From the Rector - Moving On

It does not seem five minutes ago that I arrived in Havant and was inducted as Rector.  It was in fact seven years ago (11^th June 2001 to be precise).  I remember my first Sunday.  Sophia, my younger daughter, not quite two years old, had held my hand as I processed out of church at the end of the service.  Earlier she and sister Elise joined two other newcomers that day, Louise and Ruth Hedley, along with Janice Knight’s two boys, in the inaugural meeting of a Sunday Club.  The mothers of those children, Susan, Fiona and Janice led the children into the Choir Vestry during the first hymn and, after their activities, brought them into the church for communion.  Lovely to think now how that Sunday Club has grown and evolved over the last seven years, moving into its own dedicated space in the Church House, utilising the Godly Play room and all the insight that rich spiritual tool brings.  Deborah has done so much in that time to lead the club and as she prepares to hand over now, I am confident that under Kate’s leadership the children will continue to thrive.

Going back to that first Sunday I said that I wouldn’t change anything in the first six months apart from bringing the services into line with Common Worship, which had been in place for a year and a half.  At one point I held an open meeting in the Rectory to discuss the format of the main Sunday morning service.  Over 30 people came and expressed their views and my opinion was formed by listening to them.  This set the tone for all change that has taken place in the parish since then: inviting opinion from all those involved in the church and listening to them.  While the decisions have been made by the Church Council and me, this truly consultative approach has enabled the congregation to know that their contributions to the life of the church are both important and vital for the mission of the church to succeed.

So, of the things I celebrate as I prepare to leave Havant, the increased sense of the value of each member of the congregation’s ministry is perhaps the most significant.  Because everyone is important to God, they are important ministers of the church and missioners to the world.  It is crucial that the church consistently reinforces this central message of Jesus.  The fruit of this message is to see church groups continue to evolve, adapting to the changing needs around them, and people offering themselves in service.  Take the Parish Shop for example.  When Edna Gomersall announced her retirement from running the Parish Shop at the age of 90 (the shop she had started on Father Brown’s request and had raised thousands of pounds over the years, supporting the needs of an array of people) we never thought that just one person would be able to take it on.  But Sheila Warlow came forward – very modestly – and has helped the volunteers continue to take part in this ministry.  Likewise staff and volunteers keep coming forward to maintain all these (and more) ministries in the life of the church: the Choir, Youth Club, Women’s group, Men’s group, Bible Study group, Youth Church, PCC, PDG, BMC, Flower Arrangers, Church cleaners, Readers, Intercessors, Visitors, Servers, Bell Ringers, Refreshment makers, Town Fair committee, First Communion preparation, Art group, Bible Reading Fellowship, the Pastoral Centre, Mission to St John’s (Ghana) and Sendai (Japan).

And now, for the first time in many years, we have sponsored a Reader in training in Sandra Haggan.  She is loved by you all, so I know you will support her as her ministry continues to flourish.

The Property Development Group has worked extremely hard to provide viable plans for the PCC to approve and has achieved much.  I am sorry to be leaving before the fruit of their labours are available to all, but I know that they are a capable group, who enjoy the confidence of the PCC, are well led by Jan Stuart, and who know their guidance by the Holy Spirit.  In God’s time their work will come to fruition and the church’s ministry and mission will be greatly enhanced as they liberate the church and its facilities for the community to enjoy.  I am convinced that the final plan will be one that all can appreciate – on the one hand maintaining the dignity of a church that has been prayed in for centuries and on the other, making the space flexible, accessible and inviting enough for the whole community to utilise.

So, while I acknowledge there are many challenges ahead, I am sure that the church in Havant and Langstone is in good shape – strong in faith and love, and determined to minister to the people of this area.

From my point of view I move on to make a new start, in a new parish in a different country.  St Mark’s, Barrington Hills, is an Episcopal Church, part of the Anglican Communion.  It too faces its challenges – many similar to ours, such as a building project and how best to engage with the community while at the same time offering its membership the chance to grow in the Lord.  I look forward to moving to this new place, but for now I say farewell to you, my friends here in Havant.

Let me finish by thanking you for the wonderful support you have given me in this seven year span, and for the love you have shared with Susan and our girls, Elise and Sophia.  You have taken us to your hearts and we have been at home here.  I would like to thank especially the Churchwardens who have all been magnificent.  Roger Bryant (who continues to serve as Secretary) and Colin Warlow (who served faithfully as Churchwarden for a remarkable 18 years) appointed me.  Sandra Haggan and Jan Stuart have given me unstinting support over the last five years.  They have been magnificent in encouraging, challenging, discussing everything that has been before us and we have had the distinction of standing together on all matters.  I am sure that in Graham Frost they have a worthy successor.  My thanks to the leaders of all the churches in Havant, who have worked together most graciously.  To the leaders of the community, such as our Ward Councillors, members of the local Business Group, hirers of the Hall and Church House, the British Legion, local retailers, business people and the Market Traders, who have worked with us well for the good of the community, I express my heartfelt thanks.

Be assured that you will stay always in my prayers.  May God continue to bless you,

David

Congratulations to Choir Members

Amy Frost and Eleanor Toole have been admitted into the Choir as probationers.

 Airspeed

Last month we looked at the civil side of this company but now we look at the Airspeed at war.  Without doubt the greatest military glider of the Second World War was the Airspeed Horsa, designed by Hessell Tiltman.  While plans for the glider were being produced, Swan Hunter sold their share of Airspeed to the huge de Havilland Aircraft Company in June 1940.  The requirement of Airspeed was to produce a glider to carry between 24 and 36 fully armed troops.  It had to be capable of being produced in sections by the furniture industry and then rapidly assembled by the RAF.  Astonishingly, 695 were produced at the Airspeed’s Christchurch factory and the furniture industry produced 2,732.  A grand total of 3,655 Horsas were produced.

This is what Lieutenant Colonel George Chatterton, commander of the Glider Pilot Regiment, had to say about the Horsa to the Portsmouth News in 1976.   “No one else in the world did anything like this and there could not have been battles like Arnhem without flying in the troops and guns.  I do not think that many people today realize the part those gliders played in the war.   Those Horsas were wonderful things; they took off like birds.”  A total of 2,000 Horsas were deployed for the Normandy landings and they delivered around 7,000 tons of equipment.  On 17 September 1944, 478 Horsas took off for Arnhem delivering troops, six pounder anti-tank guns and jeeps.  In four days of fierce fighting, Horsas made 600 landings, delivering 4,500 men, 95 guns plus jeeps and larger vehicles. 

The human cost was high.  The casualties of the Glider Pilot Regiment in this heroic battle were 23 officers and 286 other ranks killed, while 31 officers and 438 other ranks were taken prisoner.  The glider pilots were truly magnificent.  Apart from their extraordinary flying skill, once on the ground they had to fight in almost every position in the field.  Their bravery was such that during the war they suffered 50% casualties and won 175 decorations for bravery.  After the war, the Airspeed retained its identity despite the huge de Havilland Company of which it was a small part.  It would take too long to detail the post-war achievements of Airspeed through to its closure in 1968.  Perhaps we should finish with the words of the last Airspeed manager, George Statham.  On the day of the closure of his factories at Portsmouth and Christchurch, he said “I came here as a de Havilland man but I soon recognized the strength of the Airspeed tradition.  Frankly, I now look upon myself as an Airspeed man!”

Roger Bryant

Bedenham Explosion

I wonder if any of you remember an incident on the evening of the 14 July 1950 when six lighters being loaded with ammunition at Bedenham Pier, Gosport, in the Royal Naval Armament Supply Depot blew up in a massive explosion, heard all over Portsmouth.  The explosion completely destroyed two lighters loaded with depth charges and 1,000 ton bombs.  Then 50 minutes later, a second explosion destroyed the remaining four lighters.  Astonishingly, no one was killed.

In Portsmouth, the principal damage was to the plate glass windows of shops, particularly in Commercial Road and the Guildhall Square.  Many of us remember that during the war bomb blast did strange things.  Some windows were blown out; others next to them remained intact.  So it was on this July evening.  In a piano shop in Commercial Road, blast sucked out a large second floor window, while the windows on the first floor remained intact!  In the London Road area, not only shops but houses had windows blown out but again no one was killed.

Police cars toured the city broadcasting the following: “An explosion has occurred at Gosport.  There is no cause for alarm.  You are, however, advised to keep open your windows to avoid damage in the event of further explosions”.  The following morning was reminiscent of the wartime air raids with streets and pavements strewn with broken glass.  The wheel of a locomotive was blown across the harbour and landed in Landport, again without injury to anyone.  Fortunately the damage was slight, other than in the Armament Depot which was massively damaged, and there were no casualties.  This was at the height of the Cold War and sabotage was immediately suspected.  There were many communists in this country, virtually all loyal to this country, but there were spies, like Philby, and no doubt saboteurs.  I may be wrong but, as far as I can remember, the cause of the explosion was never established.  Do any of you have memories of that July evening?

Roger Bryant

From the Registers – June 2008

8^th - Baptisms of Shanay Bennett; Bayley and Rachel Ford; Tracy, Martell and Yasmin Halpin

20^th – Marriage of Samuel Thompson and Amy Thomas

21^st – Marriage of Duncan Campbell and Julia Shuttle

22^nd – Baptism of Logan Shaw

Golden Wedding Anniversary

It doesn’t seem that 50 years have passed since that wonderful day on 5 July 1958 when we were married by the Reverend Raymond Lee at St. Nicholas Church in Tooting, London.

We had met in November 1955 when Colin came to see my sister, Rena, who was his pen-friend.  Colin proposed three months later as by then we were madly in love and knew we were meant for each other.  The following January, Colin was sent to the Far East in HMS Cossack and we were parted for 18-months.  The only way to communicate then was by letter – there was no Internet or mobile phones and our parents did not even have a telephone!  Each of us wrote over 400 letters.  Before he left, he bought me a rug making set – he certainly knew how to keep me busy while he was away!

In June 1958 when Colin returned home, it was as if we had never been parted.  Our honeymoon was spent at Holywell Bay in Cornwall – a romantic place with plenty of sand dunes to get lost in!

The first 12 years of married life saw us move from London to Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Lovedean, Horndean, Plymouth, Farlington and Havant.  In 1970, our lovely daughter, Colleen arrived and life was even happier than ever.  When she was 2½ years-old we went to Singapore for two years before returning to Havant where we have lived ever since.

Colleen married Graham in 1997 at St. Faith’s Church and we now have two lovely grand daughters, Jenny and Holly – both baptised in St. Faith’s.

People told me that marrying a sailor would be all heartaches and honeymoons – yes, the heartaches were every time he went away and the honeymoons were wonderful when he returned.

Although the world has changed so much in 50 years our love for each other remains the same – even stronger.          

Beryl Carter

Correspondence Column

Dear Father David,

I read your address “Living with Hope” (“Faith Matters” May) and found it most interesting and thought provoking – it set off, in me, quite a train of thought.  Your remarks concerning “Surprised by Hope”, caught and held my attention, in particular, the phrase “the entire basis for Christian hope centres upon the transformation within this life of the created order and of the people within it”.  I was brought to thinking about the early Socialists and Christian Socialists in Britain in the latter part of the 10^th Century and the first half of the 20^th.  To them, the “dark Satanic mills” were the mills and factories where thousands of men and women worked long hours for low wages before returning to homes which, in many cases were little more than hovels.  These social reformers sought, and devoted their lives, to building a ‘new’ Jerusalem in England’s green and pleasant land.  A Jerusalem where all would receive just returns for their labours, live in decent homes in pleasant environments and not be regarded merely as labour units.

These pioneers for social justice had one particular thing in common, they were all devout Christians; most were Methodists or Non-Conformists such as Keir Hardie,

Arthur Henderson et al, there were also Anglicans and Roman Catholics.  In 1877 a group of Anglican priests headed by Stewart Headlam gave Christian Socialism its first real organisational structure in the Guild of St, Matthew.  This small group studied political questions in the light of the Incarnation, but remained on the fringe as prophets of idealism rather than a serious political movement until its demise in 1906.  In contrast the more pragmatic Church Socialist League formed in 1906 existed “to further the socialism of the Independent Labour Party and the Social Democratic Forum among Churchmen”.  Its members included the Bishop of Birmingham (Charles Gore) and the Bishop of Durham (BF Westcott).

The Jerusalem that these Christian politicians and priests sought to create, would by its very nature carry within it an inherent spirituality – for a society where none are exploited, all live in harmony and accord and all are equal in the sight of God, would surely manifest heaven in the here and now of the Rt Revd Tom Wright – and yourself.

Yours sincerely, John Bradey

Dear Editor,

I should like to say a big thank you to everyone who came to my coffee morning.  We were lucky with the weather and I think we all had a good time.

I was pleased to hand over a cheque for £106 towards the flower festival.

Jeanne Morgan

Dear Editor,

Thank you for inserting your congratulations to our grandson Andrew Thomas for attaining his Royal Marine's green beret.  Your readers might be interested to know that his father says: "As parents what is particularly pleasing to us is his dependence on the Lord and concern to be a good witness at Lympstone where he trained.  He says to you 'Only the Lord got me through this and thank you for praying for me'".

Rosemary & Peter Thomas

 Dear Editor,

Royal Marine Commando

Cruising Down to Rio

A classroom made from old lemonade bottles! And a Christmas tree made of what looked like can lids!  We paid a visit to a café where Jorge Amado, the Author, was a frequent patron.  It was called the ‘Vesuvio Bar’.  Jorge’s bust adorned the garden and we drank his health in another ‘strange’ concoction. 

Tomorrow we will be arriving at one of the highlight destinations of our journey – Rio de Janeiro.  The dawn came up in a fiery red glow as we glided towards the Rio skyline.  Was this a good omen we wondered?  The weather was becoming changeable – one night a storm had ripped all the tiles from the sides of the outdoor swimming pool, but it didn’t disturb our sleep.  Nevertheless, the sun was shining as we drew nearer and nearer to the port.  We could now make out the outline of Christ the Redeemer on Corcovado Mountain.  Soon we disembarked in the City of Carnival, called Janeiro because it was discovered in January.  We made our way to the train station and waited for the Ratchet train which would take us nearly to the top.  The train clicked and clanked its way up the mountain.  Flowers covered the banks and various animals and Disney characters gave way near the summit to biblical figures and scenes.  Well as you may have guessed when we finally made it to the top, via escalators and steps, the clouds had shrouded the view both of the statue and of the city below.  As we peered upwards we could just make out the outstretched arm of Christ but we took our photos anyway.  So did everyone else – some getting into very strange positions to do so!  Of course, when we arrived back down, the sun came out!  It was still amazing in spite of the clouds – in fact it was quite atmospheric and I’m so glad that we chose this option over Sugar Loaf Mountain.  Perhaps on my next visit?  Once again time caught us up and after a brief visit to Rio’s famous beaches – Ipanema and Copacabana – we returned to our waiting vessel.  By the way, I did find time to buy another hat!  Quelle surprise!

Next month – Rio de Janeiro to the River Plate and ‘it takes two to Tango’! So they say……

Shirley Caunter