Latest News and Dates for your Diary

For your Diary - Frebruary 2011

1/2

10.30

Drop in for coffee and a chat, East Witton Parish Room

2/2

10.00

Marydale Discussion Group

8/2

7.30pm

East Witton Church Committee meeting, Parish Room

21/2

3.45pm
7.30pm

The Tuesday Trekkers, Middleham School
Alpha Course

22/2

10.00am
10.30am

Ash Wednesday Service, Middleham
Drop in for coffee and a chat, East Witton Parish Room

12-2.00

Lent Lunch, East Witton Parish Room

7.30pm

Ash Wednesday Service, East Witton

28/2

3.15pm
7.30pm

Children’s Confirmation Group
Alpha Course

29/2

2.00pm

Bridge Assembly, East Witton Parish Room

CONFIRMATION & ALPHA COURSE

Confirmation classes for children and adults and the Alpha Course are starting soon.  If this is something God is calling you to do please contact Dave May, 01969 623717.  The date of the Confirmation Service is 29 April.

ADVERTISEMENTS FOR 2012

We have new advertisements for the coming year - please take time to have a look through.  Without our advertisers, Bridge wouldn’t exist - so thank you once again.

Do you live in the Parishes of Middleham,  Coverdale, East Witton or Thornton Steward?

Would you like someone to talk to? Do you know someone who would appreciate a visit?

Within our churches a small group of people have been trained to visit the housebound, ill, lonely, new mums and dads, those in hospital or care homes.  We offer a friendly face and a listening ear.  All of our volunteers have received training and are CRB checked.  All visits will of course be in strictest confidence.   For further information, or to arrange a visit, please call David May 01969 623717, Joan Leighton 01969 622113,  or Yvonne Callaghan 01969 620206

Middleham Rectory
The Springs
Middleham
DL8 4RB
01969 620206
y.callaghan1@btinternet.com

Dear Friends,

Is it just me or is there a global negativity around, which is drawing businesses, governments and individuals into thinking that doom and gloom is all that 2012 and beyond offers us?

Yes we have to live through the impact of the financial crisis, which does indeed affect each of us, with welfare reforms impacting on the most vulnerable in our society, youth unemployment at an all time high and services being cut to account for the massive cuts in government funding.  That is not however, the entire picture.  Alongside the reality of the financial situation, we have a reality that 2012 promises to be a year of memorable events, nationally and locally.

We have the Olympic Games in London, which will bring millions of people into the UK, who will hopefully spend millions, not just at the games but on visiting the rest of the country, thereby improving the economy.   We are fortunate to have the Olympic Torch party coming through Leyburn on June 20th.  There will be events planned to welcome the torch and the torchbearer, keep an eye out for the publicity about this once in a lifetime event.

We have the Queen's Diamond jubilee, which is being celebrated in many ways, from a new Royal Barge, with a river pageant on the Thames, accompanied by many choirs.  There are plans for beacons on church roofs throughout the commonwealth, in towns and villages.  Plans for street parties and many local celebrations.  Plus an extra bank holiday on June 5th!

On a local level, we look forward to the appointment of a new Rector and to many events which have been planned throughout the church communities of Middleham, Coverdale, East Witton and Thornton Steward.  The bi-centenary celebrations at East Witton, Open Gardens and Swaledale Festival events at Middleham to name a few.  Again, keep an eye on the advertising.

There is a passage from Hebrews, 10:25, which I use with the children in their confirmation groups, “Let us not give up on meeting together as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another, which is what being a community is all about,   So I do wish you a happy new year, where in spite of the financial situation, I pray that each one of us looks to the future with hope and anticipation, whilst caring for our friends and neighbours.

The Tuesday Trekkers

for all primary aged children.
3.15-4.30pm in Middleham School Hall Tuesday 21 February
Please speak to Karen Newsam 01969 622395 for more details. 
A Christian after-School Club run jointly by the Methodist and Anglican Churches in the area.

MARYDALE DISCUSSION GROUP

will meet on Thursday February 2nd at 10am.

Our next session is  ‘The Christian Difference’ at Marydale, Kingsley Drive, Middleham.   All welcome

Bridge Assembly

2pm on Wednesday 29 February
East Witton Parish Room. All welcome

COMING SOON

MIDDLEHAM  11-16   DROP-IN

IF YOU COULD SPARE A FEW HOURS A MONTH
AND ARE INTERESTED IN VOLUNTEERING AT THIS NEW GROUP,
PLEASE CONTACT SAM WOODGATE ON 07885 500848 OR samlwyp@live.co.uk

WHAT IS HAPPENING DURING THE INTERREGNUM

Middleham, Coverdale, East Witton & Thornton Steward
By the time you read this the deadline for applications from within the Diocese will have passed.  We will then know if any of the enquiries received by the Archdeacon have become formal applications.  If no suitable applications from within the Diocese are received, then a national advertisement will appear in the Church Times and the Church of England Newspaper.  This will delay the appointment process.

The interview dates are:
14 February - 7.30pm informal social gathering at East Witton Parish Room where PCC members are able to meet the applicants.
15 February - formal interviews involving Bishop James, Archdeacon Janet, Patrons, Area Dean, Deanery Lay Chair and Parish representatives.  Please pray for those involved in the making the appointment.

Yvonne
After some months of uncertainty, Yvonne began her sick leave on Friday the 20th January, going into hospital on Saturday 28th with the transplant taking place on the 1st of February.  Please do continue to pray for Yvonne and her sister Gillian throughout this process.  For all parish matters during this time, please do contact your individual church warden, whose details can be found on the church web site or in the Bridge Magazine.

Meanwhile, thanks again to our Readers, Neil and Dave, and also to the Reverends Allan Sirman and Graham Dear for ensuring that all our services proceed as normal.  In addition, the Reverend Richard Cooper, newly moved to Middleham, has agreed to help out.  Thank you also to Foye Fairhall who is also helping out with our services.

Bishop John is coming into the parish for Holy Week and Easter Sunday.  On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings he will lead Compline and meditation at East Witton, Horsehouse and Thornton Steward.  On Maundy Thursday he will preside at the Service and stripping of the altar at Middleham, and on Friday, 2pm to 3 pm, The Hour on the Cross at East Witton.  On Easter Day he will preside at our Easter Communion Services at Thornton Steward and Horsehouse.

In addition, Bishop James is to preside at Ash Wednesday Communion on 22 February - 10am at Middleham and 7pm at East Witton.

The Archdeacon of Richmond, the Venerable Janet Henderson, will be taking three of our services on 19 February: at Middleham, Horsehouse and East Witton

Interregnum Prayer
Dear Lord, call to our churches a true Shepherd, a woman or man of God, a minister of Christ, and make us, with him or her, a church joyful in worship and united in witness, working, caring, praising, loving, to the glory of your Name, through Christ Our Lord.  Amen

EAST WITTON NEWS

The February “Drop- ins” are on 1st and 22nd at 10.30, in the Parish Room, for an hour. Do call for a cuppa and a chat - all are welcome.

Lent Lunch is also on 22nd February in the Parish Room, 12.00 until 2.00. The money raised will go to Christian Aid.

There will be a Church Committee Meeting on 8th February, again in the Parish Room and at 7.30pm.

The Joint Church Cleaning Session is Monday 20th February. Meet at the Church at 2.00pm . We spend an hour cleaning the Church . Please come if you can spare an hour you will be most welcome.

“A big thank you” to all who supported the Church Christmas Fair -£481 was made for Church funds. The winner of the “Bible Bear” game was Elizabeth Bourke who guessed “Malachi” as his name.

EAST WITTON DECEMBER 2011    By Judy Metcalfe.

December, bringing 2011 to a festive close.  The Church Christmas Fair was a great success, many thanks to all who supported and helped at this. It was lovely to see Hugh and Rosemary Le Messurier there.

Our W.I. Christmas Lunch was held at the Bolton Arms, Redmire. This was greatly enjoyed and presents were exchanged at the close. Only one of our members was unable to attend. We now look forward to our 2012 programme.

A lovely warm glowing sight greeted many of us as we entered the Chapel for their Candlelight Carol Service. Ruth welcomed us, led the Service and was also the Organist. Readings were given and carols sung. We enjoyed the polished musical and poetry performances give by Michael and Stephan Brown, Annabel Simpson, Ruth and Nathan Jackson, Lucy, Mary and Michael Dent and Annabel and Eleanor Gerard. £127 was collected for Children’s charities. Drinks and mince-pies were served at the close then all the young ones had great fun blowing the candles out.

The last 2011 “Drop-in” coffee morning was held on the 21st. We really look forward to this get-together every 3 weeks. Many thanks to Gillian, Margaret and Muir who welcome us and serve the coffee. Thank you also to Diane who always displays her attractive hand-made greeting cards for us to purchase.

Carol singing took place on 3 fine nights. The singers sincerely thank you all for your generous giving and to all who provided us with drinks and food. £750 was raised and shared between the Children’s Ward at the Friarage Hospital and the upkeep of St. John’s Churchyard.

The Church was beautifully decorated for the Christmas services. The first being the Crib Service. This is very special having so many little ones present - taking part as Shepherds, Kings, Wise-men or Angels. It was lovely to have Simon and Emma Crack (nee Smith) as Joseph and Mary and their daughter Alice as baby Jesus. Each child was given a tangerine and chocolate Santa on leaving Church. Gillian was the Organist at this service and at Midnight Communion. This service was taken by the Reverend Dalton. Pam singing “Candle Light Carol” during Communion was a very special treat for us all.

2011 came to a close with very mild weather.

We welcome all new-comers to the village and we give special thanks to all who organise and run events for us to enjoy. We have a bumper leap year ahead of us to look forward to - “Drop-In” coffee mornings, Quiz night, Lent Lunch, St John’s Church bi-centenary celebrations, Her Majesty’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations and a new Rector.

We wish Joyce, Ted and Joan better health this year. They were missed at our Christmas events. Our love, thoughts and prayers will be with Yvonne and her family during the coming months.

We were very sorry to hear of the death of Roland Handley, our thoughts and prayers are with Sheila family.  Roland brought many people for teas in the Parish room as part of his coach trips. This raised a considerable amount for the church and the Parish room. We send our love and good wishes to Sheila.

THORNTON STEWARD NEWS

We had two lovely services in the Christmas period both were very well attended.  The Candlelit Carol service was a joy. Everyone enjoyed the carols and the readings. We were honoured to have the Venerable Janet Henderson with us and she gave the address.  Her husband Dave took some lovely photos of the church, both outside and inside, and has kindly sent them to us. Alex Fawcett and family took over my duties on Christmas Day as I was away and I gather they did a really good job, so my thanks to them.  Also, thanks to Patrick Earle for playing the organ.  Happy New Year to one and all.  Joan.

COVERDALE  NEWS

Extracts from previous editions of the Parish Magazine, courtesy of Mike Keeble, East Witton

EAST WITTON PARISH JULY 1910.

This week the Reverend Canon George Watts Garrod was inducted and instituted to the living in the Parish of East Witton by The Lord Bishop of Ripon attended by the Arch Deacon and nine local vicars, the patron of the living Mr Hector Christie and four church wardens including the powerful agent for the Jervaulx Estate Mr John Maughan.
This was both a legal and ecclesiastical ceremony to which all the village and outlying farmers went. However the new vicar will not be living amongst his flock until extensive alterations and decorations have been completed much of which will be carried out by Mr Christies estate staff under the direction of the agent. In the meantime the vicar will visit at weekends preaching at two services, attending Sunday School, in which he needs a better attendance, and he will be going over to the chapel in Colsterdale on occasional afternoons.
The bells rang a merry peal before and after the two hour celebration after which there was tea in the vicarage where building work was already in progress.

AUGUST. 
This month a regular children’s service has been introduced by the vicar starting at 3 p.m. to include a short sermon and all parents will be welcome.

All children at the village school should be encouraged by their parents to attend Sunday School. The head master is teaching the religious truths, but these need to be linked to formal Sunday School teaching.

The vicar has changed the format of the Parish Magazine and hopes in future to include news of the athletic achievements of the parishioners indeed Mrs Garrod held a tea party in the vicarage garden, with sports to follow in the vicarage field.

Mr Garrod outlined a course of winter lectures starting with a descriptive talk on London, a place few parishioners had been.
Renovation of the vicarage was going “merrily” and the parson apologised for the way his absence was trying the patience of his flock.
The choir went to Bridlington going by horse and carriage to Spennithorne Station with train onward and returning at approaching 11 p.m.

Finally the new incumbent paid his first visit to Colsterdale and was amazed by its remoteness and he determined to take more activity over the moor to his distant parishioners.

MIDDLEHAM  NEWS

Mothering Sunday on 18th March is in St Mary and St Alkelda’s Church (united with Chapel) starting 10.45 for coffee and 11.am the service.  All welcome.

On Wednesday 19 February, we will have an ASH WEDNESDAY service at 10am.  Bishop James will preside at this service.

EASTER LILIES FOR MIDDLEHAM CHURCH

Anyone wishing to donate a Lily this Easter in memory of a loved one (£2.50 a stem) please let Margaret Brabban, Tamarisk, Kingsley Drive, Middleham, tel: 624388, have the money together with the name(s) of person(s) to be remembered by Friday 23 March as the lilies will have to be ordered.  Thank you.

MIDDLEHAM  CHURCH  QUIZ  ANSWERS

THINGS THAT LEAVE A LASTING IMPRESSION

by Christine Holland

When I returned to work as a Civil Servant in the mid eighties, I was appointed as a Pensions Officer in what is now the Department for International Development. My section dealt with the administration of about 33,000 pensions of people who had worked for HM Government mainly in the Colonial Service overseas and their dependants.

In April each year one of the jobs we did was to establish  that all our pensioners, whether living in the UK or abroad, were still alive and kicking.  We usually did this by sending out a form that had to be completed by the pensioner and witnessed by a responsible citizen. If any of our pensioners failed to return this form within a given time we were required to get our detective hats on and try to find out why not.  I actually enjoyed doing this aspect of the job as in many cases we got to talk to the actual people or their relatives rather than them just being a name on a computer.

I had a particular pensioner to chase up who I found from the previous year’s form had been  resident in a nursing home - so my first phone call was to the Matron of the home concerned. She explained that yes my lady was still in a home but for some reason her form must have been mislaid.  She then went on to tell me about this lady’s background and it is a story I have never forgotten.

My pensioner was aged 70+. She had been admitted to an asylum at the age of 4 by her parents. Her father was accepting an overseas posting from the Foreign Office and her parents viewed  her disfigurement (a hair lip) as unacceptable for diplomatic society.  They took the younger brother but left her behind and never came back for her!!  As she was an unmarried daughter when her parents died she was entitled to a pension from HM Government, which was the pension I was administering. When her parents died, the lady’s brother had her Power of Attorney and as such had access to her pension.  As you can imagine whilst living in an institution she spent very little of this money if any.

In the 80/90s it was widely recognised that many of the people living in institutions were able to lead useful lives in the community and as such many found themselves living in group homes but with access to the outside world.  Unfortunately, not so my lady.  She had never had any education because she had been shut away in a mental hospital; she had never had any love or belongings so it was considered better for her to go into a local Council residential home where she would be looked after for the rest of her life.

The Matron told me my pensioner was very kind hearted and showed a good level of intelligence (what could she have achieved with caring parents?) and that she had met and fallen in love with a fellow resident at the home; most of the day they could be seen walking around hand in hand, laughing and obviously very happy with the other‘s company.  What a wonderful thing you might say to have happened to her and yes it was until her brother got to learn about the relationship.  Remember he was her Power of Attorney and could and did rule her life. He would have lost the pension he had been using if his sister decided to marry the fellow resident so he put a stop to her one bit of happiness and had her moved to another home.  He obviously had learnt a thing or two from his parents! I fear that this lady never found the peace and love she surely deserved. I just hope that such an uncaring course of action could not happen in this day and age.

SOMETHING NOT QUITE RIGHT!

1. The gift of tongues enabled Matthew, Mark, Luke & John to write their gospels in English.
2. Jesus was troubled by rabies.
3. The Vatican is a large airless space where the Pope lives.
4. Daniel is the patron saint of lion tamers.
5. Blessed are the weak in mind for they shall inherit the earth.
6. The shortest verse in The Bible is John 11: 35 “Jesus slept”
7. Jesus turned water into wine: the wedding guests later turned it back into water.
8. The 7 Deadly Sins are greed, gluttony, envy, lust, pride, sloth and chastity.
9. When Mary heard she was to be the mother of Jesus, she sang the Magna Carta.
10. Gutenberg wrote The Bible.
11. The 7th Commandment is “Thou shalt not admit adultery”
12. Syntax is money collected from churchgoers.
13. Non-Jews were known as genitals.
14. Salome was a naughty girl; she danced naked in front of Harrods.
Max Holland