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Calendar for May 2001

Services in Kingscote

Services in Horsley

• The Taize Worship group meets in the Lady Chapel on Thursday 3rd May. Worship commences at 7.30 pm . All are very welcome.
• The Archdeacon’s Visitation for all churchwardens from this and neighbouring deaneries will be held on Wednesday 9th May at 7.30 pm at Fairford Parish Church.
• Thank you to Rod and Jenny for producing and donating the new service booklets, containing the Common Worship order 1 Communion and our revised Family Service. We are all delighted with them and most grateful.
• Forerunner Internet Site www.geocities.com/forerunneruk/
• Diocesan Internet News Site www.glosdioc.org.uk

The Vicar’s Letter

Dear All,

One solitary memory has survived from my earliest childhood. Perhaps it was the trauma that etched it so deeply in my memory. I can’t have been much more than two years old at the time. I was with my mother in a crowded supermarket. As we walked along the aisle, I saw something on the shelf which grabbed my attention. I stopped. My mother, fully engrossed in the weekly shopping, carried on walking. Soon she disappeared from sight. As soon as it dawned on me that my mother had apparently abandoned me, I panicked. I bawled uncontrollably, refusing to be smothered into silence by a host of soothing women. Eventually, after what seemed to be an eternity - though it could not have been more than a few minutes - my mother returned. Having given me a sound ticking off for not keeping up with her, she took me in her arms, and still sobbing convulsively, I was carried off to the sweet stand, where with the help of a bar of chocolate my tears and fears were finally banished. It was my first experience of abandonment.

I have grown up since then, but I have not outgrown my fears. In fact they too have grown with me. We are all fear-ridden animals, and most of our fears are self inflicted. We are usually afraid of something all of the time and everything some of the time. And so we grow, afraid of the dark and its ghosts, afraid of failure and its punishments, afraid of rejection and its isolation. No sooner have we outdistanced one, than we encounter another, even more chilling. The unconscious is inhabited by many-headed monsters with exotic names, who try to waylay us in our stressful moments. Fear stalks us through our adult life, showing its fangs in every crisis. We can be haunted by all sorts of spectres, from the irrational to the impossible, from the unexpected to the improbable, from addiction to bankruptcy, from disgrace and dismissal to loss of livelihood. We are condemned to surviving battles without ever ending the war.

Christ reads us well. "Do not be afraid !" he told Jairus, who feared that his daughter was dead. He said the same to Peter when he promised to make him ‘a fisher of men’, to his disciples as he launched them on their mission. Small wonder that he rounded on them when they disturbed his badly needed sleep during a storm, with the rebuke, "Why are you so frightened ? How is it that you have no faith ?". "Do not be afraid", God’s messenger said, when he broke the news to Mary of her awesome pregnancy and when he persuaded Joseph to assume his responsibilities. When the child was born, the shepherds, first to hear the good news, were warned not to be afraid. Christ came to dispel fear as well as darkness. And, when he quit the tomb, the message he left there for his disciples was not to be afraid. Two thousand years later, in one famous speech, when panic spread like a forest fire through the United States, a president tried to calm his people with the same message. "You have nothing to fear", he said, "except fear itself".

Inside each one of us, there is a little lost child who is afraid of being abandoned. God does not sleep through our crises. He does not leave us, even momentarily.

God bless,

John Newcombe

Church Flowers

May 6th - Mrs C Bennett

May 13th and 20th - Mrs S Spandler

May 27th - Mrs E Tattersall

June 3rd and 10th Whitsun -Altar Guild and helpers

Jo Spash

Meet at the Village Hall on Sunday 6th May at 11.00 am. All children are welcome.

I need to give an explanation as to why the Altar Guild make a yearly charitable donation to some other cause than the Church which we chiefly support. When the Guild was formed the founders committed themselves to an annual donation to a local worthy cause, and I have checked this fact with a founder member. As farmers are suffering such distress at the moment we are giving them our support, and have donated £100 to their fund. We are heeding the old saying "A little help is worth a lot of pity".

Our next meeting will be at the Church on Wednesday 16th May at 2.30 pm when we hope to carry out some timber treatment.

On the 27th of March we enjoyed a lovely evening at Ann Hillam’s home, where we all read our favourite poems. Variety was the spice of life, and indeed our Chief Grumbler had written her own poem which you can see on a later page of the Forerunner.

On May the 8th at 7.30 pm our Hostess for the evening will be Doris Highfield, when we will visit her home ‘The Glen’ at Nailsworth for a social evening and American supper. Members please bring along a food contribution towards the meal. Travel arrangements to be made between members.

Vida Sutton

The Annual Parish Assembly for the Year 2001 will be held in the Village Hall on Monday 21st May commencing at 7.00 pm. All adult residents of Newington, Bagpath and Kingscote are welcome to take part. This will be followed by the Annual General Meeting of the Kingscote Parish Council.

Bob Smith

Find out what is going on in your area for young people on Friday 18th May at Sir William Romney’s Community School playing fields from 6.30 pm to 8.30 pm, ending with a disco at the Leisure Centre until 10.00 pm.

Caroline Edwards

Mobile Library

The mobile library will be by The Walled Garden from 9.40 am to 9.55 am on Thursdays May 3rd, 17th and 31st.

The boxes will be emptied as follows:

Newington and Bagpath - Mon. 30th April, 14th May and Tues. 29th May.

Kingscote - Tues. 1st and 15th, and Wed. 30th May.

Contributions for the next issue please by 20th May to Harry Tubbs, 3 The Walled Garden, Tel. 860 194, Email

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name;
thy kingdom come;
thy will be done;
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation;
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
the power and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

The Churchyard

The mowing season is upon us once more, and we would appreciate any help available in keeping this important feature of the village tidy and attractive. Volunteers may wish to take on a particular patch, or either mow or strim where it is most necessary at any given time. For further information or guidance please contact Lutz.

Once again we ask that those dismantling floral arrangements in the church or on memorials do not put plastic waste on the compost heap. There is a waste bin outside the church gate.

We have a few stamps from our globe-trotting daughter which we would like to give to a young stamp collector in the village.

Tim and Irene Sage

Now that we can't do the walk,
How about we meet and talk,
And maybe eat a little too?
It seems it's what we like to do.

Don't let the F&M stop all our fun.
We know it's serious for everyone,
But just to meet and chew the fat
Might stop us all being doo-lally tap.

The theatre surely must be on,
Until this beastly thing is gone.
Curtail the walks, and outings too,
We'll get together for a brew.

Jane Bateman

Important announcement from the Gloucestershire Rural Community Council

Help for Farmers in Stress

With the current Foot and Mouth crisis please be aware of the following confidential help for all in the farming community and rural areas

Advice and guidance

National Foot and Mouth Helpline 0845 050 4141 (8 am - 11 pm)

Rural Stress Information Network 024 7641 2916 (Mon-Fri 8.30 am-4.30 pm)

Gloucester County Council Emergency Line 01452 427 777

Citizen's Advice Bureau 01285 652 908

National Helpline for Businesses in Rural Areas 0800 1381 647 (Mon-Fri 5 pm-8 pm)

Business Rates Relief - Cotswold District Council 01285 643 643

Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution 01865 727 888 (Weekdays 9 am-5 pm/4.30 pm Fridays)

Inland Revenue and Customs and Excise 0845 300 0157 (8 am-midnight)

Farm Crisis Network 0700 232 6326 (7 pm-10 pm)

Cotswold Counselling and Support Centre 01285 885 830 (Mon-Fri 10 am-12 noon)

The Samaritans 0845 790 9090 (24 hrs)

www.detr.gov.uk Department of Environment, Transport and the Regions

www.maff.gov.uk Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Fisheries

www.countryside.gov.uk The Countryside Agency

GRCC, Community House, 15 College Green, Gloucester, GL1 2LZ, Tel. 01452 528 491, Fax. 01452 528 493, e-mail [email protected]

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