gallery and has never looked back.  One lady, whose son was currently in HMP Thorncross, had been told by him that he had a picture and a table and chair in the exhibition so had come along to have a look.  She was so proud and had every right to be; the works were amazing.   Two ladies came to me on separate occasions to ask for extra copies of the programme.  One lady explained she was a recovering alcoholic and wanted to take the extra programme to her meetings to show others what was possible.  The second lady explained she was addicted to food and attended AA meetings because there was not a meeting suitable for her addiction. She also wanted the extra catalogue to take and show people at the meetings she attends.   One lady who was very moved by the exhibition explained to me that she should have been doing jury service that day but had received a telephone call to say she was not needed so she had come into Chester instead.  Seeing the exhibition had altered her perspective and she was not sure whether she would be capable of making a decision when she had to sit the next day.  I told her that it was probably fate/God that had brought her to the Cathedral and it would probably help her to make a better decision and give her a better understanding of the Defendant and the case.  She was comforted by this and came back a little later to thank me and apologise for being so upset, which I told her was not at all necessary.  One gentleman from outside Cardiff said that their coach tour had visited the Tate Modern in Liverpool the previous day and it had done nothing for him at all but that this exhibition had moved him totally and he was so impressed by the quality of the work and the stories behind the pictures.   One of the pictures that reminds me of our 16 days of activism is called “Domestic” and is the outline of a female body with “Domestic Violence isn’t always Physical” written around the outside and other phrases such as “you’re ugly and fat”, “scared”, “all alone”, “look what you made me do” and “I’m not worth it” written within the frame of the body.  Very thought provoking.

I am sorry to go on so much but it is difficult to explain how privileged I felt that so many people wanted to open up to me and tell me their story.  I came home totally exhausted both physically and emotionally but it was well worth it.  This exhibition will be touring around the Chester Diocese over the next twelve months and up to now over 30 churches have booked it.  One couple were from St. Peter’s Church, Congleton where the exhibition will appear some time next June and they just wanted to see what it all involved in preparation so if you are able I would urge you to go and visit this next year in Congleton.  By the time this goes to print some members will have viewed the programme at our October meeting but there is nothing quite like seeing the paintings in reality.

Two days after attending the exhibition 9 members from our Branch attended the production of “Chosen” in Sale, which is the story of Mary Sumner our founder.  Even though I have now seen it three times it was still very moving and I know those who saw it for the first time thoroughly enjoyed it.

An Addition  After this was written, we discovered that the exhibition  will be on display in
St Michael’s Church from 21st November to 3rd December.

DIARY DATES NOVEMBER 2018

Thurs 8th Nov – Monthly Meeting -  Speaker Elaine Ecuzner – Gift Wrapping Ideas

Refreshments:  Anne Potts & Rita Russell  
Raffle & Table Flowers: Anne Potts  
Vote of Thanks: Judith Dewdney

Fri 9th Nov – Provincial Service in York Minster 11 a.m.

Sat. 17th Nov – MU Diocesan Council at The Church Centre, Hartford commencing at 10 a.m.  Everyone welcome. This will be the last Diocesan meeting of this triennium so it would be great to have a good attendance.  Hopefully there will be a presentation of MULOA which you should find very interesting.

Flower Guild

HARVEST THANK YOUS:

Thank you to the flower ladies for decorating the Church so beautifully in readiness for our Harvest Festival.

Thank you to everyone who kindly donated harvest gifts. These were very much appreciated by those who received them. Thank you to St Thomas’ Entertainments’ Committee for all their hard work in organising, preparing and serving this year's Harvest Supper.

FLOWER ROTA

2nd November   All Saints Day (Carnations)   Jean

9th November Remembrance     Chris and Jean

23rd November        Lynne

30th November      Chris and Chris Advent Ring

14th Dec all       Christmas flowers

Harvest

Thank you to Jean Lysons who donated money towards the  Harvest flowers. As you know, with very few children we rely on the baskets of flowers from church to take out to the sick and elderly. The pastoral care team took out the harvest gifts and the people were so delighted to receive their harvest flowers.

Thanks go to Anne Potts for the display of fruit on the cupboard behind the font. Also thank you to my Dad, Alf Mottershead for letting me cut his Dahlias.  Thank you too to Roy Waller for the donation of Vegetables in memory of his parents.      

My last “thank you” is to the ladies who every year decorate the church for Harvest. We are very lucky to have a very talented team of arrangers, who, I hope, enjoy coming to arrange the beautiful flowers with their vibrant colours, producing such a wonderful display for you to enjoy, in the knowledge that they will then be going out to the sick and housebound for them to enjoy .

Lynne Hibbert

St Thomas Fundraising

Over the last three months, people at St Thomas’ Church in Henbury have been fundraising for four local charities - Cr8, Friends for Leisure, Just Drop In and The Rossendale Trust.

In return for a small fee, members of the congregation were able to choose a favourite hymn for inclusion in the church services. This activity raised £155, which was added to the £145 donated in return for refreshments after the services. The four charities were all delighted to hear that they would each be receiving an equal share of the total £300 raised.
Many thanks to everyone involved in these fundraising activities.