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Calendar for March 2002

Services in Kingscote

Services in Horsley

• The Church Electoral Roll must be reassembled this year before the Annual Meeting in April. Elin Tattersall has kindly agreed to coordinate this. We like the list to be representative with all church attendees included, but it is in no way exclusive. Completed forms should be returned to Elin at 3 Boxwood Close before 25th March.
• Interviews for our new vicar will take place on Wednesday 20th March in Nailsworth. Georgina Harford and Kay Brightley will represent our parish on the panel. It is expected that the candidates will visit Kingscote during the day and they will be met at the church by representatives of the Altar Guild.
• The Reverend G Dewhurst, a previous vicar, has kindly agreed to take the Good Friday service at 11.00 am on 29th March.
• Forerunner Internet Site www.geocities.com/forerunneruk/
• Diocesan Internet News Site www.glosdioc.org.uk

The Easter Story - St. Luke 23 v 50 to 24 v 9

There was a man named Joseph from Arimathea, a town in Judaea. He was a good and honourable man who was waiting for the coming of the kingdom of God. Although he was a member of the Council, he had not agreed with their decision and action. He went into the presence of Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then he took the body down, wrapped it in a linen sheet, and placed it in a tomb which had been dug out of solid rock and which had never been used. It was Friday, and the Sabbath was about to begin.

The women who had followed Jesus from Galilee went with Joseph and saw the tomb and how Jesus’ body was placed in it. Then they went back home and prepared the spices and perfumes for the body.

On the Sabbath day they rested, as the Law commanded.

Very early on Sunday morning the women went to the tomb, carrying the spices which they had prepared. They found the stone rolled away from the entrance to the tomb, so they went in; but they could not find the body of the Lord Jesus. They stood there puzzled about this, when suddenly two men in bright shining clothes stood by them. Full of fear, the women bowed down to the ground, as the men said to them, "Why are you looking among the dead for one who is alive? He is not here; he has been raised. Remember what he said to you while he was in Galilee: `The Son of Man must be handed over to sinful men, be crucified, and three days later rise to life.' "

Then the women remembered his words, returned from the tomb, and told all these things to the eleven disciples and all the rest. The women were Mary Magdalene, Joanna, and Mary the mother of James; they and the other women with them told these things to the apostles. But the apostles thought that what the women said was nonsense, and did not believe them. But Peter got up and ran to the tomb; he bent down and saw the linen wrappings but nothing else. Then he went back home amazed at what had happened.

His body was never found, and no doubt the embarrassed Jewish authorities searched pretty hard. How did it happen? Science cannot explain it. But for the God who created the universe from nothing, that was, as we smart mortals say, No Problem. Science cannot explain creation either, but that does not prevent us from existing !

Two meetings have been arranged to discuss the BBC series `In the Madhouse' which is an imaginative exploration of the Easter story. Both will commence at 7.30 pm with a light supper. The first meeting is on Tuesday 26th February at Gardeners' Cottage by kind invitation of Sue Bradley-Jones, and the second is on Tuesday 12th March at Ashcroft House by kind invitation of Georgina Harford.

All are welcome and transport can be arranged if required. Please inform Sue and Georgina if you intend to take part. This is a nice opportunity to share ideas and get to know fellow parishioners.

The PCC

Feb 17th to Mar 24th - Lent No flowers

Mar 31st and Apr 7th - Easter Altar Guild and Helpers

Apr 14th and 21st - Mrs W Ingram

Jo Spash

We meet in the Village Hall on Sunday 3rd March at 11.00 am to decorate an egg, make an Easter Garden and take part in other activities linked to the meaning of Easter. All children in the parish are welcome.

The next meeting will be in the Church at 2.30 pm on Wednesday 27th March.

Little to report as the magazine goes to press, since no arrangements have yet been made for March. This will be done when we visit the Rococo Gardens on Friday 22nd February.

Vida Sutton

The next Village Hall event is a Whist Drive on Saturday 30th March. Tim Sage has kindly agreed to organise the evening. The planned start time is 7.30 pm and the entry charge will be £1.00 (under 14's 50p) payable on the night. Refreshments and Raffle tickets can be purchased during the evening.

Mrs Ethel Broomfield (who is the mother of our organist Rosemary and who lives at Windmill cottages) retired at the beginning of February after well over 50 years service in various roles at The Hunters Hall. In the 1940's she regularly helped the then proprietor John Snell to run the bar at the Stroud Subscription Rooms, the most arduous part of which was his frantic driving on the way home. She has become an institution in her time and we congratulate her on this wonderful record of service.

Most of us were agreeably surprised by the effect of the temporary floodlighting during Gift Week in November last year, and several people have asked if we can do anything on a regular basis. Whilst clearly priority must go to the restoration of the building, the transformation of the normally gloomy north side of the church had a very positive effect on the village environment which it would be nice to repeat.

We have received the endorsement of the Parish Council to an application for a local authority Ward Project grant. If we are successful we intend to proceed, subject to obtaining planning permission and Diocesan approval. No funds from the restoration appeal will be used.

Conversations have taken place amongst members of the PCC and the Village Hall Committee, and there appears general agreement that it would be a great pity not to have some event in the village - at least something which the children can enjoy and remember. The problem is that we have not yet hit on a bright idea to pursue.

Time is getting short and we have agreed to have an open meeting in the Village Hall at 8.00 pm on Tuesday 5th March at which all interested can table and discuss proposals. If this happens not to be convenient, please do not be deterred from making contact with one of the groups.

The Editor

If you are a UK taxpayer contributing to the church, for every pound which you donate the government will also donate 28p. This facility applies to `one off' donations as well as to cash and cheques in the Sunday collection. Potentially, this represents a very important increase in our revenue. However, in order for us to claim this extra revenue on a particular donation, we need to be able to attribute the donation to a specific person, and we must have a signed Gift Aid Declaration from that person on file.

You can help us claim this extra revenue by:

1. Signing the Gift Aid Declaration form provided in this Forerunner (if you haven't already signed one in the past) and sending it to Philip Kendell, Seaton House, Bagpath, GL8 8YG, and
2. Putting each donation in a plain envelope with your name on a slip of paper inside, or if you are a regular giver to the Sunday collections using our existing code numbered envelope system. The confidentiality of all donations is scrupulously maintained.

Your Gift Aid Declaration will remain in effect unless rescinded by you, so you don't need to sign more than one.

The Post Office is open on every normal working Tuesday and Thursday :

from 9.00 am to 1.00 pm and from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm.

Mobile Library

The mobile library will be by The Walled Garden from 9.40 am to 9.55 am on Thursdays March 7th and 21st.

The boxes will be emptied as follows:

Newington and Bagpath - Mon. 4th and 18th March.

Kingscote - Tues. 5th and 19th March.

Little feedback has been received on the subject of a joint magazine for the new parish group and John Davis, who is editor of the Nailsworth magazine, has concluded that it is advisable to wait until the new vicar is appointed.

Material for the next issue of the Forerunner please by 20th March to H. Tubbs, 3 The Walled Garden, Tel. 860 194, e-mail: .

We all know about heaven and hell, but in a recent BBC 2 Horizon programme a group of international cosmologists reported how by including the 11th dimension they had been able to calculate that there could be parallel universes to our own where the laws of physics as we know them do not apply. It sounds familiar and clearly some of the contributors to the Bible had similar ideas !

Apparently the idea germinated during a joint train journey from Cambridge to London (duration not reported) so our thanks go out to Railtrack for providing this opportunity for innovative group thinking.

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