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Parish News

www.htboa.org

Benefice of Bradford on Avon Holy Trinity, Westwood and Wingfield

August/September 2020

In this issue… Details on reopening our churches Welcome to Sarah Jackson Daggers in the keyboard … and all the news from around the Benefice!

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DIRECTORY FOR HOLY TRINITY

Rector The Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis, 18A Woolley St, BoA BA15 1AF joanna.abecassis@cantab.net Tel: 864444 Associate Priest The Revd Dr Ali Green, 36 Budbury Close, BoA BA15 1QG alig9@btinternet.com Tel: 0785 547 0069 Licensed Lay Minister Graham Dove, 32 The Old Batch, BoA, BA15 1TL grahamdovellm@gmail.com Tel: 0798 9930950

Churchwarden David Milne, 37 Palairet Close, BA15 1UT Tel: 864341 Churchwardens’ Tony Bruun, tandjbruun@talktalk.net Tel: 790291, Team Vernon Burchell, vernonandjudith@tiscali.co.uk Tel: 862782 June Harrison, randjcharrison@btinternet.com Tel: 863745

Benefice Administrator Sally Palmer-Walton bradavonba@gmail.com (on furlough)

Admin Assistant Aylene Clack beneficeoffice@htboa.org Retired Clergy Canon David Driscoll, The Revd Alun Glyn-Jones, Canon Peter Hardman, The Revd Jim Hill, The Ven Ian Stanes, The Revd Karl Wiggins. Director of Music Martin Cooke martincookeuk@me.com Tel 01985 248866 Times of Services ALL THOSE IN GREY CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE Holy Trinity (Check Bulletins and notices or Church website) Sundays 8am Eucharist (Traditional language) 9.30am Eucharist (coffee afterwards) 2nd Sundays 9.30am ‘In the Round’ (coffee afterwards) 6pm Compline, Eucharist for Healing & Wholeness or Evensong Weekday Eucharist 10am Wednesdays 12 noon Fridays (Traditional language) with lunch out afterwards Daily Morning and Evening Prayer at 8.30am and 5.30pm (except Sunday and Tuesday) Times of Meetings CANCELLED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE mainly music 10.30am, Tuesdays Choir Practice 6.15pm, Thursdays Mothers’ Union 2.30pm, usually 3rd Wednesday of every month Saxon Club 2.30pm –4pm every Tuesday except August Bell Practice 7.30–9pm 2nd and 4th Mondays Benefice website www.htboa.org Weekly Bulletin Notices to Joanna not later than Wednesday for the following Sunday please.

Please see the bulletin or visit www.htboa.org for more details on service times and locations.

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HOLY TRINITY, WESTWOOD & WINGFIELD

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

‘For one day in your courts is better than a thousand’.

Psalm 84. 9

WELCOME BACK TO HOLY TRINITY!

9.30am every Sunday – Parish Eucharist with organ music (this will

be the only service in the week) This will be a slightly shorter service with two metre social distancing, and

some seats for couples. Whereas everyone is of course always welcome, the

capacity is reduced by about three-quarters and so, to be sure, it is advisable to book with Joanna.

Please bring a face-covering and wear it once inside the Church (unless

you are exempt). The doors will open at 9am, but please try and stagger your arrival times and maintain social distancing on the path, and please

use BOTH South (glass) doors and West (back) doors to ease the flow.

You will be greeted at each entrance, your hands sanitised, name checked if booked (and we plan to assist the ‘NHS Test & Trace’), and

shown to your seat. Service Sheets & Bulletins will be on the allocated

seats, and please remain quietly in your seat once you are there. Worship will be shorter (less than an hour) with no hymns, but Martin

will play the organ for us. There will be no sharing of the Peace, and no

collection taken, but there will be a plate at both doors. We shall follow to the letter the government and Church of England guidelines re Holy

Communion: so ‘one kind’ (wafers) only, no words spoken over uncovered

elements and we shall receive in a single line. Please remain in your seats until the organ voluntary is finished, and then leave row by row in turn

quietly starting from the back.

WELCOME BACK TO ST MARY THE VIRGIN, WESTWOOD!

11.15am every Sunday – Holy Communion with organ music

This will be a slightly shorter service with two metre social distancing, and some seats for couples and families. The church will also be open to

visitors on a Wednesday morning from 10am - 12 noon.

Please bring a face-covering and wear it once inside the Church (unless you are exempt). The doors will open at 10.45am, but please try and

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HOLY TRINITY, WESTWOOD & WINGFIELD

AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2020

stagger your arrival times and maintain social distancing on the path and as you enter. You will be greeted warmly, your hands sanitised, name

noted (we plan to assist the ‘NHS Test & Trace’), and then please sit in a

pew marked with a green √. Service Sheets & Bulletins will be on the seats, and please remain quietly in your seat once you are there. The

Parish Room toilet will be available.

Worship will be shorter (less than an hour) with no hymns, but there will be organ music. There will be no sharing of the Peace, and no collection

taken, but there will be a plate at the door. We shall follow to the letter

the government and Church of England guidelines re Holy Communion: so ‘one kind’ (wafers) only, no words spoken over uncovered elements, and

please remain seated to receive the sacrament where you are. After the

service: please remain in your seats until the organ voluntary is finished, and then leave row by row in turn quietly starting from the back.

WELCOME BACK TO ST MARY, WINGFIELD! 9.30am every Sunday from 6 September – Holy Communion; with

Morning Prayer on 20 September

This will be a slightly shorter service than usual with two metre social distancing, and some seats for couples and families. And we shall be able to

celebrate and thank God for our beautifully restored organ!

Please bring a face-covering and wear it once inside the Church (unless you are exempt). The doors will open at 9am, and please maintain social

distancing on the path and as you enter. You will be greeted warmly, your

hands sanitised, name noted (we plan to assist the ‘NHS Test & Trace’), and then please sit in a pew with a Service Sheets & Bulletin already on it,

and remain quietly in your seat.

Worship will be shorter (less than an hour) with no hymns, but there will be organ music. There will be no sharing of the Peace, and no collection

taken, but there will be a plate at the door. We shall follow to the letter

the government and Church of England guidelines re Holy Communion: so ‘one kind’ (wafers) only, no words spoken over uncovered elements,

and please remain seated to receive the sacrament where you are. Please

remain in your seats until the organ voluntary is finished, and then leave row by row in turn quietly starting from the back.

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F or some reason as I started to reflect on the months of August and

September this year, my mind turned right back to the Season of Epiphany and to that remarkable poem, ‘The Journey of the Magi’

by T S Eli0t. And I think it is because we find ourselves in this strange

hinterland where we do hover in a very real way between ’life’ and ‘death’ in a way in which some of us have never done before, and others have

not d0ne since the Second World War. So in many ways – as we do in

the Season of the Epiphany – we are enjoying a ‘birth’, as it is summer-time and we can see family and friends, we can go away on holiday (to

certain places), we can have our hair cut, we can stop ‘shielding’ (if we

have been), we can go out to pubs, restaurants and cafés (half-price on the government at times in August!) – and we can even come back to

church. And all that is wonderful and truly something to celebrate and

for which to thank God – and they are things for which many of us have longed during lockdown. It is so important to live for the day – ‘carpe

diem’ – and as another poet, R S Thomas would say, ‘Life is not hurrying

on to a receding future, nor hankering after an imagined past’. Never has that been more true!

And as we plan our opening worship at Holy Trinity and at Westwood for the month of August, we are very conscious of that. So for example our

service on the first Sunday, 2 August, Trinity 8, will be and feel very

different to how it would have been for ‘just another Sunday’ on Trinity 8 in ‘normal’ times. As we have to go back to the drawing-board and plan for

every detail with the newly added objective of keeping everyone safe from

the coronavirus, it does feel very similar to the painstaking process involved in restoring worship for Christmas 2016 in our newly ‘reclaimed’

Holy Trinity. But that was in every sense a ‘birth’ – 100% exciting! ‘I have

seen birth and death, but had thought they were different’ wrote Eliot – going on to reflect that they were actually two sides of the same coin…

So in this summer of 2020, as we enjoy (hopefully!) the sunshine and

worshipping together, and all the other things – there will be a bittersweet element. We shall find ourselves lamenting the enormous losses which the

world has sustained this past year, especially amongst the most

‘Were we led all that way for Birth or Death? There was

a Birth, certainly, we had evidence and no doubt…’

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vulnerable, and being all too

conscious and mindful of the

fact that, at the end of July, the WHO stated that ‘…the

pandemic continues to

accelerate. In the past six weeks, the total number of

cases has roughly doubled.’ The

Magi in the poem conclude that they would be ‘glad of another

death’ – and of course the

Christian faith is all about birth, death and resurrection! Hard on

the heels of Epiphany comes

Lent, and then we find ourselves on a relentless journey towards

Good Friday. But then… So we

are Easter people, Alleluia people – whatever the world

might throw at us!

As you will read later in ‘Parish News’ we have a very exciting new ‘birth’

this summer in the benefice, as a new priest joins us as soon as she is able,

the Revd Sarah Jackson! Sarah is in the process of moving down permanently to live in these parts from London, and has been serving at

another Holy Trinity, in Upper Tooting. So we shall have a lot to learn from

her about a very different ministry context, and look forward very much to her joining the benefice ministry team.

With my love and prayers and every blessing for these summer months

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F ollowing a plea for help from

Archbishop Ezekiel Kondo in

Khartoum, Bishop Nicholas launched an Emergency Appeal to

raise £50,000 for the Sudans.

Bishop Nicholas said: “Our own problems with COVID-19 in this

country are significant, but our

brothers and sisters in South Sudan and Sudan face even greater

problems with even less resources.

The pandemic has added another frightening aspect to lives in the

Sudan where ‘normal’ includes

hunger and the threat of disease”. Throughout Sudan and South

Sudan, adults, babies and children

are dying of hunger and of COVID-19. Archbishop Ezekiel has pointed

out most people are so poor they

cannot afford not to work, and have to choose between risking

coronavirus or starving; they

choose to risk coronavirus. There is an urgent need for the provision of

basic food items and for soap to

help resist the coronavirus in a population weakened by famine.

In Kadugli Diocese specifically,

there are reports of continued

outbreaks of violence and terrorism, and these have

disturbed many activities in the

towns of Kadugli and Dilling. Prayers have been requested

for a cessation of violence and

terrorism, and that those doing such things will be led into ways

of peace.

The funds raised by the appeal will be divided equally between

the Churches in Sudan and South

Sudan. “I hope and pray we will be generous” said Bishop Nicholas,

as he invited people to give for this

desperate need. To donate to the Salisbury-

Sudan Emergency Appeal visit:

www.justgiving.com/fundraising/sudansemergencyappeal, or send a

cheque made payable to Salisbury

DBF, marked on the back: 'Salisbury-Sudan Link Emergency

Appeal' and post to:

Church House, 99 Crane St, Salisbury SP1 2QB.

URGENT APPEAL FOR THE SUDANS

LAMBETH CONFERENCE NOW IN 2022

T he Archbishop of Canterbury announced in July that the Lambeth

Conference will now be rescheduled to summer 2022, a full two years

later than had originally been planned. The conference will meet in Canterbury. This follows ongoing consulta-

tion with primates, bishops across the worldwide Anglican Communion

about the impact of COVID-19 in their own countries.

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LEARN HOW TO SHARE THE GOSPEL AFRESH

T he new Archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, has called on the

Church of England to “learn afresh how to share the gospel in the

world” as Church and society face “turbulent times” in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic.

In his first public address since his confirmation as Archbishop,

he spoke of the pain and loss many have experienced in recent months and the major challenges ahead. Speaking remotely to members of the

General Synod, Archbishop Stephen talked about lockdown as a time

when people have experienced a “stripping back of our lives”, bringing hardship but also clarity and a renewed focus on God.

He warned that the Church has allowed itself to become “tribal and

divided” and spoke about a group he is leading to discern a vision and strategy for the Church for the next decade. He acknowledged that

the Church will have to make decisions about priorities amid limited

resources, but he emphasised that it has reached no conclusions and hopes to bring some proposals to Synod next year.

“At the moment I am engaged in a very wide ranging discussion with

people from all across the Church, but with a particular determination to draw in and listen to the voices of younger Christians and those whose

voices are not usually so easily heard in church,” he added.

He concluded: “We are just going to have to learn again how to love one another, love the world and love God so that, both individually and collec-

tively, we can be the place where God is revealed”.

TRIBUTES TO BISHOP OF GOMA

T ributes have been paid follow-

ing the sudden death of

Bishop Désiré Mukanirwa Kadhoro, the first Bishop of the Diocese of

Goma in the Anglican Church of

Congo. Bishop Désiré was highly respected around the world for the

role he played in reconciliation and

in helping to tackle the Ebola crisis. It has been reported that he died

after contracting COVID-19.

Bishop Désiré had served as the

first Bishop of the new Diocese of

Goma since its creation in Novem-ber 2016. In that time, he devel-

oped a reputation as a reconciler,

educator and evangelist. The Bish-op of Hertford, Dr Michael Beasley,

said that Bishop Désiré was a

“much respected figure [who] worked across faiths to enable the

training of more than 60 leaders”.

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SPOT THE SIGNS OF MODERN SLAVERY

M others Union Diocesan

President Rosie Stiven has

called for members to be alert to the signs of slavery and to take action.

She has spoken about the millions

of victims currently caught up in modern day slavery.

"There are over 40 million men,

women and children of all races and creeds who today are the

victims in this country and world-

wide”, she said. “They cry out in pain and suffering but no one

hears them. They are hidden away

– they have no voice.” She asked for posters produced by the Clewer

Initiative to be displayed in newly

opened places of worship to help to raise awareness and to eradicate

Modern Day Slavery.

In July a new app designed to help tackle labour exploitation and

modern slavery in the farming,

horticulture and food production sectors was launched by the

Church of England’s modern

slavery initiative. The Farm Work Welfare App, developed by The

Clewer Initiative, provides infor-

mation on employment rights in eight languages and is aimed at

the thousands of workers who

come every year to help with the harvest of fruit and vegetables on

UK farms. In a sector which often

uses recruitment agencies or third-

party labour providers, the app

also gives guidance to farmers

and growers on how to prevent labour exploitation. Farmers

will be able to access practical

information on licensed labour providers, document verification

and the rights of workers.

Loretta Minghella, First Church Estates Commissioner, said:

“We are delighted to support The

Clewer Initiative in the creation of the Farm Work Welfare App which

we hope will lead to greater safety

for those working in this sector. The Church Commissioners for

England are committed to support-

ing the eradication of modern slavery and labour exploitation.”

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I n another step towards the long-term aim of being carbon-neutral by

2030, Salisbury Cathedral has installed 93 solar panels on the roof of the

Cloister, and Bishop Nicholas was invited onto the roof to see them in action. He said: “The Church of England is working hard towards a Net Zero car-

bon footprint by 2030. As the Church of England’s lead bishop for the envi-

ronment I am delighted that Salisbury Cathedral is making a contribution that takes us towards this. With clear purpose and helpful partnerships

even iconic buildings can make a difference towards sustainability. In

these strange times the possibilities of living differently seem all the more important and this project even more significant.”

The Cathedral has already achieved a Silver Award under leading charity

A Rocha's Eco Church scheme. The new installation will reduce its carbon footprint by 11,764 kilograms per year. The panels are located on the

South Cloister roof and cannot be seen from the ground. Only visitors

climbing the Spire will get a glimpse of them. Canon Robert Titley, Canon Treasurer of Salisbury Cathedral said: “We

are delighted to be the second English cathedral to install solar panels as

part of our continuing green initiatives, which have included draft proofing our medieval building, moving to green tariff energy and installing LED

lighting. We are called to preach good news, and through this we are tak-

ing another small step toward being good news for God’s earth and not just part of the problem.”

CATHEDRAL CLOSER TO CARBON NEUTRAL

GREENER BOA

A t a recent Full Council meet-ing, a motion was passed

to encourage biodiversity across

the town in areas which the Town Council manage, in recognition

of the threat posed by loss of

habitat, the use of chemicals and climate change.

All use of glyphosate and other

chemical weed-killers and peat based compost will cease;

To promote re-growth and re-

generation of natural

biodiversity, mowing operations not required

for safety, maintenance of rights

of way, or to promote the primary purpose of a site (i.e. sports or

leisure), are ceased or reduced

The Town Council has commis-sioned a survey and analysis of

local biodiversity in order to inform

the plans for safeguarding and enhancing the town’s biodiversity.

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You can contact the editorial team on: ht.parishnews@gmail.com The October issue copy deadline is Friday, 11 September 2020.

FROM THE HOLY TRINITY REGISTERS

Funerals

Cissie Green (Semington) 9 July

Crossword Answers: ACROSS: 1, John. 3, And James. 8, Near. 9, Omission. 11, Theocratic. 14, Asleep. 15, By-path. 17, Stalingrad. 20, Backbone. 21, Baca. 22, Whose eye. 23, Seth. DOWN: 1, Jonathan. 2, Heavenly. 4, No meat. 5, Justifying. 6, Maid. 7, Sins. 10, Ac-ceptable. 12, Marriage. 13, Shadrach. 16, Plenty. 18, A bow. 19, ECHO.

S ome of the Wiltshire Messy Church leaders and helpers

have with our Regional Co-

ordinator, Hannah Tarring, come to-gether to plan and create a virtual

Messy Church video for families to

share and enjoy. The theme is water and

the Bible story is told by

Bob Hartman, there are three crafts, plus prayer,

worship songs (My Light-

house by the Rend Collec-tive), a reflection oppor-

tunity about how do we

use water and thinking of others who do not have

this basic necessity and of course

the Messy Grace. The Holy Trinity team took part

in the early planning of making this

video. If you’d like to download the

video it can be found at:

https://

share.icloud.com/photos/0n 6a7ebTD_ KCTlsxOx_wtQNLw

until the 11th of August. Or if you’d

like more details please contact Marlene at:

marlene.haffenden

@googlemail.com. You can also check out the

resources section on

the Messy Church website www.messychurch.org.uk/

resources for lots of fun

activities. Even though our families may make use

of Messy Church Online at home,

it will be so much more fun to do it together when we are able to

meet again!

Marlene Haffenden

MESSY CHURCH ONLINE

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I ’m pleased to introduce myself to

you all, and I’m hoping to join

you in the benefice soon. I live in Norton St Philip and over the past

six years I have sometimes visited

Holy Trinity church. I am looking for-ward to getting to know you in

Bradford on Avon and in Westwood

and Wingfield. I have been working in a benefice

of two churches (Holy

Trinity and St Au-gustine’s) in Tooting,

south-west London in

Southwark Diocese, and have worked in

various roles in the

Diocese. I am used to diverse and lively inner

-city urban church

communities with lots of interfaith and

ecumenical links. These

are not without their problems but working with them

and finding ways through commu-

nication to work together has been an enriching experience.

The two churches in Tooting

have a history of going on pilgrim-age together and in recent years

we have taken pilgrimage groups

to the Holy Land, Turkey, Rome and Assisi, Ethiopia, and with

another pilgrimage planned for

Jordan in October – although sadly

that may now be post-

poned. We have also taken smaller pilgrim-

ages to Iona, Kent and

most recently Wessex, when we all stayed at

Sarum College. Even

more local, London area pilgrimages have

included the annual St Albans

pilgrimage which is a favourite, the National Gallery, City Churches

and Brookwood Cemetery (the

London Necropolis). Everywhere offers us some surprising new

learning about God’s wonderful

work in the world. I’m a Londoner born, and I grew

up in Sheffield and Birmingham,

returning to London after gradua-tion. During my childhood I spent a

Welcome—Sarah Jackson!

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lot of time in the west country, my

parents being Cornish and Welsh, and remember travelling up and

down the A38 or A303 on what

were rather slow journeys in those days. I have worked as an occupa-

tional therapist with a special

interest in mental health, and as a psychoanalyst. I am always

interested to learn about some-

thing new, which I am sure I will do in the lovely surroundings of this

area. I trained for ordination at St

Augustine’s College of Theology in Southwark and Canterbury.

I have always had an interest in

vocation and in people’s life stories and vocational journeys, wherever

they may lead. In Southwark

Diocese alongside ministering in parishes I have been privileged to

work as a Vocations Adviser with

people exploring their vocation to lay and ordained ministries, and

as a Bishop’s Examining Chaplain

with those about to go forward for selection panels for ordained min-

istry. I am hoping to continue work

of this kind in Salisbury Diocese. My family are spread around the

country now, having been brought

up in London. I have three children and I have four grandchildren,

ranging in ages from 14 years to 8

months. My interests include see-ing my family of course, and also

visiting theatres and art galleries

when circumstances permit. I en-

joy writing things and reading and gardening and would love to return

to my art activities of earlier years.

I found a rather serendipitous link from my childhood when

thinking what to tell you about

myself. Whilst studying for my O levels (which shows my age) one

of my subjects was a course which

included church architecture and I remember carefully drawing a

pencil sketch of the church of St

Laurence, Bradford on Avon. I found this fine example of a Saxon

building illustrated in a book, but

had to wait many years until I could see the church in reality.

Little did I know that much later

in my life I should have the oppor-tunity and privilege to be more

closely connected with it.

I look forward to learning more about the historic buildings

in the benefice and much more

importantly to getting to know the people who love them and

use them and to learning about

ministry in a rural and market town setting. I send my best wishes and

prayers to you all and hope that as

lockdown is increasingly lifted through the summer I may be able

to meet many of you.

Sarah Jackson

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What Are You Up To?

T his month, in our series looking at how people are

spending lockdown time, we

hear from Ann Bostock, a member of Holy Trinity who lives just yards

from the church at Abbey Mill. She

has been recording her memories of her husband and an enterprising

family business.

My husband Roy was born into a farming family in Cheshire in 1926.

He went to the local village school

until the family moved to another farm in Warwickshire. Things were

not easy for the farming communi-

ty in the 1930s and another move was made to a Coventry farm, but

bad fortune followed them there

when the sale of some sheep fell through due to a bankruptcy and

they were left with neither sheep nor money.

Hard times call for drastic

measures. A neighbouring dairy farmer, besides producing milk,

sold it in the local area. The farmer

was not in very good health and Roy’s father took over some of his

duties. He became the local milk-

man, with milk in a churn and a milk float and pony. Milk was

served straight into the customer’s

jug with a series of measures of a gill, half a pint and a pint. When the

dairy farmer retired Roy’s father

kept on with the deliveries. At last circumstances and hard

work paid dividends, and this small

business flourished, the pony and float were replaced by a van and

new houses being built in nearby

Coventry needed milk supplies. There were some milk bottles be-

sides the jug deliveries. These were

filled in a purpose-built out-building in the family garden.

Setback And Opportunity War arrived, but people wanted

as much milk as was available. It

was eventually rationed, with young children and pregnant ladies

having priority. Roy was 14 at the

beginning of 1940 but because his birthday was during the Christmas

holiday he actually left school Above: Ann Bostock

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while he was still 13. He already had a job lined up as an apprentice

engineer. He had to work seven

days a week with Sunday after-noon off once a month to comply

with the national war effort.

Roy’s father soldiered on with his milk round, not without setbacks:

his van and garage were destroyed

by an incendiary bomb so he reverted to the boot of his Ford 8

car to make deliveries, and had to

negotiate all the debris on the roads after the blitz.

Meanwhile Roy didn’t receive

his call-up papers until after the end of the war, as apprentices were

allowed to finish their training and

get their qualifications before doing National Service. But in 1946

he became a member of the RAF

where, after initial training, he was selected to work on Radar,

so although he never flew in an

aeroplane he learnt a lot about electronics and circuits. This served

him well later in life, and he was

always willing and able to help out

family and friends.

Romance and Business

I met Roy during his apprenticeship days when we both went to a

local youth club at a church in

Coventry. While he was in the RAF we were married at the same

church. Roy was demobbed in

1948 but, after working on some isolated and country locations

for the last few years, he had

no desire to go back and work in factory conditions. His father

was now suffering from a terminal

illness so he decided to help him out for a while. During this

time legislation was brought in

that all milk had to be pasteurised and bottled. So they set about

doing this.

To purchase the essential machinery, farm magazines were

avidly scanned for second-hand

equipment as at this time some processors were enlarging their

Above: The filling machines seals bottles with foil tops

Right: The electric hand-cart

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premises. Eventually all the

necessary pieces were purchased

and the work of installing it began. This fell mainly to Roy with his

acquired knowledge of engineering

and electrical expertise. When all was in working order,

the workload increased from mere-

ly delivering the milk, most of which was being bottled by hand,

to a full processing routine: collect-

ing cooled milk in ten-gallon churns from four local farms, tak-

ing it to the dairy, heating it in a big

stainless steel vat to a prescribed temperature, holding it for the re-

quired precise time, then pumping

it through to the filling machine where it was bottled and sealed.

At first cardboard tops were

used, then, as methods pro-gressed, foil tops. After all this the

milk was ready for delivery. They

had one motor van, one electric milk float and one electric hand-

cart, with which they delivered to

the local area.

A Job Well Done New estates were being built and

most householders wanted milk

delivered daily, so trade increased. Roy’s father died during this time,

and the capacity of the old dairy

was being overwhelmed, so new premises were required. Fortu-

nately, some new properties were

being built close by and one plot in the far corner was up for sale. Roy

obtained planning permission and

construction started all over again, on a bigger scale, including a de-

tached house for the family.

On his retirement in 1987 he sold the business to one of the big re-

tailers. It turned out that this was a

good time to sell as doorstep deliv-eries were in decline and super-

markets were taking over. Roy had

a long and happy retirement, and we travelled most parts of the

world. He died in 2018 and, as one

of his sons said at his funeral, “His was a job well done”.

Left and below: Different generations of milk floats ready to deliver milk

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Sounds of the Times: Daggers in the Keyboard

Left: Dave

prepares to

set off for

the festival

Below:

Emerson,

Lake and

Palmer

G raham Dove’s reminiscence last month on a formative

song from his training

days reminded Dave Green, of Holy Trinity’s churchyard team, of a

youthful experience…

On the August Bank Holiday weekend of 1970, I was walking in

almost complete darkness under a

moonless night sky, following a snake of similar travellers making a

two-hour trek from the ferry to Af-

ton Down on the Isle of Wight. Our destination was the third Isle of

Wight Festival, and it turned out to

one of the largest human gather-ings in the world at the time, sur-

passing Woodstock with an attend-

ance of about 600,000.

I had driven down from my home in Ealing, where I spent all my

spare time watching bands, grow-

ing my hair and transitioning from Mod to Hippy. The local music sce-

ne was thriving, and I saw young

bands such as Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd and Genesis playing in our

local pubs and clubs. They all went

on to become household names. Once I reached the festival site I

found a patch of grass among the

crowds, dodging the antics of a group of French anarchists intent

on pulling down the perimeter

fence and making it a free festival (tickets cost £3). For three days I

soaked up familiar and new sounds

from the likes of Procol Harem, Moody Blues, the Doors, Jethro

Tull, The Who and Jimi Hendrix –

although I have to admit I slept through most of the Hendrix set, a

great shame as he died in London,

aged just 27, a few days later, one of the greatest rock stars ever.

19

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Hendrix had been a

celebrity through

most of the 1960s. But there was anoth-

er band making

their first appear-ance. This was

Emerson, Lake and

Palmer’s second gig, but each man had

already made a name

for himself. Emerson from The Nice and Lake from King

Crimson already knew each other,

and they were joined by Carl Palm-er of Atomic Rooster. At the Isle of

Wight the centrepiece of the new

band’s set was Pictures at an Exhi-bition, Emerson’s take on the suite

by Mussorgsky, which featured

Emerson on the Moog synthesizer. They released it as an album the

following year, and it became a

best seller in the UK and the USA. Emerson Lake and Palmer were

down the excessive end of progres-

sive rock, and they made a hugely energetic sound – and a spectacle

too, with Emerson jabbing daggers

between the keys to get feedback, and then manhandling the organ

so that it was pivoting on one cor-

ner, so as to create an oscillation on the feedback – definitely not

something my auntie would have

liked to hear. But their sound made

quite an impression on me, and when I got home, after sleeping for

two days to recover, I bought their

LP – vinyl, of course. Alongside the success of ELP’s

prog rock albums, society was

changing. Hippies – and the way we dressed, and the music we lis-

tened to – were becoming more

mainstream. Even our mums and dads were influenced – dads grow-

ing longer hair and perhaps a

beard, mums with beads and maxi dresses, and all of them wearing tie

-dye shirts, high boots, denim and

bell-bottoms. And this was when I started to wear an earring – it’s still

there half a century later.

Dave Green

Above: The Moog Synthesizer was devel-oped by American engineer Robert Moog. The first Moog Synthesizer appeared in 1964 and the company continued making instruments until the 1980s.

20

Pr

ayer

Pa

ths

T he first day of September

marks the start of

Creationtide, a season that ends with the Feast of St Francis on

4 October, around the time of our

harvest festivals. Many of us, through lockdown, became

increasingly aware of our natural

environment as we heard more clearly the spring dawn chorus

rather than rush-hour traffic and

noticed fresh, clear air and blooming wayside flowers along the lanes

less busy with passing traffic.

Lockdown days have reminded us how urgently we need to

respect and safeguard our

environment. No longer an optional extra to our lifestyle, it’s

actually a life-or-death choice for

many species, for millions of vulnerable people and their homes,

and for the planet itself.

Environmental issues are intimately bound up with other

current justice questions: the

deplorable persistence of racism; economic systems that favour the

wealthy and powerful over the

most vulnerable; the precariously fragile state of many two-thirds-

world nations carrying the extra

burden of COVID19; inequalities of gender, colour, class and age; weak

leadership more concerned with

self-interest than challenging a

status-quo that is wreaking so

much environmental damage.

Our stewardship of the natural world is part and parcel of our

faith. The fifth mark of mission in

the Anglican Communion is “To strive to safeguard the integrity of

creation, and sustain and renew

the life of the earth”. In our own diocese, our local area and our

benefice we’ve made some real

progress, but we need to continue to be steadfast in prayer for our

created world, and in finding

sustainable ways to put our prayers into action in nurturing the natural

world that God created for us, so

that our children and future generations of plants and animals

will be able to live and flourish

together as God intended. Lord, grant us the wisdom to

care for the earth and safeguard

its bounty. Help us to act now for the good

of future generations and all your

creatures. Help us to become instruments

of a new creation, founded on

the covenant of your love. Amen Ali Green

Prayer Paths: Creationtide Questions

Above: A visitor adds comments to the Greener Bradford stall

21

Target Carbon Neutral: Green Cuisine

A nything connected to food production is closely linked

to the health of the planet.

So even if we have a tiny garden or none at all, or live on our own, we

can all do our bit for environmental

protection. And we can all exercise our consumer choice in climate-

friendly ways.

Clean-up Operation

Cleaning products often come in

plastic bottles that usually get used once and then add to the moun-

tains of plastic waste across the

globe. But left-over food can come to the rescue.

If you have an odd bit of left-over

lemon lurking in the fridge, use that for cleaning down and fresh-

ening up the draining board, mi-

crowave, cutting boards and kitch-en counter. Lemons are also good

for decalcifying – very useful in this

hard water neighbourhood.

Squeeze half a lemon into your

kettle and let it soak for a couple of hours. Then fill the kettle with wa-

ter and bring to the boil.

You can also use potato skins to clean kitchen surfaces. Their high

starch content makes them very

efficient at breaking down grime. Just rub on, wait a minute or so

and clean off with a moist towel.

They contain oxalic acid, which makes them good for removing

rust. Simply cut into the pota-

to and rub the raw flesh on the rusty area. They work on tarnished

silver as well. Rub the silver with

raw potato, or place your tarnished silver in used potato water and

let it soak for about 20 minutes.

They are even good at dabbing on textiles to remove light stains.

Even better, make a snack of

your potato peelings. Thoroughly clean the potatoes before peeling

them, and then toss the peelings in

a little olive oil. Spread them on a baking sheet covered with parch-

ment or tinfoil, season and cook in

a hot oven for 15-20 minutes until they are browned.

Toxic Coffee Coffee grounds have been found

recently to be toxic to slugs and

snails, and even in small quantities Above: Lemons are a great way to clean!

22

they can be a useful deterrent. As

an experiment I’ve been drying

spent coffee grounds whenever I’ve had the oven on, and storing

the dried grounds in airtight

containers through the winter. This spring, whenever I’ve

planted any vulnerable seedlings,

such as peas, lettuce and beans, I’ve surrounded them with a gener-

ous sprinkling of my saved coffee

grounds. The result: not 100%, but definitely effective enough to help

seedlings make a good headstart

against mollusc predators. And infinitely preferable to environ-

mentally-damaging slug pellets

in plastic containers. Another deterrent for slugs and snails is

ground egg shells. If you’re cook-

ing, save the shells and when you have enough, sprinkle them round

vulnerable garden pot plants such

as hostas and dahlias.

Anyone For Tea?

Of the 165 million cups of tea drunk each day in the UK, 96%

of them are made using a bag

rather than loose leaves. So a huge number of tea bags go into the

food waste bin – and many of them

are not entirely biodegradable. Most contain around 25% plastic

(used as sealant) which doesn’t

break down in the compost bin. So

the answer is either to go for loose

tea leaves, or opt for a plastic-free tea bag, such as Co-op Fairtrade

99. Since the Coop started making

plastic-free tea bags a couple of years ago, they reckon that

they are preventing nine tonnes

of plastic per year making its way into compost and food

waste collections.

Of course, if you’re looking for a virtually free, refreshing and

environmentally-friendly drink,

just gather some mint leaves from your garden and make an infusion

– guaranteed plastic-free! I have

several varieties on the go, as they all have a distinctive flavor, from

peppermint to lemon and apple.

Mint grows happily in a pot, so a balcony or windowsill is all you

need to give it a home. Other

plants destined for the kitchen can also do well in pots if you’re short

of space. The results are fresher

and tastier than shop-bought veg, and they don’t come in plastic bags

or incur transport costs.

Ali Green

23

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River Story: Part 7 Mysterious Mammal

T his month we look at the hidden life of a mammal

that frequents our local

stretch of the Avon, but leads such a secretive life that we’re usually

not even aware of its presence.

The otter’s story is one of a remarkable come-back. Prior to

the 1950s these animals were

abundant in England, but numbers subsequently crashed catastrophi-

cally. They are carnivorous and

although they will also go for in-sects, frogs, birds and other small

mammals, their main food source

is fish – and this preference made them unpopular with fishery

owners who saw their fish stocks

threatened. Along with weasels, polecats and badgers, all members

of the Mustelid family, they were

hunted remorselessly. Another major contribution to

their decline was habitat pollution.

Chemicals in pesticides sprayed on crops contaminated rivers, making

them uninhabitable for fish and

otters. Then there was habitat destruction, particularly the drain-

age of wet areas. Under all these

adverse conditions, otters com-pletely disappeared from the rivers

of most of central and southern

England in just 50 years. Otters are semi-aquatic mam-

mals and very much at home in the

river, having webbed feet that ena-ble them to swim quickly and

dense fur to keep them warm. But

they are elusive animals, highly

Watery home: An otter on a branch of the River Avon

24

sensitive, and in danger from road accidents, fishing and

crayfish traps, building works and

polluting pesticides. To save the otter from extinc-

tion, a ban on hunting them was

introduced in 1978, and the use of certain pesticides was stopped.

Gradually, water quality and

fish populations improved, and further legislation was introduced

to protect the species. It’s against

the law, for instance, to capture, kill, disturb or injure otters

(whether on purpose or by not

taking enough care). These animals breed slowly, so

numbers could not expand quickly.

Otter cubs, usually in litters of just

two or three, are normally born in dens, called holts, often in a tree

root system, a hole in a bank or

under a pile of rocks. After about 10 weeks the cubs venture out of

the holt with their mother, who

raises the cubs without help from the male. It took several decades

for otter numbers in the UK to

recover, and populations remain very fragmented.

Back In Town By the turn of this century otters

were being spotted around

Bradford on Avon, and in 2003 signs of otters were reported on

the Kennet and Avon Canal at

Semington. In 2016 a sighting

Water health: Otters on the a river a welcome sign that the river is in good health

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25

near the town bridge was reported in the Wiltshire Times. Having

otters along our stretch of the river

is a welcome sign of the health of the watercourse, since it means

that the water quality is good and

that there is enough river life to support them.

Just as otters were beginning

to reappear along the Avon, Dave and I were running an ecological

consultancy in Bath. We were

contracted to install an artificial otter holt near the city to encour-

age otters to settle in the area.

The resulting construction of logs and twigs was intended to

offer a relatively dry refuge for

otters resting during the day (they hunt at night), and perhaps for

breeding. The chosen location was

Weston Island, Twerton, on the western end of the city, which

was earmarked for use as a bus

terminus. It was a promising loca-tion since, once the hardstanding

for vehicles had been put in place,

the isolated island would be relatively free from disturbance

by passers-by and dogs. That

stretch of the river is now well-documented and tourist

information for visitors to Bath

describes it as a place to catch a glimpse of otters, or at least their

tracks and spraints (droppings).

Otters use their spraints to

communicate information to one another, often leaving them on

small heaps of grass, mud or

gravel. They contain tell-tale fish bones and scales, or occasionally

feathers, frogs’ leg bones or fish

eggs, but not often fur. As with other mustelids, otters have five

toes, so the typical foot print

shows five teardrop shapes around a central pad.

Nearer to home, I was chatting

last year with a man who had been sleeping for some time on a bench

near BoA town bridge. When I

asked whether he had been sleep-ing well, he told me he had been

fine, other than the nights when

he was awoken by the otters. Apparently he had been kept

awake on several occasions by the

animals calling along the banks by the bridge in the very early hours.

Besides the rough-sleeper,

another person who has made close-up contact is local wildlife

photographer and regular PN

contributor Alan Benson. With many threats remaining, protect-

ing them is essential to ensure that

they continue to thrive in the UK. If you have seen otters locally, or

signs of their presence, I’d love to

hear from you. Ali Green

26

M y thanks to everyone

who sent in photos, questions and comments

about what they have been noticing

in nature all around us. This month we have a selection of

families including birds, fungi,

beetles and grasses. Let’s start with Anne Willis’

broad bean patch. She wrote in

early July to say, “I went to pull up my broad beans…They had not

cropped well because of a bad

blackfly attack which soapy water did not cure, and the odd ladybird

didn’t seem to be helping. The

‘cure’ is now happening with dozens of ladybird larvae around. I

have never seen so

many before.”

A few days later I was looking through a patch of wildflowers in a

raised bed in town, and caught on

camera the moment a dozen or so pupae metamorphosing into adult

beetles. You can see the hardening

spotted wings appearing under the old exoskeleton. The new wings

start quite pale but soon colour up

to give the scarlet hue we all know and love. Ladybirds begin life as

tiny bright yellow eggs laid on the

underside of leaves. They take about a week to hatch into bug-

eating larvae, shedding their outer

skin as they grow. After the final skin-shedding they change into

immobile pupae before emerging

as adult flying beetles. A few days later Anne emailed

again to say, “Earlier this even-

ing I had a wonderful experi-ence. My beans, still full of

blackfly and ladybird larvae,

had another predator in the form of a flock of long-

tailed tits. They surrounded

me, I could have reached out and touched one, and I

could see them cleaning up

the stems. I think blackfly

Nature Now—August

Far left: A ladybird emerges Top: Ladybirds attack Anne’s broad bean aphid infestation Left: A long-tailed tit

Ph

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27

must be sticky; they kept stopping and

wiping their beaks! A

great illustration of our local food chain in action!”

Anne added, “I couldn’t take a

photo, I didn’t dare move until they moved away next door. I am so

glad my sole anti-blackfly measure

is soapy water. And I am not even using that at the moment.” Luckily

our talented local photographer

Alan Benson provided this photo for us (pictured on page 26). Long-

tailed tits feed on small insects and

their larvae, and also mall spiders. In winter months they can struggle

to find enough food, so will be

attracted to gardens with bird feeders offering suet balls and

small seeds.

Rare Beasts

Thanks to Chris Hodge who

emailed to say, “Wandering around the gardens in Stonor Park, Ox-

fordshire, I saw a bit of fungus, it

looked to me like a teddy bear wedged in there!”. Yes, it is a bract

fungus growing on a tree trunk.

But to identify it further the sort of clues that are helpful are the spe-

cies of tree it’s on, whether it has

pores or gills underneath (and their

colour), and any distinctive smell. So other than confirming it’s a

bract fungus, I think we’d better

just call this one the rare Teddy Bear species!

I can’t tell you how excited I

was to discover the strange fellow pictured above right. I was drop-

ping off some freshly-picked

lettuce to neighbour Louise Proud-man when she pointed out a

strange-looking toadstool by her

front door. I was quite stumped by it – its cap looked as if it was inside

out: its top was covered in rusty

brown spores, which normally you find underneath. I got in touch with

Dr Alan Rayner, retired lecturer

at Bath University and one-time President of the British Mycologi-

cal Society. He emailed back with

Right: The ’Teddy Bear’ fungus

Far right: The rare Sandy Stiltball

28

an identification,

adding that he had never seen it

himself - so I

knew it must be a pretty special

find. It’s called

Sandy Stiltball (Battarrea phal-loides). Very rare in Britain, it’s

known mainly in southern coun-

ties, and this is only the second record for Wiltshire.

Louise and her girls, Amelia and

Olivia, told me that the wood bark surrounding the fungus had come

from a B&Q store, so I wonder if

the fungal spore was hiding amongst bark imported from else-

where in Europe or from Asia,

where it also occurs. The pretty pink flowers (pictured

middle above) spotted by Janet

and Jim Brown are Hard-head, or Common Knapweed Centaurea

nigra. They look a bit like thistles

(but without prickly leaves) and

with their good quality nectar they are a firm favourite of several

butterflies and other pollinating

insects. The resulting seeds provide food for many birds. The base of

the flower head, as you can see

from my photo (top right) of a sin-gle plant, is dark and hard – hence

its name. It flowers until the au-

tumn and often grows on rough grassland and along hedgelines.

The other flower Janet and Jim

noticed was also pink: a Pyramidal Orchid Anacamptis pyramidalis.

These exotic-looking wildflowers

Above: Purple Tansy Phacelia tanacetifolia

Above right: Pyramidal Orchid

Left & above: Common Knapweed

29

N ot long after finishing John

Barton’s ‘A History of the Bible’ (Reviewed in June

PN), I was sent an online copy of

‘Climate Crisis: The Challenge To The Church’ written by David

Rhodes (Kevin Mayhew 2020). I

have to say straightaway it was one of the most disturbing and

challenging books I had read for a

long while! It would take a sea

change for the church to take its mes-

sage seriously.

Once a journalist, Rhodes spent much of his ordained ministry in

the poorer parts of Leeds. A Director

of the Bible Reading Fellowship, chaplain to the Children’s Society,

and a member of General Synod,

he has written widely on social justice and the Gospel as good news

for the poor.

Book Review: Climate Crisis by David Rhodes

often grow in the most unprepos-

sessing places, such as road

verges, railways embankments and patches of derelict land. The flow-

ering head appears in June and July

and is more or less the shape of a cone, tapering towards the top.

The spike, with maybe a hundred

densely-packed flowers, attracts a range of butterflies and moths.

Another flower of waste ground

and odd field corners is Purple Tansy Phacelia tanacetifolia. It’s a

plant that I only started seeing this

century, and was first recorded in Wiltshire in 1940. It comes from

southern USA and Mexico. You can

see how bumble bees love it! Muriel Freeborn has been col-

lecting more grasses in her garden.

The one on the left here is Wall Barley Hordeum murinum and flow-

ers in June and July. It’s also known

as Flea Darts, I guess because

it’s the go-to

grass as a handy missile

that youngsters

aim at a classmate’s jumper or the back of a dog. On the right is

Meadow Foxtail, so called because

the flower head is like a long bushy tail with silky hairs. Its scientific

name, Alopecurus pratensis, actual-

ly comes from the ancient Greek for fox tail. It is one of the first

grasses to appear and flower in

spring, so it makes a good “early bite” for livestock as well as food

for a variety of invertebrates.

Do get in touch if you have any nature photos, comments

or questions, and I’ll share

them in October PN. Ali Green

Right: Muriel’s grasses

30

The world already faces serious trouble with millions of people

blighted by poverty, injustice and

racism. Climate change will make things a lot worse. The survival of

our human species is threatened,

and climate justice is vitally im-portant, but the church allows a

conspiracy of silence on the sub-

ject. Rhodes wrote this book to demonstrate that climate

justice must become the

church’s key priority. Rhodes begins with Je-

sus within the context of

1st century Palestinian so-ciety, shaped much like a

spherical onion. Its long

stem represents the 2% in Palestine who are the rul-

ing elite. Below them, 8%

represent landowners and traders. The 75% majority is the

peasants and the final 15% those

living in destitution. Probably 90% experience genuine poverty. Pales-

tine had been occupied since

63BCE by Rome, whose main prior-ity by the time of Jesus was

‘keeping the peace’. This meant a

strong military presence, support-ed by an indigenous elite, including

the Temple establishment in Jeru-

salem. Rhodes believes that some-thing of the authentic Jesus can be

found in Matthew, Mark & Luke,

the synoptic gospels.

A key text for Rhodes, at the start of Jesus’ ministry, is the

reading from Isaiah in the syna-

gogue at Nazareth, when he sets out his manifesto (Luke 4:18).

Jesus reveals the ‘unconditional

love of God’ as the basis of his ministry. As we know, the story

doesn’t end well for Jesus, who is

nearly killed by the con-gregation on that day,

and of course, the conflict

continues throughout his life. Siding with the poor

is dangerous, as it chal-

lenges civil, military and religious elites. Speaking

the truth to power results

in crucifixion! Rhodes then shows how

this vital message is wa-

tered down in later periods, espe-cially by Paul, as churches become

increasingly institutionalised.

Rhodes doesn’t dwell on the rise of Constantine in the 4th century,

which resulted in a gradual ac-

ceptance of Christianity as the priv-ileged religion of the later Roman

Empire. But, importantly, he shows

the effect of rising doctrinal con-troversies which created tribalism

within and between churches,

made worse by later controversies even up to our own time. This is the

31

D iocesan Director of

Communications Carole Peters-King recently wrote

a reflection on her ancestor William

Wilberforce. Amid the many re-sponses of the CofE and other faith

communities to the growth of the

Black Lives Matter movement, we thought we would share her

thoughts with you…

In a recent Midweek Message I mentioned that my 5 times (I think)

Great Grandfather was William

Wilberforce and how proud I was of that heritage. The connection

is on my paternal Grandmother’s

side of the family and my Father remembered the house he grew up

in on Clapham Common, proudly

displaying a collection of William’s pipes and watches in a cabinet in

the front sitting room. Sadly, in the

William Wilberforce, My Ancestor 1950s the house was converted into flats

and rented out, and

much of the furniture was stored in the

attic. It must

have been too much of

a temptation

to one set of tenants, who

cleared the

attic along with their

flat when

they left.

very antithesis of Jesus, who ab-

horred tribalism, along with the in-

defensible imbalance between rich and poor.

But Rhodes sees light at the end

of the tunnel. If the Church took the radical Jesus seriously, those

who self-identify as Christian could

make a crucial difference to the climate change crisis – along with

many of other faiths who also

teach respect for neighbours,

and therefore the planet. Acting

collaboratively alongside other groups, they could influence

governments and international

corporations. Working for the com-mon good of all might exert mas-

sive influence as well as political

leverage. This is an idealistic book, and open to strong disagreement.

Nevertheless, it is a relatively easy

read with a deep prophetic vision. David Driscoll

Right: William Wilberforce

and 5x great-granddaughter

Carole Peters-King

32

As a family we may have lost

some physical connections with William, but his legacy, as a deeply

religious social reformer who was

very influential in the abolition of the slave trade and eventually

slavery itself in the British Empire,

continues to make us proud. William was born on 24 August

1759 in Hull. The son of a wealthy

merchant, he went to Cambridge University where he met and

began a lasting friendship with the

future prime minister, William Pitt the Younger. No doubt influenced

by this friendship, in 1780 - aged

just 21 - William became the MP for Hull, later representing the whole

of Yorkshire.

Reports say that he had led a rather dissolute life, but this

changed completely when he

became an evangelical Christian. William was persuaded to lobby for

the abolition of the slave trade,

and for 18 years he regularly intro-duced anti-slavery motions in

parliament. All the same, it wasn’t

until 1807 that the slave trade was finally abolished.

William fought poverty as well

as slavery. His Christian faith prompted him to become interest-

ed in social reform, particularly the

improvement of factory conditions in Britain. He worked with the

reformer Hannah More to provide

all children with regular education in reading, personal hygiene

and religion. He was also closely

involved with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to

Animals and was instrumental in

encouraging Christian missionaries to go to India.

William finally retired from

politics in 1825 and died on 29 July 1833, shortly after he had seen the

act to free slaves in the British

Empire passed through the House of Commons. He is buried near his

friend Pitt in Westminster Abbey. I

have visited his grave occasionally along with his wax replica at

Madam Tussauds, which

incidentally bears a striking resem-blance to my Grandmother.

Carole Peters-King

T homas Clarkson, a clergyman who influenced Wilberforce,

was one of many important figures campaigning for the abolition of the slave trade.

Among black campaigners was Olaudah Equiano, an ex-slave living as a free man in London whose autobiography sold widely and was translated into many different languages.

SLAVE TRADE CAMPAIGNERS

33

Wiltshire Butterflies: Late June—July 2020

W hat an extraordinary

butterfly season this is turning out to be.

Following the hottest, driest,

sunniest May that most of us can remember, June and the first half

of July have been much more

changeable and yet the butterflies continued to flourish.

The so-called ‘browns’ – the

Marbled Whites, Meadow Browns, Ringlets and Small

Heaths were often in

their 100’s on many of the grasslands and im-

possible to accurately

count. It is good to report that many of

the species we usually

expect to see in our gardens have been

much more frequently

reported this year. In particular, Large

and Small Whites, Red

Admirals, Peacocks and Commas have visited the buddleias most

days. Small Tortoiseshells were less

often seen but still are having a good season. Also, the immigrant

moth the Humming-bird Hawk has

been widely reported whereas the Painted Lady has yet to appear in

reasonable numbers and only a

handful of Clouded Yellows have been reported so far.

In the woodlands the Silver-washed Fritillary and the White

Admiral have appeared in good

but not high numbers and the elusive (and much sought after by

photographers) Purple Emperor

needs to be carefully searched for, generally in the oak canopy in its

restricted habitats. It appears not

to have done very well, suffering from some windy, stormy weather

in June.

The much smaller Purple Hairstreak

also seems to have

experienced a similar fate. Its numbers

have been the lowest

ever this year at a site where I have

been monitoring

it since 1981. In contrast, its near

relative, the White-

letter Hairstreak, equally elusive, has been widely

reported across the county but as

is usual, only in ones and twos. It occurs in very small colonies on

elm trees.

I hope you have noticed more butterflies around this year and

have enjoyed seeing some of them

during the lockdown. Mike Fuller

Wiltshire Butterfly Recorder

Above: A Common Blue Photo by Alan Benson

34

35

coast of Scotland, where the small

community of monks founded a

monastery. About 633, Aidan was sent to Northumbria at the request

of King Oswald, who was anxious

for his kingdom to become fully Christian. At that time Northum-

bria extended from the River

Humber to the far side of the present border with Scotland.

Lindisfarne was an ideal place

for Aidan to establish his mission, especially with its proximity to

the Royal Castle at Bamburgh on

the mainland. Shortly afterwards in 635, Northumbria became a

diocese and Aidan was consecrated

as its first bishop. From the start King Oswald was keen to assist

Aidan in his work and soon became

a good friend. Aidan set up a monastery on Lindisfarne as a base

Saint for the Season:

Left: St Aidan’s Church, Bam-burgh - the present church dates from the late 12th century

R eaders of PN will recall that

I wrote about St Augustine

of Canterbury and St Petroc in the May and June editions,

when I mentioned the differences

between the Roman Church, represented by Augustine, and the

Celtic Church by Petroc. In many

ways St Aidan provides a link between the two. He is often

described as Aidan of Lindisfarne,

an island where he founded a base for his missionary work in Northum-

bria, later acquiring the title of the

‘Holy Island of Lindisfarne’. Aidan was born in Ireland. His

date of birth is unknown; however

Bede (672/3 – 735) wrote a valuable account of his missionary work. He

became a monk and a follower of

St Columba (521- 597), going with him to the island of Iona, off the

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for his regular missionary journeys

on the mainland, and it was also a community for training monks and

clergy. Aidan’s journeys soon creat-

ed results with new churches being built. He gained a reputation for

enthusiastic preaching, but also

showed a great concern for the poor. At the same time, the

monastery was growing and

became a centre for learning. King Oswald died in 642 and was

succeeded by Oswin, also a friend

to Aidan. The work continued to grow until pagan hostilities broke

out in 351 and the abbey attached

to the monastery nearly got burnt, but was miraculously saved when

the wind changed direction! How-

ever, very shortly afterwards, King Oswin was betrayed and murdered

and Aidan died a fortnight later on

31 August, it is said from grief at Oswin’s death.

Bede described Aidan as ‘a man

of remarkable gentleness, good-ness and moderation, zealous for

God’, but adds, ’not fully given to

knowledge’. This was a criticism that Aidan hadn’t entirely given up

Celtic forms of prayer and worship!

Thankfully Celtic spirituality didn’t die out and since the 1980s there

has been a revival of interest,

particularly through David Adam’s many books of Celtic prayers. It

was appropriate that David Adam

later became Rector of Holy Island Lindisfarne, which included minis-

tering to the thousands of pilgrims

and visitors to the island. Aidan’s tomb is in St Aidan’s

Church Bamburgh, and there is a

modern statue of Aidan near the ruins of the mediaeval priory on

Holy island. Aidan is remembered

on 31 August, the date of his death. David Driscoll

Right: Holy Island,

Lindisfarne. The monas-

tery of Lindis-farne was

founded circa 634 by Irish monk Saint

Aidan

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The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin, Westwood

Churchwardens: Paul Slade

greenaleigh@talk21.com

PCC Secretary Jill Ross

jillbenedictross@gmail.com

The Parish Church of St Mary, Wingfield

Churchwarden:

David Robinson

david.robinson@paultonsstreet.com PCC Secretary

Vacant

For Prayer and Reflection

August

The Revd Sarah Jackson as she comes to join us

Martin and the Holy Trinity Choir, Muriel, Hugh and David - and all church musicians

Those living with fear and dementia

The carers in our community

September

Care Homes and Abbeyfield and their staff

Schools and universities as they start a very different new term – students and staff

The appointment of a new Headteacher at St Laurence

The Benefice PCCs

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Quick Crossword The Bible version is the NIV

Source: Crosswords reproduced by kind permission of BRF and John Capon, originally published in Three Down, Nine Across, by John Capon

Solutions on page 12

Clues across 1 and 3 Two of the disciples who witnessed the transfiguration of Jesus (Luke 9:28) (4,3,5) 3 See 1 Across 8 ‘Let us draw — to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith’ (Hebrews 10:22) (4) 9 O Simon is (anag.) (8) 11 Form of government under the direct rule of God or his agents (10) 14 How Jesus found his disciples when he returned to them after praying in Gethsemane (Luke 22:45) (6) 15 In The Pilgrim’s Progress, the name of the meadow into which Christian strayed, which led to Doubting Castle (2-4) 17 Glad sin rat (anag.) (10) 20 Spinal column (Leviticus 3:9) (8) 21 Valley of the Balsam Tree with a reputation of being a waterless place (Psalm 84:6) (4) 22 ‘The oracle of Balaam son of Beor, the oracle of one — — sees clearly’ (Numbers 24:3) (5,3) 23 Adam and Eve’s third son (Genesis 4:25) (4)

Clues down 1 David’s great friend (1 Samuel 20:17) (8) 2 ‘The Lord... will bring me safely to his — kingdom’ (2 Timothy 4:18) (8) 4 ‘I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; — — or wine touched my lips’ (Daniel 10:3) (2,4) 5 Seeking to vindicate (Job 32:2) (10) 6 Female servant (Isaiah 24:2) (4) 7 ‘For Christ died for — once for all’ (1 Peter 3:18) (4) 10 ‘Offering spiritual sacrifices — to God through Jesus Christ’ (1 Peter 2:5) (10) 12 Jesus said that some people had renounced this ‘because of the kingdom of heaven’ (Matthew 19:12) (8) 13 One of the three men thrown into the furnace for refusing to worship Nebuchadnezzar’s golden image (Daniel 3:20) (8) 16 ‘You have — of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry’ (Luke 12:19) (6) 18 ‘There before me was a white horse! Its rider held — — , and he was given a crown’ (Revelation 6:2) (1,3) 19 Equipment to Charity Hospitals Overseas (1,1,1,1)

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HOLY TRINITY PCC AND OTHER GROUP MEMBERS

PCC MEMBERS

Ex Officio Members

The Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis, Chair

The Revd Dr Ali Green (Associate Priest)

Graham Dove (LLM), Secretary

David Milne (Churchwarden), Vice Chair

Members

Tony Bruun

Elaine Giles (Treasurer - co-opted)

Jeremy Lavis (Deanery Synod representative)

Anna Melluish

PCC Standing Committee

Chair, Churchwarden, Associate Priest, LLM and Treasurer

Churchwardens Emeriti

Jeremy Lavis, Mike Fuller, Anne Carter, Tony Haffenden, Joan Finch, Trevor Ford,

Judith Holland

The Pastoral Care Team

Joanna, Judy Bruun, Anne Carter, Joan Finch, Marlene Haffenden, Tony Haffenden,

Heather Knight and Sue Lavis .

The Friends of Holy Trinity Church

Chairman: John Cox, Secretaries: Mike and Jenny Fuller, Treasurer: Judith Burchell

Committee: Michael Cottle, Chris Hodge, Alison Craddock, Anne Willis

Ex officio: Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis and David Milne

Bradford Group Ministry

This is a longstanding body which now comprises the two benefices of North

Bradford on Avon and Villages and our own. We look forward to establishing a

much closer bond, and the Group clergy meet regularly.

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OTHER OFFICERS AND ORGANIZERS PCC Secretary Graham Dove grahamdovellm@gmail.com PCC Treasurer Elaine Giles elaineagiles@gmail.com Benefice Administrator Sally Palmer-Walton bradavonba@gmail.com Benefice Admin Assistant Aylene Clack beneficeoffice@htboa.org Benefice Eco Church Team Ali Green, Joanna Abecassis & Judith Holland Benefice Safeguarding Rep Roni Ross 07541 025241 veronicaross@pobroadband.co.uk Bellringers David Godwin 01225 867329 dwhgodwin@aol.com Coffee on Sunday Joan Finch 863878 Director of Music Martin Cooke 01985 248866 martincookeuk@me.com Electoral Roll Officer Alan Knight 860991 Flowers c/o Sally bradavonba@gmail.com Food Bank Heather and Alan Knight 860991 mainly music Marlene Haffenden 864412 marlene.haffenden@googlemail.com Mothers’ Union Jill Wright 287786 Mothers’ Union Prayer Circle c/o Chris Hodge 869357 Saxon Club David Driscoll 865314 Saxon Church and St Mary Tory Trustees: Chairman Anna Tanfield (all bookings) 863819 Secretary Anne Carter 862146 Treasurer Jeremy Lavis 863600 Sidespersons Churchwardens Stewardship Secretary Benefice Office Street Market: Community Stalls John Cox 864270 Communications Church Stalls Mervyn Harris 863440

Parish Representatives on other organisations: Bradford Group Council: The Churchwardens Children’s Society: Liz Forbes Christian Aid: Judith Holland Deanery Synod: Jeremy Lavis BoA Churches Together: c/o The Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis St Laurence School: The Revd Canon Joanna Abecassis and Lindsay Driscoll (Foundation Governors)

Printed at the Parish Office, 18A Woolley Street, Bradford on Avon. Parish News also appears (in colour) on the Holy Trinity web site: www.htboa.org. Previous issues of the magazine can also be found in the magazine archive on the church web site.