The Herald

 July/August

Suffolk Churches Ride & Stride 2019 on 14^th September

This year, the Suffolk Churches Ride & Stride 2019 will take place on Saturday 14th September and St Johns will be taking part in this worthwhile cause again.  Please help to raise funds for our historic Suffolk churches and St Johns by supporting this event.  You can participate in a Sponsored Bike Ride or a Walk between churches or help with welcoming and registering visitors at St Johns.

Further information and forms will be available soon.

Brian & Clare Mortimer (Local Organisers)

Harvest Festival September 29th .  Donations of packeted food or cash will be collected for Storehouse.  There will be a traditional display of fresh fruits and vegetables.

Flowers to be taken out to friends will also be welcome. 

 

  

My Grandson Tom would like to thank everyone for collecting used postage stamps for the Hillside School charity appeal. Tom has received 100's of stamps which have all gone to help the work of the East Anglian Children's Hospices, EACH.

In July Tom will leave Hillside School and from September he will move on to a special course at West Suffolk College. The teacher involved is also leaving Hillside and the stamps will no longer be needed.

Thank you all so much for encouraging and supporting Tom and please pray for him as he moves on in his education.

 

Maureen Hearn.

 

Family Fair, 16^th November 2019

Hi everyone,

With only five months to go, we just thought we would put a quick reminder in the Herald about the Family Fair.

As always, this event would not be able to run without the assistance of all of you. Whilst we will again be selling space to various local producers of crafts etc, as well as Fairtrade, we will have our own tables and the café  that need our help with donations of items and time.

So please try and keep Saturday 16^th November free.

More used jam jars for the jams and chutneys stall are still required so please bring any of those along to Church for Andrew.

Many thanks,

Andrew Clare, Gill Phillips & Julie Rix

 

Canoe for Christian Aid

This sponsored event will be held on Monday 15 July 2019. This year the trip will begin and end at Dedham. The stable canoes accommodate two or three adults or two adults and up to two children.

If you or anyone you know might be interested in taking part and would like further details, please contact cacanoe@outlook.com as soon as possible. The organisers are anxious to fill the remaining places as a matter of urgency.

As last year, the event supports a Christian Aid project in Kenya, Supporting children and orphans with HIV/AIDS and attracts amazing matched funding from USAID – now 20:1, so a £5 donation has £100 added.

Can you sponsor John Boardman, Richard Stanford or Jane Martland to raise funds for this cause?

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

 

                                         Messy Church   9th June 2019                                             

   Pentecost - Power from God     

A choice of ten activities all demonstrating the Holy Spirit's power to share God’s love with people, is the start of the Messy Church this Pentecost.   Creating helicopters, air powered cars with balloons, aeroplanes, magnetic fishing, then the service.   "My God is so big so strong and so mighty begins the song with actions, accompanied by John on his guitar and words on the screen.   This continues the theme of God's power.        

Sadly this is the last Messy Church so carefully planned and prepared by John and Ann Boardman before they move on from St. John's.   We do appreciate and thank them for all the thinking, planning and preparation that over the years they have put into each session.   The children have benefited beyond their knowledge.    For some it may have been a one off occasion, but for many it will be something they look forward to with regularity.   Numbers have varied but children plus their carers will have had the uplifting experience of Messy Church.   

                                                                                                              Jane Sainsbury

Holiday Club

We are planning to run the Holiday Club again this year from Tuesday August 27^th to Saturday August 31^st.  Ruth and Emma have already drawn up an exciting programme of activities on the subject of “Journeys”.  If you could help between 9.30 and 12.30 on any of these days, please sign the notice in the Link.   We do need at least 6 people for each session so all offers of help will be gratefully received.

Gill

 

Events at Bradfield recently

In April we gathered for the funeral service of Jack Webber, a long standing member of our chapel. He was a truly remarkable man seeing himself as a custodian of the land he farmed. Sunday was sacrosanct to Jack and it was a day of rest. Jack lived a full and rewarding life, but when his health deteriorated he was supported at home by his amazing family.

In May we celebrated our 152 chapel anniversary. We were impressed by Michael Topple when he accompanied Brian Clow last year so we were anxious to invite him to our morning service. He encouraged us that the mission goes on and not to lose heart. Our evening service was conducted by Rev. Peter Goodhall who also gave us more words of comfort. We were delighted that members from other churches joined us for our services and we all felt uplifted by the celebration.

On Saturday 8^th June we again invited the village to tea. Rev. Boardman challenged us to take on this venture last year and we were pleased to repeat the exercise. Trinity Occasional Catering Team provided a delicious afternoon tea, with dainty sandwiches, scones and small cakes with plenty of tea. The weather had been wet in the morning but the sun came out and we were happy to welcome about 30 people. We continue to try to make ourselves known in the village by joining in with all local events too.

Finally, we say farewell to John, we wish him and Ann a long, happy and healthy retirement. However we are sure that once settled it will not be long before John is immersed in village activities. Thank you John for your Ministry here at Bradfield, your pastoral care for the members has been wonderful. You have guided us, supported us and encouraged us. We have been privileged to be part of your Ministry over the past ten years.

Anne Southgate

 

 

St John’s Community Team held a fundraising play day followed the next day by a coffee morning in aid of the East Anglian Air Ambulance Service.  They raised just over £170.

 

 

The following interview with John was taken, with permission from the latest edition of the Foxearth Meadows News & Prayer Letter.  If you would like to receive email copies of this newsletter in the future, do let the Jowitts know.  Their email address is jowitts@btinternet.com

 

Meet the Volunteer:   the Rev. John Boardman

 

John is minister in the local Methodist Circuit, with pastoral care of St John’s, Sudbury, together with churches in Glemsford and Bradfield Combust.  He has played a key part as a member of our local Steering Group (hosted at St John’s) from well before the official opening of the reserve.  Sadly (from our point of view) John is retiring and moving northwards in late July.   John, where does your concern for nature and the environment come from?  From my youth I’ve always enjoyed caring for pets, watch TV programmes about nature and being outdoors.  This has continued in adulthood, though the care for pets has broadened into a wider concern for world-wide nature and the issue of climate change. Tell us a bit about the St John’s story of becoming and being an Eco Church. We became aware of the Eco Congregation scheme in 2012. [1]   We formed a committee, and after completing the audit, went on to look at what we could achieve in the other modules, which were in three groups:  spiritual, practical and mission. [2]  We collected folders of evidence which we presented when we were interviewed by representatives from A Rocha UK.  In January 2014 St John’s was awarded Eco Congregation status and presented with a plaque by Tim Yeo MP.  It was a great effort by the whole church.  Now we are aiming for the Silver Eco Church award.   [1] Eco Congregation evolved into Eco Church when A Rocha UK took on its development. [2]  Eco Church is an online resource and helps churches assess and grow their care for the environment under the headings of ‘Worship and Teaching’; ‘Buildings’; ‘Land’; ‘Community and Global Engagement’ and ‘Lifestyle’.   You have many demands on your time, but essentially what gets you up in the morning?  I thoroughly enjoy being a Methodist minister: it is truly a spiritual and practical vocation, being alongside people in the highs and lows of life as well as in the day-to-day.  Being called by God to serve Him in the Bury St Edmunds Circuit in 2009 gave me a new lease of life.  I had been a primary school teacher for 28 years.  I was also a local preacher.  By the grace of God, the Methodist Church has facilitated my change from full-time teacher to preacher and I love it. What are your main memories of your involvement in Foxearth Meadows?  Are there any particular highlights?        It has been a real privilege to be part of the initial stages of the development of Foxearth Meadows.  It seemed a natural progression from the interest in being a Eco Congregation to want to help A Rocha UK with Foxearth Meadows.  The appointment of Mark Prina has been a wonderful catalyst for great improvements on the site.         One of the greatest highlights was the public open day on 13 May 2017.  So much effort went into the preparation for that day!  Crowds of people of all ages came and enjoyed touring the site as well as visiting interesting displays and activities in marquees.  We finished the day with a short service in which we dedicated Foxearth Meadows to God and prayed for His guidance in its development.   What do you enjoy doing in your spare time, when you have some?        Ann and I enjoy going on walks, for example, in Sudbury Meadows, Lackford Lakes and Bradfield Woods.  I’ve recently swum the English Channel.  Well, to be more precise, I’ve swum the equivalent distance of a cross-channel swim (about 1408 lengths) in Sudbury’s Kingfisher Pool!  On Monday mornings I like playing table-tennis with the U3A. You recently enjoyed a creative sabbatical.  What ambitions did you achieve?        On the first Saturday, Ann and I went to the Proms in the Albert Hall.  It was wonderful experiencing live orchestral music.  Later in September, we enjoyed a European holiday, visiting four capital cities by train. In late October I went to Iona to attend a course on the Psalms led by the Rev. John Bell.  He is an inspirational hymn/song writer and, having written some hymns myself, John very kindly gave me some tips.        A friend gave me lessons on playing the trumpet, but I haven’t found it easy to find time to practise since the return to work!

My wife taught me how to use the sewing machine.  I’ve made several muslin “sprout” bags: reusable, light, drawstring bags for holding loose fruit and vegetables.  Let me know if you’d like one. (Donations welcome).

We’ll be sad to say goodbye when you move later this summer, but wish you God’s blessing in your new adventures.  Can you tell us a bit about your plans and hopes and dreams for the future?        One of the Sabbatical achievements was finding a new house to live in after my retirement. It’s in Waltham, NE Lincolnshire, in the same village as our daughter and her family. Ann and I look forward to being more involved as grandparents. The house garden has four raised beds and we hope to grow plenty of vegetables. As a Supernumerary Minister, I hope to continue preaching in the Grimsby and Cleethorpes Circuit and helping in the local church.        Ann and I hope to join a walking group and go rambling in the Lincolnshire Wolds and along the coast. After ten years here, we will be sorry to leave our friends, but we look forward to what God has up His sleeve for us in Lincolnshire! A big thank you to John for leading us in outdoor worship at the reserve in an inspirational service on the theme of “Christian Care for Creation” on a beautiful afternoon on Sunday, 12 May.  Around 40 people gathered – some making their first visit to the reserve.  The services included two of John’s own hymns.  People relaxed afterwards with cake and squash and some took the opportunity to wander the footpaths around the meadows and river and ponds.

 

Impossible Pie

At the service on June 16^th [Trinity Sunday], Rev Ruth Ridge introduced a novel way of understanding the principle of “three in one”.  She, ably assisted by Joshua, prepared an “Impossible Pie”.  All the ingredients were put straight into the bowl and blended.  The resultant mixture was baked at 150^o C for 45 to 60 minutes.  The proof of the pudding was in the eating!  The pie, when served, had a crust on the bottom, custard filling and a tasty coconut topping – three in one.

Several people requested the recipe, so here it is.

 

4 eggs

2 oz margarine

6 oz caster sugar

2 oz flour

¼ teasp salt

½ teasp baking powder

2 cups milk

3 oz dessicated coconut

1 teasp vanilla essence

 

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend until mixed.  Pour into a buttered 10 inch dish.  Bake in the 150^oC oven for about one hour. 

 

 

The deadline for the September Herald is Sunday 18^th August 2019

 

 

Any articles for the Herald would be most welcome

  Please email any contribution to either Tricia Campbell  - triciacampbell@lycos.com or Gill Phillips - gillian.phillips @gmx.co.uk  - or leave it in the tray in the Link.

  

Coffee Rota

Date	Coffee Rota
July
7	Clare’s team
14	Jane and Paul
21	Salt Shaker House Group
21	Circuit Service - tba
28	Re-Unite ladies
August
4	Jan and Daphne
11	Tricia Campbell’s team
18	Paul and Jane
25	Clare’s team

 

 

   Volunteers to join the Coffee Rota are needed urgently.  Please let John Harris have your name if you would be prepared to help from time to time.

Church Contacts:-

Minister                      Rev John Boardman     01787 372738

Senior Steward        Sue Rampling                01787 377441

Lettings Secretary    Andrew Clare                 01787 372705

Church Office                                                     01787 373185

 

Church website: www.stjohns-sudbury.co.uk

Church email address:  admin@stjohns-sudbury.co.uk