Contact Magazine - May 2018

CONTACT

Magazine of Erdington Methodist Church Station Road - May 2018 GROWING GOD’S KINGDOM IN ERDINGTON, THROUGH WORSHIP, PRAYER, ACTION AND FRIENDSHIP 1

Contents From our Minister, Malcolm The Day of Pentecost Akela gets a gong!

Well, it's not Devon!

Signs of the times Children’s Pages The youth of today OPEN GARDEN & ART EXHIBITION The Midlands Hospital Choir Methodist Conference Dudley The NHS and Palestine May 2018 Regular Meetings Tuesday Club Sunday Worship Weekly Church Activities

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From our Minister, Malcolm Dear friends, Hoping you enjoy this issue of “Contact’! I will get mine on returning from Zimbabwe. A small group from Birmingham Methodist District is travelling to meet with Methodists of the Kadoma Methodist District in Zimbabwe. We will be attending a three day Synod meeting and travelling many miles. I look forward to sharing more about this link next time. Maybe in Erdington we would like to help build this relationship further by arranging to visit Zimbabwe?

As I leave, a local family (mum, dad and four children) are being forced to leave UK permanently on a flight arranged by HM Government (immigration) to Germany. Never to return. At the time of writing the flight is booked for 24th April.

Having left Kabul, Afghanistan because of fear for their safety as Sikhs, they arrived in the UK in September 2017. Travelling via Germany they eventually found themselves at Lunar House in Croydon and were temporally accommodated in Witton whilst the UK authorities decided their fate. The German authorities were contacted and have said they can return to Germany. Hence the plane tickets were issued.

All well and good? NO! The family are frightened that they will be repatriated to Afghanistan. This may or may not be true, but I find myself sympathising with the family and wishing so much that they be allowed to stay. Whilst they speak English, they struggle to communicate German.

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The second born boy is in year 10 and his sister in year 8 at Harborne Academy where they have been schooling since January 2018. It was a privilege to accompany the family to the shops to buy school uniforms… and to see them smartly dressed and keen to learn using the language they had been schooled in whilst in Kabul. Thanks to the Circuit refugee group for making this possible. Dad walks the youngest to a primary school getting on for two miles away. Mum despite being unwell keeps the house together and tries to learn English which her children speak fluently.

I remain mindful of the incredibly complex task those responsible for immigration have to fulfil. It is a real minefield. Many people are demanding a very tight policy, and understandably so. That being said a questions remains: What is the honourable, morally right thing to do when faced with the plethora of cases of those seeking to remain in the UK having migrated here from elsewhere in God’s world?

It is one thing to read about statistics… a quota who need to be refused immigration status. It is a very different thing to know the people personally and their potential gift to society. The Christian faith espouses that God is love and loves all humankind and we as human beings are called to reflect God’s love in our relationships with others.

We have just seen how in a machine like way the immigration authorities decided to unsettle people who came in the ‘Windrush’ years and have an equal right to be here as the UK Prime Minister.

Why do we find it so easy to allow unnecessary stress and anxiety to be caused to innocent people?

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I sense that I will be warmly welcomed by Methodists in Zimbabwe who in comparison to me may have very little. I will be shown hospitality by people who will recognise that I have feelings, family and responsibilities.

May those associated with Erdington Methodist Centre continue to strive to be a place which prays for and works for appropriate compassion, love, justice and peace in our community. That surely is our responsibility and our right?

Your minister and friend Malcolm

The Day of Pentecost (Acts 2) From prophecy to fulfilment, from fear to courage, from confusion to conviction, from despair to certain hope, from head to heart, from longing to knowing, from weakness to strength, from paralysis to power.

What a difference a day makes The Day of Pentecost when the Spirit came and everything was different and possible‌ Daphne Kitching 5

Akela gets a gong!

We are all delighted that Elizabeth Baizon (“Akela” to all the cubs and scouts at the 177th Birmingham, Erdington Methodist) has been awarded the Silver Acorn, one of the highest honours in Scouting, in this year’s St George’s Day awards.

The Scout website says: “This award is seldom awarded for less than 20 years’ service, which should be specially distinguished and appreciably better than outstanding.”

We all know that Elizabeth has been leading our cub pack for many years but, with another hat on, she acts as Assistant County Commissioner for Cubs in Birmingham County making sure that all the cubs in Birmingham enjoy the many activities and fun programmes that the cubs at the 177th receive every week.

Elizabeth leads a team of fabulous leaders here at Erdington and we look forward to her giving many more years of ‘distinguished’ service.

B-R-A-V-O Akela!

Gerald Peel, Group Scout Leader 6

Well, it's not Devon!

One of the things I have always wanted to see are the Northern Lights so Becci and I travelled to Iceland in hope rather than expectation as we had heard that the lights are often elusive especially under cloudy skies.

We were there for four days during the last week of March and on arrival we both felt a little underwhelmed although I don't know why. Had I been asked to say what colours depicted Iceland I would have said grey and khaki. I had been to Norway on many occasions during spring, summer and winter and found Iceland drab in comparison. However, my assessment was harsh and as our holiday progressed we realised that this is an amazing country.

There were many occasions when I wished for a pocket Jan Payne to inform and explain!

With a population of under half a million it has a feeling of space.

Good roads with little traffic aided travel of which we did a lot!

Flying was the best option for a short stay so we hired a car, Becci went through somewhat of an ordeal when picking up the car. She had an interview longer than a driving test during which she was advised about the usual things as well as those peculiar to Iceland: what to do in a sandstorm; how to drive on roads with gravelled sides and to make sure you held onto the car door when you opened it as it might blow off in a strong wind!

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Our first stop was Reykjavik a reasonably bustling city. It is beautifully positioned on the coast with hills in the background with a modern concert hall strategically placed on the coast, its shape and colour cleverly reflecting the sea and sky and complementing the natural background.

Obviously, much is made of their Viking heritage and there is a very interesting museum which includes a reconstruction of the type of home they would have built. When I re-read my Magnus Magnusson book, 'Vikings', I realised that the reconstruction was made with the actual remains which had been excavated when the city was being modernised.

My particular joy began when we found the old town which is lovely. The buildings are brightly painted and are situated on cobbled streets housing shops, cafes and homes.

On any visit to Iceland there is one venue which must be visited.

The Blue Lagoon is a large, outdoor, thermal lake. Becci and I arrived for our 8pm booking and I will admit that I was hesitant to begin with. With the temperature around 3 degrees and wearing only swimwear we made our way to the pool. It was worth it!

The lagoon was gloriously warm and steamy. The experience includes a face mask and a glass of wine so with the lagoon prettily lit at dusk it was a truly magical experience.

The country is vast so we followed the advice of the guide books and chose two day excursions to follow. The Golden Circle which is a 300 km route visiting the Pingvellir National Park, the Guillfoss waterfall and the erupting Strokkur Geyser at Haukadalur.

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It does seem a little ridiculous when you arrive at the geyser, which erupts every ten minutes, to see tourists lining up with cameras at the ready. I have seen a similar geyser in Yellowstone Park and they are amazing. The waterfall was wonderful too.

Not as big as others in the world but exciting as you are able to climb up and walk behind it. No health and safety regulations in Iceland, it seems, as there were no safety rails or easy steps, only wet, ill-shapen rocks to clamber over. Of course, I disgraced myself as I had trouble clambering out of the waterfall which caused me to laugh uncontrollably as I was pulled and pushed out of there!!

Our second day trip was to the South Coast. This is an area of diverse natural phenomena - striking mountains, glaciers, waterfalls and long stretches of black sandy beaches. All this plus beautiful farming communities on the way. One of the farms was situated at the foot of a glacier where the Eyjafjallajokull (would you believe the spell check has come on!) volcano is. If you haven't yet fallen asleep you will be thinking - so? We were all affected by this volcano around eight years ago when it erupted and black ash closed airports and affected our quality of air when our cars and gardens were covered in light ash. We were lucky enough to visit an exhibition run by the family at the farm. They had recorded a 20 minute film of the eruption, the black sky and the aftermath of the melting glacier which caused a huge rush of water. What a terrifying experience. It is hard to imagine that scenario seeing the farm today in such a beautiful situation.

The Icelandic language seems almost impossible to pronounce so we thought we had succeeded when we visited the black sandy beaches in Vik. Easy! However, after pronouncing it like a well 9

known chest rub all day we were corrected by Anna, our air bnb host, who said, ' Ah, Week'.

I hope you have made it to this point! I would just like to add a few lines of observations which sum up for me the images I have of Iceland: very few trees (over sourced by the Vikings); no large towns; no deep freeze shops called Iceland; it took a day to pinpoint a supermarket; not many people walking their dogs; large plateaux; big skies; rainbows every day, I have never seen so many in 4 days; snow capped peaks; attractive sculptures on roundabouts and along the roads; steaming ground and khaki coloured grass which has, of course, been snow covered all winter.

You will be relieved to know that it is now our final evening. No sign of 'the lights' as it has been too cloudy all week. However, we could see a few breaks in the cloud as dusk fell so we were hopeful and decided to drive away from Anna's house where it was unpolluted by street light. It was our intention to sit in the car all night if necessary until those lights appeared! Anna was quite sure we would see them. Her enthusiasm was genuine. She has seen them all her life and still is excited by the sight.

We were rewarded. Becci, ill clad in nightclothes under her coat, sat in the car whilst I braved the cold. I could see the beginnings of an ethereal green cloud and guessed that I must be looking at 'lights'. Becci also braved the cold and we gasped as the cloud stretched from one side of the sky to the other brightening and widening as it went. It then transformed in to a wavy ribbon of bright light and each dip of the ribbon was tinged with pink and green. It was a strange feeling - as Becci so aptly said 'creepy', but you just knew you were seeing something wonderful. Our sighting 10

was modest by comparison to some but it was a 30 minute spectacle and worth every second.

Iceland is a majestic country full of natural beauty and a place of adventure. There is so much more to see and do and many roads need a 4 x4 to access. Another trip?

It's definitely not Devon!

Lesley Morgan

Signs of the times My 10 year-old niece says her prayers every night and instead of ‘amen’, she says ‘click, send.’

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Children’s Pages

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The youth of today Youth today is a problem! The insolence, impudence, arrogance, and laziness of youths in their teens is beyond comprehension.

Absenteeism is on the increase and youths should think seriously how their lack of consideration could affect others. In many cases there must be no discipline in the home and their conduct generally does not do justice to day-school teaching.

So said my uncle in 1947 when he was President of the Bradford Textile Association!

Whilst one member commented: “On the whole youths are a grand lot and better than the youth of any other country”.

A second person added: “You are bound to have a youth problem if the Church doesn’t do its part and I don’t think it has done its part during the past 25 years” The above is taken from a press cutting in an old recipe book of my mum’s.

I don’t know why she kept it but, at least to me, it looks as though today’s young people might actually be better than the youth of seventy years ago!

Gerald Peel

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ANN TOMES invites you to her

OPEN GARDEN & ART EXHIBITION in aid of the British Polio Fellowship

Supporting the 120,000 people in Britain living with the late effects of Polio and Post Polio Syndrome Saturday, July 7th 2.00 pm - 5.00 pm Come and share in teas/coffees, cakes & scones There is no charge, but a donation to The British Polio Fellowship would be appreciated 5 Greenway Drive, Sutton Coldfield, B73 6SF 0121 354 9960 or 07594192897 It would be helpful if you are able to bring your own garden chair!

I'm sorry but this garden is unsuitable for wheelchair users or users of any kind of wheels. There are 5 steps down into the garden with handrails

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The Midlands Hospital Choir The Midlands Hospitals’ Choir (now in its 36th year) is a mixed voice choir with over 100 talented singers. It was formed in 1981 in memory of Sir Malcolm Sargent and the charity set up in his name, originally drawing its members from local hospitals.

We still have a large contingent from the medical and associated professions, but the choir is open to anyone with a joy for singing (no auditions!). We continue to support CLIC Sargent, a charity caring for children and young people with cancer and their families – in hospital and in the community; raising funds for them at the Christmas Celebration Concert held in the Birmingham Town Hall.

The Musical Director is James Llewelyn Jones whose passion for choral singing was enriched as a member of the National Youth Choirs of Wales and Great Britain; he was also a founder member of the National Chamber Choir. His musical education continued in Birmingham where he gained his B Mus (Hons) and M Mus degrees with distinction. He has worked with some of the world’s leading children’s choirs in Chicago and Toronto, spent 11 years conducting the National Children’s Choir of Great Britain and was involved in the formation of the National Children’s Training Choir GB as well as Dulce Corum (the National Girls’ Chamber Choir).

He was also the conductor of Canzonetta Children’s Choirs of Manchester – formerly the internationally acclaimed Manchester Boys’ choir.

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Since 2006, James has been the Musical Director of the Birmingham Canoldir Male Choir, and took on new challenges last year when he was appointed as the MD of The Rhos Male Voice Choir – it had been a childhood dream of his to lead one of the top Welsh choirs.

In September 2014, James was appointed Musical Director of the Midlands Hospitals’ Choir – loved by all singers, he has worked us hard to improve our performances and extend our repertoire.

When he’s not conducting or singing himself, he teaches singing in various schools to both individuals and groups.

For our Spring and Summer concerts, we tend to sing in local churches, with the Summer concert usually raising funds for the church where we are singing - and this leads me to the reason for writing this article! The choir meets for most practices in the Catholic Chaplaincy near Harborne and the Easter and Summer concerts have taken place in Edgbaston and further south in the city. When we were asked about a venue for the concert in 2018 I thought that Erdington would tick most of the boxes required to stage the summer concert, both for ease of travelling using the cross city line, and with the facilities we can offer at the church.

The committee with James made a visit and liked what they saw.

So the concert is booked for July 14th 2108 and will start at 3.00 pm; Erdington Methodist Church will benefit financially from this!

Please note the date and time and tell your friends about it.

JULY 14th at 3.00 pm We have recently been practising for a concert together with the Phoenix choir and Canoldir choir for a first performance of Sir Karl Jenkins' “Dewi Sant” plus other classical pieces and we performed 17

this in Symphony Hall on April 22nd. As soon as this was over the programme for the July concert will be announced. So far we know that, as the concert is on July 14th (Bastille Day), the title of the concert is ‘ French Connection’. We look forward to seeing what is in the programme in due course. Please add this date to your diaries and encourage your friends and families to come to what will be a super concert.

More info to come!

Hilary Price

Methodist Conference The 2018 Methodist Conference meets in Nottingham. Tickets for the Opening of the Representative Session on Saturday 30th June, and for Reception into Full Connexion and Conference Worship on Sunday 1st July, will be available from the Conference website from Monday 9th April.

You can also order tickets for the ordination services from the same place.

Dudley Women can do a much better Black Country accent than men.

That’s because the female of the species is more Dudley than the male!

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The NHS and Palestine On the 5th of July 1948 Aneurin Bevan went into what is now Trafford hospital, spoke to a 13-year-old boy with nephritis and declared the NHS up and running. Doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists came together into one UK wide organisation. 2,751 of the Britain’s 3,000 hospitals were nationalised. The then Prime Minister Clement Attlee asked the population to be patient with the new service because there were bound to be early difficulties.

The Lloyd George National Insurance Act of 1911 had provided cover for most working men, but not their wives and children.

Mr Bevan’s aim was to universalise the best care rather than act as a safety net for the poor. Then in 1951 Bevan resigned from the cabinet because of the decision to introduce charges for prescriptions (5p), spectacles and dental treatment (£1). The concept that all healthcare should be available to all free at the point of need was even at that time deemed to be not quite affordable. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.

Prior the Second World War there was a consensus across the country that the Lloyd George health insurance should be extended to include dependents. In 1938 the British Medical Association issued a pamphlet ‘A generalised Medical Service for the Nation’.

During the war control of the hospital services was centralised to care for wounded military personnel, which the Government paid for. This meant that for many institutions the arrival of peace would mean financial problems.

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At around the same time the mandate which Britain had from the UN to control Palestine came to an end. The origins of this mandate can be traced back to the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which ambiguously included support for a Jewish ‘national home’.

The Mandate had started in 1922 when the then League of Nations entrusted Great Britain with the ‘Mandate for Palestine’ in which Great Britain was called upon to facilitate the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine-Eretz Israel. Shortly afterwards it was decided that this mandate did not include the land east of the Jordan. This included about ¾ of the land of the mandate and which went on to become the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

During the Second-World-War many Jews attempted to escape from Europe to Palestine. Some made it but many perished in unseaworthy boats, crossing the Mediterranean. After the war there were an estimated 250,000 Jews stranded as refugees in Europe. Despite widespread world pressure to allow these people to be admitted to Palestine the British Government refused to allow them access. They believed that the arrival of such a large number of Jews would precipitate an Arab revolt.

An Anglo-American Committee of Inquiry in 1946 recommended that there should be no Jewish or Arab homeland and that neither party should be dominant. This was followed in 1947 with a resolution for two states, which was accepted by Israel and rejected by the Palestinian Arab leadership.

In 1948 the British ended their Mandate operations amidst the ongoing Jewish, Palestinian civil war. The Jews immediately claimed the land allocated to them by the two state proposals 20

agreed in 1947 and the Palestinian areas were protected by several thousand troops from adjoining countries.

These two situations seem to me to represent the best and the worst of humanity. On the NHS side there is ‘care for my brother’ writ large. On the other there was the descent into tribal anarchy.

We have been battling with both ever since. How to reconcile the cost of universal health care and how to reconcile the IsraelPalestine people to the necessity of living together?

As Christians we believe that all are made equal in the sight of God and that we have responsibility for our neighbour. He gave the Good Samaritan as an example. As humans we too easily descend into tribalism of one sort or another. In the end all such choices are based on excluding ‘the other’. Unfortunately, there is only a small step between treating someone as different and then going on to claim that in reality ‘the other’ is not worthy of anything and they are then excluded from everything. The extension of a ‘hostile environment’ for immigration to the Windrush people is only the most recent example of our potential for inhumanity to each other.

It was J F Kennedy who told us that the price of peace is eternal vigilance. And it was W S Churchill who told us that democracy was the worst form of government, except for all of the others.

Democracy is needed to resist the human tendency to exclude ‘the other’. But the eternal vigilance has to start with each one of us as we attempt to ‘love our neighbour as ourselves’.

Peter Farley 21

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May 2018 Regular Meetings

Each Saturday 10.00 am to 12.00 noon

Tuesday Club Every 2nd Tuesday in the month at 2.00 pm

Sunday Worship All worship starts at 10.30 am unless stated otherwise below.

6th

Rev Stephen Willey

13th

CHRISTIAN AID WEEK - Jack McGinnigle

20th

PENTECOST, ALDERSGATE SUNDAY & GENERAL CHURCH MEETING - Rev Malcolm Oliver Circuit Service at South Parade - 6pm

27th

TRINITY SUNDAY - HOLY COMMUNION Rev David Hulme

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Weekly Church Activities Sunday

10.30 am

MORNING WORSHIP and Young Church

Tuesday

2.00 pm

Tuesday Afternoon Meeting

Wednesday

9.30 - 11.30 am 12.30 pm

Stay and Play Luncheon Club - (1st and 3rd)

Friday

5.00 - 6.15 pm 6.15 - 7.45 pm 7.45 - 9.15 pm 7.45 - 9.15 pm 5.30 - 6.30 pm 5.00 - 6.30 pm 7.30 - 9.00 pm

Beavers : Lynn Turner Cubs : Elizabeth Baizon Scouts : Paul Harris Explorers : Lucy Porter Rainbows : Debbie Barnett Brownies : Lesley Carter Guides : Helen Rainsford

Saturday

10.00 - 12.00 noon 10.30 - 11.30 am

Coffee Morning : Lesley Morgan Church open for prayer : Margaret Curzon

Please hand any items for the June 2018 CONTACT to any of the Editorial Team (Peter Farley, Christine Rankin, Ann Tomes & Nick Riley) by 15th May 2018 at the latest please, or alternatively email me: nickriley@blueyonder.co.uk with the word ‘CONTACT’ in the title.

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