St Michael’s News May 2012 St Michael and All Angels, Lower Church Road, Sandhurst, Berkshire, GU47 8HN www.stmichaels-sandhurst.org.uk

Office open 9.30 am – 12.15 pm weekdays E-mail: office@stmichaels-sandhurst.org.uk Tel. 01252 873030

Rector: Rev. John A. Castle Email: Rector@stmichaels-sandhurst.org.uk Tel. 01252 872168

Birthday Celebrations Last Sunday we held a birthday party at the Rectory – for our black Labrador Toby and his four brothers and the families who own them now! The birthday itself was more than three weeks earlier, but I don’t think the dogs noticed!

At the end of May is the festival of Pentecost, traditionally known as the Birthday of the Church, since it was on that day that the Holy Spirit came upon Jesus’ disciples and their mission of spreading the Gospel began. Calculations based on the Jewish calendar and data in the Gospels have revealed that Jesus’ crucifixion, which was at Passover time, happened either on 7th April AD 30 or 3rd April AD 33. This means that our birthday celebrations at Pentecost (50 days later) will be almost exactly 1982 or 1979 years to the day after the original event!

The Church Council have decided that this year we will celebrate the Church’s Birthday with a party theme. Building on the success of last year’s Gift Day, we have also decided to incorporate Pledge Sunday, when we will encourage everyone to support our church by making a regular financial commitment.

At the same time, we need the talents and time of our members in the running of our church. Please think and pray about how you can support your church, both financially and in practical ways.

John Castle

Please pray for those on the prayer board and for our new Church Council, Wardens and Deanery Synod members. Please pray for those who were married here recently: Zoe Hutt and Adam La’Frenais, Charlotte Cole and Michiel Von Wielligh, Nicola Morris and Jonathan Bartlett.

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Church Activities

May Coffee Rota Reminder 6th May Jenny Thorn Sheila Rees

13th May Kate Bettison Jennie Rolfe

20th May Jennie Hulbert Betty Wilson

27th May George Castle Hilary Smith

Prayer Meetings are on the 3rd Saturday of the month (19th May) at 9.30–10.15 am in the church and the 4th Wednesday (23rd May) at 8.00–8.45 pm.

House Groups meet each week at these homes:

If anyone would like to join a group please speak to John White (01344 774349) for more details.

Young Church is part of the 9.30 am Parish Communion Service every Sunday for children aged 3–10. Please register your children at 9.20 in the Pastoral Centre. The children join the adults towards the end of the church service. Parents interested in their children receiving Holy Communion are asked to speak to Rev. John Castle.

Crèche. A Crèche facility is now available for under threes in the Pastoral Centre lounge area. Please arrive prior to the 9.30 am service to settle your children, signing them in on arrival. Earlier collection can be arranged if you wish to be together to share Holy Communion as a family. Otherwise, collect your children after the service at coffee time. Initially, Angela Harper and Caroline Bowles (Ofsted Registered child-minders) shall be caring for your children, although we would like to get a crèche rota in place to share the load. If you would be interested in helping out please contact Angela (07932 333619) to arrange this and receive CRB forms for clearance.

REACH runs parallel to the Parish Communion Service, at 9:30–10:45 am.

Toddler Time is on the 2nd and 4th Thursdays of the month at 9.30–11.00 am, except during school holidays.

Monday 8.00 pm 11 Sylvan Ridge (Rupert & Sheridan)

Tuesday 10.15 am 6 Crowthorne Rd (Doris Saunders)

Tuesday 8.00 pm 28 Wiltshire Avenue, Crowthorne (Elizabeth Ritchie)

Tuesday 8.00 pm 2 School Hill (John & Sue Campbell)

Tuesday 8.00 pm 34 Albion Road (Linda Lemmon)

Tuesday 8.00 pm 25 Templar Close (John & Stephanie Martin)

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Blue Envelopes Please use the gift-aid envelopes for even small amounts of cash if you are a taxpayer and have paid enough tax to do so. This is free money from the government and worth doing because it all adds up!

Church Fundraising If you would like to organise a fundraising event for the church or make a suggestion, please contact John White (01344 774349) or Jan King, via the Parish Office (01252 873030).

Christian Aid Fundraising Quiz, Saturday 19th May at St George’s Church, 7.30 pm. £8 each, to include supper of chips with fish, sausage or veggie burger. Please email or ring the office (01252 873030) to give names and meal choice.

The Team of Vergers

Ever thought of being a verger. Here is a chance to take on this

valuable role in the service of the church.

After the sides-people, the verger is the first point of contact for people entering the church for services. There are normally six people in the team, with five taking one weekend each per month, and one reserve. However, two vergers have recently retired and a third is moving house, so we need some new members.

If there is a wedding on your weekend you need to attend the rehearsal on a Wednesday evening, then get to the church an hour before the ceremony to arrange the furniture and put out cones and car parking signs. We do the same in reverse at the end of the wedding service.

Sunday duties involve arriving at church for 7.30 am to prepare for the 8 oʹclock service. (We make sure the reader is present, ring the 5-minute bell and count the communicants). For the 9.30 service we put up the hymn numbers, shepherd the congregation to take communion and count the participants. We also check that the necessary people are there, the reader, intercessor, server, communion assistants and bread maker, and choose two members of the congregation to take up the bread and wine. A fellow verger is asked to be ‘wood person’, supervising those at the communion rail.

Some vergers assist at funerals. Weddings and funerals pay a fee, but other services are voluntary.

If you feel that becoming a verger is something you would like to do, please speak to any of the team for further information. Thank you.

Jenny Thorn (head verger), Janet Pilbeam, Chris Pocock, Carol Hughes and Dorothy Hill.

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Church Flowers.

It was wonderful to see the Church so beautifully decorated at Easter, each flower being donated in memory of a loved one. Thanks to all who contributed and to our flower arrangers.

The rota for the rest of 2012 is now in church. It only needs 13 people, each doing two weekends, to cover the whole year. Please sign up if you can help, or contact Jennie, on 01344 775881, or Gill, on 01252 873926, if you would like more information on what is involved.

Social Media St Michael’s has entered the world of ‘social networking’ and ‘micro-blogging’ – sounds daunting, but they are just new ways of finding out what is going on.

St Michael’s now has accounts with Twitter and Facebook. On Twitter we can ‘post’ (put) ‘tweets’ (short messages) on the Internet. With Facebook we can place information about the church and about what is happening. With both you can interact by joining Twitter and Facebook and then ‘like’ or ‘follow’ us.

The idea is to improve communication within St Michael’s. Louisa Wright-Wastell, who is looking after these developments, says:

‘Here you will find information on St Michaelʹs Church: upcoming services, youth groups, social and community events, our charities, friends and Fairtrade. We hope you will join us and give your comments and feedback as a way to create stronger bonds with your church, your faith and the wider community.

‘Social media is a new venture for St Michaelʹs – we want it to bring real benefit now, and in the future. Your input will be instrumental to its success. So, we really encourage you to join the conversation!’

Both Twitter and Facebook are easy to use – just enter the links given below in the navigation window of a web browser, such as Google, and click search. (Web readers can just click the links.)

Facebook http://www.facebook.com/StMichaelsSandhurst

Twitter @StMichaelShurst

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If you’re not a flower arranger but would like to donate the flowers on a

particular Sunday to commemorate a special birthday or anniversary, please

speak to Jennie and, weddings permitting, we’ll try to accommodate you.

St Michaels Churchyard: On-going help with grass cutting We are just about keeping on top of the grass cutting in the churchyard (so to speak!), but more help is always welcome during the spring and summer months. If you would be happy to help or would like to know more, then please let us know and we can give you further details.

We are also looking for someone to take on the maintenance of the flower border next to the Pastoral Centre. In both cases, please contact Peter Hulbert, on 01344 775881, or leave a message in the Church Office. Many thanks, Peter Hulbert.

A Golden Weathervane for Chichester Cathedral

At the end of last year a team of steeplejacks installed an extremely special weathervane on the top of Chichester Cathedralʹs 277-foot spire. Gilded in Fairtrade and Fair-mined gold, this unique weathervane is the result of a pioneering international collaboration between Chichester Cathedral, the Fairtrade Foundation and Chichesterʹs Cred Jewellers (specialists in Fair-mined gold).

This is a world first for the cathedral as it is the first time ever that Fairtrade and Fair-mined gold has been displayed on a public building. The gold covering the weathervane was responsibly sourced by Chichester’s Cred jewellers, from the Sotrami Mine in Peru, one of the first mines in the world to be certified to Fairtrade standards. It provides a lifeline

for thousands of impoverished and exploited miners in Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. If every jeweller and, indeed, if every customer were to insist on gold only sourced in this way then thousands of small-scale miners and their communities would be guaranteed a better future. The cost of this project has been funded by a private donor. So, if you are buying a ring or gift, think about buying Fairtrade.

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Drought in Africa

‘What’s new?’ I hear you cry, but this time the drought is in West Africa, in the Sahel, which separates the Sahara from the fertile well-watered south. The region has been affected by drought throughout the 20th century, most seriously between 1968 and 1974, when government policies encouraging population growth and development backfired. A series of dry years caused crop failures and death among grazing herds. Farmers had not anticipated the dry years; farming methods were unsuitable and trees were cut down for firewood. Soil erosion was the result and widespread famine.

Drought has now returned. In January Tearfund reported:

‘Millions of people don’t have enough to eat after inadequate rains and insect infestations led to poor harvests and livestock losses in the Sahel region. Niger and Chad are the worst affected, but parts of Burkina Faso and Mali are also deteriorating.

‘Staple food prices have shot up to almost 40 per cent higher than a year ago. One factor is the rise in violence in neighbouring northern Nigeria which has led to the closure of the border, restricting the movement of people and commodities. This is having a big impact on food security in the region.

‘More than 200,000 children in Niger are acutely malnourished and dwindling food supplies are leading to ‘crisis levels’ in some areas of the country.’

The German agency Welthungerhilfe (world-hunger-aid) says:

‘Support is needed for people in the Sahel region who are suffering from a drought and high food prices. 520,000 people in need will get help in the

Drought has made producing food from the land a tough proposition in Niger.

Photo: Tearfund

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Time for Climate Justice On 15th May 7.30 pm at St John the Baptist Church Crowthorne, there will be a talk on climate change and action we can take to support the ‘Time for Climate Justice’ campaign. All are welcome.

Come along to find out about the problem of climate change, to learn more about the ‘Time for Climate Justice’ campaign – a global campaign supported by Christian Aid as well as other Christian charities and organisations – and to get involved in taking action to gain climate justice.

For more information please contact Hannah Brooks 07976 309668.

The Social Committee The social committee consists of John Martin, David Hunt, Jan King and Jill and John White. We attend either the 8.00 am or the 9.30 am service and because of that the main social events tend to be organised around them. We

next few weeks. This concerns families in Mali, Niger and Burkina Faso who do not have any more food stocks and whose financial resources have already been exhausted. We can still avoid a disaster like that in East Africa. The early warning system has worked and now we need binding support for those affected until the next harvest in autumn 2012.’

If you would like to help here are some links and phone numbers:

Tearfund: http://www.tearfund.org/en/get_involved/give/ (0845 355 8355)

Welthungerhilfe: http://www.welthungerhilfe.de/home_eng.html

Oxfam: https://www.oxfam.org.uk/donate/ (0300 200 1292)

Retrak has helped 1000 children helped home!

Retrak invites you to celebrate the reuniting our 1000th child with their family.

Up to 34 per cent of children in sub-Saharan Africa live without the care of

a parent or guardian. Street children are the most vulnerable of these. It is a

massive issue, and it is getting worse. Children who live on the streets are

often the victims of trauma; they are abused and live without hope for the

future. Worse still, they are neglected by the best-known children’s

organisations as they are widely considered too difficult to work with.

Retrak has shown that no child is too difficult. To watch a video, click or

enter http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ce3hoZSTMx8 in your browser.

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desperately need to cater for the younger age group, those who attend the family service, for example. We are by definition a very social bunch of people and would be pleased to welcome new younger members to our team. We meet about six to seven times a year, usually over a cup of coffee, starting at 8.00 pm and invariably home by 10.00 pm. If you would like to join us, please make yourself known to one of the committee.

Christian Aid Lunch. You are warmly invited to a Christian Aid lunch at 2 Maybrick Close, Sandhurst on Wednesday 16th May. There will also be a cake stall. Your hosts will be Dorothy Hill, Jacqui Ingram and Adrea Wood.

St. Michael’s School needs governors Just a reminder that, as outlined in the April Newsletter, we are seeking two foundation governors to join our team. If you are interested, please will you contact either John Castle or me by Sunday 6th May . Thank you in advance, Chris Harris, Chair of Governors, Tel: 01252 871881

Music in May St Michael’s Choir and friends are staging a varied concert of traditional choral works, organ, trumpet and clarinet solos, plus a few lighter pieces to reflect our ‘Music in May’ theme. The programme features items specifically designed to appeal to families, and friends from local churches would be most welcome to join us on Saturday May 26th, 7:30pm at St Michael’s Sandhurst. Tickets (which include interval refreshments) are available from the St Michael’s Church Office, 01252 873030, priced £7 for adults, £3 for children and £15 for a family ticket (2 adults / 3 children).

Air Ambulance Thank you to everyone who visited the four gardens open in Sandhurst in aid of the Air Ambulance covering Berks, Bucks and Oxon. It was lovely to see you all and we hope you enjoyed your visits to these gardens, with lovely tulips and spring flowers.

One of the owners had a fall and was in Frimley Park Hospital, but insisted their garden was still opened!

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With plant sales and tea and cakes at various gardens, over £2,107 was raised (including a birthday donation of £125), which is again more than the previous year! If you wish to visit other gardens open for this cause, including those in Crowthorne, there are leaflets in the local libraries giving information. Your support is very much appreciated. Betty

Urgent: Marriage Consultation The Government is planning to change the definition of marriage and is consulting until 14 June. If you have not yet done so, please pick up a leaflet about this and, if you wish, sign the petition at the back of church. Thanks, John

Music & Meditation What a lovely service. An hour to sit and listen to music and readings, prior to the busy build up to Easter Sunday – A time for reflection.

As I sat there enjoying this, I looked around and counted the number of people that had joined me. I really wish I hadn’t because, sad to say, the choir outnumbered the congregation 18 to 11. How sad was that?

The choir had put in their commitment and time prior to the service, practising so we can enjoy. So I ask – where were you?

Choir and clergy put a lot into these special services for us all, including the choral Evensong once a month. I find it sad that we don’t support them at these services. When you read about these special services perhaps you could think about joining us.

Janet Pilbeam (verger)

Brass Band Concert with Charles Church Camberley Band at Sandhurst and Yateley Methodist Church, Scotland Hill, on Saturday 19th May, at 7.30pm. Adults £5, children £3, including refreshments. Contact Robert Godden on 07543 800921, Email red.grouse@virgin.net, or pay at the door.

Newsletter deadline. Please email William Lee at stmichaelschurch@hotmail.co.uk or leave written requests with the Pastoral Centre office. Deadline for the June edition: to reach me by 21st May 2012. Thank you, William

Newsletter by email. To help the environment and save paper, you can

now receive future editions of this newsletter by email? These are in colour

and are normally sent out a few days before the paper copy is available. To

opt in to this scheme please contact PCC member David Hunt

david.hunt@bcs.org.uk.

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Church Calendar

Date & Time Venue Event Contact

Sat 12 May Church Musical Extravaganza Jan King

Sat 19 May 7.30 pm

Sandhurst & Yateley Methodist Church Brass band concert

Robert Godden

07543 800921

Sat 19 May 7.30 pm

St George’s Church, Owlsmoor

Christian Aid fund-raising quiz

Church Office

Sun 20 May 10.30–11.30 am Pastoral Centre Home-produce stall Jan King

Sat 26 May 7.30 pm Church Music in May

(choir concert) Church Office

Sun 1 July Rectory Garden Church picnic John & George

Castle

On 31 March a St Michael's father–son walk took place, circling the highest peaks of South Wales, in the Brecon Beacons. Four fathers and six sons took to the hills and reached Corn Du (873m), Pen Y Fan (886m), Cribyn (795m) and one father shot up Fan Y Big (719m) just because it was there. Good fun was had with amazing views (but at the highest peaks the mist obscured all). If anyone is interested in joining future walks please contact Jon Toohey on JonToohey@aol.com.

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Saturday 5th May – Wedding

2.00 pm Louise Barnard & Jonathan Lee

Sunday 6th May – Topic: Abiding in God

Readings: Acts 8:26–40 (p1101), 1 John 4:7–21 (p1227), John 15:1–8 (p1083)

8.00 am Holy Communion

9.30 am Parish Communion

11.15 am Family Service and Service of Thanksgiving for CharloPe Wickens

6.30 pm Contemplative Evening Prayer – Topic: The Church

Regular Activities at the Pastoral Centre

Little Sandhurst Nursery. Daily! Phone Marian for details 07732409095.

Line Dancing takes place each Monday evening in the hall from 7.00 pm, £5 includes raffle. Just come along and have fun. Tea and coffee are available or bring your own drinks. Ring Sue or Arron on 01344 485097 for information.

Rainbows meet on Tuesdays: 5.00–6.00 pm (5–7 year olds).

Guides meet on Tuesdays: 6.30–8.30 pm (10–14 year olds).

Pilates takes place in the large upper room, most days and evenings. For more information ring Carl on 01344 762712

Zumba with Tiffany on Wednesdays, 6.00–7.00 pm, Seeby Hall, £5 per class. Latin-inspired dance fitness class – feel the music and let loose! No need to book, just come along and join the party!

Meditation and relaxation class starting Saturday’s 3.00–4.00 pm (alternate weeks). For further details of next class, ring Samantha 07944 953485.

Zumbatomic after-school classes, 4.00 pm on Thursdays – the crazy-cool dance fitness workout for kids aged 4–12 yrs. Packed with choreographed routines to music like hip-hip, reggaeton and cumbia, Zumbatomic classes increase focus and self-confidence, boost metabolism and improve coordination. For more information contact Beth on 07976 231896 or go to www.zumbawithbeth.co.uk.

Karate Club for Children. Friday’s 5.45–6.45 pm. Phone Neil on 07816 163845.

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Saturday 12th May – Weddings

2.00 pm Suzanne Cronin & Lee Hetherington

4.00 pm Jennifer Clarke & Richard Jackson

Sunday 13th May – Topic: Obeying God

Readings: Acts 10:44–48 (p1105), 1 John 5:1–6 (p1228), John 15:9–17 (p1083)

8.00 am Holy Communion

9.30 am Parish Communion

11.30 am Baptism of Benjamin Catlin, Ayla Neville and Grace Hill

Thursday 17th May – Ascension

Readings: Acts 1:1–11 (p1092), Luke 24:44–53 (p1062)

8.00 pm Holy Communion

Sunday 20th May – Topic: The assurance of faith

Readings: Acts 1:15–17, 21–26 (p1092), 1 John 5:9–13 (p1228), John 17:6–19

(p1085)

8.00 am Holy Communion

9.30 am Parish Communion

11.15 am Family Service

Saturday 26th May – Wedding

12.00 noon Helen Blackman & Aatif Quadar

Sunday 27th May – Topic: The Spirit of God

Readings: Ezekiel 37:1–14 (p868), Acts 2:1–21 (p1093), John 15:26–27 (p1083),

John 16:4–15 (p1084), Ezekiel 36:22–28 (p867), John 20:19–23 (p1089)

8.00 am Holy Communion

9.30 am Parish Communion

11.30 am Baptism of Ava Peterson and Cara Farrington

6.30 pm Sung Evensong – Topic: New heart, new Spirit

Sandhurst Day Centre. Communion 11.30 am on the 1st Wednesday, and

Songs of Praise on the 3rd Wednesday each month.

Early morning services. You may find it useful to come to the 8.00 am

service if you are going out for the rest of the day!