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Merstham Parish
March 2021
Lectionary Gospel readings for March
My working life
Volcano erupts on Tristan da Cunha
Messenger
Merstham & Gatton Team Ministry
The
the Parish magazine for Merstham
March 2021
Merstham Parish
The Parish of Merstham
Merstham Parish has as its parish church St Katharine’s (an ‘ancient’ parish church);
it is part of the Merstham & Gatton Team Ministry. The other parishes in the Team
are South Merstham (All Saints church) and Gatton (St Andrew’s church).
St Katharine’s is at the foot of Church Hill, just off the A23 to the north of the village
(RH1 3BJ).
Mission Statement
We aim to be a compassionate, caring and welcoming Church, which is faithful in
prayer and worship, in our search for God’s Kingdom, and in our service to our
neighbour.
We are here to serve you . . .
Baptism
Confirmation
Marriage
Funerals
Home blessing
Home communion
Confessions
Anointing and Last Rites
Please contact any of the clergy (details inside back cover) if you wish to discuss one
of the above. There is no fee for any of the above apart from the Marriage and Fu-
neral services, for which statutory charges apply.
Kindly note that Rector Mark and Vicar Ben both take Friday as a day off.
Weekday services are temporarily suspended
Monday 9.15 a.m. Morning Prayer All Saints
Tuesday 9.15 a.m. Morning Prayer St Katharine
Thursday 9.15 a.m. Morning Prayer All Saints
2
Merstham Parish
Messenger
Merstham & Gatton Team Ministry
The
the Parish magazine for Merstham
Dear Friends,
Happy Lent
I know. It feels like we’ve had a This is hard for us. Even in
whole year of Lent already. But Lent lockdown we are tired and distracted,
should always be a joyful season and and it can seem impossible to make
even now, exhausted as we are by space for the Spirit to speak to us.
lockdowns and by waiting, it is good But Lent is a time for abiding in the
to journey with Jesus into the wilderness, the space of unknowing,
wilderness. In this letter I’m going to where we can wait on God. We need
base my reflections around the short to remind ourselves who we are:
account from Mark of Jesus’ trial and God’s beloved. Once we start to live
temptation in the wilderness, since it into the knowledge that we are loved
manages to say so much about our by God we can learn to love others
Lenten experience. more freely.
Lent is a time to find out who we Jesus goes into the wilderness with
are. This is what Jesus is about when this love of God alive and present in
he leaves company and enters the his heart. ‘He was in the wilderness
desert. Just before he goes into the for forty days, tempted by Satan.’ As
wilderness Mark tells us that Jesus we grow in our knowledge of God’s
was baptized, and God says to him, love it becomes easier (but only
‘You are my Son, the Beloved; with slowly and with much triumphant
you I am well pleased’. This is Jesus’ backsliding!) to spot temptations and
foundational knowledge of himself; not to get so caught up in their grip.
he is the beloved of the Father. It is We are always being tempted,
this experiential knowledge of being tempted to forget we are children of
God’s beloved that we all so deeply God, tempted by the cavalcade of our
need to know. So one Lenten journey thoughts. It is always important to
we could take is our journey into the stop, listen and look at all these
knowledge that we are God’s thoughts flying hither and thither,
beloved. and return, as best you can, to this
March 2021 3
Merstham Parish
Happy Lent
sense of God-with-you. My his consciousness he becomes a sign
suggestion is to find regular time to and medium of God’s living presence.
consciously be in God’s presence, This presence is always bringing
invite God’s presence into your creation, and humanity, back to its
present, dwell in that presence in original harmony. I think we can see
whatever way feels best and most this divine harmony at work in this
productive to you. Also make time to juxtaposition in Mark, ‘he was with
dwell with God’s word, reading and the wild beats; and the angels waited
tasting and sifting God’s word. These on him’. The wild beasts and the
are prosaic practices in a way, angels are brought together; the
practices where we purify our senses, uncontrolled aspects of our nature are
but they can lead us to this deeper unified with the divine, the beastly
dimension of knowledge where God and the angelic are no longer
suddenly and mysteriously feels that separated and at war but are part of
little bit closer. God’s greater harmony.
There is a beautiful conclusion to My prayer is that this Lent is a
Mark’s account of Jesus’ time in the time where you can spend time
wilderness: ‘he was with the wild dwelling with God, the lover of your
beasts; and the angels waited on him’. soul, where the wild beasts can meet
In Jesus’ time in the wilderness he their angelic counterparts and find a
resists the lures of pride and power new harmony together in our hearts.
and stays true to his identity in God.
Once he makes that breakthrough in Blessings,
Ben
The Merstham & Gatton Team website is at
4
mgtmchurches.org.uk
Merstham Parish
A defence of the Church
Justin Welby and Stephen Cottrell
The following appeared in The Spectator magazine on 13 February
If you’ve been following the media You can imagine our shock, then,
coverage of the Church of England when we read in the media about
over the course of the coronavirus what is supposedly happening to our
pandemic, one question you might beloved church. That the parish
have seen is: ‘Where is the C of E?’ system, with its beautiful vision of
Let us offer an answer. We have serving every inch of the country and
been burying the dead, comforting every person in it, is being
the bereaved, feeding the hungry and systematically dismantled. That clergy
praying for our nation. We have been are being made redundant. That there
doing this not as superheroes, but as are plans to somehow centralise
human beings living through the everything and for services, even
same crisis as everyone else: grieving, beyond Covid, to be online rather
home-schooling, worrying, getting than in person.
sick, shielding, isolating, weeping. Meanwhile, the suggestion that all
With that said, we fully understand we do is cut back clergy numbers is
– and indeed share – the anger and not only untrue and unhelpful, it
frustration felt by some that the creates unnecessary anxiety. We need
government ordered public worship So let us try to set the record straight.
to be suspended during the first There are no plans to dismantle the
lockdown. We share the anxiety felt parish network. We are committed to
by many over the sharp fall in our calling to be a Christian presence
collection plate donations with fewer in every community.
people currently attending church. Throughout our history, some
We weep with and pray for our clergy churches have closed and others have
who have been on the front line for opened. We weep at the former and
nearly a year now. rejoice at the latter. But it is not new.
One thing is abundantly clear: the The untold story is that in recent
Church of England has been a years the Church of England has
bedrock of faith, love, hope and planted or renewed at least 100 new
compassion in this country for congregations and churches.
centuries through wars, plagues and Far from withdrawing from the
pandemics — we still are, and we will poorest areas, there is a huge effort
go on being just that. towards growing congregations and
March 2021 5
Merstham Parish
A defence of the Church
supporting ministry in those areas — other places; and efforts to provide
including rural areas, where we invest for those who have come to faith
£10 per head of population online over the past year. We want
compared with £6 per head in urban there to be more church, not less.
areas. At the same time, we are looking
Meanwhile, the suggestion that all very carefully at how we serve and
we do is cut back clergy numbers is administer the church so that we can
not only untrue and unhelpful, it be as effective as possible. Our aim is
creates unnecessary anxiety. We need to ensure that the money we raise
more clergy and they are coming goes to the frontline ministry the
forward in record numbers. And nation needs. But at Synod we’ll be
where dioceses are saving posts, it is focussing on the heart of the vision:
usually through retirements. inviting the church and the nation to
This year, we have seen the biggest return to Christ – and find a vocation
rise in ordained and lay vocations for as His followers through prayer and
a quarter of a century. To fund this, service.
the church commissioners’ strategic Yes, there are hard decisions
ministry fund is channelling £1.6 currently being made across many
million to support curacies for dioceses. Overall some stipendiary
dioceses that would otherwise not posts will be lost. But that isn’t the
have been able to afford them. In same as making clergy redundant.
total, £33.7 million is formally The aim is to make each parish and
committed to dioceses by the end of each Christian community
2025. This is to help ensure each new sustainable. If that doesn’t happen,
priest has a future ministry. there really will be no Church of
At the General Synod this month, England. And to do it requires
we will be talking about the future generosity and sacrifice.
vision and strategy for the Church of Of course we get some things
England. And yes, we are imagining a wrong, but it would be irresponsible
‘mixed ecology’ church – new for the leadership of the church to
communities alongside and emerging ignore the severe challenges of Covid
from established parishes; a fresh and the financial hit that comes with
focus on chaplaincies – where so it. But our efforts are focused on
much remarkable work is being done enabling churches to stay open and
in hospitals, prisons and so many for clergy to flourish. The very reason
6
Merstham Parish
A defence of the Church
the Church of England has survived every person in it, that we are having
and flourished over centuries is to expand what it is to be the church.
because ministry has evolved. The There is no central plan for all of
Anglican stability that people rightly this. How could there be? Each
cherish – as do we – is the result of diocese is its own legal and charitable
our willingness to change. As the entity and makes its own decisions.
theologian Hans Kung once But there is a central and local vision.
observed: ‘To stay the same when It is to be centred on Jesus Christ and
everything else around you changes is flowing from that to encourage the
not to stay the same.’ Church of England to embrace new
There are rascally voices around ways of serving the nation — not to
who want to undermine the church – dismantle what we have inherited, but
it was ever thus. But the real story is to build upon its proud and treasured
that we so believe in that vision of foundations.
serving every inch of the country, and
Messenger
Merstham & Gatton Team Ministry
The
the Parish magazine for Merstham
The Messenger has been published ‘virtually’ since March
2020, and has been available on the Team website each
month.
If you have missed any issues, or would like to see one
again, please contact mersthammessenger@yahoo.co.uk
March 2021 7
and a pdf copy will be sent to you.
Merstham Parish
Gospel readings for March
The Team Vicar
7 March (3rd Sunday in Lent) John 2 13-22
The temple has become overrun. The distraction, noise, bustle. Now there
sacred space is now turned into is nothing wrong with the seething
chaos. ‘In the temple he found people dance of life. We need it. Indeed we
selling cattle, sheep, and doves, and need the distraction and noise of busy
the money-changers seated at their streets more than ever at the
tables.’ Jesus takes radical action to moment. But we also need to make
make this temple a place that is no our hearts empty and open so we can
longer cluttered and teeming and meet God there.
distracted but a place where God may So as we read of Jesus making the
be met. ‘Making a whip of cords, he temple a place for worship let him
drove all of them out of the temple.’ drive out the distractions, the buying
It is just the same with our hearts. and selling, in our own mind and
Have you taken a look lately? Those heart. Let Christ make your heart a
hearts are full to bursting with all temple open to God.
sorts of things, buying and selling,
El Greco’s
astonishingly
vibrant
painting of
Jesus’
prophetic
action.
8
Merstham Parish
Gospel readings for March
14 March (4th Sunday in Lent) John 3 14-21
This Gospel reading is the ultimate of Lent we are blessed that we are
love-letter from God to all of spending time getting to know the
creation. ‘For God so loved the world lover of our souls, not a tyrant with
that he gave his only Son, so that unlimited power. This over-flowing
everyone who believes in him...may of love and grace is re-iterated here in
have eternal life.’ John’s Gospel. ‘Indeed, God did not
Throughout history the Church send the Son into the world to
has always had to catch up with the condemn the world, but in order that
sheer, gratuitous love of God which the world might be saved through
is revealed in the Gospel. In the time him.’
For this reading I
have chosen
Spencer’s Christ in
the Wilderness:
The Scorpion.
Jesus sits in the
wilderness
lovingly cradling a
scorpion in his
hands. To me this
image speaks so
perfectly of
Christ’s love for
us, poisonous and
dangerous
creatures though
we can be, and
his love for all of
God’s wild and
wonderful
creation.
March 2021 9Merstham Parish
Gospel readings for March
21 March (5th Sunday in Lent) John 12 20-33
The mystery in this reading is the growth to occur within ourselves we
mystery of death and resurrection. often have to undergo a crisis where a
We can only truly live after we have certain number of illusions die. On
undergone death. This is the great the other side of this death we can
paradox Jesus leads us to and through find a new life, a new vision, waiting
in the journey of Lent. This truth is for us. Just think what has happened
given luminous expression in John’s to us when we have let go of
Gospel. ‘Unless a grain of wheat falls something unreal, something which is
into the earth and dies, it remains just holding us back, and the liberation we
a single grain; but if it dies, it bears discover once we have let that
much fruit.’ unreality go. If we follow Christ we
We can understand this teaching are in the business of letting go of
in our own ordinary experience. It is illusions about ourselves and as we
quite possible to live in a world do so we grow in our knowledge of
constructed out of our illusions, the grace and love of God who loves
illusions about who we are, illusions us without any illusions about who
about how people see us, illusions we have been.
about what we believe. For spiritual
One of Van Gogh’s
revelatory wheat-field
paintings, full of a
numinous sense of the
Spirit and the Spirit’s
possibilities.
10Merstham Parish
Gospel readings for March
28 March (Palm Sunday) Mark 11 1-11
Jesus enters Jerusalem on a donkey In the Gospels crowds are often
attended by cheering crowds. dangerous, ever changeable. ‘When
‘Hosanna! Blessed is the one who Jesus realised that they were about to
comes in the name of the Lord!’ come and take him by force to make
These cheering crowds are part of him king, he withdrew again to the
what Jesus must, as it were, ride past mountain by himself’ it says in John’s
without getting distracted. He is Gospel (6:15). It’s a telling little
journeying to the place where there passage which replays Jesus’
are no illusions, no cheering. He is temptation in the desert by Satan,
journeying to the cross, the place of when he is offered unlimited power.
undefended love. The cross is the Jesus has to reject human power and
ultimate sign of powerlessness in human praise on his journey to the
human terms. It is the sign of God’s cross.
foolish love. To get to the cross Jesus Only the full revelation of God’s
has had to navigate many different foolish, defenceless love will do.
snares and delusions; delusions of
power, delusions of affirmation.
Blake’s
typically
visionary
interpretation
of the entry
into
Jerusalem
March 2021 11Merstham Parish
My Brilliant Career
Jane Shaw
While I was in the sixth form of the Advertising Film Festival held
Reigate County School for Girls I biannually in Cannes and Venice.
had no idea what I wanted to do We were based in London, and
when I left, but as three of us were my task was to help organise the
doing French A level it was suggested Festivals that followed on from the
we went to the Institut Francais in more famous Cinema Film Festivals.
London to do a bilingual secretarial Although they were not quite so
course. glamorous, the six weeks we were
For the next two years I abroad were spent staying in the top
commuted to South Kensington, and hotels and wining and dining at
finally was offered three positions famous restaurants: quite a change
(those were the days when jobs were from my quiet life in Merstham.
easy to find). I plumped for assistant Advertising agencies were
to the Director of the International approached to enter copies of cinema
12Merstham Parish
My Brilliant Career
and TV commercials and to select and the international team of judges
delegates, for whom we reserved viewed and awarded marks to the
hotel rooms. This could be tricky as various categories of films. On the
big egos were involved and there was final day, with great fanfare, the
often a bunfight for the top hotels. winning entries were awarded the
Once at the venue, arrangements Palmes d’Or.
were made with a local printer for the Although work was hard,
catalogue of film entries to be enjoyable lunch hours were spent on
collated. This was always a frantic the beach in front of the Palais des
performance with many late nights Festivals in Cannes and on the Lido
necessitated by last-minute in Venice.
corrections and the like. This was Once back in England, agencies
especially so in Venice as we were could request copies of the prize-
based on the Lido, a vaporetto ride winning films, which were then
from the city. ordered from the entrants who sent
There were also many stressful them in from all round the world. I
hours typing up press releases to be had the unenviable job of sorting out
printed on a temperamental Roneo and putting together the various reels
machine. One night after filling the in a vast hangar at Heathrow Airport.
machine, I forgot to tighten the top When this was over it was time to
and ended up with ink everywhere. start planning for the following year.
Luckily, seeing my plight the chief I was so lucky to have such an
interpreter wiped away my tears and eventful and exciting job for the three
we set to clearing up the mess! years before I got married.
During the Festival week there
was much entertaining of delegates
Donations to the church can be made online to
sort code 54-30-36, account 23559578.
The name of the account
Marchis “PCC of Merstham”.
2021 13Merstham Parish
An unexpected journey
Clarissa Dann
Like many careers, my own career of financial journalism was not planned, but
the culmination of a series of happy (and not so happy) accidents. I didn’t
intend to have my last post, as it were, running the editorial marketing of a
German bank but it’s the best job I have ever had.
Leaving the law
The original plan was to be a solicitor match or even complement this, so
like my father, and most summer jobs when my uncle introduced me in
were in the City firms he used to 1985 to Sidgwick & Jackson
work for. In fact, he was a frustrated (publishers of Rupert Brooke’s poetry
architect – his own father having – Uncle Peter was on the holding
insisted on a ‘proper job’ rather than company board), the die was cast.
encourage the next Norman Foster. I Based across the road from the
was all set to do the conversion British Museum, this was glorious
course at the College of Law in fun. My boss was William Armstrong
Guildford after my English degree – the father of Dido the pop singer.
but then I met my (now ex) husband One of my duties at the time was to
in 1982. We were married a year later. help edit Bob Geldof’s memoirs
Before his life-altering severe while looking after his little dog (Bob
stroke in 1993, Phillip had taken a used to come into the office to write
First at Cambridge in Law, and Is that it?), and another to read lots of
worked for some years as a barrister manuscripts in search of that elusive
before converting to become a bestseller.
solicitor in 1990. I felt unable to
Narrow escape
Eventually the novelty and sense of caught my attention, and I moved to
creativity wore off – the books that legal publishing (they paid twice as
made most money were generally much). Being a large Canadian-owned
bought for huge advances at book firm, the Thomson Corporation had
fairs with serial rights pre-sold to structure, scale, training, a career path
Sunday newspapers (think Shirley – and a travel budget. I had another
Conran). An ad in The Bookseller supportive and nurturing boss and
14Merstham Parish
An unexpected journey
the business was growing well. Work chart in which all our roles had been
took me around most of North removed. This was a measure to
America as a result of various ‘align competencies’ and ‘reduce
exchanges and conferences during overheads’.
which I developed a lasting affection After the shock had subsided, I
for Toronto. took my redundancy package and
Things almost ground to a halt finished my Master of Business
when the IRA blew up our Administration Degree under the
Docklands offices in February 1996 – wing of my new employers – rivals
I missed the blast by being away Reed Elsevier. Four years later, after
skiing that weekend, returning running another legal publishing
afterwards to pick my way through division, the same thing happened,
bits of wreckage to retrieve my car and while the two pay-offs came in
that had survived underneath the very handy for mortgage reduction
building. and home improvements, it was a
Fast-forward to April 2001, and scary moment of wondering how one
our entire section was called one by was going to cope with two children
one into the Divisional Manager’s in private school and a disabled
office (by now we were in Swiss husband when another job had been
Cottage) and shown an organisation so abruptly terminated.
Back to basics
One thing I learned through these determined never to be unemployed
restructures was that while senior again – unless I chose to be.
managers would lose their jobs, the Retraining as a financial journalist
business journalists kept theirs – (all those MBA exams on economics,
because their work was less easy to international relations and statistics
replace or outsource – particularly if came in very handy), I found myself
it was specialist with a loyal resurrecting a failing magazine and
subscription following. Rather like engaging with an entire global
Scarlett O’Hara declaring to the Tara community dedicated to financing
landscape “As God is my witness, I cross-border trade. Somewhat
will never be hungry again”, I was bemused at the turnaround, my then
March 2021 15Merstham Parish
An unexpected journey
employers (Wilmington PLC) were launched training courses in Kenya,
good enough to send me all over the chaired panels in Zambia and Nigeria,
world to cover trade events and ran seminars in Singapore, and visited
continue building the portfolio of Ukrainian sweet factories and iron
books, events and technical reports. I ore producers.
Germany calling
Having notched up ten years with stints in Berlin made it possible for
Wilmington and made some lasting me to become part of this enormous
friends, I got a phone call from an corporate family, where assignments
erstwhile sponsor to ‘discuss have taken me as far as Sydney and
marketing’. When it became clear the Beijing and, nearer home, to
advertising contract was not going to Frankfurt and Amsterdam. While
be renewed, I asked what it was they lockdown has grounded me for the
had in mind. Then the penny first time in decades, time to recharge
dropped – me. the batteries was long overdue.
The ‘A’ Level in German from
Whyteleafe Grammar and au-pairing
Messenger
Merstham & Gatton Team Ministry
The
the Parish magazine for Merstham
If you are reading this, you are clearly aware that the Messenger is available
via a link on the Team website—but are others?
Please spread the word, so that other people in the parish, and beyond
– especially those who once received the magazine as a paper copy – are
able to enjoy reading it.
16Merstham Parish
Trusted Tradespeople
The tradespeople shown below have been recommended; they have not paid
to advertise. If you want any further information please contact the promoter.
All building work, especially carpentry
G E Woolacott & Co. Craig Woolacott
Oakley, North Station Approach, South Nutfield RH1 4JF
01737 822407 (mobile) 07801 011247
Craig is really reliable, punctual, professional, does all areas of building work, especially
good at carpentry. He built our garage about 15 years ago, plus numerous other jobs.
[John Callow]
Electrician
LEP Electrical Mark
92 Ellis Road, Coulsdon CR5 1BZ
07738 490871
Mark was very helpful when the main electricity supply cable to our house failed.
He came out on a Saturday evening between Christmas and New Year and made
a temporary repair, returning a few days later to complete a permanent repair.
[Chris & Libby Green]
If you have had work done on your house and you would like to recommend
the tradesperson, please send details to mersthammessenger@yahoo.co.uk
March 2021 17Merstham Parish
A significant date – 2 April 1973
Chris Green
Unless 2 April happens to be your The next shock, however, was
birthday, it’s unlikely that this date quite unexpected. It turned out that
will mean much to you. But for me it BEA, too, had no immediate
was a date that governed my whole vacancies for new pilots. Accordingly
working career. my course was split (by age) into two.
2 April 1973 was the date on The ’younger’ half was told, in effect,
which I officially joined BEA (British to go away and expect to come back
European Airways). For almost two in about six months. Somewhat
years prior to that I had been a ‘cadet’ reluctantly, and only under pressure
at the College of Air training – this from the pilots’ Union, BEA agreed
was the training school, run jointly by to find jobs for the others (including
BEA and BOAC, where they trained me).
their pilots. It had been established in Not flying, though – there were no
the late 1960s, when the supply of ex- vacancies. Instead, we should be put
RAF pilots remaining from the war to work in various offices around the
was beginning to dry up. airline. Because I lived in south
As well as ‘passing out’ from the London at the time, my place of work
College with a brand-new for the next three months or so
Commercial Pilot’s Licence (essential would be the Operational Analysis
for anyone who intended flying ‘for section at BEA’s Head Office,
hire or reward’) each successful cadet Bealine House, in South Ruislip. I
was guaranteed a job with one of the had a vague memory of there being a
two airlines. Towards the end of our tube station at Ruislip (in fact there
course we were each asked to express are five, which must be some kind of
a preference. Perhaps unsurprisingly, record: West Ruislip, Ruislip Manor,
almost all the 40+ cadets who Ruislip Gardens, South Ruislip and
graduated on my course plumped for plain Ruislip), and that it was on the
BOAC, which was seen as much the far side of London from where I
more glamorous of the two. Perhaps lived, but beyond that I knew nothing
we shouldn’t have been surprised about it. I wasn’t even entirely sure
when we were told on the following how to pronounce ‘Ruislip’.
day that BOAC had no vacancies and Nevertheless, on the appointed
we would all be employed by BEA. It date (2 April 1973) I set off in what I
had been a pleasant dream while it thought was plenty of time. It wasn’t,
lasted. of course, and I walked into BEA’s
18Merstham Parish
A significant date
head office half an hour late. To my ‘famil’ (familiarisation) trips. This
complete surprise, it turned out that, meant getting myself to Heathrow
of that group of my fellow cadets and becoming part of the crew for a
who had been told to report there, I trip. I would sit on the flight-deck (in
was the first one to turn up. my brand-new uniform, with one ring
Somebody must have had a sense of on my sleeve) and travel to the
humour, because on the strength of destination, wherever that might be,
being the first to arrive I was put to and back again to London. I was
work in the Punctuality Department; under strict instructions not to touch
and there I remained for the best part anything and to keep quiet. The
of three months. whole purpose of this was for me to
The work we did was not exacting. observe how the crew worked
Every time an aircraft departed, together and, if possible, to learn
anywhere in the world, the time was something.
recorded by the aircraft dispatcher, My comrades in the Punctuality
and if it was late departing then the Office knew that I occasionally went
reason for the delay was also on these trips, which were often
recorded using a three-letter code. during the week (I never asked them
Each week or so (or daily in the case how they managed to cope with the
of Heathrow) these records were sent work while I wasn’t there). One
to the Operational Analysis Friday afternoon, we were slowly
Department in Bealine House, and it winding down towards 5.00 p.m. and
was our job, in the Punctuality the weekend ahead. Jean asked me
Office, to transcribe these times and what plans I had for the weekend.
delay reasons and eventually produce “Well,” I said, “tomorrow I’m going
a series of reports. To say that I to Geneva and back.” “Tomorrow?”
didn’t find the work challenging she exclaimed. “Tomorrow is
would be something of an Saturday!” She – and I just don’t
understatement, but for David (who know how many other ‘office
was in charge of the office), and Jean workers’ like her – genuinely thought
and Cherry (his two assistants), this that the airline shut down on Friday
was really important work. The one afternoon and started up again after
saving grace was that during these the weekend.
few months I was allowed to – in I haven’t yet explained why 2 April
fact, expected to – go on was so important to me. Simply put,
March 2021 19Merstham Parish
A significant date
every significant facet of my working depended on just one thing – the
life was governed by that date – my ‘Joining Date’. Age was of little
‘Joining Date’. The pay I received, the importance, skill and ability hardly
aircraft I flew, the training courses I came into it (unless one was to
went on, the destinations I flew to, demonstrate a complete lack): the one
the dates I could book leave, whether thing that mattered above all else was
or not I worked over Christmas – all that all-important Joining Date. No
depended on seniority, which in turn wonder I have never forgotten it.
If you would like to read more about my life with British Airways, search Amazon
for Thirty years in an aluminium tube.
Top of the College in ’72
This announcement was published in the West Lothian Courier on Friday 14
July 1972.
20Merstham Parish
The Society year runs from October
to April. Because of the Covid-19
restrictions, the Society has had to Anyone, whether or not they are
cancel all its meetings during the already a member of the Society, is
current season; but rather than wait welcome to join in any of the
until the start of the next season, it meetings completely free of charge.
has planned to hold Zoom meetings All you need to do is to send an email
for its meetings in early 2021. to the Society at
Following very successful meetings in mersthamsoc@gmail.com and you
both January and February, details of will be sent a Zoom invitation at the
the remaining two meetings appear appropriate time.
below. For the remainder of the We hope that our meetings will be
season no membership subscription able to return to their usual venue of
payment will be required. the Merstham Hub by next October.
Merstham Society programme January—April 2021
18 MAR 21 The pre-Raphaelites Delia Taylor
15 APR 21 The Big Apple Neil Sadler
Just for fun
Why do melons have to get married in churches? Because they cantaloupe!
Did you hear about the bed bugs who fell in love? They’re getting married in the
spring!
What did one pickle say to the other? You mean a great dill to me.
March 2021 21Merstham Parish
My working life
Judith Hanson
When I was about 16 I decided I alarmingly akin to thundering
wanted to be a Speech Therapist. horses’ hooves. Toxteth’s claim to
I’m not sure why, though it may fame was that it was the first UBO
have been because my mother in the country to have a bullet-proof
worked as a secretary in what would screen. I was green as grass and in
now be called a school for children my early twenties, yet the generally
with mild learning difficulties, and middle-aged people I supervised
she had great respect for the Speech were extremely nice to me and
Therapists. However, in those days, worked very hard to help me take
the profession did not require a that responsibility. This was the late
degree course, and various adults 1970s, and we worked with
talked me out of it because of that. administrative systems which now
So I began my working life by seem ridiculously antiquated. For
exchanging the contemplative example, at Christmas time, batches
cloisters of learning in Durham for of hand-written benefit girocheques,
the less salubrious Unemployment which had to be prepared early (and
Benefit Office (UBO) in St Helen’s, each of which I had to authenticate
Lancashire, where my first job was with a rubber stamp) because of the
to help those who had lost their holiday, were wrapped and sealed
own. I was trained for six months at with sealing wax before being placed
St Helen’s, after which I spent a overnight in a huge safe to which I
week at the massive main office in held a key of Dickensian
Liverpool before being ‘posted’ to a proportions.
new satellite office in Toxteth (the By the time I managed to escape
riots there didn’t occur until well to the relative calm of Bristol (no,
after I’d left). These places were an the St Paul’s riots came later and
education in themselves: Liverpool were nothing to do with me either)
UBO was a converted dance hall, and the regional office of the
and therefore always referred to as Manpower Services Commission, it
Renshaw Hall. The staff also called it was the early 1980s, and the
the Alamo, as the noise of the highlight of my time in the Civil
claimants running on the sprung Service then came with a transfer to
floor of the hall, to circle round the my beloved London and the head
office space in the middle, really was office of ACAS in elegant St James’s
22Merstham Parish
My working life
Square. The times were also high-level degree course and had, for
interesting here: in particular, I good reason, been renamed Speech
witnessed the convening of the and Language Therapy. Initially
momentous conciliation meetings of convinced that the whole thing would
the famous miners’ strike, and was be beyond me, after two years
once thanked very politely by Arthur postgraduate study and training I
Scargill for providing him with a embarked on my last and most
typewriter. Everything was pretty worthwhile career. I was fortunate to
tame after that. I was promoted and be able to specialise quite quickly in
went to two different HQ offices, voice disorders, and spent the last 20
where I decided that after 13 years years of my working life working with
and a pretty dramatic change of the human voice, (arguably
government, working for the something apart from either speech
Department of Employment was no or language, but this is another whole
longer quite me. Goodness knows discussion) which, despite now being
what it is like now. retired, I still find endlessly
It was so unusual in those days for fascinating.
people to leave the Civil Service that I sometimes wonder what would
it was called ‘going over the wall’; but have happened if I had been allowed
I did so, and spent quite a happy but by adults to follow my original star. I
financially precarious four years might have ended up in the same
teaching English as (if it were) a place, but somehow I doubt it, and I
foreign language. This work reminded wouldn’t have been able to look back
me of the wish of my youth to do on the laughs and experiences of life
Speech Therapy. By this time, the on the edge in Merseyside, and the
1990s, the profession had evolved cutting edge of national-level
from a sort of barely-recognised industrial relations, as well as the
sideline done on the quiet by nice enormous privilege of helping people
ladies in twinsets and pearls, to a wide with disorders of communication.
-ranging profession, which required a
March 2021 23Merstham Parish
One thing leads to another
Libby Green
When I left school, having through I spent my first three days in semi-
every fault of my own failed to get darkness in the basement filing
the grades required to take up an cheques.
offer at Southampton University, my I wasn’t a natural bank clerk and
father declined to continue to had no ambition to become Chief
support an unemployed teenager for Clerk or Head Cashier, which was
longer than absolutely necessary. He lucky because in the 1960s women
popped in to see his Bank Manager simply didn’t do those things. What I
one day and came home with an did enjoy (partly because it got me
application form for me to join away from Janice and Susan for a few
Barclays Bank. While this was far days) was going on training courses.
from my original (but rather vague) After a particularly successful week
intention to become a probation on my cashiers’ course when I
officer it seemed a good idea to earn finished top of the class with 99%
some money and so, after a (how I regretted that lost 1%) and
delightfully long summer holiday caused the instructor to fulfil a rash
which included two weeks staying promise to buy cakes if anyone
with my aunt on Iona, sometime in reached this level, I decided that
early October I began my banking instructing at the Training Centre on
career at 72 Cheapside as their new Wimbledon Common was the place
junior office clerk. for me.
One advantage of having ‘A’ levels Barclays’ Lombard Street district
was that I was given two years’ contained only twenty branches and,
seniority in pay, and I mistakenly because of its size, it was selected to
assumed that there might also be be one of the earliest districts for
other benefits. Not as far as Janice computerisation. By this time I’d had
and Susan were concerned! They had a crack at being a cashier (I was not
started at the end of June, straight very good at having the right amount
after their ‘O’ levels, and having of money in the till at the end of the
already spent more than three months day), been the Standing Order clerk
doing all the dreariest tasks were (spectacularly failing to pay
more than happy to offload them on someone’s mortgage for three
to this jumped-up overpaid months running) and been
latecomer, with the consequence that ‘promoted’ to Assistant Supervisor in
24Merstham Parish
One thing leads to another
the Machine Room (where in those Room to deal with a bullying
pre-computer days all customers’ customer.)
statements and ledger cards were I left Barclays after seven years at
updated and reconciled on large, the end of 1971, had babies in 1972
clattering, manual accounting and1976 and spent the next few years
machines). I was packed off on bringing them up. For most of my
another course – this time in life I had been involved in Scouting
Teddington – to learn about and around 1980, on the strength of
computer banking, and shortly my experience at the Training Centre,
afterwards I was invited to spent six I became responsible for Leader
months as part of a small team at the Training in my Scout District and,
Training Centre writing the first only a few years later was appointed
courses. We were led by the Centre’s Assistant County Commissioner for
Senior Instructor who taught us, and Leader Training. I had been working,
himself, all he thought we needed to with others, on developing an
know about computers from the innovative training package for
Penguin book on Electronic leaders working with Scouts with
Computers. profound disabilities at Orchard Hill
After a couple of stints at the in Carshalton, and we invited the
Training Centre I was invited to join Headquarters Commissioner (then, I
the permanent staff. I think that my believe, his title was ‘Commissioner
manager at Cheapside was delighted for the Handicapped’) to visit the
to let me go as I’d recently group and see what we were doing.
distinguished myself by telling a We were delighted that he seemed
customer that a bouncing cheque had impressed and keen to promote our
been cleared, and thus losing the course around the country but very
bank £100 – this was a lot of money shortly afterwards he phoned me up
in 1967. (I shouldn’t have had to take to say that he was retiring from the
all the blame for that one. The wily job and asking me to consider taking
customer phoned at lunchtime when his place.
the manager, assistant manager, chief So now I was a National
clerk and all other responsible people Commissioner. It was a voluntary job,
were out for lunch leaving only the but one which was hugely demanding
Assistant Supervisor in the Machine in time and energy. It coincided with
March 2021 25Merstham Parish
One thing leads to another
my starting training as an packages and ran courses, I visited
Occupational Therapist and whilst in summer camps and winter camps,
many ways the two roles spoke at conferences and led a team
complemented each other I wonder of national special needs advisors.
now how I managed to do both. For four years, on the weekends
Some of the high points of my when I was at home, I was also
Scouting career were meeting the studying, writing assignments and
Queen and other members of the trying to keep up with my
Royal Family at the annual St Occupational Therapy coursework.
George’s Day parade and the service Qualifying as an OT and working in
at Windsor, a Royal garden party, a mental health seemed to bring things
week in Paris at the World Scout full circle. Enjoying learning about
Conference and two trips to Poland the work I was doing, developing
to look at special needs Scouting courses and teaching others, albeit as
there. Over eight years I drove an OT mainly working one-to-one or
thousands of miles around the with a small group, linked directly
country and met many lovely people, back to when I was a young Cub
some of whom became and remain leader in my teens: it all just goes to
friends. I developed some training show how one thing leads to another!
Messenger
Merstham & Gatton Team Ministry
The
the Parish magazine for Merstham
Please continue to send material for these pages, by emailing it (preferably as a
Word document or plain text file) to the address shown below (note the
double ‘m’ in the middle). Photographs, as either jpg or png files, should be
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mersthammessenger@yahoo.co.uk
26Merstham Parish
March 2021 27Merstham Parish
Pendell Army Camp – home from home
Chris Green
Tristan da Cunha is a remote group of islands in the south Atlantic Ocean. It
has the dubious distinction of being the most remote inhabited archipelago in
the world: it is 1,500 miles west of Cape Town, 1,300 miles from Saint Helena,
and 2,200 miles from the Falkland Islands. It has an active volcano, Queen
Mary’s Peak. The islands were annexed by the United Kingdom in 1816, and
made a dependency of the Cape Colony in South Africa. Its capital is named
Edinburgh of the South Seas, in honour of Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh
(and second son of Queen Victoria), who visited the island in 1867.
On 10 October 1961 the volcano
erupted, which forced the entire
population of the island (262 in all) to
evacuate. They were taken by fishing
boats to Nightingale Island, an
uninhabited island about 20 miles to
the south-west. From here they were
picked up by a passenger ship and
taken to Cape Town, a six-day
voyage, and thence they travelled to
the UK on board the Stirling Castle,
taking a further 18 days. They arrived
on 3 November, shortly after dawn,
to a large press reception. ankle-length skirts) were quick to
Shortly after the liner docked at applaud the speeches, although they
Southampton Mr Hugh Fraser, the appeared a little subdued and must
Parliamentary Under-Secretary for have wondered what was about to
the Colonies, went aboard to give the happen to them.
islanders what turned out to be the After their long voyage to
first of a series of long and exhausting England, they probably weren’t
welcomes. He told them that the expecting a three-and-a-half-hour
British Government willingly coach journey to Pendell Camp, here
accepted full responsibility for their in Merstham. They received another
welfare whilst they were in Britain. warm welcome, this time from the
The islanders (men in creased suits 100 or so WRVS and other
and cloth caps, women in shawls and volunteers who were waiting for their
28Merstham Parish
Pendell Army Camp – home from home
arrival. The coach journey had have come as a very unwelcome
proved a strain for some of the change to the islanders – at home, in
passengers, and it wasn’t long before the South Atlantic, the year-round
the sick bay had its first two patients. temperature was invariably between
Pendell Army Camp was a small 14° and 24°. Perhaps unsurprisingly,
residential camp comprising about 16 after only a week in England, seven
accommodation blocks, a canteen people were in the sick bay, and by
and associated kitchens, workshops the middle of the month two women
and offices. It was located had died of pneumonia.
immediately to the south of North The islanders’ stay at Pendell was
Lodge, on Bletchingley Road, at the short, however: on 23 January 1962
foot of Warwick Wold Road. After they were once again put on coaches
the end of the war it fell into disuse, and moved, this time to a former
but was pressed into service when the RAF camp at Calshot (near
Tristan da Cunha refugees arrived Southampton). By the end of the
towards the end of 1961. following year most families had
The temporarily refurbished camp returned home, following a report by
included a shop, and a room with a a Royal Society expedition ship that
television set and a billiard table. The the capital of the island, Edinburgh
children had a special room ‘lined of the South Seas, had survived the
with toys’ (including ‘a fine selection volcanic eruption.
of the latest toy soldiers’) that had After providing a temporary home
been presented by voluntary for the islanders, Pendell Camp once
organisations. The Duke of again fell into disuse, and within a
Edinburgh sent a telegram, few years had disappeared under the
welcoming the islanders. M23 motorway. Today no trace
December 1961 was unusually remains of the former army camp.
cold, with severe frosts. This must
Tristan da Cunha is one of 14 ‘British Overseas Territories’: others are Bermuda,
Ascension Island and the Fallklands. Each is self-governing, but the UK is responsible for
defence and foreign relations. They all have the Queen as Head of State.
The island is roughly the same size as Ascension Island (38m2 cf 34m2) but has around
1/3rd of the population (300 cf 880).
March 2021 29Merstham Parish
Snowdrop Season
Gatton Park and gardens will be open to view the snowdrops on Sundays in
February and March.
Open 12 noon to 5pm. £5 entry, children go free.
Please book in advance.
Refreshments are available for take-away purchase
Sunday 28 February Snowdrop Day
Park and gardens open to view the snowdrops.
Sunday 7 March Open Day and The Great Mouse Hunt
Park and gardens open all afternoon, bird hide open, free guided tours and
free activities for children, including The Great Mouse Hunt
and find knitted mice around the grounds. Mice available to purchase!.
Open 12 noon to 5pm. £5 entry, children go free.
Please book in advance.
Refreshments are available for take-away purchase
For more information, go to www.gattonpark.co.uk
The Travelling Talesman
Liz Braines {liz@braines.uk}
Merstham Women’s Group is hosting a zoom session with The Travelling
Talesman on Monday 8 March, from 7.30 for 8.00 p.m. start. If you would like
to join in, either contact me for the Zoom code or book online (the cost is
£3) and they’ll send you the code.
There’ll be an hour of stories on the theme of Wise Women and Foolish Men
– you can watch snippets of Cliff’s rather fun storytelling style at this link:
https://www.thetravellingtalesman.co.uk/ in advance. It should be fun.
30Merstham Parish
STONEMAN FUNERAL SERVICE
Established 1865
An independent family business providing a 24-hour personal service
Head Office and Funeral Home:
DORAN COURT, REIGATE ROAD, REDHILL
also at 49 Bell Street, Reigate
PREPAYMENT FUNERAL PLANS HOME VISITS
Telephone 763456
March 2021 31Merstham Parish
Film review
Donald Anderson
Roberto Rossellini’s Rome, Open City
A good way to tell if a film is a classic industry in Italy? The Axis was yet to
or not is to look up Bosley be defeated when he started working
Crowther’s review of it when it came on the story and many of the
out. If he gave it a negative review, passages of the film have a
then it’s a classic. I’ve recently found documentary-level beneath their
an exception to this rule, though: fictions, a verisimilitude creeping
Rome, Open City is a small Italian film round the edges we can’t really
that came out in the mid-1940s, ignore.
filmed in Rome whilst it was still It starts with the communist and
reeling from the occupation. resistance leader Giorgio Manfredi
Filmmaking of any kind was pretty (Marcello Pagliero) under suspicion,
difficult in Europe throughout the which is putting everyone he knows
war and, rather than giving his in a precarious position; other
audience glitz and glamour, Rossellini members of the resistance, Francesco
scrapped all plans he had for previous (Francesco Grandjacquet), his fiancée
projects and embarked on showing Pina (Anna Magnani) and the
Rome under the Nazis. Perhaps that Catholic priest hiding him, Don
was one of the reasons for its muted Pietro (Aldo Fabrizi), all note the
reception: Italians didn’t exactly want seriousness of the situation. They live
to be reminded about what their life in the knowledge that their family
had been like such a short time lives could be upset and overturned
previously. It is ironic in its own way, in a matter of minutes. This was a
as Rossellini’s tale opened new world in which if your 10-year-old
floodgates for the emotional potential son didn’t return home when he said
of melodrama. he would, it could mean something
It perhaps works so well because very nasty indeed. As SS Major
Rossellini would scrounge film Bergmann (Harry Feist) begins to
wherever he could: unused short ends close in towards the end of the film,
from American newsreels ended up some of the more harrowing scenes
in the finished film, and he would make a stark contrast to the more
point his camera at mundane life on optimistic propaganda films the allies
the streets. What else could you do used to pump out during the war,
when there was virtually no film like Mrs. Miniver or Casablanca. There
32Merstham Parish
Film review
Rome, Open City is available from the British Film Institute
isn’t a celebration of brave professional Hollywood setting. You
determination against the odds, more won’t be seeing any big movie star
a resigned fatalism as the torture names but the performances don’t
scenes progress. I only hope that I feel inauthentic, perhaps because the
would have the strength to say cast and ordinary people like them
‘forgive them, for they know not felt that they had practically been
what they do’ in their position. living the screenplay for the last
At the heart of the film is Magnani couple of years.
as Pina, who is capable of histrionics You would think that the times
but never oversteps into soap-opera would have demanded cynicism but
territory, and Fabrizi’s priest Don Rossellini doesn’t appear to have
Pietro. In many ways, Don Pietro acts given in to it entirely. There are lots
like an inverse of Graham Greene’s of jokes throughout the screenplay (it
‘whisky priest’ in The Power and the was co-written by Fellini) and a
Glory. He has a fortitude and stoicism fundamental belief that resistance is a
embedded in his very soul that would battle worth fighting undercuts many
be enviable in anyone seeking to be a of the more harrowing passages.
rock for others, something that Fellini’s drama and Ubaldo Arata’s
Rome’s recently toppled dictator crisp cinematography, which has not
seems to have lacked. But he can dated like colour would have done,
never quite give his flock all the combine documentary-realism with
answers, or reconcile events with dramatic urgency to make it seem like
beliefs: we must have done a time capsule of a Europe many at
something wrong to deserve the the time would have wanted to
Nazis, surely? forget. It is either ironic or to be
Because the film was so dependent expected that it was mainly the
on the kindness of strangers (it was enthusiastic reception from other
financed by a wool merchant the countries that ensured this film’s
director happened to meet), and success. To watch Rome, Open
because so many of the actors City more than 75 years after it was
involved were casual Italian citizens made is to open a window into
who were not professional actors, previous lives lived, with an
there is a naturalistic quality to the immediacy and a dignity of humanity
mood and character of scenes that that’s pretty rare in any kind of work.
would be hard to emulate in a
March 2021 33Merstham Parish
The Fountain by Denise Levertov
Kirsty Anderson
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water
to solace the dryness at our hearts.
I have seen
the fountain springing out of the rock wall
and you drinking there. And I too
before your eyes
found footholds and climbed
to drink the cool water.
The woman of that place, shading her eyes,
frowned as she watched – but not because
she grudged the water,
only because she was waiting
to see we drank our fill and were
refreshed.
Don’t say, don’t say there is no water.
That fountain is there among its scalloped
Green and gray stones,
It is still there and always there
With its quiet song and strange power
to spring in us,
up and out through the rock.
The American-English poet Denise Levertov spent many years of agnostic
searching before she became a Christian. As we begin another Lenten season
in this most difficult time in our national life, it can be all too easy to
experience life as a parched wilderness. This poem, for me, beautifully
captures the sense of the life of the Holy Spirit just waiting to break through
our hard outer shell to renew us, if we will but turn aside to look for it.
34Merstham Parish
March 2021 35Merstham Parish
Clergy and staff
Team Rector Revd P Mark Pullinger 642647
The Rectory, Battlebridge Lane, RH1 3LH
rector.mgteam@btinternet.com
Team Vicar Revd Ben Brown 479162
vicar.mgteam@yahoo.com
Licensed readers Kirsty Anderson 644632
Unless otherwise stated, all addresses are in Merstham and all telephone numbers on the 01737 exchange
Christiana Agwuegbo 642477
SPA Sue Clarke (South Merstham Parish) 212938
Merstham PCC
Churchwardens Kirsty Anderson 644632
Simon Beirne 01883 347500
Hon Secretary Ann Beirne 01883 347500
Hon Treasurer Chris Green 644145
Electoral Roll Ann Beirne 01883 347500
Gift Aid Secretary Daniel Hopcroft 643944
Safeguarding Officers Maggie Kippen, Simon Beirne
St Katharine’s
Tower Captain Jack Pease
Churchyard John Callow 644753
Church Flowers Maggie Kippen 832757
Church Cleaning Libby Green 644145
Church Room lettings Chris Green 644145
Bible Reading Fellowship co-ordinator John Turner 646201
Sunday Club Natasha Heath
Parish magazine (The Messenger)
Editor and distribution Chris Green 644145
mersthammessenger@yahoo.co.uk
Bellringing practice (St Katharine’s) Wednesday, 7.45 – 9.15 p.m.
Beavers (age 6 - 8) Jack Pease
tictac@mersthamscouts.co.uk
Beavers start at the age of six and the Merstham Colony works closely with the church.
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