St Andrew's Church Eastern Green

While they were eating, Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” ... Matthew 26:26

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                                                                                            October 2008

Services in October

                                                                    Oct  5^th              8am              Holy Communion

                                                                    Oct  5^th            10am              Harvest Family Service

                                                                    Oct 12^th          10am              Harvest Communion with

                                                                    Junior Church

                                                                    Oct 12^th          10.30am         St@PH: Word and Worship

                                                                    Oct 19^th          10am              Holy Communion with Junior

Church

                                                                    Oct 26^th          10am              Holy Communion with Junior

                                                                                                                    Church

                                                                    Oct 26^th          10.30am         St@PH (St Andrew’s at Park

                                                                       Hill)

Holy Communion on Wednesdays at 10am

a half hour service followed by coffee and fellowship

Prisoners of Conscience

The next letter-writing session appealing (sometimes successfully) for the release or proper treatment of Prisoners of                     Conscience worldwide will be on Monday October 13^th at 7.30pm in St Andrew’s Church room. 

It is quantity that makes the impact!  Please join us.

Dear Friends

October is the month for leaving home.  For many this means University or college, although for others it may be a new job or simply the desire for independence that drives this separation of parents and children.  For many parents this is an agonising and challenging time, worrying what will happen to Sarah or Simon in the big jungle.  However, this parting is one of the most natural things there is.  Every autumn, I am privileged to watch the same process in nature.  Sitting in my study, I see the resident moorhens on our pond driving away the now fully grown chicks that they have lovingly and painstakingly nurtured over the course of the Spring and Summer.  Admittedly, most human parents (having emptied the nest after 18 years) don’t think about starting all over again and raising a new family as the moorhens do every year.  There are a lot of holidays in the caravan to catch up on after all!

This process is also testified to in the earliest chapters of the Bible.  It is suggested there that the natural order of things is for children to leave home and marry.  And for good or for ill, through history and through almost every culture known to humankind, this is the way it has been.  And yet, in 21^st Century Britain , a new pattern has emerged.  Children leave home not in order to form a partnership with someone else, continuing to live communally, but to live alone.  This flies in the face of Biblical wisdom: “It is not good that the man should be alone”.  However, it is not just the Bible that questions the wisdom of solitary living.  Loneliness has been identified by sociologists and psychologists alike as the greatest problem afflicting modern European life.

Many through bereavement or relationship breakdown are condemned to live alone through no choice of their own.  It seems strange then that there are those who actively seek this isolation.  Perhaps it demonstrates another example of popular wisdom: the grass is always greener on the other side.  Living alone means watching the television programme of your choice, being able to leave as much mess in the kitchen as you see fit; to leave all the lights on, put your feet on the furniture and get up at what time you like.  These seem attractive until you try them and find after a while they do not surpass the fulfillment of the company of another human being.

These pages testify to the enduring human need for human companionship.  Stories from the WI, Golden Years, the Eastern Green History Group and not least the church tell of groups who exist for a range of purposes, but all offer fellowship and friendship.  What is more, the church offers it to anyone whatever their background and whatever their reasons for needing it: a reflection of the Kingdom of God itself.

Every blessing

Greg Smith

Harvest Appeal

This year, St Andrew’s Harvest Appeal is in support of a school in Bethlehem , a town that after 2000 years is still the focal point of so much religious strife and tension.  We are asking people to support the school by donating pens, pencils, stationery, children’s books etc. which will be shipped out to the school later in the year.  Residents of Eastern Green and Allesley Green have been enormously generous in the past and we trust you will come up trumps again.  Donations may be made through any of the three schools in the parish (St Andrew’s, Park Hill or Eastern Green Junior) or at church services during our Harvest week or on Wednesday afternoons, either 1^st or 8^th October.

This year, St Andrew’s is going to celebrate Harvest over a week, with a Family Service on Sunday October 5^th and Communion on Sunday October 12^th both at 10am and with a St@PH service at Park Hill School on Sunday October 12^th at 10.30am.  We look forward to seeing you at least one of these celebrations.

 

New Service Patterns

There is a new service pattern at St Andrew’s.  The first Sunday of each month will now be a Family Service at the normal time of 10 a.m. , a service for all ages.  The other Sundays at St Andrew’s will be communion services, usually unless otherwise advertised with Junior Church and crèche.  The second Sunday communion will be a quiet service, with opportunities for quieter reflection.  The 8 a.m. communion service will take place on the first Sunday of each month.

St@PH will continue as before on the fourth Sunday at 10.30 a.m. at Park Hill School with contemporary worship for all ages.  However, there will be an additional St@PH service on the second Sunday of each month at the same time.  The focus will be on word and worship, aimed at a similar congregation.  If you’ve not tried St@PH before, why not come along and see for yourself?

Sponsored Walk

Over the weekend of 4^th & 5^th October, I shall be participating in The Long Mynd Hike: a 50 mile walk based around Church Stretton, popularly known as Little Switzerland because of the many unexpected hills.  I have 24 hours to complete the event, walking through the night, which may still not be enough since there are nine hills and 8,000 feet to be climbed.

I am attempting to raise money for the Church Urban Fund, a national Church of England charity which supports projects in deprived communities around the country.  If you wish to encourage me and support the Church Urban Fund at the same time, please complete the form below.  I am so thankful to everyone who has sponsored me for other events, and I trust I can be confident of your generosity again.

I wish to sponsor Greg Smith on the Long Mynd Hike

At:   ................  per mile, or Total:  ……………..........

PARK HILL PRIMARY SCHOOL

Lower Eastern Green Lane

Coventry

Tel:  024 76466669

www.parkhill.coventry.sch.uk

We have afternoon nursery places available for children who were 3 years old before 1st September 2008 .

Please contact the school office for further information

Eastern Green Players Present

Confusions by Alan Ayckbourne

A collection of one act plays to be performed at Eastern Green Village Hall on Saturday October 11^th directed by Dan Persaud.   There is a matinee at 2 p.m. and evening performance at 7.30 p.m. These are grown up comedies (not adult – there’s no nudity or violence) aimed at over 12s.  Tickets are available from Fran Smith at a cost of ₤4 each on 7642 2856.  Book early to avoid disappointment.

From the Registers

Baptisms
Imogen Ledwidge Dorrans
Brea Francesca Angliss

Jack Morris

Mya & Ilana Lane

Weddings
Jonathan Kiteley and Clare Bostock
Christopher Papadopoulos and Elaine Twaites
Darren Breslin and Kelly Simmonds
Jason Hart and Clare Thompson

Funerals

Dennis Worrall

Nora Gardener

Florence Elizabeth Rudge
Edith Elsie May Hudson

Memorial Service

On Sunday 2^nd November at 6.30pm at St Andrews Church there will be a memorial service for all those who have died over the last 12 months. 

If you would like a loved one remembered by name on this occasion, please let either Greg Smith (76422856) or Marc Catley (76405324) know.

Lunch ‘n Chat

Lunch ‘n Chat is St.Andrew’s bereavement support group. Sounds depressing? The reality is very different. A common experience of bereaved people is that friends don’t know what to say and so avoid the subject, when in fact what is needed most is to be able to talk about the person you have lost and about your feelings. This is the value of meeting together with people who have undergone similar experiences. Over a light lunch people who have lost a loved one in the last twelve months get to know one another. Many people have found warmth and support through Lunch ‘n Chat. They have found it has helped them as they have tried to put their life back together again. 

Lunch ‘n Chat meets at 11.45am in church on the second and fourth Wednesday of every month, so this month the dates are October 8th and 22nd. For more information contact Rosemary Pottinger on 76461719.

Police Surgery

The next police surgery will take place at St Andrew’s Church on Wednesday October 22^nd from 4pm-6pm .  Please come and share any concerns or queries you have with local police officers.

Open Church

St Andrew’s will continue to be open to visitors on Wednesday afternoons through October from 2 – 4pm before we close for the winter.  Do take advantage of this beautiful and peaceful building

Eastern Green History Group

At our September meeting we launched Volume 1 of the book ‘Eastern Green Past and Present.’  Thank you to all that turned out on a really awful evening weather wise.  The book was a success and is available for £4.95 at our monthly meeting or by contacting Graham on 76 461954. 

On 6^th October 2008, in the afternoon, we will be visiting the Weavers’ Cottages in Spon End.  If you are interested please contact Graham as above.  On 3^rd November 2008 at 7.30pm in St Andrew’s Church meeting room, Joe Davies from Eastern Green will speak, and show slides about ‘The Historical buildings, Events and People of Coventry.’  The AGM will be on 1^st December at 2pm , in the St Andrew’s Church meeting room. 

EASTERN GREEN W.I.

Although we were a little thin on the ground at our meeting in September, as some of our members were still on holiday, we still enjoyed our evening, despite the inevitable deluge of rain!

We heard a very full history of the Paybody Hospital in Allesley, beginning with the building of a very small cottage known as The Elms on this land.  After many years this building was enlarged and became the 40-bed Convalescent Home for Crippled Children and later still the Coventry and District Crippled Children Guild.  In 1948 the NHS took over this building, now named The Paybody Hospital after a generous benefactor, Thomas Paybody.  Up until 1991, when it closed, this as the Eye Hospital but was then moved to the Cov and Warwick Hospital .  This property was sold and became a public house, some of the original features have been retained, but many have disappeared.

We are still holding our coffee mornings/tea afternoons and have an outing at the National Arboretum scheduled for next month.  We continue to enjoy our meetings and to welcoming visitors and new members. Please do come along and see for yourself that we are a friendly group, meeting at the Village Hall on the first Wednesday of each month, 7.30pm . 

Beryl Allen, 76 466574.