Barnes in Common

the magazine of Churches Together in Barnes
November/December 2005

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Church News

Baptist Church   |   Holy Trinity   |   Methodist Church
St Mary's   |   St Michael's   |   St Osmund's

Baptist Church

October was a busy month. We hosted a number of meetings and services as well as continuing with the Alpha Course. Fellow Baptists gathered for a Celebration service on 23rd and fellow ecumenists for the One World Week service on 30th (an article to appear in the next edition of BiC). Roof repairs have been carried out by David Skaife and the Church given a good pre-Advent clean. On 20 November is our Thanksgiving Day when members of the fellowship make a special financial gift, a 'Thanks Offering' to the Lord, to help support our mission in carrying out His commission (Matt 28:19-20). Details of our Christmas Services are given on page 8. Finally, a poem from one of our fellowship in response to a suggestion that we 'try and write down what Jesus means to us'.

Jesus to me is the sun on my face,
The warmth, the light, a glow.
Jesus to me is this room or this space,
That's with me wherever I go.
Jesus to me is the air that I breathe,
The wind that softly blows.
                                J. M.Worry

Graham Pulham

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Holy Trinity

Holy Trinity has flourished despite being without a leader since July.

In early August we lost a long-standing member of our congreg-ation when John Levy passed away. We give thanks that Revd Godfrey Holdstock was able to return to take the funeral service, which was well attended by friends, family and members of the Barnes Team Ministry. Our prayers and thoughts are with Hazel.

We have had lots of activity with builders at the Vicarage in preparation for its new tenants, The Revd Jean Boulton-Reynolds with Denis and the family. Her Licensing is to take place on 22 November at 7.30pm.

The outside of the Church Hall has also had a facelift and is looking brighter and welcoming.

Sunday School has resumed and is going well under the new rota system - well done Anne Paterson. Also thank you to Hazel, Jill, Caroline, Fatima, and Valerie.

The Harvest Festival and Lunch went well despite some last minute hitches with Edwina being taken into hospital – we do hope this will not be a long stay. Everybody pulled together and got things done. Special thanks to Lil Richmond and Fatima Cutajar for all their hard work in the kitchen. As we are coming to the end of our short interregnum we give special thanks to the Church Wardens and the Barnes Team Ministry.

Rose Pearce PCC Secretary, Acting Administrator

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Methodist Church

We are now well and truly installed in our newly redesigned church, and the huge potential of the building is becoming apparent. We are delighted to welcome lots of people into our community space, and of course to our worship. Whenever the building is open there is also the possibility of coming to spend a few minutes of peace and quiet in the chapel, so why not take advantage of that in the midst of a busy day?

As we look forward to Christmas, we will of course be doing 'what we always do' – the Toy Service (on December 4), when toys are brought to be given to those who have so little while we have so much. Then there are Carols on December 18, Midnight Communion with its mystery and wonder at 11.30pm on Christmas Eve, and of course Christmas Day itself for the whole family at 10.30am. If you are not going elsewhere, please join us for any or all of these services.

They are our 'traditions' and as such very special. But this year the familiar will be set in a new context. We hope it will move us on in our understanding of the meaning of Christmas. And actually of course this is a kind of parable of what happens in the rest of life. The familiar things are always set in a changing world. It's how life is. So for us it is good that our church life reflects that, and offers us ways to cope with it.

Veronica Faulks

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St Mary's

This year we celebrate the tenth anniversary of The Friends of St Mary's which was founded in 1995 by Lady White as an organisation to utilise the potential of the rebuilt St Mary's, to assist in preserving and enhancing the building and to bring people into the church who would not normally come. In the last decade, The Friends have organised events such as a Valuation Day, a pair of concerts of music by composers who lived in Barnes, an art exhibition, and a baptismal reunion, amongst many other events and concerts. Two weeks ago, to celebrate the anniversary, we repeated one of the inaugural events of 10 years ago - a Stars of Barnes evening. Hosted by Gyles Brandreth, who kept the proceedings moving at a swift rate with his hilarious and slightly risqué wit, the evening featured cameos by Isla Blair, Laura Mayhew, Kevin O'Brien and Jan Ravens, amongst others. It was a great evening, enjoyed by a packed house and reminded us of the success of The Friends, not just as an organisation that has raised tens of thousands of pounds for the church, but also as a provider of much fun for St Mary's regulars and for many hundreds of others.

Ross Collins

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St Michael's Church

The foundations of our new
St Michael's Centre have now been laid, so in the next few months the building itself will start to appear. There was some difficulty in finding an appropriate red brick that would match the Victorian colour. However a special brick was created called "St Michael's Mix"!

Our Patronal Festival was a great success, with Canon Lucy Winkett from St Paul's Cathedral preaching on the conflict between good and evil.

Last month some of us attended a conference on healing at Southwark Cathedral. There was a variety of workshops, from introducing a healing ministry into your church to looking at the place of confession. Well over 250 attended this conference which shows how important this ministry has become in the Church over the last few decades.

Due to the road around the Church being resurfaced and the building work, our Wednesday Group who meet regularly for the Mass followed by lunch have been moved from the Church to the Vicarage and are now having hospitality from others. They are also off to see Swan Lake at Richmond Theatre. If you would like to experience an informal Eucharist followed by lunch find out more and come along.

Paul Holland

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St Osmund's Church

We welcomed Father Romano Ouma who joined us for the month of August from the Diocese of Gula in Uganda. During his stay with us he celebrated his 20th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood on Wednesday 31 August 2005.
A particularly moving celebration in August was the funeral of Brian Rea. Brian taught at St Elizabeth's Primary School in Richmond. Of his four sons, two are at the London Oratory school and two at St. Osmund's. As many friends were away a memorial Mass was celebrated on October 14.

On Sunday October 16 we had a Mass and blessing for the sick and housebound.

The local council is keen to establish a Catholic secondary school in the Borough of Richmond. Letters to our local Member of Parliament, Susan Kramer, and/or the Education Secretary, Ruth Kelly, would be greatly appreciated.

Talks about the faith for those wondering about joining the fold of the Catholic Church are being held at St Osmund's Church on Tuesdays at 7pm.

Father Dan Cashman SMA joined us from Cork in mid-September for a short break. After many years of missionary work in Tanzania he is now the superior of a house for retired members of the Society of African Missions.

Fiona Keen

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