Category: The Forerunner

Revised Calendar for March 2014

The Little Angels mothers and toddlers group meets on Fridays at 9.45 am at St George’s Church Nailsworth when all are welcome.  Followed by refreshments in the Parish Rooms.

The next stage in the process to appoint the New Vicar will be advertising the vacancy between 21 and 28 March in appropriate ecclesiastical publications and on the diocesan web-site.

Next PCC Meeting     Monday 10 March at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall. 

Communications

     Diocesan News                 www.gloucester.anglican.org/news/publications

                                          www.gloucester.anglican.org/news/blog

     Nailsworth Benefice         www.stgeorgesnailsworth.org.uk

      Kingscote Community      www.kingscoteonline.co.uk

 

The Curate’s Letter

With the ending of the coarse fishing season and nearing the completion of the football season, spring surely is just round the corner.  Will the spring bring better weather for those struggling to cope in already soaked and flooded parts of the country ?  As the opinions and points of view about how to deal with the floods, and who is to blame, are swiftly knocked back and forth across the political tennis net, surely it is good old common sense and folk law about not building on flood plains that comes to mind.  Neither does blame help the victims.  It is heart warming to read reports about neighbours helping each other in such difficult times.  In particular the farmers who have carried to safety and taken care of other farmers’ livestock.

Jesus was a team player and he gathered around him twelve ordinary men who were fishermen and tax collectors, which later ended up a squad of eleven men.  These men became his close friends and were the pioneering leaders of the early New Testament Church.  Not one of them was a scholar, each one of them had his shortcomings and faults, but as they worked together in teams they helped to spread the Good News of Jesus around the then known world.  Later further team work would carry the message to all corners of the globe.

With every blessing,

Reverend Sue Sobczak

 

 Lent Study and Discussion Groups

Kingscote and Horsley parishioners are invited to join Canon Michael Irving at meetings in the Reynolds Room in the Village Hall on Tuesdays 4, 11, 18, and 25 March, and 1 and 8 April at 7.45 pm, for informal discussions on the book  God Lost and Found  by John Pritchard.  The book is a reasonably priced paper-back and 8 have been purchased so far for those who have indicated their intention to partake.

Although the meetings will follow a logical sequence, they will be as far as possible self-contained so that it is not essential to attend the whole series.  Please let Harry Tubbs (860 194), Georgina Harford (860 227) or Stan Burrage (832 952) know if you plan to come.

As many of you know, the Reynolds room is extremely comfortable and warm.  The meetings will close by 9.30 pm.

 Flower Rota           

There are no weddings in March.

Lorna Reynolds

Cleaning Team

The next church cleaning session is at 2.30 pm on Monday 10 March.  We are always delighted to welcome anyone who would like to join the team.

Teresa Day

 

Grumbolds Ash Group Inside

On Tuesday 11 March we visit the Tetbury Police Museum at The Old Courthouse, 63 Long Street, to see life in the cells.  It is open from 10.00 am until 3.00 pm.  We meet at the Village Hall to share transport and parking at 10.00 am.

Jutta Tubbs

 

Village Hall Programme

Film Night – Tuesday 10 March, 7.30 pm,  ‘The Man Who Would be King’  starring Sean Connery, Michael Caine,    Saeed Jaffrey and Christopher Plummer, based on a Rudyard Kipling story.   Admission free, Pay Bar.

Coffee Morning – Tuesday 17 March, 10.30 to 11.30 am.  Coffee and cake £1.50. 

Bridge Evening – Thursday 20 March, 7.00 to 10.00 pm.  Get together a table of 4 friends to play social bridge.  Admission £10 per person to include Light Supper, with raffle and pay bar.  Contact Annabella Lucy on Tel. 860 617 to book a place.

(NB We are hoping to get as many as 40 people at this event, many from outside the village, and have explained to them that parking is difficult and car sharing essential.  We ask for the forbearance of residents if cars are in the wrong places.)

 Lost Property – following the very well attended Curry Evening a blue scarf and a black folding umbrella were left in the Village Hall.  If you believe they belong to you please ring Brian McTear on Tel. 861 311. 

Carol Paton Tel. 860 649

 

Book Club at 8.00 pm

Wednesday 19 March, to discuss ‘The Fishing Fleet’  by Anne de Coursey and/or

‘The Ladies of Grace Dieu’  by Susannah Clarke, at Viv’s house.

 Wednesday 9 April, ‘The Sisters Brothers’ by Patrick de Witt at the Village Hall.

 Wednesday 14 April, ‘Secret History’ by Donna Tartt, at the Village Hall. 

Angela Wooldridge

Kingscote Parish Council

The next PC meeting will be on Tuesday 15 April at 8.00 pm in the Hunters Hall.

 

Planning approvals:

Bagpath Court Cottage, erection of two storey side, and single storey and two storey rear extensions to existing dwelling, insertion of two dormer windows and roof-light to the rear.

To reassure those who are concerned about the state of the roads, GCC Highways are fully aware that we are waiting and I hope that we will see some repairs soon.

The completed footpath improvement in Kingscote is appreciated. 

Anna Davison, Tel. 860 244

 

Churchyard Path

In recent months the Public Right of Way footpath proceeding south past the tower had become very muddy, and grateful thanks are due from all of the community to Graham and Philip Nichols for the new gravel path which they laid before the wedding on 15 February.

The PCC

Free-range eggs for sale

Mrs Pat Cooksley of 2 The Windmill normally has some free-range eggs for sale at £1 for six.

Lost and Found Kingscote Cat

THANK YOU to everyone who helped look for my missing cat, Rexy.  He has returned safe and well.

Joyce Broomhall

Weekly Recycling – Green food boxes and wheelie bins

All current collection points – from 7.30 am, Fridays.

Fortnightly Recycling – Black boxes, White Bags and Blue bags

All current collection points – from 7.30 am, Fridays 7 and 21 March.

Fortnightly Waste – Grey wheelie bins to landfill

All current collection points – from 7.30 am, Fridays 7 and 21 March.

 

Bus Timetable Enquiries – Ring traveline on  0871 200 2233.

 

Mobile Police Van

The Mobile Police Station will visit Kingscote between 6.00 and 6.45 pm on Wednesday 12 March.  The programme has been revised to delete some villages including Beverston where the community makes little contact with the service.  As a result they are able to stay a little longer here.  Please support this initiative.

The Editor

Mobile Library

The next visit will be on Friday 21 March and the van will park as usual in front of The Walled Garden from 9.30 to 11.30 am.

Magazine

Any material which may be of interest for the next issue of the Forerunner should be sent by 20 March to H. Tubbs,  3 The Walled Garden,  Tel. 860 194.

The Editor

Did you know ? 

(Information copied from a Dutch Tourist Information web-site)

26% of the land area of the Netherlands is under sea level

The lowest point in Holland is 6.8 metres below sea level

Schiphol Airport is 4 metres below sea level

Holland still has around 1000 old-fashioned working windmills

Clearly we have some catching up to do.    The Editor

 

The First Steamboat

 ( Copied from the book ‘Tales of Old Gloucestershire’ by Betty Smith) 

Jonathan Hulls was born in 1699 and was baptised at Blockley Church.  As a boy he attended Chipping Campden Grammar school for a brief period, and this probably gave him a thirst for knowledge and a love of learning that lasted until the end of his life.  He had two close friends who encouraged his endeavours, Richard Darby, a local maltster, and William Bradford, a schoolmaster, both of Chipping Campden.

As a small Cotswold farmer, it is extraordinary that Jonathan Hulls sought to invent of all things a steam boat !  It is doubtful that he saw many steam engines, and he lived quite a distance from any major river.

Steam engines in existence in Hull’s time worked on Newcomen’s principle of atmospheric steam, in that they derived their power from the pressure of (ambient) air on a piston descending in a cylinder in which the condensation of steam created a vacuum, creating a vertical motion.  The only engines of this type  in Jonathan Hull’s time were used for raising water from the mines.

However he did read widely.  He studied mechanical objects constantly and took all the scientific journals of the day available to him.  In 1737 he published a pamphlet about his idea, entitled  Description and Draught of a New-Invented Machine for Carrying (sailing) Vessels or Ships out of and into any Harbour, Port or River against Wind and Tide or in a Calm, for which His Majesty Has Granted Letters-Patent for the Sole Benefit of the Author for the Space of 14-years.

 Jonathan Hulls looked for financial backing, and found it at Moreton in Marsh, in the person of Mr Freeman of Batsford Park who gave him £160 to patent his invention.  He then set about designing a vessel, forwarding drawings to the Eagle Foundry in Birmingham which then produce the various parts for him.

In 1737, Jonathan Hulls took his completed boat to Evesham and launched it on the river there.  It was a somewhat strange looking contraption, with an axle attached by ropes to a crankshaft near the stern.  By means of this crankshaft, Hulls endeavoured, for the first time, to convert vertical motion into rotary motion, which would make the six paddles which he had attached to the boat revolve in the water and drive it forward.

This amateurish trial was not a resounding success.  Hulls did prove that steam navigation was possible, but the task proved too much for the frail vessel.  The boat was shaken apart by the action of the machinery and it unceremoniously sank !

Many people have since thought that if Hulls had managed to find further financial backing, he could have gone ahead and brought his ideas to fruition,.  But financial help was not forthcoming, and Hulls had to let the project die.  However, all the work put in by the Cotswold farmer was not in vain.  Many experts now believe that William Symington, who launched the Charlotte Dundas, the first workable steamboat, at Grangemouth in 1802 got his ideas from Hull’s prototype. 

This mortal coil

 (A letter to The Times published on 5 February)

Sir, It is encouraging that ‘people are becoming more comfortable talking about their mortality and planning their own funerals’.  However there may be limits to ‘taking the guesswork out of a situation at a time of grief ’.

I recently attended a funeral where a late mourner arrived as the coffin entered the church.  We all heard his Smartphone announce:  “You have reached your destination.”

Bernard Kingston, Kent

 

Augustine of Hippo  354 – 430 AD

(The son of a Christian mother and a pagan father, he spent the early years of his life seeking inner peace

through philosophical knowledge, despising the simplicity of Christianity) 

You are great, Lord, and greatly to be praised.  Great is your power, and of your wisdom there is no end.  And man, who is part of what you have created, desires to praise you.  Yes, even though he carries his mortality wherever he goes, as the proof of his sin and testimony to your justice, man desires to praise you.  For you have stirred up his heart so that he takes pleasure in praising you.  You have created us for yourself, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.

Parish Directory

Vicar:                    Interregnum – awaiting new appointment.

Curate:                  Reverend Sue Sobczak, Horsley, Tel.  01453 833 526

Reader                  Sue White, Nailsworth, Tel: 01453 835 693 

Churchwardens:   Harry Tubbs, 3 The Walled Garden, Kingscote, GL8 8YP. Tel: 860 194

                            Godfrey Ainsworth, Kingscote House, Kingscote, GL8 8XY Tel: 861 683

 

Hon.Sec.PCC:        Georgina Harford, Ashcroft House, Kingscote, GL8 8YF Tel: 01453 860 227

 

Hon.Treas.PCC:    Jane Nichols, Asheldown, 3 Ashel Barn Cottages, Kingscote  GL8 8YB Tel. 01453 860 534

 

Members of PCC:   The Churchwardens, The Hon. Secretary, The Hon. Treasurer, Elin Tattersall, Zoe Nichols, Philip Kendell, Chris Alford.

 

Flower and Clean Team: Teresa Day, Vivienne Ainsworth, Angela    Wooldridge, Pauline McTear.

 

Nailsworth MU:     Trissa Jones, Tel:  832 551

 

Editor of Forerunner:  Harry Tubbs, 3 The Walled Garden, Kingscote, GL8 8YP  Tel: 860 194

 

Gift Aid and Envelopes:   Jane Nichols, 3 Ashel Barn Cottages, Kingscote Tel. 860 534.

 

Church Flowers Rota: Lorna Reynolds, Tel. 860 231

 

Organist:               Rosemary Sims, 15 Badger’s Way, Forest Green, Nailsworth,  GL6 0HE  Tel: 832 446

 

Sidespersons:         Harry Tubbs, Rod Tibbert, Elin Tattersall, Godfrey Ainsworth.

 

Electoral Roll:        Elin Tattersall, 3 Boxwood Close, Tel.01453 860 182

 

Mowing Team:       Tim Sage, Harry Tubbs, Sebastian Cooper, Rick Bond,  Roger Lucy, Godfrey Ainsworth,

Ken Davies.

 

Village Hall:        Bookings: Pauline McTear, Kingscote,  Tel. 861 311

                            Secretary:  Carol Paton, Bagpath, Tel. 860 649

 

Parish Council Chairman: Graham Nichols, Asheldown, 3 Ashel Barn Cottages, Kingscote  Tel: 01453 860 534

 

Parish Council Clerk:   Anna Davison, Bagpath Court, GL8 8YG, Tel. 860 244

 

Village Agent:        Aileen Bendall, Tel. 07810 630 156 or 01452 426 868

 

Printer of Forerunner:  Godfrey Ainsworth, Kingscote House, Tel. 861 683                                                   

 

 

The Forerunner is published by the P.C.C. who are usually most willing to

accept copy from village groups and individuals. However, please note that the opinions and views expressed by the contributors within the Forerunner are not necessarily those of the Church, P.C.C. or Editor.

 

Calendar for January 2014

 

The Little Angels mothers and toddlers group meets on Fridays at 9.45 am at St George’s Church Nailsworth when all are welcome.  Followed by refreshments in the Parish Rooms.

Next PCC Meeting

Monday 27 January at 7.30 pm in the Village Hall.

 

Communications

Diocesan News                 www.gloucester.anglican.org/news/publications

www.gloucester.anglican.org/news/blog

Nailsworth Benefice         www.stgeorgesnailsworth.org.uk

Kingscote Community      www.kingscoteonline.co.uk

The Curate’s Letter to the Parish

January can be the bleakest time of the year with finances and weather.  After the merriment of Christmas with the bright colourful cards and joyful carol singing, it can seem a long time before the next pay cheque and even longer for the first sign of spring.  Yet it is also a time of new beginnings with the anticipation that things will get better and look brighter.  We start the New Year well and try hard to keep to our resolutions knowing that we will probably not be able to keep to them for long.

 

As Bishop Michael has reminded us, Christmas is not over after Boxing Day; the season of joy carries on over the twelve days of Christmas which then leads into an Epiphany of four Sundays.  Epiphany has its own message set within the arrival of the Magi, or wise men.  They had been  travelling for some time from the East, to arrive in Bethlehem to celebrate the birth of Jesus. The wise men brought with them the gifts we know so well; those of gold, frankincense and myrrh.  The importance and value of the gifts not only implied honour and status to their recipient, but were chosen for their spiritual symbolism.  Gold represents the kingship of Jesus, frankincense a symbol of his priestly role, and with the gift of myrrh foreshadowing his death.  Myrrh was used to anoint the dead.

 

The climate may be bleak, but with the start of this New Year we still have much to celebrate and be thankful for as the season of Christmas flows into the festival of Epiphany and God continues to give to us.

 

Sue Sobczak

 

Flower Rota            

Sundays 12th and 19th JanuarySundays 26th and 2nd February

Carol HatherallJane Bateman

Weddings:   None in January

Lorna Reynolds

 

Cleaning Team

The next church cleaning session is at 2.30 pm on Monday 13 January.  We are always delighted to welcome anyone who would like to join the team.

Teresa Day

 

Grumbolds Ash Group

On Monday 20 January we meet over lunch at 12 noon at 3 The Walled Garden for our 2014 Events Planning meeting.  Please let me know that you are coming and bring your ideas.

Jutta Tubbs

Village Hall Programme

Film Night – Tuesday 14 January, ‘Topsy Turvey’, starring Jim Broadbent, Allan Corduner, Dexter Fletcher, set behind the scene at the Mikado in Victorian London.   7.30 for 8.00 pm, admission free, pay bar.

Coffee Morning – Tuesday 21 January, 10.30 to 11.30 am.  Coffee and cake £1.50.

Curry Night – Friday 31 January, 7.30 pm, usual delicious selection of curries followed by ice cream and coffee.  Adults £8, under 10’s £4, tickets in advance from  patonbagpath@btinternet.com 

Carol Paton Tel. 860 649

 

Book Club at 8.00 pm

Wednesday  22 January, to discuss ‘Pure’ by Andrew Miller at Sheila’s

Wednesday 19 February, to discuss ‘Arcanum’ by Janet Gleeson at Angela’s

Wednesday 19 March, to discuss ‘The Fishing Fleet’  by Anne de Courney.

Angela Wooldridge

 

Kingscote Parish Council

The next PC meeting will be on Tuesday 14 January at 8.00 pm in the Hunters Hall.

Dog fouling continues to be a problem in the parish, and dog owners are asked to keep their pets on leash and remove dog mess in all public areas.  The new dog waste bins are now in position opposite the War Memorial and at the kissing gate opposite the Village Hall.  Remember, if your dog is loose in a public place, even if you did not see it offend you as the owner are still liable for prosecution.

 

Planning approvals:

Ashcroft House, Biomass boiler flue.

3 The Walled Garden, Kingscote, Insertion of 2 dormer windows to front and insertion of side facing window in second floor west elevation.

Planning applications:

21 Kingscote, Demolition of two existing outbuildings and erection of single outbuilding.

Last chance to give feedback on footpath sign issues.  If you know of any sign which needs replacing or repairing,  please let me know.

Parishioners are reminded that property break-ins are more common at this time of year, so security and access should be checked.

A Happy New Year from all at Kingscote Parish Council.

Anna Davison, Tel. 860 244

 

Free-range eggs for sale

Mrs Pat Cooksley of  2 The Windmill  normally has some free-range eggs for sale at £1 for six.

Weekly Recycling – Green food boxes and wheelie bins

All current collection points – from 7.30 am, Fridays except 11 January.

Fortnightly Recycling – Black boxes, White Bags and Blue bags

All current collection points – from 7.30 am, Saturday 11 and Friday 24 January.

Fortnightly Waste – Grey wheelie bins to landfill

All current collection points – from 7.30 am, Saturday 11 and Friday 24 January.

 

Bus Timetable Enquiries – Ring Traveline on  0871 200 2233.

Mobile Police Van

No announcement has been made concerning the visit schedule for 2014.

 

Mobile Library

The next visit will be on Friday 24 January and the van will park as usual in front of The Walled Garden from 9.30 to 11.30 am.

 

Magazine

Any material which may be of interest for the next issue of the Forerunner should be sent by 20 January to

H. Tubbs,  3 The Walled Garden,  Tel. 860 194.

 

The Editor

Obamacare

We are used to reading about problems with new UK government systems for operating the NHS and Social Welfare services.  It is interesting to see the views of the influential Canadian news magazine MACLEANS on the problems with Obamacare in their November 2013 issue, extracts from which are copied below.

‘It seems to be a disaster on so many levels that, arguably, it challenges our faith in the ability of American government to tackle large engineering problems.  One frets: Could the USA still send people to the moon if it had to ?

The administration’s web-site, intended to be the main conduit for the American uninsured to access newly standardised policies, was supposed to have signed up half a million people by the end of October.  But the Wall Street Journal reported on 11 November that only 50,000 had been able to wrestle with it semi-successfully.

The whole idea of Obamacare was to discourage uninsured Americans from staying that way, using the threat of a punitive tax to herd them all into the corral of coverage during a limited ‘open enrolment period’.

From a socialist standpoint it is natural to notice that the introduction of pure single payer medicare is never accompanied by this sort of nightmarish trouble.  For their part, anarchists and libertarians are sure that America could hardly do much worse if health care and health insurance were totally deregulated.

The (existing) American health insurance system is an insane mishmash of subsidies and social engineering, all implemented as if superstition demanded it, by means of rent-seeking private companies.  Such a ‘System’ cannot help behaving chaotically when it is tweaked even a little bit.  That’s the real difference between creating Obamacare and sending astronauts to the moon.’

The Editor

 

The Word from Wormingford – A Parish Year

 (An extract from the delightful book by Ronald Blythe)

 

Parish magazines can be divisive, having everything to say to those within church culture and making the rest of the community feel out of things.  They can still include items and styles which would not be tolerated in any other publication.  A part of me is not offended by this as I wander in and out of ancient buildings to look at their treasures and delights, ending up in the back pew to scan the local services, the flower rota (intriguing names), moved by the priest’s revealing monthly letter, and filled with understanding for the little book, having myself written so many of them.  Yet the 339th issue of our ‘Newsletter’, as it is called, emphasises what I have always felt, which is that a parish magazine should be intelligent, unapologetically ‘spiritual’ as well as the first place you would look to find out what is going on.  It should be good.

Zeal

Extracts from a meditation by Bernard Häring  1912 ~ 1998

(A leading German Roman Catholic theologian who was an

advisor to Pope Paul during the Second Vatican Council)

 

O faithful heart of Jesus, change us and strengthen us in this time of separation.  Help all Christians to join together in strong faith and faithful love, so that the world may believe and find the truth of life, the trust that an infinitely merciful God is concerned with fatherly love for all his creatures.  O Lord free the godless from their misery and emptiness.

Beloved Saviour, it is terrible to see that in spite of the alarming signs of the times so many Christians are apathetic and lazy.  Awaken us all, fill us with new zeal and enthusiasm, and show us the most effective ways to proclaim faith in you and in the heavenly Father.

The PCC wishes all parishioners a Happy and Successful New Year

 

Parish Directory

Vicar:                        Interregnum – awaiting new appointment.

Curate:                      Reverend Sue Sobczak, Horsley, Tel.  01453 833 526

Reader                       Sue White, Nailsworth, Tel: 01453 835 693

Churchwardens:         Harry Tubbs, 3 The Walled Garden, Kingscote, GL8 8YP, Tel:860194

                                 Godfrey Ainsworth, Kingscote House, Kingscote, GL8 8XY, Tel:861683

Hon.Sec.PCC:            Georgina Harford, Ashcroft House, Kingscote, GL8 8YF, Tel: 01453 860 227

Hon.Treas.PCC:         Jane Nichols, Asheldown, 3 Ashel Barn Cottages, Kingscote, GL8 8YB, Tel. 01453 860 534

Members of PCC:          The Churchwardens, The Hon. Secretary, The Hon. Treasurer, Elin Tattersall, Zoe Nichols, Philip Kendell, Chris Alford

Flower and Clean Team: Teresa Day, Vivienne Ainsworth, Angela Wooldridge, Pauline McTear.

Nailsworth MU:          Trissa Jones, Tel:  832 551

Editor of Forerunner:  Harry Tubbs, 3 The Walled Garden, Kingscote, GL8 8YP, Tel: 860 194

Gift Aid and Envelopes:   Jane Nichols, 3 Ashel Barn Cottages, Kingscote,  Tel. 860 534.

Church Flowers Rota: Lorna Reynolds, Tel. 860 231

Organist:                   Rosemary Sims, 15 Badger’s Way, Forest Green, Nailsworth, GL6 0HE,  Tel: 832 446

Sidespersons:             Harry Tubbs, Rod Tibbert, Elin Tattersall,

Godfrey Ainsworth.

Electoral Roll:            Elin Tattersall, 3 Boxwood Close, Tel.01453 860 182

Mowing Team:           Tim Sage, Harry Tubbs, Sebastian Cooper, Rick Bond, Roger Lucy, Godfrey Ainsworth,

Ken Davies.

Village Hall:               Bookings: Pauline McTear, Kingscote,  Tel. 861 311

                                 Secretary:  Carol Paton, Bagpath, Tel. 860 649

Parish Council Chairman: Graham Nichols, Asheldown, 3 Ashel Barn Cottages, Kingscote,  Tel: 01453 860 534

Parish Council Clerk:  Anna Davison, Bagpath Court, GL8 8YG, Tel. 860 244

Village Agent:             Aileen Bendall, Tel. 07810 630 156 or 01452 426 868

Printer of Forerunner:  Godfrey Ainsworth, Kingscote House, Tel. 861 683                                                    

  

The Forerunner is published by the P.C.C. who are usually most willing to accept copy from village groups and individuals. However, please note that the opinions and views expressed by the contributors within the Forerunner are not necessarily those of the Church, P.C.C. or Editor