The Cookhams Parish Magazine€¦ · Lorna Sykesemail: [email protected] Mathew Billinghurst...

This magazine is published jointly by the Parochial Church Councils of Holy Trinity, Cookham and St John the Baptist, Cookham Dean. See page 1

St John the Baptist

COOKHAM DEAN

The Cookhams Parish Magazine

Enabling all in our community to encounter God through warm hospitality and inspired worship

September 2020 warm hospitality

inspired worship

Holy Trinity

COOKHAM incorporating The Methodist Newsletter

Called to be Christ-like

Cookham Local Support Group

Page 6

wwwcookhamdeanchurch.org.uk

www.holytrinitycookham.org.uk

www.facebook.com/TheBeneficeOfTheCookhams

Our Worship and Prayer Channel

PARISH MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTION

This month sees the resumption of our usual house to house delivery of the magazine. There are bound to be some delays and omissions - please bear with

us. It always available to download from our websites (see below)

. . . Bible Reading by Zoom Page 5

Our churches are open again!

• Sunday and Mid week services at both churches

• Our Worship and Prayer Channel continues with daily reflection and prayer on Monday - Friday, and a recording of the Sunday Eucharist services.

Details - Pages 5, 12 and 13

Rainbow Flowers from the children

at Cookham Community Allotment

8

https://www.cookhamdeanchurch.org.uk

http://www.holytrinitycookham.org.uk

http://www.facebook.com/TheBeneficeOfTheCookhams

https://www.facebook.com/TheBeneficeOfTheCookhams

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTYK9sA_hawCFvDrSWbfHEw


https://www.facebook.com/TheBeneficeOfTheCookhams?filter=3


PRINCIPAL FINANCIAL PLANNING

We are Independent Financial Advisers who can offer help with all aspects of Financial Planning including:

INVESTMENT Confidential professional recommendations on investment for capital growth or income, school fees planning, inheritance tax, ISA’s and unit trusts, etc.

PENSIONS Both personal and company pension schemes arranged with advice relating to current pensions legislation.

MORTGAGES We specialise in releasing ‘Equity’ from properties often used in assisting in deposits for Children to buy or raising capital for other planning issues.

YOUR HOME IS AT RISK IF YOU DO NOT KEEP UP REPAYMENTS ON A MORTGAGE OR OTHER LOANS

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Telephone: 01628 648700 E-mail: [email protected]

Principal Financial Planning is a trading name of Principal Financial Planning Ltd and is authorised and regulated by The Financial Conduct Authority

Please take the opportunity to contact us. Your call will receive our personal attention.

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The Cookhams Parish Magazine - September 2020 1

a new living with the virus, and we all know that it will take some time. I find that I’m held in that tension of encouraging everyone to come back to church (which I want to do) whilst staying within Government and Church of England guidelines (which I have to do). Rather more poignant than usual for all of us will be the All Souls’ season at the beginning of November, when we gather in our churches to remember those loved ones who have died. Our Ministry Team have started discussions on how that might be the most meaningful and helpful experience for all, whilst abiding by the restrictions. And then we must think about Remembrance Sunday – and Christmas – both of which will look rather different this year.

Before any of those happen, we have Harvest Festival which we will celebrate in both churches on Sunday 27 September.

The idea of celebrating harvest goes back a long time and was part of people’s worship in Israel a long time before Jesus. In those days, people gave thanks to God for all his gifts by giving something back to him. Harvest was also a time to remember the poor and those in need. The farmers of that time were encouraged not to go too close to the edge of the field when harvesting, so as to leave any remaining corn for the poor and needy. Today, we can also use harvest time to think about those people who are not as lucky as us – especially those who are hungry. In our churches, we will be collecting non-perishable goods to go to Foodshare and we hope many people will give as generously as they can.

So as we enter this Harvest season, let us give thanks for God’s gifts to us, and offer ourselves back to him as we continue to serve all those in need.

I pray that you will all stay safe and keep well.

With every blessing,

Fr Nick

THE COOKHAMS PARISH MAGAZINE

Editor: John Sykes, 3 Littlemount Cottages, Church Road, Cookham Dean, SL6 9PS email: [email protected]

or [email protected]

Advertising: email : [email protected]

Distribution: Cookham and Cookham Rise - Mike Clark 530047 Cookham Dean - Stella Fairlie

This magazine is published jointly by the Parochial Church Councils of Holy Trinity, Cookham and St John the Baptist, Cookham Dean

Items for consideration of inclusion should be sent to the Editor by 15th of the previous month. The inclusion of an article does not necessarily indicate the

churches’ support for any particular point of view expressed.

Adverts are published in good faith and we are unable to warrant or endorse any of the products or services offered.

We welcome donations towards the cost of producing the Parish Magazine.

Fr Nick writes: Where do we go from here?

Dear Friends,

We continue to live in strange and uncertain times – but at least some things are beginning to return to normal (or the new normal). We have all had to find new ways of doing things, and the church is no exception. We were delighted to be able to reopen our churches for public worship on 19 July, and I’m sure those who attended were equally delighted. But although the church buildings were closed for a time, the church community continued to be active in many ways. Lockdown has helped us to focus on what ‘being church’ means. Our life was less characterised by attendance at public worship, and more characterised by the prayer and service that we offered each day. The clergy continued in their pattern of morning and evening prayer, and I know that we were joined by some parishioners in this from the comfort of their own homes. A small team of people strove to keep in touch with our church members by phone and email. The Ministry Team uploaded daily prayers on to Facebook and our websites, and we can see that local people, and those from further afield (including Australia and the US), have been enjoying these offerings. We are now also recording and uploading our Sunday services, mainly for the benefit of those who are still shielding or otherwise unable to come to church, but anyone is welcome to view.

We were disappointed not to be able to welcome 100 primary age children (plus helpers) to Holy Trinity for Kids’ Club this year, but by the inspiration and creativity of Revd Helen, the technical know-how of John Sykes, and the willingness of a number of volunteers, we were able to produce an online version. Do have a look at it if you haven’t already – the link will stay on the websites for a while yet.

Since lockdown began, members of our church family have joined together with many others in our local community to form the excellent Cookham SOS which has helped so many people in need. And, despite not being able to continue in its office in Elizabeth House, Cookham Voluntary Services has continued to get patients to their medical appointments. My gratitude and admiration goes out to all of you for showing the compassion and the love of Christ to those in need – and I’m sure I speak on behalf of all those whom you have served.

As we look to the future, we know that our journey of recovery will be slower than our journey into lockdown. Life will not be a quick return to the old normal, but rather

We’re here for You!

If you are old or young, new to the village or lived here for some time, and have a question about our activities, or if

you need help or comfort, please contact one of us:

For Cookham Dean: Barbara Dent 476512 Debbie Burroughs 07951 094815

For Cookham and Cookham Rise: Val Eckett 524561

or any of the Ministry Team - see page 2


Ministry in The Cookhams

THE PARISH OFFICE : Church Gate, Cookham, Berkshire, SL6 9SP Parish Administrator: Andra Rigby Tel: 01628 529661

Email: [email protected]

Please contact the Parish Office to arrange Baptisms, Weddings, Funerals, or if you have an enquiry of any kind.

Patron: Mrs Evelyn Rogers 01732 452557

Vicar: The Revd Nick Plant, The Vicarage, Churchgate, Cookham, SL6 9SP; 01628 529183; [email protected]

Associate Priest: The Revd Helen Chamberlain, St John’s House, Spring Lane, Cookham Dean; 01628 486744; [email protected]

Associate Priest: The Revd David Joynes, 07753 749228; [email protected]

Licensed Lay Minister: Richard Simmonds, 01628 483269; [email protected]

DIRECTOR OF MUSIC Sara Wood 522593 [email protected] Assistant Director Victoria Wood

VERGER Malcolm Sturges 07710 557015

PARISH NETWORK ADMINISTRATOR Val Eckett 524561

SACRISTAN Malcolm Sturges 07710 557015

SAFEGUARDING OFFICER

Huw Thomas 01628 529661 (Parish Office)

CHURCHWARDENS Mark Stockdale 01628 636258 Bernadette Clark 01628 530047

TREASURER Tim Sharples

JUNIOR PRAISE Francis Pang

[email protected]

CHURCH FLOWERS Bernadette Clark 530047 Parish Office 529661

BELLRINGERS Mandy Salter 530241

LADIES GROUP Ros Joynes 528622

TRINITY NIPPERS Lucy Cochrane 07841 471518

HOLY TRINITY, COOKHAM

ST JOHN THE BAPTIST, COOKHAM DEAN

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL The Ministry Team, Churchwardens, Secretary and Treasurer, Synod Representatives and:-

Katherine Billinghurst Jeremy Byfleet Greta Dixon Charles Elly John Fairlie

Fiona Long Mike Springate Judy Wallace Jeremy Webb

DEANERY SYNOD Lorna Sykes Mathew Billinghurst Ray Reed

CHILDREN’S CHURCH

Richard Simmonds, 483269 SAFEGUARDING OFFICER Lorna Sykes, [email protected]

CHURCHWARDENS David Hazeldine, 130 Beverley Gardens, Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead, 782933 Richard Simmonds, Dyars, Church Road, Cookham Dean, 483269

SECRETARY Lorna Sykes, 3 Littlemount Cottages, Church Road, Cookham Dean, 486874 email: [email protected]

TREASURER Ros Hazeldine, 130 Beverley Gardens, Pinkneys Green, Maidenhead, 782933

MINISTRY TEAM

Parish Magazine, Pew News and Worship Channel are on line! holytrinitycookham.org.uk cookhamdeanchurch.org.uk

DEANERY SYNOD Bernadette Clark Josie Godfrey David Harrold

PAROCHIAL CHURCH COUNCIL The Ministry Team, Churchwardens, Secretary and Treasurer, Synod Representatives and:-

Debbie Richards Colin Tushingham Kay Weallan

Mike Clark Val Eckett David Gaselee Francis Pang

SECRETARY Anne McNeil

ORGANIST and CHOIRMASTER David Colthup, 93 Broomhill, Cookham

DIOCESAN SYNOD John Sykes

VERGER John Sykes, 486874 [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]





CHILDREN, YOUNG PEOPLE AND CHURCH

Everyone, regardless of age, is welcome at all our services. Here are the special facilities for younger

people.

Holy Trinity, Cookham

HTC Sunday Club takes place in the Parish Centre at 11am on Sundays during term time (with the exception of All Age Family Services and other Special Services).

Sunday Club is suitable for children aged 3-10. We follow the course books entitled 'Bubbles'. The children learn about bible stories through fun activities such as art and craft, drama, singing, reading and prayer. Children are welcome to attend on their own or accompanied by a parent if they prefer.

All Sunday Club leaders have been cleared by the Disclosure and Barring Service and have completed Child Protection Training.

For further details please contact:

Alex Pang, Email: [email protected]

Boys’ Choir and Girls’ Choir

The Boys’ Choir (for boys aged 7+) sings for a service each Sunday. Practice is on a Wednesday, 6.45 - 7.30pm.

The Girls’ Choir (for girls aged 7+) sings for two Sunday morning services a month and for other special services. Practice is on a Tuesday, 7.15 - 8.00pm.

Children wishing to join either choir are invited to attend a choir practice during which they are auditioned.

Director of Music - Sara Wood: 01628 522593

Trinity Nippers

Babies and pre-school children meet with their mums, dads or carers on Tuesdays at 10.15 am in Holy Trinity Church, followed by coffee, snacks and play in the Parish Centre.

Contact: Lucy Cochrane 07841 471518 [email protected]

EVERYONE WELCOME Come along for a cuppa, chat, play and sing-song with your little one

Thursdays, 9.45 - 11.15am at Holy Trinity Parish Centre

Churchgate, Cookham

Email: [email protected] [email protected]

St John the Baptist, Cookham Dean

Junior Choir meets on Fridays from 5.30 - 6.45 for practice and sings at the 9.15 service each Sunday.

David Colthup “Sunbeams” is our Junior Church activity for children.

We now have a small team of people on a rota to lead our children in activity during the first part of our Sunday morning service, beginning at 9.15.

For safeguarding purposes we have to have two adults with the children at all times, and so we need some helpers, including older teenagers, to assist our leaders and perhaps read a story or supervise drawing, colouring or other short activity with our very young children. No experience is needed in teaching – but you might be amazed what you learn!

We provide a wide range of materials and our teaching is from books with loads of suggestions.

Could YOU possibly help us once or twice a month during term time?

Please contact any member of the clergy (contact details opposite) or Churchwarden Richard Simmonds (01628 483269, [email protected])

Family Friendly Worship

4thSunday@4

The perfect opportunity to come to church as a family on a Sunday afternoon.

Sunday morning isn’t always the most convenient time to bring families to church - there’s a lot to do for youngsters these days. But did you know that we have worship once a month on Sunday afternoon, specially tailored for families of all ages and those who prefer a less formal and shorter form of worship?

On the fourth Sunday of the month at 4pm in the afternoon we have our 4th@4 service with lively music, readings, video and action songs. This is a non-communion service with refreshments and social time afterwards.

Follow us on Facebook

www.facebook.com/TheBeneficeOfTheCookhams

St John the Baptist, Cookham Dean

followed by free refreshments in the Jubilee Vestry



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Somatic Movement Coaching

Regular weekly classes

Small groups for individual attention

Private studio near Pinkneys Green

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Happy Cats & Dogs

Cat Visits and Dog Sitting

Individual Dog Walks Based in Cookham

Call 01628 524593 / 07903 879132

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Fully insured to £2M

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DESIGN HOME DECORATORS

Design, Supply and Fitting of all Kitchens and Bathrooms

Interior & Exterior Redecoration, Coving & Glazing,

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WORSHIP IN OUR CHURCHES and ONLINE

Our churches are now open for public worship

The main Sunday morning and mid-week services will be at the usual times at both churches:-

Sunday 9.15 at St John the Baptist

Sunday 11.00 at Holy Trinity

Wednesday 10.00 at St John the Baptist

Thursday 07.30 at Holy Trinity

Both Sunday services will be recorded and be available on our Prayer and Worship Channel soon after.

We regret that in order to maintain hygiene and social distancing the churches are not open on a daily basis.

Our Diary of Services is on pages 12 and 13

This information is correct at the time of going to press, but the situation does change sometimes at short notice so please check our websites regularly for any changes.

Worship and Prayer Online

In the meantime, our Monday - Friday recorded prayers and worship will continue on our Cookham Worship and Prayer Channel.

This is easily accessible via links on the church websites and our Facebook pages. There is a Eucharist Service every Sunday. A list of readings for Sundays in September is shown in the Diary of Services.

Oxford Diocese is producing Church at Home services each Sunday at 10.00, and there are daily prayers from The Church of England.

Oxford Diocese Church at Home

The Cookhams Worship and Prayer Channel

The Church of England Daily Prayers

Parish Registers

Interment of Ashes at SJB Lydia Fulker

Funeral at SJB Nic Clark

Wedding at SJB Philip Nutter and Helen Ramsbottom

Bible Reading Zoom Group

We now have a well-established weekly online Bible Study session facilitated with the 'Zoom' application; each lasting about 35 minutes, on Wednesday afternoons at 3pm.

If you would like to join we will need to send you a link so that you can access the meeting. Please email me if you want to join us or find out more.

Fr David

[email protected]

Pastoral Care at the Hungry Hare

The Hungry Hare is closed to visitors, but you can still call for a chat.

Tel. 01628 486744

Rev’d Helen

Please Note

The current Government Guidelines are that a face mask must be worn in all places of worship.

The arrangements within the church and on arrival/departure are designed to enable social distancing to

be maintained. As we are not using all the pews, numbers may be limited.

Services are shorter than usual and we hope to introduce limited singing in the near future. You will be guided to communion which will be offered as

bread only. Sanitising your own hands before communion is recommended.

Your contact details will be taken on arrival in case "track and trace" is needed. If you are in the 70+ age group and feel safe to come to church we would love to see you. If you are not ready to return just yet, then

the Sunday services will be recorded and be available to view soon after on our worship channel.

Links and QR codes for all these online worship opportunities are shown opposite.

https://www.oxford.anglican.org/coronavirus-covid-19/livestream/



https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-daily-prayer

https://www.churchofengland.org/prayer-and-worship/join-us-daily-prayer



Don’t forget Foodshare!

The need hasn’t gone away and the stores in Maidenhead need constant replenishment.

Please leave your donations at the Supermarket or in the collection box outside

The Vicarage in Cookham.

There are other collection points at:

78 Westwood Green; 10 Hatch Place;

Tamarind, High Road, The Old Ship, Mill Lane

and Cookham Dean Village Hall.

COOKHAM SOS SUPPORT GROUP FOR CORONAVIRUS

A team of people has been formed who are able to help you if you are considering, or are already in, self-isolation.

Cookham Edit, Cookham.com, Elizabeth House and Cookham Pharmacy alongside a strong team of over 100 volunteers are ready to support with shopping, urgent supplies & prescriptions, posting mail or simply a friendly phone call, so please do get in touch with the COOKHAM SOS HUB at Elizabeth House if you think we can help and we will put you in touch with a designated volunteer for your area in the village.

If you know of someone who may need our support, please contact us on the numbers above or drop in to collect a volunteer pack from Elizabeth House which has guidelines of how to help and conduct visits safely.

HUB CONTACT: 01628 819224

FOR FURTHER GUIDANCE, PLEASE VISIT @COOKHAMSOS ON FACEBOOK OR WWW.COOKHAM.COM/CVC

Dr Louise Nairn Chartered Psychologist at Talking Therapy Matters in Cookham.

Quality individual or couple therapy for all emotional problems including depression, anxiety and ocd.

Visit www.talkingtherapymatters.com or call 01628 246 572 for information.

Registered with British Psychological Society and Health and Care Professionals Council.

St John the Baptist Churchyard Mornings

Throughout lockdown a small group of volunteers, working suitably distanced, have kept the churchyard at Cookham Dean in its usual splendid condition. We are very grateful to them for the hours they have unselfishly dedicated.

We successfully restarted our churchyard mornings in August, as in such a wide open space distancing is not difficult to maintain. So if you were a regular, or if you’d just like to help, and you feel that you can play your part safely, please join us.

Saturday 12th September 9.00 - 12.00

Saturday 26th September 9.00 - 12.00

http://WWW.COOKHAM.COM/CVC


Online Music from Holy Trinity Choir

Our musical offerings during these last 6 months have tested our technological skills and our imaginations. We hope that they have offered some joy and solace through these troubled times. We have tried hard to offer you all a variety, on behalf of all our choristers and the music in our Church. It has been a privilege to continue our weekly music and we are immensely grateful to Andra Rigby for her hard work and ingenuity in compiling the photos and slides for each and every offering. Technological gremlins have forced her to persevere beyond the limits of most people at times, and we are truly thankful for her support and skills.

Sara Wood & Victoria Wood

We offer thanks to everyone who has taken the time to record for us. Involved in our online services have been the following participants:

Singers:

Malcolm Stork, Jonathan Wood, Tony Wood & Victoria Wood

Readers:

Alex MacLeod, Tabby Weaver, Chris Godfrey, Duncan Bloomfield, Shirley Gostling, Chris Smyth, John Church, Mark Roberts, Joshua Mustard, Ricky Lonmon, Sue Harris, Izzy le Fleming, Andra Rigby & Carol Long.

Instrumentalists:

The Holy Trinity Church Bellringers Piano: Sara Wood Organ: Sara Wood Clarinet & Saxophone: Victoria Wood

Our quartet has worked hard and quickly to help us to continue our music. Here are thoughts from three of them:

A light in the darkness

Starting the day before the lockdown began, four Woods and a Stork gathered in church to record a number of anthems etc. for use to enlighten the dark days to follow. It was a memorable evening and one which we repeated twice afterwards. The joy of singing again and for a purpose has meant a lot to me and something I will never forget. All this was made possible due to the excellent training we had all received from Sara over many years and the attention to detail instilled in us, enabling us to record nearly 50 items - nearly all of which required one take only. Sara and Vicky have worked extremely hard on compiling services and other music each week and as a community Cookham and the church particularly should be thankful to have such dedicated professionals willing to lift the spirits and keep the church music undefeated by the restrictions imposed by the pandemic.

A light in the darkness indeed.

Tony Wood – Alto

A day or so before Lockdown we realised that if we were not quick, we could be isolated without the prospect of singing together and providing music for our congregation, for a very long time. So, our first recording session was rapidly organised in the Lady Chapel the day before Lockdown took its socially destructive grip. Standing at least 2m apart, facing outwards and recording only into a mobile phone we worked our way through just short of 20 items. Most were recorded at the first take and we were in and out in less than two hours.

Music has been, and is, such an important part of the worship at Holy Trinity and we were determined that despite the strictures of Covid 19 we would continue providing a musical contribution for as long as possible. We met twice more in the following months again working our way through another 30 to 40 anthems and hymns in record time and remarkable accuracy. I was so pleased to be asked to join the talented Wood Bubble on assurance that they had not participated in any raves or sandwiched themselves onto Brighton beach. And of course, at all times we took sensible precautions.

Malcolm Stork - Tenor

Over the last thirty-plus years it’s been a rare week when I’ve not set foot inside Holy Trinity. I was expecting recording in late July, having not been in the building since March, to feel unfamiliar. Yet Holy Trinity has always felt like a place where time and troubles melt away once I’m inside. Sure enough, the same proved to be the case as we opened our folders, set the iPad running, and fairly raced through some of the repertoire which defines the choir almost by its sheer variety alone. In the midst of challenging times, singing is always a tonic; but it is never more so than when you’re amongst people you’ve sung with for almost as long as you can remember. There’s a sixth sense which has developed from singing together all that time which more often than not leads to an instinctive agreement on how to play with the tempo and phrasing of the music – though one glance from Sara is enough to put us back on track when this deviates from her tastes! The only sadness comes from the reminder that not everyone is there. Not all of the men’s choir are allowed in the building to record, just four of us standing oddly far apart; the boys and girls aren’t playing tag between the pews waiting for their practice or gathered in groups around phones discussing their social diaries. The mums and dads aren’t discussing Cookham politics and wondering whether they’ve got their times right. This reminder that life isn’t normal yet, despite the music making it seem so, is incongruous. Yet it will in time return to being so, and I’m proud to have played my part in keeping at least part of the choir’s sound going – perhaps, ironically, reaching even more people than usual as we have created our little slice of YouTube. Amongst the social influencers, old TV clips and the cat videos, Holy Trinity has sung on.

Jonathan Wood – Bass

If you haven’t already done so, you can enjoy the fruits of all our efforts on The Cookhams Worship Channel. Follow the link on the home page of our websites.



Some of the Saints we celebrate in September

4th September St Birinus – apostle of Wessex

Did you ever feel that God was calling you to do something big for Him, even though you were not quite sure of the details? If so, Birinus is the saint for you.

He was a French Benedictine monk who in 634 was made a bishop at Genoa, and sent by Pope Honorius 1 to extend the evangelisation of England. (Augustine had arrived in Canterbury about 35 years before.)

Birinus landed at Hamwic, near Southampton. His original plan was to evangelise Wessex and then penetrate up into the Midlands, where no preacher had ever yet reached. But Birinus soon found the West Saxons so pagan that he decided to concentrate just on them.

Birinus had little to help him become the apostle to Wessex. So, he simply used what he did have: his own two feet and his voice. He wandered around preaching at every opportunity, trusting in God to help him. And He did: Birinus became known and respected, and soon a big breakthrough occurred: for political reasons the King of Wessex, Cynegils, wanted to convert to Christianity, and he asked Birinus to help him.

So Birinus instructed and baptised King Cynegils, who was then able to marry the Christian king of Northumbria’s daughter, Cyneburg, and in due course Birinus baptised their family as well.

In return, Cynegils gave Birinus the town of Dorchester (upon Thames) to be his diocesan see. It was a perfect location: a Romano-British town right on a road and a river, in the midst of a populated area.

During his 15 years as Bishop of Dorchester, Birinus baptised many people and built churches all over the area, with the king’s blessing.

Before he died in 650, Birinus dedicated a church at Winchester. It was a glimpse of the future: for Winchester’s growing importance made it inevitable that in time it would also become the ecclesiastical centre of the kingdom.

8th September The Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary

In both eastern and western Churches, Mary has always been held as pre-eminent among all the saints. The unique, extraordinary privilege of being the mother of the One who was both God and Man, makes her worthy of special honour. Thomas Aquinas believed she was due

hyperdulia, or a veneration that exceeds that of other saints, but is at the same time infinitely below the adoration, or latria, due to God alone.

The gospels of Matthew and Luke give Mary most mention. Luke even tells the story of Jesus’ infancy from Mary’s point of view. Her Song, or Magnificat appears in Luke 1:46-55.

The virginal conception of Christ is clearly stated in the gospels. But after Jesus’ birth, Mary fades quietly into the background. During Jesus’ public life, she is mentioned only occasionally, as at the wedding at Cana. She reappears at the foot of the Cross (John’s Gospel), and is given into John’s care. In the early chapters of Acts, Mary is with the Apostles, and received the Holy Spirit along with them on Whitsunday. But her role was not the active one of teaching and preaching.

Mary’s significance grew with the centuries. By the fifth century she was called Theotokos, The Mother of God, and from the seventh century onwards, she was given four festivals: the Presentation in the Temple (2nd February), the Annunciation (25th March), the Assumption (15th August) and her Nativity (8th September).

Marian devotion has played an enormous role in the church down the years. Mary has been the object of countless prayers, accredited with performing many miracles, and the subject of thousands of artistic endeavours. She has had hundreds of chapels or parish churches named after her. During the Reformation many images of Mary were destroyed. The Second Vatican Council 1962 made an extended statement on her, stressing her complete dependence on her Son, and regarding her as a model of the Church.

Principal Marian shrines of today include Lourdes (France), Fatima (Portugal), Walsingham (England), Loreto (Italy), Czesochowa (Poland) and Guadalupe (Mexico).

21st September St Matthew

Matthew was one of 12 apostles. But he began as a publican i.e. a tax-collector of Jewish race who worked for the Romans, before he left all at the call of Christ. From earliest times, he was regarded as the author of the first of the four Gospels. The Gospel of Matthew is in correct, concise style, very suitable for public reading.

His usual emblem as an evangelist is a man, because

his genealogy emphasised the family ties of Christ. In art, he has been represented as either an evangelist or as an apostle. As an evangelist, he has been depicted sitting at a desk, writing his gospel with an angel holding the inkwell. In the Middle Ages he was even given a pair of spectacles.

Matthew was martyred by a sword or a spear, some think in Ethiopia.


29th September Enter all the angels, led by Michael

by Canon David Winter

What is an angel? Easy, people think: a shining figure with glorious wings, who appears from time to time to do some mighty work for God or bring a very special message from him.

Well, that’s right in one sense (apart from the wings, which owe more to stained glass windows than the Bible). But the fact that not all ‘angels’ in the Bible are ‘glorious’ or ‘shining’ should make us hesitate to categorise them in this spectacular way. After all, the three apparently ordinary men who visited Abraham and Sarah to tell them that she would have a son even though she was long past child-bearing age had none of those outward embellishments. Nevertheless, Abraham recognised them as divine messengers.

The Bible is full of angels, from the early chapters of Genesis to the last chapter of Revelation, and often they had a key role in crucial events. It seems, from just two instances, that Michael was their leader, an ’archangel’. In many stained glass windows he’s seen with a sword, because in a vision in Revelation he led the angelic host who fought and defeated Satan and his army.

In the Gospels, an angel of the Lord appeared to Zechariah in the Temple, to tell him that his elderly wife was to have a son, the forerunner of the Messiah, John the Baptist. An angel, Gabriel, appeared to Mary to tell her that she would be the mother of the Messiah, the Son of God. An angel appeared ‘in a dream’ to Joseph, the village carpenter in Nazareth, to tell him to go ahead and marry his fiancée, Mary, and later - also in a dream - warned him not to go

back to Bethlehem. A ‘young man’, whom we take to have been an angel, was sitting in the empty tomb on Easter morning, waiting to tell the startled women that Jesus wasn’t there - He had risen (Mark 16:5).

Without going into every biblical reference to angels, those should be sufficient to show that the word covers an enormous diversity of experience. So the Letter to the Hebrews speaks of those who practice hospitality as sometimes ‘entertaining angels unawares’. Sometimes people recognised angels for who they were, and sometimes they didn’t. Angels, quite simply, are God’s agents or emissaries, messengers and ministers of His will. Sometimes they are human; sometimes they seem to be spiritual beings.

Perhaps we could even say that anyone, in any situation, who is at that moment God’s ‘messenger’ to us, or serves us graciously, is an ‘angel’. So, when we say, ‘Oh, be an angel and pop up to the chemist for my prescription’, we may be nearer the heart of the matter than we think!

Psalm 23 - a psalm for the pandemic

There are few psalms as personal and real as Psalm 23. It records David’s experience of God as his Shepherd going through dark times. In the midst of the effects of a global pandemic, this psalm speaks to the fears that can overwhelm us.

He Knows Me: ‘The Lord is my shepherd…’ Just as a good shepherd knows every sheep in his flock, so God know each one of us intimately.

He Provides for Me: ‘He makes me lie down in green pastures…’ Just as the shepherd knows the needs of his sheep, so God will provide what we need in our lives and circumstances.

He Guides Me: ‘He guides me along the right paths…’ Just as the shepherd leads the sheep to the best pastures, so God provides the best for us, as we listen and follow Him.

He Protects Me: ‘Even though I walk through the darkest valley…’ Just as the sheep have no need to fear danger when following the shepherd, so we live knowing God’s presence and protection.

He Comforts Me: ‘your rod and your staff, they comfort me.’ As the shepherd’s rod defends the sheep, and the staff enables him to control the sheep, so God comforts us through His Word and discipline.

The final verses of the psalm (v5-6) offer the security of knowing that our lives are in His hands, even through death, as He leads us to the home we’ve been looking for all our lives.

Some years ago, a great actor was asked to recite Psalm 23, but asked one of the other guests to do the same. His remarkable rendition was followed by the other man, an older Christian speaking from the heart. Afterwards the actor said: ‘The difference between us is that I know the psalm, but he knows the shepherd.’

Has lockdown affected your eyesight?

Are you suffering from ‘coronavision’? It is perfectly possible.

Lockdown led to many of us staring at our television or computer screens for long periods of time. And that could have strained our eyes, warns the College of Optometrists.

By this summer one in five adults in Britain had reported a deterioration in their eyesight. Symptoms include blurred vision, difficulty in focussing, and red or painful eyes.

As one optometrist explained: “Working from home, video calls with friends and family, watching more TV, time spent looking at your phone – all that screen time adds up.

The good news is that this is unlikely to cause any permanent harm to your vision.”

Nevertheless, the College urges people to get their eyes checked if they feel on-going discomfort. They also advise that when you are looking at a screen, you rest your eyes every 20 minutes, blink regularly, use eye drops, position your screen below eye level and increase the size of the text.


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Pandemic Stories from the Community

COMMUNITY SERVICE DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Whilst the communities of the Cookhams maintain vigilance against the deadly COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, the lockdown measures are now being slowly relaxed and it is perhaps easier to remember what

normality used to be like. It also gives us a chance to remember how, when in March lockdown was suddenly introduced, people in our local communities responded to the challenge to help others.

Justine Moody launched the brilliant Cookham SOS initiative which provided help and support to neighbours in the community. Using the facilities and infra-structure at Elizabeth House, and supported by literally hundreds of volunteers, Cookham SOS enabled people who could otherwise not get to the shops or to the pharmacy, or who simply needed companionship, to access the help they needed. Whilst Elizabeth House had to close its doors to its regular members it acted as the distribution hub for medical deliveries to patients from the Cookham Pharmacy and, as importantly, its staff and volunteers maintained regular contact with members who were confined to home. The value of this service was emphasised by Ross Kemp on national television when he interviewed Elizabeth House members and staff member Emmy as she contacted a member on her daily list.

Members are now looking forward to a carefully managed and socially distanced reopening of Elizabeth House on 8 September. It won’t quite be back to normal but a big step towards it.

Cookham Voluntary Services was forced to abandon its office in Elizabeth House but thanks to committee member Ricky Lonmon, operating on his own from home with a transferred ’phone line and a list of volunteer drivers, CVS was able to maintain an unbroken service of driving clients to medical appointments. Community volunteer and CVS driver Ian Davis, together with Miriam Blazey, Elizabeth House’s manager, set up an amazing delivery service for prescriptions from the local pharmacy. As the initial concerns about the reliability of deliveries subsided, Ian and Miriam were able to move to a more normal delivery service, with the pharmacy’s own driver and CVS volunteers working together with Neelm Saini, the pharmacy manager, to make sure that patients can rely on receiving their needed prescriptions on time.

These lines do not cover all the services that have been provided, nor have more than a very few names been recorded out of the hundreds who stepped up to the plate, but as we start to return to church services it would not be amiss to remember in our prayers all those in the Cookhams, many of whom are church members, who have quietly and selflessly acted in the true Christian tradition to help others in an emergency.

Mike Clark

Alzheimers Dementia Support (‘ADS’), despite Covid-19, has continued to support people living with Dementia, their Carers and families. “We’ve had to adapt our support

mechanisms and do things a bit differently” said David Jannetta, this local Charity’s Voluntary Chairman and MD.

‘ADS’ was only required to furlough three of it’s eight employed team members – two who were responsible for their retail shop, located on the High Street in Maidenhead and the third, their frontline trainer – but all staff continued to be paid their monthly salaries in full, throughout the period of lockdown and beyond. The remaining team members, alongside an army of volunteers, turned to using all forms of possible communication (including digital) to support those in need. Virtual ‘Singing for Pleasure’, ‘Chats’ and ‘In and at Home’ sessions have proved very popular and have allowed individuals living in isolation to connect with others in a similar circumstance. Virtual tea parties have also offered a slice of cake served with a smile!

David explained that although direct access to people in need was affected throughout the period, the team also used the time available to efficiently develop a ‘new look’ website for the charity which launched in August.

Check out the new website on www.Alzheimersdementiasupport.co.uk

As lockdown eased, ‘ADS’ activities re-commenced – their shop reopened and some services (with strict social distancing rules applied) resumed but it is not anticipated that all services will be ‘in full swing’ for some time to come.

The ‘ADS’ Annual ‘Santa Fun Run’ (at Dorney Lake, Eton Dorney), has unfortunately been cancelled for 2020 but will be replaced with a Virtual Run in the Autumn/Winter. As the biggest fundraising event of the year, this local charity depends on donations from this event and so David is hopeful that the ‘ADS Santa Virtual Fun Run’ will be a success.

Of greatest regret to this charity’s team is the fact that during times when life was so uncertain for everyone, those living with Dementia and their Carers suffered more than most. “It has been hard enough for those with all of their faculties intact to understand the environment in which we nowadays live never mind those who struggle to appreciate the complexities of life as a result of living with Dementia”.

On this basis, David hopes that the community spirit, which has developed and grown in recent months, will continue into the future and neighbours and friends will continue to ‘look in on’ and support the vulnerable amongst us. He suggested that anyone looking to continue with their community support activities consider joining ‘ADS’ as a volunteer as the charity has an abundance of different voluntary roles to suit all skills and experience and is an enormously rewarding way of giving-back.

David confirmed that although confusing and trying times will undoubtedly lie ahead, the team at Alzheimers Dementia Support (‘ADS’) will do all they can to continue

their efforts in support of people living with Dementia, their Carers and families because without the team’s help, many local people could suffer distress or worse still, be forgotten.

David Janetta [continued right . . .


September 27th - Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity - Harvest Thanksgiving

HTC

11.00 Parish Eucharist

2 Corinthians 9:6-end; Luke 12:16-30

SJB


2 Corinthians 9:6-end; Luke 12:16-30

September 6th - Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

HTC


Romans 13:8-end; Matthew 18:15-20

SJB


Romans 13:8-end; Matthew 18:15-20

September 9th - Wednesday

SJB 10.00 Holy Communion

September 10th - Thursday

HTC 07.30 Holy Communion

Services Calendar for September

HTC = Holy Trinity, Cookham SJB = St John Baptist, Cookham Dean

September 2nd - Wednesday


September 3rd - Thursday


September 13th - Fourteenth Sunday after Trinity

HTC


Romans 11:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35

SJB


Romans 14:1-12; Matthew 18:21-35





September 20th - Fifteenth Sunday after Trinity

HTC


Philippians 1:21-end; Matthew 20:1-16

SJB


Philippians 1:21-end; Matthew 20:1-16

September 23rd - Wednesday





1 Giles; hermit Our schools 2 Martyrs of Papua New Guinea The clergy of our deanery 3 Gregory the Great Our Mums and Toddlers group 4 Birinus; bishop Our Choirs 5 Saturday Our wedding ministry 6 THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY Our Churches 7 Monday Our homes for the elderly 8 Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary Our bellringers 9 Charles Lowder; priest Darby pensioners 10 Thursday Our ministry to young people 11 Friday Local scouts and guides 12 Saturday The sisters at Burnham Abbey 13 FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY Our Churches 14 Holy Cross Day HTC PCC 15 Cyprian; bishop, martyr Bishops Steven and Olivia 16 Ninian; bishop SJB PCC 17 Hildegard; abbess the Rendezvous project 18 Friday Our organists and musicians 19 Theodore; archbishop Archbishops Justin and Stephen 20 FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY Our Churches 21 Matthew; apostle, evangelist Cookham Voluntary Services 22 Tuesday Our Ministry Team 23 Ember Day Holy Trinity Ladies' Group 24 Thursday Elizabeth House 25 Ember Day Our local surgery and all healthcare professionals 26 Wilson Carlile All who serve with the Church Army 27 SIXTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER TRINITY Our Churches 28 Monday Our baptism ministry 29 Tuesday Trinity Nippers 30 Wednesday The work of Re:Charge and FoodShare

Prayer Diary

September 2020

(Correct at the time of going to press. Please see websites for any changes.)



October 1

st - Thursday


Other Church Activities

We are not yet able to start up our regular church activities, such as Friendship Lunch, Men’s Breakfast, Teenage Open Minds Discussion, Sunday Club, 4th@4, Ladies Group, and our usual programme of social and fund-raising events.

Our monthly services such as Matins and Evensong and Healing service are also affected.

One good development is that we hope to be able to introduce a limited amount of choral music sometime in September.

We are actively working on how we can start these up again, so watch this space and our web pages for the latest situation.

Alternatively you can contact the regular organisers of these events to get the latest situation.

We look forward to the time when we can hold these events and activities that complement our worship in our life as a church community.

The Ministry Team

History books will inevitably tell the story of a virus that swept the world in 2020. But it is up to us what that story will look like. Either… the story of a virus that … showed up the weakness, selfishness and frailty of people… or how people responded with their best, how the virus was a medical but not a social tragedy.

Canon Will Hughes, Vicar of Petersfield, Portsmouth Diocese.

Two quick ways to disaster are to take nobody’s advice and to take everybody’s advice.

Anon

Paul was thankful for others – brothers and sisters in Christ, fellow servants, ministry partners. In his correspondence Paul didn’t just leave it at generalised expressions of gratitude – he often took time to identify specific individuals for whom he was grateful and to let them know how much he appreciated their contribution to his life. Do we do that?

Nancy Leigh DeMoss

Some observations . . .


Exhibitions at The Gallery

We hope to start our exhibitions as soon as we can.

By the time this appears on your doorstep, with hope and excitement, we will be just one week away from re-opening on Monday September 7th.

The work of Cookham SOS that was coordinated from Elizabeth House over the last 6 months is not finished as we know that there are many who will still need a little help, but I also know that great friendships have been formed amongst strangers before the lockdown and these will continue.

Members are now itching to get back and see their old friends, the staff and volunteers.

Due to the social distancing we will be offering a different format, with two sessions a day for 8 members to be in their own “bubbles”, but it will still include tea, coffee, lunch and, as restrictions ease for entertainers, an increased variety to keep members entertained.

ELIZABETH HOUSE

01628 527621 www.elizabethhousecookham.org

Thankyou to local businesses and schools. . .

Our members have continued to renew their memberships to support us. We have had many generous donations, even during closure, and some of these have come from local residents, and local businesses who have themselves been much more affected than Elizabeth House.

Holy Trinity School, Cookham Rise and Cookham Montessori have sent in cards, letters and pictures for the members and there is a selection in our windows downstairs. A very kind gentleman in Maidenhead made some perspex masks for our volunteers. We have spent over £1000 on PPE alone before we have even opened so gestures like this are so appreciated.

The excess furniture – now we are set up for social distancing – is being stored by Bearhouse Logistics/Cookham Storage, until we are able to go back to full capacity and we can do some decorating work so thank you to The Painting Partnership Ltd for fitting us in to your schedule.

Theatre and Outings

These are all being re-booked for 2021 so plenty to look forward to!

Miriam Blazey, Manager

Room Hire

Elizabeth House has some excellent AV equipment to ensure our rooms have dual purpose when not being used by the members. Although we have some regular bookings, we have plenty of free slots which we would like to see used by members of the wider community after 4pm and at weekends. Our room rates are from £8 per hour and include use of our kitchen.

THE COOKHAM SOCIETY

Registered Charity No: 257224

The Cookham Society is an active local amenity society with over 1,200 members and a fifty-year

track record in protecting the interests of the three Cookhams

and their residents.

We aim to protect and preserve Cookham’s unique blend of

historic, architectural, artistic, social, cultural and rural beauty.

If you care about the Cookhams, why not join us and make your voice heard.

Membership is just £5 per household, per year, payable by Standing Order

For a General Information Leaflet and Membership Form contact:

Ossie Wardell Yerburgh 01628 528041 or Lysette Penston on 01628 473862

Alternatively visit www.cookhamsociety.org.uk

Community Organisations

To all Community Organisations and Groups:

I expect that like the churches, getting “up and running” again is not only challenging, but the goalposts keep moving with monotonous regularity!

When you are ready to start up again, why not send me a short article to let everyone know, not just your members and contacts. Our magazine goes to each house each month which is great coverage, and it costs you nothing!

Just email me at [email protected],uk (irrespective of where your organisation operates from).

The deadline is the 15th of the month for publication/delivery around the start of the next month. No need for anything complicated - an email with the details will suffice and I’ll do the formatting.

John Sykes

Editor The Cookhams Parish Magazine


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Sunday worship during September 2020

The plan is to open the church for worship on September 13th subject to the approval of risk assessments, following Government and Methodist instructions, carried out on behalf of the Church Council, and to feedback from the first service.

13th September 10.30 a.m. Mrs Kathy Rickman – Harvest Festival

10.00 a.m. A brief celebration and gathering of harvest at the Cookham Community Allotment for those able to access it.

20th September 10.30 a.m. Mr David Ridley

27th September 10.30 a.m. Rev Vicci Davidson (Holy Communion)

The Welcome Service for Rev Vicci Davidson is at 7.30 p.m. on Thursday September 3rd. It will be on Zoom – information on how to join the service can be had from Keith Le Page on 01628 532279.

Church activities

All church activities on the premises are suspended until further notice while risk assessments are carried out and approved. It is appreciated that guidance is constantly being updated and this needs to be factored in on a regular basis.

We would like to extend our heartfelt thanks to Becky and Ingrid for keeping the Cookham Community Allotment going throughout the last few months and for the friendly welcome and support they give to the people who come to garden and be in others’ company even if at a suitable distance.

Traidcraft goods can be ordered from Kathy Rickman on 01628 522797 or at [email protected] Catalogues are available from her or visit www.traidcraftshop.co.uk to view.

Regular meetings on church premises

Please contact the individual group to find out if and when they are restarting session:-

Come & Play for under-fives and their carers (01628 522797)

Diddydisco (07836 640430)

Rainbow Guides (01628 532279)

Yoga (07931 995409)

These Mums Can Fitness Class with creche (07506147773)

Dance Classes (07789 264639)

Big Band practice (07809 594105)

Playball (07736 405034)

The Meadow and the Bench

The ‘meadow’ has looked stunning this year with many wild flowers growing there. It will be cut soon ready for next year’s array of flowers and grasses.

There is a lovely curved bench in our ‘meadow’ which you are welcome to come and sit for a few minutes to rest your feet and look at the view over towards Winter Hill. You will be surprised how far you can see from there.

Cookham Rise Methodist Church Newsletter E-mail [email protected] Tel: 07583 550821

Minister: Rev Vicci Davidson: 07535 5111421 [email protected]

For hall/church bookings: contact Kathy Rickman on 01628 522797


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Garden Tips - September 2020

September should be show time and the chance to celebrate growing and using produce in Cookham. Sadly this year the fete and show have been cancelled, so public celebrations are off the menu. However, this is a great month to celebrate your growing spaces as it combines the best of high summer with the emergence of autumn. As well as the fiery colours of Sunflowers, Dahlias, Rudbeckia, Gazanias and Gaillardias, you may be enjoying the more pastel shades of Fuchsias, second flowerings of Delphiniums and sweet peas. Fruit are ripening and in addition to edible harvests, ornamentals such as crab apples and Pyracantha are colouring up nicely. On harvesting it is no coincidence that there are shows at this time of year as it is one of the most abundant months for fruit and vegetables. Many of us have spent more time than usual in our gardens this year and interest in growing has boomed, so reflect and take the time to enjoy what you’ve achieved. Take photographs to remind yourself of the successes and also to help your planning. If you identify gaps or spaces that don’t quite work now, then with bulb and plant catalogues dropping on to the doorstep it is the perfect time to plan your autumn planting. With an interesting year of weather – floods, unprecedented spring sunshine, heat waves and storms so far, autumn remains the most reliable time for getting new plants into the ground.

Longer illustrated versions of these articles are available at http://www.redkiteadvice.co.uk/category/hints-tips/

Cookham Community Allotment

The last month of summer, August 2020, will be remembered on the Community Allotment for its extremes of weather and the increase in our numbers of gardeners plus the arrival of more children on the plot. New flavours from the continent have been injected in the recipes we share thanks to some new plot holders from the continent.

We have been introduced to the delights of Italian whisked sponge (whisked for an hour!- deliciously light), courgette flowers in Omelette and courgette soup with egg….what next we wonder?

Our expanding numbers have been very welcome during the extreme heat, as it has been all hands to the pump keeping the crops sufficiently watered. Our gravelly soil drains so fast that water does not stay long in the soil and crops soon start to wilt. Never-the-less the produce has been coming in buckets-full and there has been plenty to share around.

We have had more children on the plot as families seek alternative holidays this year. They have discovered the delights of digging up potatoes, washing and weighing the produce and taking their harvest home for supper. Other tasks include taking cuttings of new plants for the herb garden and working together making ephemeral art rainbows from the flowers on our plots. Some of the older children are learning independence and making decisions of their own, as they sow and harvest crops.

Not all the visitors to the plot have been so welcome. Sawflies have managed to create lacey leaves of many of our giant Sunflowers, and tomato blight is lurking, waiting to demolish our colourful crop of tomatoes.

Our resident artist has been busy drawing on the plot, especially when it has been too hot for much activity, so we are hoping for an open-air art exhibition next.

Our gardeners and visitors have found plenty to talk and laugh about, putting other cares and concerns behind them whilst still observing safe distancing. It has been a wonderful refuge for us all.

If you are interested in coming along, if only to see what we are up to, we are open Saturday and Tuesday mornings 9.30-11.30, no experience required!

Ring Becky Pinniger on 07821710204 if you have any queries.

Becky Pinniger

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In some respects, bumblebees are more visible in the Autumn because there are many more males about. They are produced towards the end of the season. They are not allowed back into the nest and so spend the nights outside, protected from the cold by their longer coats. They collect no pollen or nectar except as their own food and so laze about on flower heads, waiting for young females to come past. (It sounds familiar doesn’t it?) Some of them fly along specific scent-marked paths to look for “love”.

One exception is the Tree bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum. These males hang around the entrance to a nest competing for the princesses as they emerge. This species arrived in the UK in 2001 and has successfully spread up to Scotland. It is unusual in that it nests above ground, taking advantage of holes in trees, bird boxes, and roof spaces. They have a ginger thorax, a black body, and a white tail. They can be seen from February to October. Their tongues are short and so they feed on shallow flowers such as those of orchard and ornamental fruit trees, Cotoneaster, and roses.

Female bumblebees can be identified easily when the pollen sacs on their legs are loaded but not if they are only gathering nectar as this is carried internally. Even so, they never have time to rest. (Sounds familiar?)

The quality of pollen varies greatly from one plant species to the next and workers have to learn which to visit. The best are the clovers and vetches where the pollen is as high in protein as prime steak, and the protein is of high quality. This matters, because pollen from Dandelion, for example, is so poor that colonies fed exclusively on this produced no offspring.

The importance of members of the pea family was not recognised in the days when clover leys were part of annual crop rotation on farms but since they were replaced by monocultures of cereals, bumblebee species have declined significantly. Furthermore, chemical fertilisers made the nitrogen-fixing property of clovers redundant. However, there is a wonderful example of a pollinator strip containing vetch and clover next to Park Wood south of Bisham Wood.

Currently, bumblebees are enjoying open-flowered Dahlia, Hollyhock, Cornflower, and Cosmos in our gardens, and Bugloss and Wild marjoram in the fields.

Adrian Doble (Bumblebee Conservation Trust)

Bumblebee Notes - September

Among all the bad things that the Corona virus has brought us, it has resulted in people spending more time in our local countryside. The sightings and postings on our WildCookham Face-book page (https://www.facebook.com/groups/wildcookham) have evidenced this and some amazing wildlife has been noted. Increased numbers of photos and videos of deer, badgers and foxes have been a joy to see, but it has also been an opportunity for some to seek out the smaller creatures amongst God’s creation.

Our members have found some of the more striking hoverflies that are on the wing this time of year, some resembling Hornets for example. Others have been fascinated by some of our more colourful caterpillars, such as those of the Vapourer Moth, whilst several have been fascinated to find some of our beautiful Picture-winged Flies near their garden ponds.

Time to move slowly with inquisitive eyes has resulted in three species of rare Damselfly being discovered in the village this summer and one couple created a sequence of stunning photographs of all 26 species of butterfly found in our locale. Another created a kaleidoscope of images of different wildflowers along our hedgerows, whilst others, seeking the majestic Neowise Comet hanging in the night sky, saw bats and heard owls calling near their houses for the first time.

The point is, all these ‘new’ experiences were there all the while, but it has taken extraordinary circumstances to allow many of us to encounter them for the first time. Nature has a wonderful capacity to heal us and to calm us. In his contemplative poem, William Henry Davies said “What is this life if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.”

Standing and staring will always reward us in the green and pleasant land around the village. Yes, many aspects of our natural world are beleaguered by man’s lack of concern for creatures, great and small, hanging on to disappearing habitats at a tremendous rate. While the opportunity exists, let’s all go that bit slower on our walks and wanderings to see what gems await us as we too ‘stand and stare’.

(You can contact WildCookham at https://www.wildcookham.org.uk)

Brian Clews [email protected]

September News

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This epithet is commonplace, but is usually used in a negative, and perhaps derogatory, sense: ‘You can’t get something from nothing!’

What though is the meaning of ‘thing’? We can apply it to any item in the physical world. But we think of the world as having a starting point. We call it ‘The Big Bang’, with the maxim that it started as a ‘singularity’, exceedingly small at first, but ‘some-thing from nothing’ nonetheless. But we must then include all the physical forces, which, as it were, also came from ‘nowhere’, and are self-evidently very real, and measurable, but impossible to delineate, or describe as ‘things’.

Intellectually we can describe thought as some-‘thing’ which happens in our brains, recognisable, at least, by detectable electrical signals, in an electro-encephalograph. But impossible, again, to discern otherwise.

If all this is hard enough to consider ‘intellectually’, it is even more abstruse when looked at ‘spiritually’. Half the world doesn’t even believe in a ‘spiritual’ reality, and for them there is thereby nothing – no-‘thing’ – to consider there. But the other half of the world has to grapple with the question: Was there a ‘Some-thing’, or a ‘Some-One’, who initiated the whole ‘shmozzle’? And then, if there is, or was, such an Entity, which, or Who, caused the creation of the physical ‘cosmos’, such as we know it, then did all that just come out of ‘no-where’, or nothing – no-‘thing’? Then, if we call this ‘Entity’ ‘God’, this may give a measure of identity, Id-entity, to this being, but tells us nothing, no-‘thing’ of how that ‘Entity’ came to be, as per the school-room question: ‘Who made God? . . . !’

The Bible is supremely succinct, and immediate, in all this. The very first verse cannot be bettered: ‘In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.’ [Genesis 1:1]. And Jesus, God’s Son, was equally involved: ‘By him all things were made’. [John 1:3].

But in our pursuit of meaning and understanding, in all this, we have to ask: ‘Did God have some ‘source material’ to work with, some non-spiritual ‘stuff’, or was it the biggest miracle of all: He ‘thought it all up’, and somehow it all came from nothing, no-‘Thing’ . . . ?

When we study the physical world, in all its monumental complexity, and exquisite ‘fine-tuning’, it is all the more overwhelming to even try to think how it could actually be the ‘embodiment’ of a thought process, with the prerequisite that that, in itself, was on an astronomically grandiose scale . . . !

So, my conclusion here is that there has never been Nothing – no-‘thing’ - but the nature of ‘Things’ is as multifarious as the environments which give them substance . . . ! Furthermore, spiritual reality is more substantial, and permanent, than ‘physical’, and is thereby the source of all that is ‘physical’. . .

John Church

Season of Mellow Fruitfulness

Gaps

This season which Keats defined as Autumn

Seems to come earlier each year!

First week in August; already blackberries are ripe,

Fat, tasty, ready for painting black lips.

Blackberries taste different by location –

Some sweet, some sharp, all mouth-watering.

Wild damsons by the wooden gate

Already thumb-sized, sheened deep blue.

Swarming the green hedges ‘countless bees’

Small, busy, but quiet - not murmuring!

Starlings proliferate: I even have sparrows

Breakfasting in my garden, where none came before.

Black-eyed Susans flower on the bank

Lining Dean Bottom, in front of Bagsters,

Golden heads centred with dark brown eyes,

Together with the everlasting antirrhinum -

Rose-tinted Snapdragons for children’s play.

The grass burnt brown across the cricket green

Tells its own story – Autumn in August.

Is this the global warming footprint, climate change?

Mike Springate

There are gaps in our road where houses lie empty.

The long-standing residents have passed on.

It is like a mouth that has lost teeth.

People who were always there and walked their dogs up

and down have gone.

It reminds me of when I was a child.

There were gaps in the road where the bombs had

fallen.

Soon there will be new inhabitants.

But for now we miss them and wonder if we did enough

when they were there.

The lock down isolated us and when we walked past we

would think we would ring up when we got back but then

forgot and now they are gone.

In memory of Geraldine Upson and Susie Tremlett of

Startins Lane

Mary-Lou Kellaway

Something from Nothing


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Dear Supporter,

It has been so sad for us on the Fundraising Group to have cancelled our Garden Party and other get-together events due to the Coronavirus pandemic and Government guidance. However, I

wanted you to see the simply remarkable progress that has been made on the building of the new hospice at Bray Lake in spite of everything.

The link here https://youtu.be/WdFE6RCRHw8 enables you to be taken on a virtual tour of the building, and your guide is the fantastic Chief Executive Debbie Raven. Here Debbie gives you a detailed understanding of the opportunities and improvements that this new facility will bring to our community when it opens in the autumn. The tour does take some 28 minutes, but I am sure you will find it completely stunning, as it will emphasise how hard the team have worked to get the best results from the monies raised with your support and many organisations.

We still have a need to raise the remaining £800,000 to finish the job, and we continue to search for ways of closing this gap. Any suggestions would be most welcome. My wife Geneviève has taken the initiative of participating in the Thames Hospice Lottery. She says :

“The lottery is a golden opportunity to support the Hospice on a regular basis at a reasonable cost, with the added bonus of the thrill of winning. It takes place every Wednesday and each entry is a mere £1.00, though setting up a direct debit is convenient for both you and the Hospice. The Hospice needs extra help at the moment to fill the finance gap for the new Hospice, as well as dealing with Covid 19 patients and those with life-limiting illness. The extra workload and expense is eye watering, and as a Support Group, we feel rather powerless with the limitations put on us by the lockdown.”

If you would like to join the lottery please follow this link. https://lottery.thameshospice.org.uk Thank you”

Nicolas Usher

Exhibition Dates: 15 August 2020 – Autumn 2021

Arguably the two most important figures in Stanley Spencer’s life were his two wives, Hilda Carline and Patricia Preece, and these two relationships are examined in the Stanley Spencer’s Gallery’s Spring exhibition, LOVE, ART, LOSS: The Wives of Stanley Spencer, reopening its doors to the public on 15 August 2020.

With works drawn from the gallery’s collection, as well as two loans from the Tate, and another from Southampton City Art Gallery, the show seeks to shed light on the effect the two woman had on Spencer’s artistic practice – his unflinching portraits of Preece pre-date by many decades a style adopted by Lucian Freud – while also examining the bizarre love triangle that existed between them.

Spencer was married to Carline when he met Preece in 1929 in Cookham, the Berkshire village where he was born and which was the inspiration for some of his greatest works. Eventually his infatuation led to divorce with Carline and marriage with Preece, even though she was living with her lover, the artist Dorothy Hepworth, at the time. Preece took Hepworth on their honeymoon and then refused to consummate their marriage, although she continued to live with Hepworth at Spencer’s former marital home. The artist then moved to London, living in a bedsit in Swiss Cottage, while having to support not just Carline but Preece, too.

Nevertheless, he continued to paint both women resulting in some of his most powerful work. One of his most famous paintings, Double Nude Portrait: The Artist and his Second Wife (1937), depicts his own and Preece’s body in a frank non-idealised manner, the colours and textures of their flesh are juxtaposed with a raw joint of mutton.

This new direction which led to a series of work he began in 1937 entitled The Beatitudes of Love, about ill-matched couples, did not meet with approval from all his supporters. Indeed, it prompted the following response from his early patron, Sir Edward Marsh, ‘Terrible, terrible Stanley!’

Spencer’s raw portrayal of his personal life and use of hyper-realism was unique amongst Modern British artists at this time. His unabated self-expression was truly avant-garde and his portraits in particular, evoke the conflicting forces at play: love and objectivity, lover and wife, voyeurism and the gaze, the consummated and the unfulfilled.

The works in LOVE, ART, LOSS, which include paintings and intimate studies, attest to the complicated but profound relationships he had with both women. While, Preece refused his pleas for a divorce holding out to become Lady Spencer when he was knighted the year of his death in 1959, Spencer’s deep affection for the estranged Carline resumed in the 1940s – during which both suffered from depression – particularly through their letters, which Spencer continued even after her death in 1950.

Spencer Gallery Reopens Thames Hospice

• Adult cricket including Thames Valley League, Sunday and midweek 20/20 fixtures

• Venue suitable for family parties, Christenings, receptions and business meetings

• Fully stocked bar and large private car park. Visit www.cdcc.co.uk for full details and contacts

A Final Thought . . .

“I may make all things well, and I can make all things well, and I shall make all things well; and thou shalt see thyself that all manner of things shall be well.”

Mother Julian of Norwich during the Black Death which had killed one third of the population of Norwich.

https://youtu.be/WdFE6RCRHw8

https://lottery.thameshospice.org.uk


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Stanley Spencer, Patricia Preece, 1933, Oil on canvas, © Estate of Stanley Spencer

Love, Art, Loss:

The Wives of Stanley Spencer

New Exhibition runs 15th August - Autumn 2021

Hilda Carline, Self-Portrait, 1923, Oil on canvas, © Estate of Hilda Carline

The Cookhams Parish Magazine€¦ · Lorna Sykesemail: [email protected] Mathew Billinghurst...

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Transcript of The Cookhams Parish Magazine€¦ · Lorna Sykesemail: [email protected] Mathew Billinghurst...