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The Parish Magazine of St. Matthew’s, Redhill
our website: stmatthews-redhill.org.uk on facebook: facebook.com/StMattsRedhill on twitter: @StMattRedhill find us : Station Road, Redhill, Surrey, RH1 1DL email the team : [email protected]
PLATFORM
St Peter and St Paul’s Church, Lavenham (photo by Tim Whittle)
August—September 2021 Digital Edition
Say hello!
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Mission statement for the
Parish of St. Matthew, Redhill We welcome all We follow Jesus
We worship God
THE PARISH CHURCH OF SAINT MATTHEW, REDHILL THE DIOCESE OF SOUTHWARK: THE BISHOP, RT REVD CHRISTOPHER CHESSUN
THE AREA BISHOP (CROYDON): RT REVD JONATHAN CLARK
ARCHDEACON OF REIGATE: THE VEN MOIRA ASTIN
AREA DEAN OF REIGATE: REVD ANITA COLPUS
The Vicar: REVD CANON ANDREW CUNNINGTON, St. Matthew’s Vicarage, 27 Ridgeway Road, Redhill 01737 761568
[email protected] (day off Saturday)
The Vicar’s PA: Helen Simmons, [email protected]
The Parish office remains closed during this time of the COVID19 lockdown. Please contact the vicarage for enquiries about Banns, Weddings, Baptisms and Confirmations.
The Parish Magazine Team: Tim Whittle, Mark Mann, Margaret Philipson.
St. Matthew’s PCC is registered as a charity
with the Charity Commission - no. 1132579
Welcome to our digital edition of Platform. These strange times of social distancing and self-isolation has changed the way we produce and publish our parish magazine. We’ve opted to distribute Platform digitally via email and social media outlets. In the effort to maintain the privacy of individuals and to comply with publishing restrictions, certain sections have been removed. If you want to print PLATFORM, please remember that PLATFORM is usually created in an A5 booklet format. Therefore, you may have to be prepared to fiddle with the printer’ settings when using A4 paper. We would suggest looking for the “zoom to 140%” or “fit to printer margins” or “multiple pages per sheet”.
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In This Edition
Submission Guidelines
Word count for submissions should be kept within 500 words. The editorial team reserve the right to make such editorial revisions as in our opinion may be necessary to make all content suitable for publication. These may include revisions for the sake of consistency of style, layout, reduction in word count, correction of grammar or spelling, or greater readability.
If you are a UK taxpayer, the government’s Gift Aid scheme
means that St Matthew’s PCC can reclaim 25p for every £1
that you donate, at no extra cost to you. For further information please contact Christine Mann.
Foreword By Tim Whittle “Dear Friends” By Anne Currie Mothers’ Union By Hilary Richardson The Month In Review By Father Andrew Vocation By Rev Judith Brooks Lunchtime Music By Edmund Crutchfield DATES FOR DIARIES Church events for the coming months READINGS Service readings for the month FROM THE REGISTERS Baptisms, Marriages & Funerals Living In Love And Faith Reigate Deanery Ride + Stripes Surrey Churches Preservation Trust Eco Church By Scilla Wallis Saint Of The Month By Matthew Bland Only A Servant By Tim Whittle The Bishop’s Letter A message to the Diocese of Southwark ADVERTISEMENTS
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Foreword
In March 2020 I put up a notice that the St Matthews café would be temporarily closed, it is still there. Today is ‘Freedom Day’ when I presume that the café could in theory reopen, but I am not aware that there are any immediate plans to do so. Many people have questioned the sense of removing all restrictions at a time when rates of infection are increasing daily and we still have a very limited understanding of the impact of ‘long covid’. Despite having had both my jabs, I certainly will not be anything else but continuing to be very cautious in what I do until rates come down. I therefore hope that whatever you decide to do with you new found ‘freedom’ that you are able to safely enjoy these Summer months.
This issue covers both August and September and so the next issue will not be out until October. I therefore wish you all a very enjoyable Summer break wherever you decided to take it, including in Redhill.
Tim Whittle
PLATFORM DEADLINE
Article contributions for the next edition should be
emailed to Tim Whittle via [email protected] before
Monday, 13th September 2021
The Platform team will try to be flexible with late submissions but it may not be possible to consider them for publication in that month.
Please contact Margaret Philipson for all advertisement enquiries.
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I’ve been serving on Diocesan Synod for a while now and have just been re-elected for another term. The last couple of meetings have been taken up with a couple of important initiatives that I’d like to share with you.
The Southwark Anti-Racism Charter… this really resonates in the light of the appalling abuse some of the England football players received after the final.
The Key principles are:
• An explicit understanding that God’s kingdom is multi-ethnic, and the through our baptismal covenant we recognise and respect the dignity of every human being and our unity in Christ.
• An intentional focus to take strategic and practical actions to combat racism and racial inequality.
• A clear strategy for increasing and sustaining diversity in our governance structures at diocesan and parish level, so as to ensure representation and participation of people from diverse ethnic backgrounds at all levels of our organisation.
• There are 6 diocesan commitments and a 12 point action plan which includes Unconscious Bias and racial awareness training both at diocesan and parish level.
The full charter can be accessed here https://bit.ly/3ie4UJ2
The other initiative is Living in Love and Faith. Many of you will be well aware that the church can often polarise itself when talking about issues of gender and sexuality. These disagreements can be very painful and wounding. And do not show the church truly living in the light of our calling to be one body.
The Living in Love and Faith initiative is produced by the national church and designed to bring those of differing opinions together for good conversations, in order for us to listen to each other and gain an understanding of each other’s beliefs. There are many resources and an introduction to the initiative can be found on the website here https://bit.ly/3ihkkwo
When we discussed this at Diocesan Synod there was a general feeling that this would not effectively work in single parishes, therefore Reigate Deanery has set up a
“Dear Friends”
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“Dear Friends”
number of LLF courses running in September (please see the leaflet elsewhere in Platform). All the groups will be led by trained facilitators and much thought has been given to the matter of safeguarding, so that individuals will feel safe to speak.
The facilitators will then feedback their outcomes to the Diocese and thus onward to General Synod to take into consideration for future decision making.
In order for this to be a meaningful exercise, we need as many people as possible to engage and sign up to attend a course. They take place over five weeks and there are many time slots to choose from. If you would like to take part, you can sign up via the Deanery website reigatedeanery.org.uk/llf
Both these initiatives are linked by the six principles for living together well:-
Acknowledge PREJUDICE
Speak into SILENCE
Address IGNORANCE
Cast out FEAR
Admit HYPOCRISY
Pay attention to POWER
As Jesus commanded us, Love God and love your neighbour as yourself.
Go well,
Anne Currie
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The 9th August is marked every year in the Anglican Communion as Mary Sumner Day. It provides an opportunity to mark and give thanks for the life and work of Mary Sumner, who died on 9th August 1921, 100 years ago. As an organisation, we are also celebrating 145 years since she founded Mothers’ Union. The Central Mothers’ Union is marking this centenary with a special online service, which can be found here: https://bit.ly/2VirzuO
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Sumner, whose father was Bishop of Winchester, and his uncle was Archbishop of Canterbury. George had been ordained in 1827, and following a curacy in Crawley, he was appointed as Rector of Old Arlesford. Mary and George had three children, and it was when their eldest child had her first child, and their first grandchild, that Mary decided to call a meeting for all mothers in the parish, to provide support and advice in bringing up their children. Thus Mothers’ Union was born in 1876, in the Rectory at Old Arlesford. Mary was so nervous at the
first meeting that she ended up asking her husband to address the women. However, by the second week, she had overcome her nerves. Some 12 years later, she was asked by the Bishop of Newcastle to address a meeting in Portsmouth, and from that meeting, similar groups were set up in other dioceses around the country. At this time, the role of women was chiefly to give support to male leaders in the Church, work, and society. She led a breakthrough for women, with her vision for a world where women’s voices were heard, and
their own rights recognised.
As an organisation, our theme for this year is Rebuilding Hope and Confidence. Over the summer, we are hoping to raise funds to continue the work of the organisation which now numbers over 4 million members in 84 countries around the world. Mary Sumner House, the headquarters building in Westminster, has produced a Count your Blessings Calendar for August, and we are asked to make a collection for Mothers’ Union work as we think of all the blessings we have. Money raised will go to continuing Mary Sumner's work empowering women and mothers around the world, through projects such as literacy and financial education in South Sudan and Tanzania, reconciliation work in Burundi, and supporting families affected by imprisonment here in the UK. If you would like a
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copy of the Blessings Calendar to facilitate your own giving during August, you can download a copy on the Mothers’ Union website: https://bit.ly/2V3BZ1M
Mary Sumner Month Events
Sunday 1st August - Compline - 9pm on Facebook
Monday 9th August - Virtual Tour of Mary Sumner's Church and the
Grounds of Old Alresford Place - 10am on YouTube
Monday 9th August - Mary Sumner Day Service - 3pm on Facebook and YouTube
Throughout August - 31 Days Of Inspiration - YouTube and Social Channels
Throughout August - Count Your Blessings Digital Content - Social Channels
If you would like to contribute this to Mothers’ Union work, do please contact me or Wendy Wren, our Treasurer, and we would be pleased to forward it to Mary Sumner House along with our branch collection.
Moving on to September, Southwark Diocese is remembered in the MU Wave of Prayer from 31st August to 2nd September. Over these three days, members around the world will be praying for Southwark and its link dioceses of Ekiti and Ogori-Magongo in Nigeria; Machakos in Kenya; Phulbani in North India; and Harare in Zimbabwe. Reigate Deanery members will be making a special effort for the Wave of Prayer on Thursday, 2nd September. At St Matthew’s, we will celebrate with Evening Prayer in church at 4.30pm, and hopefully follow this up with a celebratory meeting to mark a return following the restrictions of the last 18 months.
A prayer for the Summer of Hope:
God of hope, shine your rays of blessing on women in all kinds of leadership roles that this may be a summer of hope for those you call to serve your world. Help us to be a beacon of hope as we follow in the footsteps of others that our vision and mission may flourish in the warmth of your love. Amen
Hilary Richardson—Branch Leader
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June into July 2021
As our three Sunday morning services continue, we were able to supplement these with two successful Messy Church services on the first Sunday of June and July. It was a delight to greet newcomers to these services as well as welcome back many regulars.
On Saturday 3rd July, Rev’d Judith was ordained Priest at Croydon Minster and the following morning she celebrated the Eucharist for the first time at our 11am service. At this service, her Father, Rev’d Michael Skinner preached for us and her Auntie, Rev’d Cynthia Jackson read the Gospel. As a result it was a wonderful family affair and we were pleased to support her in good numbers. It included an informal procession into the car park from where we sang “ Come Down O Love Divine” and then sparkling refreshments were served from the hall entrance. We were able to present Judith with some gifts as tokens of our appreciation and love.
On this same weekend, I celebrated 35 years as a Priest being ordained in my home parish in Durrington on 29th June 1986. How times have changed since then. My grateful thanks for the kind words spoken and the “Pilgrimage” book with which I was presented.
Gradually, ministry is taking shape in our schools again. It was wonderful to be “Live” in St Matthew’s to tell the creation story to the nursery children and to share in reflection times with the staff on the school field and then for a Communion Service in church. We welcomed those preparing to leave the school at the end of the year to a time in the church on Tuesday 20th July.
A whole school assembly – in two shifts – was held in the playground at Wray Common School. The PA system was so powerful, I think my voice resounded throughout the entire neighbourhood, but once again it was so good to meet the children face to face.
So good to celebrate the completion of university degrees for Matthew Bland and Amelia Laing this summer. They have both done so well and we send our warmest congratulations to them both.
Father Andrew
The Month In Review
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A continuation of Rev Judith’s article in June’s Platform. The outward stages are there for anyone to find out about on the internet. It varies a bit depending which Diocese you live in but in Southwark, after seeing your Incumbent and having their written support, you attend a Vocation’s Day, the purpose of which is to look at some of the basic parameters such as age, location and purpose of the different ministries within the Church of England. This is one of the times in the discernment process where the personal and private hopes of individuals hit the buffers of reality.
However, if you haven’t been turned off by this point and you want to continue to explore a vocation to be a reader or priest after a vocations day, you attend a number of sessions with a Vocations Adviser. I am grateful for the six sessions I had with her to explore my calling and complete pieces of written work about the role I have played in the church up to this point and my vocation.
Following a positive report from my Vocations Adviser, I moved on to meeting with a Diocesan Director of Ordinands on a monthly basis. Here the real business of being searched and known by God began – and it was not enough to know this privately, it now had to be owned and declared to another person who was in a supportive but professional role in the institution that I sought to join as an ordained minister.
And there was something more. I began to understand that it’s not about me – what I chose to say and do. It’s about my ability to allow God to live in me.
C.S Lewis likened faith to diving – he said you don’t have to do anything to be able to dive you have to stop doing something. And it’s the same with being a Christian. You have to stop trying to be in control and let go. Then you can do it. You can be a diver.
How much control each of has to relinquish, how deep each of us has to dive to know Christ in our lives is a personal, life-long quest.
I was recommended to attend a Bishops Advisory Panel in May 2017. The selectors had already received a 20 page application form and 4 references about me before the panel. Over the next 3 days along with 20 or so other candidates, I
Vocation
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attended 3 interviews, completed a pastoral written exercise, gave a presentation and facilitated a discussion. I also attended 6 acts of worship and ate 7 meals in the company of the other candidates and the selectors. One of the car tyres developed a slow puncture on the way home from the panel, and the tyre wasn’t the only thing that felt rather rung out by the end of those three days. I was completely knackered! It was a demanding but in my case at least a positive experience.
I had to wait over a week for the news that I’d been selected for ordained ministry with incumbent status but when it came I was over the moon and completely terrified at the same time.
I started my ordination course in September 2017 and completed a Durham University diploma in Theology, Ministry and Mission at St Augustine’s College of Theology. Over three years this has involved attending 90 evening classes, 18 residential weekends and three week’s residential school at Canterbury, writing twenty four 2,500 word assignments, completing a mission project in a neighbouring parish, a pastoral placement at Croydon University Hospital and a parish placement in Merstham – while continuing to work in a secular role full time.
Now I know from first-hand experience that I didn’t have the ability to accomplish any of this through my own strength – having an amazing husband and children helps enormously, as do all the prayers of those who know me – and I thank God for them from the bottom of my heart – as I do for the grace which sustains me on a daily basis.
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Vocation
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To finish, I will return to the wider theme of vocation - that special purpose that God has for each of us.
The Call by Charlotte Mew
From our low seat beside the fire Where we have dozed and dreamed and watched the glow Or raked the ashes, stopping so We scarcely saw the sun or rain Above, or looked much higher Than this same quiet red or burned-out fire. To-night we heard a call, A rattle on the window-pane, A voice on the sharp air, And felt a breath stirring our hair, A flame within us: Something swift and tall Swept in and out and that was all. Was it a bright or a dark angel? Who can know? It left no mark upon the snow, But suddenly it snapped the chain Unbarred, flung wide the door Which will not shut again; And so we cannot sit here any more. We must arise and go: The world is cold without And dark and hedged about With mystery and enmity and doubt, But we must go Though yet we do not know Who called, or what marks we shall leave upon the snow.
Rev Judith Brooks
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Vocation
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Good news! At last, and as planned, we are restarting the regular weekly, Thursday Lunchtime Concerts from 2nd September from 1.10 to 2.00 pm! Please come and support the talented performers who come from all over the south-east. They love performing at St. Matthew's largely due to the warm and enthusiastic welcome they receive. Tickets are not required, but a donation of £5 is suggested and much appreciated to help cover costs. Unfortunately, the coffee shop is still likely to be closed, so please bring your own drinks if required, however, food is currently not permitted within the church; please look on the concert website nearer the time for clarity on this point.
Concert Programme for September 2nd Sept Piano Duet Recital
Raymond Wui-Man Yiu & Kyle Nash-Baker, piano; 9th Sept ‘Cello Recital
William Bass, ‘cello; Martin Hall, piano; 16th Sept Flute Recital
Anna Kondrashina, flutea; Pavel Timofeyevsky, piano; 23rd Sept Song Recital
Michelle Restieux & Helen Hardwick, soprano; Warren Shattles, piano; 30th Sept Violin Recital
David Hanesworth, violin; Patricia Romero, piano; music-stmatthews.org Edmund Crutchfield
Lunchtime Music for September
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SUNDAYS IN CHURCH 8am, 9.30am and 11am for Holy Communion. Please look out for any changes in our worship arrangements as we move forward towards the easing of restrictions. To help manage congregation numbers, you are invited to register for one of the listed times on Sundays. Please contact [email protected] SUNDAYS ONLINE From 8am, Parish Communion and Small Steps reflection for our younger members. WEDNESDAYS Holy Communion at 10am MONDAY to SATURDAY Morning Prayer at 8.30am Please check our pages on Facebook, YouTube and our website. The weekly newsletter, can be sent to you via email. If you would like to subscribe to this please contact [email protected] Please do not hesitate to contact any of the staff team if you have any prayerful or pastoral concerns.
OTHER DIARY EVENTS THIS SUMMER Sun 1st Aug Holy Baptism, 12.30pm
Messy Church, 4pm (registration required) Sun 22nd Aug Holy Baptism, 12.30pm Wed 26th Aug Finance and Standing Committee, 8pm (via Zoom) Sun 5th Sept Messy Church, 4pm (registration required) Fri 10th Sept Opening day for our new Youth Group Sun 12th Sept We welcome Rev Reg Grant to our morning services Tue 14th Sept PCC Meeting, 8pm Sun 19th Sept We welcome Rev Helen Cook to our morning services Sun 26th Sept Holy Baptism, 12.30pm
Dates For Diaries
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THE DEPARTED 20th July 2021 Gillian BONE 65
From The Registers
If you would like to keep in touch with the readings scheduled for use each Sunday, the following are listed:
Sunday 1st TRINITY9 Ephesians 4: 1-6 John 6: 24-35
Sunday 8th TRINITY 10 Ephesians 1: 3-14 John 6:35, 41-51
Sunday 15th BLESSED VIRGIN MARY Galatians 4: 4-7 Luke 1: 46-55
Sunday 22nd TRINITY 12 Ephesians 6: 10-20 John 6: 56-69
Sunday 29th TRINITY 13 James 1: 17-end Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23
Readings: August 2021
Sunday 5th TRINITY 14 James 2: 1-17 Mark 7: 24-37
Sunday 12th TRINITY 15 James 3: 1-12 Mark 8: 27-end
Sunday 19th ST MATTHEW 2 Corinthians 4: 1-6 Matthew 9: 9-13
Sunday 26th CREATIONTIDE 1 Special readings for the day
Readings: September 2021
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SATURDAY 11 SEPTEMBER 2021
BOOK THE DATE and start preparing NOW!
Stretch your legs and relax your mind, visit unique historic buildings, see beautiful countryside, get some exercise and have fun with family and friends!
Ride+Stride for churches takes place on Saturday 11 September 2021 and is a sponsored bike ride or walk between churches, exploring and enjoying town and countryside in Surrey. Run by the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust, it takes place annually and the money raised helps to repair churches, chapels and meeting houses throughout the county.
This year with churches closed for so long and many having lost income thanks to the pandemic, it is more important than ever to help them conserve their buildings. Half of the money you raise goes to your nominated church, half for grants to help maintain Surrey’s churches.
Book the date now! Find out more and download sponsorship forms and maps at http://www.surreychurchespreservationtrust.org Any Covid updates will be posted on the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust's website and our Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/surreychurchespreservationtrust
DID YOU KNOW.......?
The Surrey Churches Preservation Trust is a registered UK charity run entirely - yes 100% - by unpaid volunteers. There are over 400 churches of all Christian denominations across the county of Surrey
and the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust has raised and granted over £500,000 in church repair and conservation grants to a number of them in just over 20 years.
Unusually, not many churches as a proportion of the total apply for our grants to repair their ecclesiastical buildings and contents but they are welcome to consider applying for help!
The Surrey Churches Preservation Trust is looking for volunteers, especially as Area Organisers - please get in touch!
You can support the Surrey Churches Preservation Trust in many ways - lately, we have added new and fun ways you can support us - try the weekly Guildford Community Lottery (tickets cost £1) and Amazon Smile (if you shop on Amazon, you can kindly select our charity and Amazon will donate to us for every purchase)
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Well how did you get on with plastic free July? I hope you have managed to reduce your use of single use plastics. Hopefully the new habits will stay for longer now July has ended and you will have gained some more points towards your Creation Care Award.
To achieve your bronze award, you need to gain this level in all the sections. So now July is over why not pick another challenge from a section you are not doing too well in for the rest of summer.
Great Big Green Week 18th – 26th September
We are seeing the impacts of extreme weather events caused by climate change on the people and places we love both here in the UK and abroad. The time is now to do everything we can to protect them. Climate change is the fight of our lifetime.
This year, we in the UK have a huge opportunity to raise the ambition of plans to tackle climate change at home and abroad. The UK is hosting a major UN climate summit, known as COP26, in Glasgow this November. This means parliament and local authorities alike want to be seen as ambitious in tackling climate change.
The Time is Now for a Great Big Green Week that sets the stage for the most ambitious climate summit ever.
If you want to get involved in Great Big Green Week either to look for an event to attend or for ideas for an event of your own check out their website.
www.greatbiggreenweek.com
We will be celebrating creationtide in church as usual and are planning a Climate Sunday for 3rd October. We hope to have a few seedling trees available to be taken away, nurtured, and planted after this service.
Enjoy your summer
Scilla Wallis
Eco Church
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Saint Of The Month
A series of articles exploring the lives of some of the saints who appear in the Church’s calendar, and what they might have to say to us today.
St. Gregory ‘the Great’ On 3 September the Church celebrates the Feast of St. Gregory (c.540–604), Bishop of Rome and Teacher of the Faith. Born around 540 to devout and noble parents; at the age of thirty Gregory was appointed Prefect of Rome, an honorific but powerful position in the city. The following year, he established the Monastery of St. Andrew, and spent several years there committed to prayer and study, experiencing a deep sense of spiritual growth. From here on, the story of Gregory’s life is one in which his sought-after political ability and his personal yearning for beatitude lay in constant tension. In 579, Pope Pelagius II prised Gregory reluctantly from his monastery, ordained him deacon, and sent him as papal ambassador to the court of Emperor Tiberius II in Constantinople. There, Gregory continued to live monastically and exhibited immense scholarly ability, writing copious biblical commentaries and debating Eutychius, Bishop of Constantinople, on the nature of the bodily resurrection. In around 586 he returned home and was reinstated at his beloved St. Andrew’s as abbot. 589–90 was an annus horribilis for the city of Rome. The Tiber burst its banks, plague struck, the enemy Lombards closed in, and Pope Pelagius II died. It was into this crisis that Gregory was called upon to exercise leadership and become pope. Reluctant at first, Gregory accepted the charge and charismatically urged the people of Rome to prayer and continued on next page...
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Saint Of The Month
repentance until the crisis ceased. Consecrated on 3 September 590, his administration radically transformed both Rome and papacy. He reformed the courts, restored discipline, repaired architecture, and co-ordinated large-scale poverty relief. He unified the liturgy of the Latin Church (harmonizing her plainchant to create ‘Gregorian Chant’), and claimed absolute spiritual and temporal jurisdiction over the whole West, casting the template for the future of the papal institution. Arguably Gregory’s most famous achievement as pope was the evangelical mission he commissioned to Britain through St. Augustine in 596–97, the logical extension of his vision for a unified Latin Church. It was this ‘Gregorian Mission’ which led to the gradual convergence of the existing but splintered British Church, forging one recognisable church centred on the See of Canterbury; and leading to the fuller conversion of the island’s constituent kingdoms. Gregory’s enormous political successes perhaps mask his deep concern for the centrality of the spiritual life. His writings are permeated with a deep sense of humility in which he shows himself well aware of his personal failings and expresses frustration that his pastoral responsibilities prevent him from the attainment of heavenly beatitude. It is these concerns that govern his most famous text, The Pastoral Rule, addressed to those to be consecrated bishops; Gregory warns that more important than spiritual and political ability is the bishop’s awareness of his own human condition and weaknesses. A man who allegedly never rested and was constantly plagued by ill-health, Gregory died on 12 March 604. The Venerable Bede sums up his life as one in which “by God’s grace… he turned his aptitude for worldly success wholly to the attainment of heavenly glory” (Ecclesiastical History, II.i); something we can all emulate in our own way, by utilising our own gifts to build up the earthly city, that we might at last be taken up to the glory of the heavenly city. Matthew Bland
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At the beginning of July, Clare and I had a short break in the Cotswolds and one of the places we visited was Sudeley castle in Gloucestershire. In the gift shop, amongst the many historical books on sale was ‘Only a Servant’. This was a largely autobiographical account of someone born in impoverished circumstances during the Great War as one of ten children. Leaving school at fourteen, he had worked as a Hall Boy at Sudeley Castle for two years being paid £12 per annum. He continued in domestic service until 1939 reaching the position of First Footman for Nancy Astor who was the first woman MP to take her seat in the House of Commons. As footman he witnessed exchanges between Nancy and such noted people as Lord Trenchard, the founder of RAF, ‘Red’ Ellen Wilkinson Labour MP, and Joseph Kennedy US ambassador and son of President Kennedy. During the war he served in the army in Kent, South Africa, India, Iraq and was wounded in Tunisia. After the war he received a TUC grant to study politics, philosophy and economics at Ruskin College Oxford. Following this he was appointed to take charge of the Youth Employment Office for Redhill and Reigate which resulted in him moving to Redhill where he stayed until his death in 2005 aged 89. During his retirement he travelled to over fifty countries and wrote extensively about his life which formed the basis of the book. I was particularly interested to see the book in the gift shop as the author was my father John Whittle and I had edited and published the book. I feel that he would be delighted to know that it was being sold in the place where he was told that he was ‘only a servant’. The book has an introduction from Elizabeth, Lady Ashcombe who is the current owner. She wrote ‘Many years ago I received a letter from Mr. John Whittle continued on next page...
Only A Servant
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Only A Servant
explaining that he had been employed at Sudeley for two years from 1930, and that he would like to return to Sudeley to see again where his working life had begun. Sudeley Castle has a long and fascinating history and one we try to bring to life for the many visitors who come here. Meeting Mr. Whittle on the arranged day was the beginning of one of the most interesting and inspiring stories of Sudeley’s past that I have yet encountered. Here was a well-dressed, well-educated elderly gentleman whose varied life included a distinguished war career and a diploma from Oxford and yet he had started out at Sudeley Castle as ‘Hall Boy’, the very bottom rung of the domestic ladder in those days. At age 15, he began working for my late mother-in law Mary Dent-Brocklehurst and her husband ‘the Major’. I was moved and a little surprised (it seems my mother-in-law could be quite stern) by John’s recall of his Sudeley years but fascinated by his amazing observation and memory to detail of below stairs life in those times. A friendly correspondence continued between the two of us for several years and I am ever grateful for the personal insight into an era when the maintenance and domestic running of Sudeley was still in the hands of a large number of people looking after the comforts of a very few, in a manner reminiscent of Downton Abbey.’ Sudeley castle is, by the way, well worth a visit. Tim Whittle
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Bishop Richard writes… One of the important events earlier this year, which passed by almost unnoticed in the midst of the intense focus on the pandemic, was the national census, which took place in March. A newspaper report of the time suggested that “the post-Christian era will be cemented by data emerging from [the] census”, and that over half of the adult population will self-identify as having no religion, with that proportion becoming much larger amongst younger people. This could confirm the results of the British social attitudes survey in 2018, in which 52% said they had no religion. This is roughly double the number from the last census. There is little doubt that very large and increasing numbers of our contemporaries see religious faith as either irrelevant or, indeed, damaging to life. The Church of England has responded in many different ways to this context with imaginative mission initiatives designed to engage with those who have become disconnected. Much of this is a necessary response, but in many ways is not proving sufficient to re-engage the large numbers who have little link. The pandemic has accelerated and intensified some existing trends and raised serious questions about the future shape of our world and the Church. There are major concerns about the future at every level including our parishes and Dioceses. Despite this, I believe we are at a time of real opportunity and hope given the profound shake-up that the pandemic is producing in every aspect of our lives. One crucial part of the Church’s mission is the apologetic task which the theologian Alister McGrath has described as creating “an intellectual and imaginative climate conducive to the birth and nurture of faith”. The philosopher Charles Taylor has written an important book entitled, A Secular Age in which he analyses what he calls the “conditions of belief” and why it is continued on next page...
The Bishops’ Letter
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The Bishops’ Letter
that, compared with 500 years ago, it has become so much more difficult for people to believe in and follow the Christian faith. We are now living in a culture where it is one option amongst many, and a deeply contested one. He suggests both that those who do believe in God have many questions about their faith, and that those who have rejected God are also haunted by the possibility of theism. So faith and questioning go together. God’s Church is called “to proclaim the Gospel afresh in each generation” and, arguably, the pandemic has produced a generational shift in the space of a year or two. The good news of God’s all-embracing love in Christ, and the expression of the church’s mission in the five Anglican “marks of mission”, can speak powerfully to the wider “build back better” agenda, with its emphasis on economic, racial and environmental justice and human flourishing. At every level of Church life we need a powerful apologetic, in both word and action, if we are truly to engage with our generation. There are, of course, many fine examples of this already, but I think we are at a time when the apologetic task is more central than ever. Many of us are very tired after all the effort to cope with the constant changes, challenges and uncertainties of the pandemic, but I hope and pray that the summer months might give us all an opportunity to rest a bit, to wait on God, and reflect on how the Holy Spirit is leading God’s mission into the future, and how we might all play our part in that in both word and deed.. Bishop Richard (Kingston)
To find previous Bishop’s Letters, visit the Southwark Diocese website at
https://www.southwark.anglican.org
continued...
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