'Contact' Jan 2024 by philmex1

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JANUARY 2024

The Parish of Hythe St. John the Baptist

St. Anne

Psalm 82: 1-2 1

THE PARISH OF ST JOHN’S AND ST ANNE’S, HYTHE Please look at the back page of this magazine for further information about service times. Please do not attend services if you have Covid symptoms, even if you think it is just a cold. For recordings of morning prayer and weekly Sunday services, simply click on the ‘Online Worship’ tab at the top of the website page and a new menu will appear. You can then select which service you wish to see. Ctrl + click: https://www.stjohnshythe.org/ (our website) https://www.facebook.com/stjohnshythe/ https://www.facebook.com/St-Johns-St-Annes-Youth172652072776655/ Worship at St John’s continues to be livestreamed via Zoom so that our church family may worship together. Please contact Sue Blomley if you would like your name added to join the Zoom list. Other acts of worship and activities are available on our church website and Facebook pages. Would you like to contribute to the work of our parish? Please use the QR code on this page to find out how. In church we now have a card machine which is easy to use and saves us handling coins and notes. Please contact office@stjohnshythe.org for help or other alternatives.

Thank you!

VICAR’S LETTER New Year, New You!? I’m writing this with one week to go until Christmas! The plans are in place, the food and presents purchased and our minds start to think about the end of the year. For clergy, this is generally the start of a week’s annual leave, and we look forward to a break and time with family; whilst also being caught up with all that needs doing in the New Year! For us, that means the start of at least two new projects: Who Let The Dads Out Hythe - a new club for male carers and their children and the excitement of Bubble Church; a new service for young families that will start later in the year. I googled New Year and it mainly returned a list of places you can go to celebrate and ’see the New Year in’, but amongst the partying articles, was a list of the top 65 resolutions and I was struck by the top 3 and would encourage you to take them up: 1: Start a gratitude journal! 1 Thessalonians 5:18 says “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you”. No matter what hurts you to carry from 2023 into the New Year, why not look for the good in the world and give thanks to God for the blessings you see? 2: Make time for family! John 13:14 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another”. Family life can be complicated and not always easy; indeed, you may have had fresh arguments and fallouts during your Christmas celebrations. This is a reminder to love; to reset your 3

VICAR’S LETTER compass and make time for one another. In many of Paul’s letters, he encourages us to forgive quickly, and restore relationships as quickly as possible - so commit to do so this New Year: make time for your family and commit to loving relationships. 3: Build a better budget! Proverbs 3:6, 9-10 “In all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight. Honour the Lord with your wealth, with the first fruits of all your crops; then your barns will be filled to overflowing, and your vats will brim over with new wine”. Maybe for you, the excesses of the Christmas fest were not confined to food - for many, Christmas was a costly celebration and there’ll be credit card balances that will take a few months to pay off. Now is the time to be good stewards, to pay off the debt as soon as we can, and live within a reasonable budget. So there’s a challenge to each of us in these three resolutions… weigh them up and respond in a way that draws you closer to God in 2024. Many Blessings on you and your family.

Lee Rev Lee Davies

Vicar of Hythe

PARISH OF HYTHE MONTHLY PRAYER LIST

In January we pray especially for: Cliff & Val, Bob & Faye, Rita & Family, Norman & Maureen, Brian, Tony, John, Craig & Debbie.

We pray for families and friends mourning the deaths of: Ann and Pat

Come, love of the Lord Jesus and demand everything from us. Come, presence of the Lord Jesus and transform everything around us. Come, breath of the Lord Jesus and heal everything within us. Amen.

Veronica would like to thank everyone who has been praying for her and Peter over the last few months.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

In heavenly love abiding, No change my heart shall fear; And safe is such confiding, For nothing changes here: The storm may roar without me, My heart may low be laid; But God is round about me, And can I be dismayed? Wherever he may guide me, No want shall turn me back; My Shepherd is beside me, And nothing can I lack: His wisdom ever waketh, His sight is never dim; He knows the way he taketh, And I will walk with him.

Green pastures are before me, Which yet I have not seen; Bright skies will soon be o’er me, Where the dark clouds have been: My hope I cannot measure, My path to life is free; My Saviour has my treasure, And he will walk with me. Anna Laetitia Waring (1823-1910 Photo by PrestonPix: St Nicholas’ Parish Church, Thorne 6

PHOTOS FROM THE CHRISTMAS FAIR

EPIPHANY CAROL SERVICE

WATERSIDE FOODBANK On Sunday 10 December, we were delighted to welcome Linda Matthews, Chairwoman of the Waterside Foodbank to speak to us about their work.

The Waterside Ecumenical Projects group was set up over 20 years ago running a café in Blackfield. The café wound up in 2005 with a bank balance of around £7000. This money was used as seed funding for the Waterside Foodbank under the umbrella of the Waterside Ecumenical Projects and the Trussell Trust by Jan Hayter and a team of volunteers. The first emergency food parcel was issued in 2008. The Waterside Foodbank covers the areas Eling to Calshot, Beaulieu and East Boldre, linking with Basics Banks in Totton and Lymington and Trussell Trust Banks in Romsey and Ringwood. People in crisis are referred to the foodbank by external agencies and professionals. These include health visitors, social workers, and Citizen’s Advice staff. Chris McMahon and Hannah Rowlandson from our church can refer people to the foodbank. How the foodbank works Step 1: Non-perishable food is donated by the public. Step 2: Volunteers sort and store the food. Step 3: Frontline care professionals refer people in crisis to the foodbank. Step 4: We contact the client to get further details of their needs and arrange delivery / collection. Step 5: Foodbanks take time to listen and signpost clients for further support. 9

WATERSIDE FOODBANK St John’s Hythe Since 2012 the weight of food contributed by St John’s is 3,075 kg, ie 3 tons. This is the equivalent of £8,400 at today’s prices and would have provided 9,500 meals. Thank you to everyone who has contributed!

Looking Ahead We are hoping to expand our range of services we provide to help alleviate poverty on the Waterside including: •

A drop-in centre for clients

•

Further provision of Citizen Advice Bureau support

•

A clothes bank

•

Debt advisory support

•

Additional branches throughout the Waterside

How can you help? •

Please pray for the work of the foodbank

•

Donate money

•

Donate food

•

Become a trustee

•

Volunteer by sorting food, offer administrative support, deliver food, work in our warehouse

WATERSIDE The Waterside Foodbank relies on your goodwill and support Over 90% of the food donated to us is donated by the public—that’s why your food donations are absolutely vital to our ability to give everyone referred to us a balanced and nutritious three day supply of food Our list below shows the food items that we need right now. 400g potatoes (tinned)

300g carrots (tinned)

400g rice pudding

ginger cake

100g coffee

sponge puddings

40s tea bags

fruit (tinned)

UHT milk (500ml & 1 litre)

toiletries (shampoo, toothpaste,

toothbrush etc) Donations can be dropped off at Cornerstone URC Church in Hythe, St John’s Church in Hythe, St Andrew’s Church in Dibden Purlieu, and the Jubilee Hall in Fawley.

Supermarkets accepting donations: Tesco Applemore, Waitrose Hythe, Co-op Holbury, Co-op Marchwood. Thank you! ‘THANK YOU’ FROM SCRATCH CHRISTMAS COMPLETE A massive ‘thank you’ to all who contributed to our Scratch Toy Collection; they were very gratefully received when I took them over. I also noticed that a team from the Winchester Diocese joined Scratch for a morning volunteering to help sort and pack the toys for families, Blessings Chris 11

LUNCH CLUB CHRISTMAS MEAL

The Lunch Club Christmas Meal took place on 13 December.

HYTHE 2000 CHRISTMAS TREE FESTIVAL 2023

CHILDREN’S SOCIETY CHRISTINGLE SERVICE 2023

Thank you very much to everyone who helped out at our annual Christingle Service. It was a really happy, enjoyable occasion. Trish Murphy 14

CHILDREN & YOUTH AT CHRISTMAS We had a great time celebrating and thinking about the birth of Jesus. Here are some photos of the Open the Book assembly at a Hythe School, Toddlie-Winks Christmas Party, Messy Christmas, a Christingle Service and a school carol service. Look out next month for photos from our Little Footprints Celebrations and Crib Services! Chris McMahon

Toddlie-Winks

CHILDREN & YOUTH AT CHRISTMAS

Thanks to Chris for all her hard work and for sharing her excellent photos.

BUBBLE CHURCH Lee writes, 'I bring you news from our last PCC meeting. As a church family, we so long for more young people and families to join us, and are so very grateful for the many contacts that Chris and Hannah have in the community.

At PCC we held a discussion about how we can strategically enhance our outreach and service offering, in order to attract a younger generation, and, following a presentation and proposal from Chris and myself, we are delighted that the PCC have unanimously agreed that we should apply to be part of the “Bubble Church” programme. This is a new, Church of England initiative that started post-lockdown and has begun to spread to other churches. Bubble Church is a Sunday church service especially for babies, toddlers, and young families. It’s a puppet-packed, Jesus-centred, coffee-and-food-fuelled, 30 minute children's and families adventure! Bubble Church are looking for new Anglican churches to work with in order to start this new ministry, and we have applied to be considered as one of those churches. There’s lots to be worked out, including timings, frequency and impact on other services; but I believe this is an important step towards strategically reaching children and families in our parish and beyond. Sue & David have kindly offered to use the money they raised on their pilgrimage to cover the start-up and first year running costs of this project, should we be accepted……please pray for our application, and for us as a leadership team as we prepare to reach out in this new way. If you’d like to know more, have a look at www.bubblechurch.org and the promo video here https:// youtu.be/fUQG1o81MzQ ‘ STOP PRESS: Since Lee wrote this, we have heard that we have been accepted to take part in the Bubble Church trial. Please pray for the team as they develop plans for this and there will be more news on what this might look like for us in the next couple of months. 22

IN MEMORIAM ANN & RAY HESLOP November brought some very sad news to us with the passing of Ann Heslop, a wellknown and much loved figure at St John’s. Ann’s funeral took place on Thursday 14 December followed by a celebration service for both Ann and her husband Ray who passed away during lockdown in April 2020. It was felt appropriate to have a joint celebration for them both, as it was impossible to do this due to lockdown restrictions.

Ann was born in Abertillery in 1934. Ray was born in Sunderland in 1931. They were both primary school teachers and this is how they met. Having tried studying Geography for a year, Ann moved to teacher training college, where she gained a distinction in Modern Dance. She and Ray met whilst working at Manor Park School in Aston, Birmingham and quickly ‘clicked’. After three years of courting and adventures on Ray’s Lambretta scooter, they were married in 1957 at a Congregational Chapel in Wales. Three years later Adam was born and they bought their first family home in Birmingham. In 1962 Ann and Ray had their second son William. In 1972, Ann and Ray moved to Hythe and were very much part of the lives of many people here. Both of them continued their careers in teaching and eventually both of them became headteachers. Ray used to say “two heads are better than one.” 23

IN MEMORIAM ANN & RAY HESLOP Ann and Ray lived ordinary, extraordinary lives of love and have been an inspiration to many of us. They loved each other very much. Before he died in 2020, Ray wrote a very loving letter to Ann, reminding her that he would be “waiting over the hedge” for her, and now they are reunited. Ann and Ray loved their family and friends. I visited Ann a few weeks ago as I was worried about her and we spent 45 minutes talking about everyone else, her boys and their wives, and her grandchildren. We even chatted about Jan and her sister’s funeral. Eventually I managed to get Ann to talk about how she was . “I’ve been thinking about slowing down,” she said. “Delivering ‘Contact’ and doing the flowers is getting a bit too much, my body just won’t let me do it. I don’t want to give it up yet though, I’ll reassess when I turn 90.” Ann always had a smile and a word of encouragement to everyone. She was an inspiration, and held most of us up in prayer. When I was appointed , she wrote to me, “I’ve been praying for a charismatic, spirit-filled vicar for St John’s for over 40 years!”

Ann and Ray will be missed, but their legacy of love remains. The example they set in their lives will continue to inspire us. Consider the fruits of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. All these we have witnessed in the lives of Ann and Ray Heslop. Rev Lee Davies (edited) 24

THANK YOU! I would like to thank everyone who has contributed to the angel gathering this year. We have received and given out more than 900 angels, that’s an amazing total. I haven’t been able to thank people personally because you kindly put your name in the bag with your contribution but if you would consider putting a phone number in as well I could phone you and say thank you. However you know who you are and to you all many, many thanks. Who knew in that first year, when we knitted 300 angels that we would reach numbers like this. If you don’t know, we give them out as a gift from St John’s with a label with all the service details for grown-ups and children, over the Christmas period. We never accept money, though Veronica, who helps me and without whose help we couldn’t get it all done, was tickled pink when two young men chased after her as she was distributing angels waving money at her. As she said, who knows what happens when you give out angels. Our angels are gifts and I hope they bless each person who has received one, and all those who made them. It wouldn’t be possible without your help, so thank you, thank you, thank you all. The angel lady, Sue Blomley

MOTHERS’ UNION There was no official meeting during December, though several of us braved the rain to go to St Nicholas’ Church in Brockenhurst for the annual Deanery Carol Service. It was a very uplifting experience. ‘Thank you’ to those drivers who gave lifts. On Thursday 11 January at 2.30pm at St John’s Hall, we will be holding our AGM. Please come if you can as subscriptions need to be paid and ideas for speakers for 2024 will be very helpful. The sales table will be red. All good wishes for the New Year!

Sue Harvey June Smith

ALPHA COURSE STARTING SOON!

CHRISTMAS AT ST

CHRISTMAS AT ST JOHN’S

WHO LET THE DADS OUT?

HELP PLEASE!

150TH ANNIVERSARY OF ST JOHN’S CHURCH PHOTOBOOK To celebrate the 150th anniversary of St John’s, we have created a full-colour souvenir photobook about the church. The photobook gives a historical perspective of the church and has 40 pages of photos and text. The book is 21 x 28cm (A4 approx.) and the cost will be between £25 and £29 dependent on how many copies we order If you are interested in buying a copy of the photobook please speak to Phil or Catherine and they will be happy to order one for you. Phil has a proof copy you can see before you decide. We will let you know the total cost as soon as we have enough orders. We will be placing the order towards the end of January, provided that we have a total of more than ten orders. Best wishes and Happy New Year! Phil & Cat—philmex123@gmail.com