We were overjoyed last week by the intervention of a kind friend who was able to get tickets for us to see the much acclaimed production of Hamlet at Stratford. It was as brilliant as the critics said—a total joy to watch. I must confess, I am not a Dr Who fan and did not go for the delight of seeing ‘The Doctor’ but I am a huge fan of Shakespeare and in particular the Royal Shakespeare Company. In the usual course of events, but for the illness of a friend, our Hamlet tickets would have been booked months ago. The real excitement of Shakespeare for me is his understanding of human nature and the way he deals with the human condition. His plays are as relevant now as they were to audiences in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. I was particularly struck in this production by David Tennant’s brilliant portrayal of Hamlet’s madness. It was so subtle and clever that one was left with the distinct (and probably correct impression) that Hamlet was the only sane member of the court and that the rest of ‘The Establishment’ had really lost all touch with reality.

I can’t help feeling the same about events in the financial world during these last weeks. It is a bit like living in a parallel universe—perhaps like a ‘Dr Who’ script! Some top executives of collapsed financial institutions receive huge pay offs whilst those who have given years of loyal service in much less exalted positions are left with a cardboard box of personal possessions and a memory. Families are made homeless by house repossessions whilst others make millions snapping up the repossessed properties at ridiculously low prices. Prices in the shops soar as mothers in some parts of the country find it difficult to feed their children but the Sunday paper yesterday invited me to spend £11 million pounds on a yacht. And still, in this country, we are all hugely rich and blessed in comparison with some parts of the world. I feel like shouting "stop the world and let us all get off", then we can unscramble this madness and start again. Maybe the sickness in our society has to do with the erosion of Christianity. Wealth and possession seem to take the place of God.

As the nights lengthen and Autumn draws in, can I urge you to read again the Gospel of Christ—any one or all of Matthew, Mark, Luke or John—and then begin to model our own lives on what we find there? At least if some of us can cling on to reality in an insane world we might have some hope of redemption.

Yours in Christ, Jo

All in the World who are hungry

All affected by natural disaster

All involved in our production of ‘Doomsday’

The next coffee morning will be at 10:15 on Saturday 11th October at 17 Bridge Street, by kind invitation of Mr and Mrs M. Whelbourn. There will be a raffle and bring-and-buy stall for which contributions especially of produce and cakes would be very welcome. Last months coffee morning raised £291 towards church funds. A big thank you to Mike and Margaret Marshall for making everyone so welcome and to everyone who helped with and supported the event. A good time was had by all!

Love thy neighbour as thyself

While making a routine vandalism report at an elementary school, I was interrupted by a little girl about six years old. Looking up and down at my uniform, she asked "Are you a cop?" "Yes" I answered and continued writing my report. "My mother said if I ever needed help I should ask the police, is that right". "Yes that’s right." I told her. "Well then" she said as she extended her foot towards me. "Would you please tie my shoelace?"

A Big Thank You to all of you who have phoned, sent cards, flowers, presents, thoughts and prayers, it is really appreciated. It is really nice to know that I have your love and support at this difficult time. Cindy

Loving Father, You give us so much, our food, our homes, our play and the love of those who care for us. Help us to remember that many people are hungry or homeless, have no schools or play. Help us to show them your love by caring for them.

Amen

I am hoping to start confirmation classes again after the October half-term holiday. If you have children over the age of 10 or if you are an adult who has never been confirmed and would like to explore the possibility of confirmation please let me know. Jo Spray 881312

In recent months, the Parish Council has received correspondence expressing concern at the state of the cemetery particularly with regard to untended areas in and around some graves. Generally, the cemetery is well maintained but there are a few areas that could do with some attention. Accordingly, the Council is organising a tidy up day for Saturday, 11th October between 10.00 am and 12.30 pm and is looking for as many people as possible to help. It would be very helpful if volunteers could bring some tools with them such as trowels, strimmers, shears and pallet knives (or suitable alternatives for removing ivy from gravestones!). The work required isn’t too demanding and should prove to be both rewarding and fun so please do come along if you can.

For further information contact Phil Atkinson (881603).

N.B. We will reschedule the day to Saturday 25th October if it is pouring with rain on 11th.

Tuesday 30th September Turvey Lower School Harvest in church 9:30 am

Friday 3rd October: Harvest Supper, Village Hall 7:30 pm tickets from Sandra Nightingale 881453

Sunday 5th October: 11:00 am Parish Eucharist and Baptism of Karltyn Scowen, 6:00 pm Evensong

Thursday 9th October: PCC meeting—Manor Room 7:30

Sunday 12th October: 11:00am Matins, 6:00 pm Holy Communion BCP

Please note: that on Sunday 12th October & Sunday 19th October the church will be locked during the day outside service hours.

Friday 17th October and Saturday the 18th October performance of ‘Doomsday’ in church 7:30pm

Sunday 19th October: 11:00am Parish Eucharist, 6:00pm Evensong

Sunday 26th October: 9:45am Family Eucharist and baptism of Charlotte and Eve Chapman, 6:00 pm Choral Evensong

Monday 27th October: 2:30 pm Little Lights in church

Wednesday 29th October: 10:30 am Holy Communion Barton Homes

Sunday 2nd November: Patronal Festival. 11:00 am Parish Eucharist Followed by a Bring & Share lunch, 6:00pm Evensong

Five Little pumpkins sitting on a gate. The first one said, "Oh my it’s getting late!."

The second one said, "There are witches in the air."

The third one said "But we don’t care"

The fourth one said, let’s run, let’s run!"

The fifth one said, Isn’t Halloween fun?"

Then Woooooo went the wind

And OUT went the lights.

And five little pumpkins rolled out of sight.

We plough the fields and scatter

The good seed on the land,

But it is fed and watered

By God’s almighty hand:

He sends the snow in winter,

The warmth to swell the grain,

The breezes and the sunshine

And soft refreshing rain.

All good gifts around us

Are sent from heaven above;

Then thank the Lord,

O thank the Lord, for all His love.

We thank God at harvest that we have homes, homes that are warm and clean and comfortable. Homes where we can be part of a loving family.

At Harvest we shouldn’t just think of ourselves, we should think of All people everywhere. We should think of those who have no homes, who cannot play because they are ill, of those who do not ever have enough to eat and of those who have no schools to go to.

We thank God at harvest that we can play, have holidays and enjoy ourselves.

We may not like eating cabbage but we can have lots of fruit and vegetables to enjoy.

We enjoy many things in our life because of our education, because we can read and write and understand numbers. At Harvest we thank God for our education and for all those who teach us.

It is those with whom we should share our harvest: your gifts will be shared with people nearby.

At Harvest we come to say a big ‘thank you’ to God for all the wonderful things that he gives us, our homes, our recreation, our food and our education.

All Saints Day is on the 1st November, but we shall keep our Patronal Festival on Sunday 2nd November. There will be a Parish Eucharist at 11:00 followed by a Bring and Share lunch in church. Do come and join us! To make life easier please will you sign the list at the back of church to indicate what you would like to bring—but do make a note of the date and come anyway!

For some years now we have raised money for the Bishop’s Harvest Appeal by auctioning produce, either at the Harvest Supper or, more recently, at one of the local pubs. Last year the auction was very poorly supported so we have decided on a change this year. Raffle tickets will be available for a minimum donation of £5. Everyone who donates will win something. You may win a generous harvest box or a good meat voucher—or you may not be so lucky! Whatever happens you will have more to eat in your box than many of those people whom we hope to help will have in a month. Tickets available after the Harvest Services or at the Harvest Supper.

Sorry there is no profile this month, watch this space!, I hope you enjoy the following story instead sent to me by a good friend many years ago, Cindy.

One day, when I was a freshman in high school, I saw a kid from my class walking home from school. His name was Kyle and it looked like he was carrying all of his books. I thought to myself , why would anyone bring home all his books on a Friday, he must be a real nerd. I had quite a weekend planned (parties and a football game with my friends) so I shrugged my shoulders and went on. As I was walking I saw a bunch of kids running towards him, they ran at him, knocking all his books out of his arms and tripping him up so that he landed in the dirt. His glasses went flying, and I saw them land in the grass about ten feet from him. He looked up and I saw this terrible sadness in his eyes and my heart went out to him. I jogged over to him and as he crawled round looking for his glasses, I saw a tear in his eye. As I handed him the glasses, I said "those guys are jerks, they really should get lives". He looked at me and said, "hey thanks" there was a big smile on his face, it was one of those smiles that showed real gratitude. I helped him pick up his books, and asked him where he lived. As it turned out, he lived near me, so I asked him why I had never seen him before. He said he had gone to private school before. I would never have hung out with a private school kid before. We talked all the way home and I carried his books. He turned out to be a pretty cool kid so I asked him if he wanted to play football on Saturday with me and my friends. He said yes and we hung out all weekend and the more I got to know Kyle, the more I liked him, and my friends thought the same of him.

Monday morning came, and there was Kyle with the huge stack of books again. I stopped him and said, "boy, you are gonna really build some serious muscles with this pile of books everyday" He just laughed and handed me half the books. Over the next four years, Kyle and I became best friends. When we were seniors we began to think about college, Kyle decided on Georgetown and I was going to Duke. I knew that we would always be friends, that the miles would never be a problem, he was going to be a doctor and I was going for business on a football scholarship.

Kyle was valedictorian of our class and I teased him all the time about being a nerd. He had to prepare a speech for graduation and I was so glad it was not me having to get up there and speak. Graduation day, I saw Kyle and he looked great, he was one of those guys that really found himself during high school. He had filled out and actually looked good in glasses. He also had more dates than I had and all the girls loved him. Boy, sometimes I was jealous and today was one of those days. I could see that he was nervous about his speech, so I smacked him on the back and said, "hey big guy, you’ll be great" he looked at me with one of those looks (the really grateful one) and smiled, "thanks" he said.

As he started his speech, he cleared his throat and began, "graduation is a time to thank those who helped you make it through those tough years, your parents, your teachers, your siblings, maybe a coach, but mostly your friends. I am here to tell all of you that being a friend to someone is the best gift that you can give them. I am going to tell you a story". I just looked at my friend with disbelief as he told the story of the first day we met, he had planned to kill himself over the weekend. He talked of how he had cleaned his locker so him Mum wouldn’t have to do it later and was carrying all his stuff home. He looked hard at me and gave me a smile. "thankfully I was saved, my friend saved me from doing the unspeakable." I heard a gasp go through the crowd as this handsome, popular boy told us all about his weakest moment. I saw his mum and dad looking at me and smiling that grateful smile, not until that moment did I realise its depth. Never underestimate the power of your actions, with one small gesture you can change a person’s life, for better or worse. God puts us all in each others lives to impact one another in some way.