From the Rector

New Year’s resolutions are rapidly shifting from the personal to the public.  Private promises to be slimmer, fitter, kinder or more humane really only make sense if we have a planet left to occupy where we can enjoy the benefits of those individual efforts.

It follows that the world of nations can only achieve its global aspirations if every nation and every kind of community within each nation chooses to reform itself by changing lifestyles from the bottom up.  Any resolution that emanates from the climate summit at Copenhagen only means something when actual communities on the ground make the necessary changes.

The active members of St .Faith’s will be making new resolutions very shortly about how they use the buildings at their disposal, including the parish church, to help Havant’s community discover hope for a decade and well beyond in what will no doubt be a challenging environment not only in climatic terms but in economic and social terms as well.

Because of their commitment to implementing the values of God’s Kingdom proclaimed by Jesus Christ churches are expected to be at the leading edge of change.

This is the realisation that was brought home to members of St. Faith’s congregation who embarked on the Rapid Parish Development programme shortly before Christmas.

Faced with the visible disintegration of parts of the ancient parish church and the dilapidated state of Church House and Coach House at a time when income is falling far below the level necessary to maintain the life of the witnessing Anglican community our parishioners revisited the challenges referred to in this issue’s Editorial.

Amongst the core findings of almost thirty of our members, who it was noted represented the older age range within our congregations, prioritised the young and the disadvantaged as those whose needs should be met.  This, taken together with other findings that will be published on our website, gives us a ‘steer’ for the way ahead particularly in relation to the church.

The location of St .Faith’s is perhaps its greatest asset.  But to take full advantage of that location on every day of the week we need it to provide the kind of spaces which people can use without the restrictions imposed by an arrangement of its furniture which serves only one purpose – and that mostly confined to one day in the week.  While worship and the creation of ‘sanctuary’ must take priority such a critical public building must make many other ‘offers’ to the many who we understand actually still need permission to cross the threshold or even feel intimidated by the exterior or interior of St. Faith’s.  Now that we know that we are unable to extend the building significantly we need it to work harder for us in the service of the many who will need its inspiration to survive the adverse conditions of the years ahead.

My chaplaincy work among some 2,000 students and staff at Havant College and Warblington School together with the strengthening links we have with organisations like the Dynamo Youth Theatre provides all the evidence St. Faith’s needs to see how relevant to the lives of the very people it wishes to prioritise the parish church could be.  Imagine the educational, cultural and social opportunities that could be provided by a suitably and tastefully adapted building right on ‘the beaten track’.  The opportunities for outreach and mission are myriad.

The New Year at the beginning of a new decade whose global resolutions will determine the very fate of the planet is an unmissable opportunity for St. Faith’s together with its sister churches to become beacons of local hope.  Our United Reformed and Methodist Church brothers and sisters have already adapted their buildings and have realised the very public and corporate resolutions they made to meet urgent need.  St. Faith’s must use its unique spaces in that same service.  Such a network of complementary facilities will stand as an enduring sign of the change that the churches can facilitate in their witness to the reality of God’s Kingdom come among us.

Peter Jones

From the Editor

Every year since January 2004 I have been writing in my editorial that we, at St. Faith’s, can look forward to another challenging year.  In those six years, although each year has been a challenge, we have achieved very little and spent a lot of money with parishioners giving up considerable amounts of their time on the planning for the church.  In the six years, we have had “A Vision for the Future”, “From Vision to Mission” and “Kairos”.  We produced plans for a new Church Hall adjacent to St. Faith’s – which the Havant planners turned down; plans for the re-ordering of the church which included, inter alia, new lighting, an audio system, changes to the vestry, refurbishment of the organ, better security with CCTV, improved access for wheelchairs, and much more – with discussions with the Diocese Advisory Committee (DAC) and English Heritage; plans for the refurbishment of Church House – which the planners approved; plans for the Church Hall which were not proceeded further, but discussions were held and continue to be held with the Dynamo Youth Theatre to try to come to an arrangement for using the hall; and to finance some of these plans, but not all, we were going to sell Churchfields and the Christchurch Centre.  Unfortunately for us, the down turn in the economic situation, particularly in the property market, stopped us from financing any of these plans and, at present, we now have the status quo as in January 2004.

This year’s challenge will be to implement whatever was learned from the Rapid Parish Development Programme which many attended on 28 November 2009.  With our budget for 2010 showing a balance of income and expenditure, there will be little to spend, particularly with our annual parish share increasing to £47,500 and our income from Stewardship donations in 2009 less than half this figure - and if, as last year, we find we have unprogrammed expenditure on our properties, as we had with the Lady Chapel roof (£11K) and the fire modifications to Church House (£10.5K).  Furthermore, the Quinquennial Report estimated that the items requiring action this year would be £59,700.  As you will see in the Financial Statements for 2009 when they are produced, there is little in the bank to cover this large amount of expenditure.

So, indeed, 2010 is going to be a challenge yet again!

Colin Carter

St. Faith’s Church Shop

The Church Shop made £11,348.75 in 2009.  A very big thank you to everyone who helped, to all the ladies who turn up weekly for their sessions, to Roger Simmons for arranging the removal and selling the rags, to Beatrice and Joan who man the jewellery table at the coffee mornings in the church, to Shirley for selling whatever silverware we get donated, to Valentine for doing most of the washing and ironing (she says she loves it!), to Mike Vick for all the repairs he does, especially for installing the secondary glazing in one window of the shop, to the dependable Mel Rose for setting up the shop, to Colin Hedley and his band of merry men for hiring a skip and removing all the rubbish which had accumulated over the years.  It would be great if the garden could be cleared in 2010!!

We are short of helpers on a Wednesday morning and afternoon and also on Friday afternoon - if anybody could spare a few hours on these days it would be gratefully appreciated. 

We re-open on Monday 4 January and will be delighted to accept all your donations but no electrics.

A very happy New Year to all and may the shop continue to thrive.

Sheila Warlow

A Fortnight in Indonesia

Sybel and I had a most interesting and varied tour of Java, the main island in what is now the fourth largest country in the world by population.  The landscape is quite dramatic thanks to the row of volcanoes along the length of the island, some of which are very active – it is part of the Pacific ‘rim of fire’.  At one point we had to do a detour to avoid a great lake which has been caused by water, mud and gas issuing from a volcano, disrupting a major highway.  We went up two of them, the most memorable being Mount Bromo in the east.  It had literally blown its top in ancient times, leaving a huge caldera within which a new volcano has gradually emerged.  We were taken up to a viewpoint at the edge of the caldera (about 9,000 ft) to watch the sunrise, then descended to the so-called Sea of Sand inside, from where we climbed up unto the sulphurous fumes being emitted from the new crater.  In the background we could see Mt. Semeru, Java’s highest mountain – also emitting puffs of smoke: an unforgettable sight.

Java also contains some of the most important historic shrines in south-east Asia, particularly Borobudur (Buddhist) and Prambanan (Hindu) – both dating from the 8^th-9^th centuries A.D.  They are embellished with sculpture – in the case of Borobudur, illustrating the life and teachings of Buddha.  One scene shows him in the form of a great turtle rescuing some shipwrecked sailors and bringing them to an island – then, seeing that they had nothing to eat there, offering himself as food: a Christ-like resonance.  Pilgrims walk along the passages carved into the outside of the monument, gradually ascending to the level of enlightenment at the top.

Our guide - whose main job was organising football matches in the East Asian Champions’ League with Japan, Korea, etc., - was obviously full of reverence for the site, so I asked him if he was a Buddhist – no, he said, he was a Muslim.  This was an interesting pointer to the generally tolerant, indeed syncretistic, character of Islam in Indonesia.  Islam spread to these islands relatively late – in the 14^th-16^th centuries; conveyed by merchants from around the west of the Indian Ocean, and making converts mainly through peaceful means.  So elements of the previous Buddhist and Hindu cultures lingered on.  Apart from the temples, we had another experience of this through a performance of the Hindu dance-drama ‘Ramayana’ – brilliantly done in the mansion of a courtier of the (Muslim) Sultan of Yogyakarta.  Indonesia in fact has the largest Muslim population of any country in the world, but there are substantial minority communities – Hindu, Buddhist, Christian – who in general seem to be  treated fairly enough.  But the tolerant tradition is under pressure from Saudi Arabian influences: when we asked about the prospects, the answer was that the current democracy is a safeguard, as most people do not want to become a Saudi outpost.  A lot of women wear headscarves and ‘modest’ dress, but not veils.  The recent Presidential election result (ignored as far as I could see by our dumbed-down media which seems only interested in crises) bears this out – the moderate and sensible S B Yudhoyono was re-elected.

We visited the elegant little Anglican Church in Jakarta, built when the British seized Java from the Dutch towards the end of the Napoleonic Wars.  And we visited markets, villages, (including a school where 6-year-olds sang the national anthem for us), the Botanic Gardens at Bogor outside Jakarta where we saw cinnamon, nutmeg and other tropical trees, and two princely palaces.  But not least, there was the traffic: Java’s hazards are popularly thought to be volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, and the occasional terrorist outrage, but for us they seemed to be primarily the barrage of scooters, cars and trucks in the cities and along the main roads.  Jakarta and particularly Surabaya (the second city, where we finished our tour) badly need a decent public transport system.  The style of driving seemed highly risky but also, one must admit, skilful: we did not see a single accident; and the roads themselves are relatively good.  And it has to be a sign of a thriving economy – in fact Indonesia seems to have weathered the current recession pretty well.  But we were happy to make our two longest journeys by train – in comfortable 1^st class air-conditioned coaches (cheap for us), and giving good views of the very productive countryside.

We spent our first day in Jakarta, the capital – a sprawling city with a high-rise business district at its centre.  Our tour was organised by the UK Historical Association, and our very first visit was to the Commonwealth War Cemetery in the suburbs, well maintained as always, where the leader of our group laid a wreath on the grave of a relative who had died in September 1945 when his plane had crashed while trying to drop supplies to the wretched inmates of a prisoner-of-war camp.  There were also graves of men who had been killed early in 1942 trying to defend the Netherlands East Indies against the Japanese onslaught – Indonesia was the major part of the Dutch colonial empire.  And there were others dating from 1945-46, of men from the British-Indian armies which had gone in shortly after the Japanese surrender under Lord Mountbatten’s command, to rescue the PoWs and round up the Japanese.  I was particularly interested in these, as some years ago I had done research on Mountbatten’s role in south-east Asia, and in fact I gave two talks on that during our trip.  Mountbatten’s main concern was to persuade the Dutch that times had changed radically since pre-war days and that they needed to come to terms with the independent Republic of Indonesia which had been proclaimed immediately after the Japanese collapse.  Unfortunately the Dutch were reluctant to face realities, and the British spent a very uncomfortable year as would-be mediators between the two sides.  I gave my second talk in Surabaya – the city in which bitter and destructive but essentially unwanted and accidental fighting raged for 3 weeks in November 1945 between the British/Indian forces and Indonesian irregulars.  But at least we avoided going to war with the Indonesian Government on behalf of the Dutch, which is what they had hoped for.

So our fortnight’s tour had given us plenty to think about.  A few final points – one of the guide-books promises ‘You will eat well in Indonesia’ – and we did.  The climate generally was rather hot and humid.  And the people generally were extremely courteous and friendly.

Michael Laird

A Suggestion for a New Year Resolution!

Bring your music-loving friends and family to a musical experience with The Havant Orchestras at Ferneham Hall, Fareham!  Choose from a miscellany of English music on 6^th February, a superb young Russian pianist playing Brahms on 27^th March – or further ahead from concerts on 15^th May and 3^rd July.  There are talks about the music before each concert at 6.30pm – one for ‘adults’ and one for younger listeners, then an interlude played by local students before the music ‘proper’ commences at 7.30pm and all this is included in the price of your tickets which are available now at the Box Office.

Please contact Sandra Craddock (023 9248 3228, sandra.craddock@ntlworld.com) for a brochure with full details of all the season’s programmes.  Tickets cost £7 00 - £17.50, with concessions for students and children and are on sale at Ferneham Hall Box Office, open 9.30am - 5.30pm Monday – Saturday, telephone 01329 231942 and at the door.

Prayer

Dear God, I would like to resemble a rose, but prefer to be a Celandine.  Please help me not to be prickly, but someone who makes the best of everything, and able to change the ugliest circumstances into something beautiful for you.  Amen

Rita Rogers

The Pompey Chimes

Many of you will remember the late Eva Trodd who attended this church well past her 90^th birthday.  She also attended Fratton Park with equal loyalty.  Joy and I used to sit with her in church and on one occasion she arrived in torrential rain saying, “I saw Pompey play in heavy rain yesterday and I thought I could do no less for God this morning!”  Towards the end, she could no longer go to Fratton Park but she listened to the match commentaries on her radio.  On one occasion, Pompey was winning 1-0 with five minutes remaining and she was anxiously pacing up and down her room.  She told me, “In the end, I could stand it no longer, so I took my clock off the mantelpiece and advanced it five minutes to end the game!”  At her funeral in St Faith’s Church, as her coffin was being carried away for her committal, the organist, Frank Marks, played the “Pompey Chimes” by using a musical version he had found of the “Westminster Chimes”.

Legend has it that the Pompey Chimes were derived from the bells of the Guildhall clock.  In the early years of the 20^th Century, there were no floodlights and matches finished at 4.00pm.  When Pompey was winning and a few minutes remained of the match, the crowd would sing the chimes in unison with the bells to remind the referee to blow his whistle for the end of the game.  When Pompey won the FA Cup in 1939, beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 4-1, the then Major Vivian Dunn decided to write a march “Pompey Chimes” to commemorate the victory.  A little matter of six years of war delayed him but in 1948 the Major finally wrote his march.  It was premiered on 12 February 1949 at Fratton Park when Pompey played Derby County in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup.  The march was warmly applauded by a still record crowd of over 50,000.  Pompey won the match 2-1 with both goals scored by centre-forward Ike Clarke; the second of which at the Milton End was one of the finest ever scored at Fratton Park.  So, how do I know all this?  You’ve guessed it - I was in that crowd.  Some years ago, I contributed to the Pompey Match Programme about this game and I received a letter from the Club historian saying that Ike Clarke was very touched that his two goals were still remembered.  Ike also coached the team I played for as a teenager and sadly died a few years ago.

Sir Vivian Dunn was a composer, conductor and arranger, who was the son of a Bandmaster.  He had a classical music upbringing, was a member of the first violins of the BBC Symphony Orchestra before becoming the Royal Marines Director of Music at the age of 22!  His appointment was roundly criticized in military music circles.  However, his background in classical music helped him develop the Royal Marine Band Service into perhaps the finest military band in the world.  In October 1953, he became the first Principal Director of Music, Royal Marines.  His Knighthood in the Royal Victorian Order, announced in the New Year’s Honours List 1969, was the only one ever given to a military musician.  After an incredible 38 years service to the Royal Marines, he retired on 29 January 1969.  On 9 October 1989 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.  After a very active retirement, he died on 3 April, 1995 at the age of 86.  Many tributes were paid to him.  His obituary in the Daily Telegraph concluded with the words, “When he raised his baton, it was like a call to arms!”  At his funeral, his march “Cockleshell Heroes”, written for the film of that name, was played.  The address concluded with words from John Bunyan’s “Pilgrim’s Progress”: “So he passed over and all the trumpets sounded for him on the other side.”

Roger Bryant

A Lucky Accident

A year ago, Roger Bryant told us, in the pages of 'Faith Matters', about one of the leaders of the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain, Air Chief Marshall Lord Dowding.  As head of Fighter Command, he was in overall charge of the defence of Britain in those perilous months back in 1940-41.  Another name associated with the Royal Air Force in its early days was Marshal of the Royal Air Force Lord Trenchard.  There is an interesting twist to his story in that it might be said his great achievements happened by accident!

These two men had certain things in common.  Both were named Hugh, both served in the army in India, and both transferred to the Royal Flying Corps when it was formed in 1912, just before the First World War.

Hugh Montague Trenchard was born in Taunton on 3^rd February 1873, and died in London exactly one week after his 83^rd birthday, on 10^th February 1956.  His family could claim descent from Raoul de Trenchant, who came over with William the Conqueror.

Like many who became great leaders, Hugh Trenchard had an inauspicious beginning, just scraping through the entrance to a commission in the army.  After service in India, he volunteered to go to South Africa when the Boer War broke out in 1899.  This was the last major conflict without mechanisation, and the army relied on horses.  Fortunately, Hugh was a first class rider.  As a captain commanding a troop of Australian horsemen, he led them in pursuit of a detachment of the enemy, who made a stand in a farmhouse.  Ordering his men to take cover, Trenchard and four men went forward, to be met at short range with a burst of firing from the windows.  Taking cover behind a wall, Trenchard decided to make a dash for the farmhouse door, and had almost reached it when the Boers fired again, and he was hit in the chest and collapsed.  At this, the Australians made a determined charge and succeeded in capturing the farmhouse, though most of the Boers escaped out of the back.  Trenchard had a nasty wound, and his clothes were soaked in blood, but he was still alive - only just!  An ambulance wagon was sent for, and an army doctor with it dressed his wound.  The doctor did not expect him to live, but they set off for the nearest army hospital.  It was an agonising journey, as the horse-drawn ambulance lurched and jolted along the rough tracks, and though conscious enough to feel the pain like red hot knives plunging into his chest, he was too weak to call out.

At last the hospital was reached, and the doctors examined him.  They too did not expect him to survive.  For three weeks he hovered between life and death, but at last he turned the corner, and the doctors told him he was a very lucky man.  The good news was that his lung should heal; the bad news was that as the bullet passed through him it had damaged his spine, and he might never walk properly again.  He was only 27, and from being an active soldier, a horseman, a polo player, and a lover of the outdoors, he faced life as a cripple, barely able to move about on crutches.  He was sent back to England, no further use to the army.

After a time, he was examined by another doctor in London, who told him his lung was not healing properly because of the dirty, damp winter air of a big city.  The doctor suggested that he went to Switzerland, where the air was clean and dry.  At the end of December 1900, Trenchard went to St. Moritz, one of the centres of winter sports – skiing, climbing, skating; hardly the sort of things a cripple could do!  As he sat outside of the hotel, he saw someone go past on a toboggan, and that set him thinking.  He decided that here was one sport which did not depend on the use of the legs, and determined to try.  He was warned it was not as easy as it looked, but he was not to be put off. Hiring a toboggan, he lurched on to it, and set off.  He consoled himself with the thought that if he fell off, he was already a cripple!  He did fall off, several times, but the soft snow cushioned his fall, though as a cripple he had to lie where he was until someone came to help him up.  With practice, he made good progress, and felt that in this at least he could be the equal of fit men.

He tried steeper and more difficult slopes, and though he still had a few falls, he collected nothing worse than one or two bruises, whilst the fresh air and exercise were helping his lung to heal.  One morning, he tried a particularly formidable run, and soon realised that it was much beyond his skill as a beginner.  He lost control, and the toboggan bumped up over a bank of sand near the edge of the track, flinging him off – the toboggan went to the right, and he went to the left!  He landed with a thud, which jarred his whole body and left him breathless.  As he lay recovering, he realised that something had happened.  It was rather like one of the miracles in the Bible, he thought, for he had feeling in his legs again!  Without help, he scrambled to his feet and walked away without his crutches: he was cured!

Cutting short his holiday, he returned to England, and tried to convince the Army authorities that he was fit again, though he knew that he should really have more time for his lung to mend.  The Army was sceptical, and refused to pass him as fit.  Not to be beaten, Hugh Trenchard took tennis lessons, and in the early summer of 1901 he entered two tennis tournaments, reaching the semi-finals in both.  There was very favourable press coverage, so he sent the newspaper cuttings to the War Office, and without waiting for their reply boarded a troopship for South Africa to resume his army career.

In 1912 he learned to pilot one of the 'flying machines' which the army was trying, and decided the future of warfare could be completely changed by this latest phenomenon.  He transferred to the newly formed Royal Flying Corps, and in 1915 was appointed its commander in France.  When it was decided to amalgamate the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service to form the Royal Air Force, he helped to plan and develop the new Service, and throughout the 1920s worked to secure its place as an independent part of the British Armed Forces.

From 1931 to 1935 he was Metropolitan Police Commissioner, and was instrumental in setting up the Hendon Police College to train future police officers.

The fruits of his work in creating the Royal Air Force became apparent when the Battle of Britain began in 1940, and Fighter Command helped save Britain from invasion.

At Trencher’s funeral in 1956 the coffin was carried by six Marshals of the Royal Air Force, none of whom realised that for over fifty years only one of his lungs had been really effective, and that he had once been a hopeless cripple!

Trevor Hopkinson

Bellringers Christmas Dinner

Another successful Bellringers Christmas dinner was held in the Church Hall on 28 November 2009 attended by our own, and other, bellringers from across the country, and our own parishioners.  The food was superb and the quiz entertainment enlightening.  Well done to Barbara and Bill Skilleter for arranging a most enjoyable evening.  This year’s event will be on 27 November.

To Dubrovnik and the Croatian Coast

After a tedious start from Gatwick we landed at Dubrovnik airport and were taken by our Riviera Travel tour Manager, Andrew, by coach driven by the redoubtable Stephan to our hotel at Drvenic some 3 hours north along the coast.  This was to be our base for the next three days.  That night the wind blew gale force from the rocky heights behind the hotel and left a turbulent sea.  Next day we were driven along the coast and North to the Krka valley, a National Park where the river cascades through a marshy valley, traversed by wooden walkways, before tumbling into a pool.  Here Rosemary swam to be told by Andrew she was only the second in his experience to do so; the first being an American.  From here we took a boat down to near the mouth of the river where our coach collected us.

 

 

The next day we were driven back along the coast to Split where we were guided through the Emperor Diocletian's Palace; a vast walled town still occupied by residents living above the vaults which had been cleared of an accumulation of ordure to disclose the most delicate Roman brickwork.  We emerged on the East side to find a large statue to the Bishop (Bishop of Nin) who had obtained a dispensation to allow the Mass to be said in Croatian instead of Latin in the middle ages.  The Italian occupiers had ordered the statue to be removed.  It was cut up and stored until after WWII when it was resurrected and now its feet are highly polished by passers by seeking good luck. 

Then further North to the medieval fortress of Trogir noted for the ornate archway into its church.

                 

Back in our hotel we packed our bags ready for a move into Dubrovnik the next day.  On the way we entered Bosnia-Herzegovina to visit the ancient town of Mostar seeing the battle scarred buildings from the savage war of the 1990's.  Here we saw the striking bridge between the Christian and Muslim halves of the town which had been rebuilt by UNESCO and opened by our own Prince Charles.  We learned that of the many contributions to heal the scars of war the greatest contribution had come from Spain.

 

We settled into our new hotel.  A large but better run place than before and the next day we had a guided tour of the striking walled city of Dubrovnik.  Thankfully no cruise ships were in but it was still fairly crowded.  There were many fine buildings to be seen.  Perhaps the most memorable was where the archives are stored commemorating the many citizens who had died under the combined assaults of Serbia and Montenegro.  This included a TV screen showing the shelling and buildings burning.  After a pleasant meal in an attractive arbour we climbed up and went round half the high walls to look down on the roofs contrasting the different coloured tiles where the many had been replaced with those made from clay from Toulouse!  Throughout this city which had suffered so much in the recent war was rebuilt and pristine except for one wall on which was inscribed in black spray paint IRA Belfast.  What feelings the perpetrators hoped to arouse I know not apart from disgust.

The next day we decided to take a boat trip round the three Elafiti islands.  The boat pulled into a ramshackle jetty near the hotel and instead of a safety briefing the skipper offered each of us a slug of firewater; a novel experience.  Passing the third island we saw a new cross on the shore with flowers and a wreath.  We were told five Croatians had been killed there by the Serbs.  All three islands were attractive and we went to Lopud Island for a pleasant lunch where Rosemary had her third swim (that in the hotel pool had been freezing).  Here we learned the true use of the canvas structures shaped like a French pissoire: they were for changing in!  Then back to our hotel seeing a vast cruise ship berthed in the creek by the striking new bridge named after the Croatian President who had seen his country through the recent war.

On our final day we went south into Montenegro.  Having split from Serbia it is now Europe's newest country.  As no love is lost between Croatia and this neighbour the frontier was strictly controlled.  The countryside became greener and soon we were on the banks of the large inland sea surrounded by 8,000 ft mountains.  Unfortunately one of our fellow travellers was very ill here and it was a little while before our driver could pull in by a restaurant car park.  After some time the victim emerged seemingly wearing a pair of the anxious restaurateur's trousers.  One felt for both of them.  We then stopped by the ancient walled city of Budva which contained many strikingly beautiful buildings.  Then on to Kotor, another walled town with signs of its history displayed in an interesting maritime museum.  We returned across the inland sea by vehicle ferry and so back to our hotel to prepare for an early start the next morning.

This time we were due to leave early to catch our Croatian Airlines plane back to Gatwick where reality kicked in with a very long walk to immigration control and so to find our car.  It had been a lovely well organised holiday to see a fascinating part of Europe.

Peter Thomas

Saint Cecilia’s Concert

The St. Faith’s Church Choir under the direction of Sylvia Willey, and Bosmere Junior School Chamber Choir, under the direction of its Music Teacher, Tim Mann, gave a concert in St. Faith’s Church on Saturday 21 November on the eve of Saint Cecilia’s Day – the patron saint of musicians and Church music.

The programme opened with a Spanish Dance piano duet by Sylvia Willey and Geoff Porter, with pieces from choral items, a flute trio, assembly songs, instrument playing, spirituals, recorder quartet playing, songs from the shows, and a finale, all performed by the individual or combined choirs.

£105 was collected of which £30 went to Bosmere School and £75 to the St. Faith’s Church Organ Fund.

St. Faith’s Choir is affiliated to the Royal Schools of Church Music (RSCM) and choristers, both children and adults, receive free training for their RSCM badges. 

Congratulations to Lisa Edwards who was awarded the light blue ribbon on Sunday 29 November.

If you enjoy singing why not speak to Sylvia to arrange to sing with the choir on a Friday evening.  Choristers sing at weddings, concerts and civic services and enjoy social events, such as BBQ’s and theatre visits.  Choristers are paid monthly according to attendance and seniority.