NewsLink
23 October – 5 November
Dear friends
It is common to hear items of news concerning ordinary people who have done extraordinary
things. The back story is that these every day folk exerted themselves in such a way that, against
all the odds, they achieved their dream, won the gold medal, played sport for their country or
founded an award-winning company. Lifestyle gurus and multiple posts on social media opine
that we can all “reach for the stars”. Like the hero in the newscast we should not let our current
circumstances hold us back or define who we are. Don’t listen to the doomsayers, they say, you
can achieve whatever you want.
Tim Peake was the first British Space Agency
Astronaut to visit the International Space
Station; he spent 6 months there in 2016. He
has been in turn, a soldier, a pilot, an astronaut
and a scientist. His autobiography, published in
2020, is entitled “Limitless”; it could have been
subtitled “What I have done you can do also”.
But hang on a minute, 8000 people applied to
be an astronaut. Did the 7,999 who were not
chosen, fail because they didn’t work hard
enough or believe sufficiently in themselves?
The modern world can leave many people feeling a failure because their lives have hardly got off
the starting blocks and dreams never turned into reality. However, the message of the Bible is
that God loves us all and delights in each one of us for who we are, not for what we achieve. He
has given us all gifts which we can use to enrich our lives and those around us; even if they don’t
match up to those required to be an astronaut.
We are, as Paul says in 1 Cor 12, all metaphorically “parts of one body” and each is important to
the functioning of the whole. “The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!”, and the head
can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!”. On the contrary those parts of the body that seem to be
weaker are indispensable” (21, 22a).
During the Covid enforced lock down in 2020, we woke up to the importance of some key
workers who, up to that point had often been taken for granted e.g. delivery drivers, waste
disposal operatives, cleaners in hospitals etc. We even went out on the streets to bang pan lids
with wooden spoons to show our appreciation! I hope our society continues to remember the
lessons of the pandemic…we are all of value, we are all important.
Those in older age who feel that their gifts, which were never exceptional in the first place, are
waning, should take heart from Psalm 92: 14a “they will still bear fruit in old age”. Furthermore,
there maybe an unexpected gloss on what we still have to offer, Job 12: 12 “Is not wisdom found
among the aged? Does not long-life bring understanding?”
Blessings
Revd Keith Charnley
Upcoming Services
Sunday, 23rd October
10.00am Holy Communion Service at St Peter’s, Monkton Farleigh, joint with St James. Tim/tbc
10.00am Together in Worship at St Nicholas, Winsley. Rachel/ Organist tbc/ IT Geoff
10.30am Refresh at Christ Church, Bradford on Avon. Keith C/Tricia and Music Group
Sunday, 30th October
10.00am Benefice Service with Holy Communion at St James, South Wraxall. All Saints Day.
Ann/Paul/ Keith B
Wednesday, 2nd November
10.30am Holy Communion at Christ Church, BoA. Tim
Saturday, 5th November
2.30pm A Service of Remembering, Thanksgiving and Hope. Penny and Cedric Pierce. See
page 3 for more information
Sunday, 6th November
10.00am Benefice Service with Holy Communion at St Nicholas, Winsley. Theme is ‘All are
Welcome in this Place’ Ann/Keith B/IT Geoff
Wednesday, 9th November
6.00pm Compline for All Souls at St James, South Wraxall. Tessa. See below for more info.
Ministry Team:
Rector Rev Ann Keating
Rev.ann.keating@btinternet.com
(722230)
Rev Tessa Mann (309374)
LLM: Rachel Pound (862223)
Benefice Office:
Caroline Brydon (865046),
nboabenefice@gmail.com
Website www.nboachurches.co.uk
Church Wardens:
Winsley: Roy Ludlow (868779) Linds
Batson (720069)
Christ Church: Hilary and Stephen Pike
(782537)
South Wraxall: Dave Wyper (865384)
Valentine Thornhill (862552)
Monkton Farleigh: Rachel and Colin
Exley: (851485)
Lay Pastoral Assistants:
Stephen Pike (782537),Denise Davies
(863678)
Gill Fairhurst (867560),Daphne Cox
(868224)
Elizabeth Bush (866624),James
Middleton (920564)
Children’s and Families Worker:
Zoe Yeomans – zyeomans3@gmail.com
Weddings and Baptisms
Wedding of Daniel Bamford and Amy
Ford at 2pm on Saturday 22nd October at
St James, South Wraxall. Paul taking
Baptism on Sunday 30th October at 12.30pm at St
Nicholas, Winsley. Ann taking
NewsLink
The next edition of NewsLink wlll be on Sunday 6th
November. Please email any relevant contributions to
Caroline at nboabenefice@gmail.com by Tuesday 1st
November. You can read the full version on our website
at www.nboachurches.co.uk
Funerals
Funeral Service of Sylvia Mary Davis on Tuesday 25th
October at 12.15pm at Semington Crematorium. Paul
taking
Funeral Service of Richard Rowell on Wednesday 26th
October at 10am at Heycombe Crematorium. Paul
taking
Service of Compline
A short service of night prayer at 6.00pm on Wednesday 9th November
at St James, South Wraxall. Everyone welcome!
The ancient office of Night Prayer (Compline) derives its name from a
Latin word meaning ‘completion’ (completorium). It is above all a service
of quietness and reflection before rest at the end of the day.
Harvest Festival at South Wraxall
For the Harvest Service at South Wraxall, the village was asked to
provide produce suitable for donation to The Hub Food Bank in Bradford
on Avon.
The picture shows the wonderful response for which The Hub was truly
grateful, especially in these very difficult times. The collection taken at
the service was also donated to the charity which provides much needed
support to those in need. A big thank you to all those who donated.
Dave Wyper
Christ Church Harvest Festival
A huge thank you to all those who made the
church look so beautiful for this special
service and to those who donated items for
the Hub. They were received with grateful
thanks.
Hilary Pike
Coffee Morning for St Peter’s –
Saturday 19th November at 10:30am
Everyone is invited to join us for a Coffee Morning
to raise money for the new heating system at St
Peter’s. Come along to 60 Monkton Farleigh
(Rachel & Colin Exley’s home) for coffee and cake.
Please bring a friend or neighbour and enjoy a
sociable morning with some early Christmas treats,
bake sale, raffle and Bring & Buy. Rachel Exley
Bradford on Avon – One World
Week Walk (OWWW)
A walk for refugee families and all
nationalities living in the area on Sunday
23rd October 2022.
Meet at Westbury Gardens by 1.15pm to
sign in. Set off 1.30pm back in town 4.00 –
4.30pm.
Walk via the riverside path in Bradford on
Avon, towards Barton Farm. Bring own
drinks, cake will be provided.
Volunteers Needed!
Winsley School and St Nicholas
Church are working together to
run free, weekly during term
time, after school (3-5 pm) in
the school hall, for families during the winter
months. These once a week sessions are being
planned to provide a warm, welcoming and fun
social space.
In order to provide these sessions, we will need a
small band of committed volunteers to welcome
and offer hospitality to the families, to play games,
read stories and share toast, jam and hot chocolate
with the children. Please contact me for further info
and to offer any help. Thank you!
Rev. Tessa Mann 01225 309374
Open the Book – Christ Church School, BoA
Would you like to join us in the Christ Church School, Key
Stage1 Team? We would love to have you on board!
No experience needed, full resources provided! We would
like to grow the Key Stage 1 team we have for Christ
Church school so that we can offer Open the Book every
week on a rota basis, once or twice a month and we are
flexible. It is a lot of fun and the children love it!
The time of the sessions at school currently are
Wednesdays at 2:45-3pm, term time only. Please contact
Zoe (zyeomans3@gmail.com) for more details.
WINSLEY COMMUNITY CAFÉ
Following the success of Kettle’s On,
the PCC has decided to expand the
Community Café Project on a trial basis
by offering “Soup’s Up” on Fridays in
the same week as Kettle’s On.
Soup’s Up will be open from noon and
will provide home-made soup and rolls,
cake and hot drinks.
We hope that congregation members
will want to support this with cake
making, soup production or by just
being there on the day.
For more information or to volunteer
please contact Penny Pierce on 01225
723284 or penny@thepierces.me
Forest Church at St Nicholas Churchyard
Forest Church on October 9th was held in St Nicholas
Churchyard on a sunny autumn afternoon. 14 adults
attended and 12 children.
We explored the world of Fungi through doing a quiz,
making clay toadstools, a trail around the churchyard,
making mushroom soup over the firepit and toasting
bread rolls to eat with the soup. Tim Yeomans, as
always organised and supervised the firepit.
Richard shared about the amazing world of fungi and
how they form an underground web of connections.
We explored how we were connected to each other
as Christians and created our own web with wool.
Zoe led us in prayer.
Our next Forest Church will be at St James Churchyard in South Wraxall on Sunday 20th November
3pm-4pm. All welcome!
Zoe and Tessa also led a session about Forest
Church at Deanery Synod on October 12th which was
well received. Tessa Mann