The Parish of

Pentyrch

and

Capel Llanilltern

St Catwg’s Church

St David’s Church

St Ellteyrn’s Church

March 2015 Price £1

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THE PARISH OF PENTYRCH AND CAPEL LLANILLTERN

www.parishofpentyrch.org.uk

VICAR Revd Michael John 02921403854 vicar@parishofpentyrch.org.uk

SERVICES for MARCH

St. Catwg’s Church, Pentyrch

8th March 11 a.m. Holy Eucharist and Sunday Club 15th March 11.a.m. Holy Eucharist and Sunday Club 22nd March 11.a.m. Holy Eucharist and Sunday Club 29th March 11 a.m.. Holy Eucharist and Sunday Club 5th April Easter Day 11.a.m. Holy Eucharist and Sunday Club St. David’s Church, Groesfaen

1st March 8.00 a.m. Holy Eucharist 8th March 9.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 15th March 9.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 22 March 9.30 am Holy Eucharist 29th March 9.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 5th April Easter Day 9.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist

St Ellteyrn’s Church, Capel Llanilltern

8th March 10.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 15th March 9.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 22 March 10.30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 29th March 10 .30 a.m. Holy Eucharist 5th April Easter Day 9 .30 a.m. Holy Eucharist Parish Hall, Creigiau. 1st March 10.30 a.m. All Age Benefice Holy Eucharist 5th April No service this month.

WEEKDAYS

St. Catwg’s Wednesday 10.00 a.m. Holy Eucharist St. David’s Tuesday 10.00 a.m. Holy Eucharist

Please see separate box for the times of the Christmas Services Other services as announced

For Baptism, Marriage, Reconciliation, Anointing of the sick, or to receive the Blessed Sacrament at home

Contact Revd Michael John, details above

Because changes to services may have to be made after the publication of the

magazine, please check pew leaflet and the parish website. Articles for the magazine can be E-mailed to: johngoughpentyrch@btinternet.com by the 10th of the month.

You can also contact me on: 029 20891721

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At last the days are getting a little bit longer. The crocuses and daffodils are in flower (unless they were dug up by the squirrels during the winter) We can tell that Spring is on its way. By the time you read this it will be barely a month until Easter. The period of six weeks leading up to Holy week and Easter is known as Lent, probably after the Old Germanic word, lenct, meaning Spring. In the early Church people who wanted to be baptised were expected to undertake an intense pe-riod of Christian training at this time, in-cluding a programme of regular prayer and fasting, to prepare them for an Easter baptism. Eventually all devout Christians became involved in this time of prayer, almsgiving and fasting every year. There may have been a Spring Fast before the coming of Christianity. By late Febru-ary and early March the winter food stores would have been running low and it would often have been necessary to ration the amount people ate in order to avoid starvation. The Christian Church would have made this practice part of the sea-son’s devotions in preparation for Holy Week and Easter. The day before the Lent Fast began, all surplus luxury foods such as meat, eggs and dairy products had to be consumed so that they wouldn’t be wasted. This festival was known in Britain as “Shrove Tues-day” – named after the private confes-sions that took place before Lent began . Often it was known as Pancake Day. It was the last day to indulge yourself in rich food. All over the Catholic world there

were carnivals celebrating “Mardi Gras”, or “Fat Tuesday”. The next day was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent. Like churches today, worshippers received ashes on their forehead as a sign of repentance. The ashes reminded them that their mortal lives were only temporary, that they should count their blessings and live as God intended them to before it was too late. Ash Wednesday was a fast day, as Good Friday would be a fast day at the end of Lent. The faithful were only al-lowed one meatless meal that day. Every Friday in Lent was a day of absti-nence, when meat was not allowed. Today many Lenten traditions continue. In church we worship more simply, with no Gloria, no Alleluias, and no flowers. Some churches still don’t hold wed-dings during Lent. The liturgical colour of Lent is purple, the colour of Christ’s pain and our repentance. There is an emphasis on prayer, self examination, self denial and almsgiving. Even some of those who never go to church find something to give up for Lent. In our society most of us are ex-posed to the temptations of rich food and drink although we know that too much is bad for our health. So many people abstain from alcohol, sweets or chocolate during Lent. Others choose a bad habit to try and break: whether it's swearing, gossiping, or losing their tem-per. It is really the mental attitude that counts: the determination to change what we don’t like about ourselves, and the self discipline to implement this change. Sometimes the change isn’t permanent and people resume their bad habits when Lent is over. Children have been known to hoard their sweet allow-ance during Lent and then eat them all

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up in one go on Easter Day, on top of their Easter eggs. But some behaviour therapists argue that six weeks is about right to shake a habit altogether if a per-son has the will power. We may surprise ourselves about how we can change, and help to change the world around us for the better.

I pray your pilgrimage through the remainder of this season of Lent will be a holy and fruitful one, and may we all greet the Risen Christ at Easter, changed for the better. Michael

Services for Holy Week and Easter Day.

March 30th Holy Monday: shared area service, St John’s Danescourt 7.30 p.m. March 31st Holy Tuesday: [St David’s Church: 10.00 a.m. [Compline and Sermon 7.30 p.m. April 1st Holy Wednesday St Catwg’s Church 10.00 a.m. St Michael’s Church Tongwynlais 7.30 p.m. 2nd April Maundy Thursday St Catwg’s Church 7.30 p.m. 3rd April Good Friday St Catwg’s Church 10.00 a.m. St David’s Church 2 00 a.m. St Ellteryn’s Church 5.00 p.m. 4th April Holy Saturday St Catwg’s Church: Holy Fire and Easter Vigil 6.30 p.m.

All services for Easter Day are listed on Page 2 of this magazine

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From Parish Records

Funerals

St Catwg’s 2nd February Rita Winifred Phear St David’s

18th February Isobel Jean Brice Weddings

St Catwg’s

31st January Elizabeth Ruth Gibbon and George Charles Warmisham Baptisms

St David’s

1st February Georgie Eileen Galaghan St Catwg’s

8th February Cooper Davies 22nd February Evan Cameron Davidson Flora Elizabeth Davidson Alice Amelia Davidson

News from St. Ellteyrn’s

We are delighted that one of our parishioners has recently been confirmed. Malcolm Adams and his wife Sue have been coming to our church for just over a year. Sue and her daughters used to come to St. Ellteyrn’s when the children were younger so it was lovely to welcome her back with Malcolm. They have indeed been very supportive. Malcolm was baptised during our service on January 18th and confirmed on January 25th at Christchurch, Radyr. He thoroughly enjoyed the occasion espe-cially as Bishop David showed his usual sense of humour. Malcolm was presented with a beautiful Celtic cross to mark the occasion at the 8am service on the 1st February. We are very blessed to have Malcolm in our” fold “. May God bless him as he goes forward.

Linda Davies

Lenten Frugal Lunches will be held every Wednesday throughout Lent in the Church Room at St Catwg’s Church. A donation is invited and this year the money will go to the charity “Serving in Mission” and in particular for the Egbe Hospital in Nigeria where Dr Rita Pheare worked for a number of years. Rita died on 18th January and her funeral was in St Catwg’s Church on 2nd February. Her husband, David, has written of her work on Page 6 in this magazine.

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The Parish has chosen Egbe Hospital, Nigeria as Lent charity for 2015. Egbe is a town 300 miles N.E. of Lagos. Here a hospital was established in 1952 by S.I.M. [Serving in Mission, a non-denominational Protestant mission]. The hospital was trans-ferred in 1976 to E.C.W.A. [Evangelical Church Winning All, a Nigerian mission or-ganisation]. The E.C.W.A. motto is “Christ heals”. The vision is for a Christian teach-ing hospital known for medical excellence and compassionate care, treating people of all faiths and cultures. Patients may come from 100 or more miles away, and the hospi-tal serves a population of 500,000 in this rural area. My wife, Rita, worked at Egbe in 1960 – 61. It was then quite isolated, nearest tele-phone 80 miles away and irregular mail. Water was from bore-holes which failed in the dry season, and electricity generation was unreliable. Rita’s speciality was Obstetrics and Gynaecology, but with only two other doctors she shared in the medical and surgi-cal work of the hospital. Clinics were busy with perhaps 55 new patients in a session, not helped by language problems. A hospital visit was often a family affair; patients were brought long distances perhaps by lorry and the family would stay until treatment was finished, feeding the patient. Even ill patients might have to be treated on the floor. Rita came to develop the Maternity service, planning the Maternity ward and Midwifery school. Mothers often came in after days in labour, having tried traditional cures. Such delayed delivery was, of course, a danger to mother and baby. A common resulting problem was damage to vaginal wall and bladder, producing vesicovaginal fistula. Most of the expatriate staff were from the States or Canada, leading to life-long friendships but also occasional mis-understanding. A new American doctor once asked Rita where the “rest-room” was*. She told him where they occasionally relaxed; he ex-plained in specific terms not suitable for this Magazine what his “rest-room” meant. After 60 years, a programme of refurbishment is needed to ensure continued high stan-dards. Much has already been done, extensions and rebuilding, a five-acre reservoir and new generators with a new electric grid. The hospital has 121 beds with all depart-ments including Maternity with under-fives clinic and HIV/AIDS prevention and treat-ment. Recognition has been given by the West African College of Physicians for Fam-ily Medicine Residency training, so that nurses, midwives and doctors are trained. An-other $ 1,OOO,OOO is needed to complete the planned rebuilding, for new equipment including telemedicine and for recruitment of leading Nigerian and expatriate staff.

Donations can be made by cheque payable to S.I.M. and sent to: Serving in Mission, Wetheringsett Manor, Wetheringsett, Stowmarket, Suffolk IP14 5QX stating that the money is to go to the Egbe Hospital Revitalisation Project

David Phear.

* I was asked by an American guest at a wedding in St Catwg’s “Where is the bath

room?” JG

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Dr Rita Phear

To place staff, equipment, best prac-

tices and systems in harmony with

ministry and business principles so

that the hospital will be recognized as

a self-sustaining Christian teaching

hospital known throughout Nigeria

for integrity, medical excellence, qual-

ity medical training and compassion-

ate patient care provided by excep-

tional staff to serve the healthcare

needs of persons of all faiths and cul-

tures.”

The hospital’s Mission Statement.

Present day

Maternity Care

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Back in April 2014 the Heating Commit-

tee at St David’s Church applied for a faculty to replace the overhead heaters in the church with new, efficient, safer models following extensive research into what heaters were most appropriate to our needs. The cost of the project was estimated to be in the region of £6,000+ and a grant was applied for from the Rhondda Cynon Taf Welsh Church Act Fund who granted us 50% (£3,090.00) of the estimated cost . We are pleased to report that our efforts to raise funds for the balance of the cost has progressed very well! To date we have received £2,240.00 in donations following our appeal in the sum-mer, most of which has been gift aided. This will allow us to claim a further £437 approximately from the Gift Aid scheme. A big thank you to all who made such gen-erous donations. On Saturday 31st January we held a fund raising Quiz (see report from Jean!) to make up the balance. Many thanks to Nia, Sian, Jonathan and those who supported the event. With your great support we raised £550 making a grand total of £3227.00. We understand there may be one or two more donations to come, and although we are now in a position to cover the cost of the heating project, these will be gratefully received and help towards future work at St David’s. The work is progressing well and will be finished by the end of the month.

????????? The aim for the night was to raise funds for the supplementary heating for St. David's Church and that aim was certainly achieved! With the good services of Siân (Thomas) and Nia and Jonathan (Honeybun) the grand total of £550 was raised. But it wasn't only about the money. With almost 90 competitors present, there was very keen competition, many laughs (yes, at one time even Siân “corpsed”; bet she does-n't do that reading the news), and lots of fun. There were many cheers when the an-swers were announced but also many groans if the groups' answers were incorrect. There was an outright winner –Janet and Peter Jones' table, and they were duly re-warded. Michael expressed thanks on behalf of us all to Siân, Nia and Jonathan who had worked hard to provide all the questions, picture quizzes and dingbats for us all. A great time was had by all. Helen Davey

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A Surprising Event

‘Fools! For I also had my hour; One far fierce hour and sweet: There was a shout about my ears, And palms before my feet.’ (from The Donkey by G.K. Chesterton). The donkey in the Palm Sunday story highlights some of the surprises in this famil-iar story. Jesus rode into Jerusalem on the back of a young donkey to the adulation of the crowd, ‘Many people spread their cloaks on the road, while others spread branches they had cut in the fields. Those who went ahead and those who followed shouted, ‘Hosanna! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’’(Mark 11: 8/9). At the end of the passage, surprisingly we are told that the crowd disappeared and Jesus left Jerusalem with just the twelve. If Jesus was truly the Messiah, why didn’t the crowds follow him everywhere? Secondly, there was no evident opposition from the authorities. When Jesus was put on trial, this event was not used in evidence against him. Alongside the crowd, they failed to understand the significance of what Jesus had done. Also the story finishes in a surprising way. After Jesus entered the temple, He looked around and went home (Mk 11:11)! In Mark’s account it is clear that Jesus was the only one who really understood what was happening. He knew where the donkey was and what the people would say to the disciples (Mark 11:1-6). He also knew why he was going to Jerusalem, ‘We are going up to Jerusalem and the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. They will condemn him to death and will hand him over to the Gentiles, who will mock him and spit on him, flog him and kill him. Three days later he will rise.’ (Mk 10:33/34). So what can we learn from this story? Firstly, we don’t necessarily understand all that is going on in our situation! Jesus told the disciples on a number of occasions that He would die, yet they didn’t get it. He knows what He is doing in our lives and we can trust our circumstances to Him. Secondly, we know that Palm Sunday is only the beginning of the story! A week later Jesus rose from the dead on Easter Day! During dark and difficult times, be-cause of Jesus’ cross and resurrection, we know that He shares in the experience of our pain. Jesus also offers us the hope of a secure future, as we share his resurrection life.

Budget I have enough money to last me the rest of my life, unless I buy something. Cheese They say cheese gives you nightmares. Ridiculous! I’m not scared of cheese. Dream Politician: "I dream of a better tomorrow where chickens can cross the road and not have their motives questioned." Remember… You will feel stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.

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Drones over Wales’ Cathedrals!

Historic buildings such as cathedrals are turning to modern technology to help pre-serve them for the future. They have been trying out aerial drones to assess the con-dition of their roofs and spires. The “hexacopter” was demonstrated to architects and heritage building experts at two cathedrals this week – St Asaph and Llandaff. It can take still photographs and video footage giving close-up images – highlighting any repair work that might be necessary to an historic building. The technology will give churches the option to inspect a roof, tower or spire with-out hiring a cherry-picker or putting up scaffolding which is often impossible be-cause of nearby graves. Alex Glanville, head of property services for the Church in Wales, said, “This is in-teresting new technology to help us survey and assess repair needs, particularly for tall towers and spires which are inaccessible. Unfortunately, it doesn’t solve our problems but it helps us learn more about what we’re dealing with.” Jan Williams is Churches Conservation and Development Officer for the Diocese of St Asaph and said:

“It’s difficult to work out how extensive re-pairs to our churches might be – especially when you can’t get up to the roof to inspect the damage. While hir-ing a hexacopter won’t be cost effective for every church, it is cer-tainly worth consider-ing if a church is plan-ning a huge project to

re-roof a church or refurbish a spire.“You might only get

one view of the church roof by climbing to the top of its tower. This technique al-lows us to see the same piece of the building from a number of different angles to help us look at the repairs.” Dean Overton, director of Overdrones, the company demonstrating the drone, said, “The drone can give a immediate and accurate picture of the state of stonework and roofs which could be of enormous benefit to many organisations looking after his-toric buildings.” From the Church in Wales website.

A Drone spotted at Llandaff Cathedral.

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The Good News Coffee Morning

Why not come and idle away an hour or so of your free time on the third Saturday of every month in the Parish Hall in Creigiau? I refer of course, to the monthly Good News Coffee Morning. Stimulating conversations mingle

with the aroma of coffee and the refreshing sipping of tea, mixed with the crunch-ing of an array of biscuits, artistically presented on the plate. Bliss not to be missed!

Coffee in March will be served at 10 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. on Saturday 21st

Q: Why are people in the public eye said to be 'in the limelight'?

A: Invented in 1825,limelight was used in lighthouses and theatres by burning a cyl-

inder of lime which produced a brilliant light. In the theatre a performer 'in the lime-

light' was the centre of attention.

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I am sure that many of you will recall that one of our Christmas Charities in 2014

was the Hope House Education Centre in Cambodia. The following is an email to

the Vicar from Jeanne (who spoke in Creigiau Companions in October) and her hus-

band Billy.

Dear Vicar, Greetings from Hong Kong as we celebrate New Year! This is the year of the goat/sheep/ram depending on where you live! Singapore claims it as the year of the goat, Hong Kong as the sheep year and Mainland China the goat year. We seem to be a little confused in Hong Kong with both goat and sheep in promi-nence! I want to convey my deep appreciation for your hard work in raising so much money for Hope House Education Center, Kompong Speu, Cambodia. It has been an enor-mous encouragement to us all and the funds will be used to pay for additional (more nutritious) food for the students who rely on the staff to give them their ' daily bread.' This generous gift will give them extra funds for the food bill for six and a half months and will help us to monitor the impact on the children. In our last clinic, four weeks ago, Dr. Tom examined a three year old who had beriberi, an extreme condition resulting from severe malnutrition! She does not attend school yet but lives nearby, so we encouraged her elderly grandmother to bring her for breakfast everyday. She is protein deficient and so a boiled egg a day should hopefully start to make a difference. PRAY for the chicken survival rates!! We are sending a recent News Update of the work of SRM and have pictures of the school children for you to share with all those who gave so generously and have been such an encouragement to us. Please be assured that funds go directly to those projects to which they are designated; the UK office is run by a voluntary adminis-trator/ treasurer from his home! It is such a sobering fact that 850 million people go to bed hungry and 30,000 children die every day of malnutrition around the world!

I plan to fly to Cambodia on 16th. March and will have a dear friend of 80 accompa-nying me! Her husband was a good friend of ours who helped to set up SRM. Ray died almost 4years ago and Zeta has always wanted to visit the school and see the work of the Hope House organization. I have lots more photographs to send and will hopefully email these to you in the next few weeks. Thank you once again for your care and concern; God bless you all. In the work of His kingdom,

Jeanne, for the both of us.

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Campbell’s News Update February 2015 A Happy Chinese New Year of the Goat! (An extract)

CAMBODIA: A small team from N. Ireland: Richard & Cherith McCord, their baby, Daisy, and nurse Diane Holland, joined Jeanne in Cambodia at the beginning of the year. Richard took classes on the theme “From Creation to Christ”, and led outdoor activities with the students at the Hope House Education Center (HHEC), Kompong Speu; while Cherith taught classes at the International English Academy (IEA), Hope House Center, Phnom Penh. Richard also took lots of photographs in preparation for the upgrading of the Hope House student sponsorship programme. Diane worked

with the Khmer school nurse on information packs on diabetes, hypertension, healthy diets, basic hygiene etc. and led a seminar for local village parents on the use of a tooth comb to control head lice. Diane also reviewed the students’ teeth cleaning, hand washing, and their basic dietary requirements, as well as assisting Dr Tom Johnson at the school Medical Cen-ter. The attention and care given to the sick is such a vital ministry of love in action. It is al-ways heart-wrenching to see so many school children and adults with serious health prob-lems, primarily because of the lack of basic necessities, such as food and clean water! The ministry of the team was a real blessing and much appreciated by us all. The security situation at the Hope House site continues to be challenging. A local youth was caught shooting pellets at the Resource Center roof and more recently, when Jeanne was staying at the school site, local thugs attacked the Buddhist monks in the nearby temple and killed their dogs! The monks locked themselves in cupboards and were unharmed. The fol-lowing night a young girl was knocked off her motorbike by these thugs and broke her arm. Pray for a solution to resolve this situation, and also for: - Yem Sarorn, the HHEC school principal, and his dedicated staff, as he battles with hepatitis. - the safety and protection of the students and staff at HHEC; Kompong Speu. - Yi Narith, the Director of Hope House, who is also in charge of the International English Academy. Include in prayer his team of teachers at the Hope House Center, Phnom Penh. BURMA: At the beginning of February, both of us were in Burma for the graduation of the 4th year students at the Myanmar Vision Christian College (MVCC) and Calvary Theologi-cal and Missions Academy (CTMA). Billy was the guest speaker; Jeanne was involved in presenting special achievement awards to students in each of the four year classes. It was an inspiring and encouraging experience. There were 12 graduates: four at MVCC and eight at CTMA. Here are details of what some of them will do ... Siang Luai Mang will work with his home church in Kalaymyo, while also taking further music studies. Bawi Lian Thawng will engage in evangelism and church planting. Rebecca Naing Awi is from the Agape Beu-lah Orphanage, where Hannah Soe has been her mother for as long as she can remember. She will be involved in children’s ministry in the Southern Chin State. San Nu Aye from the Shan State, will study for a Master’s degree in preparation for her future service. Thing Na-ing will be working as a Sunday School teacher in a small church in Kanpetlet, S. Chin State. Chan Thang will join Thomas Za Tih Thuam - last year’s graduate - in Kanpetlet. Cont P 17

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A serious thought when Mothering Sunday falls this month.

No more superhero Mums! A few years ago, I realised that I was living with a sinister alter-ego. I first discov-ered her when my children were small. The transition from young-adult life to moth-erhood had brought many challenges, but as the dust settled, I began to craft a work-ing model of how best to do this mothering thing. My first baby grew into a toddler and I began to break into my stride. My second baby was an easy baby, and I think it was at about this point that ‘Alpha Mother’ began to emerge. Alpha-Mother could do things. You need forty cupcakes for the reception class? Not a problem. Want some sleep solutions for your nocturnal infant? In a heartbeat. Al-pha-Mother rocked up to toddler groups; she attended school meetings. Alpha-Mother had ideas and theories. She was competent. Her home looked nice, she maintained a calm exterior, and enjoyed dining out on stories of her happy, function-ing family. But Alpha-Mother was also a pain. She annoyed people. She once reduced a friend to tears of anxiety and incompetence with her superiority. She could be nice enough on the outside, but she couldn’t keep people close. Clever, together and consum-mately strong, she peddled fear and inadequacy and worked hard to keep her many plates spinning. Alpha-Mother wanted to grow, and had she done so I suspect she would have slowly suffocated those closest to her. Instead, she is dying. (I would like to say she is dead and buried, but she still occasionally rears her head in a melodramatic death throe.) The problem with Alpha-Mother was that she was utterly unaware of her need of a Saviour. She was entirely self-made; a construct defined by her capacity to project success. Alpha-Mother and those like her are born when we attempt to botch and patch to-gether for ourselves an identity which will mask our most vulnerable places, instead of turning over our brokenness to the restorative hands of the King of Love. What reckless stupidity! We have in Jesus a Saviour who came not for the healthy, but for the sick. He came to shine his life-giving, radiant light into those secret corners of our lives. Jesus does not need his followers to live like superheroes, leaping tall buildings in a single bound, living lives that make onlookers gasp with their many talents and plate-spinning capabilities. Jesus loves each of us as we are. We are told in Romans 8 that, “Nothing can separate us from the love of God.” This love is entirely free and un-earned, it is a love that sees us as we are and loves us anyway. This is great news! In the presence of God we can all see our superhero identities for the empty-shells they really are, as we allow God’s transforming love to remodel us from the inside out. By Joy French. Her recent book, with Anna France-Williams, is ‘Ordinary Mum, Ex-

traordinary Mission: how can a busy mum be part of God’s mission when she can’t

even find a babysitter?’ (IVP, £8.99)

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Gill and Doug Ruff’s search for Gill’s Grandparents’ grave, turned out to be

something of an adventure!

Having been contacted recently by some friends who invited us to meet up with them in Somerset where they were now living, we were delighted to make our plans and to include a visit to the area. Somerset was the home of my grandmother and where I spent a great deal of time during the school holidays. We made our plans to travel to Axminster where we would spend two nights in a hotel recommended by Tony & Sandy. It took some finding before we eventually found the Haselbury Mill in Haselbury Pluckett. There were several buildings all beautifully renovated and we made our way into the Reception. It was very cosy with tea lights on the coffee tables and a candelabra on the reception desk. We soon discovered why! Due to work being carried out locally by Western Power the hotel had been without power since 9.00 a.m. and it was now nearly 4! We sat in our coats and made some new friends but tea lights give off very little heat and out of habit we all kept touching the radiator only to find it stone cold. We were then asked if we would like to see our room which seemed a good idea at the time. The receptionist took us out of the main door, across a courtyard and into another building inside of which was a large door to which was attached a large brass plate bearing the words 'BRIDAL SUITE'. I started to giggle partly from cold and also from shock. This room was enormous with a king size four poster bed complete with drapes and at the windows beau-tiful, heavy curtains with braid and tassels. It was even colder than the Reception although we did have the tiniest oil-filled radiator which made no impression whatsoever on the cold room. Then our host showed us the en-suite which was almost as large as the bedroom and twice as cold with black marble walk-in shower. The idea had been to change for our evening meal into suitable 'dining' apparel but I am afraid I just changed into a warmer sweater. We made our way back into reception and again sat near the tea lights. Then suddenly we were flooded with light and everyone gave a cheer. Would the chef manage to cope - it was now 6pm? We had booked our meal for 8 pm: it was really delicious and did, to some extent, warm us up. There was a coal fire in the dining room and after a few" glasses of wine all was well with the world. We said "Goodnight" to our new friends and made

our way back to the Bridal Suite. Brrrr! Once again it was very cold, the tiny radiator had failed to warm such a large room. The following day and after a very good breakfast, we set off to meet up with our friends. The weather was perfect for a trip to the coast and after paying a visit to Tony and Sandy in Axminster we all set off to the coast to enjoy the many areas of Devonshire with stops for refreshments throughout the day. We returned to the hotel for our second night (it was now much warmer) and made plans for my trip down memory lane the following day. I had never met my grandfather who was a very tall policeman and had died before I was born but I had made many visits with my parents to see my grandmother in her cottage in the small village of Burtle. We would take a train to a small station called Edington from where we would walk into Burtle. I could al-ways remember the huge monkey puzzle tree in front of the cottage and I began to look out for this as we drove along Burtle Road. How things change over 60 years! But what did I expect? No sign of the cottage or the tree just some large, modern detached houses all along the road. I had really expected to see THE tree, it was a landmark (or so I thought at the time). We did a U turn, retraced our steps to park outside Burtle church. Surely I would find traces of my family here. We went into the tiny church (rather like St Catwg's but smaller). It was filled with pews and on a small table near the door was a pile of news-letters, one of which we kept. Out into the churchyard to look for, maybe even find, my grandparents' grave. We wandered around reading the headstones many of which were illegible. I was looking for the name GOULD and suddenly there it was, a large double grave for BESSIE ELLEN died 1965 aged 93 and GEORGE EDWARD died 1938 aged 67. The grave looked very sad and uncared for. We will certainly make a return visit before too long and this time remember to take some flowers. Gill Ruff

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100 Ways to get your church noticed:

some basic ‘Do’s’ – and ‘Don’ts’! It might seem odd to include some advice about improving parish magazines in the pages of this magazine. But it’s important not to leave decisions about your publica-tion just to the editor or vicar – the whole congregation can get behind a revamped magazine and make it a must-read in your local community. Churches that do have a magazine often un-derestimate its potential. Sometimes little thought goes into its content, design or pur-pose – it is just produced because it always has been. Seeing it as a valuable tool for outreach could involve revamping it beyond recognition. If you want to get your church magazine noticed in your local community, the con-gregation needs to understand that its pri-mary aim should be outreach to those who don’t come to church. It’s not there to make money – in fact it might be more appropri-ate to subsidise it from your outreach budget. The cover price might therefore have to go. Why do we expect people to pay for information we want them to have any-way? If you decide the purpose of your magazine is to reach those outside the congregation, that will affect its content, design, distribu-tion, production, and finances. Its content should change, so that it be-comes full of information that will be rele-vant for those who don’t go to your church. People are always interested in stories about other people, especially local people who they might know. So why not include sto-ries about people’s faith – how they became a Christian, why they went abroad to work as a missionary, how they were dramatically healed, or how God helped them cope with bereavement? Why not publicise the start of

your Alpha or Pilgrim course by in-cluding an interview with someone who was on the last one? Or recruit a reporter to write something about a different church group in each edition – helping people understand what happens at Toddlers’ Group, Sunday School or Mothers’ Union? Its design should change. It should include photos of those whose stories you are telling – badly-photocopied photos are still more effective than clip-art. The vicar’s letter might sud-denly not be the most important thing, and doesn’t need to be at the front. Articles that explain faith or church activities to the outsider might be more prominent, while in-house rotas can be dropped. Desk-top publishing software could help you organise text into columns, to write larger head-lines, and to feature larger photos. Colour could be introduced – perhaps initially on the front and back pages. Its production and finances should change. If you want to use colour, or produce a magazine that looks more appealing, it’s time to forget about the black and white church photocopier. Negotiate a deal with a professional printer, using the subsidy from your church. Then take your new, colour, glossy publication to local firms who might advertise in your magazine. Better production values (and a better distribution system) means you can charge them more per advert. Then you can keep investing that money in producing a high-quality magazine. Its distribution should change. There’s little point spending hours producing a monthly magazine that is read only by those in the congregation and a

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few who previously had links with your church. You want everyone in your area to receive your news. So why not provide it for free and post it through every letterbox in your parish? Churches that do so know how effective that is, especially if they have a publication that they are proud of. Initially you might want to do this only two or three times a year, as each edition of the magazine might involve more effort

and each distribution run more time-consuming. But it will be worth it!

This is an extract from the book ‘100

Ways To Get Your Church Noticed’

by Neil Pugmire, published by

Church House Publishing. For more

information, or to buy a copy, see

www.getyourchurchnoticed.com

There is very little here that I, as editor of our magazine, disagree with (but there is

some!). I try to include articles that I want people to enjoy and, on times, feel in-

spired by: I want “newsy” articles, people orientated articles, parish articles. I

would be extremely happy for members of the parish to send me articles that they

have found interesting or inspiring, to write about their experiences, their holidays,

their working environment, things that they have observed—on the ʼbus for in-

stance.

I want parishioners to take responsibility to their church by offering the magazine

to others: there are always spare magazines in our churches, and deliberately so,

for just such an occasion. When was the last time any of you asked a member of the

congregation to subscribe to the magazine, and thereby, learn more about the life

of Christians within our Parish? Or even gave a magazine to someone who has

walked through the doors for the first time? I see that as a function of all of us:

think about it! John Gough

Hope House Continued from P 13

The vision is to open a boarding school there, possibly in June. Billy & Ronald will make a special trip there sometime in March. Bu Hung Thang has been assigned to Latuata Township, Irrawaddy Delta, to pioneer in a region that is primarily Buddhist. TRANSITION time! The Clear Water Bay International Baptist Church (CBIBC), Hong Kong, currently has a pastoral search committee processing prospective candi-dates, in preparation for the appointment of a full-time pastor. CBIBC is our local church in Hong Kong, where Billy has served the church as interim pastor, in times of need. We are planning to move back to Cambodia, but ideally, to also be able to retain an office base in Hong Kong. Hopefully, by Easter everything will be much clearer. Meanwhile, we wait for some miracle answers from the Lord! Please up-hold us in prayer during this time of transition.

THANK YOU for faithfully praying, and for your financial support of the Lord’s work in Asia.

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Finding yourself in mental illness

Patients suffering from mental illness can easily lose track of themselves in their diagnosis. Healthcare treatment inevitably focuses largely upon a patient’s diagno-sis and the symptoms from which they are suffering, but what is happening to them as a person? It is vital, even during a psychotic episode, when a patient is losing contact with reality, that they are helped to hold on to a consciousness of who they are, as a person. And that, sometimes, is where a chaplain comes in. One night, on an NHS mental health ward, a patient who was suffering a psychotic episode asked, in the midst of her terror, for the chaplain to be paged. When the chaplain arrived he found the young woman, whom he knew well, in an agitated state. He addressed her by her name and sat with her, holding her hand, speaking softly, praying silently. After some minutes the young woman began to calm down and became more herself. She was able to go back to sleep. As the chaplain passed by the nursing station, the charge nurse asked him: “I’m really puzzled,” she said. “How can you be a pastor to someone who is psychotic?” He answered, “I was not speaking to the psychosis. I was speaking to that little bit of herself of which she was still conscious, the bit that was afraid, the bit that had asked me to come.” Another young woman, who suffered similarly on the same ward, shared in a spiri-tual support group, how she was able to hang on to a thread of reality in the midst of her psychosis. “There was one nurse who helped me,” she said. “Whenever she came to my room she always addressed me by my name. My name was the one re-ality of which I was still conscious. Just the constant mention of my name helped me to hang on to myself through all the terror of my experience, until I came out on the other side.”

Who is this?

• I converted to the Roman Catholic Faith at the age of twenty two. • I was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. • I have written numerous publications. • My first two short religious books were titled “A Feast for Lent” and “A

Feast for Advent” • I am known for my cooking abilities. Answer on page 21

A man walked into the doctors, he said 'I've hurt my arm in several places'

The doctor said, 'Well don't go to those places'

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The single supplement if £80.

Names to: David Pendlebury, John Gough, Gwyneth Thomas as soon as

possible.

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Palm Sunday Prayer Loving Father, People didn’t recognise Jesus as your son, on that first Palm Sunday, even though you had told them what to expect. They wanted him to be their hero, to do things their way, to meet their expectations. To be a king of their own creation. Perhaps we still do. Help us to look beyond what we think is best, to see that the values of your Kingdom are very different from the values of this world. Help us to proclaim you as our King, to commit ourselves to building for your Kingdom to come - and then to trust you and get on with it. In Jesus’ name, Amen. By Daphne Kitching

Thy counting day O thou King of the blood loyal and true, Exclude me not from thy cove-nant new, For my unjust misdeeds make me not pay, Overlook me not in thy counting day, Overlook me not in thy counting day. From an old Celtic prayer

Nigel Beeton has recently had a bereavement in his family. He writes: “When we come face to face with bereavement, the pain we feel is real, and is no less bitter even if we love the Lord. What I have come to realise is that being a Christian does not protect us from the anguish of bereavement; in some ways it makes it worse, because we say ‘I’m not supposed to feel this way, I am a Christian and I have an eternal hope.’ And then you realise that He has come to you in your pain. He doesn’t protect you from pain, He walks with you through pain. Psalm 116 explains it, and here is a poem based on that Psalm.” You’ve heard my voice I love you, Lord, you’ve heard my voice My cry for mercy, too; Because you turned your ear to me I’ll always call on You. The cords of death entangled me The anguish of the grave I called upon Your Holy name I knew my Lord would save! Gracious and righteous is the Lord With love his heart o’erflows The simple heart within his hand His saving kindness knows. From death my Lord delivers me He dries my bitter tears And I will walk before the Lord For everlasting years! By Nigel Beeton

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On the perils of parking near church The Rectory St. James the Least My dear Nephew Darren I cannot be wholly sympathetic because your church car park is now inadequate, only having space for 100 cars. Your solution of advising members of the congrega-tion to park in the adjoining supermarket car park may not have been wise. The maximum time people can stop there is 90 minutes, and as your sermons alone often reach that length, returning to find their cars clamped may not make you universally popular – although it may give your congregation the opportunity of practising Christian forgiveness. Since the medieval architect who built St. James the Least was not overly concerned with car parking, the only space we have is along the road by the church. Inevitably, it gets blocked, which causes us all immense satisfaction when those not attending church but intending to have a morning shopping, find themselves unable to get out of the village until Mattins is over. I did once encourage people to walk to church across the fields, but when the present Earl of Stowe started to get his staff to lay waterproof sheeting along the paths so he could avoid getting mud on his shoes, I decided the idea was best dropped. For most, the inconvenience of parking only makes attending church more of a pleasurable challenge; we so enjoy having something to complain about. Major Hastings, however, who has complained endlessly about parking problems, made a point last Christmas by leaving his car in the middle of the vicarage lawn. I was so pleased he happened to park just where I had had a garden pond filled in only the previous week. He returned to find that the car had sunk up the windscreen and needed a crane to remove it. And it would have made a charming garden feature; I could even picture it with garden gnomes on its roof. For weddings, a farmer allows us to use the field adjoining the church. While he rarely attends church on Sundays, he is always there the week before – I suspect praying for heavy rain, so he can make a fortune charging to tow out with his tractor those who have got stuck. Perhaps the greatest act of witness your church could perform would be to get every-one attending church to park on the ring road, bringing the entire town to a halt until your three hour Sunday morning Service is over. Your loving uncle, Eustace

Who am I? Delia Smith

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Poor Mum!

Mother’s reward

A man was decorating his new den and decided it was a good place to display all

the awards he and his two sons had won at various athletic competitions. When he

had filled two whole walls, he remarked to his wife that it was a shame she had no

awards to contribute.

The following day, she produced, neatly framed, the birth certificates of their two

sons, and added them to the display.

Just like mum…

That desert was delicious. Did you buy it yourself?

Mothers and teenagers

A woman was confiding in her neighbour just how hard it was for her to get her

teenagers out of bed in the morning. The neighbour replied that she never had any

trouble at all with her son. “I just open the door and throw the cat on the bed,” she

explained. The woman was puzzled, and asked how that might help. “Easy. My son

sleeps with the dog.”

Sir Winston Churchill rehearsed his speeches at every opportunity. A true story about him relates how one morning, when Sir Winston was in his tub, his valet heard his voice above the splash-ing. Opening the door, he asked; “Were you speaking to me, sir?” “Not at all,” Churchill replied, annoyed at the interruption. “I was addressing the House of Commons.” Expensive boat A vicar was planning an Easter pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and was aghast when he found it would cost him £50 an hour to rent a boat on the Sea of Galilee. He protested to the travel agent that the cost was ridiculous. “That might be true,” replied the travel agent, “but you have to take into account that the Sea of Galilee is water on which our Lord himself walked.” “Well, at £50 an hour for a boat, I am not surprised!”

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Did you know it’s St Patrick’s Day on 17th March? ST. PATRICK'S DAY GROANERS Q: Why do people wear shamrocks on St. Patrick's Day? A: Regular rocks are too heavy. Q: Why can't you borrow money from a leprechaun? A: Because they're always a little short. Q: How can you tell if an Irishman is having a good time? A: He's Dublin over with laughter! Q: What would you get if you crossed Christmas with St. Patrick's Day? A: St. O'Claus! St Patrick’s Day "I married an Irishman on St. Patrick's Day." "Oh, really?" "No, O'Reilly!"

I went to the butchers the other day and I bet him 50

quid that he couldn't reach

the meat off the top shelf.

He said, 'No, the steaks are

too high.'

My friend drowned in a bowl

of muesli.

A strong currant pulled him

in.

Two Eskimos sitting in a

kayak were chilly.

They lit a fire in the craft, it

sank, proving once and for all

that you can't have your

kayak and heat it.

A man walked into the doc-

tors,

The doctor said 'I haven't

seen you in a long time'

The man replied, 'I know I've

been ill'

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Parish of Pentyrch and Capel Llanilltern

Vicar: Revd Michael John 21403854 Parochial Secretary Mr David Pendlebury 42, Maes-y-Sarn, Pentyrch 20892077 Parish Wardens Mr Andrew Dodd 20891736 Mrs Helen Davey 20891765 Parish Treasurer Geoff Moses 28 Pen y Groes, Groesfaen Pontyclun CF72 8PA 20891061 Parish Hall Treasurer Mr T.I. Hall 20890087 Parish Hall Booking Secretary Mrs Mary Davies 07528565499

St Catwg’s Church, Pentyrch

Churchwarden Miss Jane Rees 20679970 Treasurer Mr Martin J Cragg 20890738 6 Cefn Bychan, Pentyrch Organist and Choirmaster Mr John Gough 20891721 Sunday Club The Sunday Club for young people meets at St Catwg’s Church Room at 11.00 a.m. every Sunday except the first in the month. Contact: Mrs Sue Dodd 20891736

St David’s Church, Groesfaen

Churchwarden Mrs M. MacKay 20890827 Treasurer Mrs M MacKay 20890827 28 Parc-y-Coed, Creigiau Organist Miss Jane Williams 20890805

St Ellteyrn’s Church Capel Llanilltern

Churchwardens Mrs Anne Hughes 20890225 Mrs Linda Davies 20891239 Treasurer Mr E Willis 20890770 Llwyn y Pennau Farm Groesfaen

Parish Magazine Organisers

Pentyrch Mrs Margaret Curran 20891693 Creigiau Mrs Gaynor Williams 20890657 Groesfaen Mrs Alison Woodley 20891800 Magazine Editor Mr John Gough 20891721

Follow us on: www.parishofpentyrch.org.uk