THE MAGAZINE Autumn 2023
All Saints, All people. www.allsaints-fulham.org.uk
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All Saints Fulham
Welcome to
The Magazine All Saints, All people. www.allsaints-fulham.org.uk All Saints Parish Office Pryors Bank Pavillion Bishops Park Fulham London SW6 3LA
020 7736 3264 info@allsaints-fulham.org.uk www.allsaints-fulham.org.uk
Magazine Volunteers Editor: Paul McCarroll
Design Night Owl: So-Jin Holohan Picture Editor: Nicky Thomson Photo Contributors: Jess Armstrong Mike Dudgeon Bishop Emma Ross Keet Claire Shirley Nicola Thomson Nick Young
Cover illustration: Anthony Hannaford Proofreader: Nicola Thomson
Production Heroes: Tina Ellis
All Saints is a registered charity: 1130273
Situated on the north bank of the River Thames at Putney Bridge, All Saints Fulham is a vibrant and thriving church. Anyone who is seeking to worship – whatever age, gender or sexuality, whatever marital status, whatever their interest in Christianity – will find a warm welcome.
When reading Anthony Trollope, I’ve always had the sense of a vicar’s life being measured and contained. His novels are full of moral dilemmas and battles of principle but there is very little sense of the clergymen (of course there were no women in those days) breaking into much of a sweat due to their onerous workload.
perfect priest to have beside them.
The huge amount of shared effort it takes to run a parish is reflected in many of the articles in this issue of the magazine. Our serving team needs bolstering, so do our Live Streaming and Thursday Lunch volunteer groups. We are always after helpers and the Duke of Edinburgh Awards offer a great way for our young Yet of course that fictional world of the people to make a contribution. Right now 19th century is a million miles from a we are also looking to form a team to London parish today. Thinking about how lead our Eco Church initiatives. If it’s much Rev’d Penny has to manage weekly something you’d like to get involved with – from officiating services to writing there are more details on page 9. Annasermons to running a PCC to overseeing Lisa Reitinger is after volunteers too and the governance of a local school to you can read more on the back page. So helping with the development of Fulham are the Thursday lunch team. All help is Palace to caring for people at their hour so much appreciated. of need to guiding youngsters on the Rev’d Penny is not the only person to be path to faith to negotiating the twists and retiring. Jess Armstrong looks back on her turns of a church hall rejuvenation to time as Parish Secretary in conversation fighting for social justice – leaves me with Nicky Thomson. And, of course, we exhausted. So, although I’m deeply sad to have arrivals too. Our new youth leader, see her announcement that she is going Luke Carson, sets out his vision while the to retire, it seems not entirely not quite so new Bishop of Kensington unreasonable for her to have decided the writes in her wonderfully engaging way moment has come to step back. about Confirmation. I think, at All Saints, we’ve been very The front cover is the work of local artist blessed with our clergy. Over four Anthony Hannaford and creates an decades of attending worship here I’ve evocative sense of autumn. You’ll find always felt there was a profound more of his work at connection between priest, congregation www.anthonyhannaford.co.uk and the spiritual. I am confident our new vicar will continue this and equally Paul McCarroll confident that Rev’d George will be the
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VIEW FROM THE PULPIT Rev’d George you can empirically show a record of having happened. If they had been studying Romeo and Juliet for example, we might talk about the fact that those two people didn’t exist historically, but did that mean that the play, or story, couldn’t teach us the truth of what humans being consumed by lust might do and feel? I particularly love fantasy stories. Tolkien, Lewis and Rowling in particular have been hugely important in my spiritual life and growth. It is a tremendous privilege to now read those stories to my own children. I started with The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (Lewis). For those who don’t know the story, four children find themselves in a world called Narnia. Narnia is controlled by a witch, who makes it always winter, all year round, but never Christmas.
In Church on Sundays recently, we have been reading through St Matthew’s gospel. One of the key pictures we get of Jesus from Matthew, is of a great teacher. Much of Jesus’ teaching comes through his parables. Telling people stories. There is something immensely powerful – and human – about telling and listening to stories. Humans have been doing it since the dawn of our existence. Carved in walls in caves, poems recited and plays acted out in ancient theatres, stories written and performed through music or film, told to our children as they lie in bed before sleep. Stories help us explore and find meaning about God, why we’re here and what it means to be human. In the words of biblical scholar Stephen Ferris, “stories have a capacity to get into the bones of listeners in ways that propositional-discursive rhetoric cannot.” There is a great power to stories, which Jesus the teacher clearly loved to make use of through the many parables he made up.
Learning from stories When I was a teacher, I was often challenged with questions like: “Sir, how do we know Christianity is true? How do we know it isn’t just a story?” We would then have a discussion about what truth is and how we can discover truth through so many more ways that what
A deeper truth Faced with this terrible plight, the children and their animal friends put their hope in an ancient prophesy that the great king Aslan the lion, will destroy the witch’s evil winter magic. The Lion does this by offering to be put to death by the witch and her followers on the great Stone Table, in place of a traitor called Edmond, and on behalf of all sinners. You see, all traitors belong to the witch and are put to death by her. But Aslan offers himself in Edmond’s place, because, in his words “there is a deeper magic of which the witch does not know. A magic that goes back before the dawn of Time. When a willing victim, who has committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead, the Stone Table would crack and Death itself would start working backwards.” This book tells us the truth of God’s love for us through talking animals and magic. It points directly to God’s own son, God himself, who did suffer and die and to defeat all of us. Christians might not believe in talking animals, or parts of narrative storytelling in our Holy Scriptures in a literal sense – because that is not why they were written. Christians do believe in miracles. We believe God is the reality beyond what we can see and touch. A reality which gives our lives eternal significance and life beyond this one. We believe they give us truth, meaning and connection. Story is an immensely powerful way of exploring the truth of this, as is all the literature found in the many books of our Bible .
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CONFIRMING YOUR FAITH Rt Rev’d Dr Emma Ineson, Bishop of Kensington “Christ has called you by name and made you his own. Confirm O Lord your servant with your Holy Spirit.” Confirmation hasn't always had the best press in the church. It has the tendency to be seen as a kind of ‘passing out parade’ coinciding with the point at which young people are able to make their own choices about faith and are inclined to stop coming to church. There’s an old joke about a vicar discussing with the archdeacon the problem of bats in the attic of their church. “I've tried everything,” says the vicar “but I just can’t seem to get rid of them.” The archdeacon says, “Don’t worry. Just get the bishop to come and confirm them, and you’ll never see the bats in church again.”
One of my greatest joys as Bishop of Kensington is travelling around different parishes to meet and pray for candidates who wish to be confirmed. I love the opportunity it gives me to visit the wonderful range of churches we have in the Kensington Episcopal Area. And while you have a bishop in the building, why not put her to something useful and ask her to do some confirmations? Confirmation is a chance for people, of whatever age, to confirm their faith in God by declaring for themselves the promises made on their behalf at their baptism as infants. It enables the church as a whole to offer their prayers and solidarity to stand alongside the candidates as they commit to grow in faith. And it gives me the immense privilege of being able to lay my hands on their heads and pray for them.
In the very early days of the Christian church, all new Christians were baptised and confirmed together, by the bishop in the Easter service. However, in the fourth century, as Christianity grew and spread, bishops could no longer get around to do this in all their churches, and so priests were given the task of baptising, whilst bishops offered confirmation when they were next visiting the area.
That’s not how this bishop sees confirmation! In the nearly 5 years I have been a bishop I have had the blessing of confirming hundreds of people; quite young children, mums who have come back to church through toddler groups, older people who never got round to it before, people who have come from overseas to make London their home and wish to live out their faith in a Church of England church … and so many others. Each one is known to God. Each story precious. Each one called by name. In this age where identity is a key topic of conversation and debate, choosing to state, before God’s gathered people, that you choose to confirm your faith in Christ - to be known as a Christian - is a courageous thing to do. I know that God honours that commitment and equips with the presence of his Holy Spirit those who decide to take this step, helping them to live out their Christian faith in everyday life. If you are interested in being confirmed, please do have a word with one of the clergy. Perhaps at some point in the future I will have the privilege of confirming you too?
A prayer in the confirmation service Almighty and ever-living God, you have given these your servants new birth in baptism by water and the Spirit, and have forgiven them all their sins. Let your Holy Spirit rest upon them: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding; the Spirit of counsel and inward strength; the Spirit of knowledge and true godliness; and let their delight be in the fear of the Lord. Amen
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MARGARET ROPE IN SUFFOLK AND BEYOND Jacqui Rose
In Sally Wimbush’s excellent article on the Rope window in the Lady Chapel in the Easter 2022 magazine she mentioned that Margaret was born in Leiston in Suffolk. As I am from Suffolk and love stained glass, I have for several years been interested in locating some of her windows. Alas, most of the churches are kept locked and access has been a problem. However, some years ago I discovered there was a flower festival in St Margaret’s Leiston,
where she was christened, and managed to get in to see the large window that she designed in memory of her parents. She often liked to include country scenes and the detail here shows a man ploughing with two Suffolk Punches. Quite by chance when I was in the Long Shop Museum in Leiston I found this photo of Margaret working on what looks like the window in St Andrew’s Little Glemham.
This summer, when my sister was at a folk festival in the grounds of Glemham Hall, she contacted me to say that there was a service in the village church that Sunday which was one I was keen to get into. I drove over and found the church packed with festival goers and locals and after the service discovered the window. As you will see from this illustration, the Virgin with child is very similar to ours in the lady chapel. My sister pointed me to very useful website arthur.rope.clara.net/torworks.htm#Suffolk which lists all Margaret’s work. I am now keen to visit all
Visiting Chediston, a remote village in central Suffolk where some of my ancestors are buried, I found more of her work.
the churches in Suffolk, one in the next door village to my home. But further afield she has windows in Sussex, Wiltshire and a huge one in St Chad’s Far Headingley in Yorkshire. Further afield still there are windows in churches in Australia, South Africa and Malta. Do visit the website if you want to explore further. How fortunate we are to have this lovely window in our own church by such a talented and well established glass maker.
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‘All Saints does a lot very well, but what it doesn’t do is blow its own trumpet enough…’
Jess Armstrong talks to Nicky Thomson about her 4 years as Parish Secretary
Jess immediately tells me: “So many good things go on at Pryors Bank, and elsewhere in the parish, but it simply isn’t broadcast enough!” Well, perhaps this is a good place to start. But first, some background. Jess has been a parishioner at All Saints for nearly twenty years. She and her son, Tom, then a toddler, first came to church back in 2005. “It immediately felt like home…We sat at the back of the family service to enable a rapid escape if Tom became restless.” It seems Tom soon sat still for long enough to allow his mum to volunteer as a sidesperson and welcomer. Later, after joining the PCC, Jess became PCC Secretary. She is also held in high regard for her skills as church photographer, cake baker, jam maker and coffee brewer! When Jess left her job in finance and found out Tina was looking for a new secretary in the office, she agreed to help out, but only “for a few weeks”. She stayed for four years.
I asked her what a typical day at the church office looked like. “Really no two days were the same, but many encompassed arranging the finer details of baptisms and weddings, updating spreadsheets with all the information to share with baptism visitors or vergers or for marriage prep, fixing printers that often decided of their own initiative not to co-operate when printing the magazine or 300 Sunday service sheets at the last minute, speaking to parents wanting
to apply for school places or join holiday clubs. And then there were days where we had the good company of Vernon and the counters, or we had our regular Tuesday morning staff meeting to do some forward planning or discuss the previous Sunday. Thursday lunches always provided much cheer, as did our weekly visits from Sam and Jonna and Emily to the office.” Pulling out all the stops Jess remarks that there was “NEVER a dull day”. One particularly stressful day, Jess recounts, was August Bank Holiday weekend 2022. “There was a huge wedding. Jonna and the Clergy were on holiday and a visiting Curate, inexperienced at officiating at weddings, was taking the service. The Choir arrived punctually but no organist appeared. Panic ensued and frantic phone calls were made. The choir valiantly stepped in to play background music, offering to sing a cappella while we conjured an organist out of nowhere, who literally ran from Putney into church, with the bride waiting outside the west door. Miraculously the service only started 10 minutes late. Phew!”
“Oh, and of course in 2019 when we had a twelve-voice choir booked for a huge funeral and Jonna and I got our wires crossed about timing, so we had no choir twenty minutes before the service started. Somehow, we had 10 singers ten minutes later. Jonna has invisible powers and I still have nightmares…!”
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When lockdown loomed
The pandemic, too, presented some real challenges. “No-one was prepared for it. Fortunately, we were able to get our computer server online almost overnight and learn not only how to have meetings on Zoom but also how to livestream morning prayer. Social distancing impacted not only Sunday services but also baptisms, weddings and funerals. Everything had to be rescheduled, two or three times. And knowing that families were permitted so few loved ones at funerals was terribly sad.” Another anxious moment involved discovering there was no Union Flag to fly at half-mast the day The Queen died. A problem soon solved, thankfully. But some challenges were too great, Jess laughs. She had to admit defeat when it came to persuading some members of staff to put their diaries online.”
But ther e was much joy to be found in day-to-day parish life. “For me the best part of working in the parish office was working with people and for people. Colleagues, obviously. But also parishioners.” The highlight of Jess’s week was undoubtedly enjoying Wednesday parish lunch with those who attended the midday Eucharist. “There was always a moment of insight, fellowship, friendship or laughter which was an absolute tonic mid-week.” I asked if there were any stand-out moments. “There are so many. In lockdown, broadcasting the Ascension Day dawn service with Penny sitting on the dewy grass in an entirely silent churchyard, except for the birds, was one. Or unexpectedly getting the best and biggest hugs from Julia. Or being given a picture drawn for me by someone at the children’s club. Or a thank you letter from a bereaved member of the congregation or a delighted bride. All small gestures of a wide-ranging nature which made working at the parish office a privilege and a pleasure.” Keeping it in the family
Jess sums up her work in the Parish office as “spiritually enriching”. Christianity was always a constant in her early life; her paternal grandfather was a vicar in Somerset and she went to her village church every Sunday. She was even, albeit briefly, a member of the parish choir- “a stellar choral career was never likely to follow!” In Italy, not attending church on a regular basis, Jess instead chose to enrich her knowledge and love of art and architecture through visiting the many beautiful Tuscan churches around her, even the smallest village church being beautifully frescoed. “But by the time I came back to the UK after ten years away I felt the need for spiritual nourishment. I was also very keen for Tom to grow up with a similar community life to my childhood, something I never really expected to find in London but which All Saints has provided for him and for me in abundance.”
It was a tough decision to leave the parish office, Jess explains. ‘Unfortunately the cost of living crisis hasn’t helped and I had to prioritise family finances, with dreaded things such as a mortgage to pay and my son wanting to join the ranks of the perennial student…. An unnamed member of the congregation suggested I blackmail the Vicar to get an increase in my salary but no chance, the Vicar is squeaky clean!”. A job with clear attractions Jess’s new role is going well and certainly has its advantages. “I love the fact that I see familiar faces from the congregation on my daily commute through Bishops Park. It is a complete change of gear being in corporate finance but I am speaking Italian every day which I love. We also have a dedicated fridge for chocolate which for health and safety reasons really should be padlocked!”
An unlimited supply of chocolate is certainly a major draw from anyone’s perspective, but I wonder ed if she now misses Pryors Bank…
“I do miss the view from my desk watching the river ebb and flow in all seasons. I miss the laughter I had with colleagues and I miss the people who come and go from the parish office every day. And I miss some people who were with us at the start of my time in the parish office and who were a source of great support and much merriment and who are no longer with us at all, such as Martin and Mo.” Having known Jess for around 15 years now, I can say that, like All Saints, she doesn’t ‘blow her own trumpet’ either. There is so much she quietly got on with that was beyond her remit as Parish Secretary: proofreading the magazine late into the evening, Shovelling snow off the paths in the churchyard in the biting cold before her working day had even started, sitting down in her lunch hour to help a homeless Italian migrant who spoke no English and was struggling with his mental health. Small acts of service in busy days and ones I’ll probably get into trouble for mentioning here. So, by way of apology, I will leave Jess with the final word:
‘I would just like to take this opportunity to say thank you to Penny and the Churchwa rdens for allo wing me the four truly memorable years of wha t is called work but to me felt mo re like fello wship. Thank you to Tina, Julia, Jonna, Em, Vernon & Frances, and to say thank you to all those I have had the privilege to become much better a cquainted with during my time in the parish office. A job may not be for life, but friendships certainly are.”
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ALL SAINTS FULHAM, THE DUKE AND ME Like every church we’re always in need of volunteers to help things run smoothly. Will George volunteered to help All Saints Fulham as part of his D of E. Now he’s volunteered to tell us about it. If you’d like to get involved in voluntary work for the church Will can tell you more, or ask the clergy and Parish Office. But, I know what you are thinking, what would I (or my child) volunteer to do in church? Well don’t worry, there are multiple options for helping out, even if you are not doing DofE! To be honest, pretty much the whole church runs on time given by volunteers of all ages. If you are thinking of DofE or just volunteering in general, you could help, as I did, with Sunday School during the 10:30am service in the Lady Chapel with our children's worker, Julia Chittell. Here you can teach the younger members of the congregation about God through stories from the Bible and interactive games, along with arts & crafts. This felt like quite a worthwhile thing to do and I seemed to surprise my own family by how much of the Bible I know, even though I have been learning about it at school since I was five! Help with live streaming
The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is a prestigious award only gifted to those who are outstanding and persevering enough to complete it. Interested? Then keep reading, and I will inform you of how you can include All Saints church into your award. To complete your D of E, you must pass through 3 levels of increasing difficulty: Bronze, Silver Gold. At 13+, you can enter for DofE Bronze, in which you will have to prove yourself in 3 different sectors of life: Skills, Physical, and Volunteering. You have to do 2 of these sectors for 13 weeks (3 months) and 1 of these for 26 weeks (6 months) but you can choose which sector has what length of time. You are encouraged not to complete these one after the other, as that would take forever, but do them all alongside each other. Once you have done these 3 sectors, you can do the camping out expedition, which is tiring but fun Volunteering at All Saints I want to go into detail of one of these sectors specifically, volunteering. The volunteering sector requires you to help with work at a Non-Profit Organisation, e.g. A charity. Churches fall under this category and are viable for the DofE scheme.
You could also help out with Live-Streaming on YouTube at the 10:30 am service with Mike Dudgeon, to spread our church services worldwide, so that people who do not have the chance to attend in person can still be part of the All Saints congregation. Although it does take some training to understand the controls, it isn't difficult. Anyone who has streaming equipment at home will already know most of it, but it isn't essential. You could come and watch how it's done one Sunday if it's something you are considering. I think the live-streaming team probably has the widest range of ages of all the volunteer teams at All Saints. With the new equipment we have I think there is a lot more we could do in the future.
As you can see, there are plenty of ways to volunteer for DofE and help out the church at the same time. Personally, I helped out with Sunday school for 13 weeks, then helped the live stream for the other 13 to reach the goal of 26 weeks of volunteering. Most importantly, I had a lot of fun while doing it! Now that I have completed my bronze award, I am still on the live-streaming team. If you or your child are interested in doing Duke of Edinburgh, I highly recommend helping at the church as part of their volunteering sector. For anyone under 16, the ways in which you can volunteer are really limited. I didn't want to steward at Parkrun, or work in the library at school, so getting back to being more involved in church seemed ideal. Get involved If you want any more information on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme, talk to me (Will George) to hear more about how you could upgrade your University Application by completing a fun and interactive course that spans over 3 years. The best part is, anyone between 13 and 24 can take part! Believe me when I say that the Duke of Edinburgh scheme is one of the best things you can do for not only yourself, but for your local community too.
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ECO-CHURCH: GOOD NEWS FOR GOD’S EARTH At All Saints we care for God’s earth in different areas of our life and work. But are we doing enough? And are the things that we are doing having the most impact? Eco Church is a scheme for churches in England and Wales that supports us to improve our eco efforts across five key areas of church life: ❑ Worship and teaching ❑ Management of church buildings ❑ Management of church land ❑ Community and global engagement ❑ Lifestyle The Church of England has set a target to be carbon net zero by 2030 and all churches expected to register on eco
church and works towards goals. The first step is to undertake an ‘eco audit.’ We can then agree priority actions to work towards an Echo Church Award. For example, we can look at our energy suppliers. And consider the most efficient ways to heat and insulate the church hall as part of the refurbishment. To learn more go to: ecochurch.arocha.org.uk/how-ecochurch-works/ We are looking to form a diverse group that will drive this forward. Relevant experience would be ideal but energy and a willingness to roll one’s sleeves up is a must! Please contact the clergy or Parish Office to get involved.
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THURSDAY LUNCHES AT PRYORS BANK Nicky Thomson
Every Thursday, a team of parishioners and volunteers from the local community get together to cook lunch for around 30 hungry people. We don’t ask any questions about why they are hungry, we simply provide them with a delicious and healthy meal in the warmth of Pryors Bank.
washing up and mop the floor later fun when the helpers arrive!” in the afternoon. Nicola Maddocks has been a regular Tricia and Claire first got involved helper on the Thursday Lunches when a friend tasted Claire’s cakes rota for nearly two years. Asked at a Queensmill Road street party why she volunteers, she replies, “I and suggested they might like to really look forward to it. It’s a great get involved. Tricia says, “It’s very atmosphere and everyone feels rewarding as it seems our guests very welcome.” really appreciate the food. We It’s clear, from volunteers and The Thursday lunches scheme was often receive compliments which guests alike, that this is a cheerful originally set up by Nicky Bolton makes it all worthwhile. The best way to spend a few hours. With lots over 7 years ago. It took a huge bit is knowing that our food is of laughter and sometimes even a amount of energy to get the project helping people who struggle to birthday to celebrate, there is up and running. For many years, All afford good quality, home cooked always joy to be found in good Saints only provided vouchers that meals.” company. Samson, the community were handed out from the church What Tricia doesn’t say is that the police officer, often pops in to chat office to be exchanged for food and budget is tight for catering. At £2 with the visitors, some of whom drink at a local café. Nowadays, the per person, it is be coming stay for a guitar singalong in the lunches have become a well-oiled increasingly difficult, with rising park grounds when the weather machine, ably led by Judy Graham supermarket prices, to purchase obliges. who organises the rota of food for the meal plus milk for If you think this is something you volunteers and Frances Lambourne drinks, yoghurt and fresh fruit might like to get involved in, please who has been involved in the within the £60 weekly budget, contact: judybgraham@gmail.com. project since its birth; she knows funded by All Saints planned giving. Judy says a weekly commitment is the guests better than anyone. But the chefs shop around for the not necessary but the team do There are four pairs of chefs – Anne best prices and seem to work need to build up their base of and Paul, Catherine and Tats, miracles! The cakes are usually volunteers and would be incredibly Wendy and Caroline, Tricia and donated by those who bake them. grateful for any additional help! Claire – who are supported by a Tricia does admit that deciding diverse band of helpers, welcomers what to cook is often the most and cake makers, not forgetting challenging part! “And it’s always Lucy who comes to finish the
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“For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in.” (Matthew 25: 35-40)
BENJAMIN BATHER - 17.12.54 - 6.8.23 Nicky Thomson
On Thursday 21st of September, All Saints held the funeral of Benjamin Bather, a regular guest at the Pryors Bank Thursday lunches. It was attended by family and a small number of friends from both the Thursday lunches community and Hounslow Heath Volunteers’ Group.
in the bookshop who offered him a job hunting through libraries. If someone dies without a will, lawyers need to find the nearest relatives. Benjamin‘s work involved looking through old paper records to find these living relatives. Miraculously, he ended up doing History for a living after all! Whether this was a stroke of good luck or Divine Like many of the guests, Benjamin was intervention, it was clear this was the unique. A beautiful tribute to him was perfect job for him. He must have been made by Dominic Stevens from the very good at it because he continued in Hounslow Heath group that Benjamin this role for 30 years. He would enjoy attended. He described him as “a going all over the country visiting lovely, kind person...We were very fond heritage sites and was particularly of him.” interested in the family stories behind We heard that, although school was these places. Dominic recounted how it problematic for Benjamin, he was was fascinating talking to Benjamin especially good at History. But, as about what he discovered during these Dominic remarked, “You can’t do trips. History for a living.” Initially, Benjamin We learnt that the Hounslow Heath trained to be a nurse, but this didn’t volunteers met regularly to cut back work out and for some time he did jobs vegetation to make way for here and there, such as washing up. wildflowers. Benjamin enjoyed raking Benjamin‘s father had a shop of old and cutting, but his favourite job there books in Weston-super-Mare and one was litter picking. We were told he had day his son got chatting to a customer an especially long litter picker and he
loved to reach deep into the undergrowth, searching for little hidden things. “Rather like his life’s work”, Dominic added.
During the service for Benjamin, a favourite song of his was sung, Frank Sinatra’s “My Way.” Dominic finished his tribute saying how apt this was: “He did it his way, and we loved him.” Benjamin lived in hostels for a long time. He was very resourceful, because he knew every church, mosque, community hall and temple that offered free meals! No doubt he will be missed by people in all of these places. But he found a sense of belonging and good fellowship in our Thursday lunches community. He will be missed by everyone and remembered in particular for the numerous egg boxes he regularly brought along to Pryors Bank so that they could be used in the children’s workshops. Benjamin was laid to rest in Shropshire after the service.
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A NEW SCHOOL YEAR
As they embark on their final year at All Saints Primary School, our Young Journalists find a perspective that makes them look both back and forward.
I’ve been at All Saints since Nursery. I enjoy sports and my favourite subjects are Maths, History and Geography.
I have been at All Saints for six years. I am very passionate about my sports but it does not stop my academics.
Greetings everyone, my name is Vlad, I am in year six, I like sports and I am from Russia.
When I look back into the past, I remember joining All Saints. It has always been a compassionate and fun school. Then I remember climbing the ladder and growing older and older, passing new years and achieving new goals. Now I feel like I’ve finished the first ladder but I have many more ladders to go. I fondly remember going on school trips, overnight trips, as well as the talent shows and many more. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at All Saints and am hoping for more good times to come.
A I reflect on the last few years I can remember all of the fun and joy I have experienced at this school. I don’t think there has ever been a time I have wanted to leave. I can remember my first day when I came in kicking and screaming but when I went home I stepped out with a huge smile because everyone had made me feel special. This school has helped me grow into the person I am today.
As I reflect on the last few years of my life, the main event that happened to me was probably moving from Russia (Moscow) to England (London). I really struggled at first when I got here, I missed my friends from Moscow a lot, but eventually improved my English by going to school and taking some online lessons. Then I stopped missing my friends as much because I got new kind and caring friends here. Also, I joined a football team.
Now as I think about the year ahead, I feel ready for all of the challenges I will face. I am doing the 11+, this means I need to prepare myself academically and this school is helping me immensely. The year ahead holds many times of joy and laughter with this school. All Saints has given me some of the best times of my life that no other school could have provided. All Saints is my school and I’m proud of it.
Curiously, as I think about my year ahead, I feel confident and ready to take the massive step into secondary school. I will keep learning very hard because I want to reach my full academic potential. But obviously life isn’t only about learning, so in the year ahead I am willing to take the opportunity to be more resilient, be a better person and have a lot of fun with my family and friends! As we live on, let’s try to be more compassionate!
Lily
Vlad
Looking into the future, in about a year I will be starting secondary school. I know that starting a new school can often be stressful, so I will try to make new friends and learn more about them. When my Dad grew up, his school didn’t have half of what Fulham Boys and other schools near me have to offer. In his primary school, there was only one short school trip in Y6 so I must value it and work my hardest. Anton
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ONE CAN HELP THE OTHER Luke Carson
Hello everyone I am Luke, the new YMIC youth worker who will be with you all over the next year and hopefully longer! You may have already met me. I am originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland being raised in the Church of Ireland. Growing up in St Donard’s (Church of Ireland) was a strong foundation to begin my journey in faith and life. I regularly attended any youth events that were going on in the church and loved them all. These events and clubs supported my development through life and helped me grow into the person I am today. They provided a secure environment to explore one’s faith while providing a community to support one another. Ther e, I also learned to bell ring (which is probably the only musical thing I can do). Once a month, I attended Quaker meetings (which really are quite unique), so I have experienced a diversity of Christian worship, from traditional to more contemporary. The Quakers provided me with ample opportunities to lead youth events and it was during these that I first gained an affinity to youth work, which has followed me into my studies and career.
Crossing the Irish Sea Moving to England was, as you can imagine, quite a change from Belfast. I originally came to study psychology at the University of Kent in Canterbury. I enjoyed my three years there so much that I just was not ready to head home. Henc e, I came to London to study my masters in educational psychology at UCL. Working in the Sherlock Holmes museum on the side of my degree was not overly fulfilling. So as my time studying drew to a close, I started to look for jobs stumbling across a pastoral youth worker position advertised by YMIC (Youth Ministry in Communion). I instantly felt called to the role and thankfully I am now here.
Energising youth ministry With YMIC we want to renew youth ministry in the sacramental tradition: seeing young people encounter the love of God and be transformed. Our mission is to enable churches of the liturgical and eucharistic traditions to become thriving centres of youth ministry where the gifts and visions of young people are encouraged, realised and implemented . Often, when it comes to youth work we do not explore our sacramental tradition and this is something we will aim to do. Having experienced many different forms of worship, I can appreciate the importance of our tradition and I hope to teach but also learn alongside the young people of All Saints Fulham. As a network Youth Worker, I will be based between All Saints Fulham and the Parish of Putney, with the goal of supporting the youth of these areas in their own individual journeys. One day, I hope to bring together these similar but unique Churches in youth ministry and create a wide network of youth support and provision.
Youth Connect One step towards this goal was taken on the 14 th September with the commencement of Youth Connect, a youth club for secondary school children to hang out and worship. During this we hosted a BBQ in the vicarage garden with Revd Penny cooking some delicious food, while Revd George and myself played a range of games from football to spike ball to mafia. We then closed with a short reflection on what had brought us to this stage of our lives and our faiths. There was a real buzz around the night, everyone left with beaming
faces and more energy than when they arrived. I left rather hot, flustered and tired but also with a great sense of satisfaction at the success of the evening. Youth Connect will continue, so look out for the fliers, texts and emails. I hope you will all spread the word! Upon return we will have an even more activities on offer including jungle speed, table tennis and Wii. Throughout the year we hope to become mor e ambitious and plan escape rooms and tag rugby. I would like to leave you with a few verses from Ecclesiastes 4, 9-11 that I believe encompass the purpose of our youth work quite well. Two are better than one, because they have a good return fo r their labour: If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone?
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All Saints Fulham
A BUSY AUTUMN Rev’d Penny
and a tribute to the generosity of family and friends, and to those brave parents who gave up a good night’s sleep to supervise and cook supper and breakfast for the children. They had a ball and will remember it for ages, as will those who will find a hot meal and a place to lay their head for the night this winter, via the Glass Door network of churches offering shelter in west London. Pet Blessing. Last year, afternoon strollers through the churchyard stopped in their tracks when pets and owners gathered for the group photo at the end of this service, which takes its theme from St Francis of Assisi’s love of animals and nature. The clergy were relieved that no wolves or birds were brought forward for blessing, but the wide variety of much loved pets made up for that and we expect an equally lovable selection this autumn.
As we move into November, the tenor of services changes with as we mark the Kingdom season, culminating in the last service of the liturgical year, the Feast of Christ the King on 26th November. Harvest Festival This was celebrated with gloriously uplifting music in praise of the fruitfulness of God’s creation. The day after Julia Sutherland and Zachary Johnson were married amongst the vegetable arrangements that have since been turned into soup for lunch for the local hungry and homeless on Thursdays. It was a tight squeeze, after the 10.30 service, to make space on the dias for the parents and godparents of Rufus Nutt and George Ross who were baptised alongside the harvest gifts later delivered to the Upper Room in Hammersmith. Glass Door Sleep In or Out The photos of this year’s ‘Sleep In’ organised by Julia in church – held in sympathy with the Glass Door ‘Sleep Out’ that takes place annually in Duke of York Square in Chelsea – will appear in the Christmas issue of the magazine. Those who spent the night of 6th October in their pyjamas in the Lady Chapel will be raising valuable funds for the homeless. Will they surpass last year’s sum of £3.5K?. This was an amazing achievement
Patronal Festival, All Saints Day, 5th November. To mark our Patronal Festival at the 10.30 Eucharist, the choir will sing the All Saints Jazz Mass by Iain Farrington for the first time. This was commissioned, with the help of some generous funding from parishioners last year, after the Service of King Charles’ accession that included a piece by the composer. At 3pm there will be an early music workshop for the choir led by members of Stile Antico. You are welcome to listen to that, before a Festival Evensong at 6pm, with music drawn from the same era. Remembrance Day, morning services on 12th November. To enable anyone who wants to attend the Civic Service of Remembrance in Vicarage Gardens (opposite The Temperance Pub) we will meet there, with the choir at 10.50, for the two-minute silence at 11am, returning to church at about 11.30 for the Eucharist. This change of timing means that the earlier Family service, starting at 9.30, will also include communion, culminating in the laying of the wreaths on the parish war memorial in the churchyard afterwards – but in time for those who want to watch the procession and brass band arriving at Vicarage Gardens for the Civic service. All Souls Requiem Mass, 6pm 12th November. In the evening of Remembrance Sunday, the choir will sing
All Saints Fulham All Souls Requiem Mass, 6pm 12th November. In the evening of Remembrance Sunday, the choir will sing Durufle’s Requiem as we light candles and pray by name for loved ones now deceased. Please do pass on the word about this service, so that those who might be uplifted by the occasion have the opportunity to come along too.
15 The Feast of Christ the King, 26th November. This will be a special day for JASS because they will sing responses they have composed, with the parish choir at Evensong. Please come along to support them and Sam Poppleton, Director of JASS, who welcomes any primary school aged child who might like to join the singing sessions held weekly during term time. In the morning, Dove’s Mass setting will be sung at the Festival Eucharist at 10.30am.
THE CHRISTIAN MONTHS AHEAD Rev’d George
Spanning just a few weeks we will corporately remember all those who we love, who have gone before us to be with God, the saints of the Church and those fallen in conflict. All Souls will host a beautiful Requiem Mass with the setting by Durufle on the 12 November at 6pm. There will be many candles lit to help us remember the lives of our loved ones along with a list in church of all who have had funerals in All Saints over the last five years and the names of those within the last three years will be read out as an act of spiritual remembrance. All those souls will be named aloud before God as the candles are lit. It is a very powerful and beautiful service.
In her article, Revd Penny has identified some of the key dates coming up for Christians, which we will journey through at All Saints. For me, the next season ahead is characterised by remembrance. This is such an important thing which humans do both corporately and individually. The act of both individual and corporate remembering before God is also an important spiritual practice. Remembering connects us to our past and helps us to see the world as a gift from God and from others who have gone before us. St Augustine gives a beautiful example of it in his extraordinary work Confessions. In book Ten he describes entering “the fields and roomy chambers of memory, where are the treasures of countless images.”
Earlier that day (12th November) we will remember all who have given their lives in conflicts. At the 9:30 we will celebrate the Eucharist, observe the silence and lay a wreath, before gathering for coffee, juice and biscuits. For those who usually worship at the 10:30, there is a chance to attend the civic event before a shorter Eucharist in church.
We will begin our remembering with All Saints, our patronal festival, on 5th November. This will be celebrated in the morning with a festival Eucharist, where the choir will sing a brand-new Jazz Mass, which we have commissioned thanks to the generosity of some of our parishioners. Do take the opportunity to meaningfully remember before God with your brothers and sisters over this next season.
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All Saints Fulham
KNOWING GOD THROUGH THE ALTAR
It is one of the great joys of our parish that we have Mary and a number of lay preachers to offer new perspectives from the pulpit. Here we reproduce a recent sermon from Peter Kettle. is not quite an altar!) Buddhism, in its outward form, features centrally placed statues of the Buddha himself for contemplation and inspiration. Monotheism, of itself, does not imply altars. Certainly, Islam does not have altars in its mosques; since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in AD70, Jewish worship has been in the synagogue, the traditional place of teaching and worship rather than a place of any kind altar-focussed worship.
Receiving God into our lives The Christian church, 2,000 years on, can justifiably claim to know God through the Resurrection of Jesus Christ, as Paul preached and proclaimed. Our altars are not ones to ‘an unknown God’, but very specifically a means of not only knowing God, but receiving God into our lives, by means of what happens on them.
In Acts 17, Paul has caught the attention of the people of Athens with his preaching about Jesus and the Resurrection and has noticed in the city an altar (amongst many) dedicated to ‘an unknown god’. He picks this up and, in a courteous public debate, agrees common ground with the various beliefs amongst the Athenians that, while in the past much might have been unknown about God, now in Jesus and specifically the Resurrection, we can know God so very much more than before. St Paul noted that the Athenians had ‘many altars’, the dedication to an unknown god implying many others. Thinking about our religious world today, we might reflect that, like the Athens of Paul’s time, there are variously many altars and many Gods. Yes, Christianity, Judaism and Islam share the one - and only one - God; a theology called monotheism. Hinduism has many gods; our Prime Minister, himself Hindu, keeps a figure of Ganesh the elephant God, on his desk (which piece of furniture
That last word is deliberately meant to be plural, for there is a variety of understanding about altars and the act of Mass / Eucharist / Holy Communion / Commemoration of the Lord’s Supper that is celebrated on them. No Christian altar is about an unknown God, but some are about the mystery of God, a concept we openly declare in some of our hymns: ‘God moves in a mysterious way’ ‘Immortal, invisible, God only wise, in light inaccessible hid from our eyes’ – read those hymns again in full to get a sense of this element of our faith. In the Eastern Orthodox churches, the altar is hidden behind the iconostasis, a screen covered with icons of saints and holy people whose faces themselves ‘reveal’ something perhaps of the mystery of God. In the Western Catholic church, the altar has traditionally been at least set apart from the people behind a chancel screen, or at the far end of the sanctuary; though in a huge change of emphasis, the second Vatican Council decreed that the ‘high’ altar should be brought forward to emphasise the communality of priest and people in the Mass. In the Reformed Protestant churches,
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there is usually simply a ‘holy table’ on which the which nothing – liturgically – happens (and I know of Lord’s Supper is commemorated, ‘Do this in no stained glass representation of that day either). remembrance of me.’ Maybe the silence of that transitional day is significant. I am content to go with the ‘mystery of Seeing the light faith’ – that, however, we explain or understand it, Sitting in the pews at All Saints, our high altar is the fullness of our faith in Jesus who died yet rose visually a little bit lost amongst all the other again for us, is real to those who find it and furnishings of the chancel and sanctuary, so it is experience it. And it remains our missionary good that the East Window above it has a imperative to proclaim it and communicate it to representation of the Last Supper – no more so than those who are not yet convinced. at 8am when the sun shines through onto our faces in the congregation rendering the priest and the Easter Day could not have happened without Good Friday; the Passion of Christ is not simply one of the altar below the window almost invisible! countless tragic ends of good lives down the ages Doing ‘this in remembrance of me’ is of course at but carries through into the Resurrection. So there is the basis of our worship at the altar, but as the indeed a connection back to the Eucharist and the Church developed in its earliest days, that altar. commemoration became, sacramentally, a life-giving force; not just a memorial of the Last Supper, but the The downbeat end of Acts 15 suggests that, despite means by which we are spiritually nourished in the Paul’s best efforts in preaching and with dialogue, bread and wine – the body broken, blood out- not many were converted at that point. We, too, poured – of which Jesus spoke in advance of his have a hard task, but through preaching, teaching, crucifixion the following day. We come to know God loving service, and sacramental nourishment, we can through Jesus the Son of God, in the Sacrament – take our place in our day in making God known the bread and wine, ‘earthly things with heavenly through Jesus Christ who died, was buried, yet rose again for us. meanings’, as I learnt at an early age. Again, the east window helps us: above the scene of the Last Supper is, very centrally placed, a representation of the Crucifixion. Christ is risen But St Paul, in Athens, preached Jesus and the Resurrection – we are told this twice – and we need to explore a little more the connections between our eucharistic worship and the Resurrection. For the ‘business’ of the Last Supper of Maundy Thursday is very much connected with the Passion and Crucifixion of the following Day – Good Friday. Significantly perhaps, our East window does not have any representation of the Resurrection, and at the Book of Common Prayer service at 8am, the Prayer of Consecration ends abruptly with Jesus words ‘Do this in remembrance of me’. In the form of service we use at 10.30am in summer, we recall: [the] offering of himself made once for all upon the cross, proclaim[ing] his mighty resurrection and glorious ascension; …… and in the modern Eucharistic services, we make a response: Great is the mystery of faith. Christ has died: Christ is risen: Christ will come again. The calendar transition from Good Friday to Easter Day is marked quietly by Holy Saturday, a day in
Verdi, cheese, ham
To say nothing of Correggio and violets
My flat in Parma offers two double bedrooms, sitting room, kitchen and an enormous terrace overlooking a small part. Piazza Garibaldi (the heart of every Italian city) is a 20 minute walk or short bus ride away. Parma itself is rich in art and history as well good food. The train station, 10 minutes’ walk away links to Milan, Bologna and Rome.
If you would like to know more contact Christina Thomas, ckthomas@christinathomas.co.uk
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All Saints Fulham
BUILDING A HALL FOR ALL Rev’d Penny
A hundred years ago the land on which All Saints Church Hall now stands was carved out of the Bishop of London’s estate at Fulham Palace and leased to the church for 999 years. The ‘fine set of church rooms’ that we have enjoyed since then replaced those demolished along with the old vicarage in anticipation of widening the approach road to Putney Bridge to allow for three lanes of traffic. We are exceptionally blessed as a church to have 880 years remaining on the original lease, and to be able to enjoy the paddock as rare green space for community and parish use. But, the hall as it stands is no longer fit for purpose. The interior is dilapidated following a decade of underinvestment during a period when a major redevelopment scheme for church was considered, but subsequently turned down at planning. The building has a high carbon footprint and is costly to run, as the old boiler system heats the whole building. Moreover, it is not suitable for many users as the facilities are dated, inadequate and inaccessible – showing signs of its previous institutional use as a school. From Fulham High Street the signage is poor and unwelcoming. The space is dominated by a stage that hasn’t been used for drama for many years and is dark with limited storage. What the community needs? As a lively outward looking church, which aims to serve the needs of all who live locally, we need space to enable us to reach out and spread the wings of God’s mission in Fulham. We already offer weekly lunches for the homeless and elderly; groups for those looking after young children; have years of experience helping Glass Door feed those who seek shelter over the cold months of the year; run camps for children over the school holidays and have a long association with the uniformed groups who use the hall but whose numbers dwindled during lockdown. We also work in partnership with other agencies, who
currently use the church or Pryors Bank to offer specialised support to particularly vulnerable people. It is for the sake of these groups, and in the interests of those looking for space to run classes, hold parties, celebrate weddings or baptisms, or gather after funerals and memorials, that we now need to refurbish the Church Hall to turn it from a liability into an asset for the parish and local community. What will change in the Hall? The most significant change is that the stage will be removed, to increase the floor area, and glass doors installed, on the wall behind, to link the interior with the paddock. This releases space for two independently accessed ‘garden’ meeting rooms and create a hall large enough to seat 100 comfortably, or 140 standing, served by a commercial standard kitchen, bar area, new loos, and a shower room. Storage space is built into the design, to ensure the rooms remain clutter free, and suitable for use by different groups over the course of a day or weekend. The old gallery overlooking the hall will also be reinstated, to create further meeting space, linking the ground and middle floor of the hall. Environmental improvements are key and include installing zoned heating and additional insulation to improve energy efficiency, reduce costs and cut carbon emissions, with double glazing installed throughout How will this work be funded? We were fortunate during lockdown to receive a substantial legacy from Walter Tomlin which has been set aside for the hall. Part of this has been committed already to fund the design phase. The PCC has now agreed to invest a further £275K from existing funds. Over and above this, we hope to win grant funding of about £140K from outside trusts and foundations, including the Diocese of Kensington.
But that leaves us up to £365K short of what’s
All Saints Fulham
needed. We hope 20K will come from events to celebrate the beginning and the end of the refurbishment programme, leaving £345 to be raised if we are to avoid potentially costly loans. The fund-raising starts on All Saints Day, Sunday 5th November, and it’s going to be a challenging ask for all of us. But, working together, with our skills, energy and famous generosity, we can do it. What can you afford to give? Some of us are currently hard pushed to put food on the table or heat our homes, so we are asking those who can afford to give, to do so as generously as possible. If you are a taxpayer please gift aid your donation so we can reclaim the tax.
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exceeded our target, eliminating the need for loan finance to complete the project. Please help us do the same now. Thinking of your gift as a one-off donation or as an increase in your planned giving, spread over time. We have already received 10K from one generous donor to start the ball rolling, so please help us get to the target figure before Christmas so that we can start work in January. That way, our new vicar will have the perfect base for doing God’s work in the community. Let’s make it happen.
Last time we appealed for funds to stabilise the tower at All Saints ten years ago, we
Proposed view with stage removed and new doors to ‘The Paddock’
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All Saints Fulham
A BUMPER AWARD CEREMONY ENDS BROWNIE SUMMER TERM ON A HIGH! Claire Shirley, Brown Owl What an Award ceremony, one like no other we have ever had! The Brownies, as one, had risen to the LNW Assistant County Commissioner, Ann Penman’s challenge, to gain as many interest badges as they could! (They have to do these on their own initiative to gain their Bronze (2 needed), Silver (4) and Gold Awards (6). We, the leaders, have to ensure they have all their other requirements like unit meeting activities and skills builders which, as Emily says below, can only be obtained if you attend Brownies regularly.
Emily receiving her Gold Award
I could hardly believe as I prepared for the ceremony that I had 130 different badges, awards, and certificates to get ready to distribute among 15 Brownies!! What a lot they had achieved over the course of one term and the Easter Holidays! Aviation, Baking, Collecting, Grow Your Own, Painting, Performing and Mindfulness were just some of the badges ACHIEVED! I was so proud, as was the room full of parents who came to support them and Ann Penman, who returned to present the main Awards. Every Brownie, without exception, received
Isla receiving her Silver Award
10 year old, Emily Pratt, Sixer of the Pixies, our 4 th Gold Awardee, writes warmly of her time in 25 th Fulham (All Saints) Brownies: Brownies has been one of the best experiences of my whole life! I always looked forward to when we would meet on Monday evenings together as a pack and I always enjoyed the fun activities that the Brownie leaders would prepare.
I started my Brownie adventure on Zoom in 2020. It was a weird experience because after a year of being a Brownie, I had still never been to a face to face session. It was crazy and fun to see all the Brownies finally in person. We also got together as a group on some weekends and some of my favourite activities were when we went to watch Encanto, Matilda, and The Little Mermaid. I also really enjoyed going to London Zoo with our Brownie group. It was fascinating looking at all
at least one badge and did well!
Congratulations are due to: Chloe Hamilton – Mackie, Florence Panchal, Floss Vickers- Lister, Iris Pocock McQuade, Isolde Meryrick, Kylah Bowen-Litchmore, Pandora Green and Teagan Quicksell on their Bronze Awards, to Isla Hurcum on gaining her Silver Award and to Emily Pratt on amazing Gold Award (the highest award a Brownie can achieve!) and to Isla and Emily for being such worthy Joint Winners of Brownie of the Term!
Brownies of the Term
the animals, and it was very amazing watching all of those new movies.
Isla Hurcum (our Silver recipient) and Emily Pratt (our Gold Awardee) as they proudly laid our Posy on Remembrance Sunday 2022
I felt honoured when I was chosen to lay the poppy posy on the Fulham War Memorial in front of All Saints Church with my good friend Isla on Remembrance Sunday.
Achieving my Gold award was difficult and fun. I had to get all six Interest Badges in addition to attending almost all of the Brownie meetings. I think my favourite badge was collecting – part of the Know Myself theme. I loved visiting the V&A Museum to look at one of the biggest rugs in the world and I loved building my football card collection. For the Take Action theme, I also donated 30 cm of my hair to the Little Princess Trust. It is a charity that makes wigs for children suffering from cancer out of real human hair for free because most human hair wigs cost a lot of money. I am sad that I have to leave and start at Guides, but I am also excited to start a new adventure!
Emily’s donation of hair help other children who don’t have any. The little Princess Trust provides free, real-hair wigs for young cancer sufferers or for children and young people experience the devastating effects of hair loss. We also fund pioneering, lifesaving research into childhood cancers.
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FINDING GOD ON THE EDGE AT GREENBELT Emily Richardson
Greenbelt Festival is hard to put into words. It is billed as a festival of arts, justice and faith held over August Bank Holiday in a field near Kettering. But beyond that it is a sanctuary, a place where all your lives seem to meet in one place - you can see people you haven’t seen since you wer e a teenager as well as your current friendship group. It’s a place where you can laugh, cry and hear ideas that will challenge, change and mold your perspective. It is the most anti-retreat r etreat that you can take but has that same recharging effect that being in a monastery can do for you spiritually, even if the surroundings are far from silent. There is one downside to Gr eenbelt which has hindered my participation over the years: the camping. My aching body cannot do it. But this year the sway of having accommodation arranged by my publisher was enough to persuade me that I could cope with a visit to that holy field. The train strikes forced me to add an extra day to my itinerary and so this year I spent two days on site, with my mum as trusty PA. Sharing stories
Naomi and I were ther e to share stories from our book At the Gates and our talk
was well received, even if it was extremely daunting. I am not a natural speaker. However, the crowd at Greenbelt felt like family and, in the audience, I saw people I had known for years. I met a man, Andrew, whose story I had written about in the book but never met. Ther e were people in wheelchairs, mobility scooters, people listening to our words through the BSL interpreters on stage with us. It was the vision of the book, of disabled disciples being welcomed into conversations that had long been inaccessible to them. On paper, I shouldn’t like Greenbelt. I am a big fan of inside spaces, sofas and indoor comforts. But something about being in that environment is a homecoming for me. There is so much to do at Greenbelt: talks, music, worship, socialising. But this year I think I found the sweet spot of just being. I didn’t rush from talk to talk, I accepted those things that I could and can’t do, I drank A LOT of tea and took many br eaks. A friend said that this year, she had sought “soul food” over “brain food” and that, I think, is the best way to approach the sometimes overwhelming programme.
Thriving on the edge One of my havens this year was the
“Hope and Anchor”, an alcohol-free bar run by the Methodist church (of course!), with the tagline “Where the bar is dry but the conversation is flowing”. It was the site of wondrous encounters with people I knew from social media, with people who had heard my talk and were encouraged by it, with Dan, the boy with Downs Syndrome who signed to me in Makaton that he loved God and loved Greenbelt. I agreed with Dan. On the final night, sat down with our 0% lagers we chanced upon a conversation with Milton Jones, a comic who I’d sadly not managed to see earlier in the day. But we ended up with a front row seat to hear him talk candidly about faith, comedy and the importance of “keeping your tent folds open” to enable the outside to permeate inside. The talk I had shared earlier in the day had focused on the sacredness of “edge spaces”, so it was wonderful to hear the same things echoed by Milton…You have to stay close to the edge to be reminded where the edges are. The edge of the for est is where the life is most exciting - things can thrive there where they would get overwhelmed in the midst. Greenbelt, for me, is that place where I can thrive, grow and find myself and God again, before heading back into the centre.
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All Saints Fulham
LOOKING BACK Baptisms
Blessing at All Saints
30 th July
16 th September
6 th August
3 rd September 17 th September 1 st October
Celeste Cooper & Enya Whilding Finlay Amoore & Rory Diebschlag Hamish Butler Benjamin & Mia Littlejohns Rufus Nutt and George Edmund Ross
Weddings 21 st July 25 th August 23 rd September 30 th September
Rebecca Wright & Richard Jennings Martha Williams & Rob Akehurst Hebe Cockcroft & David Goddard Julia Sutherland & Zachary Hohnson
Holly Catto & Luis Rodriguez
Blessing at Fulham Palace 12 th September
Teresa Hunt & Joe Hall
Funerals 19 th September 21 st September
Henriette Van Maaseijk Ben Bather
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UPCOMING DATES October Sunday 1st Thursday 5th
Friday 6th Saturday 7th Sunday 8th
Harvest Festival Confirmation course begins Then weekly with a break for half term. 7.15pm Music by the Bridge concert given by Ian Ritchie & Michael Koenig 9.30am Pray-ers group meeting in the Lady Chapel 3pm Pet Blessing Adult Confirmation course begins after 10.30 service (12 noon – 1pm) in Pryors Bank
November Saturday 4th
Sunday 5th Sunday 12th
Sunday 26th
9.15am Contemplative Prayer in the Lady Chapel 5pm Bonfire night in the paddock Patronal Festival – All Saints Day. Launch of Church Hall Appeal. Premiere of Ian Farrington’s Jazz Mass for All Saints Remembrance Sunday 9.30am Family Service with communion and act of remembrance at Parish War Memorial. 10.50am Civic Service of Remembrance in Vicarage Gardens with two minutes silence and laying of wreaths 11.30am Parish Communion in All Saints 6pm Requiem Mass by Durufle in memory and thanksgiving for the departed Feast of Christ the King 6pm sing Evensong with the choir of All Saints
December Saturday 2nd Sunday 3rd Monday 4th Thursday 7th Saturday 9th Sunday 10th Monday 11th Tuesday 12th Thursday 14th Wednesday 13th Sunday 17th
9.30am Pray-ers group meeting in the Lady Chapel 10.30am Confirmation with the Bishop of Kensington 6pm Advent Carols Lady Margaret’s School Advent service Church Christmas trees go up! Crafty Christmas with St Nicholas visiting 4pm Carols in the Churchyard Maggies Charity Carols Brain Tumour Charity Carols Brain Tumour Research Campaign Carols Wise Birds Christmas Lunch 6pm Nine Lessons and Carols
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SAFE FAMILIES
All Saints Fulham
Anna-Lisa Reitinger tells us about the Safe Families organisation. Locally, it creates a vital bridge between the Church, Hammersmith & Fulham Council, and families in need. Just as Luke wrote about two being better than one, Safe Families is all about providing support for young people.
Facing life alone is hard, and when you feel there is no one there to support you, the world can feel a scary place to be. Safe Families believes no one should feel alone and offers support, hope and belonging to isolated and overwhelmed families in our community. They link children, young people and families who are known to the Council’s Early Help service with ordinary people who can provide help and support. Originally set up in the United States in 2003, The UK arm of Safe Families opened in 2012 and is led by Kat Osborn as its CEO. The organisation is represented all over the country with 150 staff and work together with more than 50 Local Authorities.
Safe Families currently has more than 5000 volunteers from more than 1500 churches and community groups across the UK. As a result of its support, Safe Families has seen a decrease of the flow of children into care of between 9 and 16 per cent. More locally, in Hammersmith and Fulham, they have seen over 220 children and 120 families benefit from their support over the last 3 years. A report shows that 80% of the families who received support through Safe Families remained closed to any future Social Care involvement, which is a significant change for the family and the Local Authority. A mother who is currently receiving support in Fulham was due to give birth to her 3rd Child. Her partner had recently left, and she had no family or friends around who could step in to help. Volunteers came alongside the family to help with school runs and offer the emotional support that only a friend can. The Mum was very moved and felt “encouraged to keep on going and to have hope” for the future.
Safe Families Family Friends go through a seven-step “safer recruiting” programme, which includes references, DBS checks, training, and a one to one meeting. Some volunteers open up their homes and host children during the day or overnight. Resource Friends, who help provide goods and practical help (e.g. a professional trade or DIY) do not go through this full process, but are still able to offer help to families. All volunteers offered ongoing support throughout their volunteering. You can find out more about Safe Families on their website: https://safefamilies.uk/