Feast 2013

Parish magazine for St Mary’s,Holy Trinity, St John’s Curbridge,

and St John’s Hailey

W itney Way

For a brochure, please call01993 702525

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Witney Way: Magazine for theParish of Witney

Editor Ruth Sheppard Printed by LDI, New Yatt All views expressed in this magazine are

personal and do not necessarily reflect thoseof the editor or the Parish of Witney. The appearance of an advertisement in this magazine does not imply endorsement of theadvertiser or its products and services by theParish of Witney, nor does it constitute a recommendation. The Parish of Witney doesnot accept liability for any loss, injury or dam-age arising out of goods or services soldthrough any advertisement in this newsletter.Any discount offered to readers by any adver-tisement is done so entirely at the discretionof the advertiser.

Businesses wishing to advertise in this mag-azine should contact Ruth Sheppard, WitneyWay@gmail.com, 866127. The acceptance of an advert for inclusion is at thediscretion of the editorial team.

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Daily Dedication

2013 marks the 770th anniversary of the dedication of the newchurch – which we know as Saint Mary the Virgin – here in Witney.

Just as today with the situation in Syria and Egypt, the worldin 1243 was a troubled place. In March 1243, the Treaty of Alcaraz had seen the king of Castile turn the independent king-dom of Murcia into a protectorate. This had then begun aprocess of christianisation of the region. Troubles then, andtroubles now.

In those 770 years, these stones have formed a house ofprayer, inside which praise and worship, celebration and fun havebeen lived out, in good times and in bad. It is a privilege for usas a parish to share this ancient building – and our three otherbeautiful buildings – and to have an opportunity to shape andform them for the future. Our current appeal for the renewaland restoration is an important step on this journey.

Each year the Feast recalls us to this pivotal building in thelife of our community and the Fair that rose up to commemorateher dedication. But more than this, it recalls us to our task offaithfulness and prayer, only made possible with dedication.

As we celebrate 770 years of the parish church it offers to usan opportunity to reflect again on ways in which we are dedicated

Gallopers service, Witney

Feast 2012. Courtesy of

Ian Meyrick.

to God in our lives.So as we give thanks for the building, let us remember that

stone and mortar are not what is truly important. As it says in 1Peter 2.4–5:

Come to him, a living stone, though rejected by mortalsyet chosen and precious in God’s sight, and like livingstones, let yourselves be built into a spiritual house, to bea holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptableto God through Jesus Christ.

It is the living stone of Jesus that is truly important. And howwe dedicate ourselves to be ‘like living stones’ in all that we do.

Our church buildings are there to facilitate this growth of theChristian community – and our goal must always be this buildingup into a spiritual house, never to focus on the buildings alone.Our church buildings are houses of prayer, places of sanctuary,foci of hospitality and warmth – and spaces where Christ’s peo-ple daily, weekly, yearly dedicate their lives to his service. Nowthis is something, truly to celebrate and give thanks for.

A Prayer of Daily Dedication

Lord Jesus Christ,alive and at large in the world,help me to follow and find you there today,in the places where I work,

meet people,spend moneyand make plans.

Take me as a disciple of your Kingdom,to see through your eyes,and hear the questions you are asking,to welcome all people with your trust and truth,and to change the things that contradict God’s love,by the power of the crossand the freedom of your Spirit. Amen. (John Vernon Taylor)

Toby WrightRector

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Favourite Church award

To mark their 60th anniversary, the National Churches Trustasked 60 leading public figures to choose their favouritechurches. One of David Cameron’s nominations was our veryown St Mary’s, of which he said:

I have the honour of being one of the Patrons for theAppeal for Restoration and Renewal and have been so im-pressed by the hard work of dedicated and enthusiasticparishioners and clergy for this appeal. St Mary is one ofthe oldest buildings in Witney and one of the biggest inWest Oxfordshire. Its origins go back to Norman timesbut the present building is mostly 13th century. It standson Church Green near the town centre, and its spire is alandmark for many miles around. The church doestremendous work to support the community and is an im-portant part of Witney life.

Visit www.favouritechurches.org.uk to see which other churcheswere nominated and why.

From the Loss of All Souls to the

Hope of All Saints

A weekend of art, music and meditation to honor the lives ofdeparted loved ones and pray for the salvation of all beings.

Friday 1 November, Evening Prayer 5.30pm, meet from 6pmSaturday 2 November, 10am to 5pmSunday 3 November, 10am to 3pm

Winchester Room, St. Mary’s Church

It will be run by Diana Chambers, MA, who has over 30 years’experience as a Marriage and Family Therapist licensed in California. Her career has focused on the integration of body,mind and spirit, using art, liturgy and music as her media. Sherecently obtained certification as a 500-hour Yoga Instructor and specializes gentle, therapeutic movement.

More information to follow soon.

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A quarterA quarter

of a ton of flourof a ton of flour

sold by FWPsold by FWP

Matthews.Matthews.

The HogThe Hog

Roast was allRoast was all

gone by 2pm!gone by 2pm!

OverOver

4,000 people4,000 people

through thethrough the

doors!doors!

Get the date for next year’s festival in your diary:Get the date for next year’s festival in your diary:

17 May 2014!17 May 2014!

Several stallsSeveral stalls

had to send for extrahad to send for extra

supplies to keep supplies to keep

customers happy!customers happy!

80 volunteers80 volunteers

kept everythingkept everything

running smoothlyrunning smoothly

CreamCream

teas served teas served

continuously continuously

all day!all day!

Over 200 Over 200

bottles of ciderbottles of cider

sold by Littlesold by Little

Orchard CiderOrchard Cider

Company!Company!

Involved 35Involved 35

local companieslocal companies

and producersand producers

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The first Witney Festival of Food and Drink, held at St Mary’son Saturday 18 May, aimed to showcase the best of local producefrom farm, field, business or kitchen, and it did so in style!

It was opened by Alexander Armstrong, and then the crowdsflocked in, and they just kept coming. Over 4,000 people came through the doors, with the 2,000 programmes gone by lunch time.

As well as stalls with lots to try and buy, there werecookery demonstrations and talks, maypole dancing out-side on the green, cream teas to enjoy and a cookery bookstall.

It was not only successful in getting people tasting andtalking about local produce, but was also a lively event forthe community of Witney to enjoy, and a really new positive use of St Mary’s. People were coming through the doors for the first time, and thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Well done to the organisers and all the volunteers fora hugely successful event, and we’re all looking forwardto next year!

Alexander Armstrong

opening the festival, and

below scenes from the

day.

Digital Organ Spectacular!

Two organists and two organs brought over 70 people from farand wide into St Mary’s, Witney, on 17 August for the first ‘Dig-ital Organ Spectacular!’ Given by Graham Blyth and FrancisRumsey, this short recital aimed to demonstrate some possibili-ties for upgrading the St Mary’s organ, and to make some goodmusic into the bargain. Francis and Graham, as well as being or-ganists, are Fellows of the Audio Engineering Society, and Gra-ham is Director of the Veritas Organ Company, which makeshigh-quality digital church organs. They installed a modern Ver-itas organ alongside the church’s existing Bradford-system in-strument and there was an opportunity to hear music on bothwith some lively discussion over a glass of wine afterwards. Agantry with loudspeakers for the visiting organ was erectedacross the entrance to the chancel. The organ stayed in place forthe Sunday morning service, at which Francis played a resound-ing Widor Toccata.

Opening with Stanley’s Trumpet Voluntary, staged as anorgan duet between old and new instruments, the space wasfilled with splendid sounds. The best features of the two organsgot an airing in the pieces that followed, including Bach,Mendelssohn, Franck, Mulet and Lang, finishing with the spec-tacular Grand Choeur Dialogué by Gigout on both organs.Comments from the assembled company suggested that whilethey would like to keep the best features of the existing organ,including its warm English tones and deep bass, they were ex-cited by the incisive mixtures, beautiful baroque tones and bet-ter attack of the new instrument. Thankfully the best of bothworlds is entirely possible with an upgrade of the existingorgan, which would allow numerous alternative voicings.

The organ at St. Mary’s was installed in around 1993, afterthe existing pipe organ was deemed beyond economic repair,and is an electronic church organ based on the ‘Bradford’ sys-tem. For the technically minded, it is understood to be a Brad-ford 5B 2-module system built around 1991 by Richard Woodorgan builders, based in Huddersfield, and trading under thename of Bradford Computer Organs. The ROMs (the memorychips on which the voicing data are stored), however, are la-belled 1988, and it is understood the organ spent a few years

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elsewhere in a slightly different form before it was installed inWitney, including a temporary stay in St Alban’s Abbey.

Although the St Mary’s organ is a good example for its time,digital organ technology and reproduction systems have im-proved considerably in the past 25 years and more convincingresults can be achieved today. The loudspeakers and electronicsin the current organ are getting old and it is almost impossibleto modify the sounds. Some aspects of it would be very hardto repair. Simply from a maintenance point of view it makessense to bring the innards up to date. A revitalised organ wouldenable the development of a musical life of higher standardsat the church, including choral services, recitals and concerts,allowing a fuller range of repertoire to be played. Although asatisfactory sound can be achieved with the existing ‘full organ’when accompanying hymns, many of the individual stops lack

Francis and Graham at

the console of the visiting

organ, showing the

temporary loudspeakers

in the background

character and there is an overall lack of sharpness in the attack.The ‘detuning’ effect inherent in the original Bradford system(intended to make it sound more realistic) is coarse and un-pleasant at times, and there is considerable distortion which hasproved hard to eliminate and makes the reed chorus rather‘dirty’.

It is therefore proposed to upgrade the electronics and re-production equipment (loudspeakers, amplifiers) to modernstandards, while retaining the existing console (which is good).A few additional stops and playing aids can be added to im-prove the specification, such as a solo trumpet for weddings,fanfares, etc, and a 16-foot flue stop on the Great. This willgreatly improve the sound quality of the organ and make itserviceable and re-voiceable for many years to come.

An electronic organ performs surprisingly well in St Mary’s,partly because it is blessed with good acoustics (a reasonableamount of reverberation), and partly because the location ofthe ‘pipes’ (loudspeakers) just seems to work in the nave. Thecurrent location is behind a façade of dummy pipes in a smallchamber on the wall of the south transept. Acoustically thisworks well because the loudspeakers are not too close to thecongregation, and it provides a good direct/reverberant blendin the main body of the church. Wiring and power are alreadypresent, as is a convenient chamber and façade. The cost of re-installing the entire arrangement somewhere else would behigh.

The Veritas Organ Company (www.veritasorgans.com/)uses the Musicom system, based on synthesised modelling ofpipe sounds. It is essentially a development of the Bradfordsystem used in the current organ, and Graham is one of thebest voicers of this system in the world. Based on retaining theexisting 2-manual configuration, and assuming existing key-boards can be retained, the outline costs of the project are ex-pected to be in the region of £15,000.

Please consider contributing to this important project forthe musical life of the church, and contact the organist, FrancisRumsey. f.rumsey@btinternet.com, 01993 817965.

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Are you involved in pastoral care?

One of the many, good things about being a member of Haileychurch is that everyone can play their part in caring for theircommunity. Being part of a village can somehow make it easierto be helpful unobtrusively, and so to make God’s love for usknown to our neighbours, without it being threateningly ‘religious’. Inevitably there will always be those who are morewell-known for their loving, thoughtful involvement in villageactivities, sometimes made possible by those who are willing toadmit their need of some practical help.

In Curbridge only a few of the villagers go to church regularly. So there is more of a sense of the congregation tryingto be like salt, acting as a beneficial flavouring, supporting andencouraging ideas and activities as they try to become a caringand united community.

With a larger congregation, members of Holy Trinity churchrecognise their need for a pastoral care team – to coordinate thekind of care we all hope to provide: helping members of thecongregation to get to know each other better, and to supportone another as we seek to grow closer to God. Their regularfund-raising events have a strong social element, with a sense ofpractical action in response to their prayers for their communityand the wider world.

At St Mary’s, with an expanding congregation and more families with young children, there is a pastoral team too. Thisaims to improve general communication, to make the most ofnatural links between people and to help friendships develop,whilst offering prayer and support networks in times of need,wherever possible.

In the parish as a whole we try to be an inclusive church embracing a hospitable Christianity. Some of us enjoy invitingpeople to our homes for drinks or a meal. Others bake cakes orcook meals for new mums or those just back from hospital. Forsome people, their own experience of help received in a time ofpain, loss or need may be what has motivated them to offer helpto others in difficult situations.

Many have found that attending a midweek communion service is a way back into church life for them; for others, Bible

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study or prayer groups, the book group, or social events, havebeen opportunities to share new interests and help foster friendships.

I am always on the lookout for new possibilities for cooperation with members of the other churches in Witney – ashappened with the recent children’s holiday club, and when training in listening skills has been set up, offered to us by theMethodist church. Praying and fundraising for Base 33 is a long-term ecumenical project that we support.

Discerning, encouraging and enabling people’s gifts to beused and shared is an important part of our pastoral care for oneanother; I know that some people are really good at doing thisin an un-bureaucratic and sensitive way. Yet there are so manyways that we can help care for one another – almost without realising that we are all ‘doing pastoral care’ – by making God’spowerful love known to everyone we meet.

Yes, we are all involved in pastoral care (but maybe there ismore that you are dreaming about doing).

Rosemary Peirce

St Mary’s Wedding Fair

In September St Mary’s Church will play host to its second Wed-ding Fair this year, and you may well be wondering ‘why this sud-den surge in interest in weddings?’ Part of the answer lies in thereplacement of the pews with chairs, which has allowed us to bemuch more flexible in the use of the magnificent space withinthe body of the church. It has helped us realise that the churchhas the potential to be used for much more than just Sundayservices, and to involve the wider community, as was seen duringthe Beer Festival and the Food Festival .

Then earlier this year we were approached by Chris Clinkardof The Beautiful Group who saw an opportunity for St Mary’sChurch to deliver the complete wedding package from servicethrough to reception. This is not a new idea – I can recall it beingtalked about in the days of Cameron Butland but the immobilityof the pews was always the stumbling block. However, now thatchairs have replaced the pews, the church offers a unique venuewith couples able to get married and then celebrate their weddingin such magnificent surroundings.

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Chris introduced us to Muddy Duck Events, a name you willrecognise as they have been involved in a couple of recent churchevents. Muddy Duck are Bicester-based caterers who are lookingfor high-quality venues with which to be associated. They shareour vision for the church to host wedding receptions, and indeedare encouraging us to look beyond these at other events thatwould bring in much-needed funds to the church.

So the Wedding Fair in June was the first time we had talkedopenly about the use of the church for wedding receptions, andwe were pleasantly surprised at the interest that was generated.In fact by Sunday afternoon we had taken our first booking fora wedding that is going to take place in June 2014. This is reallyexciting because, as well as contributing towards the cost ofmaintaining St Mary’s, it is enabling people outside the churchto see it in a totally different light.

There is a lot of work to do to get the church ready to hostits first events but I am confident that this is a venture that willgreatly benefit St Mary’s, and indeed the whole Parish, in theyears to come.

Chris Jones Event manager

What could the

future hold for St

Mary’s?

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Nick Coombe and Gemma Trinder were married at St John’sHailey on 27 July.

Matthew Claridge and Alex Warwick were married at HolyTrinity on 3 August.

Rob Mills and Claire Palmer were married at St Mary’s on 10August.

Jonathan Edwards and Amelia Kirby were married at St Mary’son 10 August.

Joshua Goodway and Amber Hillier were married at St John’sHailey on 17 August.

Maurice Coborn and Tracy Clarke were married at St John’s Curbridge on 17 August.

Chris Rowe and Emily Rideout were married at St Mary’s on 24August.

Sam Turner and Hannah Simmons were married at St Mary’s on25 August.

Baptisms and weddings Rhys Wallis was baptised at Holy Trinity on 9 June.

Thomas Dixon was baptised at Hailey on 16 June.

Olivia Millard-Smith, Javari Nliam, Henry Groves, Lewis andMatthew John were all baptised at St Mary’s on 7 July.

Daisy May Dean was baptised at Holy Trinity on 14 July.

Kai Duncan Wildman and Emma Louise Warner were baptisedat Curbridge on 28 July

Sienna Tasker, Hannah Gooderham, Rhys Carter and Sarah RoseHaddon were baptised at St Mary’s on 4 August.

Rose Harbod and Lisa Taaffe were baptised at Holy Trinity on18 August.

Marc Joyner-Richards was baptised at Curbridge on 25 August.

Aleah Aston, Jack Abson and Olivia Thomas were baptised atSt Mary’s on 1 September.

Emma-Rose Peel was baptised at St Mary’s on 15 September.

Indigo Smart was baptised at Curbridge on 22 September.

Daisy Forest was baptised at St Mary’s on 29 September.

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A bride arrives for her

wedding at St Mary’s.

Reflections on ordination

Some things you spend quite some time preparing for. At thetime of writing, Tokyo has just been announced as the host cityfor the 2020 Olympics, which sounds like an absurdly long timeaway; but then the leap from the 2005 acceptance of London’sbid to the 2012 reality went by in what seemed like the blink ofan eye. And then, once that thing you have been building for haspassed, does it leave a sense of anti-climax? Does it become thefoundation on which other unknown things are built?

My parish priest said to me that he could see that I might beordained one day, on the last leg of a walking pilgrimage in thesummer of 1995 – I was 16 and was about to receive my GCSEresults. This, I felt, was a very flattering observation, but I wasquite happy with the idea that I would be a journalist. When thisambition was reformed eighteen moths later into a desire to enterteaching, I was likewise quite content that this would be my rolein life, but I remember the question crossing my mind, ‘can yoube an ordained teacher?’ At this point, I realised that this questionwas not going to let me go. ‘Some time in the future you can giveme a massive prod,’ I agreed with God, ‘but could you let me dothis first?’

Time passed. I trained, qualified, worked, struggled and gotbetter as a teacher. In the midst of this, God give me the compelling prod I had invited, and so began the discernmentprocess – lengthy, thorough, not without its blind alley-ways andleaps of faith, taking me to Cuddesdon via South Africa and awilderness experience.

And so, some eighteen years after the first mention of the‘O’ word, I found myself in a dog-collar, cassock and surplice,in front of sixty close family, old friends from my past and newfriends from Witney, kneeling before the Bishop of Oxford ashe laid his hands on my head and said ‘Send down the Holy Spiriton your servant Alastair for the office and work of a deacon inyour Church.’

The moment itself was unique. Theologians argue over whathappens at ordination. Some say that, by the Holy Spirit, thereis an indelible mark placed upon the ordained person. Otherssee this as the prayerful commissioning of a particular kind ofministry. For me it surpassed description. I know I felt prayed

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for, supported, loved and overwhelmed. I am also surethat, in my hitherto non-charismatic way, somethinghappened. In many ways it was the culmination ofeighteen years of pondering and six years of actual pur-suit, but in no way represents a completed project. Ingrand terms, I have a lifetime of ministry ahead of me,which could take me to all sorts of places; in the shortterm, God and the bishop so willing, I will attend a sim-ilar service on 22 June next year to be ordained priest.

As to where this experience has led me so far, I havehad a wonderful summer in Witney. I have been madevery welcome and have managed to join in with manyof the activities going on in the church, including theholiday club, the midweek services, Acorns and theMothers’ Union, and have visited the three churchschools, which has given me the challenge of workingout what I am to be called, after years of being ‘MrBlaine’. I have settled on Reverend Alastair, but we’llsee how that works.

Adjusting to wearing a dog collar has been one ofthe most surprisingly natural parts of the transition intodiaconal ministry – I do not know why that has been so, althoughit was exceedingly warm during the heat of July and August!

From here, I am most looking forward to continuing to meetnew people and get more into the life of the church and the associations it has with the town. Witney is a great place to dothis, and this parish, with its dynamism and connections in somany ways, is a very good place to be.

Alastair Blaine

(Photograph courtesy of

Rev. Paul Cowan and

Angela Brennan)

The Beauty of English & European Folk Tunes

with Chris Gardener & friends

Saturday 28 September, 7.30pm Holy Trinity

A concert in aid of the ‘Hole in the Floor’ AppealTickets £7.50 (Licensed bar open throughout)

Reserve a ticket by phoning Charlotte 01993 705442or charlotteftremain@googlemail.com

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Roy Titcombe

It was with great sadness that we paid our respects to Roy Titcomb who died in June after an illness, which he bore withcharacteristic fortitude.

Roy was a man with a great sense of commitment and responsibility. He started his working life as a garage mechanic,before being called up for national service in the Royal Electricaland Mechanical Engineers. One Christmas he was selected ‘stickman’, a privilege awarded to the most immaculately presented soldier in the platoon, which required him to lay thefire in the guardhouse before being given the evening off. Thisenabled him, with the assistance of his motorbike, to take himself off on a surprise visit to Claire!

In 1957 Roy joined the police force and the following yearmarried Claire. A happy marriage that was enjoyed over some 55years. Roy was posted to Beaconsfield where their three childrenLesley, Andrew and Mark were born. He loved the sea and inlandwaterways and constructed a Mirror dinghy, from a kit, duringtheir time in Beaconsfield. In 1972, after postings to Reading andSulhampstead, the family moved to Witney where Roy eventuallytook charge of the police station at Woodstock. After retirement,he became the administrator of the University Church in Oxford, for a number of years, before retiring completely anddevoting his time to supporting Claire in her vocation to thepriesthood.

Many have been beneficiaries of Roy’s selfless devotion toduty. One of Roy and Claire’s sons spoke at the funeral of hisdevotion to the family, giving up possible further promotion toprovide stability and opportunity for his growing children. Thishas surely been reflected in their children’s own very successfulcareers.

Roy drove the battlebus for his son-in-law ‘the other Mark’,an MP, in three election campaigns which he thoroughly enjoyed.

Roy appreciated a variety of music, the works of Bach in particular, and in the seventies sang with both his sons in thechoir at Holy Trinity.

He sat on the board of governors at the Batt School, wasPCC Secretary and served as Church Warden for a number ofyears. Those who worked with him in any of these areas will

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remember his diligence and commitment to the duties undertaken. He was a man of utmost integrity, always, and didn’tmind stating what he thought was right at PCC & DCC meetings,when on occasions things may have appeared to be going a littleawry!

Roy was an excellent raconteur who could tell a good storyabout the parish, including some tales of the clergy, going backover many years. He had a great sense of humour, a warm andwelcoming smile and was so very grateful to all the people whocared for him during his illness. He viewed everything that wasdone for him in such a positive light. He spoke with utmost courtesy to the hospital staff – always noticing someone doingeven the most menial of tasks and thanking them.

Roy has enriched the lives of many people and we are thankful to have known and loved him. We shall miss him greatly.

He was a man of faith, worshipping on a very regular basisat Holy Trinity, over many years, and a stalwart supporter ofparish events.

May he now rest in peace and rise in glory.CFT

Harvest and Us

Due to circumstances beyond my control we were unable to haveour usual Lent Boxes from Us (formerly USPG) earlier in theyear, so we now have the opportunity to contribute at Harvesttime instead. Collection envelopes and posters will be availablein all churches and some may wish to have an extra event as well,for example, at Holy Trinity there will be a sale of fresh produceon Harvest Sunday, the 6th October, alongside the dried andtinned goods we collect for The Porch.

The theme for Harvest is ‘Bring what you have’ and Us’s sug-gestion is that half the money raised should be used locally,which in our case could be Base 33, another organisation we sup-port as a parish. Last year we gave £1,001 to Us, so please bringwhat you can this year.

Lorna Whitehouse

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St Mary the Virgin, Church Green, Witney OX28 4AW

Holy Trinity, Woodgreen, Witney OX28 1DN

St John the Baptist, Curbridge OX29 7NW

St John the Evangelist, Middletown, Hailey OX29 9UD

Team Rector Revd Toby Wright 704441Toby-wright@btconnect.com

Team Vicar Revd Dr Elizabeth Thomson 834875Associate Priest Revd Sally Wright 704441

Assistant Curate Alastair Blaine 07855 797477

Team Evangelist Captain Jeff Hill 358226

Churchwardens Elspeth Lewis 703070James Mills 07917566374

Deputy Churchwardens

Curbridge Jean ChitteyHailey Clare MussonHoly Trinity Jill Carter and Alan GentrySt Mary’s Charles Smith and Nick Thompson

Parish Office Michelle Bailey Wells 779492& Gift Aid 9am–12.30pm Monday–Friday

St Mary’s, Church Greenwtparish@btinternet.com

Baptism Enquiries Esther Partridge 864926Wedding EnquiriesRevd Dr Elizabeth Thomson 834875

Witney Way editor Ruth Sheppard 866127WitneyWay@gmail.comCopy date for next issue: 1 November

Home and Hospital VisitsTo arrange Communion for anyone who is unwell, please contact 708582 (Hailey), or 771750 (Holy Trinity). For Curbridge, St Mary’s or general enquiries, contact the Parish Office, or one of the clergy.

www.witneyparish.org.uk

Parish contact information

Holy Trinity opened its

doors in May as part of

Cotswold Churches

Festival. A number of

classes from local primary

schools visited to learn

about the church and the

Christian year.

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These are the normal service times; please see website and theweekly notice sheet for any changes or special events.

Sunday Services

Weekday Services

St Mary’s 8.00am Holy Communion(Followed by breakfast on 4th Sunday)

10.45am Sung Eucharist(With Junior Church)

Holy Trinity 10.45am Sung Eucharist(Including Sunday School)

4pm T Service Family service (Second and fourth Sundays)

St John’s, 9.15am Holy CommunionHailey (Occasionally Matins)

6.00pm Evensong(First Sunday of the month)

St John’s, 9.15am Holy CommunionCurbridge

Monday–SaturdaySt Mary’s 9.00am Morning Prayer

Monday–SaturdaySt Mary’s 5.30pm Evening Prayer

TuesdayHoly Trinity 10.30am Holy Communion

WednesdaySt Mary’s 11am Holy Communion

ThursdaySt John’s, 10.00am Holy CommunionHailey

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Upcoming events and services

*NEW* T service at Holy Trinity

4pm on 22 September, 13 and 27 October, 10 & 24 Novem-ber, 8 & 22 December. Lively worship for children and fami-lies, followed by a finger tea.

Fishy Tales, 4pm, 9 November

Family matinee show performed by Footprints Theatre Group,follow by a light tea. At High Street Methodist Church.

Regular groups and events

Women’s Group

Particularly aimed at women in their 20s–40s: Contact Stephanie Keates, slkeates@googlemail.com.

Acorns Toddler Group

9.45–11.45am and 1–2.45pm Thursdays, Holy Trinity (term time)A welcoming toddler group for 0–5 year olds and their carers.

Art Group

9.30am–12 noon, Monday, Winchester Room, St. Mary’s

X Group

Get-togethers for teens of the parish. For more information contact Jeff Hill on 358226.

Xsite

6–8pm, 28 September and 23 November. Praise party for 8–11year olds. St Mary’s, Church Green.

Street café and Street Pastors

10.30pm prayer at St Mary’s, 11pm on the street, on 7, 14 & 28September, 5, 19 & 26 October.

Holy Trinity House/Fellowship Groups

Groups meet fortnightly on Monday and Tuesday evening. For information on the Monday group contact Malcolm Ryland-Jones and for the Tuesday group contact Alan Gentry.

Book Circle

Third Tuesday of the month, 2.30pm, Winchester Room, St Mary’s. Open to all. Contact Freda Nicholls on 772564.

What’s going on in the Parish?

Holy Trinity,

Cotswold

Churches, 2013.

23

Mothers’ Union

Second Wednesday of the month, 2pm, Winchester Room, St Mary’s. Corporate Communion is held on the third Wednesday of the month at 11am at St Mary’s.

Hailey Village Lunch

Third Wednesday of the month, Hailey Village Hall.

Hot Pot lunches

For seniors. Wednesdays, 18 September, 23 October, 27 November, St Mary’s.

Parish Wives Group

Fourth Wednesday of the month, 7.45pm, Winchester Room,St Mary’s.

Contemplative Prayer Group

Every Wednesday, 4.30–5.00pm, St Mary’s.

Parish Surgery

5–5.30pm, Thursdays, St Mary’s. An opportunity to have aword with the parish clergy. Both Toby and Elizabeth will normally be there.

Acoustic Room

Third Thursday of the month, 7.30pm, Winchester Room, StMary’s. £3 on the door, free for performers. For further information contact Colin or Jean Greenway on 705026.

Faith with Spice

An opportunity for the men from the churches to get together,7.45pm on 29 September, 17 November at Shaan, Corn Street.Contact Jeff Hill for further details.

Choir Practice: Holy Trinity

Wednesdays, 7.30pm. Contact Paul Francis 01235 848215.

Choir Practice: St Mary’s

Sundays, 9.45am. Contact Francis Rumsey.

St Mary’s Junior Choir

All keen young singers welcome, contact Sally Rumsey, 779331.

Bell ringing at St Mary’s

Ringing on Sunday, 9.45–10.45am. Practice night Tuesday,7.30–9pm. Contact Wendy Wastie 07773 391886.

24

The Ministry Team

Toby Wright

Team Rector

Elizabeth Thomson

Team Vicar

Sally Wright

Associate Priest

Jeff Hill

Team Evangelist

Rosemary Peirce

Licensed Lay Minister

David Exham

Licensed Lay Minister

Joanna Collicutt

Assistant Priest

Alastair Blaine

Assistant Curate

25

A Friendship Link with the Parish

of Bor, in Southern Sweden

Do you remember Ulrika Zwaard, the Swedish priest on themission team in our Living Faith week last May, 2012? Sincethen Ulrika has moved to a new parish, Bor, still in the Dioceseof Växjö, serving five churches in the countryside. She and hercolleague Magnus Hullfors have said they would love to explorebuilding up an ongoing link of friendship with our Parish ofWitney. Toby and our Parochial Church Council have respondedwarmly, and we are keen to follow this up.

A Friendship Link. We feel, as does Ulrika, that our parishescould explore partnership gently, step by step, without setting upformal structures immediately. The Churches of Sweden andEngland have many things in common: a sense of care for thewhole community in which we are set: long histories: an episco-pal tradition. The Church of Sweden is Lutheran, and like oursits worship is centred on the Eucharist. Apart from the language,members of our parish would fully feel at home at church onSunday in Sweden, with ceremonial similar to ours, and a loveof hymns. There is an agreement between the Church of Eng-land and the Nordic Lutheran Churches, including the Churchof Sweden: this achieves intercommunion, and the full recogni-tion of each other’s ordained ministry. But we are different too,as are our communities. So there are good opportunities for usto share experience, build friendships, and learn from each other.Travelling between England and Southern Sweden is not hard,and the Swedish people’s prowess in speaking English is a greathelp to us.

A taster. Twelve of us, including Toby and Alastair, had a“taster” a few weeks ago in July: an afternoon with Åse Arons-son, a teacher from Växjö, who talked with us about Swedish so-ciety, the Church of Sweden, and the language. She had us sayinga few Swedish phrases to each other; we sang a Swedish hymn,and she explained mysteries like the marks on some of the lettersthat are unfamiliar to us. She also gave us some literal Swedishtasters to try, like caviar paste on Swedish bread.

26

The next step is a three-day visit here from Ulrika and Magnusin the first week of September. This edition of Witney Way willbe published just after they are here. We hope that many of youwill have been able to meet them. We shall begin to flesh outwhat a friendship link like this could mean. Ulrika and I have hadsome first thoughts already. In their parish of Bors the people,led by their clergy, are keen on pilgrimage walks. They are ambitious, and have made frequent parish pilgrimages to placeslike Assisi and Rome. They also love being out of doors in thesummer, including walks in their own countryside of lakes,forests, and farms. group of us from Witney might join themfor a few days next spring or summer, 2014.

Please get in touch with me if you are interested in being partof this friendship as it develops. Are there any of our readerswho already know Sweden, and its language?

Martin Peirce 01993 200103 or martin.peirce@ntlworld.com

Out and About

with Mothers’ Union

In June half a dozen members from Witney teamed up with fourfrom Bodicote to take advantage of the fact that this year theMothers’ Union General Meeting was taking place in Bath andso was a reasonable distance for a day trip in a minibus. TheForum, a theatre which is used as a church on Sundays, waspacked with members from all over Britain and Ireland plussome from further afield. We heard reports from the variousunits within the Mothers’ Union. Bishop Andrew, the newProvincial Chaplin, led the worship and we were introduced tothe new Trustees. The keynote speaker in the afternoon wasAdrian Plass, an inspirational speaker who is guaranteed to haveyou rolling in the aisles one moment and reduced to tears thenext. All agreed that it was a very good day out.

In July the Branch held its annual garden party, the weather

27

was a big improvement on last year,being quite hot and we were able tosit in Lorna and Andrew’s garden allafternoon. Some found the quizprovided by Ann Platt a little testing,but exercise for the brain, was fol-lowed by a lovely tea provided bymembers to feed the body.

Also in July, the Oxford AreaSummer Meeting took place in StMary’s, 60 members and friends at-tended and again it was a warmevening and members were able totake their supper out into the churchyard to eat if they wished. This is al-ways an occasion to catch up withold friends from other branches andto make new ones. There was a brisktrade in MU cards and literature aswell. After the bring and share sup-per, which was a tremendousspread, our Diocesan PresidentGillian Johnson gave a presentationon “Seeds we sow, help us grow”our MU theme for this year. Hope-fully everyone left inspired to spreadthe word about the aims and work of the Mothers’ Union bothhere and abroad. At the end of an enjoyable evening Gillian waspresented with a rose plant, as was Esther Partridge for organis-ing the event.

Posada

This year there will be two sets, one for the church schools inWitney, and one of Acorns/T service families. Both will beginon Sunday 1 December. Look out for your chance to house Maryand Joseph for a night!

Mothers’ Union garden

party.

28

Secondhand Cycles For SaleTo suit 3 years to adult

£20–£40

Fully serviced

All proceeds to Hailey Church

and School

Contact Alan Bailey 01993 704271

29

Oliver At The Batt!

The year at The Batt School finished with a production of “Oliver!”With a cast of 315, it was our biggest production yet and we playedto full houses for all four performances at The Henry Box School.It was a wonderful experience for the whole school community, andthe children, aged 4 to 11,loved singing the songsand performing to the au-diences.

The leading parts weretaken by the Upper Juniorchildren, and the LowerJuniors and the Infantsprovided the choral singingand actions in front of thestage. We hope this will bean experience that will staywith the children for manyyears to come.

Chris Payne

30

FOR!ALL!YOUR!CARTRIDGE!ANDSTATIONERY!SUPPLIES

FIND!US!AT:32 CORN!STREET, WITNEYOXON!OX28 6BLTel:!01993 894375CAR PARK!AT!REAR

31

Mission Action Planning

The work across the parish continues to develop for our MissionAction Planning.

Holy Trinity have successfully developed their thinking forthe building and plans to develop service to the community.

Hailey continue to build on their expanding engagement withthe village and interaction.

Saint Mary’s has just undertaken a major questionnaire andthe team are now working on analysis and producing some priorities in response to this.

Please do pray for the Mission Action Planning work happening across the parish as we continue to develop this.

More information to follow…

Death is a Fact of Life

A man goes up to the customer services desk of a departmentalstore, ‘Excuse me, I wonder if you can help, I’ve lost my wife.’‘I’m so sorry to hear that Sir, funeral services are on the fourthfloor.’

A common enough mistake you might think; after all, if youtype death into a search engine, you’ll find dozens of euphemisms: passed on, passed over, deceased, departed…; wejust don’t want to talk about it. We see it on our televisions everyday, but these are usually unnatural deaths: acts of nature; acci-dents in the air, on the roads, at sea, in the home; the starved and diseased; war and repatriations; suicide bombings – 9/11 and7/7; acts of violence ... somehow it’s always someone else.Dreadful and distressing as it might be, there is a danger wemight just register it, and then ‘… pass by on the other side.’

We respect the dead with rituals of burial and cremation, butthe wake has been reduced to a short drink-and-a-nibble forthose who may have travelled: the black tie has replaced the blackarm band, and the black picture-hat has replaced the widow’sweed. Once a year on Remembrance Day, the whole countrystops and honours those who died in wars to secure our contin-ued freedom, at one of the 60,000 war memorials. But the naturalact of dying now usually takes place away from home and lovedones, in a hospital or care institution. Dying and death are recognised by ritual and liturgy for others, but is not to be foundin homilies or daily discussion.

Colm Keane, in his book Death & Dying, writes, ‘Talkingabout death and witnessing it, is a difficult issue with most cultures. Western societies may like to treat the dead with the ut-most material respect, with an official embalmer and associatedrites.’1 Dr Margo Wrigley adds, ‘… the modern denial of deathis part related to the reduced opportunity to witness death andparticipate in its rituals.’1 I’m sure no pun was intended whenNigel Llewellyn: wrote ‘… death seems more deeply buried thanever.’1

Today we are protected from death in ways which formergenerations were not. We have clean water and efficient seweragesystems, we have every opportunity to maintain a balanced dietif we so choose, and we have immediate access to medical and

32

health services. The resultant statistics are revealing: the averagelife expectancy for women is now 82, and for men 78: since 1980there has been a five-fold increase in the number of people livingto be 100 in the UK, currently around 13,000.

‘Death was at the centre of life in the Middle Age,’ when lifeexpectancy was around 40 years, ‘in a way that might seem shock-ing to us today. With high rates of infant mortality, disease,famine, the constant presence of war, and the inability of medicine to deal with common injuries, death was a brutal partof most people’s everyday experience. As a result, attitudes towards life were very much shaped by beliefs about death: indeed, according to Christian tradition, the very purpose of lifewas to prepare for the afterlife by avoiding sin, performing goodworks, taking part in the sacraments, and keeping to the teachingsof the church.’2

Although there was the acceptance that death was indeed afact of life, there was still fear of the end; fear that the dying per-son might not actually be dead. The Wake may have been morethan a celebration for a life with its concomitant junketing, it mayalso have been intended to keep the dead awake amongst thedead as the soul passed into the next life. The suggestion that itwas a vigil to see if the corpse woke up has been refuted. However the fear was real. Lord Chesterfield in 1769 wrote, ‘AllI desire for my own burial is not to be buried alive.’ Similarly,Frederic Chopin’s last words as late as 1849 were, ‘Swear to makethem cut me open, so that I won’t be buried alive,’ There is noevidence that a sale was ever made, but an American patent wastaken out in 1868 for the manufacture and sale of The SafetyCoffin. There was a persistent belief that bodies could have abell with them in their coffin, so that if they woke up, they couldring the bell. The phrase ‘Saved by the bell’ is not likely to beconnected to this belief, instead pertaining to boxing.

Until the close of the 18th century, it was the custom to announce the moment of death, by the ringing of a church bell,tolling the bell, the Death Knell. By the end of the 19th century,the bell was tolled when the church sexton received the news,unless it was after sunset, then it was rung early the followingday. There were unwritten codes adopted by parishes to signifythe age and gender of the deceased through the chimes.

‘The Day of the Dead’, All Saints Day and All Souls Day,

33

have long been celebrated in the Christian calendar. Long beforethe American import of trick-or-treat, people would take timeoff from working, visit cemeteries with flowers and candles, andoffer prayers over the graves of loved ones.

Rev. Dr Leslie Weatherhead tells of a parishioner whom heregularly visited. The man was totally paralysed apart from theability to move his eyes. Each time he visited, his minister couldread the pleading in those eyes, ‘Please just let me die’; he waskept alive for 17 years.4 With the recent high-profile cases ofTony Nicklinson and Paul Lamb; the debate and opinion pollssurrounding, euthanasia, assisted suicide, mercy killing, the factthat two Brits a month travel to Digitas in Switzerland…, theethical/moral/religious debate is gaining ground, and deservesto be discussed and debated without recourse to uninformedsentiment and bigotry.

Prof. Anthony Clare writes, ‘… death is seen in many culturesas a right of passage.’1 Many Indian and Eastern religions e.g.Hinduism, believe in the Cycle of Life, samsara – living well andachieving karma, which determines what kind of rebirth can beexpected. Sufis believe death is coming, so live their lives in readi-ness for it. Followers of Shinto believe that when a person dies,their soul joins an important spiritual class.

As followers of Christ, what does death mean for us as indi-viduals? How are we preparing for our own death? It was WoodyAllen who said, ‘I am not afraid of dying, I just don’t want to bethere when it happens.’ Perhaps if we’re honest, it is not deathper se, which we fear, but the act of dying: will it be painful? howlong will it last? As Dylan Thomas suggests, ‘Do not go gentleinto that good night ... Rage, rage against the dying of the light.’

But, Jesus promised, ‘In my Father’s house are many man-sions … I go to prepare a place for you.’(John 14:2) Each timewe recite the Apostles’ Creed, we affirm ‘… I believe … in theresurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.’5 Or the NiceneCreed, ‘We look for the resurrection of the dead, and the life ofthe world to come.’5 At the Committal ceremony, the priest says,‘…earth to earth, ashes to ashes, dust to dust: in sure and certainhope of the resurrection to eternal life.’

Dr Anthony O’Flaherty writes, ‘… an important measure isto accept the inevitability of death and to prepare for it.’1 Is itstill the case that, ‘…the very purpose of life was to prepare for

34

the afterlife.’?2 Thomas Ken (1637–1711) a Prebendary of Win-chester Cathedral, Bishop’s Chaplain and Fellow of WinchesterCollege, wrote the words of the well-loved hymn, ‘Glory toThee, my God, this night.’ In verse 3 he asks, ‘Teach me to live,that I may dread the grave as little as my bed.’

Rev. Henry Francis Lyte ministered to his flock in LowerBrixham in Devon. In September 1847, having been diagnosedwith consumption, he was advised to seek the sun in Nice. Hisfinal sermon was tearful for all concerned, ‘I stand among youtoday as alive from the dead, that I may impress upon you toprepare for that solemn hour which must come to us all, by atimely acquaintance with the death of Christ.’6 That night in agrief-stricken state, he wrote:

‘Abide with me; fast falls the eventide.The darkness deepens; Lord with me abide.When other helpers fail and comforts flee,Help of the helpless, O abide with me.’My wife sat by the bedside of her dying mother for 10 hours

a day for the last 10 days. As she handed over responsibility tothe night nurse, Mother opened her eyes and said, ‘Good bye.’She was now prepared. Twenty minutes later we were home andthe phone was ringing; Mother had died just as we left. Doctorsand nurse who minister to the dying, frequently recall, how thedying seem to be asking for permission to die, but they don’twant it to happen in front of their loved ones.

At Baroness Margaret Thatcher’s funeral on 17 April 2013,Richard Chartres, Bishop of London, concluded his sermon, ‘Inthis Easter season Death is revealed, not as a full stop but as theway into another dimension of Life. As Eliot puts it: “What wecall the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is tomake a beginning. The end is where we start from.”’The motto of The Boy Scouts is, ‘Be Prepared.’

Howard Brayton, August 2013

Notes(1) Keane, Colm, Death & Dying, Dublin, Mercier, 1995.(2) Learning Medieval Realm, British Library Board.(3) Fitzgerald, Penelope, The Gate of Angels, London, Collins, 1990.(4) Weatherhead, Leslie, The Christian Agnostic, Nashville, Abingdon Press, 1965.(5) Common Worship, Church House Publishing, 2000.(6) McClelland, James, The Stories Behind Great Hymns, Glasgow, Ambassador,1985.

35

‘What do you see?’

Canon Robert Wright moved to Witney a few years ago after retiring

from his role as sub dean of Westminster Abbey and Chaplain to the

Speaker of the House of Commons. WW went to talk to him about

his current occupation, abstract painting.

When did you begin to paint?

I started painting about eighteen years ago. I had a curate whoused to go out and paint watercolours. I thought how lovelyand tried it, and found that watercolours are very difficult tomanage. I gradually began to see that I was interested in ab-stracting the painting. And for about fifteen years I have beenpainting abstract paintings. One Lent I encouraged everyonein my parish in Portsmouth to take up something beautiful forGod rather than giving up something. I painted every day, itmight have been just a little, or sometimes all day, and peoplebegan to come to see what I had been up to. That really movedme on. When I went to London I needed a way to express mycreativity, and it really burst out into abstract art. People beganto ask whether they could see them, so I held an exhibition,and then people asked to buy the paintings.

How do you go about your painting?

The process is that I read a phrase, mostly from the writingsof the twentieth-century monk Thomas Merton. I think aboutit and pray about it, and eventually it explodes onto canvas. IfI don’t have paper or canvas at that point, I lose it, so once I’mat that point I just have to paint.

It is interesting to see where the influences come from, sofor example I showed a work in progress to a friend yesterday.In it I use blue, yellow and gold, a colour combination that really worried him. The paintings do disturb people sometimes.But I found this interesting because those colours almost ex-actly match those of a 16th-century icon I have.

When we first moved to Witney I didn’t sleep a lot, and Ipainted a lot at night, and the interesting thing is that thosepaintings look very different. I did a course on Jung, and com-pleted four paintings in connection with that. Those, done atthat point and at night, are markedly different to look at.

36

‘When I went to London

I needed a way to

express my creativity,

and it really burst out

into abstract art.’

Why Thomas Merton?

Thomas Merton was a Catholic writer and mystic, a Trappistmonk who spent much of his life at the Abbey of Gethsemaniin Kentucky. He was a prolific writer, and his many books havebeen published internationally. I believe that he is one of themost important theologians of the twentieth century, not leastbecause he is so very human!

Thomas Merton himself was an artist. The Thomas MertonCentre at Bellarmine University in the US has around one thousand images of his. They have bought two of my paintings,which is enormously exciting. There are people thinking abouthis photography and writings, but there is no-one else I knowof in the world painting from his words.

Last year I was the conference artist at the Thomas MertonSociety of Great Britain and Ireland’s general meeting and con-ference. I took about twenty paintings and they were displayedthroughout the conference, and I did an hour’s talk one day,introducing the paintings and encouraging people to look atthe images. That was good because conferences are usuallyrather intellectual, so this was a very different approach, and itwas interesting to see people respond to them on a heart levelrather than a brain level.

It was very exciting because a friend of Thomas Merton’swas actually at the conference. He said Merton wouldn’t havepainted like that, but would have loved the fact that I was painting out of his words, and would have loved the paintings.

I have been working from one of his books, Raids on the

Unspeakable, it’s the only book where he writes about his art-work. And it is very much related to social justice, so I think inhis mind there was a clear connection between social justiceand art. That helps me enormously, I sometimes think, ‘here I am in my studio, what’s it got to do with life’, and it’sencouraging that Merton saw a connection, and I think othersmake a connection. It is interesting where the paintings are; afriend who is a chaplain in a hospital, largely working with terminal patients, has one of my paintings outside his bedroomdoor. Every day it is the first thing he sees and gets him in theright focus. So in a sense I think people are making those connections.

37

‘There is no-one else I

know of in the world

painting from Thomas

Merton’s words.’

How do people react to your paintings?

I think people are a bit scared by abstract paintings, they saythey don’t understand them. In my mind, it’s linked with con-templative prayer. We don’t understand God, and so it doesn’tseem strange to me that there are paintings that perhaps wedon’t begin to understand. I think once people give the paint-ings time they begin to understand them. It is like prayer – wegive God time and we begin to understand him. So when peo-ple say they don’t understand a painting, I say ‘What do yousee?’, because the interesting thing for me is the conversation.

During your time at Westminster you were incredibly

busy, how did you manage to fit in any painting?

I talked with Rowan [Williams] once about how he writes booksand we agreed sometimes you just have to find a way to let thatwhich is inside you come out. In a sense it’s not hard work, because it’s just something that has to happen. Being a parishpriest, you have to jump from one thing to the other all thetime, you can’t say I’m going to do this today, because someonecomes to door. So I was quite used to working in short, sharpbursts. I had a very tiny space at the end of the corridor, andyet I managed to get a lot of work done there. I don’t reallyknow how I fitted it in, but it might have been that the tensionprovided a sort of energy. It is only stressful when there is adeadline – like an exhibition.

When did you decide to make painting your ‘day job’?

The painting opposite is called ‘our real journey in life is interior’. I got the idea for the painting in Paris. For me it’s ajourney into nothing. It was painted at a time when I was be-ginning to think that I needed to leave Abbey after twelve yearsthere. Leaving all of that was a scary thought; not knowingwhat God wanted of me. But then it became clear: I had a serious illness and I had to stop, there was no option. I wasplanning to stop, and work as an artist and a mediator in thechurch. I had trained as a mediator, and I was planning to operate at all levels; there are always conflicts in the church,whether a dispute in a parish, or diocese, or cathedral. Indeedthe new common tenure for clergy has opened up a great needfor mediation, in terms of employment disputes. But my illness

38

‘We don’t understand

God, and so it doesn’t

seem strange to me that

there are paintings that

perhaps we don’t begin

to understand.’

‘In a sense it’s not hard

work, because it’s just

something that has to

happen.’

stopped that; but the painting continues. I’m better now, but Idon’t feel that the mediation is the right thing to do, I want toconcentrate more on painting.

And where are your paintings now?

Westminster Abbey have used a number as posters, one fortheir annual day of prayer this year, and the Merton societyused one for their conference brochure last year. Another iscurrently being considered for a book cover.

I have a big exhibition coming up in October in Guildford,and another one in Westminster Abbey in Lent. That one isvery much based on Thomas Merton. I am hoping that it willbe a touring exhibition, I’m already speaking to a cathedralabout an exhibition after London. So there is lots to do!

39

Our real journey in life

is interior, Robert Wright

Sketch fo

r Let there b

e, Rob

ert Wrigh

t