2016 aug sept for website

Tidings, August/September 2016, Page

Banstead United Reformed Church Services Our Family Worship is held every Sunday at 10.30am a crèche is available.

Sunday Club for children aged 3-14 meets at the same time, and we have a music group which meets at 10.10am.

Holy Communion is normally celebrated during our morning service on the first Sunday of each month.

For details of future events and important dates for your diary please see the monthly Diary Sheet or on our Website: www.bansteadurc.org.uk

Services in August/September 7th Aug

Revd David Marshall-Jones (Holy Communion)

14th Aug

Stuart Dew

21st Aug

Linda Richards

28th Aug

Tom Rhind-Tutt

4th Sept

Cliff Houghton (Holy Communion)

11th Sept

Stephen Tomkins (Baptism of Chloe Collinson)

18th Sept

Jonathan Lees

25th Sept

Vivien Turner

Tidings is edited by Linda Richards.

Address: 3 Breech Lane, Walton on the Hill, Tadworth, Surrey KT20 7SQ Tel 01737 813617, e-mail burctidings@hotmail.co.uk I am happy to receive your contributions, ideas and suggestions for Tidings at any time but copy for the next edition should be with me

by Sunday, 25th September at the latest.

Page 2 , Tidings, August/September 2016

Dear Friends, As I write this Fun Week is well and truly underway and a hive of activity is spreading out from the Methodist Church every day of the week. For the Queen Bees, Carrie and Ruth, this is the culmination of a year of fantastic commitment and very hard work and I know everyone involved as helper or participant would want to share with me in giving them an enormous round of thanks. Of course they have been supported by a loyal band of adult and teenage helpers from the Banstead 5 from those who have been working on the organisation for the whole year, through to those who have turned up to serve hard earned refreshments. A huge thanks to everyone for this brilliant example of churches working together and making a really positive difference to the lives of young people in Banstead at the beginning of the Summer break. Of course, not everything went smoothly. Those of you who know my wife Sue will know how devastated she was that the football session she was due to supervise on Wednesday had to be cancelled due to rain. I know I will still be trying to console her as we are driving around California later in the month!

I hope whether you are ‘staycationing’ this summer or able to get away for a holiday in the UK or abroad you will have some time to recharge your batteries or simply unwind – passively or actively, whatever is your thing.

In the early Autumn we are hoping that the energy and enthusiasm that has made Fun Week such a success will spill over into a commitment to support some new ideas and initiatives which will take our church into the next decade. Your pastoral elder will be approaching you over the next couple of months to ask you to think about the journey we want to take together as a church congregation in the next 5 years or so. But this is a conversation about what we actually want to DO – as Linda exhorted us in her sermon a couple of weeks ago. We have a number of very specific ideas and we want to know what you as individuals feel called to ‘put your weight’ behind. We will be turning these conversations into action at our first lunchtime church meeting after church on Tidings, August/September 2016, Page 3

Sunday 9th October – so make sure that is in your diary.

So Rest, Talk, Pray, Decide and be prepared to ‘DO’ – as we know from the Fun Week experience with help from all the right quarters we can do much more than we might think we can!

Have a great Summer!

Kevin

Church Family News It was with great sadness that we learned of the death of two of our long standing members since our last edition of Tidings. Margaret Shuman died on 5th July, shortly after celebrating her 90th birthday,(there is a tribute to Margaret on page 6) and Pat Anniss passed away peacefully but unexpectedly at Roseacre on 21st July. There will be a cremation service followed by a service of thanksgiving for Pat’s life at 1:30pm in the church on Friday 2nd September. We send our love and sympathy to both of their families and friends.

We offer our congratulations to Jeanne Bourne who will be celebrating her 90th birthday in August. We send her our love and best wishes at her new home in Kemsing. We miss her worshipping with us at Banstead.

Hazel Woodrow has moved to Courtlands Crescent. Her full address is on the members page of the website. We send her our best wishes as she settles in to her new home.

A note to all church members from Audrey MacDonald My dear friends at (Banstead) URC, How I have missed you all…..Thank you for the beautiful flowers you have sent me. I hope I shall be well enough to come to church soon.

Sincerely, with love, Audrey We missed you too, Audrey, it is good to have you back worshipping with us again.

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100 Years Young!

On 22 June at Roseacre Care Home, Hester Heaume celebrated her centenary with a tea party for friends and fellow-residents. A splendid cake, and canapes were made by the chef. Decorations and balloons added to the festive occasion, along with many cards, gifts and lovely flowers.

Hester was born in Australia in 1916. Her parents had a vineyard and grew grapes for dried fruits. They owned a pony and trap and Hester loved horses. She became a nurse, and in 1946 went to live in Southern Africa with relatives. There she met John, whose parents had emigrated from Bristol UK in 1920 to Rhodesia. They married a year later and spent many happy years in Rhodesia, where Hester developed her talent as a painter, and, with like minded artists, opened a gallery in Salisbury to sell their work. She also became a keen gardener. In the early 50’s they adopted a girl and a boy.

After John’s retirement in ’82 they went to Australia but 5 years later decided to come to the UK to be near their married daughter and settled in Harbourfield Road in Banstead. A lady of deep faith, Hester joined Banstead URC. Many will remember the wonderful plants she grew and sold in the summer for charity. She also continued her painting and joined Banstead Art Group, exhibiting many lovely canvases.

Sadly John died in 2007, and their daughter two years later.

In 2012 Hester moved into Roseacre where she is a much-loved resident, well-supported by her son-in-law Peter, who ensured that on her special day the guests toasted Hester in champagne.

A high-spot of her celebrations was receiving a card from the Queen!

Banstead URC are proud to wish Hester happiness and congratulations on her 100th birthday.

God Bless Her! Tidings, August/September 2016, Page 5

Margaret Shuman Our church was full on Thursday 28th August for a service of Thanksgiving and celebration of the life of Margaret. The following are excerpts from tributes read at that service written by Revd Eric Allen and Chris Harris.

Margaret worshipped and served at this church for over 60 years and her children Carol, Jenny, Pauline and John attended Junior Church and Youth Club here, along with the boy next door, Stephen Andrew.

For her it meant belonging to a community of Christian people of every age and condition, people who cared for each other and for the whole of their lives.

Margaret was in church on Sundays but she was seen by countless other people because she lived on the High Street over the shops. Every day Margaret would be taking children to school and also walking to and fro to work in John Jacksons shoe shop.

She loved to serve and help people, especially children, get the right fit of shoe. Her own grandchildren identified her with her work – they referred to her as Nan Shoe Shop.

Margaret continued to live close to the High Street for the rest of her life, enjoying the walk to this church each Sunday to worship God but also to meet with her friends. Today we can look back to all the many interests and activities she took part in, like helping at the Pulborough Children’s Camps and being a founder member of the Monday Club.

Margaret had great personal faith which carried her though the challenges and difficulties of her life. Unless she was gallivanting to Canada to visit Carol or going on holiday with her brother or with other family, she was in church every Sunday – sitting with Audrey and Doreen and going to the Woolpack for Sunday lunch. The three of them could be seen standing outside waiting for the doors to open at 12 on the dot – we affectionately called them ‘The Golden Girls’.

Page 6 , Tidings, August/September 2016

She was very active in Church groups and a founder member of the Monday Club – she was a guest of honour at their 60th anniversary dinner on 20th June which she much enjoyed (see page 11). She used to make us smile when, in her eighties, she talked about going to set up the tables and chairs for the Guild as so many of them were too old to do it!

She also introduced us to the concept of a peace candle – the congregation of Carol’s church in Canada took candles with them as they travelled throughout the world and gave them to churches that they visited. Margaret was given one to bring to Banstead and for several years our church family took candles to congregations that they visited. Sadly this practice seems to have fallen by the wayside in recent years but having remembered it, it is something worth reinstating.

Unfortunately in the last year, Margaret’s health prevented her from being such a regular worshipper but whenever she felt well enough she was here – but sadly no longer able to walk round the corner for lunch.

Margaret had a very large family and she was so proud of all of them – she used to talk about everybody - children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Her love for her family shone through mirrored by their obvious love for her.

All her life Margaret was an extremely hard worker and we never ever heard her complain. She made the best of every situation and just got on with it. She never said anything detrimental about others but always looked for the best in them – a tremendous role model for all of us.

‘A beautiful life that came to an end, she died as she lived, everyone’s friend.

In our hearts a memory will always be kept, of one we loved, and will never forget.’

(Poem read by the family at Margaret’s services) Tidings, August/September 2016, Page 7

When is a BBQ not a BBQ? ...when it is a delicious buffet served by our Elders and enjoyed by 40 people in the sunshine.

As our young people and their leaders were shortly to be hosting Holiday Fun Week, they were relieved of the responsibility for the Annual Church ‘BBQ’ this year.

Instead some of the Elders and other willing volunteers stepped in to ensure we didn’t miss out on this enjoyable social ‘fixture’.

The menu of quiche, ham, cheeses and salads followed by strawberries, cream, and chocolate cake was excellent and in congratulating the Elders, Kevin especially thanked Fiona.

We should also admire Kevin’s new skill – he did the shopping for this happy occasion!

Page 8 , Tidings, August/September 2016

Eco-Church At the General Assembly in July the URC launched a new environmental policy which begins with an affirmation......... “As a Church we affirm that care for Creation, a just sharing of the world’s resources, and a concern for the environment are fundamental gospel commitments.”

Linda, Alan and I recently attended a Synod Area meeting where Marsh Green URC gave a presentation showing their concern for the environment. They have been following a programme called Eco-Church, which is a structured approach to encourage awareness of the congregation’s responsibilities towards caring for all of God’s creation, and to assist the church to reduce its carbon emissions and environmental impact.

This led to several initiatives. Some examples: Each year a couple of services are held on the theme of the environment; solar panels were installed funded by loans from church members which are now being repaid by savings in electricity costs; and the grass in the field next to the church is cut by borrowing sheep from a local farmer! Also the junior church and play group have turned a neglected corner into an attractive garden.

During the last 30 years the UK has made significant progress with environmental improvements in collaboration with our European partners. We installed sewage works to clean up our beaches, and cleaned up 9000 miles of rivers. Recycling rates for household waste have risen to 50%. We adopted the Industrial Waste Directive to reduce pollution from factories and provided financial incentives for low-carbon energy production, including solar and wind power. Domestic appliance manufacturers were required to limit the power consumption of appliances which led to innovations that improved their efficiency. Developments in engine design and the reformulation of fuels have resulted in significant reductions in the emissions of many harmful chemicals from vehicle exhausts.

When I became involved in implementing the EU Industrial Waste Directive in oil refineries the UK deserved the title of the dirty man of Europe. UK refineries had one of the highest emissions of toxic, acidic gases (hydrogen sulfide and sulfur dioxide) in Europe. In contrast Germany had the lowest emissions because its own Tidings, August/September 2016, Page 9

national regulations were tougher than those agreed by the EU! In the Brexit world our concern for the environment will become even more important. Most of the Leave campaigners in the cabinet are climate-change sceptics and free-marketeers who believe that businesses shouldn’t be constrained by regulations to protect air, water, land and wildlife. The government’s focus on the environment is very likely to be reduced and funding of environmental research is unlikely to match that previously received from the EU, especially if there is an economic downturn.

Since the 2015 general election the government has already backtracked on its environmental commitments. It has reduced feed-in tariffs for solar power by 65% which has caused thousands of redundancies. It cancelled support for on-shore wind farms, which is the cheapest method of producing clean electricity. It has scrapped plans to improve the energy efficiency of new homes and abandoned the low rate of vehicle excise duty for new, small cars.

It cancelled a £1 billion project for carbon capture and storage from power stations which could have made the UK a world leader in this technology.

On her first day in office the new prime minister abolished the Department for Energy and Climate Change. If climate change now takes a back seat within the Department for Business there is a question as to how the UK will develop policies to meet its commitment to the Paris Climate Change Agreement.

Do you know the song “My generation”, recorded by The Who in the mid-60’s? It’s about the oldies not understanding the youngsters. I hope that today’s youngsters will not be able to say to my generation “why didn’t you understand it was unacceptable to hand over to us a world more polluted than you found it”.

Returning to the URC’s environmental policy it is therefore important that churches and individual Christians..... “affirm that Christian mission includes caring for God’s earth and all Creation.

It includes acknowledging humankind’s responsibility, sharing in putting right the relationships within God’s Creation that have gone wrong, and working within the church and with partners outside the church to grow towards justice and good stewardship as envisaged in the biblical vision of the world as it is meant to be.”

Robin Sanders Page 10 , Tidings, August/September 2016

Banstead Five Events We were blessed with fine weather again for Praise in the Park on Sunday 3rd July and a good crowd gathered for the service, enjoying listening to various choirs, watching some amazing magic and joining together in worship.

Holiday Fun Week 2016, Rollercoaster Riot, was a huge success with over 170 children involved and about 100 adults and teenagers too.

There are more photographs of both these events in the ‘gallery’ on the website.

Monday Club

On 20th June the Monday Club celebrated their 60th Anniversary - a good time was had by all!

Tidings, August/September 2016, Page 11

Cluster Service

Madeline Cranfield represented us at the recent North Downs Cluster Walk/Tea/Service at Oxted URC. During the service those churches currently in vacancy (five out of the seven churches in the cluster) we asked to speak on ‘Where do we get our strength from?’ Here is her response Where have we got strength during 3 years of vacancy? I prefer to think about this as, how have we been challenged, what have we learnt so far, where have we been blessed, and how do we move forwards in faith?

How have we been challenged?

By the death of friends in the church family

By the many calls on our little group to maintain buildings, attend meetings and generally keep the ship afloat By our ministers and visiting preachers to look at our calling to live the Christian Life and to make contributions in our world, challenging to see and live life differently

What have we learnt?

That we can count on each other in times of trouble and in times of great joy That we have strengths, gifts and resources amongst us we were not aware of and have used them in new and different ways That we are on a journey and this phase has plenty offer all of us, God continues to work with and through us

How have we been blessed?

With new members, new friends, and in church family celebrations With wonderful prayer, music and exploration bringing us strength and healing and often offered by our own members With love, compassion and caring for each other We are not perfect, we are working to live out God’s plan and in our struggles and with God’s help we will continue to grow, in our faith, in our numbers and in our impact.

Amen Page 12 , Tidings, August/September 2016

Cradle Roll For the last 16 years (since 2000!) Pauline Brittain has been our Cradle Roll Secretary and in that time she has ‘welcomed’ 30 babies into the church family: numbers 233 - 262 on the roll! Now very familiar names on that list who were once tiny bundles of joy include James and Georgie Catt; Sam Burns and Jamie and Alex Brennan!

After achieving her long service award (!) Pauline has decided the time has come to pass this role on. We thank Pauline for the care she has shown for these 30 children and their families over the last 16 years and for meticulously keeping the cradle roll up to date in that time. This is one of those ‘quietly getting on with it’ roles that keep the wheels of the church revolving and don’t always get the public thanks they deserve, so its good to be able to acknowledge this one now.

If anyone feels this is something they would like to take on please speak to our Youth and Children’s Elder, Chris Harris, who is reviewing how we will manage this important job going forward.

Just a word of helpful (if somewhat superfluous) advice, taken from the back of the Cradle role booklet “HINTS to the Cradle Roll Secretary” I quote: “If you are not fond of babies hand in your resignation at once”!!!

Kevin

Tidings, August/September 2016, Page 13

Organ Recital at Betchworth

Andrew Cantrill, one of the UK’s most experienced and versatile church musicians, is giving the next recital on the Kenneth Tickell organ in Betchworth Parish Church on Saturday 1st October at 4.00 pm.

The programme for this recital will feature Scandinavian music built around a pair of Chaconnes (a baroque variation form) by the Danish composer, Buxtehude, as well as music by Sark (Denmark), Effestol and Grieg (Norway). The recital will conclude with popular French music by Joseph Bonnet, Lefébure-Wély and Guilmant.

Admission: £12 (Under 14s: £8) (includes glass of wine/soft drink).

Tickets available from: 01737 843498 or betchworthchurchmusic@hotmail.co.uk or on the door on the day.

Banstead Arts Festival Society

Monday 26th September 2016, 8.00 pm Annual General Meeting At Banstead Day Centre, The Horshoe The formal meeting will be followed by wine and light refreshments, and the opportunity to talk informally with your committee and fellow members.

Saturday 8th October at 7.30 pm in the Community Hall, Park Road, Banstead, SM7 3AJ DORIC STRING QUARTET The Doric String Quartet has firmly established itself as the leading British string quartet of its generation. It programmes three wonderful works: one of Haydn's later quartets, innovative and urbane, precedes Mendelssohn at his most fiery and impassioned, and the second of Beethoven's mighty Rasumovsky quartets, a true excursion into the sublime, concludes the evening.

Tickets cost £12 (school pupils free) and may be bought at: Banstead Library, the door or www.bansteadarts.co.uk To reserve them in advance, telephone: 01737-350288 or email: marionh.bafs@hotmail.co.uk Page 14 , Tidings, August/September 2016

Communion Steward Rota

We are currently looking for someone to take on responsibility for arranging the Communion Steward Rota. This is a relatively small job but very important to the smooth running of the church. We celebrate Holy Communion each month, usually on the first Sunday in the month and also at Easter and the Sunday before Christmas. We have a willing group of people (but are always happy to have new volunteers) who prepare the table and the bread and wine and wash up afterwards, but we need someone to over see the arrangements and prepare the annual rota, allocating individuals to specific Sundays. If you would like to offer to help in this way please speak to Linda or Kevin.

We offer our thanks to Angela Woollatt who is currently responsible for the rota. I am sure she would be happy to speak to anyone who would like to know more about what is involved.

Church Family Walk and Picnic

All the Church family are warmly invited to come along and bring family, friends and dogs with them!

On Saturday 20th August ... please meet in the back car park of the Sportsman Pub, Mogador (KT20 7ES) at 11:30am. We will walk to Linda and Ken’s house in Walton on the Hill (about 2 miles) where we will have our picnic in the garden. Soft drinks, tea and coffee and chairs will be provided.

We will then return to The Sportsman by another route (very Biblical!).

Lifts can be arranged for those who would prefer to walk one way only.

Please sign the list on the notice board in the Sanctum or let Linda know if you would like to join us. If you would like to come just for the picnic please arrive at Linda and Ken’s at about 12:30.

Please note: this event will be cancelled if the weather is bad.

Tidings, August/September 2016, Page 15

Church Secretary: Kevin Dinnage 01737 356380 secretary@bansteadurc.org.uk Serving Elders

Arthur Bestente

01737 356210

Ian Catt

01737 551267 Music Co-ordinator

Madeline Cranfield

01737 363121

Kevin Dinnage

01737 356380 Church Secretary

Fiona Gayner

01737 813322

Chris Harris

01737 833726 Youth and Children’s Work

Cliff Houghton

01737 351143

Alan Kirby

01737 373736 Impact

Linda Richards

01737 813617 Worship and Faith

Robin Sanders

01737 370135 Finance

Andrew Watts

01737 370228

Other Church Contacts Elder for Pastoral Care 01737 361437 Val Beard

Junior Church Co-ordinators

01737 356380 Sue Dinnage

Lettings *

07467 290552 hire@bansteadurc.org.uk

Monday Club

01737 355929 Harriet Patterson

Transport Officer

01737 555528 Eric Riley

Friendship Group

02086688428 Violet Halsall

Time Out

01737 351368 Diana Parsk

01737 833726 Chris Harris

* Please note that all Hall Bookings should be made using the phone number listed here or through the website.

Copy for the next edition should be with the editor by Sunday, 25th September 2016 Page 16 , Tidings, August/September 2016