From the Rector - The Big Wait

I had been trying to have a telephone conversation with Isabella from Watermill Court for nearly a week since she called and left a message on my answer-phone.  I called back and left a message for her and she replied.  Again I called and left a message and again she replied.  Finally this afternoon we connected.  “Life’s just too busy”, Isabella complained, “and I assure you it doesn’t get any easier as you get older!”

Alas, life is so busy.  Last month I conducted meetings on consecutive evenings in which people from St Faith’s were saying how busy they are and how difficult it is to fulfil all their commitments to the church, work and family.  It is extremely difficult to keep a healthy balance between these three areas of our lives.  It comes to the point where the church, work and our families seem to be competing for our time.  We want to prioritise our family, but work gets in the way.  When we need to knuckle down at work we find ourselves committed to a church function and then when we want to commit to our responsibility at church we find we must give our attention to our family.  How do we get it right?

At this time of year – Advent, the church calls it – we are reminded of the prophet Isaiah speaking some 2,700 years ago foretelling the coming of the Saviour of the world.  He said, “A voice cries out in the wilderness, ‘Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight his ways’”.  Someone, somewhere out there is trying to give us a message of preparation.  They are warning us to be careful; to take time to be ready for the coming of the Holy One.

As we know that Holy One arrived – at that first Christmas, and we shall celebrate that most wonderful of festivals later this month.  But He will come again, so we must ready ourselves for that festival – not only by purchasing a thousand presents, the largest turkey known to humankind, and 25 metres of silly string – but by preparing our hearts, souls and minds.  Because when we get ready for Christmas we are getting ready for the coming of Jesus, the Christ.  This is serious stuff.

“Of course”, we say, “this year is no different from any other, and the same warning and invitation will be issued next year, so there’s no hurry.  I am really busy this year, so I’ll make a pact to do the serious preparation next year – okay?”  Well, actually, no: it’s not okay to put it off.

At some point we need to make that vital preparation for the day of the Lord – for no one knows when it will be, but it will be.  And so there is a pressing invitation, one we dare not ignore, to take some time out of our already hectic schedule, to make that right preparation for His coming.

So make time, take a day off – go to bed really early or hide in the spare room and pray.  That’s all we have to do, come into the Lord’s presence and wait on him.  You could come to the Quiet Day on Tuesday 11^th December at Park Place, Wickham where I shall co-ordinate a day of prayer and waiting, or you can find your own time.  Whatever you decide to do, make sure it’s the real thing.

And by the way – enjoy your Christmas.

Fr David

 “The Brunels”

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s career moved off in another direction when in 1833 he was appointed the Engineer for the proposed London to Bristol Railway set to be, at 118 miles, the longest railway in the country, four miles longer than the London to Birmingham Railway.  His survey of the proposed route revealed that it would cross very level countryside and he decided to change from the 4ft 8in gauge to a 7ft one to provide a smoother journey.  By 1838, he had completed the first stage of the line from London to Maidenhead, where he crossed the Thames by building the longest and flattest brick arches ever constructed, then or since!  He also had built the two stations at either end of the line, famous to present-day travellers – Paddington and Bristol Temple Meads.  The line was completed in 1841 and included a tunnel at Box, Somerset, two miles long and perfectly straight.  He then started to build branch lines including an extension to Exeter which required the building of the remarkable Royal Albert Bridge across the River Tamar at Saltash.  This consisted of two 465 ft spans, floated on the river and placed in position under the personal direction of Isambard, using flags to communicate his instructions!  He then sunk an iron caisson between them, excavated the river bed within the caisson, and then used masonry to construct a deep-water pier to join the two spans.

While all this construction was underway, Isambard turned his attention to other projects.  In 1836, he started the Great Western Railway and two years later he designed a ship propelled by paddle wheels driven by steam power.  It had its first voyage from Bristol to New York and subsequently made a further 66 transatlantic crossings.  In 1839, he designed and built the Great Britain.  It is the only one of its kind to survive, having been restored in Bristol in a dry dock originally built by Isambard!  In 1851, he designed a ship four times the size of the Great Britain, with 22 compartments, a double iron hull, and six masts.  The ship had three systems of propulsion:  58,500 sq ft of sail; a 24ft single screw propeller, driven by a separate engine to save fuel; and two paddle wheels, each 58ft across, driven by steam propulsion,!  These dimensions were not exceeded for 40 years.  The ship was named the “Great Eastern” and was launched sideways into the Thames in January 1858.  The ship was ready for its sea trials in September 1859.  Photographs of Isambard during the trials showed a sick man, who in fact was suffering from kidney failure.  There were no transplants in those days.  That same month, Isambard suffered a stroke and died on 15 September 1859 at the age of 53.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel was a genius of great flair and daring.  He was the greatest engineer this country has ever produced and the range of his achievements is unique.  He and his father pioneered tunnels so essential to our travelling network.  He built bridges, the like of which had not been seen before or since.  He built railways and made them run smoothly and comfortably by changing the gauge of the rails.  He built two of the greatest steamships ever designed.  All around this country we still have evidence of his genius.  For many years I worked in London, walking each morning and evening across the Hungerford Bridge, which linked Charing Cross Station with Waterloo.  I did not realize until researching these articles that it was another of Isambard’s bridges.  Nor did I realise that chains from it were used in the construction of his most famous bridge - the Clifton Suspension Bridge.  Sadly, Isambard’s early death denied him seeing the Clifton Bridge because it was not completed until 1864, five years after his death.  It now stands as a monument to our greatest engineer. 

Roger Bryant

Remembrance Sunday 11 November 2007

The poppies  record one member of our forces who was killed in action or died in an accident in Iraq or Afghanistan since Remembrance Sunday last year

Harp Soiree

Enjoy a surprising variety of music performed by Danielle Clarke on her concert harp in St. Nicholas Chapel, Langstone on Friday 14 December at 7.30pm.  For those of you who have ever wondered about this curious instrument there will be a short talk and a question and answer session. 

Tickets £5 payable at the door.  Light refreshments included.

Our Magical trip to Scandinavia and the Baltic’s

We started our trip from Southampton where we boarded a Royal Caribbean cruise ship bound for the Baltic’s.  It was a huge ship called The Navigator of the Seas which took 3,114 passengers and had 1,181 crew, 14 decks, a three-storey dining room, a few small intimate restaurants and a large buffet hall.  There was a large shopping mall which had bars as well as shops where you could also get snacks, teas, coffees and juices 24 hours a day.  On the entertainment side we had a five-storey theatre with shows every night with artists flown in plus a skating rink that had shows as well.  During the day there were Quiz's, games, dancing, fitness centre, miniature golf course, a rock climbing wall, basketball court, table tennis and much more besides.  We started day one with a buffet lunch followed by life boat drill and then after unpacking we started to find our way around this floating hotel which was to be our home for the coming 12 days.  The following 2 days were spent at sea and then we arrived at our first port which was Gdansk, Poland.  The pride of Gdansk is St. Mary's gothic church which accommodates 25,000 people and is the world's largest brick church, this medieval church took 159 years to build and is in the old town where we went by coach, we spent most of our time walking around the cobbled streets and soaking up the culture.  The next port was Stockholm in Sweden where we stayed overnight so there was plenty of time for sight-seeing and we set off to explore the town which was surrounded by the harbour, a navy ship was in and we watched them marching, not as smart as our Royal Navy but the band was very good.  The town had more narrow cobbled streets with interesting little shops, boutiques, bars, etc.  The buildings were wonderful and dated back to the 13^th century.  The following morning we did the waterways of Stockholm which was a great way of seeing all the grandest places such as the Royal Palace, City hall, Vaasa museum.  The apartments were very grand and we were shown where Bjorn Borg the tennis player has one with 25 rooms, we travelled under bridges, through locks and discovered that Stockholm was built upon 14 islands all joined by bridges.  We next arrived in Tallinn in Estonia which is one of the oldest on the Baltic Sea, we caught the shuttle bus from the ship to the old town which has remained remarkably unchanged for the past 600 years, making it one of the most attractive cities to explore in Europe.  We spent an enjoyable few hours exploring this quaint place, especially the many shops selling Amber of every colour which of course we had to purchase a little keepsake.  After another day at sea we arrived at Copenhagen, Denmark where we boarded a canal boat at the old fish market, again we saw all the main sights such as the Christiansburg Castle, the Old Stock Exchange, pretty houseboats and the famous Black Diamond.  As we had all day ashore there was time to explore on foot, take pictures of Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid and get a beer along the harbour.  And so on to our last port Oslo, Norway.  Situated at the head of a 60-mile fjord it is framed by a vast expense of woods, moors and lakes - the scenery truly beautiful.  This time we took a scenic coach trip to see sights such as the Viking Ship Museum and the Hollmenlollen Ski Tower which was built in 1952 for the Winter Olympics.  After the tour we spent some time ashore before boarding the ship for the last time - one more day at sea and we would be back in Southampton again.

Val & Mel Rose

In St. Benedict’s Footsteps

Between 4 and 12 October we visited sites associated with St Benedict in central Italy – in the Lazio region around Rome (that name will be familiar to anyone who follows Italian football!) St Benedict was born about A.D. 480; after studying in Rome, he retired to a cave in the mountains above Subiaco, eventually establishing a number of monasteries around there and further south at Monte Cassino.  He wrote the Rule which came to be adopted by most of the monasteries which developed in Western Europe.  It contained important principles which remain of value – and not just for monks but also for lay folk leading normal lives in the world.  They include Listening – to God’s word for us; Stability – meaning commitment to, and making the best of, our situation; but also Change, seeing life as a journey that is often unpredictable.  Other principles included Balance, exemplified in the monastic life of prayer, study, and manual work; and Hospitality, which the monks showed to those who came to their doors, including the poor and the sick.  As a whole the Rule proved practical and sensible, providing indeed a good ‘balance’ between sacred and secular concerns; appropriately, he was recently designated the patron saint of Europe.

Our pilgrimage was organised by Pax Travel and led by Canons Bruce Carpenter and Jane Hedges, whom we had come to know when she was at Portsmouth Cathedral in the ‘90s and is now at Westminster Abbey.  The party came mostly from the areas where Jane has ministered, around Portsmouth, Honiton, and Westminster.  We actually started at Westminster, which was originally one of the Benedictine foundations in England.  We were given a comprehensive tour of the Abbey, ending with a taste of its ‘hospitality’ at dinner in the Jerusalem Chamber, in which Henry IV died in 1413 (as anyone who has read or seen Shakespeare’s King Henry IV Part II might remember).  We attended Evensong in the Abbey, and had services of worship in many of the places in Italy which we visited.  

In Italy, we were well served by a driver who proved remarkably adept in manoeuvring a sizeable coach through the narrow streets of towns and villages.  We visited Benedict’s cave outside Subiaco, which as the Middle Ages went on developed into a monastery with a fascinating series of chambers built into the hillside decorated with beautiful frescoes.  We also went to Monte Cassino, where in addition to its St Benedict associations we were also reminded of the Italian campaign in 1943-45.  We visited the Commonwealth War Cemetery in the valley below, with its rows of graves of British, Indian, New Zealand, Canadian and South African servicemen who had died.  Observing the terrain, it was easy to understand why that campaign had proved so difficult for the Allied army coming up from the south – the Apennine Mountains with their ridges extending towards the coast provided good opportunities for the German defence, and none better than Monte Cassino itself.  This resulted in the controversial Allied decision in February 1944 to bomb the monastery: apart from the destruction of the historic building, it did not dislodge the Germans, who simply regrouped in the rubble and held out for several weeks more.  So the monastery which we visited was a post-war reconstruction.

On another day we visited two Cistercian monasteries, Casamari and Trisulti – the latter in a remote position high up in the wooded Apennine foothills enjoying magnificent views.  The Cistercians were a 12^th-century offshoot from the Benedictines, represented in England by Fountains Abbey among others.  One sign of our times was that these great buildings inherited from the mediaeval past seem to be inhabited now by relatively few monks - about 20 at Monte Cassino.  There’s surely a paradox here – apart from their attraction for tourists, monastic spiritual resources are it would seem increasingly valued in our hectic and troubled era, as some recent British TV programmes have indicated.

On our way north from Cassino we stopped at the little town of Anagni, much favoured by 13^th-century Popes who wanted to get away from Rome.  We saw the palace that they had built – which in 1303 had been the scene of a historic event of enormous importance.  The reigning Pope, Boniface VIII, had denounced King Philip IV of France for taxing the clergy without his approval; and went on to advance a claim to Papal supremacy over not just the Church but over secular rulers as well.  So Philip sent his chief adviser to Anagni – who administered what is said to have been a ‘slap’ to the Pope: whether literal or metaphorical, this was a humiliation from which the Papacy never really recovered.  Apart from the former Papal palace, we also visited the Cathedral, which has a beautiful Cosmati floor and a crypt embellished with interesting mediaeval frescoes.

We had a day off ecclesiastical sites with a visit to Tivoli, where we saw the fantastic gardens and fountains of the 16^th-century Villa D’Este, and then the extensive ruins of the Emperor Hadrian’s palatial villa – in the rain unfortunately.  Our final visit was to Greccio, associated with St Francis of Assisi rather than Benedict:  It was where he organised the first representation of the Nativity, in 1223.  Then we drove to the nearby town of Rieti, where we spent our last evening and morning.  One benefit of the trip was getting to such places which, despite being not far from Rome, in the midst of lovely countryside, and containing plenty of interest, are well off the usual tourist trail.

Michael and Sybel Laird

In the year 1223, St Francis staged a re-enactment of the nativity, using the local population and their animals to stage it.  It was to show the humanity of Christ.  Each year, on Boxing Day there is a festival there, where the locals celebrate this.  The sanctuary of the Nativity at Grecchio, Italy has various scenes of the Nativity, as well as a museum full of Nativity scenes from around the world.  St Francis lived in a cave, situated on a steep cliff, on this site for a while.

Quiet Day

At Park Place, Wickham on Tuesday 11^th December.  Cost of £9 per person does not include lunch, so please bring your own sandwiches.  See Fr David to book.

 

St Stephen’s Church and Eight VCs

St Stephen’s Church, the last of the six churches destroyed in the great fire blitz of 10 January 1941, was designed by Reginald Crowley in the Perpendicular style and built in 1898.  The parish of St Stephen’s was taken from St Mark’s and St James’ parishes and statues of the two saints stood in stone niches above the altar.  There was a fine reredos carved in Bath and Caen stone, showing the risen Christ, flanked by the Virgin Mary and St Stephen.  It was described as mildly catholic and had a loyal and devoted congregation including Mary Fuller who first told us about the church.  Following the destruction of St Stephen’s, the congregation moved to the Church Hall, which was said to have been in a turning off Kingston Road, where they continued to celebrate Mass.  I cannot trace this hall but in the 1896 ordinance survey map, there is shown a St Stephens Road, off Powerscourt Road, with a “Sunday School” shown close to the junction of both roads.  This was two years before St Stephen’s Church was built, so perhaps the Sunday School became the new Church Hall.  The two roads survived the bombing and are still there.  St Stephen’s also had a mission hall in Binstead Road, known affectionately by the locals as the “Bin”!  Joy lived nearby in Langley Road and her younger brother Fred remembers as a young boy attending “lantern slide” shows in the hall.  Joy remembers attending lantern slide shows but these were in the Salvation Army Citadel at the top of Lake Road.  After the war, the congregation tried to have the St Stephen’s Church rebuilt but, sadly, they were unsuccessful.

Mary Fuller, 86 years young, now lives in Eastney and worships at St Margaret’s Church which is opposite Highland Road Cemetery where she tells me are buried eight holders of the Victoria Cross!  I have found out their names from the website of the friends of the cemetery.  They are Hugh Stewart Cochrane VC (1884), Sir William Nathan Wrighte Hewlett VC (1888), William Goate VC (1901), John Roberts VC (1902), Hugh Shaw VC (1904), Henry James Raby VC (1907), Israel Harding VC (1917) and William Temple VC (1919).  In the Short History of the Royal Marines, kindly given to me by Peter Thomas, details are given of the ten Royal Marines who were awarded the Victoria Cross and none of our eight is listed.  Without ranks, it is not possible to identify which branch of the armed forces our eight were in but at least we know the major conflicts over the period of their awards.  There were wars in Africa and the Far East (1873-1898) including the Zulu War; the Boer War and Boxer uprising in China (1899-1902); the Great War (1914-1918); and the Russian Revolution (1918-1919).  We do not know whether the awards were posthumous but I checked the Roll of Honour of Portsmouth men who made the supreme sacrifice in the Great War but found no trace of Israel Harding VC.  The following appears at the start of the Roll and is a fitting conclusion to my search.  “The following list of the names of the men of Portsmouth who have made the Great Sacrifice is arranged without regard to Service or Rank.  All stand equal in God’s sight; all alike have earned the lasting gratitude of those they died to save.  May Light Perpetual Shine Upon Them”. 

Roger Bryant