Sydenham Life July/August 2018 In and around the parish of St Bartholomew www.stbartschurchsydenham.org Mental Health is as Important as Physical Health It is a seriously underfunded part of the NHS, yet all of us are affected by mental ill- health. Since mental illness strikes about one in four of the population every year, each of us, if we have not suffered ourselves, knows family members, friends or colleagues who have experienced mental health issues. Yet only around 10% of the NHS budget is spent on mental health care. One particular concern is the increase in mental health problems in children and young people. For example, the number of children and young people turning up in A&E with psychiatric conditions has more than doubled since 2009. There are several possible explanations for this. Sometimes the pressure to get good grades in exams is held to be at fault. We have always had exams, but with grade inflation, students now perceive that the slightest percentage point here or there can significantly affect the rest of their lives. Factors like family break-up or domestic poverty can also be causes of stress leading to depression. But perhaps the likeliest candidate for blame in most cases is excessive screen time, ie on smartphones, internet and social media. This has obviously only come into play in recent years, roughly the period when adolescent mental health concerns have risen. Surveys have shown that children and young people who spent more time on sports, exercise, reading books, going to religious services and interacting face-to-face were less likely to feel depressed or suicidal. If you have experienced this yourself, or are a parent of someone who has, you’ll know how scary it can be. It’s difficult to spot that your child has mental health issues; we’re used to teenagers acting in challenging ways. Then it is difficult to get seen by the mental health service – there is a long wait for CAMHS appointments. And it can be very difficult to know how to act as a parent. You’re learning what to do as you go along. And the professionals don’t always get it right. We were let down by two schools and a psychiatrist. Having a wrong diagnosis and therefore the wrong treatment doesn’t help(thank God for those who finally made the right diagnosis). There are times when you just want to pull your hair out, especially when you’ve just taken one step backwards after one hopeful step forwards. You need to deepen your resources of patience, remind yourself of how you love your teenager so much, and cling on to whatever small signs of hope you can find. And you need a close friend you can unburden to. Things do get better, eventually. I found the book “Rescuing your Teenager from Depression” by Norman Berlinger, quite helpful. We think we live in a modern world where we have a more enlightened understanding of mental health. (Needless to say, in much of the world the situation is much more ghastly.) No longer are people incarcerated for life or put in strait- jackets, largely thanks to the development of new medication and talking therapies. And yet, there is still a vestige of stigma about experiencing mental ill health, as if it were something you’ve brought on yourself, or could shake yourself out of if only you would make the effort. Thank God, again, for the two princes who have put mental health firmly on the nation’s agenda. Yes, we have moved on since biblical times, when they saw mental ill health as possession by evil spirits; we have moved on from hideous practices associated with Bedlam before the 20th century. But there is still a long way to travel before mental suffering is treated as well as physical suffering and gets its fair share of health spending. As a nation, we neglect our mental health at our peril. Michael Kingston SABRE update p.4 St Bartholomew’s Restoration Appeal Lewisham Foodbank p.4 A charity which helps local people in crisis Row about Steel & Aluminium p.5 Current news surrounding international trade agreements Christ of Saint John of the Cross p.6 Salvador Dali’s image of a soaring vision of redemption A Hidden Gem p.7 Lewisham Plus Credit Union in Sydenham
Transcript
Sydenham LifeJuly/August 2018In and around the parish of St Bartholomewwww.stbartschurchsydenham.org
Mental Health is as Important as Physical Health
It is a seriously underfunded part of the NHS, yet all of us are affected by mental ill-health. Since mental illness strikes about one in four of the population every year, each of us, if we have not suffered ourselves, knows family members, friends or colleagues who have experienced mental health issues. Yet only around 10% of the NHS budget is spent on mental health care. One particular concern is the increase in mental health problems in children and young people. For example, the number of children and young people turning up in A&E with psychiatric conditions has more than doubled since 2009. There are several possible explanations for this. Sometimes the pressure to get good grades in exams is held to be at fault. We have always had exams, but with grade inflation, students now perceive that the slightest percentage point here or there can significantly affect the rest of their lives. Factors like family break-up or domestic poverty can also be causes of stress leading to depression. But perhaps the likeliest candidate for blame in most cases is excessive screen time, ie on smartphones, internet and social media. This has obviously only come into play in recent years, roughly the period when adolescent mental health concerns have risen. Surveys have shown that children and young people who spent more time on sports, exercise, reading books, going to religious services and interacting face-to-face were less likely to feel depressed or suicidal. If you have experienced this yourself, or are a parent of someone who has, you’ll know how scary it can be. It’s difficult to spot that your child has mental health issues; we’re used to teenagers acting in challenging ways. Then it is difficult to get seen by the mental health service – there is a long wait for CAMHS appointments. And it can be very difficult to know how to act as a parent. You’re learning what to do as you go along. And the professionals don’t always get it right. We were let down by two schools and a psychiatrist. Having a wrong diagnosis and therefore the wrong treatment doesn’t help(thank God for those who finally made the right diagnosis). There are times when you just want to pull your hair out, especially when you’ve just taken one step backwards after one hopeful step forwards. You need to deepen your resources of patience, remind yourself of how you love your teenager so much, and cling on to whatever small signs of hope you can find. And you need a close friend you can unburden to. Things do get better, eventually.I found the book “Rescuing your Teenager from Depression” by Norman Berlinger, quite helpful.We think we live in a modern world where we have a more enlightened understanding of mental health. (Needless to say, in much of the world the situation is much more ghastly.) No longer are people incarcerated for life or put in strait-jackets, largely thanks to the development of new medication and talking therapies. And yet, there is still a vestige of stigma about experiencing mental ill health, as if it were something you’ve brought on yourself, or could shake yourself out of if only you would make the effort. Thank God, again, for the two princes who have put mental health firmly on the nation’s agenda. Yes, we have moved on since biblical times, when they saw mental ill health as possession by evil spirits; we have moved on from hideous practices associated with Bedlam before the 20th century. But there is still a long way to travel before mental suffering is treated as well as physical suffering and gets its fair share of health spending. As a nation, we neglect our mental health at our peril. Michael Kingston
SABRE update p.4
St Bartholomew’s Restoration Appeal
Lewisham Foodbank p.4
A charity which helps local people in crisis
Row about Steel & Aluminium p.5
Current news surrounding international trade agreements
Christ of Saint John of the Cross p.6
Salvador Dali’s image of a soaring vision of redemption
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EditorialWalking through Wells and Crystal Palace Parks you can see that Londoners are happy that the winter has finally passed. It feels as if individuals were just waiting to burst out of their homes and embrace the sunshine. Off with the winter coats and jumpers and on with the tee-shirts, short trousers and sleeveless dresses. It feels as if people of all descriptions are trying to absorb every ray of sunshine before the sun disappears again. I think the sunshine makes us feel good and gives our bodies the opportunity to create vital vitamin D. The dynamics of park life changes with excited children pushing their chainless bikes and excitedly playing in the water features. Teenagers perform wheelies and ride with what can only be described as youthful exuberance. I find myself remonstrating that the speed limit is 5 miles per hour, to no avail. On my way to the National Sports Centre I saw a man, probably in his mid-thirties, looking at the individuals performing in the recently installed skate park. His wistful look suggests that he used to be able to perform those stunts, but now he just looked on with coffee in his hand. Life is full of contrast a few days after the wedding of Megan Markle and Prince Harry in the splendour of St George’s Chapel Windsor. I was travelling on the 202 bus and across the aisle was a middle aged couple, perhaps in their mid-fifties. The woman wore a garland of flowers in her hair and a broad smile and her companion wore a crisp white shirt. Opposite them sat a senior couple and I am not sure how the conversation arose but it turned out that they had just been married that very day. I looked down and they were wearing sparkling new wedding bands. They had attended the Register Office and had gone to London for lunch. They were a mixed race couple and the senior couple asked how they had met. The groom responded “that they had met at Euston station and had been together for some time.” Then the senior couple asked where they were going on their honeymoon and the bride said “Jaipoor”. Shortly afterwards they disembarked the bus. The news showed us Prince Harry driving away in an E type jag and our couple was on the 202 bus in Sydenham, equally happy. As I was leaving Sydenham railway station I came across Lillian a member of our congregation. I asked how her ankle was healing as she had recently slipped and broken it. She was on the mend and was telling me about a time when she was on Sydenham Road and a young boy had come out of the pet shop with two gerbils and had dropped them. He ran up the road to get one of them and she pursued the other into a betting shop and had dropped to her knees to catch it with all of the punters giving encouragement. Lillian assures me that boy and the gerbils were reunited. This is our July/August edition so have a happy summer and if you feel that there is something you would like to write about please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Geoffrey Cave : Editor
Sydenham Life Page �4 July/August 2018
U p c o m i n g E v e n t s
Sunday Evening Service Sunday July 15th – a traditional Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer with hymns and short sermon at 6 pm.
Sunday 15th July at 6:00 pm
St Bartholomew’s day Can the vicar find anything new to say about St Bartholomew, after 24 years of St Bartholomew’s Day sermons? Come and find out, for famously, little is known about him! But we still enjoy celebrating the day of him who is our patron saint, and one of the Twelve Apostles. Sunday August 26th, Parish Eucharist at 10 am.
Sunday 26th August at 10:00 Am
SABRE: St. Bartholomew’s Restoration Appeal As many of you may have observed, towards the end of last year, scaffolding went up at the rear of the church and work began to replace the roofs over the Sacristy and Choir Vestry. This was much needed refurbishment work since both roofs were no longer watertight and many of the slates had slipped requiring temporary repairs. In addition, re-decoration of the ‘rainwater goods’ –e.g. downpipes and gutters – was overdue and work was needed to complete the repair and replacement of sections of the drainage system, principally along the north-eastern perimeter of the church.We are very pleased to announce that this project was officially pronounced completed on 20th February 2018, by our Architect, Ms. Karen Butti.The work was made possible by a generous grant of over £90,000 from the Listed Places of Worship Roof Repair Fund to which I referred in a ‘STOP PRESS’ follow-up to my earlier article in ‘Sydenham Life’ on the progress of the SABRE fund.We are extremely grateful to the LPOWRRF for their generous support.The next phase of our restoration work is planned to be the repairs to the upper levels of the Tower and the re-installation, in full working order, of the rare Benjamin Vulliamy Clock. We are in the process of making applications for grant aid for this work to various trusts and organisations.In due course, a future article in ‘Sydenham Life’ will provide further information about our plans.
Nick Lloyd SABRE Committee May 2018
Lewishman FoodbankSince I last wrote in Sydenham Life last year, we have seen a 13% increase in foodbank usage in Lewisham. This includes people like Peter:Peter phoned the Foodbank, and told me that he had sent his children to school that day without breakfast because they had no food and no money. He was upset and ashamed. Peter visited the Foodbank later that day. He was welcomed, listened to, provided with food for the family and offered help with his underlying issues. I was called out of the warehouse because Peter wanted to thank me personally. He had tears in his eyes as he gave me a hug and said ‘Tonight my children will have something to eat’.Lewisham Foodbank is a charity which helps local people in crisis by providing food parcels and advice. We started in 2012 and we are part of a nationwide network of ‘Trussell Trust’ foodbanks. We have four outlets across the borough and we are open six days a week (two hours each day). People are referred to us by local professionals and we listen and care as well as giving food. Most of the food we give away has been donated by the public, and Sydenham residents have made
good use of our donation box in Sainsbury’s local. Across the borough we received and gave away over 50 tons of donated long life food last year.We are now receiving donations of ‘near to date’ fruit, vegetables and bread from Tesco and Lidl in Sydenham, which means we can give a little extra to our clients.As well as food and money we also accept donations of toiletries and nappies so please try to help us out by dropping an extra item into our donation boxes. Our most urgent needs are updated each week on Facebook and Twitter. At present we are low on; tinned meat, fish, fruit and vegetables as well as shower gel and washing up liquid.Those who ask for our help often start by saying; ‘I was alright until…’ Until I lost my job, or the gas bill arrived, or my benefits were delayed, or I needed to buy shoes for my daughter. I have realised how many people live close to the edge and I am glad we can help them when times are hard. Please consider helping us to help local people in crisis.
Carol Bostridge (Chief Operating Officer for Lewisham Foodbank)
Every day there is a new twist in the row over the US additional tariffs on steel and aluminium. The twist on the day I am writing this article is that, having agreed the text of the draft communique of the G7 communique and left the meeting, Mr Trump instructed his officials to withdraw that agreement because of his annoyance about remarks made by Canada’s Prime Minister when he made clear that he would be going ahead with the countermeasures Canada had already announced. No doubt there will be many new twists between today and the day this article is printed. So I want to look away from the events of the day and try to explain the underlying concerns about the US measure. These concerns go far beyond steel an aluminium. In particular, I want to look at the legal basis of the US action and at the reason Mr Trump says that it is easy for the US to win trade wars.The basis in US law for imposing tariffs on steel and aluminium is Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act. This allows an investigation to be made of the effect of imports on US security and enables the President to take action to deal with them If necessary. This section allows the President to act without authority from Congress and to discriminate between the origins of the imports to which the tariffs will be applied. The President’s decision to include amongst the originating countries Canada and Mexico, the US’ partners in the North Atlantic Free Trade Area (NAFTA), and the EU, most of whose members are members of NATO and hence close security allies of the US, has infuriated them and all three have announced that they will impose retaliatory tariffs on US goods and open dispute settlement proceedings in the World Trade Organisation (WTO). So already the affair risks developing into a trade war.The basis that the EU says that it has in WTO law for the counter measures it intends to take is that the US claim that the tariffs are being imposed for reasons of national security is bogus and that they are really safeguard measures imposed to protect the economic interests of the US steel and aluminium industries. Safeguard measures, when an industry is put at risk by the volume of imports or their conditions, are permitted in WTO law but a country that wants to apply them has to consult the WTO members who are affected and attempt to agree with them compensatory adjustments to other tariffs. If no agreement is reached in these consultations, the affected members can “suspend concessions” (WTO jargon for “increase tariffs”) broadly equivalent to the tariffs that have been imposed under the safeguard action. This right must, however be suspended for three years if the safeguard measure has been imposed as a result of an increase in the absolute volume of imports and the measure conforms to the WTO Agreement of Safeguards. So, assuming that the action the EU is starting against the US in the WTO goes ahead and is not resolved in the consultations that have to take place between the
parties before the complainant can ask for a panel to be established to examine the case, the US will need to decide how it will defend its measure. It seems likely, in view of the fact that the basis in US law for the action is section 232, that it will claim that the extra tariffs are not safeguard measures but are based on Article XXI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (GATT ) . This allows members to derogate from its obligations under that agreement and take “any action that it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests” relating to amongst other things to “traffic in goods and materials carried on directly or indirectly for the purpose of supplying military establishments”. This wording is astonishingly wide both in terms of what it could apply to and in giving the member taking the action an apparently unfettered right to decide unilaterally when it is justified in relying on this provision. If members began to make frequent use of this provision it would drive a coach and horses through the entire rules- based system of trade that the GATT was intended to create. The presumption of the negotiators when they agreed the wording of Article XXI is that members would be aware of this and would, therefore, only resort to in rarely and in the most clearly justified circumstances, because (at least in 1947) no one would want to repeat the trade wars of the 1930s and the depression to which they led.What makes this situation especially dangerous is that it appears, to judge from what he has said, that President Trump is not aware of the dangers of trade wars. He appears to adhere to the long discredited “mercantilist” theory of trade that a country gains by exporting and loses by importing and not to the theory of comparative advantage that has been economic orthodoxy ever since it was developed by Ricardo in 1817, which explains why trade is not a zero sum game, where gains by exporters are balanced by losses by importers, but benefits both parties. (Sadly the continuing popularity of mercantilism is the living proof of the saying that those who claim to prefer “common sense” to “fancy economic theories” are in fact believers in outdated economic theories.) So, he believes that, as the US had a large trade deficit, this makes the US the loser from trade and so, for the US trade wars are “easy to win”. No wonder world leaders are worried that there is a risk that the rule based system of trade as set out in the WTO agreements may collapse.
David Roberts
1 GATT 1947 predates the WTO but is still in force and is a key member of the whole corpus of WTO Agreements.
Sydenham Life Page �6 July/August 2018
Christ of Saint John of the Cross (1951) by Salvador Dali
It was at the Royal Academy in London last November that I first saw this amazing painting. The exhibition displayed Dali’s most inspired and masterly paintings and Duchamp’s ground breaking erotic works. Some consider ‘St John of Cross’ as one of the greatest religious paintings of the 20th century. The painting depicts Jesus Christ on the cross in a darkened sky floating over a tranquil scene below which consists of clouds, water, mountain, a boat and a fisherman. Dali has us view Christ and the Cross directly from above and looking down just like our heavenly father looking down at his only son. The horizontal line then draws your eyes up to Christ on the brink of ascension. The bottom scene is set in the contemporary setting of a fishing village in Port Lligat in Catalonia where Dali lived. What makes this painting so different from the other crucifixion paintings is that the body of Christ is unscarred; there are no nails, blood or a crown of thorns and you cannot see Christ’s face; it’s just a peaceful repose of Christ. Dali was a self professed genius, a notorious surrealist, a showman who courted publicity. He was a celebrity artist, a groundbreaking icon of the surrealist movement. Surrealism aimed to revolutionise human experience and explored the subconscious mind, championing the irrational. Psychoanalysis and the theory of the subconscious were Dali’s source of inspiration. However, he was expelled from the surrealist movement in 1934 for refusing to denounce fascism. He was alleged to have had fascist sympathies.Dali was reacting to a painting by Grunewald (1516) which depicts a broken Christ’s body, showing pain and suffering. He wanted to paint Christ that is different to others. Christ of St John of the Cross was inspired by a drawing by a 16th century Spanish monk St John of the Cross (1575). This monk’s spiritual life was so intense that he had a vision of the crucified Christ “from above” during an ecstasy. He immediately sketched it on a piece of paper. This piece of drawing is preserved in the convent of the Incarnation in Avila Spain. Dali saw this drawing and had a similar cosmic dream in which he saw the image in colours. The atomic bomb used in Japan during the WWII shocked him deeply and since that time, the atom became his favourite subject of
reflection. His dream represented the nucleus of the atom. He synthesized with other elements and worked out a geometric scheme with a triangle and a circle. He inscribed Christ in this triangle. The triangle can be seen as a reference to the Trinity. Dali used Hollywood studio to take photos of a stuntman strapped from an overhead gantry. He was able to see the effects of the pull of gravity on human body. He also used the photos and mathematical theories to work out the proportions of the painting. Dali used vanishing point to find the horizon for this 7’X4’ painting. The top of the cross was ‘cut off’, so that it appeared to go on infinitely. It took him five months to complete the painting. The painting was first exhibited in London in 1951. Some art critics at the time thought the painting was banal and others thought it was blasphemy. However, Dr Tom Honeyman, a retired GP and director of the Glasgow Art Gallery negotiated with Dali and his agent
and bought the painting for the sum of £8,200, a much lower price than the £12,000 catalogue price. A storm broke out when the purchase was announced. There were protests; people were shocked by this large sum of money for one painting and some argued that the money could be better spent elsewhere in Glasgow. Honeyman overcame all these as people voted with their feet to see the painting when it was first exhibited in the Kelvingrove Art gallery and Museum in 1952. The controversy caused Honeyman and Dali to become friends. This painting has since earned Glasgow museum back the original cost many times over because of the copyright. Salvador Dali’s Christ of St John of the Cross remains a controversy. It has an astonishing effect on people, believer and non-believer alike. The
painting was vandalised by a fanatic in the 60s. Jonathan Jones, an art critic from The Guardian described the painting as “kitsch and lurid” and probably the most enduring vision of the crucifixion painted in the 20th century. Glasgow’s most popular and most valuable painting continues to arouse admiration, provoke criticism and stimulate infinite reinterpretation. Dali’s images of a soaring vision of redemption above gave us an unusual perspective. Are we looking up or down? Was it at dawn or dusk? The painting was voted as Scotland’s favourite painting in 2005. It was reported that the Spanish government offered £80 million for the painting but the offer was turned down.
Dr Jitna Por
Sydenham Life Page �7 July/August 2018
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Please be sure to obtain a quote and details of all the work needed before you agree to proceed. Trading standards recommendthat you obtain at least three quotes.
Members with debt problemsHere are two examples of how we have helped members with large debt repayments to ease their finances and improve their lives.
A lady from Sydenham, who is employed, was granted a loan of £4000 to clear payday loans. Her repayments dropped from £1200 per month to £132 per month and the loan will clear in 36 months giving her a much higher disposable income and peace of mind.
A member came to us for a loan to clear most of his credit card debts. He was offered a loan of £4800 to totally clear them. Previously he had been paying £68 per week just not to incur further debt. Now he is paying £36 per week and his debts will be cleared in 3 years.
Members who have difficulty borrowing money elsewhereA new member, who joined and applied for a loan was granted a loan for home improvements so that he could decorate his house. We were able to help him purchase a fridge and a cooker through our Household and Electrical goods loan.
Members with no credit rating or banking historyA pensioner had always had his pension paid into his wife's account since they retired, and his wife had managed their finances but, sadly, she passed away. We helped him open an account, so that his pension could be paid into us. We also provided him with a chip and pin VISA card, so that he can access his funds through an ATM and pay for goods and services on the high street.
Ravi Ravindran
A hidden Gem - Lewisham Plus Credit Union
A hidden Gem – Lewisham Plus Credit UnionGenerally credit unions are seen as sleepy organisations which are somewhat slow in adopting new technology, still working from historic ledgers dating back hundreds of years.Well we have news for you. Thanks to the advances we have had in technology we are as good as, no actually better than, the big banks. We have the same technology and capabilities as any high street financial institution, but with an added advantage, we care about our members.
Why should you join the credit union? Here are a dozen reasons!
1. Becoming a member, means you are joining one of the fastest growing community banks in the country, & joining over 11,000 people in Lewisham and Bromley who are already members.
2. Your money is in an ethical savings account, so it stays in the community and is used to help your neighbours.
3. You can access your accounts and transact online as well as at one of our friendly branches and collection points.
4. We offer affordable, ethical loans for personal use.5. Special loans to purchase electrical and household
items from ethical providers. 6. Kids get extra interest on their accounts - better than
most banks.7. We work with over fourteen primary schools in
Lewisham and Bromley.8. Members can save straight from their salary if they
choose.9. We offer an ethical bank account with chip and pin
facility with no credit check. 10. We have Smartcash accounts for young people aged
8-16 with their own Visa card, and mobile app so parents can track their spending with cash back rewards.
11. Savings account holders can receive a dividend on their savings each year!
12. Your money is safe with us as we are covered by the FSCS.
We regularly help people from all walks of life with all sorts of issues. Here are some examples of how we have helped and how their finances have improved as a result.
*Send in your Sydenham Life contributions by the first day of each month*Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in Sydenham Life are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the
policy or position of St Bartholomew’s Church or the Church of England. The information contained is not advice, or any form of recommendation and should not be treated as such.
Weekdays Sundays9.00 am Morning Prayer, Mon. - Fri. 8am Eucharist (Said)9.30 am Saturday 10am Parish Eucharist (Sung)5.30 pm Evening Prayer, Mon. - Sat. All-Age once a month9.15 am Eucharist, Wednesday 6 pm (some Sundays) Evening Service12.45 pm Eucharist, Thursday
Vicar - The Rev Canon Michael Kingston4 Westwood Hill, Sydenham, SE26 6QR 020 8778 5290
