2013-12

St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats
Church Office: 9 Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GA
Tel: (0114) 274 5086
Where’s that
from..?
Paint the town red
Meaning - to indulge in a spell of rather
rowdy partying
Derived from - an event attributed to one
Marquis of Waterford, a well-known rogue
in the early 19th Century. His antics
included fighting duels, breaking windows
and causing general mayhem - he was
famous for being “asked to leave” Oxford
University! In 1837 it is said that he,
and a group of friends, ran riot in Melton
Mowbray and covered the toll bar, and
several buildings, in red paint. It isn’t
known if they were under the influence of
alcohol or not, but a painting, reproduced
in the New Sporting Magazine in July
of that year, records the event. It seems
rather strange, but the first use of the term
appeared in print nearly 50 years later
across the Atlantic in the New York Times
- “Then the Democrats charged upon the
street cars and, being wafted into Newark,
proceeded, to use their own metaphor, to
“paint the town red”.
To advertise in
call 0114 274 5086 or
email impact@stchads.org
On Saturday September 21
Pauline Johnson and I were
authorised and licensed as Lay
Readers for St Chad’s Church at
Doncaster Minster by Bishop Steven
of Sheffield.
What is a Lay Reader? According
to the Church of England website:
“Readers are lay people in the Church
of England, from all walks of life,
who are called by God, theologically
trained and licensed by the Church
to preach, teach, lead worship and
assist in pastoral, evangelistic and
liturgical work.”
The celebration service at
Doncaster Minster was packed full
of friends and family who came to
witness and share in the service of
worship and licensing of people from
all over the Diocese of Sheffield.
Traditionally, Readers wear a black
cassock underneath a white surplice,
in much the same way as a Church of
England vicar, and also a blue scarf.
According to my daughters I was
wearing a dress! My response to this
is that what we wear is important: in
an emergency situation I would feel
comforted in recognising a fireman,
police officer or doctor – so in the
same way people recognise and are
comforted by the traditional clothing
of clergy. I don’t think this response
convinced my daughters, perhaps
they prefer my vicar’s suggestion that
it is more like combat gear!
Why did I become a Reader? It all
started about four years ago, when
St Chad’s was without a vicar. During
email: office@stchads.org
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats
Page 18 website: www.stchads.org
Church Office: 9 Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GA
Page 19
Tel: (0114) 274 5086
this time I felt God nudging me to offer
to preach, something I hadn’t done
for many years. So I offered, and
before long I was preaching almost
on a monthly basis! Then one Sunday
Yvonne Smith, herself an experienced
Reader at St Chad’s asked me if I’d
ever considered becoming a Reader.
Funnily enough I had recently been
reading about being a Reader.
With Yvonne’s support and the
church’s backing I applied and was
accepted on a three-year Reader’s
training course at Sheffield School
of Ministry. There followed three
years of reading, studying, reading,
writing assignments, reading, leading
services, reading, ministry training,
and more reading – I can see why
Readers are called Readers! But the
studying and learning was only one
aspect of the training; for me, working
with people from different Christian
traditions, and gaining experience
in ministry, was nothing less than
formational. Now I am licensed as a
Reader I am enjoying rolling up my
sleeves and getting stuck into serving
God and His people at St Chad’s –
why not come along one Sunday and
hear me preach?!
My lasting memory of the
celebration service is this: I was sat
on the very front row in the Minster,
and before the service started, I
stood up to look around. Everywhere
I looked I could see friends from
St Chad’s, old and young, waving
encouragingly at me, each had taken
the trouble to get to Doncaster and
•Pauline and Daren with St Chad’s vicar Rev Toby Hole and
some of those who travelled to the service in Doncaster
share in the
celebration.
There was
so many of
them! What a
great bunch
of folk at
St Chad’s,
my family in
Christ!
Daren
Craddock
Celebration of Lay Ministries
email: office@stchads.org
website: www.stchads.org