If you wonder why the collection bags are no longer passed around during the service we are trying something new, as you enter the church there is a wooden box on the table at the back, please place any offering you wish to give in there - thanks. It is hoped this may avoid any embarrassment with visitors or presumption on our part that donations are compulsory! This system will be reviewed after three months.
Another experiment! At present there is no meeting point in the village for mum's with babies and very young children, in seeking to address this as a church, we are having an open morning for mothers and toddlers on July 4th, if the interest is there, this will continue on a regular basis from September.
On Saturday 20th April 30 of us went to the Coach & Horses skittle alley. As usual it was a very good evening and enjoyed by everyone that came along. A number of young people came and joined with us and it was great to see all ages mixing and laughing together.
There will be a fellowship lunch on Sunday July 14th (see diary dates) during coffee the music group will be leading us with a sing a long, some old favourites and some new ones to learn. I hope we will all have the energy to sing after all that eating!
See you there Ruth
Looking much further ahead . . . . Brains of Harvington, we know you're out there, and we need you! Guaranteed good fun, the chapel have been asked to enter a team for the quiz in November, and for those of us who were talked into it last year, we can recommend it, we came away having had an excellent evening, four good people needed, see Janice if you'd like to give it a try.
Finally, for those who fancy something a bit different and can through caution to the wind for one gloriously indulgent evening, we are taking names for those interested in a December outing to the Pudding Club at Mickleton. Did not especially pick December, its just the first slot available, but will need to act quickly as soon as date is confirmed, most probably a Friday in early December. All I need is a name and Tel number, all you need is a loose pair of trousers and a love of custard! More details at back of chapel or contact Lynn..
I first visited Nepal as a VSO volunteer in 1971, my job being to teach Chemistry in a Girls' College in Kathmandu. In addition to this I spent several hours each day and most weekends at an Orphanage for 50 boys, run on very simple lines by a Buddhist Foundation. The boys were eager to learn to speak English and to have help with their homework but our best times were spent roaming the Kathmandu valley, visiting the many temples, often the zoo or the museum and sometimes just playing football in the park. They became great friends and learnt to speak English well; since the day I left I had been dreaming of returning to see them all.
One of the boys, Shrawan, has just set up a home for street children in a village at the edge of the valley. We have been in contact on and off over the years and when the home opened last August Richard, our younger son, asked if he could go out to help. He had a wonderful experience and despite political unrest in the country I just had to go!! So off I went this Easter. You can imagine what a thrill it was to meet these boys after all those years and to see how well they had all done. I felt very proud to have had a small part in their upbringing.
I stayed at the home for two weeks. It is called AmaGhar – meaning motherly home. Ama, Shrawan's 78 year old God-Mother has moved in and is wonderful with the children as they arrive from their villages, usually the first time they have left their home area. They started off with 6 children but after six months the number had risen to 34. The poverty in Nepal is unbelievable, made worse by the current political situation. Life is very hard. Families have huge numbers of children and often mothers die in childbirth with the nearest medical help being some days walk away. Many of our children just have a father, who couldn't cope, others have only a mum who couldn't feed them all. Several have neither. Shrawan has taken them all in and promised to see them through ten years of schooling – quite an undertaking. Things are cheap out there and money goes a long way but with no backing from government or other organisations he will have much fund-raising to do. The children are the happiest bunch you could hope to meet. They smile, dance and sing, play well together, help in the house, and even ask for homework! Wonderful children. I long to go back of course but meanwhile am enjoying e-mail contact with some of the older girls. It was a visit that I am very thankful that I was able to make.
By Margaret
*** Look out for an opportunity to hear more about Margaret's visit to Nepal at a special event in the autumn. ***
We'd like you to meet some members of our centre. All of them share the last name.
First there is old man Dic Tate, who wants to run everything, while his cousin Ro Tate tries to change everything. Mrs Agi Tate stirs up plenty of trouble with the help of her husband Irri Tate. Whenever there is a new project suggested, Mr Hesi Tate and his wife Vege Tate want to wait until next year.
Then there is Mr Imi Tate, who wants our centre to be just like the one he visited last year in Newtown. Mr Devas Tate provides the voice of doom, while Mr Poten Tate just wants to be a big shot. But there is also Mrs Facili Tate, who is most helpful when there is work to be done. Mr Cogi Tate and his wife Medi Tate want always to think things over and are usually positive in their ideas.
And finally, there is the black sheep of the family, Mr Ampu Tate, who has cut himself off completely from the centre, which is his own business. We're sure you have met some of the Tate family in your place of work too.
For our fellowship in Harvington, that we may become more aware of each others needs and God's will in each of our lives.
Spring harvest 2002
A personal view from Chris
"Be prepared" was the motto I learned in Guides, and so I was. I packed woolly jumpers and skirts to keep out the cold, and plenty of puzzle books, magazines books and knitting to make sure I didn't get bored.
What happened? I scarcely managed half a dozen rows of knitting, the books and magazines remained on the floor of the wardrobe until it was time to go home, and I wore my two cotton blouses to death because the weather was so warm. And I never went to bed before midnight.
I tried out the slides at the swimming pool, including the space bowl, which was rather terrifying. It was only on the way out that I read the notice that said it shoots you into the bowl at a speed of 45mph - all of which explained why I had found myself to be the only middle-aged female in a queue of young fellas in their teens and twenties...........
I tramped up hillsides in my fell boots, visited Exmoor, went on a trip on the West Somerset Railway, got my feet wet in the sea, played team games, drew and painted. All these activities were made more special because of the lovely company I shared them with. Then there were the laughter filled meal times and late night drinks times when we all met up together.
All this, and then the inspiration of the music and singing in worship, the thought provoking bible studies, talks, discussions, and the quiet meditation of the "Labyrinth" in the chapel. Best of all, at one evening service I was touched - no, touched is too weak a word - I was overwhelmed by the reality of Gods love for me.
I have been blessed with many good holidays over the years, but rarely one where refreshment and stimulation were so complete, physically, mentally and spiritually.
Oscar Wilde said 'Man can believe the impossible, but man can never believe the improbable'
'A red rag to a bull' is meaningless, because bulls are colour blind.
The Emperor Nero did not fiddle while Rome burned. Fiddles had not been invented, and at the time of his fire he was fifty miles away at his villa.
Although it may sound (and smell contradictory) garlic belongs to the lily family
Snakes cannot be charmed by music as they have no ears and are deaf to music. However, they can feel vibration and so it is possible that they respond to a snake charmer's foot tapping rather than his music.
There is no rice in rice paper, it is made from wood pulp.
History teaches us that King John signed the Magna Carta. King John did not sign the Magna Carta because he was unable to write. What he actually did was seal it with wax.
The centipede doesn't have a hundred legs, it usually has 21 or 30, though some have more than a 100. And millipedes certainly don't have a thousand legs, very few have more than 200.
Spaghetti did not originate in Italy, but came from China. It was imported to Italy in the thirteenth century by the exporter Marco Polo.
Marie Antionette did not say 'Let them eat cake'. The story was attributed to her by those in opposition to Louis XVI and gained currency thirty years before when a French author had a princess declare 'Let them eat Brioche' in a fictitious story of his.
We spent a few days in Plymouth, and decided to take the opportunity to visit the Eden Project at St Austell in Cornwall. Eden is built in a disused pit used for many years to extract china clay. The 35 acre site has some impressive numbers:
Interlocking biodomes each contain 625 windows. These comprise three layers of ETFE transparent foil inflated hexagonal pillows. ETFE weighs less than 1% of an equivalent pane of glass with a life span of 25 years.
Eden has over 135,000 plants of 4,500 species which continually being added to. The horticultural terraces contain crops we use for food, medicine, fuel and perfume.
In one of the biome 2000 species from the Amazon, Malaysia, West Africa and the oceanic islands grow. A waterfall keeps the air moist. We were interested to see pineapples coconuts and bunches of bananas ripening on the trees. We were often reminded of plants mentioned in the Bible:
Vines Jesus said "I am the true vine...you are the branches (John15.1)
Palms People took branches to meet Jesus (John 12.13)
Olives A dove brought an olive leaf to Noah in the Ark (Gen 8.11)
Figs The first plant mentioned in the Bible. (Gen 3.7)
Today we can visit beautiful gardens at Kew, Wisley and many National Trust Properties, but none can compare to the garden that the Lord God prepared at Eden.
God who made the earth
The flower, the fruit and tree,
Who gave light its birth,
Careth for Me. Fred
Its really very simple, or is it? Can you join the dots together using just four straight lines, WITHOUT taking your pen off the page?
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Next issue will be in September. Many thanks for all the articles received, keep them coming!
If you see any signs of new residents at a house near you would you let one of the deacons know so that we can send a welcome card?
Thanks!
A final thought to take with you
Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of faith is to see what we believe.
June 2002