Whiddon Parishes Magazine - October/November 2013

GIDLEIGH AND THROWLEIGHNews from Holy Trinity, GidleighI am writing this on a day that at the moment isovercast, but promises to be lovely later. There havebeen so many similar days this summer, but we havehad wonderful weather to enjoy and it has been apleasure to welcome all the visitors. The children havehad happy holidays and now they have started school orsixth form college, and some will be going off touniversity for the first time. We wish them all well.Lammas was our main event of the later part of thesummer which at Holy Trinity we celebrate, rather thanHarvest which we are invited to share with St Mary’s atThrowleigh. Lammas celebrates and gives thanks for thefirst fruits of the harvest and is the most biblical of ouragricultural festivals. A parallel can be drawn with thefeast of the first fruits in the Old Testament and so thecustom of offering the first and the best of the corn,new wine and oil, or flocks and fleece, was easilyabsorbed into the Christian tradition. It was customaryto consecrate bread from the first cut ripe corn at Masson August 1 st in thanksgiving for the harvest. AtGidleigh, we have a special Service of Thanksgiving inwhich many people play a part. This year Harriet Everyturned the Mass into an Agape, and after blessing theLammas Loaf we all enjoyed a ploughman’s lunch, beforefinishing the service with a hymn and blessing. It waslovely to have so many people sharing with us in thisancient custom.Looking ahead, we will join with St Mary’s for theirharvest celebrations on October 13 th and we have thepleasure of welcoming the church family of ProvidenceChapel to our Morning Prayer on October 27 th at11.15am.There has been a date change for the Gidleigh/Throwleigh Bazaar which will now be at ThrowleighVillage Hall at 2pm on Saturday 23 rd November. Allgifts of cakes, jams, chutneys, mincemeat would bewelcome, as would gifts you have received but wouldlike someone else to enjoy; items that are nearly new,plants, bulbs etc, and gifts for the raffle which is alwaysvery successful.We rejoice with Toby Webber in his forthcomingmarriage to his lovely fiancée, Rebecca Crawshaw onOctober 26 th and we wish them every joy and happinessin their future together.By the time this edition of the Parish Magazine is in ourchurches Harriet will have been ordained a priest inDrewsteignton and we, the church family at HolyTrinity, send her our love and very best wishes andevery blessing in her ministry among us.Chris Warren and Lyn EvansNews from St Mary’s, ThrowleighWe have enjoyed a pretty amazing summer! TheFriends had a packed church for their Hot Fingers Jazzagain - it was much appreciated by all. In early July, theSafari Supper was a sell-out and much enjoyed by allcomerswith requests for a repeat next year. TheLammas Service at Gidleigh was inspirational and adelicious lunch was provided in the middle: unusual butit worked well!Our own Harvest Thanksgiving will take place onSunday 13 th October at 6pm with hymns of praisefollowed by a shared supper; both parishes will link upagain for this joyful event.The Throwleigh village fête was a Saturday toremember! The guardians of the ice-cream tent wereswept up by a sudden tremendous gust of wind in thestorm just before the fête began and deposited at thebottom of the field! Luckily, no-one was hurt and helpwas a mobile phone call away. Despite gusts, showers,drifts of rain during the egg-throwing by the old VillageSchool (hilarious) and the logistical demands of havingthe fête held in two fields - Providence MethodistChapel for the horticultural displays and a speciallyconstructed gantry bridge linking the Village School withthe main field - it all went off very well, thanks to ourstalwart supporters! In fact, there was a real holiday,pull-it-all-together atmosphere throughout and thehard-working TVH and fête committee producedconstant cream teas, cakes, hot tea for helpers (welldone, Christine, for persevering through the showers!)Throwleigh continued on page 3735