‘Remember, remember, the fifth of November,

Gunpowder treason and plot…’

And how we remember the gunpowder plot! Bonfire Night is a wonderful evening full of evocative sights, smells and tastes that transport me, for one, straight back to childhood – I loved it then and still do! Of course, the 5th of November is not a religious festival, for all that it had its roots in religious conflict (see Steve Machan’s excellent article elsewhere in this month’s Newsletter) and perhaps that is why it has survived so long. For many of our great Church festivals seem to be overlooked these days. All Saints has been hijacked by Hallowe’en and Advent almost ceases to exist as the Christmas catalogues start to plump through the door before we have finished the summer holidays!

Yet Advent is an important and beautiful season in its own right. It is not just a season of waiting for Christmas, but a time when we should consider the second coming of Christ and so prepare ourselves. It is traditionally a time for recollection and penitence, saying sorry for what we have done wrong, and preparing for the future when we hope to meet Christ in all His glory, not as a new baby but as God. The themes of Advent have traditionally been summarized as The Four Last Things – Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell – perhaps that in itself explains why not many of us want to concentrate on Advent and prefer to get to the lighter and more exciting themes of Christmas!

Yet the two are inextricably linked. Jesus was born to show us how to live: as we wait to celebrate the anniversary of His birth, we need to consider whether or not we have lived up to His example and His expectations. It doesn’t have to be miserable or threatening – I like to think of it as a kind of stocktaking – a bit like going through the wardrobe and throwing out all that is old, unsuitable or just doesn’t fit anymore! Then we can celebrate Christmas really well with everything in proper order.

Yours in Christ,

Jo Spray

grace to keep Advent well

Bishop Christopher on his retirement

all affected by difficulties caused by the global economic crisis

The next meeting is on the 27th November 2008 at All Saint’s Church Turvey at 7:30pm. The speaker will be Elizabeth Brown. For more information please phone Betty Hewett 881738.

Thank you to all who helped set up and worked on the stalls and to everyone who came and supported the event. The total sum raised was £684.62.

Janet Cockings

As ever, Harvest was wonderful! The slightly earlier date meant that the church was absolutely full of flowers. The Harvest Supper was also great fun, with an excellent mix of people from all areas of village life. Very many thanks to all who helped make the season so lovely. As a result of your generosity we shall be sending £500 to various charities. We are to send £250 to Bishop Christopher’s Harvest Appeal, which this year is supporting fishing communities in Mali, West Africa, as they try to adapt to the changing climate in their country. We shall also send £125.00 to Water Aid and £125.00 to a British Farming Charity to help any of our own farmers who may be in difficulty.

Thank you all

Jo Spray

The next coffee morning will be at 10:15 on Saturday 8th November at Grove Farm House, by kind invitation of Carol and Rod Petty. There will be a raffle and bring-and-buy stall for which contributions would be very welcome. Last months coffee morning raised £220 towards church funds. A big thank you to Heather and James Whelbourn for making us all so welcome; to Katie for the most delicious raspberry buns and to everyone who helped with and supported the event. Thanks to the lovely weather most of us ended up in the garden! A good time was had by all. Anne

Lord help us to remember that those who have died are not lost to us and we always love them.

Friday 27th February 2009, Village Hall 7:30pm

Your help is needed in order to raise funds for this joint event between FAST (Friends of All Saints Turvey) and TRA (Turvey Recreation Association). In order to raise funds we need promises, if you can offer a promise or need more information please contact Mike Marshall before the 15th November on 888898. Don’t forget NO promises NO money. Below are just some of the things on offer, and if any of you have any other ideas please let us know:

Holiday
Gardening services

Taxi to airport
A meal for 2

Babysitting
Balloon ride

Bake a cake
A manicure and Pedicure

Floral display
Facial

Hair cut
Sun Bed Sessions

Dinner for 4
A trip to the races

Afternoon tea for 6
Tickets to the Theatre

A Profile by Cindy Woods

Katy certainly has long connections with Turvey and especially All Saint’s church. Her father was Rector here in this parish from 1959—1969. Katy was born in what is now called the Old Rectory (formally Turvey Rectory) to the Reverend Bernard Butler and Mrs Mary Butler. They had three girls, the youngest of which is Katy. Her eldest sister Jane lives near Newbury, Berkshire and the middle sister Anne lives in Wellingborough.

Katy attended Turvey Infants school and at the age of five the family relocated to Barnet in North London for her father's next parish. She went to Foulds Junior school and then on to Queen Elizabeth Girls Grammar School also in Barnet. When Katy’s father had to retire early due to a brain tumour the family moved back to Bedford and Katy went to Dame Alice for her 6th Form schooling. Her father sadly died shortly afterwards—his ashes were buried in Turvey churchyard. Katy had always wanted to go to Art College and she attended an art foundation course at what was then Mander College in Bedford, and after this she decided to study History of Art and Visual Studies at Oxford Polytechnic. It was while at College that she met her future husband Hans who was studying electrical engineering.

After finishing her degree she did some voluntary work at the Ashmoleum Museum in Oxford and then went to work for Christies Auctioneers in St. James, London where she spent eight fascinating and enjoyable years until their first daughter, Pip, arrived. In 1992 Hans and Katy were married in Turvey Church—the Butler family had always stayed in contact with Enid Wadsworth who was very special to them.

They stayed in London where Pip and Holly were born before they moved with Hans’ job to Geneva where the youngest, Milly was born. They spent seven and a half years in Geneva, during which time Katy still regularly visited Turvey when she came to see Enid, who she still misses a lot, but it was nice that she got to know Katy’s three girls. When the Old Rectory came up for sale, they jumped at the chance to buy the house that Katy had grown up in. When the time came to leave Geneva in 2006, they were really looking forward to moving into the Old Rectory at last.

Katy says they have done loads to the house and both the house and garden is an ongoing project for the foreseeable future. Katy tells me that whilst enjoying Geneva it was good to come back to England and the family thoroughly enjoy living in Turvey. Hans now has to commute to London daily for his job in private banking and he often travels to places like India, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

The girls all now attend Katy’s old school Dame Alice. Pip and Holly both- bell ring and Pip is also involved with Tats. They are all sporty—Holly and Milly both play cricket, Holly plays Hockey, Pip rows and Milly is quite a swimmer.

After moving here Katy has helped at playgroup and with reading at Turvey Lower. Katy’s involvement with the church is very special (all three girls were christened here) and she enjoys doing church flowers and cleaning. Dog walking seems to be the main pastime at present, not only for her but all the family! The whole family belongs to Turvey Tennis Club and play when they can together. Katy says that she always has to have a creative or decorating project on the go which is a good thing considering how much DIY there is to do in the house.

In the 5th Century, Advent began on 11th November (St Martin’s Day) and took the form of a six week fast leading to Christmas. In later times Advent was reduced to its current length and for many the tradition of fasting was dropped.

Today Advent begins on the Sunday nearest to 30th November (St. Andrew’s day) and lasts until midnight on Christmas Eve. Advent Sunday is the first of the four Sundays before the 25th December.

Advent is taken from the Latin ‘adventus’ which means "coming". It is the time of waiting for the arrival of Christmas, the coming of Jesus to earth when he was born as a baby at Bethlehem about two thousand years ago.

Advent is the new year of the Christian Church and the church season that leads to Christmas day. Clergy typically wear royal purple vestments during advent. Many churches also include an advent wreath (sometimes called an Advent ring or crown) in their services.

Christians use the Advent candles on the wreath to celebrate the period with one lit every Sunday of Advent so that on the last Sunday before Christmas all four candles are lit. The last central candle (which represents Christ), is lit on Christmas Day.

Candles symbolise the light of God. The four traditional advent themes for the four advent Sundays are:

God’s people—The candle of Hope.

The old testament Prophets—The candle of Peace.

John the Baptist—The candle of Love.

Mary mother of Jesus—The candle of Joy.

Steve Machan

If, like me, you have been watching "The Tudors" on a Friday night, you will by now have a pretty good understanding of the history leading up to The Gunpowder Plot. Breaking from the Roman Catholic church and the supremacy of the Pope, Henry Vlll made plenty of enemies both locally and worldwide. You will also have seen how Catholics were treated. (Why is it that these images return in the middle of the night?) Henry installed himself as "sole protector and supreme head" of the English Church, so began a period of change and turmoil.

Henry’s death precipitated more unrest. Edward Vl and the Protectors were fiercely Protestant, and introduced a new English Prayer Book. On Edward’s death, Mary l reverted to Roman Catholicism, earning herself the title "Bloody Mary" in the process, because of the number of protestants burnt at the stake. Elizabeth l realised that the country needed stability. She was a Protestant, but styled herself not "Head of Church" but "Supreme Governor". This produced a peace of sorts, but Roman Catholics looked to her successor, James l of England (James Vl of Scotland, son of Mary Queen of Scots) as their salvation; when he came to the throne the last straw for the conspirators in The Gunpowder Plot was James’ continued support for the Church of England.

The gunpowder plot was far from the whole story. Blowing up the Houses of Parliament, with James and most of the aristocracy inside (and capturing the rest of the royal family), was a prelude to the uprisings that would follow. The most important of these, the Midlands Uprising was to be led by Sir Everard Digby, who had lived at Gayhurst (Gothurst at the time, a village near Newport Pagnell)) since his marriage to Mary Mulsho. Digby was a well loved courtier, handsome, dashing and an excellent hunter and sportsman. A David Beckham of his day. Digby had an apparently protestant youth, and avoided the troubles suffered by others. Whilst at Gayhurst, he made friends with some influential (if well disguised) Catholics, and was gradually drawn into the plot, either by Robert Catesby, the plot leader, or Thomas Wintour.

Henry Mordaunt (4th Baron Mordaunt of Turvey) was also implicated in the plot. He excused himself from court on the fateful day, and that was one of the things that led to his trial as a conspirator.

Sir Everard Digby was one of the first to be tried, and sentenced to death. He remained unrepentant, and saluted everyone on the scaffold in a bright and cheery way. He was certainly alive when cut down and taken to the quartering block. It is said that when his heart was removed and held up with the words "Here is the heart of a traitor" he replied "Thou liest". He was a popular character to the end. Lord Mordaunt fared slightly better. He was fined £10,000 and imprisoned. He was released to the Star Chamber, but the long imprisonment is thought to have hastened his death. He died in 1608/9. His will, which is dated 6 February 1608, contains the following clause, "and for the clearing of my conscience before God and Man, and to give a public satisfaction to the World, concerning such and those Imputations, which lately have been laid upon me, and for which I have in a high degree been censured, I mean the late Gunpowder Treason; … I do solemnly protest before God and his Angels, and that without all Equivocation or Duplicity whatsoever, that I am innocent of that fact, and Guiltless of all Foreknowledge thereof."

This was written by an 8 year old, Danny Dutton from

Chula Vista, California for his third grade homework assignment. The assignment was to explain God. Wonder if any of us could do as well?

One of God’s main jobs is making people. He makes them to replace the ones that die, so there will be enough people to take care of things on earth. He doesn’t make grown ups, just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way he doesn’t have to take up his valuable time teaching them to talk and walk, he can just leave that to their mothers and fathers.

God’s second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, since some people, like preachers and things pray at times beside the bed. God does not have time to listen to the radio or TV because of this. Because He hears everything, there must be a terrible lot of noise in His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off. God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over Mum and Dad’s head asking for something they said you couldn’t have. Atheists are people who don’t believe in God, I don’t think there are any in Chula Vista, at least there aren't any who come to our church. Jesus is God’s son, he used to do all the hard work like walking on water and performing miracles and trying to teach the people who didn’t want to learn about God. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But he was good and kind, like His father and He told His father that they didn’t know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said "OK".

His dad (God) appreciated everything that He had done and all His hard work on earth so He told Him He didn’t have to go out on the road anymore, He could stay in heaven. So He did and He helps His dad out by listening to prayers and seeing things which are important to God to take care of and some He can take care of Himself without having to bother God which is like a secretary only more important. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to help you because they got it worked out so one of them is on duty all the time. You should always go to church on Sunday because it makes God happy, and if there is anybody you want to make happy, it’s God. Don’t skip church to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach, this is wrong. And beside the sun does not come out at the beach until noon anyway. If you don’t believe in God, besides being an atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents cannot go everywhere with you, like to camp, But God can. It is good to know He’s around you when you are scared in the dark or when you cannot swim and you get thrown into real deep water by big kids. But… you should not just always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases. And… that is why I believe in God.

To close each day’s activities in summer and on holidays in the Magic Kingdom at Walt Disney World in Florida, a huge firework display lights up the sky. One night I noticed a small boy about three years old perched on his father’s shoulders. The child sat mesmerized, aware only of what was exploding in the heavens. When the fireworks were over, the little boy looked up into the sky again and said "thank you God".