HotPott February 2023

Looking backwards… Looking forward…

Happy New Year to you all!

As I write this article for the February 2023 edition of HotPott, we’re putting away decorations and finishing the last of the Christmas cake whilst reflecting on the Christmas services and preparing for the start of the new year and school term ahead.

Looking backwards…

December was, as always for St Christopher's Church, a busy month. It was a pleasure to be joined for our Christingle Family Service not only by Pott Puppets, but also by Archdeacon Ian Bishop. Thanks to John and Liz for kindly making the Christingles, which were much admired by young and old, and to our junior and youth church members who take such an active part in all our family services.

In the week before Christmas we had three Carols by Candlelight services with the theme of ‘Come from Away’. The singing group

could all be seen this year - no hiding up in the balcony - and sounded superb. Our services are a team effort and I feel very blessed to be part of such a warm and welcoming church family. It was super to welcome people into St Christopher’s who hadn’t been able to join us since before the Covid lockdowns. And a real joy for me too in being able to work with husband Steve in preparation for the carol services. If you haven’t seen it yet, I do recommend that you watch the film of the musical Come From Away, which was the inspiration for Rev. Steve’s talk.

Then on Christmas Day we welcomed Rev. John Buckley back to St Christopher’s for the family communion service. John spoke about the wise men (or the Magi) bringing gifts and worshipping the baby Jesus. We were reminded that the foreign Magi were outsiders and travelled a great distance to come to see Jesus who had come to save us all.

Anne Murphy

Looking back, the December services are an encouragement to me that wherever we are, God invites us to ‘come from away’ and worship Jesus. We don’t need to bring the gold, frankincense or myrrh – just ourselves as we are.

Looking forward…

On 2nd February, exactly 40 days after Christmas, we come to Candlemas, when we recall the day Jesus was presented to the Lord in the temple in Jerusalem, and Simeon and Anna recognised Jesus for who He was. In Luke’s Gospel, Simeon calls Jesus: ‘a light for revelation to the Gentiles’. (Luke 2:32.)

The candlelight at Candlemas signifies the light which radiates from Jesus. We’re reminded of the need to burn brightly with the light of Christ amid this dark world. The light which at the beginning of creation shone in the darkness and which no darkness could overcome, is a light for all nations, races and culture of people.

Candlemas has been described as one foot in Christmas and one foot in Easter, a watershed when we look back at the birth of Jesus and we look forward to the cross of Easter. It’s a reminder that Christmas is not an event for one day, but an invitation to a new life. It’s an invitation to ‘come from away’, to look forward and begin a new journey, a new adventure, with Christ.

We read in John’s Gospel: ‘For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him.’ (John 3:16-17.)

Jesus was sent into the world to save it: to give us salvation, to redeem us. Through the cross which we remember at Easter, Jesus allows the human race to recover the fellowship with God that had been forfeited.

So, as we look forward and begin our journey through this coming year, perhaps filled with trepidation at some of the challenges we may encounter, but also with anticipation of exciting times ahead, I pray that this will be a time of rejoicing that God has kept His promise and given His Messiah for the sake of the whole world.

I give thanks for the vicars and lay readers that David Gem has asked to lead our Sunday services over the coming weeks at St Christopher’s. I'm encouraged by the support we receive from each other through the prayer & home groups, pastoral care team and prayer walks, to mention just a few. On a personal note, I'm looking forward to completing my pastoral worker training this year. And it’s not too long till we can give a warm welcome to our new priest in charge! I pray that you can look forward and walk with me into 2023 with a sense of hope and expectation. We know that whatever happens in the weeks ahead, God is faithful. God calls us, meets us, accepts us and loves us just as we are, so let’s draw near to Him, open our hearts to His Holy Spirit and ‘come from away’ to meet with Him this year.

God bless, Anne.

Presentation in the temple; Fra Angelico

Pott Shrigley School Nativity

St Christopher’s Pastoral Ministry

For pastoral support, a listening ear, a home visit, Holy Communion at home, prayer support or if you have a baptism enquiry

please contact the pastoral ministry care team via Anne Murphy.

email: pastoralteam@pottshrigleychurch.org.uk

telephone: 07891 953919

Ready for the school nativity play which was performed in church and enjoyed by all who came to watch it.

As most of you know our previous priest in charge, David Swales, retired last summer and retreated with his lovely wife Kim to Lancashire. They are much missed, but God has a plan for both them and us, the parishioners and congregation of Pott Shrigley, and so we were always confident that the future is secure in God’s hands. Thus, with many prayers the process for choosing a new priest in charge began quickly, and our parish representatives, Yvonne Foster and Andy Phillips, worked with the Archdeacon of Macclesfield, Ian Bishop, and other diocesan staff to find our next priest in charge. We are most grateful to Yvonne and Andy for their hard work and diligence in this sensitive task, and to all those who continued to pray.

On Sunday 15th January Andy was able to tell us that Lynn Caudwell, who is currently an assistant curate at St Andrew’s Corbridge, Northumberland, will be moving to St Christopher’s with her husband Simon and we now know that her licensing service will be held on 15th March.

Lynn has very kindly agreed to introduce herself…

My name is Lynn and I have been married to Simon for 37 years and over the last three decades we have worked together as missionaries with SIL, a partner organisation of Wycliffe Bible Translators in Ethiopia, then wider across Africa in international leadership

positions. It was while we were course leaders of the Missional Leadership MA at Redcliffe College in Gloucester that I started exploring ministry in the Anglican Church. In 2017 I was accepted for training and spent two years part time at Cranmer College Durham before taking up a curacy post at St Andrew’s Corbridge, Northumberland. I have thoroughly enjoyed this new phase of ministry as it gives me more time to focus on preaching, spiritual direction and pastoral work with all ages, which I love. Simon continues to help lead the leadership course now based at All Nations Christian College in Hertfordshire and works in leadership development for SIL International.

We have two children and four grandchildren. Emily is married to Abel, and they have Teddy 4 and Sophie 1. They have international aid jobs and have just moved from Liberia to work in Hanoi, Vietnam. Rob is married to Suzie, and they have Simeon 4 and Raphael 1. They live in Didsbury, Manchester and have busy lives juggling work, a business and leading a house group for Holy Trinity Platt. We are looking forward to being closer to them and helping when we can.

Lynn and Simon

We are both delighted to be coming to live and minister at Pott Shrigley. We have enjoyed getting to know your church reps and others who showed us around and have watched your services online and so have some idea of how things are done in this church family. We have a real sense of ‘coming home’ and that God is going before us.

We love walking, live music of all kinds and socialising with friends. We are excited to be given the opportunity to do this in Pott Shrigley!

Please pray for us over these next weeks as we now start to say our goodbyes and pack up our house of 13 years here in Hexham and for Simon’s father Brian, aged 91, who will be coming with us and moving into a residential home in Macclesfield.

Thank you,

Lynn and Simon.

We are looking forward to giving Lynn and Simon a wonderful Pott Shrigley on 15th March. Details to follow. Meanwhile, please continue to pray for Lynn and Simon as they prepare to move to us, and for a smooth pathway for them as they make the transition between Northumberland and Cheshire. You may like to use the following prayer…

Father God, thank you for your faithfulness to us in providing Lynn as our new priest in charge. We pray that the remaining formalities will proceed smoothly and that we can welcome

Lynn and Simon to Pott Shrigley soon. We pray for Lynn and Simon as they prepare for their move here. Bless them in the coming weeks as they say their goodbyes, that they would have good conversations and opportunities to speak to friends and neighbours about your calling on their lives. We pray for the practicalities of packing up and moving, both for themselves and for Simon’s elderly father Brian. We pray you would also prepare us for Lynn’s arrival. May we be welcoming and open to what you have to say to us through her ministry here. We pray that all those who live, work or visit Pott Shrigley would learn more of you, and that all of us at St Christopher’s, both individually and as a church, would continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. To Him be glory, both now and forever. Amen.

Cricket’s back!

Pott Shrigley Cricket Club gets into action again soon.

Indoor nets will be at King’s School Sports Centre, Alderley Road, Macclesfield, SK10 4SP. Do come along! All players – old and new –are very welcome at this friendly club. Nets start on Wednesday, February 15th at 8 till 10pm.

For more information, please contact Andy Matheson on 07446 194777.

Cover story – Waxwings, the expert berry thieves…

Waxwings (properly known as the Bohemian waxwing, Bombycilla garrulus) are winter visitors to the UK and their numbers vary considerably each year. They normally spend winter eating berries in the coniferous forests of Russia and Scandinavia, but when their numbers exceed their food supply they cross the North Sea and come to Britain, mostly in the north and along the east coast. Some years just a hundred or so come over, but from time to time they cross in their thousands – an event known as an irruption.

Duncan Matheson

When this happens, they disperse south and west across the rest of Britain in search of food, usually rowan and hawthorn berries. In very cold weather, the waxwings will eat frostbitten and semi-fermented berries, which may render them incapable of flying for a time as they become intoxicated. Apparently, their livers metabolise the alcohol super-efficiently and they recover quickly –relatively speaking, far quicker than a human would!

At first glance a flock of waxwings could be mistaken for starlings as they are about the same size, but if you get closer the waxwing’s beautiful colours become apparent, particularly the long red appendages to the wing feathers that have the appearance of sealing wax and from which the bird derives its name. The large crest on the waxwing’s crown and reddish-buff colour is distinctive too.

The largest irruption in recent years was in the winter of 2012-13. That winter a large flock of waxwings visited our garden. Our sizeable cotoneaster tree was smothered in berries and looked splendid, but within a

few hours of this flock arriving the berries were virtually stripped. The waxwings paid us a second visit a few days later to collect the remainder, before moving on to help themselves to the berries from the rest of our shrubs. We thought it was worth it, just to see such a splendid sight – not sure our resident blackbirds agreed though…

There are reports of the possibility of a significant irruption this winter, with relatively poor crops of berries in Scandinavia, so perhaps they will be back!

Time to get walking again!

With Spring on its way we start to think about getting out to walk in the beautiful English countryside again, but where to find new and interesting walks?

Walking in Cheshire has loads of walks to download and print, free; it also has books of walks, details of all the walking groups in the county and much more. Whether you want to walk on your own or with a group all the information is there in one place.

John Harris (who maintains the website) said: ‘There is so much walking information on the web but it is difficult to find. Walking in Cheshire (part of the Walking in England website) has brought it together in one place so whether you are walking from home, or away on holiday, you will be able to find a walk suitable for you.’

With walks from half a mile to 12 miles plus long, and a note of suitability for pushchairs and wheelchairs, everyone can find a walk to enjoy.

So, home or away, check out the websites and get walking!

www.walkinginengland.co.uk/cheshire

www.walkinginengland.co.uk

For more information contact:

john@walkinginengland.co.uk

We have mentioned this website before, but if you have not already done so it is well worth investigating. The walks are not limited to Cheshire, so also good to look at before holidaying in the UK.

Coast to Coast

The Trans Pennine Trail from Southport to Warrington

In the December HotPott Simon told the story of Vigo the Vulture and how when we were following her we had spotted the Trans Pennine Trail (TPT) signs along the Woodhead Pass, and afterwards decided that this would be our next long distance adventure. We thought it best to start the trail in Southport and finish at Hornsea as we were still in various Covid lockdowns and staying anywhere overnight was forbidden at the time.

Lydia Potts

I wasn’t looking forward to going to Southport, the seaside resort without any sea, but was soon very pleasantly surprised at the beauty and isolation of the dunes, which were covered in wild sweet peas, and the contrast of the busy town, which had a happy, holiday feel.

The weather for the first section of the walk was glorious, in fact a bit too glorious as not far from the monument that marked its start, the trail passed through a network of sand dunes at Ainsdale. We felt like Bedouin

herders walking up and down the dunes as the sun baked down. We picnicked in a glade of ancient Scots Pine trees.

Leaving Southport behind, the trail followed the old Cheshire Lines Railway towards Liverpool. The landscape was flat and the path very straight; there were steep, wide fastflowing drainage ditches or dykes running alongside us and we needed to take care that our dog Poppy was close at hand. The flat agricultural land of West Lancashire and open skies are quite an unknown treasure. With some trepidation we entered Liverpool at Netherton but were pleasantly surprised as we were soon following the Leeds & Liverpool Canal, which was very tranquil and had large areas of waterlilies. The scenery changed very suddenly when we popped up at a bridge

Lydia and Poppy at the start of the trail, Southport

Wild sweet peas on the dunes, Southport

onto a busy dual carriageway and passed Aintree Racecourse. We decided that it would be safer for future walks to set out in the early morning, when hopefully there would be fewer large and dangerous-looking dogs about.

Passing from north to south this tactic worked well through Walton, Croxteth and Broad Green before skirting Liverpool Airport at Speke.

The section from Hale to Widnes was fascinating with rows of fairy tale mansions with thatched roofs in Hale Village, where the three-metre-high statue of John Middleton (1578 – 1623), who was reputed to be over nine feet tall, stands. He was ironically called ‘The childe of Hale’ and if his height is accurate, he would have been taller than Robert Wadlow who holds the current

Guinness world record. Later in the summer, we returned to Hale Village for a charity open gardens event.

Beyond Hale was Hale Bank, then Pickering Pastures, a nature reserve with wildflower meadows overlooking the River Mersey. The river was wide and powerful at this point as it flowed unrelenting towards the sea.

Following the Mersey to Widnes, we reached the old Runcorn bridge opened in 1961, which brought happy memories of visiting my grandparents in Aigburth. The area is very quiet now though, as all traffic uses the new six-lane toll bridge further to the east.

After leaving Runcorn, the disused St Helens Canal led us into Warrington and eventually onto yet another vast waterway, the Manchester Ship Canal.

To be continued…

Runcorn Bridge

Thatched roof in Hale; Liverpool Echo

The childe of Hale; Wikipedia

Your Vote Your Council

These notes are compiled from the minutes of the parish council meeting held on 5th December 2022.

Alison Greenwood

Highways

New/Updated/Completed:

Double yellow lines on the Pott Hall and Spuley Lane bends: Full permission for the work was granted. The yellow lining should be completed imminently but specific dates still not known. Highways were previously asked for an update; Councillor Saunders will chase it up.

Replacement/repair of culvert under road outside Pott Hall: Highways previously asked for an update on the schedule for these works. A response was received after the December parish council meeting, indicating that the work will be considered for inclusion in the 2023/24 financial year.

Collapsed wall on Bakestonedale Road: the protective barriers have been reinstated.

Pending:

Remedial resurfacing of Shrigley Road from Green Close to the aqueduct.

Modifications to the Shrigley Hall bend

Repair of fingerpost at junction of Street Lane and London Road.

Damage to village hall roof by articulated lorry: The kerb will be extended for a short distance to better protect the building, funded by the ward councillors’ allocation in the next financial year. The cones are to remain in situ. The repair has been delayed by the roofer being unwell.

Village gas light

This remains permanently on despite repairs

being made. Further action pending.

Woodland scheme on The Nab

The council previously accepted this proposal in principal as it would help to increase the woodland areas and restore trees which were felled in the extension of the Nab Quarry industrial site, but some concern was expressed that the outline of The Nab, as viewed from the eastern side, could be compromised. Councillor Goodman and Kath Chong met on site to discuss this. The scheme will be modified to take into account the concerns expressed.

Telephone kiosk/village defibrillator

No progress yet made in relocating the defibrillator from the wall of the village hall into the phone box.

North East Cheshire Community Partnership (NECCP)

New Pott Shrigley website: there was a request in the Christmas Hotpott for a volunteer to create and run the site; no one has come forward yet. Councillor Boulton recently attended a NECCP committee meeting where the six key issues relating to Pott Shrigley were analysed along with the issues from the other participating areas; it was agreed to focus on community help, wellbeing and the environment.

PATCHS system: Councillor Boulton distributed leaflets informing the council that from 1st December 2022 local GPs can now be contacted via this new, improved online system which replaces AskMyGP. Login details remain the same.

Christmas tree and Christmas HotPotts

This year’s tree was rather shorter than anticipated, but nevertheless when putting the tree up Councillors Basford and Wray used their ingenuity to make up for the

The December edition of the church and parish magazine, HotPott, was distributed to all households in the village. The parish council paid for copies to go to nonsubscribers and helped with the distribution.

Lychgate

Repairs are required to the wooden structure of the lychgate; the roof may need attention too. The clerk will search for possible funding for these repairs.

Cheshire Police

The website Cheshire.police.uk can be used to find information about policing in any area of Cheshire. Our PCSO is Amy Hickman and our constable is Christopher Howard.

Current planning matters

Applications

22/4479M (17.11.22) 1, Normans Hall Mews, SK10 5SE

Proposal: To renovate and extend the garage. The council supports this application.

NP/CEC/1022/1284 (22.11.22) Nab Cottage, SK10 5RT

Proposal: Two and single storey side extension

The council supports this application in principle but the use of a burnt larch cladding for the proposed side elevation (facing north east) and as the external material for the single story rear lean-to extension may be considered to be out of keeping in the conservation area and would be very visible from the surroundings.

Decision

21/6312M (21.12.21) Shrigley View, SK10 5SE

Enclosure of existing external staircase, conversion of garage to living accommodation and single storey extension. Approved (08.11.22).

Pending – no change to following applications

Nab Quarry, SK10 5SD 21/1251M (08.03.21)

Resubmission for the regularisation of warehouse storage buildings and demolition of existing shed and replacement with twostorey office building.

21/1283M (08.03.21) Separate application for warehouse for MRI Polytech.

22/2879M (28.10.22) New office/reception building to replace the existing temporary mobile unit. The applicant plans to use the same footprint as occupied by the existing temporary building. There are no objections to the application.

22/0078M (11.01.22) Woodside, SK10 5SA

Two storey rear extension; new photovoltaic array on south facing roof; detached workshop/storage area; create a dropped kerb to provide vehicular access to driveway.

NP/CEC/0222/0213 & NP/CEC/0122/0080 (15.02.22) Keepers Cottage, SK10 5RZ

New agricultural barn & Demolition of existing property and rebuild.

NP/CEC/0322/0436 (30.03.22) Moorside

Quarry, SK10 5RZ

Siting of one residential caravan following removal of plant and container storage; erection of three additional stables following removal of the existing caravan.

22/2809M (12.07.22) & 21/6042M (15.07.22) 10 & 11 Normans Hall Mews, SK10 5SE

Rear extension along the party wall boundary to give a garden room to each property.

Appeal

21/4435M (20.08.22) Heatherdale Farm, SK10 5RZ. Conversion of an existing agricultural barn to a single dwelling. The clerk submitted the council’s original comments.

Date of next meeting

The next meeting will be held at 8pm on Monday 6th February 2023 in the village hall.

More Christmas (and other) thank yous…

A forgotten thank you:

Anne did a wonderful job of saying ‘thank you’ to folks for their many and varied contributions to the St Christopher’s Christmas services; she thanked even more people than I allowed her space for in her thoughtful reflection – so here’s the rest: ‘Huge thanks to Sheila and David for doing such a brilliant job with the music and singing, candle lighting, mince pie providing… Thanks also to everyone else who contributed, often behind the scenes, to these services: making mulled wine, service streaming, Bible reading, welcoming, bell ringing, cleaning - the list is endless.’ Here, here.

Anne did not, of course, thank herself for the enormous contributions she made to the Christingle Family Service, or to Carols by Candlelight – planning and leading the services, marshalling all those readers, making sure everyone was present and correct at the right time etc etc.. and all with a smile on her face! How does she do it? Thank you Anne, and thank you too for planning and leading family services almost singlehandedly over the past seven and a half years – always a joy to see and hear how our children and young people have been encouraged in their faith, and so helpful to the faith journey of the rest of us.

Christingle:

Thank you to all those who donated, either by putting coins into candle boxes or by using our online Justgiving page, to The Children’s Society; a total of £287.45 was raised for the vital work this charity does with vulnerable children and young people. And may I add my thanks to Liz and John Arrowsmith, who for many years have organised the Christingle collection for The Children’s Society, counted all the change and banked it; they’ve made a lot of Christingle oranges over the years too! They have decided that now is the time to hang up all those red ribbons, cocktail sticks etc, so before next October, please have a think if you could be the one to organise Christingle things in 2023.

Ingersley Court

Joyous singing could be heard in and around Ingersley Court on 22nd December when some of us were privileged to join many Ingersley residents and staff in their lounge for carols. It was a delight to sing with them all, many residents knew the words off by heart, and two ladies provided us with expert descants as well. It was a lovely afternoon; full of praise, enjoyment and, for some of us, sherry and mince pies too! Thank you to Ingersley Court for inviting us, to Reg and

Carols by Candlelight Christingles

Jean who liaised with the staff, to Sheila and David who, as ever, kept us on the musical straight and narrow, and especially to the residents – some of whom were very familiar church friends – for welcoming us so warmly into their home.

And more carols were sung at Shrigley Hall on Christmas Eve. Those singers who were not at Carols around the Tree in Bollington, or in hospital, or down with Covid issues, assembled in the foyer and were joined by Shrigley Hall guests comfortably sat on the stairs. It was a lovely atmosphere, with everyone joining in the carols and Shrigley Hall generously gave a donation to St Christopher’s.

Christmas cards… or not

We had an innovation at St Christopher’s this year. Many church members posted a Christmas card to the church family on the board at the back of church (decorated

beautifully by Madeline – thank you!) instead of sending individual cards, and gave the money they saved on cards to Tearfund; £45 was raised. In their letter of thanks, Tearfund explained that the money would be used in places like Nepal to help poor communities to develop sustainably and to discover their true potential in Christ Jesus.

Prayers for Candlemas…

two prayers specifically written for Candlemas, the day when Christ was presented to the Lord in the temple. This first prayer is one of the collects for Candlemas given in the Anglican Book of Common Prayer:

Anne explained about Candlemas in her Looking backwards… Looking forwards reflection, so it seemed appropriate to include

Almighty and ever-living God, clothed in majesty, whose beloved Son was this day presented in the Temple, in substance of our flesh: grant that we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts, by your Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

See page 23 for the second prayer.

Carols at Ingersley Court

Presentation at the temple; Princeton University

Coffee Break

Across

8 Interrogated (Acts 12:19) (5-8)

9 ‘Burn it in a wood fire on the — heap’ (Leviticus 4:12) (3)

10 Tobit, Judith, Baruch and the books of Esdras and the Maccabees are part of it (9)

11 Science fiction (abbrev.) (3-2)

13 Clay pit (anag.) (7)

16 Went to (John 4:46) (7)

19 ‘Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to — your bodies as living sacrifices’ (Romans 12:1)

(5)

22 David’s plea to God concerning those referred to in 14 Down: ‘On — — let them escape’ (Psalm 56:7) (2,7)

24 Royal Automobile Club (1,1,1)

25 How the book of Ezekiel refers to God more than 200 times (Ezekiel 2:4) (9,4)

Down

1 Seas (Proverbs 8:24) (6)

2 One of the sons of Eli the priest, killed in battle by the Philistines (1 Samuel 4:11) (6)

3 Specialist in the study of the Muslim religion (8)

4 ‘Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but — him as if he were your father’ (1 Timothy 5:1) (6)

5 One of Esau’s grandsons (Genesis 36:11) (4)

6 Taking a chance (colloq.) (2,4)

7 God’s instructions to the Israelites concerning grain offerings: ‘ — salt to — your offerings’ (Leviticus 2:13) (3,3)

12 Confederation of British Industry (1,1,1)

14 ‘All day long they twist my words; they are

always — to harm me’ (Psalm 56:5) (8)

15 The crowd’s reaction to Jesus bringing back to life a widow’s son in Nain (Luke 7:16) (3)

16 Disappear (Psalm 104:35) (6)

17 How Jeremiah was likely to die if he wasn’t rescued from the cistern where he was imprisoned (Jeremiah 38:9) (6)

18 What the prophets do to a wall, with whitewash (Ezekiel 13:10, RSV) (4,2)

20 Made by a plough (Job 39:10) (6)

21 Noah was relieved when the flood waters continued to — (Genesis 8:5) (6)

23 Jesus gave the Twelve the power and authority to do this to diseases (Luke 9:1) (4)

At the end of the pre-Lent sermon, the vicar suggested, as an example to the rest of the community, that the congregation should worship in an unheated church for the whole of Lent. As they made their way into the chill Sunday air the vicar addressed one member of the congregation, asking what she had decided to give up for Lent. “Church,” she replied firmly

The Suffering Church

Let’s start with some positive news! Around 6,000 hungry and malnourished Christians in drought-prone Namibia, the driest country in sub-Saharan Africa, were overjoyed to receive 20 tonnes of food and other aid. These desperately needed supplies were donated by fellow Christians in the UK and shipped to the Kunene region of Namibia by Barnabas Aid’s foodgives programme. ‘The Lord’s ravens have brought them food! To God be the glory!’ exclaimed one Namibian Christian, comparing the arrival of the food to God’s miraculous provision of bread and meat for Elijah in a time of drought (1 Kings 17:4). After devastating flooding caused huge damage last summer in Tank, Khyber

Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan, Barnabas supporters have funded the restoration of the Christian hospital’s buildings, its church and its Sunday school, as well as replacing water-damaged medicines and equipment. The speed at which the structural repairs were carried out was a great encouragement to the area’s minority Christian community. ‘The hospital does not look damaged; rather it looks regenerated,’ a local Christian commented. A spokesman for the hospital said the repairs had given new life to the buildings. Barnabas also provided emergency food, drinking water, mosquito nets, tarpaulins and other practical items as well as medical care to help around 2,000 Christian families in Sindh, the province most affected by the floods. Thanks to the generous help of supporters, they are now helping families to rebuild new homes that are more resilient to future flooding.

Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe and its economy was damaged further by the Covid-19 pandemic; Christians are among the poorest in this Muslimmajority nation and many Christian children cannot go to school as their families cannot afford the clothes they need to do so. Congregations sought help for 30 children,

Barnabas Aid food distributed in Namibia; Barnabas

Repairing the hospital roof, Tank, Pakistan; Barnabas Clothes for Albanian children; Barnabas

aged between seven and 15, attending their churches, whom they identified as being most in need and Barnabas supporters have funded donations of the necessary clothes and shoes. A Christian mother, who is the sole provider for her family because her husband is paralysed, had tears in her eyes as she thanked Barnabas for giving her two daughters shoes to go to school. ‘This project was proof that God hears our prayers,’ said a pastor. He said it encouraged Christians in two ways: ‘They saw God’s care and love for people in need,’ the pastor told us, ‘but it was also a lesson that we should help others because this is how we show God’s love.’ But Christians in many parts of the world are still suffering for their faith. In December 2022 at least 39 Christians were killed in separate attacks by suspected Fulani militants on eight villages in Kaduna State, Nigeria. Six entire families were wiped out, with 105-yearold Monica Kunal Ajuwai being among the victims. The attackers looted homes of grain and valuables before burning down 102 houses. Please ask the Lord to comfort the bereaved and to bring peace to Nigeria’s troubled northern and Middle Belt regions.

In Myanmar a 52-year-old man was killed and five other people, including two children, were injured when the military (Tatmadaw) shelled a church building in Christianmajority Kachin State on 30 December 2022. Pray for Christians in Myanmar who have suffered violence and persecution for many years. Ask that the Lord will continue to sustain and provide for His children.

A female Christian airport security officer in Karachi, Pakistan, was threatened with a blasphemy accusation after a disagreement with a colleague over access to the airport car park, illustrating how blasphemy accusations are misused in disputes which are entirely secular in origin. As making defamatory remarks about Muhammad, the prophet of Islam, carries a mandatory death sentence if proven, accusations of blasphemy are highly dangerous; additionally, those accused and their families and Christian communities frequently suffer mob violence before any charge reaches court. In the case of this security guard, her accuser colleague was dismissed by Pakistan’s Civil Aviation Authority. Give thanks for this swift response, and for the widespread condemnation of these threats from many in the Muslim community. Pray for our sister and her family who may still be targeted by extremists.

Another church destroyed by the Myanmar military; UCA news

The governor of Kaduna state, Nigeria who condemned the killings; Vanguard

Although the President of Egypt seems to be very supportive of the 10% Christian minority there, on Christmas Eve a church in the Egyptian village of Ebis, Beheira Governorate, was attacked by a group of Muslim extremists who threw stones at believers repairing the church roof. Police attended, allowing the work to continue, but the extremists then blocked lorries carrying building supplies from reaching the village, forcing construction to stop. The church also felt forced to close its health clinic, which serves both Christians and Muslims, for fear of attack. Give thanks for the police response. Pray that hostilities will cease, and that the church will be able to continue to function in peace.

Thank you to Barnabas for the information contained in this article.

Prayers for Candlemas…

Dear Lord,

Here we are in February – month of cold days, winter days, but days that promise hope and signs of Spring. Snowdrops and lengthening light; echoes of the hope and light that Jesus brought to Simeon and Anna all those years ago in the Temple.

Thank you, Lord, that you always bring light, you always bring hope and peace and joy when we put our trust in Jesus, our Saviour. Jesus, Lord of all our days and seasons.

In his name we thank you, as we look to His Light. Amen.

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Throwing stones to stop church repair, Ebis, Egypt; Watani

The second Candlemas prayer comes from Daphne Kitching, a poet, priest and teacher from Hull and a regular contributor to Parish Pump, which is acknowledged as the source of this prayer.

sunday lunch

served weekly 1pm-3.30pm

afternoon tea

served daily 1pm-3 30pm

Missionary Matters

The McClean family were all together for Christmas as Matt and Beth travelled back from the UK to join parents Johnny and Ann and brother Joshua in Bangkok. They had a wonderful Christmas outreach at their New City Fellowship Church with between 30 and 40 from the surrounding community turning up; pray they will become regular worshippers.

John Ryley

On Christmas Day evening the McCleans had a barbecue at their home with 30 to 40 from church sharing in the fun. Johnny and some church members have delivered practical gifts of blankets and toiletries to a number of families in the Mahatma community in need. Ann has suffered a nasty bout of dengue fever (a mosquito-borne disease) but is now on the slow road to recovery. It is a huge blessing to them to support Afghan family A & S and their daughter M, who is loving school so much she gets cross when it’s the holidays! M’s confidence and her ability to communicate in English have come on leaps and bounds. If you would like to help support this family, please give to UFM UK/ USA and make the donation for Johnny and Ann McClean – Thailand Refugee support

fund. Please pray that this will be the year when A, S & M finally get resettled in Australia (they have waited five years so far and have been told it may be another two before they go!). After nine years of working full time at St Andrew’s International School, Ann will leave in the summer (a positive answer to several years’ prayer) and move to International Community School (ICS), the American Christian school Josh attends. She is really looking forward to being a part of a Christian teaching community with a clear emphasis on relationships and care for students and in addition, not only will Josh’s school fees be waived next year (another significant answer to prayer for the Lord’s provision), but also Ann will have a significantly reduced, threeminute commute each morning. Please pray for a positive transition and good farewells in St Andrews over the coming months.

Johnny and Ann are grateful to the teachers at ICS who have helped Josh have a smooth transition into the American education system and a positive start to his final two years of school. Josh will complete his high school service project shortly and hopes his work will help the community to improve their flood barriers before the next rainy season. Johnny is hoping to run five training courses for pastors over the next three months - in the Philippines, north Thailand and in Bangkok with Burmese pastors and City to City church planters. Please pray for safety in travel and good communication skills, especially in non-Thai contexts. The McCleans hope to be in the UK in the summer. This will involve some deputation work, attending the

continued →

Christmas in Bangkok

Pott Shrigley Village Hall Bar

Keswick and UFM conferences, looking after Beth and her belongings for six weeks and then settling her in new digs in Norwich and attending Matt’s graduation in Belfast. They are looking for a car and accommodation at various times in Norwich/Cambridge, Belfast and North Wales – can anyone help please?

Helen and Megumi Fazakerley have sent new year greetings from Malawi. They enjoyed Christmas, including attending an extra-long carol service at their church where almost every carol was sung! They were joined for Christmas lunch by Ruth Guinness (from the spiritual wing of the brewery firm!), a longstanding friend and colleague of Megumi’s from the Evangelical Bible College of Malawi (EBCoM); they were also able to Zoom call all three of their children. As an answer to prayer, daughter Elizabeth has recently been granted permanent residency in Australia, where she has lived for four years, nursing, and getting married to Joshua Hammond. Elizabeth has now embarked on a full-time ministry apprenticeship at her church in Canberra. If you want to know more, or to support her, please email: elizabethannahammond@gmail.com

Megumi seems to no longer be on the staff of EBCoM, but may act as a visiting lecturer if they want him. Currently he seems uncertain what this term holds for him, so besides looking at the possibilities of alternative ministries,

he is working to transform his lecture notes and study guides into a resource suitable for online (and therefore free) publication so that others may benefit. Ruth Guinness has already produced booklets covering the whole Old Testament, systematically book by book and by category, with a basic introduction, selected passages for reading and guiding questions for answering in provided spaces; students have found these very helpful. Helen, as team health coordinator, has been busy updating records and giving practical help to a colleague recovering from major surgery. The recent petrol shortage has now eased, but Malawi currently has a very serious outbreak of cholera which is affecting cities as well as rural areas and shanty towns. Schools were closed but are now reopening after free oral vaccination has been made available. Please pray for the outbreak to be contained soon, and the conditions which allow diseases such as cholera to spread alleviated.

Cholera in Malawi; Telegraph

Elizabeth Hammond (née Fazakerley)

Megumi, Ruth & Helen

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Another amazing Tearfund Big Quiz night…

19th November saw intrepid quizzers putting hope above experience in thinking, in our case, that we may know an occasional answer to the questions posed by Tearfund in their Big Quiz. For the first time since 2019, we were able to gather in the village hall and much fun was had. Anne had organised us all (again), registering St Christopher’s with Tearfund and keeping order during the quiz – no dissension allowed! Mary and Ivan, assisted by Madeline and Ros, set up the room and ensured there were plenty of nibbles to keep our brains fed and Sheila and David kept us cheerful by manning the bar.

It was a close fought contest but ‘We know the password’ won by just three and a half points from ‘Four monkeys & an elephant’. James Phillips made a valuable contribution to the score for ‘Shopping in Ikea’ with his expert knowledge of The Gruffalo. Music was, as usual, the great divider, with ‘Bad Bash’ excelling, though their blank faces when asked about ‘flans’ betrayed their youth – sponge flans were all the rage in the 70s! Conversely, although ‘Mary’s Minions’ have made hundreds of flans between them, they will answer Taylor Swift to every music question in next year’s quiz.

38 of us had great fun in Pott Shrigley but an amazing 12,913 quizzers were also having fun throughout the UK. Generous folk supported our fund raising to the tune of more than £680, with a nationwide total of around £69,000. A fantastic result, and all going to support Tearfund, who, working alongside local churches, enable communities in countries such as Burkino Faso to farm in sustainable ways adapted to the changing climate; this makes a tremendous, positive difference to their daily lives.

Thank you to all those who made this evening so successful, and to all those who donated so generously. Roll on the 2023 Big Tearfund Quiz!

What excuse did Adam give to his children as to why he no longer lived in Eden? Your mother ate us out of house and home.

Hand Painted Pet Portraits

We show recent screen releases On the first Wednesday of each month:

1st February, 1st March, 5th April, 3rd May, 7th June, 6th September

See contacts below for details of the films.

- Anthea Wilkinson (01625 573538) (and St Oswald’s church, Bollington)

- Peter M Boulton (01625 876646)

Suggested donation: in advance £4 : on the door £5

Recipe of the Month

Smoked haddock fish pie

This recipe came free from Waitrose, in one of those booklets full of dishes that I’m tempted by but rarely get round to making, and if I do they don’t turn out quite as anticipated. Smoked haddock fish pie, however, is the exception: delicious, easy to make and popular with Mathesons and guests…

Kath Matheson

Serves 6.

Ingredients:

900g smoked haddock fillets, cut into large chunks

50g butter

3 tablespoons of finely chopped parsley

200g cooked and peeled prawns

500g leeks, washed and sliced

800g potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

For the white sauce:

50g butter

50g plain flour

350ml whole milk

170ml whipping cream

Don’tforget

Method:

Put the smoked haddock into a shallow pan & pour the milk over it. Bring to a simmer & poach for 3 – 5 minutes until cooked. Remove the fish from the milk, set aside and put the poaching milk into a jug.

In another pan, make the white sauce by melting 50g butter, stirring in the flour and cooking for 1 minute. Remove from the heat, then very gradually add the poaching milk whilst continually stirring with a spiral whisk or a wooden spoon. When all the flour is mixed in, gradually bring to the boil and cook for 2 minutes. Season, then add the cream and parsley; simmer for 1 minute.

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Put the smoked haddock and prawns into a 2-litre pie dish. Stir any further liquid that’s drained from the fish into the white sauce, then pour it all over the fish and mix through.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining 50g butter in a saucepan and add the leeks; turn the leeks until they are coated in butter. Season, add a couple of tablespoons of water, cover with a lid and sweat over a low heat until the leeks are really soft.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6.

Cook the potatoes until tender, drain thoroughly and mash, adding the leeks and buttery juices.

Season. Put the mash on top of the fish in the pie dish. Bake the pie for 30 minutes until golden and piping hot. Enjoy!

• All services underlined in blue will be streamed live on our Facebook Page & YouTube channel

• A recording of each live-streamed service will be available from the services page of the church website:

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Directory

Praise and Play: Situation Vacant

Parish Council Clerk: Joyce Burton, pottclerk@btinternet.com Wedding Coordinator: Pam Cooke, weddings@pottshrigleychurch.org.uk

Website: Tess Phillips, 26 Hurst Lane, Bollington, SK10 5LP info@pottshrigleychurch.org.uk

PCC Members:

(please prefix numbers with 01625)

Dr John Ryley, Duncan Matheson, Sally Winstanley, Peter Kennedy, Jean Ferguson, Andy Phillips, Pam Cooke, Ian Clarke, Mary Currell, Mike Akerman, Rebecca Roth-Biester Sheila Garton, David Garton, David Gem, Anne Murphy, Kath Matheson, Chris Day, Reg Ferguson.

This directory was updated on 23rd August 2022.Please give corrections and additions to magazine@pottshrigleychurch.org.uk