The Parish Magazine October 2024

The 

Parish 

Magazine 


Parish Te 

155 

The Parish Magazine 1869 - October 2024 1 

YEARS 

Serving Charvil, Sonning and Sonning Eye 

2024 

The John King Trophy and Gold Award 

Best Magazine of the Year 2018 

National Parish Magazine Awards 

Best Overall 2015, 2020, 2022, 2023 

Best Content 2016, 2021 

Best Editor 2019 

Best Print 2018 

Serving the communities of Charvil, Sonning & Sonning Eye since 1869 

October 2024 — Harvest Festival 

Church of St Andrew 

Serving Sonning, Charvil & Sonning Eye 

the church of st andrew, SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF 

CHARVIL, SONNING and sonning eye SINCE THE 7 th CENTURY 

313 October 2024.indd 1 12/09/2024 09:38:39

2 The Parish Magazine - October 2024 Please mention The Parish Magazine when responding to this advertisement 

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Serving the communities of Charvil, Sonning & Sonning Eye since 1869 




Parish Te 

The Parish Magazine 1869 - October 2024 1 

2024 

Serving Charvil, Sonning and Sonning Eye 

The John King Trophy and Gold Award 

Best Magazine of the Year 2018 

National Parish Magazine Awards 

Best Overall 2015, 2020, 2022, 2023 

Best Content 2016, 2021 

Best Editor 2019 

Best Print 2018 

information — 1 

Contents October 2024 

THE VICAR'S LETTER, 5 

THE PARISH NOTICEBOARD 

— Choral achievements, 7 

— Confirmation, 7 

— For your prayers, 7 

— Diary Dates, 7 

— Five Little Pebbles, 7 

— STAY, 8-9 

— Why I am a Christian, 10-11 

— From the editor's desk, 11 

— Claude goes to bed, 13 

— Thoughts to ponder, 13 

— The Persecuted Church, 15 

FEATURES 

— Daylight saving, 17 

— Thomas Traherne, 19 

— Prayer for the dead part 1, 20-21 

— Halloween, 22-23 

— Fake news, 24 

around the villages 

— Acrobatic 101 year old, 25 

— Feel good stories, 25 

— Inner Wheel ladies, 27 

— WI's 60 years, 27 

— Talks and visits, 27 

— Helping Adrian, 27 

HISTORY 

— Was it really, 28 

— On this Day, 28 

— Elizabeth Fry, 29 

HOME AND GARDEN 

— A foot in the garden, 31 

— House names, 31 

— Drug Warning, 31 

FASHION 

— Fall colours, 33 

This ISSUE's FRONT COVER 

The 

Parish 


October 2024 — Harvest Festival 

155 

Picture: Harvest by 

Og-vision, dreamstime.com 

EDITORIAL DEADLINE 

The editorial deadline for every issue 

of The Parish Magazine is 12 noon on 

the sixth day of the month prior to the 

date of publication. 

The deadline for the November 

issue of The Parish Magazine is: 

Sunday 6 October at 12 noon 

Recent issue of The Parish Magazine 

can also be read online at 

https://theparishmagazine.co.uk 

YEARS 

the church of st andrew, SERVING THE COMMUNITIES OF 

CHARVIL, SONNING and sonning eye SINCE THE 7 th CENTURY 

The Parish Magazine - October 2024 3 

Services in 

St Andrew's 

Church Sonning 

Harvest Festival 

Sunday 6 October 

— 8.00am Holy Communion 

— 10.30am Family Service 

— 4.00pm Choral Evensong 

followed by Tea in The Ark 



— 10.30am Parish Eucharist with 

STAY and Sunday Club 



— 10.30am Family Communion 

— 3.00pm Messy Church 

Bible Sunday 27 October 


— 10.30am Parish Eucharist with 

STAY and Sunday Club 

OTHER REGULAR SERVICES 

Morning Prayer is held in the church 

every Tuesday at 9.30am. 

Mid-week Communion in The Ark is 

held every Wednesday at 10.00am. Tea 

and coffee follows the service. 

Home Communion at Sonning 

Gardens Care Home is held on the first 

Monday of each month at 11.00am. 

THE ARTS 

— Jesus modem, 34, 

— Hopeful Harvest, 34 

— Book Reviews, 35-37 

THE SCIENCES 

— Fearfully made, 37 

PUZZLE PAGES, 38-39 

children's page, 41 

INFORMATION, 

— Church services, 3 

— From the registers, 3 

— Local Trades and Services, 40 

— Parish contacts, 42 

— Advertisers' index, 42 

From the Registers 

BAPTISMS 

— 1 September, Michael Puttick, and Dylan Puttick 

WEDDINGS 

— 24 August, James Mark Killian and Kate Elizabeth Wells 

FUNERALS 

— 15 August, Heather June Moggs, Funeral service in church and burial in the 

churchyard 

— 16 August, Margaret Helen Meehan, Interment of ashes in the churchyard 

— 20 August, Molly Jeanette Woodley, Interment of ashes in the churchyard 

— 27 August, Jean Mary Hunt, Interment of ashes in the churchyard 


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The vicar's letter 

D e a r F r i e n d S, 

In 1996, as a 22 year old, I was fortunate to spend time in the USA as 

an intern in three churches, in Arizona, San Diego and New York. It 

was excellent preparation for me starting Theological College later that 

year. One thing that struck me in all three churches, and it was in stark 

difference to what I had up until then experienced in English churches, 

was the warmth and generosity of their hospitality. These churches 

were intentional about providing decent refreshments, congregational 

socials, good coffee after services and a warm quality of welcome and 

inclusion to newcomers. Something of this has stayed with me over the 

years and I hope that some of what we now see at our own church has 

resulted from this formative experience. 

One of the delights of seeing our Ark building come to life has 

been our regular Rendezvous lunches, and a positive development in 

recent months has been Kathy Wright of the Village Hamper taking 

on the catering, ably assisted by Vickie. It is an excellent example of 

partnership in the parish, and we all enjoy working with them. The £12 cost simply covers the expense of labour, 

food and VAT, and in return we get an excellent home cooked two course lunch with filter coffee and good 

conversation and company. All are welcome and I greatly enjoy welcoming new faces, which seems to happen 

most weeks. We even lay on Bertie the golf buggy to transport the less mobile from the church carpark! 

My great grandfather, Charles Wood, was a publican, and I have often joked that if I gave up the priesthood, 

I would follow in his footsteps into the hospitality industry. I was particularly pleased when appointed to 

this parish to discover that, since the Reformation, the vicar and wardens owned the excellent Bull Inn, and 

although we don’t get any personal benefits, the rental income is ploughed back into service of this community, 

particularly in the field of youth work. 

I have watched with interest the recent opening of the ‘Farmer’s Dog’ in Burford by Jeremy Clarkson, having been a 

fan of his ‘Diddly Squat’ tv show and I have been particularly impressed at his commitment to only sell British produce and 

drinks, thereby giving much needed support to our farmers. At this Harvest time, as well as giving thanks for good food, 

such as that shared at Rendezvous lunches, we also give thanks for our farmers, and as well as being grateful, perhaps 

we could be more proactive in supporting them by buying British produce. Mr Clarkson’s programmes have powerfully 

illustrated the struggles and hardships faced by the farming community, not least the crippling rules and red tape imposed 

upon them. We need farmers to prosper as we all know that food doesn’t grow on shelves! 

In addition to expressing gratitude to our farmers and all involved in the food chain, including all who stack those 

shelves, we also will be remembering those less fortunate than ourselves. We shall therefore be collecting items for the 

Woodley Food Bank at the 10.30am service and there will also be a cash collection at each of our Harvest Festival services 

on Sunday 6 October. 

Warm wishes. 

Jamie 

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Come, ye thankful people, come, 

Raise the song of harvest home; 

All is safely gathered in, 

Ere the winter storms begin. 

God our Maker doth provide 

For our wants to be supplied; 

Come to God's own temple, come, 

Raise the song of harvest home 


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the parish noticeboard — 1 

Choral achievements 

Our departing senior organ scholar, Noah Toogood, 

has just taken up a choral scholarship at Portsmouth 

Cathedral for a year, prior to University. 

Our Head Chorister, Amelia Smyly, has been awarded 

the Royal School of Church Music Gold award (with merit) 

and has won a place at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. 

In addition, our departing bass choral scholar, Joseph 

May, has been awarded a choral scholarship at Llandaff 

Cathedral, and will be studying music at the Royal Welsh 

College of Music and Drama. He joins our former head 

chorister, Celeste Hexter, who has been a choral scholar 

there for the last two years. 

Finally, Will Luff has been appointed as senior organ 

scholar at St. Andrew’s. Thanks be to God! 

Confirmation 

We shall welcome Bishop Timothy Wambunya on Sunday 

24 November at 10.30am for our Confirmation service. If 

you would like to discuss being Confirmed, please speak 

with Jamie. 

For your Prayers 

— Our Berkshire farming community 

— Those preparing for Confirmation next month 

— For the release of the remaining hostages held in Gaza 

— Recent victims of knife crime. 

Diary Dates 

Sunday 6 October at 10.30am 

Harvest Festival with a Cash and Food 

collection for the Woodley Food Bank 

Sunday 24 November at 10.30am 

The Rt Rev Timothy Wambunya, 

Bishop of Wolverhampton, presides at 

a Confirmation Service in St Andrew's 

Church Sonning 

Sunday 8 December at 6.00pm 

Beers and Christmas Carols at the Bull 

Inn, Sonning 

Tuesday 10 December at 12.00noon 

Rendezvous Christmas Lunch — please 

note this will be the only Rendezvous 

lunch in December 


Messy Christmas in The Ark at St 

Andrew's Church Sonning 


The traditional Christmastide service of 

Nine Lessons and Carols 

Christmas Eve 24 December 

Childrens Crib Service at 4.00pm 

Midnight Mass at 11.00pm 

Christmas Day at 10.30am 

Parish Eucharist — children are invited 

to bring a toy to show the vicar 

Anatoliy Sadovskiy, dreamstime.com 


Five Little Pebbles 

Sarah Preece, 

dreamstime.com 

Katerynabibro, dreamstime.com 

Five little pebbles lay in a brook 

And nobody passing cast even a look. 

'What are we good for?' said one to another; 

'Little or nothing I think', said the other. 

Wearing away, day after day, 

It seemed that forever those pebbles must stay. 

If they stood out in the crowd from the rest 

Or if they were cherished like eggs in a nest 

Or if they were big stones that built up a wall, 

They’d feel more important, not useless and small. 

But wait, little pebbles, rounded and clean, 

There in your loneliness, lying unseen, 

God has a future especially for you; 

Five little pebbles, sturdy and true. 

The five little pebbles hid in the brook, 

Then David came down and gave them a look. 

He picked them up carefully out of the sand, 

The five little pebbles lay in his hand. 

Soon there was fighting not far away 

And the five little pebbles entered the fray. 

David put one of them into his sling, 

In no time at all the pebble went ‘Zing’. 

Swift as an arrow, straight as a dart, 

For all of that nation the stone played its part. 

Striking a giant right on the head 

And laying him low — a mighty man dead! 

Those five little pebbles found in the brook 

Are mentioned with honour in God’s Holy Book. 

Are you like those pebbles, lying quite low 

With little to do and nowhere to go? 

Then make sure you’re ready when God comes to look, 

He may want to use you, like the stones in the brook. 

The five smooth stones David had in his pouch 

represent what David carried in his heart: 

Faith — Trust 

Courage — Obedience 

Praise. 

Whenever we face any kind of giant in our lives, we can 

carry these five stones with us wherever we go and face 

each giant one stone at a time and receive victory! 

NB: This poem, provided by The Association for Church Editors, 

is adapted from the original version written by William Luff 

(1850-1935). 


8 The Parish Magazine - October 2024 


St Andrew's Youth 

Westy 

email or text me, Westy, for 

ideas, a chat or to encourage 

what we are doing: 

youthminister@sonningparish. 

org.uk 

0794 622 4106 

STAY for Summer 

During the school summer holidays we organised 

a number of fun days out for the young people. We 

went to RUSH trampoline park, Coral Reef, Thorpe 

Park, Lagoona Waterpark and Go-Ape! We also had 

some craft activities such as tie dye and two sports 

days in Charvil. As well as the super fun activities 

we added some ‘Give Back’ days too. This is when 

the young people went litter picking and buying 

food for the Reading Food Bank! These activities 

were just as popular as the others so they will 

hopefully become part of their culture. 

Satellites Summer Camp 

Last year was our first time taking young people to 

a Christian summer camp. They loved it so much 

that we took half as many again this year! The 

Satellites camp (see www.youthscape.co.uk/satellites/ 

home for more details) happens at the Bath & West 

Showground in Shepton Mallet over 5 days. There 

are worship meetings, sports, cafes, tournaments, 

films, cheesy chips and loads more! 

STAY on Friday 

We resumed STAY on Friday Youth Club on Friday 

6 September with all the popular games, sports, 

crafts, baking, consoles and wide games. It’s at the 

normal time of 6.45pm-8.15pm and is open to all 

secondary aged young people, with the addition of 

year 6 pupils welcome on the fourth Friday of each 

month. 

STAY on Monday 

Our fortnightly group on a Monday evening will 

continue to meet in young people’s homes for 

games, short Christian videos, snacks and fun. 

STAY on Sunday 

The Sunday Youth group will resume on Sunday 8 

September and will now be running every Sunday 

apart from the first of the month when it is the 

Family Service in the main church. STAY on 

Sunday will be in The Ark from 10.30am. 



Summer 

fun 

while 

schools 

are out! 

Corinne 

As a child, I watched a fair few episodes of 

Sesame Street, and like many good children's 

television programmes, there was many an 

episode 'sponsored' by a letter from the alphabet. 

If I had to choose a letter to represent this 

summer, I would choose 'F,' as it has truly been a 

summer filled with faith, friendship, firsts, and 

fun! 

Although I am now onto my eighth month at St 

Andrew's, this summer has been a reminder that 

I am still very much learning and growing within 

my role as Youth and Children's Minister. 

This summer has brought a welcome change to 

the rhythms of day-to-day work life, as a large part 

of my ministry is schools' work. 

As schools were closed over the summer 

holidays, I had the opportunity to complement and 

support Westy in the plethora of STAY activities, 

with an added addition of a crafting morning for 

the Sunday Club and Messy Church families. 

Although there were many highlights over 

the summer, true joys for me was our food bank 

buying and donation trips. 

It was lovely on so many levels; seeing the 

young people come together for our community, 

watching their minds work out the maths and best 

options to stretch their budgets, the giggling girls 

encouraging the squeamish boys to buy menstrual 

supplies, and 

finally seeing 

them connect 

with the joyful 

volunteers at 

the food bank 

drop off points. 

I look forward 

to getting back 

into the normal 

routines that 

autumn will 

bring; seeing 

all the young 

people in 

schools and at 

Messy Church 

and Sunday 

Club! 




Continuing our series on ... 

Why am I a Christian? 

FEAR, RESPECT, OBEDIENCE, DISCIPLINE, WORSHIP AND KNOWING WHAT IS BEST FOR ME 

By Bob Peters 

When I began this series of articles I thought that I could 

always write one myself if necessary. This month it is 

necessary! 

I can't remember a time when I did not consider myself 

to be a Christian. As a child, none of my close family 

were churchgoers, the only exception being an uncle and 

aunt who were deeply involved with what we then called, 

'happy-clappy' church. Today we call it evangelical. 

I was the second eldest of four children — two brothers 

and a sister who died several years ago because of cancer. 

My parents never went to church, except for the usual 

reasons — baptisms, weddings, and funerals — but they 

encouraged us children to go every week. I realised as I 

grew older, and had children of my own, it was the only 

time they could have a peaceful few hours together! 

Consequently, they did not seem to know the 

difference between the local churches that I attended 

at different times. First, there was the Salvation Army, 

which I enjoyed because it was very relaxed and cheerful, 

and I was encouraged by them to play, without success, a 

musical instrument. 

BEATING THE DRUM 

Having failed to master the cornet, guitar, and fife, I 

found myself diverted to the bass drum - it was that or 

a tambourine — which I not only enjoyed, but became 

reasonably confident playing. My other key asset was 

being big enough to carry it, and I only had to beat out a 

steady rhythm. 

I was also fortunate that one my neighbours was a 

retired drum major in the army and he was pleased to 

teach me. 

My lessons progressed to the side drum, and I ended 

up as the lead drummer in a boy scout marching band. 

My father also bought me a full drum kit and he was 

always happy to transport me and my drums around the 

countryside to play with a 'Cliff and the Shadows' style 

band. Our claim to fame was playing for Hayley Mills at 

her fan club rally. 

I still have a drum kit, although it's an electronic one, 

but I no longer have the flexibility in my wrists to play as I 

was once able to. 

FILLED WITH FEAR 

Then there was the Methodist Church which my 

parents appreciated even more because, unlike the others, 

they met on a Sunday afternoon. I did not understand why 

my parents welcomed this until I had children of my own! 

In my teens, when many of my friends had stopped 

going to church, I found that my local, Church of England 

parish church was where I belonged. 

I was never involved with anything other than 

marching to church with the scouts' drum and fife band 

and sitting quietly in the back row before marching 

home again. It was there, in the back row, listening to the 

vicar preaching one day, that I was suddenly filled with 

fear. One day, I thought, I might, instead of sitting here 

nursing my drum, be standing up front doing what he is 

doing. 

I tried to dismiss the thought immediately but it 

haunted me throughout my life until about 25 years ago 

when I finally gave in, listened to what some friends were 

telling me I should do, and realised that God was calling 

me to do something about it! 

Meanwhile, I continued to live a Christian life to the 

best of my ability, so I can honestly say that I have always 

tried to be a Christian. 

Unlike many Christians who can recall a precise 

moment in their lives when they said 'yes, I believe', I 

simply have not known anything else. There was never a 

major single moment, just lots of little ones that slowly 

strengthened my faith. 

PLAUSIBLE REASONS 

By the time I was in my 20's I had served an 

apprenticeship and graduated as an engineer — all my 

university education had been focused on the exciting 

new world of electronics which was then, in its early days. 

However, while I could never make anything electronic 

work, I could always write a plausible reason why it didn't. 

It was this ability that got me through university with an 

upper second! 

I knew my future would not be as an electronics 

engineer and I spent time praying for help as I walked to 

and from my flat to the university campus. 

My prayers were answered just after I had graduated. 

Out of the blue, a complete stranger who is best described 

as a business man, contacted me. He was looking 

for someone to be the European editor of a group of 

electronics and telecommunication journals published in 

America. 

However, I had only been with him for a few days 

when the American owner appeared in the office in Royal 

Tunbridge Wells and announced that he was closing it and 

I was redundant! My boss was furious and promised to 

find me another job, which he did. 

Two days later I walked into the offices of a 

newspaper called 'Electronics Weekly'. I was new technical 

correspondent and the only member of a large team of 

journalists with any electronics background, the others 

were local newspaper journalists from various other walks 

of life. My prayers had been swiftly answered! 

In my early days as an NUJ card carrying journalist 

I had ambitions to write for 'religious' magazines or 

perhaps become a religious correspondent for a national 

newspaper, but this opportunity never materialised until 



From the editor's desk 

Words, 

cartoons, 

and adverts 

'What Halloween!' exclaimed my wife, when proof 

reading this issue for me! She was surprised because she 

knows better than anyone else my intolerant feelings 

about the association of it with the last day of October, 

which also happens to be the date of my birthday. 

much later in my life. Throughout all this time I lived with 

the memory of that experience in my childhood parish 

church and the fear that one day God wanted me to not 

only be a churchgoer but to stand up in church and lead 

the service. Eventually, when in my early 60's, I gave in to 

God's call and did something about it. 

What finally prompted me to speak to the Bishop of 

Reading, who at that time lived in Sonning and regularly 

attended St Andrew's Church with his wife as members 

of the congregation, was a strange experience I had in a 

supermarket near Birmingham. 

I had never been in the shop before and I was in a 

queue at the till when an elderly lady tapped me on the 

shoulder and said, 'Are you a vicar?' 

'No', I said quite abruptly. 'Well you should be', she said 

and walked off. 

It was strange because a short time previously 

I had been visiting a friend who I only usually met 

when camping — we were members of the Christian 

Caravanning and Camping Fellowship. By chance I was 

near where he lived and called in to see him. As I was 

leaving, he said to me, 'You know Bob, it's time you 

thought about becoming a minister in the church.' 

If these two prompts were not a message from God, 

what else could they have been? After four years training 

in my spare time, I was licensed as lay minister in the 

Church of England. 

DOING WHAT IS BEST FOR US 

I was then retired and thought my days in journalism 

had come to end, that was until one day, 12 years ago, 

Rev Jamie Taylor invited me into his office and asked me 

to become the editor of the recently redesigned Parish 

Magazine. 

So, why am I a Christian? Because I fear God, in the 

sense of respecting him, obeying him, submitting to his 

discipline, and worshiping him. And because he answers 

our prayers, not always in the way that we want, but in a 

way that is always best for us. 

Throughout my life, I have rarely agreed to leave home, 

to celebrate on my birthday — or even answer the door 

bell — because of the general nonsense that goes with it. 

A few years ago, one of my daughters did persuade me to 

go to London to meet them in a Mexican restaurant that 

was not, she said, celebrating Halloween. It turned out to 

be celebrating 'the night of the dead' instead, which for all 

intent and purposes was, of course, Halloween! 

I also make no apologies for the biased articles on the 

centre pages of this issue which highlight, as far as I am 

concerned, some of the negative aspects of Halloween. 

So what did I do on Halloween? I spent some time 

writing the next article in our series that asked, 'Why am 

I a Christian?' 

Recently, I underwent a hernia operation in the Royal 

Berks Hospital. The operation itself was fine, but the 

after effects of the anaesthetic were not. It has taken me 

sometime to recover, probably because of my age, which 

has also meant I was not able to persuade someone else to 

write the 'Why am I' article, hence I did it myself! It is on 

the adjacent page as you have probably already noticed. 

If you would like to share your reasons of why you are a 

Christian then please let me know, because I would like to 

continue this series and I no longer have a back-stop! 

If you are worried about writing it yourself, I will be 

happy to help you write it. 

WORDS AND IMAGES 

I hope that you enjoy the cartoons that we have been 

publishing recently. There are two in this issue, see pages 

25 and 27. They are drawn by Phil Mason, a talented artist 

and musician who I worked with several years ago. He 

occasionally attends St Andrew's when he is visiting one of 

his family members and kindly offers his work, which are 

based on a play of words and images, free of charge. 

ADVERTISING 

Very soon now, it will be time to start thinking about 

next year's magazine and we will be talking to our loyal 

advertisers about next year's issues. If you are interested 

in taking space in the best, award winning church parish 

magazine in the UK then contact our advertising team — 

all the up-to-date contact details are listed on page 42. It's 

never too early to reserve space for next year! 



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parish noticeboard — 4 

Thoughts to 

ponder . . . 

— Exercise daily, walk with the Lord. 

— We don’t change God’s message – his 

message changes us. 

— God works in us and with us, not against us 

or without us. (John Owen) 

— God’s biggest problem with labourers in his 

vineyard is absenteeism. 


‘Bed, bed, delicious bed, like heaven on earth 

to the sleepy head!’ 

This was one of the quotes that I remember on my calendar 

as a teenager. It was on my bedroom wall and every day you 

tore a page off. Every page had a Shakespearean or Biblical 

quote; there was one for each day, writes Claude Masters 

I can’t remember the others and don’t know why it just stuck 

in my memory. However, insomnia is a problem for many 

people and some lay awake for hours at night when you can’t 

go to sleep. It happens to us all! At one time, we were told to 

count sheep but I never found that worked. 

It puts me in mind of when I was a lad camping because 

always the first night in camp, kids couldn’t go to sleep until 

after midnight but the next night they would sleep straight 

away! 

When I was a Scout Patrol Leader, another Patrol Leader 

and I took a dozen younger boys to camp. The first night, as 

predicted, they were a real nuisance! The following night, we 

sent them off to bed and enjoyed eating up the really delicious 

soup we had made. When we eventually looked in the tent, 

there was absolute quiet! They were so tired because of the 

day's activities that they had gone to sleep straight away! 

The campsite was at Milestone Wood, just off the Henley 

Road on the edge of Caversham Park Village. At that time, it 

was the District Camping Field and scouts from all over the 

country used to come. It was very handy for us, particularly at 

weekends, as I had a paper round, so would wake up early to do 

the round and then cycle back in time for breakfast in camp! 

Gateway to Heaven 

— Whatever we part with for God’s sake shall be made up to us in 

kindness. (Matthew Henry) 

— Affliction is God’s shepherd dog to drive us back to the fold. 

— God always provides a light through every one of his tunnels. 

— Necessary evil: one we like so much we refuse to do away with it. 

— The need of the world is to listen to God. (Albert Einstein) 

— A religion that does not begin with repentance is certain to end 

there too late. 

— If Christians praised God more, the world would doubt him less. ( 

C E Jefferson) 

— The Bible has a great deal to say about suffering and most of it is 

encouraging. (A W Tozer) 

Debbie Ann Powell, dreamstime.com 

Pavel Muravev, dreamstime.com 

— Some people treat God as they do a lawyer; they go to him only 

when they are in trouble. 

— The wages of sin is death. Repent before payday. 

— One thing all nations have in common is the ability to see each 

other’s faults. 

— Over the centuries, people seem to have improved everything 

except people. 

— In giving until it hurts, some people are extremely sensitive to pain. 

— Monday morning: we look back wistfully on the good old days 

— Don’t let the littleness in others bring out the littleness in you. 

— A clear conscience makes a soft pillow. 

— Some people are born great, some achieve greatness, and some 

just grate! 



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parish noticeboard — 5 

ARISE AFRICA 


THE PERSECUTED CHURCH BY COLIN BAILEY 

Nigerian Church 

This weekend I was fortunate to 

go camping with my family by the 

lovely South West Coast Path in 

West Dorset close to the region’s 

highest point, Golden Cap. 

With some windy weather coming in, 

I was reminded of a word I had read 

on social media a few days before: 

A Christian organisation had 

encouraged their followers to be sure 

on a daily basis to be grateful to God 

in their prayers for the blessings of a 

comfortable bed and home. 

This I surely was. I was pulled 

up short a couple of days on while 

reading this month’s Open Doors 

magazine about the situation of 

Christians across sub-Saharan 

Africa. 

Here there are 16.2 million 

Christians who have been forcibly 

displaced by violence and conflict. 

For them, life means living in a camp 

for internally displaced persons (IDPs). 

WATERLESS 

Pastor Barnabas has been in such 

a camp for nearly five years. 'The IDP 

camp is a terrible place to live', he says. 

'We don’t have good hygiene, we don’t 

have water, we don’t have toilets. Many 

people are dying. Only last week, as I 

am talking, we lost eight people in this 

IDP camp.' 

MILITANTS 

Pastor Barnabas’s own story is a 

harrowing one. He recounts how he 

was on his farm with his brother and 

sister-in-law. 

He heard shooting and people 

'running in different directions'. The 

Destinedprinc, Dreamstime.com 

community was being attacked by 

Fulani militants, a group of Islamic 

extremists responsible for many of 

the violent attacks in north central 

and central Nigeria. 

Their motive is to destroy as 

many Christians and Christian 

communities as possible. His brother 

and sister-in-law were murdered 

in the attack. Pastor Barnabas was 

assaulted himself and is still affected 

by his injuries today and needs a 

further operation to regain proper 

use of his hand. 

Yet he is grateful to God that his 

life was saved. 

PARTNERS 

Pastor Barnabas is desperate to 

help believers in the camp and sees 

many struggling to remain faithful 

to God. 

Open Doors local partners seek 

to provide emergency food and aid to 

many IDP camps . 

They plan to provide skills 

training and trauma care. They are 

also paying for Pastor Barnabas’s 

hand operation. 

Financial support through 

donation may be made at https:// 

www.opendoorsuk.org/act/arise-africa 

DISPLACEMENT 

Last year – and for many years - 

more Christians were killed for their 

faith in Nigeria than the rest of the 

world combined. Pastor Barnabas 

states that the displacement of the 

Christians is something politicians 

do not talk about and the news does 

not care about it. 

Wikimedia Commons 

Open Doors has launched a 

petition — Arise Africa — which 

they hope to take to the U.K. 

government, the African Union, and 

the United Nations. In it they are 

asking for: 

Protection: Providing robust 

protection from violent militant 

attacks 

Justice: Ensuring justice through 

fair prosecutions of the attackers 

Restoration: Bringing healing 

and restoration to all affected 

communities 

PETITION 

Please sign the petition – either 

on the paper petition at the back of 

St Andrew's Church or online: 

https://www.opendoorsuk.org/act/ 

arise-africa 

References and further reading 

Open Doors article: 

https://www.opendoorsuk.org/news/ 

latest-news/arise-africa-barnabas/ 

Open Doors petition and donation 

page: 

https://www.opendoorsuk.org/act/ 

arise-africa/ 




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feature — 1 

DON'T FORGET : CLOCKS GO BACK ONE HOUR AT 2 AM SUNDAY 27 OCTOBER 

Shining summer light on 

a continuing story 

Images: Background: Maren Winter, dreamstime.com; Left to right: Benjamin Franklin, Tsiumpa, dreamstime.com; 

George Vernon Hudson, Wikipedia Commons, and William Willet, Wikipedia Commons 

Did you know that there are over 450 atomic clocks around the world in 

more than 80 national scientific laboratories that provide data that is 

used to calculate what the precise time is wherever you are? This data, 

or Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), as it is known, is the basis for 

timekeeping all over the Earth's surface. 

Occasionally, we are all called on to 

make adjustments our time machines 

by adding what is known as 'leap 

seconds'. These adjustments have 

to be made on either 30 June or 31 

December. 

Another restriction is that leap 

seconds can only be made once 

every 18 months — the last one 

was in December 2016, when the 

International Earth Rotation and 

Reference Systems Service (IERS) also 

announced that the next possible date 

for a leap second change will be 30 

June 2025. 

Some time experts also believe 

that leap seconds could be abolished 

in the future because they will become 

unnecessary. 

DAYLIGHT SAVING 

The nature of time, and how we 

measure and co-ordinate our lives by 

it, is of course, not a new preoccupation 

for scientists. 

In 1784, the American scientist, 

statesman, inventor, and newspaper 

publisher, Benjamin Franklin, wrote 

an essay that introduced the idea of 

daylight saving. 

However, it wasn't until 1907 that 

a serious proposal for daylight saving 

time was made in Britain 

Angry at the waste of daylight 

during summer mornings, he selfpublished 

a pamphlet called 'The Waste 

of Daylight'. 

Two other notable names in the 

history of time are William Willet, a 

builder who was born in Farnham, 

Surrey, and George Hudson, an English 

railway financier and politician who, 

because he controlled a significant part 

of the railway network was known as 

the 'The Railway King' 

William Willett died in 1915 and 

never saw his idea become a reality — 

which it did a year later when Germany 

became the first country to adopt 

daylight saving time as did, a few 

weeks later, the UK, along with many 

of the other nations involved in the 

First World War (1914-1918). 

Within a few years other countries 

officially adopted Daylight Saving Time 

despite its benefits being an ongoing 

debate. 

During World War II, British 

Double Summer Time — two hours 

in advance of Greenwich Mean Time 

(GMT) was temporarily introduced 

to help increase productivity. In the 

winter months, clocks were also kept 

one hour in advance of GMT. 

After the war, Britain returned to 

British Summer Time except for an 

experiment between 1968 and 1971 

when the clocks went forward but 

were not put back. The experiment 

was discontinued because it was 

impossible to assess the advantages 

and disadvantages. Campaigners 

have sought a return to having British 

Double Summer Time, or a permanent 

British Summer Time, to save energy 

and increase the time available in the 

evenings. Only time will tell if they 

win their argument! 




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feature —2 

Thursday 10 October could be an 

extremely busy day if you like to 

celebrate saints — there are over 30 

people that you can include! And if 

you are keen to preserve Creation, 

you could also include Thomas 

Traherne, a poet and priest who 

wrote extensively about his love 

for nature, and how he saw it as a 

reflection of the glory of God. 

Thomas Traherne was not from a 

literary family — his father was 

either a shoemaker or innkeeper in 

Hereford. 

But, he did well at the Hereford 

Cathedral School and went on to 

Brasenose College, part of Oxford 

University. 

From there he became rector of 

Credenhill near Hereford in 1657, 

and 10 years later was appointed 

to be the private chaplain to Sir 

Orlando Bridgement, the Lord 

Keeper of the Great Seal to King 

Charles ll, who lived at Teddington. 

Throughout his years at 

Credenhill and then Teddington, he 

led a simple and devout life, and his 

friendliness drew people to him. 

Thomas Traherne was described 

as 'one of the most pious ingenious 

men that ever I was acquainted with', 

and being of 'cheerful and sprightly 

'temper', ready to do 'all good offices to 

his friends, and charitable to the poor 

almost beyond his ability'. 

Aside from his beloved books, he 

seems to have possessed very little. 

Instead, he poured his energy into 

his writings, which had an intense, 

mystical, metaphysical spirituality. 

His poems and prose frequently 

mention the glory of Creation, and 

his intimate relationship with God, 

for whom he had an ardent, childlike 

love. 

Traherne has been compared with 

later poets such as William Blake, 

Walt Whitman and Gerard Manley 

Hopkins, and his love for nature 

has been seen as very similar to the 

Romantic movement, though he 

lived 200 years earlier. 

He is best known for his 'Centuries 

of Meditations', which has been 

described as 'one of the finest prosepoems 

in our language.' 

Lost for many years, and then 

finally first published in 1908, it was 

a favourite of the Trappist monk 

Thomas Merton, the Christian 

humanist Dorothy Sayers, and the 

writer CS Lewis, among others. 

CS Lewis considered Centuries 

of Meditations to be 'almost the most 

beautiful book in English.' 

Thomas Traherne died in 

1674, and is buried in St Mary’s 

Teddington, under the church’s 

reading desk. Today he is counted as 

one of the 17th Century devotional 

poets is included in the Calendar of 

Saints in many national churches 

within the Anglican Communion, 

and is remembered in the Church of 

England with a commemoration. 


Thomas Traherne: a poet and priest with a 

love of nature 

PIOUS INGENIOUS 

Stained glass image of Thomas Traherne 

wikipedia commons 

Please remember your 

donations for the 

Woodley Food Bank 

Please inside remember St Andrew's your 

Church which is open 

10am - 4pm every day 

donations for the Woodley Food 

Bank and place them in the box 

just inside St Andrew's Church. 

Thank you! 



feature — 3 

PRAYERS FOR THE DEAD 

During the Second World War a husband and wife kept in touch by writing letters 

as often as possible. On each of the wife's letters was one of the wife's paintings 

of a flower growing in their garden — such as that poppy on this page. Today the 

poppy is a symbol of Remembrance for all who risked their lives to rid the world 

of evil and it is worn by millions of people during the Remembrance period, from 

the last Friday in October until 11 November. The following article is the first part 

of the husband's account of his wartime experience. The concluding part will be 

in our November issue — Editor. 

The following is just a small fraction of life in Normandy and Northern France, 

Belgium, Holland and Germany from 1944-1945. 

Approximately, on 1 May 1944, I, 

number 10579609 Cfm A C Scales AVM, 

150 Infantry Brigade W/S Company, 

11th Armoured Division, moved with 

my company to prepare for the invasion 

of Europe. At that time we had no idea 

where the invasion would take place. 

At Aldershot we worked 12 hours 

a day for 6 days a week preparing 

car vehicles for the landing by 'water 

proofing' the electrical and mechanical 

items of the vehicles. 

'D' Day arrived on Tuesday 6 June 

1944. The following Saturday, I, in a 

party of 23 proceeded to Fort Gomer 

near Gosport as the 'Advance Party' of 

the company. 

On the Saturday afternoon we 

drove to the dock area of Gosport and 

embarked on barges with about nine 

vehicles on each barge, and sailed out 

into the Solent. We formed up in five 

lines with 10 barges in each line with a 

destroyer as escort. 

In the late evening we sailed out 

past Southsea listening to the shouts of 

men on the navy ships as we sailed past 

them. They were ready to rescue us if we 

were driven back into the sea. 

HMS Rodney 

We arrived off the coast of 

Normandy as dawn broke and it was 

quite exciting. We landed — I learnt 

after the war — at 'Gold Beach' which 

had only just been captured. 

Prior to embarkation, each of us 

were given £1 in French liberation 

francs to spend — so they told us — if 

we ever got to Paris. 

On Sunday morning we drove off the 

barges into the sea and made for the 

shore hoping that the water proofing 

was good. It was! 

All around was great excitement. 

Close at hand was HMS Rodney firing 

all guns. All around were small motor 

boats picking up those who nearly 

drowned. Men were coming down the 

sides of big ships into the sea up to their 

necks in water. 

As we landed on the beach we drove 

through tapes about 6 yards apart and 

on through the village of Longues north 

of Bayeux. We stopped off the road and 

took off our water proofing, and then 

drove through Creully to a disused 

stone quarry and were told to 'dig in'. I 

dug in near the side wall, if a shell had 

hit the top I would have been killed by 

Wikipedia Public Domain 

falling rocks. The following 

day my party drove on to 

Bretteville on 

Caen-Bayeux 

road and I found 

myself in battle 

with the Welsh 

Guards firing 

mortars a few feet 

from me in the garden 

of a house on the south 

side of the road. 

That evening I, and eight 

others, went off and brought 

in 4 four Canadians who had been 

killed. We buried them in Brettville 

cemetery, which is on the main road. 

CONDITIONS OF LIFE 

May I explain some of the conditions 

of life: 

— I was only paid once in 9 months 

between the beaches and the Rhine, 

although money was of use. 

— We were not allowed to take off 

our clothes or boots for the whole 2½ 

months. 

— We usually had one hot meal a day 

but did not know when we would get it. 

— We had plenty of 4 inch square 

biscuits. 

— Each man had a free cigarette ration 

of seven cigarette daily, although 

with the casualties, it was about 10 or 

12, or more. I smoked a pipe, and as 

I was the only one who did, I got all 

the pipe tobacco ration. I smoked one 

ounce of tobacco each day throughout 

Normandy. 

— No bread was issued till late October 1944 

— Mail from home would arrive on time. 

— As time wore on we never knew the 

time or date. 

— I only saw about 25 French civilians 

in 2½ months in Normandy. 



AD — AND OURSELVES! 

— Every cottage had a good supply of 

'cider' and we always had a bottle 

with us. I was, I admit, a one man 

army. 

Every three weeks, or so, a 

padre would arrive in a 

jeep and we would have 

a short service. With a 

wave of his arms, there 

was quite a congregation of 

tank men and carrier crew, 

PBI (slang for Poor Bloody 

Infantry) and engineers. No 

hymns were sung — with a 

a lump in his throat, how 

could a man sing? 

Another time, again when a hot meal 

was about to arrive, we stood behind a 

low brick wall when a shell dropped on 

the other side of the wall — another 

three or four feet would have made a 

great difference to our lives! 

Part of our rations were small 

cubes, smaller than a sugar cube, which 

contained milk, sugar and tea (so they 

said!). With a half cigarette tin of petrol 

thrown to the ground, you soon had a 

fire to boil your dixie for tea. 

MEMORIAL FOR A PAL 

concealed position and take pot shots at 

anyone. sometimes that would surrender 

and expect a peaceful reception, which 

was not always given. 

Ditches, or a slit trench (pictured 

below), were always temporary cover. A 

slit trench was three to five feet deep 

according to what trouble you expected 

during the night — however, often you 

would have to move forward again and 

you would not get any sleep. 

(Part 2 will be published next month) 

Always 

there were 

prayers for 

those who had 

died, for those 

passed back and for 

ourselves. You would 

wonder how long it 

would be for you. Then you 

raised your tin hat for the 

blessing, and went off wondering. 

Of my party of 23 that left 

Aldershot, we lost seven during the 

first week in Normandy. 

One afternoon, we were being 

shelled and I saw a padre arrive in his 

Jeep on the road 50 yards away. As he 

stopped I shouted to a pal in another 

slit trench that a padre was going to 

give a service in this shelling. I hardly 

had said the words when a shell killed 

him. This was south west of Cae 

SHELLS 

Some men who died should not 

have done so if they had been a bit 

more sensible. Once evening we were 

being shelled when this chap, who was 

the only Jew in the company, continued 

sitting in the driver's seat of a vehicle, 

when a piece of shrapnel killed him. 

On another occasion a hot meal 

arrived, I had just got my ration when 

mortaring started. My slit trench was 

30 yards away. It could have been 30 

miles when I dived to the ground trying 

to keep my dixie with my food in it, and 

not spill any. 

Joe was a Londoner, cockney of 

accent, and while he would be the first 

to admit that he had a few vices, he also 

had many virtues He was great pal. 

One evening I was in a ditch making 

some tea when I saw Joe 'passing 

forward' on the other side of the road. 

I shouted Joe! He stopped, turned 

and walked towards me. I said to 

myself, 'here comes death walking.' His 

clothes were covered in drying blood 

and his face was full of shock. 

He came down into the ditch and, as 

was custom, shook hands. I offered him 

my tea which he drank in silence. 

After a while I said 'How is it going 

Joe', which was always an opening 

phrase. 'I have just buried my last 

officer, and I expect to die tomorrow 

morning' he said. He then screamed out, 

'I don't want to die', and he cried and 

cried and cried. 

I put my arm around him to try to 

comfort him, but when your pal tells 

you he expects to die the next morning 

and you know he is probably right, there 

is little one can say. 

The tears were dried, we shook hands 

and got up on the road. I watched him 

go until he was out of sight for I knew I 

would never see him again. A week later 

I heard that Joe had died that following 

morning. he was just 20 years old, I was 

40. As the years go by there is hardly a 

day when I do not think of my pal Joe. 

SNIPERS 

Another day, I was resting with a pal 

in a ditch when suddenly I felt a bullet 

pass through my ear. I grabbed my rifle 

and said 'we will get him', referring, 

of course, to the sniper. Snipers were 

a nuisance. They would come into our 

areas in the hours of darkness, have a 

When to 

wear your 

Poppy? 

The Royal British 

Legion suggests 

wearing your 

Poppy throughout 

the Remembrance 

period which, 

this year, is from 

Friday 25 October 

until Monday 11 

November. 

Redjono, dreamstime.com 

Chris Dorney 



feature — 4 

Halloween? Harmless fun or an opportunity 

Editor's note: Being born on 31 October, my views on celebrating Halloween are, to say the least, tarnished. As the years have gone by 

Evgenyatamanenko 

The word 'Halloween' means 'the eve of all Hallows’ 

Day' — the night before the Christian festival 

celebrating All Saints. A Saint (with a capital S) is 

usually thought to be an exceptionally holy person — 

someone really special, who did extraordinary things 

because of their faith in God. 

The famous Saints are all amazing examples of what it 

is like to live God’s way. But in the Bible, St Paul calls 

all Christians saints — with a lower case 's' — meaning 

a friend of God, someone who seeks to live their life 

according to God’s purposes. 

When we are baptised, we become a saint, so All 

Saints’ Day is a celebration of the whole family of God. 

If you’d like to mark Halloween, these are some ideas 

that will bless others as well as being fun: 

ALL SOULS CELEBRATION 

Find out what is happening in your local church? 

There might be a ‘light party’ with fun activities for 

children and young people. Such events are a good way 

to focus on all that’s life-giving and positive around All 

Hallows. 

Some churches, such as St Andrew's Sonning, have a 

special service for All Souls Day when we remember our 

loved ones who have died. During this service candles are 

lit to remember a departed loved one. 

Carve a pumpkin. Did you know that gargoyles — the 

scary looking faces carved in stone on some churches — 

were originally made in medieval times to scare away evil 

spirits? The pumpkins with scary faces carved into them 

at Halloween are a bit like that. 

FRIENDLY PUMPKIN 

But nowadays most people believe that you can’t fight 

evil with evil — you can only fight evil by doing good, 

and that good will always win in the end. 

So why not see if you can carve a friendly looking 

pumpkin as a sign that you and your family are going to 

be a force for good this Halloween? And you can always 

use the off cuts from your pumpkin to make delicious 

soup! 

Strelok, Dreamstime.com 

Ayse Ezgi Icmeli, Dreamstime.com 

A positive force for good among the negativity of evil 

You can do the same with Halloween costumes — 

superheroes make a great, positive alternative to scary 

witches and ghosts. 

Give a treat: Not everyone is comfortable with the idea 

of children going round to neighbours’ and just asking 

for treats. But if you don’t want them to miss out on 

something their friends are doing, why not have a family 

baking session, and take a tray of cookies with you if you 

go out with them? 

Even little children can help stick a smiley face on an 

iced biscuit. That way, you have something lovely to give 

away to your neighbours, too! 

Safety first: Many children’s fancy dress costumes 

are highly flammable. Please, don’t ever use real candles 

around your front door or in your pumpkins; use the small 

battery-powered candles instead. If you can afford to buy 

a multipack of these electric candles, you could lend them 

to your friends and neighbours. 

A GOOD GOODNIGHT PRAYER 

Say a goodnight prayer: Even if you have steered clear 

of scary costumes, and even if your child has loved the 

evening, it can be reassuring to have a goodnight prayer 

that reminds them that love, and light, and good, are 

always going to be stronger than fear and evil. 

The ancient service of Compline, or Night Prayer, has 

been used as this reminder for centuries, and many of its 

prayers are still well known today: 

‘Visit this place, O Lord, we pray and drive far 

from it all snares of the enemy; let your holy angels 

dwell with us to preserve us in peace; and let your 

blessing be upon us always, through Jesus Christ our Lord. 

Amen.’ 

Or, in a simpler children’s version: 

‘Be with us, Lord, and take away all fear, may your angels 

protect us and give us peace. And bless us always. Amen.’ 

You can use these prayers any time when you need a 

reminder that God is with you — especially at the end of 

a difficult day, or when something sad has happened, or 

when your family is worried about something. 

This article is from: https://www.churchofenglandchristenings.org 

David Coleman, Dreamst 



nity to talk about the love and light of God? 

ave gone by the nonsense associated with it continues to grow, and I make no apology for any anti-Halloween views expressed below. 

David Beaulieu, Dreamstime.com 

Overcoming darkness 

Modern Halloween celebrations have their roots with the 

Celtic peoples of pre-Christian times. On the last night of 

October, the Celts celebrated the Festival of Samhain, or 

‘Summer’s End’. Priests, or Druids, performed ceremonies 

to thank and honour the sun. But there was a very dark side 

to this: Samhain also signalled the onset of winter, a time 

that unfriendly ghosts, nature-spirits, and witches roamed 

the earth, creating mischief. 

The Druid priests lit great bonfires and used magic rites to 

ward off or appease these dark supernatural powers. Then 

the Romans brought their Harvest Festival to honour the 

Goddess Pomona with apples and nuts. These festivals slowly 

merged until All Saints’ Day on 1 November was dedicated to 

all Christian Martyrs and Saints who had died. It was called 

‘All Hallows’ Day’ and the evening became a time of prayer 

and preparation. It was called ‘All Hallows’ Eve’, The Holy 

Evening, and later, ‘Halloween’. 

For centuries, however, supernatural fear remained 

strong. In the Middle Ages, animal costumes and 

frightening masks were worn to ward off the evil spirits 

of darkness on Halloween. Magic words and charms were 

used to keep away bad luck, and everyone believed that 

witches rode about on broomsticks. Fortune telling was 

popular, as was predicting the future with nuts and apples. 

Halloween is still sometimes known as Nutcrack Night or 

Snap-Apple Night. Today, Christians turn to prayer instead 

of charms to overcome the powers of darkness. 

Yuri Arcurs, Dreamstime.com 

Why celebrate Halloween? 

Rev Randy Barker questions the concept of Halloween 

Don’t people realize that Satan is real? Not just some sort 

of Halloween character, but a real being roaming to and fro 

seeking whom he may devour? Well, unfortunately, a lot of 

people don’t believe that the devil really exists. They think 

he’s a figment of our imagination. 

There was once a boxer who was being beaten up badly. Finally, 

he leaned over the ropes and said to his trainer, 'Throw in the 

towel. This guy is killing me!' But the trainer replied, 'Oh, no he’s 

not. He’s not even hitting you. He hasn’t laid a glove on you!' At that 

point the boxer wiped the blood away from his eye and said, 

'Well, then, I wish you’d watch that referee. He sure is tough!' 

A lot of people are like that trainer, they just don’t get 

it. They deny the obvious and this Halloween millions of 

Christians will mistakenly encourage their children to pay 

respects to the devil and his gang of evil spirits. 

Halloween is a celebration of darkness, and darkness hides 

things. In the Bible, darkness symbolizes evil. When I was a 

boy I used to ask my mother to leave a light on in my room. It 

always made me feel better. 

As Christians, that is what we should be doing — lighting 

up our world with God’s love by letting our light shine for 

Jesus as Ephesians 5:8-11 says: 

For you were sometimes darkness, but now are you light in the 

Lord: walk as children of light: (For the fruit of the Spirit is in all 

goodness and righteousness and truth;) Proving what is acceptable 

unto the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of 

darkness, but rather reprove them. 

The concept of Halloween involves death, darkness, 

deception, fear, and pagan rituals, and many Christians find 

Halloween an uncomfortable topic. 

It’s a little like walking into a graveyard and seeing among 

the tombstones a party in progress — a bizarre mixture of 

horrible screams and laughing — and then wondering who 

might have organized it. Halloween is not from God. Let me 

pose this question: 'What in the world do witches and demons and 

vampires have in common with the people of God, who John refers 

to as children of light?' 

Rev Randy Barker's full sermon can be found at: 

https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/halloween-sermon-rev-randybarker-sermon-on-halloween-188862 

oleman, Dreamstime.com 

Tatjana Baibakova, Dreamstime 



around FEATURE the — 5villages — 1 

Don't be afraid of disinformation and fake news 

Disinformation and fake news have 

helped fuel the recent riots and disorder 

taking place across parts of the UK. It’s 

the latest example of how social media 

can impact our lives, writes Rev Peter 

Crumpler. 

Media campaigning charity, Full 

Fact, declared 'The disorder we’ve seen, 

triggered at least in part by false claims 

circulating on social media, is an awful 

reminder of what can happen when online 

misinformation spills into the real world.' 

But how can Christians fight back 

against disinformation and fake news? 

THINK FIRST 

Each of us has a voice within 

our own circle of friends, family, 

colleagues, and worshippers at our 

church, so here are some simple steps: 

First, don’t share any conversation 

without thinking. It’s easy simply 

to share on social media or tell a 

friend something that you have read 

online or read in print. But take a 

few minutes to think over what you 

have read or heard. Slow down your 

response … 

Ask yourself: is this a news source? 

Can I check it on another media 

platform? Slowing down our response 

makes it less likely that we will share 

fake news or spread disinformation. If 

in doubt, then don’t send it — even if 

you would like it to be true. 

READY TO ENGAGE 

Second, burst your bubble. James 

Bull, a journalist, writes: 'Knowing 

what people we disagree with actually say 

and think — rather than the straw men 

and caricatures we create in our heads — 

helps us bridge gaps and makes it harder 

to demonize people whose politics are 

different from our own.' 

In social media, this means being 

willing to follow others with which 

you disagree, and being ready to 

engage with what they are saying. It 

may be uncomfortable, and it may not 

change your point of view, but you will 

understand better the views that they 

are expressing — and maybe sharpen 

your own. 

Otherwise, you just see opinions 

that echo your own, and are never 

challenged about your viewpoint. The 

algorithms will keep serving you up 

posts that you like. 

Third, be aware of conspiratorial 

thinking. Full Fact reports that an 

incorrect name for the suspect in 

the Southport killings spread rapidly 

online, alongside false claims he had 

recently come to the UK on a small 

boat, or was Syrian. These claims were 

quickly rebutted by Merseyside Police. 

But nevertheless, unrest broke out in 

Southport, with the police reportedly 

saying people behind the violence had 

been fired up by social media posts. 

As seekers of truth, Christians 

should be looking for evidence and 

robust investigations rather than 

fabricated ideas that intrigue us. 

INDEPENDENCE 

Fourth, support independent 

journalism. News organisations are 

under pressure from free material 

on the internet that may come from 

unreliable sources. If independent 

journalism is to survive, readers are 

likely to have to pay an increasing price 

to support media outlets. 

The cover price of a newspaper, or 

an online subscription, can help ensure 

professional journalism survives. 

Journalists launching community 

publications to serve their local areas 

should be supported locally. 

TAKE A STAND 

Fifth, take a stand against 

disinformation. US academic Dr Lee 

McIntyre writes: 'The issue for me is not 

to learn how to adjust to living in a world 

in which facts do not matter, but instead to 

stand up for the notion of truth and learn 

how to fight back.' 

Awargula, dreamstime.com 

In an era of post-truth, Christians 

are called to challenge every attempt to 

obscure a fact and challenge falsehoods 

before they are accepted as true. How 

you take action will depend on your 

circumstances, and where you see the 

truth being undermined. 

It could be in your place of work or 

education, in the media, or on social 

media that your friends are circulating. 

Small actions taken in churches, 

workplaces or friendship groups can 

have a ripple effect in drawing people 

back to the truth. 

Post-truth, fake news, and 

disinformation pose a serious threat 

to societies everywhere. Citizens can 

feel powerless in the face of their 

demoralising and demotivating effects. 

But Christians can play their part in 

seeking to bring truth and integrity 

back into the centre of public life. 

A final thought. Don’t be afraid to 

take a step back from social media. For 

the sake of your mental health, take 

regular breaks away from your screen 

and invest that time, as Jesus teaches 

us, in prayer. 

Jesus Praying in the Garden of Olives 

Zuberka, dreamstime.com 


around the villages — 1 



Acrobatics for 101 year old acrobat! 

Edna the acrobat Edna Godfathers from Ukraine 

Charvil author 

is feeling good 

Feel-Good Stories by Charvil author, 

Sarah Swatridge, is an eclectic 

mix of heart-warming tales, full of 

memorable and quirky characters. 

Read about the heroic postie, the 

eccentric duke, a spoilt parrot, a true 

friend and a determined would-be 

husband. Perfect bite-sized reading. 

Feel-Good Stories https://www.amazon. 

co.uk/Feel-Good-Stories-Sarah- 

Swatridge-ebook/dp/B0DDMFGBLT 

e-book £2.30 or Paperback £7.50 

Alternatively, order directly from 

Sarah on sswatridge@hotmail.com and 

she will deliver free to anyone in the 

parish of Charvil or Sonning. 

To mark Sonning Care Home resident, Edna Wall's 101 year birthday in April, 

she was treated to a spectacular show by members of Giffords Circus that 

brought back cherished memories of her younger acrobatic exploits. 

Giffords Circus performed parts of Avalon, the story of King Arthur, and 

included, Godfathers, an acclaimed Ukrainian acrobatic troupe, a live band, a 

charismatic jester, and some outstanding hula hoop artistry. 

In her younger days, Edna, who went to a dance school, successfully 

auditioned for a place to perform with the Kremlin Four acrobatic troupe in 

1937. Reflecting on the day, she said, 'I never thought I’d see a circus again, let 

alone have one come to me! 'It brings back so many wonderful memories of my 

time as an acrobat, touring around theatres in the British Isles. 

'We did two shows a night six days a week, and on Sundays we would pack 

up and travel to our next town. We could be in Dublin one week and Belfast the 

next, then on to another town in Britain. The stage managers had a list of local 

accommodation where we could stay while we were in town' 

'I was the youngest in the troupe, and the only female. One of the men was 

married, one engaged and the other single. 

'Unfortunately, the start of the Second World War in 1939 brought an end to 

our touring and a new career as a general office worker before I went to college 

to learn shorthand and typing.' 

Even on the river, there's often a queue for the bank! 

Phil Mason 

Even on the river, there’s often a queue for the bank. 




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Inner Wheel ladies begin the 'new year' with tea and cake 

Talks and visits 

TALK: The history of Reading 

Hospitals presented by Lionel 

Williams 4 October 7.30pm in 

Pearson Hall £5 members £6 guests 

TALK: The Secret Thames by Duncan 

Mackay 18 October 7.30, Pearson Hall 

VISIT: Harcourt Aboretum, Oxford, 

10 October 10.30am. Please car share 

and meet at the entrance. £5.90 each, 

pay individually. A pub lunch in the 

vicinity as an option. 

Contact Penny Feathers (see below) to 

reserve a place. 

AGM: 16 November 7.15pm start 

in Pearson Hall. Official business 

followed by three course meal and a 

speaker (to be announced). Tickets £25 

include a welcome drink and the meal. 

For more details of the above; 

www.sonning.org.uk/Public/index.php, 

penny.feathers@btinternet.com or 

0118 934 3193 

Royal British Legion 

100 year celebration 

To mark the start of this year's Poppy 

Appeal on 26 October, Sonning Royal 

British Legion celebrates with a three 

course meal at Sonning Gold Club on 

Saturday 26 October from 6.30pm. 

There will be a welcome drink, three 

course meal, tea and coffee, a guest 

speaker who is the Remembrance 

Lead for Microsoft UK music, and a 

raffle in aid of the Poppy Appeal. Non 

members £60 or book a table of 10 for 

£550. Penny Adams: 0771 862 8601 

The Maiden Erlegh Inner Wheel social club year runs from July to June. They 

meet in Sonning Golf Club and, as well as being a social club, they raise funds 

for local charities such as The Cowshed, The Bookbus, Medical Detection 

Dogs, Hamlyn Fistula and BEAT. A special guest member (pictured left in the 

spotty dress) is Jan Roworth from New Zealand. 

Can you help Adrian? 

Halifax MK3 

Wikipedia Public Domain 

Adrian Cole writes: My uncle, Harry Ward was killed in action in a plane 

crash in 1944 and I am trying to contact any living relatives of the rest of his 

crew including a Sgt Ronald Albert John Bosworth who's parents Jesse John 

and Kathleen Francesca Bosworth, and sister Doreen Violet lived in Sonning 

or surrounding area. His plane, a Halifax MK3, together with the rest of his 

crew crashed on the 25 August 1944 in Eperleques, northern France. I would 

be grateful for any help to try to put a face to names. Contact Adrian on: 

0121 550 0634 or adecole070@gmail.com — and also let the editor know! 

Offshore sailors 

winter lay up plans 

Reading Offshore Sailing members 

are looking forward to their 'Laying 

Up Supper' on 30 November. 

Over the horizon will probably be 

skittles at the Frog & Wicket, and 

their ‘twixt Christmas and New 

Year’ walk at the end of December. 

It is proposed that the walk will be 

around the lake at Dinton Pastures 

with lunch at the Wheelwrights 

Arms afterwards. 

https://www.readingoffshore.org.uk/ 

Rheumatism? 

Phil Mason 



HISTORY — 1 

Was it really? . . . 

. . . 250 years ago on 26 October 1774 that the Colony of 

Massachusetts Bay began building up its militia of ‘minute 

men’, who could respond to the growing British threat at a 

moment’s notice. The American Revolutionary War began 

a few months later. 

. . . 200 years ago on 21 October 1824 that British mason, 

bricklayer and cement manufacturer Joseph Aspdin was 

granted a British patent for Portland cement. His son 

William went on to develop a stronger version and is 

regarded as the inventor of modern Portland cement. 

. . . 175 years ago on 17 October 1849 that Frederic Chopin, 

Polish composer and piano virtuoso, died. 

. . . 125 years ago from 11 October 1899 to May 1902 that 

the Second Boer War in South Africa took place. 22,000 

British forces were killed, and nearly 100,000 wounded. 

More than 6,000 Boers were killed, and more than 46,000 

African civilians died in concentration camps. 

. . . 100 years ago on 15 October 1924 that the Statue 

of Liberty in New York Harbour was designated a US 

National Monument. 

. . . 90 years ago on 16 October 1934 that the Long March 

took place. Chinese communists led by Mao Zedong began 

a year-long 8,000-mile march from south-east China to 

north-west China to evade the armies of the Chinese 

National Party and establish a new base. It led to the 

founding of the People’s Republic of China. 

. . . Also 90 years ago on 24 October 1934 that the earliest 

known recording of the song Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town 

was released. Performed by banjo player Harry Reser 

and his band and sung by Tom Stacks, it has since been 

recorded by more than 200 other artists. 

. . . 80 years ago on 2 October 1944 that the Warsaw 

Uprising in Poland was ended. The Germans destroyed the 

city, killing 200,000 civilians and expelling 700,000. 

. . . Also 80 years ago on 9 October 1944 that Prime 

Minister Winston Churchill and Soviet leader Jospeh 

Stalin met to discuss the future of post-war Europe. 

. . . 75 years ago on 1 October 1949 that the People’s 

Republic of China was founded by Mao Zedong. 

. . . 70 years ago from 30 October - 13 November 1954 that 

the first Rugby World Cup was held in Paris. Great Britain 

beat France 16-12 in the final. 

. . . 65 years ago on 11 October 1959 that Britain began 

introducing post codes. (See page 29) 

. . . 60 years ago on 14 October 1964 that American civil 

rights leader Martin Luther King Jr was awarded the 

Nobel Peace Prize for combating racial inequality in the 

USA without violence. 

. . . 50 years ago on 2 October 1974 that US researchers 

announced that smoking cannabis causes lasting brain 

damage. More than 50 medical schools and research 

centres took part in the year-long study. 

. . . 40 years ago on 12 October 1984 that an IRA bomb 

exploded during the Conservative Party Conference at the 

Grand Hotel in Brighton, killing five people. 

. . . Also 40 years ago on 16 October 1984 that South 

African Anglican bishop Desmond Tutu won the 1984 

Nobel Peace Prize for his role in opposing apartheid. 

On this day . . . 

Statue of Mother Teresa of Calcutta holding a child inside Church of 

Saint Mary of Suffrage in Ravenna Vividaphoto, dreamstime.com 

Steven Rolling, who regularly provides us with his 

poetry, points out that October has many other notable 

dates not mentioned in the adjacent, Was it really? 

column: The number of years is given in (...) 

1 Henry III, born in 1207 (817) 

4 St Francis of Assisi’s Day: died in 1226 (798) 

4 Sir Christopher Cockerell, inventor of the hovercraft, 

born 1910 (114) 

4 Rembrandt von Rijn, artist, died in 1669 (355) 

6 Revd John E Bode, author of for example, ‘O Jesus I have 

promised’, died in 1874 (150) 

7 Folliott S Pierpoint, author of, ‘For the beauty of the earth’, 

born in 1835 (189) 

10 William Chatterton Dix, author of ‘As with gladness 

men of old’, died in 1898 (126) 

11 Apollo 7 launched, 1968 (56) 

12 Edward VI, born in (487) 

12 America discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1492 (532) 

14 Battle of Hastings, 1066 (958) 

14 50p coin introduced, 1969 (55) 

17 Danielle Darrieux, actress, died aged 100 in 2017 (7) 

21 Horatio Nelson died at Battle of Trafalgar, 1805 (219) 

21 Hans Asperger – Aspergers Syndrome – died 1980 (44) 

24 William Penn, Pennsylvania founder, born 1644 (380) 

25 Dedication of Liverpool’s Anglican Cathedral, 1978 (46) 

25 Battle of Agincourt, Henry V defeats France, 1415 (609) 

26 Mother Teresa, Mary Bojaxhiu, born 1910 (114) 

26 King Alfred The Great, died 899 (1125) 

29 Princess Alice, Duchess of Gloucester, died age 102 in 

2004 (20) 

31 Archbishop of Canterbury Cosmo Lang, born 1864 (160) 


HISTORY — 2 

Elizabeth Fry had endless compassion and endless 

energy – and together with a steadfast determination to 

do God’s work, this outstanding philanthropist became 

one of the foremost promoters of prison reform — not 

just in Britain, but in all of Europe. 

Elizabeth was born in 1780, far from any prison. The 

family lived in Norwich, where her father was a wealthy 

Quaker banker and merchant. In 1800 she married a 

London merchant, Joseph Fry. 

Elizabeth could have spent her life safely at home, 

raising her many children. But instead, she felt compelled 

to help the desperate social needs of the time. 

There was a good reason for this. In 1798, when she had 

been attending a Quaker meeting in Norwich, someone 

had spoken what Elizabeth felt was a prophetic word for 

her life. As she noted in her diary at the time: 

‘Deborah Darby then spoke… she addressed part of it to 

me; I only fear she says too much of what I am to be. A light to 

the blind; speech to the dumb; and feet to the lame; can it be? 

She seems as if she thought I was to be a minister of Christ. 

Can I ever be one? If I am obedient I believe I shall.’ 

And she was. 

HORRORS OF CIRCUMSTANCES 

Elizabeth was accepted as a Quaker ‘minister’, and her 

good works in London began. 

But it was not until one day in 1813, when she visited 

Newgate Prison in London, that Elizabeth’s life changed 

forever. That day she witnessed such horrors of the 

circumstances in which women and children were kept, 

that she knew she had found the focus for her life’s work. 

Soon her daily visits to the prison, where she read the 

Bible and taught the women to sew, grew into a campaign 

to achieve basic rights for the women prisoners. She 

fought for the classification of criminals, the segregation 

of the sexes, female supervision of women, and some 

provision for education. 

In 1817 she created the Association for the 

Improvement of Female Prisoners, and then lobbied 

Parliament. By 1818 Elizabeth had raised such a storm 

that she was called to give evidence to a Parliamentary 

Select Committee who were examining conditions in 

prison. They accepted many of her proposed reforms. 

In 1820 Elizabeth tackled the huge problem of 

destitution in London. She opened a ‘Nightly Shelter for 

the Homeless in London’, which became the first of many. 

She founded a society to help released prisoners with 

rehabilitation. And she was certainly a ‘hands-on’ sort of 

lady; it was said that for the next 20 years she personally 

inspected every single ship containing women convicts 

before it sailed to Australia. 

Between 1838 and 1842 Elizabeth visited all the 

prisons in France, reporting to the Interior Minister. She 

then inspected prisons in Belgium, Holland, Switzerland, 

Germany, Denmark, Scotland and Ireland. 

Elizabeth also founded schools for poor girls, soup 

kitchens for the hungry, better housing for the poor, and 


Elizabeth Fry: a reforming minister of Christ 

A HANDS-ON LADY 

Elizabeth Fry 

Georgios Kollidas, dreamstime.com 

also investigated mental asylums. She even established 

a nursing school, which influenced her distant relative, 

Florence Nightingale. 

By the time Elizabeth died on 12 October 1845, she had 

helped tens of thousands of helpless people to find some 

relief from their suffering. She had indeed lived her life as 

a ‘minister of Christ’. 

65 years posting by numbers 

On 11 October 1959, Britain began introducing 

postcodes. They started in Norwich, and by 1974 had 

been rolled out across the whole country. 

The idea was to speed up sorting after the mechanisation 

of the postal system. For the process to work, people 

had to use it, and it was therefore important to make 

sure everyone could remember their postcode easily. So, 

psychologists from Cambridge University were asked to 

assist in their design 

This worked so well that a survey in 2016 revealed that 

people are now more likely to remember their postcode 

than their debit card PIN (92%, compared with 77%). 

And the information sticks: apparently 17% of people 

questioned could still remember the postcode of the house 

they lived in up to 30 years earlier. 

When the first postcodes were tested in Norwich, the 

first three characters were NOR (now NR followed by a 

number) representing the name of the city, and the last 

three signified a particular street or large business. Why 

Norwich? Because of its new sorting machines. 

The main point of a postcode is to ensure that a letter 

or parcel gets to the correct Royal Mail sorting office. 

So the 'outcode' will specify a postcode area and 

district, and will have up to four characters. The 'incode' 

designates a particular postcode sector and delivery point, 

and always has one number and two letters. 



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HOME AND Garden 

A FOOT IN THE GARDEN 

Autumn leaves and 

fashionable clover 

By Ray Puddefoot 

Authors and drunks (we pray) turn over new leaves, 

while gardeners rake up old ones. Autumn leaves are 

a treasure and make the best compost. They also clog 

gutters, drains, turn paving into a slip hazard and 

smother grass. 

Tough, thicker leaves from likes of evergreens, oak and 

beech take a long time to break down while some leaves 

disintegrate within days of landing. Elms trees have 

rough and hairy leaves which if damp rot away in days. 

I remember when taking head gardeners from the 

Royal Parks around a tree nursery in Suffolk they 

bemoaned the loss of the elms because their leaves didn’t 

require raking up. 

I also remember I had wined and dined them the night 

before and with my bushy beard they thought ‘rough and 

hairy’ a good description of me! 

LOOK OUT FOR THE BEES 

Clover lawns are now becoming fashionable, especially 

in the USA! Taller varieties look good but are useless as 

usable spaces and look a mess after mowing. 

Creeping clovers have always occurred naturally in 

untreated grass and they can be sown into established 

lawns. Regular, annual scarifying will help to keep the 

clovers from smothering the grass. 

But my big question is how do you control other weeds 

without killing the clover especially when they germinate 

in bare patches after a drought? While bees love clover 

they don’t appreciate being trodden on!!!! 

Tasks for October 

— Clean patios and paths, especially in shady areas 

(repoint as necessary). 

— Hose pipes can be drained and packed away for the 

winter while taps should be isolated or wrapped to 

prevent them from freezing. 

— Check fencing and timber structures, oil hinges, check 

latches locks and garden lighting. 

— Tidy and mulch borders, especially less hardy plants 

like fuchsias and salvias, your plants will love it. 

— Plant trees shrubs and perennials in your borders while 

it's not to late to plant bulbs and winter bedding. 

— Sow hardy annuals and perennials to flower next year. 

RAY'S OCTOBER TOP TIPS 

— Clean patios and paths 

— Mulch borders 

— Plant spring bulbs, trees and shrubs 

— Divide perennials 

— Take hardwood cuttings 

Autmn leaves and berries 


What do you call your home? 

Many people name their homes, and there is certainly a 

dizzying variety of names out there. 

But now a new study has found that nearly all the most 

common property names have something to do with 

nature. And in Britain, the most popular house name of 

all is short and sweet: ‘The Cottage’. Next in line? ‘Rose 

Cottage’. 

Other popular house names include: Ivy Cottage, 

Garden Cottage, Orchard Cottage, Yew Tree Cottage, The 

Barn, The Stables, Orchard House, The Lodge and The 

Granary. 

Dr Lynn Robson, Fellow in English at Regent’s Park 

College, Oxford said the trend seems to reflect a nostalgia 

for a rural past. 

The survey also found that Newcastle has the greatest 

number of named homes, followed by Glasgow and 

Sheffield. The survey was carried out by Admiral Home 

Insurance. 

HEALTH 

Drug warning ... 

Graeme Biggar, head of the National Crime Agency, 

warns that the threat from drugs to the UK has 

become greater over the past 12 months because of 

the availability of synthetic opioids, an increase in the 

global production of cocaine, and a rise in the amount of 

cannabis being imported into the country. 

Deadly substances such as nitazenes and fentanyl are 

being used by drug dealers to bulk out heroin and to make 

it stronger. Synthetic chemicals are also being added to 

ecstasy, cocaine and street valium. 

Nitazenes are manufactured in laboratories, often 

in China, and copy the effects of morphine and other 

opioids. But it can be many times stronger. Since June 

2023, at least 284 substance-related deaths have been 

linked to high-strength nitazenes being added to a drug. 

Graaeme Biggar warned that: 'You can die the first time 

you take it, but you very often don’t know you are taking it.' 



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FASHION BY HARRIET NELSON 


What colours and styles will you try this fall? 

If the thought of autumn fashion 

trends or even touching a coat sends 

shivers down your spine, you're in the 

right place! 

Have no fear, even though none of 

us want to say goodbye to the long, 

hot summer days, it's never too early 

to prepare for the classic fall trends 

and styles, especially as it has already 

started to feel like Autumn. 

This month, I will discuss updating 

your fall and winter wardrobe and 

what colours will be in style for the 

cold weather ahead so that you're all 

ready and prepared for when it does 

make an appearance! 

Luckily, the pre-fall collections have 

just started hitting the high street 

stores. Coats, hats, scarves, and boots 

are lining up the shelves neatly, ready 

for the frantic shoppers who are ready 

and waiting and getting prepared! I 

have already started seeing the styles I 

believe will be popular this year. 

BOXY SWEATERS 

We can all say hello to the classic 

jumpers, wool roll-necks, cashmere 

button-ups, cotton cardigans, or a 

hoodie, which you can never go wrong 

with to help you warm up. This year, I 

have seen many more boxy sweaters 

lining the stores and out on the luxury 

fall runway shows. 

You can rely on a boxy jumper or 

cardigan to pull an outfit together; 

whether acting as a stand-alone item 

or as an extra layer added into the 

mix, layering a boxy or baggy jumper 

to your outfit is a must this fall. 

Their comfort and versatility makes 

them practical and stylish, so they 

are a winning choice for any fashion 

enthusiast. 

BLACK AND GREY 

Last year's popular colours were 

creams and browns. However, this 

year, the darker the colour, the better. 

From looking at the high street shops 

and the runway shows, we will be 

seeing more neutral colours, such as 

blacks, navies and greys, this year. 

Don't get me wrong, I love a pop of 

colour to excite me for the cold season 

ahead. But I love wearing dark colours 

to give me a feeling of winter weather 

and the cold vibe. 

Most people expect to see the 

classic autumnal colours lining the 

stores, such as oranges, reds, browns 

and creams. However, darker colours 

are already in the stores this year, 

which is great for me as I wear a lot of 

black and grey! 

This year, I purchased a long great 

coat and paired it with a skirt or jeans 

and a woolly jumper. I love layering 

up my clothing and making my grey 

coat part of my outfit, so it's not just 

used to stay warm but looks great too. 

I like wearing more natural tones and 

dislike standing out in vibrant colours, 

so I look forward to the natural darker 

tones this year that will make my 

wardrobe more on-trend and stylish. 

A brand that I have recently seen 

become more popular than ever and 

known for its neutral and darker 

tones is Barbour. These smart but 

very practical coats have been all 

the rage this year and are perfect for 

incorporating into whatever outfit you 

have chosen for the day. This brand has 

always been trendy in the UK and has 

become popular in America because 

of the Royal Family. Barbour is known 

for its dark but simple colour pallet, 

olive-green, black or brown wax-coats. 

The brand has become a staple in the 

Royal family's outdoor outfits, making 

it more desirable for many admirers. 

My family has these coats, which 

are practical for dog walks as they 

are super waterproof, comfortable 

and useful for any weather. The joy 

of finding the perfect Barbour coat, 

whether it be for a casual dog walk or a 

stylish outing, is truly satisfying. 

Founded in 1894, Barbour began 

its journey strictly for hunting and 

fishing activities. Perfect for the 

muddy and brambly countryside as 

well as horseback riding, this practical 

jacket has developed an old but 

charming character that is now known 

worldwide as one of the best winter 

coats available. 

BLUSH PINK 

Another fall wardrobe colour I 

have seen lining the stores recently 

this season is the ever popular pink. 

Blush pink has emerged for the fall 

season and will be one of the more 

cosy colours we expect to see this year. 

Pink became popular last year because 

the Barbie film became wildly popular 

among fashion lovers. 

This softer, more relaxed tone, I 

think, will be a popular staple in a lot 

of wardrobes this season. Blush pink 

will bring out a calmer, cute look for 

your wardrobe and can be paired with 

the natural tones of fall colours such as 

whites and creams, as well as more of 

a cosy palette such as olive and conker 

browns. 

For the workplace, I expect to see 

several different coloured suits to 

match the winter and fall aesthetic. 

Think relaxed blazers and long wideleg 

trousers to keep us warm but 

professional and smart during the 

shorter, colder days. Wearing these 

now bulkier and chic 

Blazers are all the rage with 

designers like Prada, Tom Ford, and 

Victoria Beckham. 

This classic wardrobe essential 

doesn't just have to be worn in the 

office this fall; you can wear a blazer 

for literally any occasion. Paired with 

a pair of jeans or a dress, a blazer this 

fall will make you look put together 

and give you the smart casual vibe you 

want. 



THE ARTS — 1 

Did Jesus use a modem at the Sermon on the Mount ? 

Did Jesus use a modem at the Sermon on the Mount? 

Did he ever use a broadcast fax to get his message out? 

Did the disciples carry bleepers as they went out and about 

Did Jesus use a modem at the Sermon on the Mount? 

Did the Apostle use a laptop with lots of RAM and ROM? 

Did he use an email alias such as Paul@Romr.com? 

Did the man from Macedonia post an email stating 'Com'? 

Did Moses use a joystick at the parting of the sea? 

And a Satellite Guidance Tracking system to show him where to be? 

Did he write the law on tablets, or are they really on CD? 

Did Moses use a joystick at the parting of the sea? 

Did Jesus really die for us that Friday on the tree? 

Or was it just a hologram — some high-tech wizardry? 

Can you download the video clip to play on your PC? 

If in your life the voice of God is sometimes hard to hear, 

With other voices calling, his doesn’t touch you ear, 

Then set aside laptop and modem, unplug the fancy gear 

Open up that dusty Bible and talk to him in prayer! 

The above is from an early ‘Internet for Christians' newsletter so I got out 

my dustiest old Bible for the illustration — Editor! 

Hopeful Harvest 

By Steven Rolling 

Based on: Psalm 65:9-13; Tune: Golden Sheaves: ‘To thee, O Lord, our hearts we raise’ 

Image: Buccaneer, dreamstime.com 

The last verse is adapted with the permission of another poet. 

1. The Lord visits the earth, ensures 

It receives plenty waters 

And greatly He does enrich it 

And satisfied it each whit 

From the river of God it flows 

It be full, no shortage knows 

And He make produce for to frow 

Blessings on His land below 

2. He provides grain us to sustain 

His harvest graces seen plain 

And waters hill and vale and field 

They each prosperity yield 

If heavy rain or showers light 

Or sunshine bright to the sight 

He crowns the year with His goodness 

With His favour does us bless 

3. The waters fall on the pastures 

And too on the wilderness 

The little hills rejoice, they know 

Refreshment from the Lord so 

The pastures, they with flocks are clothed 

And valleys also bestowed 

With grain, they shout for joy and sing 

Abundance here, everything 

As 



Into thy hands, O Lord 

John Henry Newman was a great 

Victorian churchman, an inspired 

Anglican preacher and teacher who 

became a Roman Catholic in 1845. 

Newman was also a poet and wrote 

hymns that have remained perennial 

favourites such as, ‘Lead, kindly Light' 

and ‘Praise to the Holiest.’ 

The first hymn was written when, as an 

Anglican, Newman was ill in Sicily and 

his servant thought he might die. But he 

recovered and, anxious to return home, 

he wrote these words, knowing that God 

had important work for him to do. 

The light that he prayed for in 

Sicily was to shine out, resplendent 

and glorious, in that later hymn which 

expresses the vision of the heavenly 

courts in the longer poem, ‘The Dream of 

Gerontius.’ 

Newman wrote the poem in 1865 

after the death of a 41-year-old fellow 

Oratorian, Fr John Joseph Gordon, who 

had said to him as he lay dying, “I do not 

say that I do not fear to die: for death must 

always be a fearful thing. God’s justice is very 

terrible; but then, in the crucifixion, God’s 

mercy appears so very great.” 

4. The verdant rolling lands about 

Boundaries of man’s construct 

The mills and manufactories 

Furnaces and potteries 

As the steel, stone, and brick degrade 

Sediment and soot invade 

Buccaneer, Dreamstime.com 

The verdant rolling lands about 

Boundaries of man’s construct 

By Rev Michael Burgess 

‘The Dream of Gerontius’ is about 

death and judgement, but it is the 

judgement of a loving God. 

Newman presented Dvorak with a 

copy of this poem when the composer 

visited Birmingham, and he was invited 

to compose a setting for the city’s 1888 

Festival. 

Although Dvorak felt inspired 

by the words, the timescale was too 

demanding. The poem was presented 

to Elgar on his wedding day a year later, 

again with the suggestion that he set it 

to music. 

The words simmered and stirred in 

Elgar’s imagination to produce one of 

the great oratorios of all time in 1900, 

when it was given its first performance 

in Birmingham. 

Elgar inscribed the score ADMG (To 

the greater glory of God) and wrote on the 

last page of the manuscript, ‘This is the 

best of me.’ 

The light of God’s glory and grace 

that inspired Newman shines through 

the music as it shone through Elgar’s 

own life. 

His funeral card of 1934 contained 

words from the poem, and on his own 

score of ‘The Dream’ he wrote these words 

of Virgil, ‘Whence doth so dear desire of 

Light on wretches grow?’ 

ANGELIC ECHOES 

It is now difficult to separate the 

poem from Elgar’s setting. The composer, 

like the poet, leads the listener from the 

prayer of faith, ‘Firmly I believe and truly’ 

– a prayer sustained by the words of the 

priest, ‘Go forth upon thy journey, Christian 

soul’ – to the judgement throne where 

the angels praise God in the heights. 

One of the angels then leads the soul 

away with a beautiful setting of ‘Softly 

and gently,’ not to the fire of judgement, 

but to the cleansing, sustaining water of 

eternal life. 

The work ends with echoes of that 

angelic hymn, praising God who is our 

refuge in every generation. 

Newman wrote, “I always sleep better 

after music.” He compared music to an 

electric current that passes through the 

body and then into the mind and heart. 

Elgar’s wonderful setting can 

do exactly that, creating a vision of 

that new world of eternal glory that 

Gerontius expresses in the words, 'Into 

thy hands, O Lord, into thy hands.’ 

Book Reviews 

Lion Atlas of Bible 

History (2nd Edition) 

By Paul Lawrence, Lion 

Books, £39.99 

This book spans the 

3,000 years of Biblical 

history, explaining 

the many ways in 

which and archaeology confirm and 

complement the biblical narrative, and 

adds depth and colour to understanding 

the key people and events. 

It traces the unfolding of the major 

events in the Old and New Testaments, 

from Abraham's wanderings in Canaan 

and Egypt through to Paul's missions 

and founding of new churches. 

Special features about the people and 

languages of the Bible help to deepen 

the reader's understanding of geography, 

landscape, climate, culture and religion. 

There are 97 maps and over 150 

colour photographs, seven panoramic 

illustrations and 17 site plans, plus a 

range of battle plans and small artworks. 

Daily Bible Meditations for Everyone 

- 365 Reflections and Prayers, from 

Genesis to Revelation 

By John Goldingay and 

Tom Wright, SPCK, 

£19.99 

The book journeys 

through the whole 

Bible in one year. With 

wisdom, clarity and 

depth, Goldingay and 

Wright provide a rich 

blend of theological insight and practical 

application in 365 concise reflections and 

prayers. For anyone seeking spiritual 

growth, a deeper connection with the 

Scriptures, or simply a daily source 

of inspiration, it could enrich your 

appreciation of the whole Bible and 

offers a clear path to understanding and 

applying God's Word in your daily life. 

In the Fullness of Time - A Story From 

the Past and Future of the Church 

By Paul Bradbury, 

Canterbury Press, £14.99 

Here’s a book about 

the present and future 

of the church in our 

own challenging 

context: a secular age, 

decline, stretched 

resources, complex and 

TURN TO PAGE 37 



RENDEZVOUS 

IN THE ARK 

Tuesday 8 October 

Tuesday 22 October 

Open to everyone 

of all ages for lunch and 

conversation 

Reserve your seat on: 

0118 969 3298 

St St Andrew's Andrew's Ark Ark 

St Andrew's Ark 

Third Sunday of the month (accept August) 

Third Sunday Third Sunday of the of month 3pm the — month (accept 4pm (accept (except August) August) 

3pm — 3pm 4pm 

Craft— Science — 4pm — Puzzles 

Stories Craft— — Craft— Science Games Science — Songs Puzzles — Puzzles — Celebration 

Stories Stories — Games — Games — Songs 

Free — Food! Songs — Celebration — Celebration 

Free Food! Free Food! 

An afternoon of fun, fellowship and a free meal together 

An afternoon An afternoon of fun, A of fellowship different fun, fellowship theme and a each free and meal month a free together meal together 

A different A different theme each theme month 

For more information: 

each month 

For more For information: 

more Corinne information: 

Corinne Corinne 

corinne@sonningparish.org.uk 



the church of st andrew, SERVING THE 

COMMUNITIES OF CHARVIL, SONNING and sonning eye 

the church the of church st andrew, of st andrew, SERVING SERVING THE THE 

COMMUNITIES COMMUNITIES OF CHARVIL, OF CHARVIL, SONNING SONNING and sonning and sonning eye eye 




Serving Church of St Andrew 

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messy church poster A0 Feb 2024.indd 1 15/01/2024 14:44:57 


THE ARTS — 2 

FROM PAGE 35 

fragmented communities requiring 

diverse missional approaches. 

Weaving together parable, 

storytelling, travelogue history and 

poetry, Paul Bradbury journeys from 

rural Norfolk to inner-city London, 

from a radical missional community 

in Lincolnshire, to a traditional 

village parish in Dorset. He looks at 

the church today, and how parish 

communities are wrestling with 

the tensions between the value of 

inherited church, and the future. 

THE SCIENCES 


Have You Ever Wondered? - Finding the 

Everyday Clues to Meaning, Purpose & 

Spirituality 

By Andy Bannister 

and Gavin Matthews, 

10Publishing, £7.99 

Have you wondered 

why we are so 

insatiably curious 

about our universe? 

Or have you ever 

simply looked to the stars in the vast 

night’s sky and just wondered? This 

book includes contributors from a 

range of backgrounds in science, 

law, linguistics, theology, bioethics, 

history, and more. They reflect on how 

their questions have, in some cases 

unexpectedly, led them to a compelling 

Christian spirituality and a profound 

sense of meaning and purpose in life. 

Jesus, Strong and Kind 

By Sinclair B Ferguson, 10Publishing, 

£10.98 

Using words of the 

popular children’s 

song it helps them 

understand that 

they can always run 

to Jesus, even when 

they feel lost or scared 

or weak. With some attractive colour 

illustrations by Angelo Ruta, the 

book will be a helpful addition to any 

family’s library. 

Living in a Dangerous World - Moving 

from Fear to Faith 

By William P Smith, New Growth 

Press, £2.30 

The author argues that our faith should 

change our strategies for dealing with 

fear. He offers practical guidance 

on how to exchange fear for faith 

by learning to find security in our 

relationship with an unchanging God. 

Image: Hox genes in various species by Stefanie F Hueber, Georg F Weiller, Michael A Djordjevic, 

Tancred Frickey, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=19867115 

Fearfully and wonderfully made! 

Every person was once a sperm and an egg. Those two unique germ cells fused 

together, and in nine months they turned into a living, breathing, human 

being. One of the most important stages of this process is when each section 

of the body, from head to rump, takes on its identity, writes Dr Ruth M 

Bancewicz, Church Engagement Director at The Faraday Institute for Science 

and Religion in Cambridge. 

In this context, identity means what 

shape it takes, and which limbs or 

internal organs grow there: legs or 

arms, lungs or pancreas, and so on. 

The source of that physical 

identity is DNA: the networks of 

genes that are switched on or off in 

each segment of the body, making all 

the proteins that are needed to grow 

and develop in the right way. 

The master-genes that control the 

whole process are called homeobox, 

or Hox genes for short. 

The most beautiful thing about 

the process of body patterning is the 

way it brings the dimensions of time 

and space together in such a tidy way. 

SWITCH ON 

The Hox genes are organised into 

several clusters on the chromosomes, 

in the order in which they are needed 

during development and the order in 

which they appear on the body. 

As the embryo develops, the cells 

near the head end activate the first 

genes in the Hox clusters. 

The cells just below the head then 

switch on the second genes in the 

cluster, and so on. 

A wave of gene activation passes 

down the embryo, specifying each 

section of the trunk in turn. 

Once a Hox gene is switched on 

it can stay switched on in the next 

few sections of cells, and it is the 

overlapping activity of the genes 

which gives each section of the body 

its proper identity. 

THE WONDER 

The Wisconsin-based biologist 

Jeff Hardin often quotes Psalm 139 

to express the wonder of embryonic 

development. 

'For you created my inmost being; 

you knit me together in my mother’s 

womb…your works are wonderful, I 

know that full well. My frame was not 

hidden from you when I was made in the 

secret place, when I was woven together 

in the depths of the earth.' 

The story of the tidy Hox genes 

is very relevant to these verses, 

bringing out the hidden beauty in 

the process. 

The more biologists get to find out 

about how we came to be born, the 

more we can say, 'I am fearfully and 

wonderfully made!' 



PUZZLE PAGE — 1 

BIBLE CROSSWORD 

Across 

8 - Where the ark of the covenant was kept for 20 years 

(1 Samuel 7:1) (7,6) 

9 - One of the parts of the body on which blood and oil were put 

in the ritual cleansing from infectious skin diseases 

(Leviticus 14:14–17) (3) 

10 - Uncomfortable (3,2,4) 

11 - ‘Yet I have loved Jacob, but Esau I have — ’ (Malachi 1:3) (5) 

13 - Where Paul said farewell to the elders of the church in 

Ephesus (Acts 20:17) (7) 

16 - ‘Jesus bent down and — to write on the ground with his 

finger’ (John 8:6) (7) 

19 - Prophet from Moresheth (Jeremiah 26:18) (5) 

22 - Comes between Exodus and Numbers (9) 

24 & 2 Down: ‘Then Elkanah went home to Ramah, but the boy 

ministered before the Lord under — the — ’ (1 Samuel 2:11) (3,6) 

25 - There was no room for them in the inn (Luke 2:7) (4,3,6) 

Crufts Verse Search by Ralph 

S 

A 

I 

N 

T 

B 

E 

R 

N 

A 

R 

D 

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J 

R 

H 

C 

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C 

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L 

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I 

E 

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K 

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D 

E 

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O 

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E 

C 

N 

J 

H 

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K 

N 

A 

F 

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P 

L 

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O 

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F 

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P 

R 

E 

S 

O 

E 

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M 

B 

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S 

U 

A 

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G 

W 

Z 

S 

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N 

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L 

F 

E 

T 

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S 

E 

F 

S 

Y 

W 

M 

B 

E I R R E T P A I L L O N 

Ralph's ‘verse search’ grid above contains the names of 27 

breeds of dogs whose names begin: 2A, 6B, D, H, J, 2K, 2L, 

2M, 2P, R, 5S, T, W. If you find all 27 you will also notice 

that the unused letters in the grid spell out a relevant 

verse from the Good News Bible. You might even manage 

to identify the verse. Good luck, and God Bless! 

Write your answers here . . . 

A 

A 

P 

T 

E 

E 

S 

N 

R 

B 

A 

N 

D 

E 

N 

M 

O 

A 

L 

S 

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O 

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R 

G 

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Y 

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S 

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K 

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E 

S 

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N 

D 

U 

E 

N 

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I 

T 

A 

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L 

A 

D 

C 

F 

L 

L 

E 

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E 

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Down 

1 - Rough drawing (2 Kings 16:10) (6) 

2 - See 24 Across 

3 - Underground literature (including Christian books) circulated 

in the Soviet Union (8) 

4 - Lo, mash (anag) (6) 

5 - The Bible’s shortest verse: ‘Jesus — ’ (John 11:35) (4) 

6 - ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her — and have no 

compassion on the child she has borne?’ (Isaiah 49:15) (6) 

7 - Can be seen in a dying fire (Psalm 102:3) (6) 

12 - ‘Send me, therefore, a man... experienced in the — of 

engraving, to work in Judah and Jerusalem’ 

(2 Chronicles 2:7) (3) 

14 - Second city of Cyprus (8) 

15 - United Nations Association (1,1,1) 

16 - One of the women who first heard that Jesus had risen 

from the dead (Mark 16:1) (6) 

17 - Braved (anag.) (6) 

18 - — of Evangelism, outreach initiative in the 1990s (6) 

20 - ‘Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes and — in their 

own sight’ (Isaiah 5:21) (6) 

21 - ‘Neither — nor depth... will be able to separate us from the 

love of God’ (Romans 8:39) (6) 

23 - What Jesus shed in 5 Down (4) 

ANSWERS TO RALPH'S SEPTEMBER VERSE SEARCH 

ALBACORE 

ALEWIFE 

ANCHOVY 

BARBEL 

BARRACUDA 

BLOATER 

CHAR 

CHUB 

COD 

COELACANTH 

DAB 

EEL 

ELVER 

FLOUNDER 

GROUPER 

KIPPER 

LEECH 

MINNOW 

MULLET 

PERCH 

PILCHARD 

PIRANHA 

PLAICE 

REMORA 

ROACH 

ROLLMOP 

SALMON 

SARDINE 

SMELT 

SPRATT 

STICKLEBACK 

STINGRAY 

STURGEON 

TROUT 

The hidden Bible verse was from Genesis 1: 26 

(Good News Bible) 

THEY WILL HAVE POWER OVER THE FISH 


PUZZLE PAGE — 2 

CROSSWORD 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 

8 

SUDOKU 


answers in the next issue 

September 

Solutions 

9 10 

11 12 

13 

15 16 

17 18 19 

20 21 

22 23 

Across 

1 - Delightful and charismatic (8) 

Across 

5 Prayer (4) 

1 - Delightful and charismatic (8) 

9 - Impair (5) 

5 - Prayer (4) 

10 Bring a law into effect again (2-5) 

9 - Impair (5) 

11 Enthusiasm (5) 

10 - Bring a law into effect again (2-5) 

12 Sewn edge (3) 

11 - Enthusiasm (5) 

13 Faithful (5) 

12 - Sewn edge (3) 

15 Understand 13 - Faithful (5) 

17 - Taxi (3) 

15 - Understand (5) 

19 Agreeable sound or tune (5) 

17 - Taxi (3) 

20 - Discharge from a hole in a pipe (7) 

19 - Agreeable sound or tune (5) 

21 - Maritime (5) 

20 - Discharge from a hole in a 

22 - Wooden crosspiece attached to animals (4) 

pipe (7) 

23 - Raised road (8) 

21 - Maritime (5) 

22 - Wooden crosspiece 

attached to animals (4) 

23 - Raised road (8) 

14 

Down 

1 - Unconditionally (13) 

Down 

2 - Assumed identities (7) 

1 - Unconditionally (13) 

3 - Based on legend (12) 

2 - Assumed identities (7) 

3 - Based on legend (12) 

4 - Where one finds Oslo (6) 

4 - Where one finds Oslo (6) 

6 - Slender freshwater fish (5) 

7 - In a reflex manner (13) 

6 - Slender freshwater fish (5) 

8 - Changes to a situation (12) 

7 - In a reflex manner (13) 

14 - Deny any responsibility for (7) 

8 - Changes to a situation (12) 

16 - Single-celled organism (6) 

14 - Deny any responsibility for (7) 

16 - Single-celled organism (6) 

18 - Having nothing written on 

(of paper) (5) 

18 - Having nothing written on (of paper) (5) 

Each of the nine blocks has to contain all the 

numbers 1-9 within its squares. Each number 

can only appear once in a row, column or box. 

WORDSEARCH 

CROSSWORD 

D A I S W A T C H I N G 

I O C N I M O 

F A N T A S Y R O M E O 

F I L O C E D 

E X C E L N E U T R O N 

R I E M S A 

E N G A G E A S S E N T 

N A R C C U 

T O R N A D O R A R E R 

I L P L I O E 

A W A S H U N B O U N D 

T N E M E S L 

E N D U R I N G R E L Y 

CODEWORD 

E A C H S T O R M I N G 

F H U H E N A 

F L U E N C Y M A K E S 

I R D M I W P 

C O N S E Q U E N C E S 

A R S I L F 

C A N V A S O S T L E R 

Y O C U C E 

E X C H A N G E A B L E 

F I I L N A Z 

A B O D E I N C E N S E 

R U V K E J R 

M A S T E R E D L O T S 

SUDOKU 

CODEWORD 

26 6 24 16 7 3 4 25 18 7 1 

26 23 7 2 14 5 19 

6 5 2 20 23 6 7 26 13 25 

7 9 26 7 18 17 2 4 18 

13 18 24 13 18 24 21 2 18 

25 12 7 15 23 25 4 21 25 

1 14 1 11 14 12 

4 1 2 18 23 4 25 12 17 

24 23 1 4 1 18 3 23 12 

6 18 2 8 13 24 6 1 7 

25 22 21 5 24 2 4 1 12 1 

3 18 10 18 25 2 1 

14 21 12 2 5 25 3 2 18 18 21 

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z 

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 

S A E 

14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 

All Hallows Eve – or Holy Evening 

Modern Halloween celebrations have 

their roots in pre-Christian times. 

In those long-ago days, on the last 

night of October, the Druid priests 

celebrated the Festival of Samhain, or 

‘Summer’s End’. 

They lit great bonfires and 

performed magic rites to ward off 

the dark supernatural powers of 

oncoming winter. 

Today, Christians turn to prayer 

instead of charms to overcome the 

powers of darkness. And the deeper, 

true meaning of All Hallows’ Eve, 

should not be forgotten. 

As Christians, we all draw closer 

to Christ when we remember and 

give thanks for our loved ones and 

for others who have gone before us 

through the gates of death. 

ALL 

HALLOWS 

HALLOWEEN 

DRUID 

PRIESTS 

FESTIVAL 

SAMHAIN 

BONFIRES 

MAGIC 

DARK 

POWERS 

WINTER 

CHRISTIANS 

PRAYER 

CHARMS 

DEEPER 

SUPERNATURAL 

TRUE 

EVE 

CLOSER 

CHRIST 

THANKS 

LOVED 

DEATH 

GONE 

WORDSEARCH 

BIBLE CROSSWORD 




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Classified Trades & Services 

ACG SERVICES - LOCKSMITH 

Locks changed, fitted, repaired and opened 

Door and window locks fitted, UPVC door lock expert 

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Call Richard Homden: 0149 168 2050 / 0771 040 9216 

CLARK BICKNELL LTD - PLUMBING & HEATING 

Qualified Plumbing and Heating Engineers Gas Safe 

25 years experience - local family run company 

Office: 0118 961 8784 - Paul: 0776 887 4440 

paul@clarkbicknell.co.uk 

MC CLEANING 

We are a family business with excellent references 

and we are fully insured 

All cleaning materials provided 

For free quote call: Maria 0779 902 7901 

THAMES CHIMNEY SWEEPS 

0779 926 8123 0162 882 8130 

enquiries@thameschimneysweeps.co.uk 

http://www.thameschimneysweeps.co.uk 

Member of the Guild of Master Sweeps 

BERKSHIRE STUMP REMOVALS 

Stump grinding and tree stump removal 

Latest narrow access machinery 

Contact: Mark 

0798 495 7334 http://www.berkshirestumpremoval 

HANDYMAN & DECORATING SERVICES 

Reliable and affordable 

Small jobs a speciality! 

Call Andy on 0795 810 0128 

http://www.handyman-reading.co.uk 

HANDY MAN & TV / SATELLITE REPAIRS 

Surveys on houses with a drone 

Most jobs undertaken 

Please call Phil on: 

0797 950 3908 

COMPUTER FRUSTRATIONS? 

For jargon free help with your computer problems 

PC & laptop repairs, upgrades, installations, virus removal 

Free advice, reasonable rates 

0798 012 9364 help@computerfrustrations.co.uk 

BIG HEART TREE CARE 

Reliable and friendly service for all tree care 

NPTC qualified — Public Liability of £10million 

0118 937 1929 0786 172 4071 

bighearttreecare.co.uk info@bighearttreecare.co.uk 

SMALLWOOD 

Landscaping, garden construction, 

patios, lawns, fencing, decking etc 

0118 969 8989 https://www.smallwoodlandscaping.co.uk/ 

office@smallwoodlandscaping.co.uk 


CHILDREN'S PAGE 



42 The Parish Magazine - October 2024 Please mention The Parish Magazine when replying to advertisements 

information — 2 

Parish contacts 

Ministry Team 

— The Vicar: Revd Jamie Taylor (Day off Friday) 

The Parish Office, Thames Street, Sonning, RG4 6UR 

vicar@sonningparish.org.uk / 0118 969 3298 

— Youth Minister: Chris West (Westy) 

youthminister@sonningparish.org.uk / 0794 622 4106 

— Licensed Lay Minister: Bob Peters 

bob@sonningparish.org.uk / 0118 377 5887 

— Children and Youth Minister: Corinne Robertson 

corinne@sonningparish.org.uk / 0118 969 3298 

Churchwardens 

— Liz Nelson, liz.nelson1@ntlworld.com / 0779 194 4270 

— Ruth Jeffery, ruth@jefferyfamily.net / 0797 101 8730 

Deputy Churchwardens 

— Kevin Wilson, kevinmichaelwilson@gmail.com / 0118 969 3298 

— Sue Peters mail@susanjpeters.com / 0118 377 5887 

Parish Office Manager 

— Hilary Rennie, office@sonningparish.org.uk / 0118 969 3298 

Parochial Church Council 

— Secretary: Hilary Rennie 0118 969 3298 

— Treasurer: Jerry Wood 0118 969 3298 

Director of Music, Organist and Choirmaster 

— Richard Meehan MA ARCO 

music@sonningparish.org.uk 

Safeguarding Officer 

— Nicola Riley: nic.nige@sky.com / 0742 517 3359 

Sonning Bell Ringers 

— Tower Captain: Pam Elliston 

pam.elliston@talktalk.net / 0118 969 5967 

— Deputy Tower Captain: Rob Needham 

r06needham@gmail.com / 0118 926 7724 

St Andrew's Church Parish Website 

https://www.sonningparish.org.uk 

Advertisers' index 

ABD Construction 6 

Abbeyfield Wey Valley Society 6 

ACG Services Locksmith 40 

Active Security 30 

AMS Water Softeners 14 

Barn Store Henley 6 

Berkshire Stump Removals 40 

BHR Maintenance 40 

Big Heart Tree Care 40 

Blandy & Blandy Solicitors 14 

Blue Moose 26 

Bridges Homecare Meals on Wheels 12 

Bull Inn 32 

Canon Tree Care 30 

Chole Lefroy Counselling 40 

Clark Bicknell Bignall Plumbing and Heating 

40 

Computer Frustrations 40 

Crosfields School 32 

French Horn 4 

Gardiners Home Care 32 

Good Oaks Home Care 26 

Great House Sonning 12 

Handyman and Decorating Services 40 

Handyman and Satellite TV repairs 40 

Haslams Estate Agents 2 

Hicks Group 18 

Home Stair Lifts 18 

Kingfisher Bathrooms 30 

MC Cleaning 40 

Mill at Sonning 44 

Muck & Mulch 18 

Reading Blue Coat School 14 

Richfield Flooring 16 

Sabella Home Furnishing 34 

Shiplake College 16 

Smallwood Landscaping 40 

Sonning Golf Club 16 

Sonning Scouts 32 

Studio DFP 40 

Thames Valley Water Softeners 6 

Thames Chimney Sweep 40 

The Abbey Nursery 43 

Tomalin Funerals 14 

Walker Funerals 12 

Water Softener Salt 18 

Window Cleaner 18 

The Parish Magazine: https://www.theparishmagazine.co.uk 

— Editor: Bob Peters 

editor@theparishmagazine.co.uk / 0118 377 5887 

— Advertising: Ian and Lauren McCann 

advertising@theparishmagazine.co.uk / 0118 969 3298 

— Print and Distribution: Gordon Nutbrown 

classified@theparishmagazine.co.uk / 0118 969 3298 

The Parish Magazine is produced by St Andrew’s PCC and delivered 

free of charge to every home in Charvil, Sonning and Sonning Eye. 

The Parish Magazine is printed in the United Kingdom by 

Sarum Graphics Ltd, Old Sarum, Salisbury SP4 6QX 

The Parish Magazine is distributed by 

Abracadabra Leaflet Distribution Ltd, Reading RG7 1AW 

The Parish Magazine template was designed in 2012 by 

Roger Swindale rogerswindale@hotmail.co.uk 

and David Woodward david@designforprint.org 


Please mention The Parish Magazine when responding to this advertisement 


AB0049_The_Abbey_Little_Knellies_Ad_175x255.indd 1 06/03/2024 09:32 



Please mention The Parish Magazine when responding to this advertisement 

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27 SEPTEMBER - 

16 NOVEMBER 2024 

THE WATERWHEEL BAR 

27 NOVEMBER 2024 - 

25 JANUARY 2025 

STORYTIME 

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Sandwiches, Homemade Cakes & Artisan Coffee. 

Come and treat yourself to a scrumptious lunch 

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On Wednesday Mornings, enjoy a magical 

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The Parish Magazine October 2024

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