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Calendar for February 2001

Services in Kingscote

Services in Horsley

• The Taize Worship group meets in the Lady Chapel on Thursday 1st February. Worship commences at 7.30 pm . The service will be extended to allow a period of meditation to be included. All welcome.
• Lent Meetings will be held at Ashcroft House on the 8th,15th and 22nd Mar. Commencing at 7.30 pm. The discussion theme will be ?Christian Mission from seed to harvest? and the evenings will be preceded by a Lenten Supper. All are very welcome and lifts can be arranged. Contact Georgina.
• The next PCC meeting will be on Monday 26th March at 8.00 pm in the Village Hall.
• Other notices for Kingscote and Bagpath can be seen on the www.UKVillages.com website (the link for the noticeboard appears on the left hand side a few seconds after you click here). You can also post your own notices on the noticeboard.

Diocesan Internet News Site www.glosdioc.org.uk

The Vicar's Letter

Dear All,

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the former USSR will be long remembered. Its effects continue. Hundreds have already paid with their lives, many of whom struggled heroically to control the radiation. One of these was a helicopter pilot, sent to extinguish the smouldering giant, bombarding it with sand. It was David against Goliath. The radiation was intense at that closeness, and from his exposure the pilot inevitably contracted leukaemia. To save his life a bone marrow transplant was urgently needed. A worldwide appeal was launched for a donor. Hospitals were contacted. Their computers were scanned and their records scoured in an effort to locate a suitable donor. The name of a French woman was found. She was approached. She agreed to donate bone marrow anonymously. It was now a race against the clock. She was operated on in France. A plane stood by to fly the bone marrow to the United States where the pilot had been flown for his life-saving operation. In spite of a successful operation the pilot died shortly afterwards, from lung failure. The woman?s sacrifice seemed to have been all for nothing.

Sacrifices, such as hers, cannot be measured in human terms. Even the pilot?s heroic efforts probably contributed little or nothing towards stopping the spread of the deadly radiation. Sacrifice, like prayer, is an end in itself. True, there are parents who make huge sacrifices for the welfare of their children. The net results in human terms may not amount to much, but there is no denying the efficacy of their Sacrifice. Sacrifices never fail. In the world of the human spirit they are mountain peaks conquered on our pilgrimage towards God.

On the last day of this month we begin the season of Lent. Lent is a season traditionally proposed by the church for making sacrifices. Perhaps as children we gave up sweets or sugar in tea for Lent. The more stalwart graduated as adults into giving up alcohol or cigarettes. This is perhaps no longer in fashion. Some have suggested that this was anti-social and inhibitive. It made us irritable. Others thought it more practical to make a contribution to the Third World. That is to confuse charity with sacrifice. Christ already gave his answer to Judas on that: The poor you have always with you.

If there was anything wrong with our old Lenten sacrifices it was probably that we set our sights too low. We were not made of the stuff of Abraham. We were not prepared to ?sacrifice our Isaacs?. We all have our ?Isaacs?. It is the only child we are not prepared to sacrifice. It may be as little as an office perk, a special project, a status symbol or a seat on the board. Whatever it is, we have inflated its importance in our life. We clutch on to it as if our lives depended on it. It is what gives us our ulcers and steals our night?s sleep. It makes our homes tense and our work intolerable. It poisons our relationships. It makes for some very dubious friends and very certain enemies. If we are to follow Abraham up the mountain this Lent, we must be prepared to sacrifice this ?Isaac?. Only then will the Lord say to us as he said to Abraham: "Because you have done this, because you have not refused me your son, your only son, I will shower blessings on you".

God bless,

John Newcombe

Feb 4th and 11th - Mrs J Bateman

Feb 18th and 25th - Mrs W Ingram

Mar 4th to Apr 8th Lent - No Flowers

All children from the parish are welcome to join in with the games and activities in our Sunday Club. Meet on Sunday 4th February at 11.00 am in the Village Hall. (Under 3?s welcome with accompanying adult).

Our next meeting will be for Church cleaning at 2.30 pm on February 21st.

On January 11th six ladies braved the cold to travel to Wotton for the Pantomime ?Old King Cole?. It was well worth the effort, the cast worked so hard to entertain us.

The next meeting will be at Jane Bateman?s home, ?Bumpers Isle?, Bagpath. This will be our AGM so please Ladies bring your ideas for the coming year?s programme.

This is a belated acknowledgement and thanks to the Wooldridge, Brightly and Candy families, whose combined cycling efforts last September raised £70, half of which went to the Gloucestershire Historic Churches Trust and half to St. John?s Kingscote. Other members of the parish also took part, and everyone?s contribution to the GHCT from the bike ride will help with the upkeep of our beautiful old churches.

Sue Bradley-Jones

The Parish Council recently received a letter from the Gloucestershire County Council seeking help in carrying out a review of the current Mobile Library routes. They are anxious to ensure that stops are provided in the most appropriate places. At present the Library visits the Walled Garden on alternate Thursdays, which seems a convenient central point in Kingscote.

However any comments or suggestions for revision, to be received before the end of February please, would be welcome and will be passed on by the Parish Council.

Bob Smith

The Village Hall Committee met on Wednesday 10th January. In the course of this meeting further consideration was given to the Programme of Events for the coming months:

Teams of up to four contestants each are invited to contest the ?Kingscote Quiz Champagne Challenge?. Children are welcome, and a special ?Under 12 Quiz? (with prize!) will take place prior to the open event.

Soup and bread etc will be supplied under the ticket price of £10 per team. Tea and coffee will also be available. Those wishing to enjoy alcoholic refreshment are invited to bring their own drinks. Flyers and posters (see parish notice-boards) will be circulated with full details. A raffle will be held with generous prizes. Any queries contact Ben Bennett Richard Dalziel.

Whist Drives were for many years a key feature in the social life of the Village and the Committee has responded to popular demand in scheduling a ?Drive? in March. Please put this date in your diaries. Further information in due course.

Mike Waite has invited a number of friends to perform acoustic sets over the course of the evening. Anybody who has attended previous Events where ?Mike and friends? have played will be aware that they can expect musicianship of the highest quality. Please put this date in your diary. Further information available in due course.

The Committee discussed a host of ideas for the Fete, including music, all day bar, barbecue, and a range of games/entertainments. Further information available in due course.

Village Hall Committee

A march in London has been organised to protest against the Government?s lack of understanding of and interest in the countryside, and to show the strength of feeling against the proposal to criminalise hunting with dogs. The Berkeley Hunt has chartered a number of buses to take marchers to London, at least one of which will be leaving from Hunters Hall. These buses will leave at 8.00 am and everyone who wishes to go is welcome. The cost of the fare has been set at £10 per adult and £5 for children.

If you would like to go, please contact Tim Sage to book a seat. The Beaufort Hunt will also be taking at least 40 buses, but their plans are not yet finalised. The nearest departure point to Kingscote is likely to be Long Newnton. If you would rather go on a Beaufort bus, this can also be arranged by ringing the above number.

If you are unable to come on the march, but would like to register your support for it, you can ring 0906 788 1680 (calls will be charged at £1 per minute).

Tim Sage

The Kingscote Millennium Committee closed its accounts on 31st December at the end of a year which saw a celebration of the history of Kingscote by way of the 1st July Millennium History Day, the publication of a book ?The Village of Kingscote in Recent History? and a CD ROM entitled ?Kingscote Photo Archive Past and Present?.

80 copies of the two £5 editions of the book and 52 copies of the £25 ?de luxe? book have been sold, along with 21 copies of the CD ROM. Copies of the book have been deposited at the Library and at the Records Office in Gloucester. The CD ROM is to be found in the Gloucestershire Photographic Archive in the Records Office.

The Event and publications associated with the Millennium celebration were never designed as ?fundraisers? as it was from the outset the Committee?s goal to see the maximum involvement of local people, consistent only with the need to break even. Thanks to the healthy sales of the publications, various generous donations and most particularly the thirst of the 70 people who attended the Millennium Day Barbecue (!), there is a ?profit? of £600 to be distributed.

£400 has been given to the Village Hall Management Committee and £200 to the Parochial Church Council.

It is a source of considerable satisfaction to the Committee that Kingscote has been able to fund its own Millennium activities/publications purely within the local community and has not had to rely on the support of outside bodies. Many thanks to all those local people who attended Millennium Day and likewise thanks to those who purchased the publications and together made this possible.

David Brightly and Tony Wooldridge

(I am sure that I speak for the PCC and the whole village when I thank David and Tony and their helpers for the huge effort which they put in which has enriched our community in so many ways. The Editor)

The mobile library will be by The Walled Garden from 9.40 am to 9.55 am on Thursdays February 8th and 22nd.

The boxes will be emptied as follows:

Newington and Bagpath - Mondays 5th and 19th February.

Kingscote - Tuesdays 6th and 20th February.

Costs: For logistics reasons the January magazine had to be printed commercially, costing £15 for the two sheet issue. This reminds us of the gratitude which we owe to our normal printers (formally Tony Reynolds, presently Geoffrey Higgins) who produce the magazine free of charge. The editor regards it as his duty to keep each issue as compact as possible, consistent with providing a service to the parish for local announcements.

Contributions: When the quantity of essential material pushes the magazine over to three sheets, then a surplus of space is available. In order to avoid circulating blank paper, contributions from the parish (young or old) would be welcome. Anything which will interest or amuse our readers will be considered for inclusion when space is free.

March Issue: Contributions please by 20th February to Harry Tubbs, 3 The Walled Garden, Tel. 860 194, Email

(We have space to spare this month so the editor has added the material below for your interest)

Extracts from: The Diary of a Cotswold Parson - Reverend F.E.Witts

1783-1854, Edited by David Very, Sutton Publishing, Stroud.

September 29th, 1826.

They say the march of intellect is wonderful these days. Men navigate by steam, tram carts travel by steam; but this is nothing to the present fashion of travelling by paper kites. To-day we witnessed the experiment made at Gloucester. For some days I had noticed two large paper kites hovering over the town. They were hoisted by a schoolmaster who amused himself with mechanical pursuits, letting off balloons etc. The wind being westerly, was favourable for an excursion to Cheltenham so he orders out his gig, or rather I think it was a four wheeled chair, attaches it to two paper kites, mounts with two or three companies and away they go, not very rapidly, not at a very regular pace, but progressing. The corners are turned cleverly by the charioteer sitting on a kind of dickey, beneath which the string of his kites is wound round a cylinder acted on by a winch. As for the kites they are careering steadily, one considerably in advance of the other, and at a much greater height. The chord attached to the further passes through the centre of the nearer, so one chord is attached to both, and both work in the same direction, thus double power is gained. The drive to Cheltenham was no doubt safely accomplished as we set out soon after and did not overtake them.

We stopped at Cheltenham for half an hour and walked to the Montpellier Spa to view a very magnificent room which Mr Pearson Thompson has erected. We found it a very fine edifice surmounted by a dome covered in copper. The space beneath is circular and fitted up with great taste and simplicity. There are, I believe, four fireplaces and above them mirrors. It is used as a promenade, and fashion now consecrates it as her throne to the depreciation of the assembly rooms, the balls there being eclipsed by the quadrilles here, at which visitors are not expected to appear in ball dresses?.and speculating matrons chaperoning fair and elegant but slenderly endowed nymphs with taper waists, and elderly bachelors from the banks of the Ganges with injured livers and bilious complexion, smile their approbation.

30th April, 1830

Early after breakfast Mr Rens (the accountant of the Stow Provident Bank, and Edward?s French tutor) and I set out for Cheltenham. The morning was spent walking about to the gratification of my friend, who, though he had formed a very favourable idea of Cheltenham from the descriptions which he had heard, found the reality to exceed his expectations. It was a belle ville, Londres en miniature, des superbes boutiques, des promenades magnifiques etc. In fact to a stranger it is an interesting and exciting place; the town and country are so happily combined, gay equipages, well dressed people, riding, driving, and walking about, the bustle of the street, and the liveliness of the scene are calculated to attract. In the evening we took a pleasant walk in the fields to Sandford.

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