TOWN CRIER November2004

Parish Church Services for Wolsingham & Thornley in November 2004

  Wolsingham Methodist Church : Sunday Service at 10.30am

St Thomas ’ RC Church: Saturday Mass at 6.30pm

Wolsingham Baptist Church : Sunday Service at 3.00pm

 From the Parish Register

 Holy Baptism

 Thomas Lawton 19 September at Thornley Parish Church

Spencer James Lawton 19 September at Thornley Parish Church

Holly Katelyn Beattie  3 October at Wolsingham Parish Church

Joe Bradley Tomlinson 3 October at Wolsingham Parish Church

Ethan James Coates 10 October at Wolsingham Parish Church

 Through faith you are all children of God in union with Christ Jesus. Baptised into union with him, you have put on Christ as a garment.

 Funerals

Jan (John) Idzikowsky 21 September at Durham Crematorium

 Rest eternal grant unto them, O Lord, and let light perpetual shine upon them.

Jan (John) Idzikowsky was born in Poland and served in the Polish Army and was a Prisoner of War in Germany . After the War he came to England and settled with a family at Todmorden. 23 years ago they all moved to Wolsingham. When Jan first arrived in England he worked on a farm but later became a coalman. His adopted family and friends describe him as a lovely kind gentleman. He loved gardening, music and football. Jan, who liked to be called John, will be sadly missed by family and his many friends.

 Mothers’ Union

The monthly meeting on Tuesday 2nd November will be at 1.30pm in the Church Hall, beginning with Holy Communion. The speaker will be Miss Jessie Pickering.

Church News in Short

Home Communions and Visits: If you know of anyone, including yourself, who would appreciate receiving communion at home, please contact the Rector on 527340. This is usually the first Wednesday in the month. Please keep the Rector informed of anyone who is ill or in hospital so that they can be included in his schedule of visits.

Wolsingham Parish Church Harvest Lunch & Auction was very successful, raising £456.93 for Church Funds. Thank you for your support.

Wine & Wisdom Evening: This was a great success with 17 teams taking part. The event was decided only by means of a tie-breaker question. It raised £350 for church funds. Many thanks to all who took part and especially those who made it happen.

Wolsingham ‘Pet Service’ had a great variety of pets. We all enjoyed the services and every animal live or stuffed had a blessing and a certificate to prove they had attended the service.

Wolsingham Community Club

 The Committee has now begun to put together a programme of events.  The speaker for the meeting on Wednesday, November 17^th will be Dr. Lumb, who will give a talk and slide show on his expedition to Everest.  David Hutchinson will give a photographic display on December 15^th, when there will also be mulled wine and mince pies. There will be a charge of £2 on this occasion.

A drop in for tea and chat has been organized on the 2^nd and 4^th Thursdays between 2.00 and 4.00pm in the Town Hall. Come along and join us for talks and demonstrations on all kinds of subjects.

The December outing to Dobbie’s Garden Centre for Christmas Shopping etc has yet to be finalized; full details later. Please ring 527099 or contact a committee member if you would like to reserve a place.

The first speaker in the New Year will be Sue Snowdon, on January 19^th 2005 .  The meetings will be held in the Town Hall, Wolsingham at 7 pm .  New members are very welcome to come along.

 Weardale Flower Club

The Christmas Open Night will take place on Tuesday 16^th November at 7.00pm at Wolsingham School and Community College. There will be a demonstration by John Dalton, entitled “All I want for Christmas”. Tickets (includes seasonal refreshments) are £6. A donation from the proceeds will be given to charity.

  Wolsingham Methodist Church

There will be a Coffee Morning on Saturday 6th November at 10.00am in Church. There will be a Circuit Fellowship meeting on 4th November at 7.30pm at Westgate and on 9th December the Fellowship meeting will be a carol singing evening in the Manse.

Wolsingham Baptist Church

 The speaker at the 3.00pm services this month will be:-

7 November     David Lennox

14 November   Ken Ridley

21 and 28 November Rev’d John Clayden.

 Royal British Legion Poppy Appeal

 There will be a Coffee Morning on Saturday 6th November at 10.00am in the Town Hall. There will be a Cake Stall and a Raffle. Please come along and give your support to this cause.

If you do not get your poppy via the house to house collection, they are available from some local shops and at the coffee morning.

 A NEW FONT

We are raising money at the moment for an additional font at Wolsingham Parish Church . It will be a rather substantial wooden font in keeping with the rest of the woodwork and will be situated at the front of the church on the South side. The existing font of course will remain and will be available for use, should anyone show a preference. The reason for the new font is a practical one; these days, Christenings are more like weddings with many guests, which make it impossible to get everyone round the font, so most of them don’t actually seen the baptism. Why am I telling you all this? Well I thought you might be interested and also to give you the opportunity to make a donation should you so wish.              MG

The Coffee Morning and Plant Sale organised by Mrs Tasker and Mrs Grant was a great success raising £220 towards the cost of the new font. Thank you all for your support.

Fair Trade

 The issue of Fair Trade is one that is steadily climbing up the agenda of public awareness. For many years, Christian Aid and other charities have been drawing attention to the problems of poverty in the Third World . The focus has moved away from food aid to supporting projects that will enable such communities to succeed on their own – the provision of clean water is one such example. But how can such agricultural communities thrive if the developed world protects its own agriculture and prevents the developing world from selling its goods on a level playing field.

Then there is the issue of paying such communities the rate for the job. There is no fairness for anyone if multi-national companies use the cheaper labour available in the developing world to maximize their profits so that we can buy goods at the lowest prices.

The transfer of call centre jobs to India and the collapse of textiles in the face of cheaper goods from abroad have made more people aware that there is an issue and that it could lead to unemployment in this country. Fair Trade also means supporting local producers. People who buy organic produce in the belief that they are helping the environment may not be doing so if the organic produce has been brought here by air – the environment suffers from the pollution caused by air travel. Better to buy local produce than organic if the latter is imported.

There is a growing movement in support of Fair Trade. Many supermarkets now carry some goods with the Fairtrade logo – the Co-operative Society is perhaps the leader in the field.

 To draw attention to the issues there are two events that will be of interest to all who are concerned with the idea that there should be greater fairness and what might be termed a moral dimension in what we buy.

 On Monday 15th November, there will be a talk by John Bell of the Iona Community entitled, “Taking sides in the Shopping Trolley”. This takes place in the Methodist Church , Dawson Street , Crook at 7.00pm . Admission is by ticket only ( these are free of charge); tickets can be obtained from Nigel Theobald, The Old Station, Fir Tree Grange, Howden le Wear, DL15 8BQ. Please include a stamped addressed envelop with your application. John Bell is a well known and respected speaker and you are advised to apply early for tickets.

The second event will be a Fes tive Fair. This will be at Dawson Street on the 15 November and will be open between 10.30am and 1.00pm and between 6.00pm and 7.00pm . There will also be an opportunity to buy after John Bell’s talk.

 This will be an opportunity to buy all your Fair Trade Essentials for Christmas. Traidcraft, the Gateshead based company, will have cards, decorations, gifts and foodstuffs on sale. There will also be a stall featuring the produce from Palcraft. This is a non-profit organization which markets handicrafts from Palestinian self help groups, which are mainly women’s organizations from the West Bank and Gaza .

 During the day, fairly traded refreshments will be served.

 If you are unable to attend, but would like a Traidcraft catalogue, please contact your local fair trader, Belinda Burke on 01388 762620.

 Traidcraft offer a wide range of products from around the world –food stuffs, gifts and decorations in a varity of materials. If you have nev er seen what they have to offer, you will be pleasantly surprised. There is a small Traidcraft shop in St Nicholas’, in Durham Market Place , which is well worth a visit.

There is a growing range of fairly traded products available at the Co-Op in Crook.

 Wolsingham and Thornley have chosen to be Fair Trade paris hes. When you are organizing a coffee morning or a social event, please consider seriously buying fair trade products. It is not just tea and coffee; there is a range of fair trade wines available. In this way we can play our part, however modest, in helping to promote an idea that many would see as central to being a Christian and living the life.

 News from St. Bartholomew’s Church.

Thornley Village .

Hi Everyone

Not so much to say this month. Everyone worked hard to make the Harvest Festival a success, even though less people attended this year. Thanks Trevor for your auctioning skills. As always, the food was delicious. A good time was had by all.

The Pet service was well attended by a variety of pets. They brought along their owners. There were four black Labradors ! two Border Collies, a German Shepherd, a Bichon Frise, two Bantie hens, a hamster in a plastic ball, a freshly laid hen egg called Cyber and a variety of soft toys. Well done Malcolm, you kept all your fingers.

 Jean Charlton is moving away from the village to live in a flat near her family. She has lived here over 30 years. Jean and her late husband Eddie always played an active part in village life and supported all that was going on. Jean you are a real lady, kind, generous and always so happy and cheerful.  We will miss you loads. It goes without saying that we wish you the best of everything in your new home and will think of you often. The village will not be the same without you. Take care of yourself and keep in touch.

Dates for your diary:

Remembrance Sunday;  November 14^th.

Christmas Fayre; 27^th Sept:

Christingle: 28^th Nov:

Tree of Lights; 5^th Dec:

Carol Service; 17^th Dec.

Remember:-

Holy Communion: Sundays 9:30am .

Family Service: First Sunday in month.

Take care. Bye for now.  

Geraldine - 01388 730012.