Honeycomb—On Line

Honeycomb May 2011

Rector′s Remarks

Like many of us, my garden really suffered in the deep frosts we endured last December with many plants being killed. Two of the casualties had lived in pots by the front door. I decided that the pots were really surplus to requirements so instead of replanting I decided to give the pots away. They were put on the verge outside the Rectory with a sign inviting anyone who wanted them to help themselves. I was delighted that the pots had moved to their new home within 24 hours. At this point I must stress that I have not got a clue where the pots now are. I was saddened that my large plastic sign advertising the availability the pots had been left lying in the middle of the road – another bit of litter that would eventually have been blown into a hedgerow or ditch. It could have easily have been taken with the pots and popped into a wheelie bin.

A similar event occurred in Melchbourne. The fence in front of the churchyard has had to be taken down whilst two dying trees are felled. Within a day or so of the fence being down, dog poo was found in the church yard. Someone, again I really do not know who, had allowed their dog(s) to run into the church yard and had not bothered to poop-scoop. Again, it is so easy to keep an eye on one’s dogs and always be prepared with a plastic bag.

I suppose I should not have been really surprised at both the above incidents given the regular necessity for our villages to organise litter picks. They always result in many bags full of rubbish. I guess I had hoped that the rubbish gathered up during the litter picks came from passing motorists not from those of us who live here. However, it is almost certain that my two examples involve local residents. To me rubbish is an urban thing. I expect rubbish swirling around wind swept concrete canyons. Naively I do not expect it in our villages and lanes. Our villages and the surrounding country are naturally beautiful. It might seem a reasonable expectation therefore that we who live in such lovely places would not want to pollute them.

I know that this problem is not one peculiar to our Stodden villages. I have many rural friends all around the country and all have the same problem. It seems to be part of the human condition. We all condemn rubbish but at the same time it is likely that we have all been guilty at one time or another of adding to the problem.

Why do we do it? I wonder if it is part of a wider, far larger issue of our use or misuse of the world’s resources and environment. That possibly goes right back to a verse in the Bible – Genesis 1.28. There we read that we are to dominate, subdue or control (depending on which translation you read) the earth. That verse creates an anthropocentric world view that considers that God created the world for us and we have the right to do anything we like with it. Taken on its own it could well explain our abuse of our planet. Of course no single verse of the Bible is meant to be taken on its own. The Bible has to be read as a whole and there are many passages in the Bible were God instructs us to take care of the planet and all living things. Jesus’ teaching on what Christians call “stewardship” is very clear. We are to use wisely and generously all the resources God has given us, knowing that those resources are really God’s and that one day God will ask us to account for our them.

You might have guessed by now that I do not have an answer to my question. However, most of us worry about the big environmental issues such a global warming, climate change and food shortages. They seem beyond our control although there are many tiny steps we can do to improve the situation. Perhaps never again adding to the rubbish in our villages and bringing up our children with same attitude is one of those tiny steps.

Jan Brookshaw

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Light on the Path

The current Diocesan initiative, Living God’s Love, ‘is an invitation to the Diocese of St Albans to discover new things about God, ourselves and the world. It’s an invitation to look with fresh eyes and explore new ways.’ It is ‘an invitation to a journey’ and one of the things it invites us to do is to engage with the process of ‘going deeper into God.’ The one-day workshop, Light on the Path, which is to be held on Saturday, June 25th, at St Paul’s, Bedford, and which is being organized by The Spiritual Hub, will be examining a response to this call.

Christians have always been encouraged to actively engage with the spiritual journey that leads into a closer relationship with God, through Christ. It is a journey or pilgrimage that leads towards the New Jerusalem; a pathway which leads from the outer and into the inner and spiritual teachings of our faith. It is a road that has been well travelled throughout the centuries and the stages along the way are well known and recorded. Neither is it old fashioned nor outdated, for such realities transcend both time and culture. This is a journey that leads into the very heart of Christianity, the heart which is Love, where we encounter God through Christ. It is a journey that leads us into our own hearts.

Yet for many taking the initial steps along this way can be challenging because it may seem that an unknown and difficult road lies ahead. Assurance soon comes, however, for Christ is always beside us on our journey as gradually we come to see him from a new perspective, in the greater light of his resurrected glory, and to know a deeper fullness of his Love, an unbounded Love that we never before dreamt possible of experiencing. We hope you will join us for this introduction to the inner and spiritual life in Christ.

Programme

9:30	Holy Eucharist
10:00	Coffee Break
10:30	Welcome and Introduction followed by The Inner and Spiritual, Part 1: The Knowledge of the Kingdom of God
11:15	The Inner and Spiritual, Part 2: Entering Into the Deeper Love of God
12:00	Group activity 1: Walk the labyrinth, Learn to pray with Anglican Rosary Beads, or Discover more about how God calls us.
12:30	1:15 Lunch
1:15	The Inner and Spiritual, Part 3: The Second Conversion
2:00	Group activity 2: Choose a second activity from the above list:
2:30	Group activity 3: Choose a third activity from the above list
3:00	The Inner and Spiritual, Part 4: Touching on the Mystery of the Liturgy
3:45	Questions and Answers
4:00	Compline

Reservations: £10 per person, prepaid booking essential, light lunch included. Visit: www.thespiritualhub.co.uk or call 01234 301554.

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Father’s Day – June 19th

On June 19th we celebrate fathers. With that in mind these two studies are a great reminder of how important good fathers are.

Get happy – have a good talk with your dad

Children who talk regularly with their dad about topics that really matter to them are much happier than those who do not. Young people who said they talk seriously to their fathers ‘most days’ gave themselves an 87 per cent score on a happiness scale. Yet sadly, the study, carried out recently for the Children’s Society, found that nearly half of young people (46 per cent) said they ‘hardly ever’ spoke to their fathers about important topics. And only 13 per cent of young people speak seriously to their dads ‘most days’. The Children’s Society warns that a child’s wellbeing later in life depends on their teenage relationship with their father as well as with their mother.

Fathers help you cope with stress

Fathers play a unique role in the mental health of their children later in life. Those who have had good and fond relationships with their fathers tend to be less emotional when coping with stressful incidents. The study, carried out at California State University, concluded: “Perhaps having attentive and caring parents equips children with the experiences and skills necessary to more successfully navigate their relationships with other people.

Jan Brookshaw

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St. Peter

This month we celebrate St. Peter and of course that is particularly important in Pertenhall where the church is dedicated to St. Peter. Our special service of celebration will be on 26th June at 10.30am.

St. Peter (died in about 64AD), originally called Simon, was a married fisherman from Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee. He met Jesus through his brother, Andrew. Jesus gave him the name of Cephas (Peter) which means rock. Peter is always named first in the list of apostles. He was one of the three apostles who were privileged to witness the Transfiguration, the raising of the daughter of Jairus, and the Agony in the Garden.

When Peter made his famous confession of faith, that Jesus was the Christ, Jesus recognised it as being the result of a revelation from the Father. He in turn told Peter that he would be the rock on which his Church would be built, that the ‘gates of hell’ would never prevail against it. Peter and the apostles would have the power of ‘binding and loosing’, but Peter would be personally given ‘the keys of the kingdom of heaven’. Jesus also forewarned Peter of his betrayal and subsequent strengthening of the other apostles. After his Resurrection, Jesus appeared to Peter before the other apostles, and later entrusted him with the mission to feed both the lambs and the sheep of Christ’s flock.

Peter played a big part in the early Church, and is mentioned many times in the Book of Acts, where in the early chapters he organised the choice of Judas’ successor, preached with stirring authority at Pentecost; and was the very first apostle to work a miracle. Peter went on to defend the apostles’ right to teach in the Temple. It was Peter who first realised that Christianity was also for non-Jews (gentiles).

Early tradition links Peter with martyrdom at Rome. The New Testament does not tell us about his death, but Peter being in Rome would make sense as it was the centre of power in its day. Peter’s presence in Rome is mentioned by early church fathers such as Clement of Rome (died 100AD) and Irenaeus (died 202AD). Tradition also tells us that Peter suffered under Nero and was crucified head-downwards. There is no conclusive proof either way that St Peter’s relics are at the Vatican, but it is significant that Rome is the only city that ever claimed to be Peter’s place of death.

From very early times Peter was invoked by Christians as a universal saint. He was the heavenly door-keeper, the patron of the Church and the papacy, a saint both powerful and accessible.

In England there were important dedications to Peter from early times: monasteries such as Canterbury, Glastonbury, Malmesbury, Peterborough, Lindisfarne, Whitby, Wearmouth, and especially Westminster. Cathedrals were named after him, too: York, Lichfield, Worcester and Selsey. In all, it has been calculated that 1,129 pre-Reformation churches were dedicated to St Peter. Images of Peter are innumerable, but his portraiture remains curiously the same: a man with a square face, a bald or tonsured head, and a short square, curly beard. Not surprisingly, his chief emblem is a set of keys, sometimes along with a ship or fish.

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Why British men like wearing socks with their sandals

It is not a pretty sight, but at least there may be an historic explanation as to why British men have a liking to wear socks with their sandals in the summer. It seems the idea could be ‘one of the things the Romans did for us.’ Seriously.

Archaeologists on a dig in Yorkshire recently uncovered a rusty nail from a Roman sandal which had impressions from fibres that suggest that a sock-type garment was being worn by the Roman invaders. The idea of Ben Hur in socks boggles the mind, but – you never know.

Jan Brookshaw

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Why do we have church porches?

The front door of many homes opens straight into the hallway, so when someone calls they can not only see all the clutter in the house, but all the heat rushes out into the street. Some people add on a porch to this kind of house, which not only avoids those two things happening, but gives them somewhere to store wet shoes, umbrellas, hang coats, and so on. A really useful space.

When we look at church doors and their porches it’s often assumed that that is what they’re for also. A place to display notices, a nice bench on which to pause during a walk on a sunny day, somewhere to leave muddy boots; even a place to display flowers or have a bowl of water for visitors’ dogs to drink from.

Well, that may be how we use them today, but it’s very far from their original purpose. These were working areas of the church which had great significance. You have to remember that churches up to not so very long ago were not only the hub of the community but they were often the only formal public building in that area. They carried out many of the functions that today the local Council do. So yes, public notices would have been displayed here, but also matters of business would have been carried out: executors of wills made payments of legacies, and coroners sometimes held their courts here.

Many porches have a room above them which could have been used as the local strong-room. A custodian may even have lived there, and it would therefore have a window into the church for him to be able to keep watch. Later the room may have been used as an armoury, as a place to hold church papers, a depository for wills, or a library. Being above ground they’d have been nice and dry and a bit more secure from thieves.

Sometimes the upstairs room was used for a priest to sleep in, so he could be up in time to celebrate early Mass for travellers.

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Smile

Last minute

A minister waited in the queque to have his car filled with petrol just before a long holiday weekend. The attendant worked quickly, but there were many cars ahead of him. Finally, the attendant motioned him toward a vacant pump. "Reverend," said the young man, "I'm so sorry about the delay. It seems as if everyone waits until the last minute to get ready for a long trip." The minister chuckled, "I know what you mean. It's the same in my business".

Is a computer masculine or feminine?

A Spanish teacher was explaining to her class that in Spanish, unlike English, nouns are designated as either masculine or feminine. 'House' for instance, is feminine: 'la Casa.' Pencil,' however, is masculine: 'el lapiz.' A student asked, 'What gender is 'computer'?' Instead of giving the answer, the teacher split the class into two groups, male and female, and asked them to decide for themselves whether ‘computer' should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Each group was asked to give four reasons for its recommendation.

The men's group decided that 'computer' should definitely be of the feminine gender ('la computadora'), because: 1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic; 2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; 3. Even the smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and 4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending money on accessories for it.

The women's group, however, concluded that computers should be masculine ('el computador'), because: 1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on; 2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves; 3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and 4. As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model. The women won.

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Women who know their place

Barbara Walters, of 20/20 (ABC’s prime time news magazine programme), did a story on gender roles in Kabul, Afghanistan, several years before the Afghan conflict. She noted that women customarily walked five paces behind their husbands. She recently returned to Kabul and observed that women still walk behind their husbands. Despite the overthrow of the oppressive Taliban regime, the women now seem happy to maintain the old custom. Ms Walters approached one of the Afghani women and asked, 'Why do you now seem happy with an old custom that you once tried so desperately to change?' The woman looked Ms Walters straight in the eyes, and without hesitation said: 'Land mines'.

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Dean

Correspondent- Annette Brooks

Red Cross Collection

This year the total raised for the Red Cross collection in Lower Dean was £81.76, a new record. Thank you all very much for your generosity and Jo and John Cordell for kindly doing the collection.

Jackie Ashby

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Yelden

Thank You

..to the Easter Bunny who has been hopping around Yelden early one morning at leaving a trail of little eggs behind him/her. Thankyou from all of us who found these eggs on our doorstep.

Family Barn Dance

The Barn Dance lived up to its intention of bringing all the families together for an evening of fun. The more muddled we got the more we laughed. The food was truly scrummy. Thank you Village Hall team for organising this event.

Flower and Cleaning Plan
May 29th Lesley / Lorna – 10.30
June 12th Rosemary / Jane – 6pm

Yelden Chapel Services
Sunday June 5th at 11 am.
Service led by Mr John Armitage.

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Pertenhall

Correspondent-Chloe Reid

100 Club

March Draw
No.66	Mr E Crisp	£20
No.59	Mrs V Edwards	£10
No.42	Mrs C Rooks	£7
No.14	Mrs G Banks	£5
No.8	Mr C Lacey	£5
No.77	Mrs J Lacey	£5

Church Fete and Food Fair - Saturday 11th June

Come along to Pertenhall Village Hall from 2pm onwards, for a celebration of homemade food and local produce. This event will raise funds towards the upkeep of St. Peter’s Church. Expect to see jams, preserves and bread made by the villagers, and also games, a raffle and a bottle tombola. For those who like to grow your own fruit and vegetables, there will be a plant stall. As well as this, there will be many refreshments, with afternoon tea, Pimms and pancakes on offer.

Bulky Waste Collection

The next Bulky Waste Collection in Pertenhall will take place on Sunday, 26th June at the Village Hall from 12.00 until 3.00. Please do not leave rubbish at the sites if the collection vehicles are not there.

Pertenhall M U.

   

Pertenhall Mothers Union didn't meet in May due to the Easter Holidays and so many people being away. But We intend to meet in June on Wednesday 15th at 2.30p.m. in the home of Mrs Elsie Bass at 3 Churchyard, Kimbolton for a tea and get together in her garden, weather permitting or indoors if need be.

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Swineshead

Correspondent-Jenny Leishman

Swineshead Bulky Waste Collection

There will be a collection of domestic bulky waste on Sunday 26 June 2011. 12.00 – 1.30pm near Green Lane & 1.30 – 3.00pm outside the village hall.

St Nicholas Church

Cleaning		Flowers
June 19	Pauline, Clarissa, Diana, Frances	Edna
July 3	Emma, Jan	Julie
July 31	Edna, Margaret, James	Pauline

Welcome

A very warm welcome to Karin and Stuart Bird. Karin and Stuart are now settled with their two children in Tara. We hope they will all be very happy in Swineshead and look forward to seeing them soon at village events.

Swineshead Village Hall

There was fine weather on Friday 29 April for everyone who turned out to enjoy an excellent afternoon tea and evening barbeque at the village hall. A good time was had by all. Many thanks to Pat & Pauline for organizing the tea, to Fran & Caroline for organizing a merry evening, to Matthew for looking after the BBQ, and to Simon, Rodney, John and Philip for manning the bar.

The Sixth Bell will be open again at 8.00pmon Fridays 3 June and 1 July. Afternoon Teas will be served from 3.00pm on Thursdays 9 & 23 June, and 7 & 21 July.

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Melchbourne

Correspondent-Phil Pahl

Village web site - http://mmmatmelchbourne.yolasite.com/Information Required"

Feast Day 2011 - News

Planning for Feast Day has started - closer to the day we will be happy to accept as many cakes, bottles, raffle and tombola prizes as can be had! If you are clearing out books in the next few weeks Dinah is happy to accommodate them but please ring her first on 709372. We will be happy to collect bric-a-brac and any spare plants and seedlings. For more information about Feast Day ask the committee - this year we are Pam Cousens, Alison Gordon, Robin Mackonochie, Jill Rata and Cathy Rowland. See main advertisement for details.

Robins Marathon Run

A very large thank you to everyone in Melchbourne who sponsored me to run the London Marathon in April. Between you, you raised a total of £1,316.60, no mean feat for a village the size of Melchbourne. The money has gone to help repair and maintain the church. A programme for repairs and renovation is currently underway with the south aisle roof next to be tackled followed by the tower. Once the building is properly watertight then we can start to look at the internal decoration. So, a huge thank you to everyone who so generously contributed.

Robin Mackonochie

Church Cleaning and Flowers Rota

There is a regular church cleaning rota and volunteers are always welcome. Anyone wishing to be included on the rota should contact Audrey on 01234 708728.

Village dates for your diary:

Saturday June 11th	Safari Supper – please note this has been changed from 25th June.
Sunday July 10th	The 747th Melchbourne Feast Day at the Old Vicarage
Sunday August 14th	Village BBQ
Saturday October 29th	Halloween Party
Saturday December 10th	Quiz Night

Church Cleaning and Flowers Rota

There is a regular church cleaning rota and volunteers are always welcome. Anyone wishing to be included on the rota should contact Audrey on 01234 708728.
Service May 8:  Cleaning Jill & Ruth / Flowers Ruth
Service May 22: Cleaning Pam & Sarah / Flowers Sarah

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Forthcoming Attractions

5th June	Dalton Hall& Fields	Dean Dog Day
Click here to visit Dean Dog Day 2010 web site
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11th June	Pertenhall Village Hall	Fete & Food Fair
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18th June	Shelton Farm	Shelton Shed Shuffle
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11th June	Melchbourne Village Hall	Melchbourne Safari Supper
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9th July	Village Hall Yelden	Yelden Summer Ball
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10th July	Melchbourne	Melchbourne Feast Day
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29th/30th July	AllHallows Dean	Art@Dean
Click here to visit Art@Dean 2010 web site
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10th September	Dalton Hall & Fields	Dean & Shelton Flower Show
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