| On
the 18th of November 2007 - Revd. Tony Cumberlidge presided
over a rather unique service of Baptism. Two resident East Garston
Families came together for a joint service, in which no
less than six young people were Christened and welcomed into
the church. In spite of all the weather could throw at us, the
Money family and the Digweed family, along with their many guests
enjoyed a very lively and happy few hours together, both in
the Church - and afterwards at at a reception held at the Social
Club and Village Hall.
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All
images appear with the full parental permission where necessary
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A report on the Meeting
of Friday the 10th ofAugust 2007 - at The Old Vicarage
We had an even better response at our second
meeting, than at the first, with 11 mothers and almost 20 children
attending. Again thank you for your impressive enthusiasm –
it is very rewarding and encouraging. Thank you also to Sophie
and Piers for hosting the meeting in such a beautiful and fitting
location.
We discussed the following:
1. The idea of a Pram Service and what kind
of elements this might contain. Although we are keen to make
progress on this, the group would like to reflect amongst themselves
and come to the next meeting with a proposal. Sophie has kindly
agreed to contact you to initiate this. We are very keen that
you should have a major input to the format of this service.
We suggest that the service could be held in the Quaker School
Room; Sophie has generously offered The Old Vicarage, but since
it seems that there will be plenty of occasions when we are
hoping to meet there, perhaps we should not descend on Sophie
and Piers every time.
2. September 8th – Maintenance
Day at the Church.
Matthew and Julie are coming to help.Other offers would be much
appreciated – if you can. Please contact Sally on this.
(648679)
3. Gift Festival
Week 21 – 28 October.
Decorating of the Church for Harvest Festival
on 21 October, will take place on Saturday morning 20 October
from 10.00am. We would very much like your group to decorate
part of the church. Although the font area was suggested, because
the Christenings exhibition will be in this area, we are now
proposing the South Aisle instead. There are low window sills
here and it was (apparently in days gone by), the children’s
Sunday School area, so it seems appropriate. Vicky was in Church
on Sunday and has accorded with this view, on your behalf –
hope you don’t mind. Vicky volunteered that when she saw
the font area, she immediately thought that it would be too
congested if harvest decorations and the Christening exhibition
were in the same place.
Again the group would like to think about a harvest theme, appropriate
for young children and to start collecting materials for the
decorations. This can be developed at our September meeting.
Sunday 21st October – there will be a
12noon Family Harvest Festival Service with
lunch in the Church afterwards. This will take the form of soup,
bread, cheese and other savoury and sweet food. Offers of food
for the lunch, especially for little children, would be most
welcome, as would soft drinks. We have apple juice and elderflower
cordial and wine for the adults; perhaps we could discuss a
possible menu suitable for the little children at the September
meeting.
We had some discussion about occasions when Fathers could be
involved in our activities – it would be good to see the
young families out in force at Harvest Festival and for Fathers
to be involved.
The harvest decorations will remain in place for 10days throughout
the Gift Festival. It has been suggested that we have our first
Pram Service as part of the festival, but on Friday
26 September at 2.30pm, with a Children’s tea
party afterwards. Previously, we had thought that it
would be on Saturday 27th. Perhaps when you have your gathering
to discuss the Pram service format, you could also consider,
what food and drink you would like to serve at the tea party,
which could take place in the Seymour Chapel.
We suggested that as one of the exhibitions
in the church during the Gift Festival will be Christenings
down through the ages (including present day), it would be superb
if your group took responsibility for this display. Again it
would be good if you had some discussion before our next meeting,
on who would like to help with this.
4. The group have proposed a young children
and toddlers bonfire, sparklers and BBQ party on Sunday
4 November. This will be at the Old Vicarage, starting
at 3.30pm. This is obviously an occasion for Fathers and as
in all our activities, brothers and sisters of school age are
invited. It will however, deliberately, not be an occasion for
a proper firework display.
5. We had some brief discussion about the Children’s
Christmas party on Saturday December 8th and the Crib
Service on Saturday 22 December. These two items will be developed
at our next meeting, which is on Friday September 14th at 10.30am
at The Old Vicarage.
6. We are delighted that discussions are taking
place with Julie, Vicky, Rachel, Jackie, Harriet and
Clare for their babies to be Christened in the next six months.
Between January 2005 and March 2008 Tony will have baptised
30 babies and young people.
7. We have been asked if our group would be
interested in representing East Garston in the Lambourn
Surgery Patient Care Group. This involves giving feedback
to the staff at the Lambourn surgery, including the doctors,
on how health care is perceived to be working in the village.
This entails a meeting of one hour every 3 months when the surgery
is made aware of what is, or is not working well. It also covers
the service that patients receive at Swindon hospital.
Sue Tulloch, Julie Clayton and Vicky Brooks have agreed to take
this work on.
Rhian Williams-Flew, who has been the village representative,
is moving away at the end of August. Could we suggest that the
three of you decide how best to liaise with Rhian, who will
fill you in on the detail. Please contact her before the end
of August on 648 424. Thank you very much for responding to
this appeal.
8. Finally, if you know of others who would
like to join the group, please encourage them, give them the
notes to read and let Sally know. |
| Thank you all, once again
for your marvellous support. |
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| The Reverend
Tony Cumberlidge |
Sally
Wright – Churchwarden |
Dear Mothers,
Formation of an East Garston Group of Mothers with Young Children.
We are keen to draw together a group
of mothers with children aged 6 years and under, to work with
us on arranging services and occasions at All Saints Church,
especially for young children. We are thinking of a Crib Service,
just before Christmas, when all the children in this age group,
can in costume, take part in a Nativity tableau. Liz Brunskill
has kindly agreed to lend her donkey – Dingle, who was
with us on Palm Sunday, to bring Mary and Joseph into the church!
We also plan as part of our Gift celebrations
in October (still at the early stages of planning), to have
a special service for young children and babies which again
we would like mothers to participate in and help organise with
us.
To get us started, Sophie and Piers Adam,
have very generously offered for the group to meet at The Old
Vicarage on Thursday 14 June at 10.30am. The idea of the group
is also that the children have a chance to play together. Sophie
and Piers have a 3 year old son – Bertie. Please give
Sally a call if possible (648 679), to say whether or not you
are willing and able to attend. We appreciate that some mothers
are working and may not be able to be with us on Thursday; if
this is the case, but you would still like to be involved, please
telephone Sally (leave message if necessary) or email sally-m-wright@lineone.net
Please suggest an alternative time to meet if you are not free
in daytime on week days.
We do hope that you will welcome this
initiative – we have such a lot of young families in East
Garston, not to mention 6 new babies born this year! We know
that some of you play musical instruments, perhaps others can
make costumes etc. It could be something completely different
from what has gone before and therefore very exciting. Perhaps
we will have 25 Angel Gabriels at the Crib Service - that would
be marvellous.
We very much look forward to seeing you,
at some stage, even if not at the first meeting.
| With every blessing, |
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| The Reverend
Tony Cumberlidge |
Sally
Wright – Churchwarden |
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East Garston
Mothers with Young Children Group
Meeting at The Old Vicarage on Thursday June 14th 2007
Thank you very
much for a splendid response to our first meeting and a very
special thank you to Sophie (pictured below right )
for hosting the occasion at The Old Vicarage. We have 24 Mothers
with young families on our list and there is a lot of support
and enthusiasm for the ideas expressed, regarding a Church
based group of Mothers, who are happy to participate in a
number of initiatives. |
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We discussed the following points:
1. The group should provide a forum for
Mothers in East Garston to come together to plan for particular
occasions in the church, when there is a special focus on babies
and toddlers. Brothers and sisters, say 8 years and under are
welcome to join us in services, concerts etc. Grand children
of East Garston residents are likewise invited to be involved
in these activities. Wherever possible we will try to hold special
occasions at weekends so that fathers can be involved.
2. Specifically, although
we clash with school Autumn half term, we are planning to hold
our Harvest Festival on Sunday 21st October. This will form
the beginning of Gift Festival Week, when we are planning exhibitions,
concerts and special services, in a similar fashion to 2006.
We plan to conclude the festival on Sunday 28 October with a
Songs of Praise Service at 6pm. |
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3. We will ask Mothers
and toddlers to decorate an area of the church on Saturday 20
October: possibly the porch and the area around the font. This
can be with anything that represents Harvest in children’s
minds. Older children and adults (including Mothers from this
group) can decorate other areas of the church.
4. On Sunday 21st October,
Harvest Festival will be celebrated with a 12 noon Family Service
and followed by a buffet lunch in the church. This occasion
is for the whole parish including families with young children.
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5. We will plan with mothers a service
especially for babies, toddlers and their parents, to take place
during Gift Festival Week. This may be on Saturday am 27 October
2007.
6.Other plans that we discussed,
include a Christmas Party in the church, possibly on Saturday
8 December, starting at lunchtime and finishing at say 2.30pm.
7. Our “big”
occasion will be the Crib Service in the church on Saturday
22nd December at 3pm, when all the toddlers will be able to
take part in the Nativity tableau in costume.
8. Our next newsletter
is due shortly and will contain a section on the Mothers and
Young Children Group, on the 6 new babies that have been born
in the village in 2007 and also the 22 babies that Tony Cumberlidge
will shortly have baptised since January 2005, with several
more still to come. |
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| 9. Our next meeting will be on Friday
10 Aug. at 10.30am, again at The Old Vicarage (thank you Sophie).
We look forward to seeing you all then |
| With every blessing, |
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| The Reverend Tony Cumberlidge |
Sally
Wright – Churchwarden |
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On 29 April, a congregation of 70 people
from Lambourn, Eastbury and East Garston parishes, gathered
at All Saints Church, for a memorable service, led by
The Revd. Tony Cumberlidge. The Lambourn Church Choir was with
us under the direction of organist Stephen Holmes and a joint
team from East Garston and Lambourn rang the bells. The occasion
was memorable in several respects: there was a refreshing spirit
of optimism, cooperation and supportiveness in the congregation.
The ancient church dating back to the 12th century looked especially
appealing, with many people commenting on how it looked loved
and well cared for. Revd. Cumberlidge’s sermon seemed
particularly well chosen for the highly appreciative congregation.
He based it on Reinhold Niebuhr’s Serenity prayer:
God grant me the serenity
to accept the things that I cannot change,
the courage to change the things that I can,
and the wisdom to know the difference.
Afterwards 40 of us gathered
at The Queen’s Arms, East Garston, firstly for drinks
and then for a very enjoyable lunch. We would like to thank
Chris, Jules and their team at the Queens Arms, for their convivial
hospitality, and our friends from Lambourn and Eastbury who
joined us for the day.
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Churchwarden
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All
Saints Church East Garston
5th of April 2007
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Dear Friends,
It has been a busy and eventful year since the Annual Parish Council
Meeting a year ago. Our aim has been to make the Church relevant
to 21st century life and for it to be at the centre of the village
community, rather than on the margins - a place that people have
a need for and enjoy coming to.
We have had some changes
in our team following four resignations and I am extremely pleased
to welcome Emma Jones and Elved Phillips to the Parochial Church
Council. Our Electoral Roll has doubled to 42 people and a sizeable
group attended our Annual Parochial Church Meeting last week -
another healthy sign. We have enjoyed bigger congregations, especially
at Festivals and on several occasions the church has been full
to capacity.
The interest and support
of parishioners has been evident in the wide range of people now
involved in the running of the church: the Bell Ringing Band goes
from strength to strength – we so much appreciate their
contribution not only at East Garston, but also at Lambourn. The
children of the parish have been staunch supporters and are always
eager to help. This is most heartening as they represent the future
life blood of the church. The Christingle and the Mothering Sunday
service, where the newly formed children’s choir sang for
the first time, were very memorable occasions.
We owe much to our organists
Stephen Holmes, including the Lambourn Church choir and also Susan
Holmes, who plays in particular for our children’s services
and trains and directs the children’s choir. We also appreciate
the work of the cleaning team under the guidance of Diana Smith,
the flower arranging group – including the children’s
group, the help from Ann Phillips with the new altar frontal and
the cravats for the children’s choir and our team of readers
in church on Sundays and Festivals, many of whom are new this
year.
We are indebted to Ken
Tarbox and the Parish Council, for Ken’s magnificent coverage
of our Festivals and events on the web site and for the interest
and support in many different ways that Ken and Maureen have shown
to us this year. As we all know the East Garston web site is a
precious asset, of which many other villages would love to have
the equivalent.
The highlights of the year
have been the Gift Weekend – “something for everybody”,
Harvest Festival, our Patronal Festival followed by a magnificent
lunch in the church, cooked by Kevin Fiske and Di Cox, our Remembrance
Service at the War Memorial attended by 65 people this, the third
year, the Candlelight Carol Service, the Christingle with its
re-enactment by the children and young people in Victorian dress,
of the creation of The Children’s Society, the memorable
and very touching Mothering Sunday Service three weeks ago and
last week, Palm Sunday with the re-enactment of Jesus’ ride
into Jerusalem on a donkey, with Dingle the donkey kindly lent
to us by Liz Brunskill of Lambourn.
Despite all the efforts
of many parishioners, we are heavily dependent on donations and
sponsorship, to keep the church running. It costs us £11,000
per year even before we open the doors, so we need to work hard
at this in the year ahead. We would like to thank all those who
have so generously made donations or sponsored us this year –
without you things would be considerably more difficult. The maintenance
of a building dating back to the 12th century is a costly business,
so we are extremely grateful for any help that people can give.
We have fresh plans for
the year ahead, which we will talk to you about in our next newsletter
due shortly, but in the meantime, my churchwarden and I would
like to express our heartfelt thanks for all your interest and
support. Success in this last year has been due to a huge team
effort by the whole parish. Well done to you all.
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With every
blessing
Reverend Tony Cumberlidge |
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Sadly on the
11th April we said goodbye to Maureen Teugels, as she and her
husband Roger moved away, initially to Hungerford for 6 months,
but then perhaps to return to Dorset, from where they came. Maureen
has been a devoted deliverer of Village Views in East Garston,
often taking on someone else's round, if she knew they were away.
She has also been a loyal member of the church cleaning team,
taking special responsibility for the brass and silver, which
is now immaculate. She has been since 2003, a dedicated member
of the flower arranging team in East Garston church and was kind
enough amid her preparations for moving house, to do a splendid
arrangement for Mothering Sunday on 18th March.
Behind the scenes, Maureen has provided support and encouragement
to the children of the parish in all their ventures with the church.
They, as well as the rest of us in the village are particularly
sorry to see Maureen go, but we wish her and Roger every happiness
in their new life ahead and hope that they will look back on their
time in East Garston with fond memories.. |
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big thank you also to Janet Pounds for all her stirling work
on the P.C.C over the years, as treasurer to All Saints' Church
- Janet resigned her post recently and we wish her all the very
best for the future. |
Churchwarden |
As from 1st March we
will not be having a service on the first Sunday of the month,
instead there will be a Communion Service at 12noon on the third
Sunday. Occasionally this service will be a family one, as it
is on 18th March. Apart from advantages to the other two parishes,
this means that at East Garston, Tony Cumberlidge will be able
to conduct all 3 services instead of only two each month.
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Churchwarden
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On Monday the 22nd of January a
group of eleven East Garston ladies were privileged to
have expert tuition in the skillful art of flower arranging,
from Newbury florist - Angela Hill.
The evening, turned out to be great fun as well as proving
to be very productive.
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group plan to come together again to decorate the church at various
festivals, the next being Easter,
as well as individually or in pairs, on normal Sundays. |
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| Our
church continues on it's very successful quest of becoming more
involved with the community it is there to support. Admirably
assisted by Churchwarden Sally Wright - Reverend Cumberlidge
has been instrumental in engineering the many changes that we
have seen over the past year or so and should be highly praised
for the way in which he has set about creating a church environment
that is welcoming to all - and a pleasure to be part of. |
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However we should not forget those Parochial Church Councillors
throughout the parishes of Lambourn, Eastbury and East Garston
who - during the selection process, shrewdly spotted the full
potential of this ex-Army Chaplain. So to use the terminology
of the racing community that we live in - "congratulations
to you for backing a real winner."
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Aside from the prestigious events such as the record breaking
gift weekend, the day to day life of the church has evolved
into becoming something that many families now wish to be part
of. Christenings are one of the areas proving this point.
Since January 2005, no less than 17 children have been baptized
by Revd. Cumberlidge at All Saints' Church East Garston.
(KT)
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The Christening of Poppy Georgiana Tulloch. daughter of Freddie
and Sue, took place at All Saints' Church East Garston on the
19th of November 2006. A congregation of Fifty family and friends
gathered for a very happy family baptism service. conducted
by Revd. Tony Cumberlidge with Susan Holmes at the organ.
Godparents are Shaun Barrington, Alexander Hurd and Kari and
Jeff Young. Poppy's brothers Billy (3 years) and Oliver (2 years
- Christened at East Garston in January 2005), took a very active
part in the service.
Poppy made her first entrance into East garston Church on Easter
Sunday 2006, when she was just 4days old - a wonderful symbol
of new life on Easter Day
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Poppy's text
and Photos : Sally Wright
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