Crosstalk - Lillington, St Mary Magdalene, Parish Magazine - Lillington Parish Church, Warwickshire
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Crosstalk
Lillington, St Mary Magdalene,
Parish Magazine
MAY 2021
Our first ‘in person
coffee morning’ of
2021 was a success!
It was nice to finally
be able to meet in
person again while
enjoying the sun and
good company.
Thank you to
everyone who came
and to those who
provided cake and
made tea and coffee.
2
From the Vicar:
One of the Gospel readings that is always very popular shortly
after Easter is the story recorded for us by St Luke of the two
disciples walking dejectedly away from Jerusalem to Emmaus.
While discussing the events of Good Friday and the days
following, they are joined by a mysterious stranger.
The story is very well known and has the exciting ending in which
Jesus is revealed to them in the breaking of bread. The two
disciples then rush back to Jerusalem to share this experience
with the others. Two thousand years separate us from this story
and yet I think it still has much to say to us especially as we
prepare to return to church and move onwards as an Easter
people.
Even though there was talk of Jesus’ reappearance on Easter
Sunday his death had turned the lives of his followers upside
down. The two disciples were deep in conversation about how to
make sense of it all. The Pandemic has had a similar effect. Whilst
rates of infection are reducing in the UK the reality is, that on a
global scale, the Pandemic has yet to reach its peak. It remains
the number one topic of conversation everywhere and nothing will
be the same as before.
When Jesus returns from the dead it is as if the old Jesus is back.
Some may have thought things were going to get back to
“normal”. Yet while Jesus is back, there is something about him
that is different. There was something about him that prevented
people from recognising him immediately. It was only when he
said her name in the garden that Mary realised it was Jesus and
only in the breaking of bread that the disciples’ eyes were truly
opened.
The post resurrection Jesus is the same yet different. Resurrection
does not mean a return to normal but an invitation to look with
new eyes. It was always Jesus’ way to challenge people to see
things differently. It was why he began his ministry with the call
to “metanoia” which was a call to turn and face a new direction.
3
As we re-emerge out of lock-down into what will hopefully be a
post-pandemic world we are called more than ever to see Jesus
and his kingdom in a new way. Three things emerge for me out of
the Emmaus story. Jesus showed the disciples a new way of
reading scriptures so that they were able to see his part in the
plan of salvation. Secondly their relationship with Jesus was only
made possible because of the hospitality they showed him. They
didn’t know it was him when they invited him to stay. The
hospitality we show others is often one of the thin places of
encounter when God is made real. And finally, it was in the
breaking of bread that their eyes were truly opened. As we return
it will be this table fellowship that will be at the heart of what we
do moving forward. It will be the same but also different.
May God bless us as we embrace new ways of seeing things, in
the hospitality we show others and in the breaking of bread that
we will enjoy as we once again return to church.
-William
-----------
Warden’s words:
I am writing this in the middle of April and
we have had a busy few weeks with changes
in the lockdown rules, and taking steps to
get the church open again for people to
come in.
It was lovely on Wednesday 14th to
‘Welcome Back’ 24 people into church,
mostly our ‘offliners’ who have not been able
to access church at all since Christmas. Mike
King played ‘Nearer my God to thee’ during
the distribution of wafers which was the
same tune the Band had played on the RMS
4
Titanic as it sank, 109 years before on 14/15 April 1912.
From cleaning and vacuuming to a bit of painting and also making
sure that the risk assessments are in order so that the church is a
safe environment for everyone.
The sun shone brightly through our stained-
glass windows giving its own warm welcome.
We have also had the electricians in, and at
the time of writing there are still a couple of
unfinished jobs to be done, but the bulk of the
work upgrading five mains distribution boards,
replacing the lighting in the boiler room and
rewiring the lighting board has been
completed. The Tower Captain decided to keep
the Tower clock off until all the electrical works
are completed to save having to reset the
clock numerous times (it is quite tricky!)
The Annual Parish church meeting takes place
on Thursday 22nd April, a slight change in
plans as we had hoped to have it live after the
Sunday service on 18th April, but as we are
only permitted to worship in church and not hold meetings, its
back to Zoom - hopefully for the last time for an APCM. At this
meeting we report activities over the last 12 months and appoint
the new PCC and Wardens. Both Maureen and I have agreed that
unless there are other volunteers, we are willing to stand again
for another 12 months.
And finally, a couple of social events were planned for April – a
coffee morning and a Bluebell walk. The Social group are as keen
as ever to get the monthly coffee mornings up and running again,
but until June 21st (at the earliest) these will have to be outdoor
events. Do keep an eye on the weekly handouts for more
information and be prepared to wrap up warm if it looks a little
grey!
-Carol Innes
5
-----------
Charity of the month: Christian Aid.
Christian Aid works with hundreds of
local partner organisations in some of
the world's most vulnerable
communities in 37 countries. It is the
official relief and development agency
of 41 Christian churches in the UK and
Ireland and works to support
sustainable development, eradicate
poverty and provide disaster relief for
people all around the world.
-Sara Snatt
-----------
The Coventry Diocesan Guild of Church Bell-
ringers:
When I first heard about the Guild,
the name struck me as very quaint
and medieval. In fact, it is a very
active organisation to which the
Lillington ringers pay the modest
subs willingly each year for many
different reasons.
The Coventry Guild is a relatively
recent one having been founded in
1907. It covers three districts –
Coventry, Rugby and the Warwick
Archdeaconry to which we belong
here. Even our district is quite extensive, stretching down to Long
Compton in the South, Salford Priors in the West and Priors
Marston in the East. This offers a wonderful selection of towers to
ring at, villages to visit and ringers to get to know.
6
I first heard of the Guild when my older son, Tom, the first ringer
of our family, was taken to Guild meetings, followed by Guild
teas. The latter rival Cricket teas and definitely won Tom over to
becoming a bell-ringer!
The regular meetings both in the whole Guild area and in our
district include some church services (a very special one being the
Guild Carol Service), annual striking competitions, ringing
courses, quizzes, dinners, outings, much socialising, with a lively
Youth Group doing all this and more; in short, fun for all which we
have really missed this year.
However, the Guild has come to our rescue during the pandemic
too. The “Ringers’ Return”, a virtual pub, was opened recently and
we popped in for a drink and a chat. I have been trying to get fit
for the real return by attending a Zoom fitness class held by a
local ringer who is a personal trainer. The Ringing Room virtual
ringing I wrote about earlier keeps the methods in our heads and
again keeps ringers together, many of whom have spent much of
the last year on their own. All these activities require much time,
effort and enthusiasm from Guild officers and their committees
and Lillington ringers have played their part in serving over the
years.
For me personally, as a fairly inexperienced tower captain, the
Guild offers huge reassurance by providing expertise and
experience that can be called on in all areas of bell-ringing.
Thanks to a generous bequest the Guild paid for a professional
survey of our bells and fittings in 2019.
To conclude, being part of the Guild does feel to me rather like
having an extended family. Some members have their
differences, you choose the company of some rather than others,
but we all share an interest, playing a part in an ancient tradition,
and in the last year in particular, watching out for each other even
when there isn’t a bell in sight!
-Barbara Howes
7
8
Crossword:
Crossword clues:
Across:
1 Sense of right and wrong
(1 Corinthians 8:7) (10)
7 Coming (John 11:17) (7)
8 ‘All I have is —, and all
you have is mine’ (John
17:10) (5)
10 Smarten (Acts 9:34) (4)
11 Hold back (Job 9:13)
(8)
13 Member of the Society
of Friends (6)
15 At ague (anag.) (6)
17 Citizen of the Greek
capital (8)
18 So be it (Galatians 6:18) (4)
21 Twentieth-century poet and dramatist who wrote Murder in the
Cathedral, T.S. — (5)
22 Empowers (Philippians 3:21) (7)
23 Imposing (1 Samuel 9:2) (10)
Down:
1 Healed (Luke 7:21) (5)
2 Central space in a church (4)
3 Co-founder of Spring Harvest and General Secretary of the
Evangelical Alliance 1983–97, Clive — (6)
4 Moses killed one when he saw him beating a Hebrew labourer
(Exodus 2:12) (8)
5 Bravery (Acts 4:13) (7)
6 It interrupted Paul and Silas singing hymns in a Philippian jail (Acts
16:26) (10)
9 Transgression (Psalm 36:1) (10)
12 Irish province in which Dublin is situated (8)
14 Same hit (anag.) (7)
16 ‘The Spirit of God was hovering over the —’ (Genesis 1:2) (6)
19 Author of the immortal stories of Winnie the Pooh, A.A. — (5)
20 Cab (4)
9
-----------
Ascension Day: 40 Days with the Risen
Christ:
40 days after Easter comes Ascension
Day. These are the 40 days during which
the Risen Christ appeared again and
again to His disciples, following His death
and resurrection. - (Matthew 28; Mark
16; Luke 24; and John 20.)
The Gospels give us little of Christ’s
teachings and deeds during those 40
days. Jesus was seen by numerous of His
disciples: on the road to Emmaus, by the
Sea of Galilee, in houses, etc. He
strengthened and encouraged His
disciples, and at last opened their eyes to
all that the Scriptures had promised
about the Messiah. Jesus also told them
that as the Father had sent Him, He was
now going to send them - to all corners
of the earth, as His witnesses.
Surely the most tender, moving ‘farewell’ in history took place on
Ascension Day. Luke records the story with great poignancy:
‘When Jesus had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted
up His hands - and blessed them.’
As Christmas began the story of Jesus’ life on earth, so Ascension
Day completes it, with His return to His Father in heaven. Jesus’
last act on earth was to bless His disciples. He and they had a
bond as close as could be: they had just lived through three
tumultuous years of public ministry and miracles – persecution
and death – and resurrection!
Just as we part from our nearest and dearest by still looking at
them with love and memories in our eyes, so exactly did Jesus:
‘While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into
heaven.’ (Luke 24:50-1) He was not forsaking them, but merely
going on ahead to a kingdom which would also be theirs one day:
10‘I am ascending to my Father and to your Father, to my God and
your God...’ - (John 20:17)
The disciples were surely the most favoured folk in history.
Imagine being one of the last few people on earth to be face to
face with Jesus, and have Him look on you with love. No wonder
then that Luke goes on: ‘they worshipped Him, and returned to
Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the
temple, praising God.’ - (Luke 24:52,53)
No wonder they praised God! They knew they would see Jesus
again one day! ‘I am going to prepare a place for you... I will
come back and take you to be with me that you also may be
where I am.’ - (John 14:2,3)
In the meantime, Jesus had work for them to do: to take the
Gospel to every nation on earth.
-----------
Did you know:
Amnesty International was
founded in London 60 years ago,
on 28th May 1961.
A non-governmental organisation with its headquarters in the
United Kingdom, Amnesty International focuses on human rights
and is believed to have more than seven million members and
supporters around the world. It was awarded the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1977 for its “defence of human dignity against torture”.
Amnesty came together following the publication of an article in
The Observer, ‘The Forgotten Prisoners’, by Peter Benenson, a
Jewish lawyer whose mother Flora Benenson was Russian. His
father Harold Solomon was British, but he died when Peter was
nine. Peter, who was tutored by W H Auden and went to Eton and
Balliol, took his mother’s name much later as a tribute to his
grandfather, a gold tycoon.
11With a group of lawyers and as a member of the Labour Party he
founded Justice, the influential human rights and law reform
organisation, in 1957, but the following year he fell ill and moved
to Italy to convalesce, where he converted to Roman Catholicism.
Amnesty campaigns to put pressure on governments where
human rights abuse takes pace. It considers capital punishment
to be “the ultimate, irreversible denial of human rights.”
-----------
Covid Quilt:
Churches Together in Leamington are leading an exciting project
which aims to record how people spent lockdown and the things
that come out of the Pandemic. All churches were invited to take
part, sewing fabric squares to contribute to making a united quilt.
This invitation went out to congregation members and the
resulting squares have now been gathered and taken to the
person who will collate and combine them to make a quilt.
This will be available for churches to display, and then offered for
public exhibition.
Pictured are the squares which have gone in the name of
Lillington Parish Church, St. Mary Magdalene.
-Charlotte Sanders
12Artist of the month: Theo Orme:
If any aspiring artists or proud people would like to have
work displayed, then send it in. We would love to see it.
13Services in May are listed below:
PLEASE SEE WEEKLY HANDOUT FOR
UPDATES ON SERVICES
Sunday 2nd 09.30am Holy Communion (online)
11.15 am Worship for All (in church)
Wednesday 5 th
10.00 am Holy Communion (online and in
church)
Sunday 9th 09.30 am Holy Communion (online)
11.15 am Worship for All (in church)
Wednesday 12 th
10.00 am Holy Communion (online and in
church)
Sunday 16th 09.30 am Holy Communion (online)
11.15 am Worship for All (in church)
Wednesday 19 th
10.00 am Holy Communion (online and in
church)
Sunday 23rd 09.30 am Holy Communion (online)
11.15 am Worship of All (in church)
Wednesday 26 th
10.00 am Holy Communion (online and in
church)
Sunday 30th 09.30 am Holy Communion (online)
11.15 am Worship for All (in church)
Services are streamed live
but are also available afterwards on the website.
For Funeral, Baptism and Wedding enquiries, please
contact Rev. William Smith on 01926 316475 or email
wms.smith@btinternet.com
For general enquiries please contact the church office by
telephone on 01926 470449 or email
office@lillingtonparishchurch.org.
14Outside of office hours, please leave a message on the
answer phone and we will return your call.
PLEASE DO NOT VISIT THE OFFICE AT THE PRESENT TIME,
AS IT IS NOT OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. THANK YOU FOR
YOUR UNDERSTANDING.
Prayers for the sick: David Nunn, Red Kouiden, Colin Perkin,
Ruth Spurgeon and Graham Coles.
Deceased: Joseph Whittaker, Audrey Gerrans, Dorothy Wyld, Ken
Bassett, Gordon Papworth and Aileen Bond.
-----------
15Love Lillington: Loving our community with
Prayer, Money and Action:
On Sunday 28th February we gave thanks to our Lord for reaching
our fifth year of working through this important initiative and for
all we have achieved and are still to achieve here in Lillington.
This is the text of the video that was recorded for that service.
Before we launched Love Lillington in February 2016 Rev
Charlotte Gale’s idea had started to germinate, meetings had
already taken place and willing hands had been raised to help put
Love Lillington together under its three component headings. The
pre-existence of our Machen Pershouse Charity gave us the start
we needed on the financial side. We were able to re-brand and
the annual interest we receive from the M & P fund started to be
paid into Love Lillington Grants. This interest payment now forms
a very small part of the total pot of money Love Lillington Grants
works with each year. We are very grateful for the generous
donations we regularly receive and the additional opportunities we
normally have for fundraising – enabling us to keep the fund
healthy and continue to meet the needs that are referred to us.
Fundraising has been a big challenge in this past year, as it has
been for many charities but our success in applying for grants to
the Police & Crime Commissioners COVID-19 Recovery Fund; the
Warwickshire County Council – Councillors Grant Fund and the
Warwick District Community Economic Recovery Fund has helped
immensely. We give thanks that Charlotte, our Grants
Administrator, has been so busy in the last year and new
domestic appliances of many sorts have been purchased and
delivered to needy families, along with other items too numerous
to mention today.
It is very important to me and to others who have key roles
within Love Lillington – to remember the first meeting the
planning team had in September 2015 when we sat round a table
and agreed the three component parts : Prayer, Money and
Action. At that meeting we acknowledged that the only way this
initiative would work would be by starting with Prayer, to provide
16us with the Money, which would then, in turn, enable the Action.
Three things into one. A fact that we as Christians firmly believe
– God in three persons.
God with us along the way – so many times we have
acknowledged this. The chance meeting in the aisle of a local car
parts retailer which led to the donation of a baby car seat, instead
of a purchase. The joy on the faces of the children who could
once more get into their overgrown jungle of a garden, the toys
that were found underneath the long grass and the plants that
were supplied and planted to bring colour and new life. Clearing
rooms and putting paint on walls to cheer someone up and make
them feel that life is worth living again – buying a lamp to provide
light for someone in their darkness – fighting to fit a student desk
into a vehicle to take it to a young man who needed space and
the opportunity to study at home. Hanging a sparkly mirror in a
teen bedroom. The wonderfully generous donation of a bicycle
received recently that has changed the life of a homeless man,
enabling him to keep in touch with his family and start to think
about rebuilding his life. There is no better reward than watching
the faces of the people we help – delivering a cake to the
doorstep – giving people their pride back and coming away
knowing that we ask for nothing in return.
There is much more that could be said. Please forgive me for
anything I may have left out. I finish with thanks to William for
his support, his immediate willingness to join the volunteer team
and his valued contributions.
May we continue always to Love Lillington.
-Christine Butler
17Recipe for the month: Rhubarb tray bake.
Ingredients for an 8x13 inch baking tray:
•4-5 sticks of rhubarb
For the base:
•50g sugar
•1 egg
•100g butter or margarine (if unsalted add a pinch of salt)
•2 tsp baking powder
•200g flour
For the crumble:
•100g sugar
•100g butter or margarine
•180g flour
Method:
1. Peel and chop the rhubarb.
2. Grease an 8x13 inch baking tray.
3. Mix the ingredient for the cake
base.
4. Roll the dough out in the baking
tray.
5. Arrange the rhubarb pieces on the
dough.
6. Sprinkle with sugar /cinnamon / ginger to
taste.
7. Rub the butter and sugar into the flour for
the crumble.
8. Sprinkle the crumble over the cake.
9. Bake at 180°C for about 30-35 minutes.
18-----------
Poetry Corner:
Float me on Tiberias
So far out on the sea
Six other souls and me
Where we must fish in weariness
A long night on Tiberias
Pretending to be free.
Float me out on Galilee
Where someone sets us right
And cancels out the night,
Singing of fishes merrily
And dawning over Galilee
In manifest delight.
Plunge me in Tiberias
So I can swim for shore,
Naked as not before,
Where I’ll make land in hopefulness
Sweet-beached upon Tiberias
And share the load I bore.
One hundred and fifty-three, I’d guess,
The fishes that I brought:
All shape and size and sort,
A fearful kind of fulsomeness,
A sort of all-the-worldliness,
In our frail netting caught.
Sit me down by Galilee
And give me fish and bread
From one raised from the dead:
Undareable identity
Bidding us dine by Galilee,
Hosting us by Tiberias,
Taking us as our more or less,
With all the world ahead.
-Contributed by Trevor Humphreys
1920
Junior Crosstalk:
21Unscramble the anagrams in the stars to
make the holy words:
S
1. Another name for Jesus.
A E S
M
H I
22E
Y A
R 2. Talking to God.
R
P
C
A O E S
3. When Jesus went back to Heaven.
N S
I N
-Sara Snatt
2324
Editor’s notes: Important editor
thoughts.
Hello again everyone, I hope you had a
good Easter and a good April. I have
had a nice two weeks off from school,
with slightly too much homework, but
it was a nice half-term all the same.
The weather changes have been
interesting and have interrupted a lot
of my walks around Leamington; the
odd showers of snow and rain, followed by 21-degree days have
confused me.
This has been the second Easter of not only lockdown, but it is
also the second year that I haven’t been able to go overseas to
Germany to spend it with family over there. It has been hard to
miss out on the traditions that we would do as a large family
together; going on Easter Egg hunts in the nearby woods, coming
back home from church and having a huge Easter lunch, eating
too much cake in the afternoon because everyone brought at
least one cake with them, colouring in hard boiled eggs on Good
Friday to eat in the morning of Easter Sunday. This time away
has made me appreciate how lucky I was to have these traditions
for so many years, and although it has been fun spending time
with family in England, I am excited to hopefully go back to those
traditions next year.
April has been a very busy month with lots of changes happening.
Our first ‘in person coffee morning’ and first walk of the year 2021
have been scheduled and at the time of writing, the coffee
morning has been a success and fingers are crossed for sunny
weather on the Bluebell walk.
I would like to thank everyone who responded positively to the
April edition and the people who have contributed to this edition.
See you next month,
Fiona Freeman.
25Crossword solution:
26Travelling around Lillington:
April’s edition= the
faded unicorn sticker on
the green electrical box
is on Telford Avenue,
close to the corner of
Montrose Avenue.
This is another thing
that I never paid
attention to until
recently, after years of
walking past. I used to
walk to the Lillington
Library every weekend
to return and borrow
books for the upcoming
week. It wasn’t until I
walked past with a full bag of books and an aching shoulder, that
I stopped and took a rest and noticed the interesting pattern of
the window around the cross. I was curious about the build and
found that this building was built in 1963 and Dom Charles Norris
created the pieces of stained glass inside the building and was
designed by Henry Fedeski.
This month’s interesting find might be
easier to guess as it is more obvious, but I
still wanted to include it because it
surprised me that I hadn’t noticed myself.
27CONTACTS:
Church Office Wendy Driscoll................................... 470449
office@lillingtonparishchurch.org
Vicar Rev William Smith .............................. 316475
Associate Ministers Rev Rosemary Pantling ....................... 316597
Rev Sue Fairhurst ............................. 735254
Readers Roderick Clark .................................. 422994
Len Dixon ………………………………………………
Churchwardens Maureen Reynolds ............................. 831005
Carol Innes ...................................... 831649
PCC Secretary Bob Cooke 315890
pccsecretary@lillingtonparishchurch.org
PCC Treasurer Sam Meacock
treasurer.lillingtonstmm@gmail.com
Gift Aid Secretary John Butler ...................................... 779455
Director of Music Rachael Jefferies, 075870
rachaeljefferies93@googlemail.com 69789
Organist Mike King ......................................... 409062
Bell Ringers Barbara Howes 07973
barohowes@gmail,com 199692
Servers Marc Gadsby ....................................
Flower Guild Wendy Shear .................................... 330825
Octagon Bookings Church Office 470449
Safeguarding Abi Dixon ……………………………………………… 077759
Officers abi.dixon77@gmail.com 02332
Sunday Club Church Office ................................... 470449
Walkers Group Bob Cooke walkers@lillingtonparishchurch.org .... 315890
Website Manager Diana Taulbut ................................... 450977
webmaster@lillingtonparishchurch.org
Crosstalk Editor Fiona Freeman
crosstalkeditor@gmail.com
Crosstalk Jeff Arnold ....................................... 632330
Distribution
Guides Diana Flower 289124
3rdLeamingtonguides@gmail.com ........
Brownies Bryony Smith 07928
3rdleamingtonbrownies@gmail.com 499975
Parish website: www.lillingtonparishchurch.org
28
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