Parish of Esher's Newsletter: Edition 14 -
Summer 2019
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From the Editor
We are in the middle of a period of great change, both within our Parish and the wider community, with many bumps and hurdles likely along the way.
Whilst we are focused on the, hopeful, appointment of our new Rector in the near future it is also time to think about the major changes that many of the young people in Esher will be going through in the next few months. It is the end of the school year and they may be leaving junior school to move to senior school, moving from senior school to college or from college to university. All major steps that can bring their own anxieties and problems - not least for the parents!
We pray that everyone in our community has a good summer, returning refreshed in the autumn, with a new Rector to greet them.
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A sad time
It is with very great sadness that we announce that our churchwarden Beverley Eastwood-Taylor has recently passed away.
The funeral will take place at Christ Church on Monday 1 July at 12.15pm and will be led by Revd Andrew Cowie with the cremation at Kingston Crematorium at 1.40pm.
Beverley had battled her cancer courageously, never letting it stop her doing the things she wanted to do. She will be greatly missed by all in the Parish who knew her. As well as being a long-standing member of our congregation, she also supported and worked with the Royal British Legion.
We ask that you remember Beverley and her family in our prayers, safe in the knowledge that she is in the care of our Lord.
(Beverley will be remembered in a full obituary in the next issue of InSpire. If you have any stories or comments you would like included please let the Parish Office know.)
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The Parish Profile
from Jane Tyrrell
As you are all aware, we have spent many weeks compiling and writing our Parish Profile. It was approved by the PCC at the beginning of May and, at time of writing, is now winging its way to the Diocese. Once the advertisement for a new Rector is posted in the Church Times, any interested party can request to see a copy from the Diocese.
The aim of the Profile is to present us as a Parish, who we are, what we do and what we aim to do moving forward. Our Profile also includes information and pictures of the various activities which take place in our two churches; it is only when you put it all together that you realise just how much we achieve with a very strong core of dedicated volunteers.
The extract below is from our welcome; it summarises the values and vision of our church community:
Our two churches, whilst distinct from each other with their own individual identities, share a common heritage built on tradition. This is especially true of our style of services and, in Christ Church, our emphasis on choral music. We are inclusive and open-minded, welcoming all who come through our doors. We care for others, we reach out to serve the wider community and we give generously of our time, talents and money.
Whilst valuing our traditions and our core values, we recognise that in order to attract more families and young people, there is a need to provide for those who may appreciate a more contemporary style of worship. The challenge for any new incumbent will be to honour and nurture our traditions, whilst moving forward and developing areas which will enable us to fulfil our vision of a church which is attractive to all, and serves the needs of everyone in our Parish.
The second extract is from our Statement of Needs; it is the product of ideas from the PCC Vision Day, and summarises what we are seeking in our new Rector. We have set the bar high, but it is so important we attract the person who is a good fit with our Parish, who can work with us and help us to achieve our vision:
We are looking for a new Rector who will bring experience and gifting to help us with:
Leadership – someone who is able to:
- Negotiate with and manage people well
- Make decisions and lead with confidence
- Encourage and enable team building within our churches
- Manage change effectively and unify a diversity of views; build on the “green shoots” that have started to appear
- Communicate competently in day to day work in the Parish
- Embrace, encourage and develop the gifts in our community; celebrate our volunteers
Discipleship and Prayer – someone who is able to:
- Help us to further develop our discipleship and the prayer life of the church
- Engage and appeal to a wide range of people through preaching and teaching, feeding our desire for learning and spiritual growth
Growth – someone who is able to:
- Accept and welcome all who enter our churches
- Honour, respect and nurture our traditions, whilst embracing and developing different styles of worship in order to encourage new Christians in our community to come to Church
- Enable us to build new relationships with our wider community; introduce and develop new community initiatives
- Guide us in reviewing and building our Stewardship so we can grow as a church
I sincerely hope that by the time this article is published, we will have attracted a number of potential candidates for interview on July 10/11.
I pray that one will be inspired and guided to find their way to our Parish.
(Reference copies of the Parish Profile are available in both Christ Church and West End churches.)
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News from West End
The congregation at St George’s continues to thrive during the interregnum. Our search for a new Rector is now well underway – the post has been advertised and we are now hoping and praying that we will be welcoming our new Rector before the end of 2019.
Easter fell late this year, so the daffodils that usually adorn the church inside and out were no more. We are always so pleased to see the flowers return after Lent - and our flower arrangers, as usual, created some lovely displays to complement the Easter Garden.
Interestingly, it had been drawn to our attention that a church in Yorkshire had created their Easter Garden outside – enabling any passers by to stop and enjoy. We plan next year to try this – and hope that it all stays intact! Wait and see.
We mentioned last time that Andrea and Stephanie had planted about 30 azaleas in the garden. If you’ve managed to walk around the garden you will have seen the beautiful display of brightly coloured flowers brightening up the dark corner under the oak tree.
At the end of our Sunday service on 26 th May we had a surprise visit from Rick Fancett. He presented us with an original watercolour of St George’s called “The Little Church, West End, Esher”, which had been painted by is father Gerry in 1993. We were delighted with this unexpected gift which we will display prominently in the church. Our grateful thanks to the Fancett family.
Pet Service - 4pm Sunday 22nd September. Please make a note in your diary now for this really fun event. By popular demand it is now the 12 th year – and we welcome everyone (with or without pets!). We always have a short talk by a guest speaker from a local animal charity, and the collection for them usually raises about £70. Please do join us.
Andrea Lindow and Bridget Williams
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Forthcoming Events
West End Village Show - Saturday 24th August 2019
As you all know the West End Village Show has been our major fundraising event at West End for many years. We originally had a stall on the green selling a few cakes. We then moved into the church (both for weather and practical purposes) and somehow expanded our wares to include 5 times as many cakes – a bread stall (thanks to David) - and a very successful raffle.
More recently – 3 years ago – our amazing team, led by Helen, took over the Village Hall teas from the WI. Their presentation of the hall and outside seating area looks so pretty and inviting, and together with the wonderful cream teas and cakes, always proves to be a great success.
Together, our two teams have only been able to make this such a profitable enterprise because of your commitment to help with cakes, scones, bread, biscuits and anything else you wanted to bake! Needless to say, we are now asking you again to help make 2019 an even bigger success. What you can do is any, or several of the following:
- Bake – for both the Village Hall Teas AND the Cake Stall – Cakes, Scones, Biscuits
- Volunteer – Village Hall Teas (See Helen Coulson for details):
- Setting Up
- Welcoming
- Serving
- Washing Up
- Clearing Tables
- Clearing and cleaning up at the end!
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- Preserves – NEW THIS YEAR – We plan also in St George’s to sell this year home made marmalade and jams (no pickles this time). So please start jamming ASAP!
We will be making announcements nearer the time, and handing out the usual paper plates with instructions about what is needed and where to take them. Watch this space!
As always – thank you in advance – your church needs your support and we do appreciate it!
Andrea, Bridget and Helen
(Please contact the Parish Office if you can help)
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Our young parishioners
For this edition our Youth Worker focuses on the Chaplaincy work in Esher High School. It really has been a very busy few months and there is much to share:
Easter seems like a very long time ago now but just before the Easter holidays the whole school visited the church, year group by year group, for their annual Easter celebration services. I was joined by youth workers from St. Mary’s Molesey and Holy Trinity Claygate to present a time of reflection where we considered the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross.
During this term I have been involved in teaching the Year 10 groups about Christian marriage. To give them a fuller understanding and experience of what this is like we have been bringing them down to the church and conducting a brief (and of course invalid) wedding service involving the students as bride groom, best man and numerous other roles!
A wedding dress was purchased from a local charity shop and the happy couple have even been giving and receiving (Haribo) rings! The students have really enjoyed this opportunity to see what a church wedding looks like, and acting out the roles has really brought it to life for them.
Our weekly lunch club continues to run, once again with the support of other local youth workers. It has been a great opportunity to get alongside students in a relaxed and informal setting and we already have a committed group of regulars we see most weeks. The aim is to start feeding these regulars into the after-school Christian Union meeting which runs on Tuesdays.
By far though the most encouraging recent event has been the Prayer Space which ran between 17th-21st June. A classroom was given over for the week to be used as a place where students could engage in a number of different prayer activities during their usual RE lessons.
Activities included a bubble tube where they write prayers on post-it notes and stick them on, making a prayer chain to pray for victims of human trafficking, drawing round their hands to acknowledge the people in their life who have helped them and an empty chair to reflect on those that they have lost from their lives.
 
This is the first time anything like this has taken place in the school and the vast majority of students engaged fully with the activities. Feedback has been positive and we plan to run again next year…but for two weeks instead of one!
Please do continue to pray for the high school and all the staff and students particularly as we move through the exam season and on to the end of term.
Thank you!
Dave Whymark
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Desert Island Hymns
Our stranded parishioner this month is our very own Parish Administrator, Melanie Williams.
I have worshipped and been associated with Christ Church since about 2006 and have been the Parish Administrator since October 2013.
My first choice and the one I remember most from school has to be ‘Jerusalem’.
I attended several schools in London but the one with the most memories from that time is Granard School in Putney where we lived in army flats. The boxer, Henry Cooper, was visiting the school for an award's ceremony so all pupils had to learn the words of ‘Jerusalem' off by heart!
Shortly afterwards we emigrated to Australia and my class gave me a glossy picture book about England that all my classmates signed. The book had the famous speech ‘this sceptered isle’ from Shakespeare’s Richard II. Even then I found it very poignant! I had a childhood interest in British history so before we left for Australia my Father and I spent a few days seeing all the famous sites in London.
So the confluence of all of the above has made me at heart quite patriotic and I have remained quietly so ever since. I am also dangerously sentimental so hearing ‘Jerusalem' always tugs at the heart strings!
My second choice is ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’, a hymn I have come to love more recently.
I was, like many, shocked and very saddened by the death of Princess Diana. At the time we lived in Weston Green and when her death was announced Simon and I attended Sunday service at All Saints. It was a very emotional service. At the time I worked for HMSO at the Cabinet Office in Westminster as a graphic designer. I was surrounded by very tangible public grief everywhere.
Our studio was asked to replicate the Westminster Abbey order of service for printing by HMSO and distributing to key UK cities where the service was being shown on big screens. It was all very last minute and we had to work late the night before the funeral. I had to take the artwork in a cab to the Parliamentary Press in SE1 so they could print overnight. It was a long and tiring day!
The next day, the day of the funeral, Simon and I were guests at a wedding in Wiltshire. I remember fighting back the tears listening to the service on the radio during the car journey. It was an emotional day but at least the roads were empty!
The funeral service was absolutely wonderful. Every element, every part of it was moving, from Charles Spencer’s eulogy to Elton John’s rewritten 'Candle in the Wind’. I was particularly taken with the hymn ‘I Vow to Thee, My Country’ which I hadn’t realised was Diana’s favourite. Again the events of the time and the patriotic nature of the hymn always gets the emotions going when I hear it!
I had to think a bit about my third choice hymn. I think it should be ‘Lord of the Dance’.
I am aware that it is hymn that is frowned on my some. However it’s just such an unusual hymn - just so different to so many - that I remember singing during school assemblies. Oddly it has it’s origins in Indian and American Shaker culture - both of which I have a soft spot for - but that’s another story or two!
In true ‘Desert Island’ fashion as well as the Bible and the complete works of Shakespeare,
I have chosen the ‘Lord of the Rings’. I first read it whilst studying for exams and I’m a big fan of Tolkien. It’s a nice long book that can be read, and read again and it will always keep me enthralled.
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Vacancy in our parish
Treasurer - After three years’ service Duncan Clerkin is stepping down. We are very grateful for Duncan’s service and his careful stewardship of our finances. We are now looking for a volunteer to become our new treasurer, carry on the excellent work Duncan has undertaken and focus on the strategic financial management working closely with our bookkeeper, Valerie Ahern. Duncan is happy to talk to anyone who might be interested in this position and can be contacted through the Parish Office.
Please contact Sandra Argent, our Churchwarden, or the Parish Office for details of this post.
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