[This page contains a brief outline of events in May 2008 onwards; news on recent events; some cuttings from local newspapers about church issues; and, a report on a week at Soli House, Stratford upon Avon.]

In and around the Church Hall, Beaudesert Lane, 10.30 a.m. to 12 noon on May Day Bank Holiday Monday 5th May. Home-made cakes, toys, plants, books, bric-a-brac, as new clothes, raffle and refreshments. In aid of Church Charities and Church Funds. Any enquiries to 794308.

Once again, we appeal to the people of Henley to help address some of the injustices in the world by giving your time as a collector or putting money in the envelope provided; an authorised collector will call on you during the week starting 11th May.

The money you kindly donate will help some of the poorest communities in the world to a better future. If you miss your collector, envelopes can be dropped off at any of the churches in Henley or put through the door of 114 High Street.

We always need volunteers; if you are willing to give a few hours during 11th-17th May, please call Lucy Lunt on 794873. Thank you for your support.

CHRISTIAN AID PLOUGHMAN’S LUNCH for town appeal at the Baptist Church Hall on Saturday 31st May 12.30 p.m. Everyone welcome.

THE CHURCH ARMY states that it is “Reaching people where they are” and is “Sharing faith through words and action”. They are a society of evangelists who proclaim the love of God and are linked to the Anglican church but working in partnership alongside other Christians. The Church Army is one of the organisations given financial support by the congregation at St. John’s. It has a reputation for reaching vulnerable and needy people where they are. Their staff respond to the call of Jesus Christ to minister to the poor and marginalized in our society.

A concert will be held in St. John’s Church on Saturday 28th June. All proceeds in aid of the church charities – St. Basils, Leprosy Mission, SAMS and the Church Army. Tickets £7 adults and £4 children to include a glass of wine. Further information from Anita Currie or Andrea Gardner 792439.

Sunday Services, all at 11.00 a.m. are: 4th – Revd. Philip Jackson; 1th – Mr. Telfryn Pritchard; 18th – Revd. Caroline Homan (Sacrament); 25th – Revd. Philip Jackson.

Tuesday 6th May is our annual Resolutions meeting which should provide some interesting discussion in the Memorial Hall from 7.30 p.m. Members please refer to your March copy of WI Life for the resolutions. Afterwards, light refreshments will be served for social time.

HENLEY FLOWER CLUB

Tuesday 13th May – Members’ Evening. A fun workshop “Back to Basics”. We meet in the Memorial Hall at 7.30 p.m. Visitors are welcome (£3)

HENLEY WILDLIFE SOCIETY

Alban Wincott is the speaker on Tuesday 20th May from 7.45 p.m. in the Baptist Church Hall. As a volunteer at Brandon Marsh, he will be showing a DVD called “Brandon Marsh: A Reserve for all Seasons” as well as his presentation “Wildlife through a Camera Lens”. Visitors are always welcome (£1).

ULLENHALL GARDENING CLUB

A visit to Kew Gardens is planned for Saturday 19th July by coach from Henley and Ullenhall. Cost is £30 which includes coach fare and admission to the gardens. Please contact Diane Bayley on 01789 488209 if you would like to join our very friendly group on this day visit.

G & S IN TANWORTH 18TH & 19TH July 2008

The “Pirates” are coming to Tanworth and tenors and basses are invited to meet in Tanworth Village Hall on Tuesday 20th and 27th May at 7.45 p.m.

Full chorus rehearsals start on Tuesday 3rd June and run through to the essential final one on 15th July. New singers welcome.

Details of tickets sales will follow. Enquiries re singing, telephone Wendy Dillon 742464.

ITEMS for June NEWSLETTER

Items for June Newsletter in writing marked “Parish Newsletter” to: Diane Bayley, 6 Nightingale Close, Great Alne, B49 6PE Email: henleyparishnews@btinternet.com by Friday 16th May, at the latest.

CYCLE MARATHON SUCCESS

Four members of St. John’s church in Henley in Arden have returned triumphant after successfully completing a charity cycle ride from John O Groats to Lands End.

Robin Rumbles, Mel Davies, Paul Kershaw and Haydn Davies cycled in relays covering the 900 mile journey in six days after spending some 66 hours in the saddle. With an average speed of just over 13 mph, the four rode around 140 miles each day.

Robin Rumbles said “It’s very satisfying to have completed this within the time parameters we set and to come through unharmed. There were some very tough sections to get through, especially in Devon and Cornwall when the end seemed to be in sight. We have been well supported and it looks as if we have raised well over £3,000 which will be shared between The Shakespeare Hospice in Stratford upon Avon and St. Basils Centre for young homeless in Birmingham.”

Communion at St John’s

“All church is good” said young Jose, the Mayan gardener at the nearby hotel. Jose, born in Belize, is a “Mestizo” – a person of mixed European (probably Spanish) and non-European (possibly Mayan) ancestry. His family escaped years ago from the violent country of El Salvador. He was interested to hear that a small town like Henley (although ten times the size of the local village) could have four different churches. He was also interested to learn that my own church was, like the one I was about to visit, called St John’s. Jose’s own church is the Roman Catholic one, several miles away.

The Episcopal Anglican Memorial Church of St John in the village of Placencia, Belize, where our daughter Ginny lives with husband John and new baby Erica, is a smart hexagonal wooden structure built on legs, painted white outside and fitted out inside with the beautiful local hardwoods. Before the service the doors on three sides are flung open, so it’s open to “whosoever will”!

I reported for the service of Holy Eucharist at 8.00 am on Sunday and on arrival was warmly welcomed by the minister, Father Gerry Jones, an American or Canadian I think.

“Ah yes,” he said with a twinkle, “but which St John?”

“John the Baptist,” I replied.

“Same as ours, then.”

There was one other member of the congregation, a young local man. Just before the service started we were joined by a young woman and her little boy. Casting his eye over the four of us, the minister remarked, “we’re a pretty sparse crowd today”, observing that perhaps the Lobster Festival on the previous day might have something to do with it.

The service was conducted from the West Indian version of the Anglican prayer book and was very formal and quite “high”, but with many periods of reflection. The Minister’s sermon grasped our attention: it was built around one of the readings, from the book of Job. He used the fact that we had experienced a series of violent “tropical waves” – short, sharp storms with torrential rain – in the last few days – to illustrate how God may use the stormy spells in our lives to prove us and to test our resolve and our faith. “God may put an oak tree where the wind will blow,” he said. After communion we all received a personal blessing from the Minister.

Matthew 18.20: “…Where two or three are come together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”.

And He was.

Ray Holding

CAROLS

Amanda Lopes has undertaken a fair bit of research into the background of a number of the well known carols – here’s a few examples.

Hark the herald angels sing

This is a great example of what can be achieved by inspired team work. All the smarty pants among you will already know the tune was written by Mendelssohn, but did you know it was written to celebrate the 400th anniversary of printing? Or that Mendelssohn didn’t want it to have religious words?

Originally "Hark! how all the welkin rings, Glory to the King of Kings," (hardly a snappy title…) the word are by Charles Wesley. A chap called William H. Cummings adapted the tune, leaving out the third line, to make it fit the Wesley text. It was first published in 1739, with no less than ten verses. Fourteen years later, the evangelist George Whitefield printed it with the much more comfortable opening two lines.

Once in Royal David’s City

Cecil Frances Humphreys Alexander translated the words to this carol into English. Guess what? She was a girl!

She was born in 1818, in County Wicklow Ireland. In 1848, she published ‘Hymns for Little Children’, which ran to 100 editions. Cecil and her sister established a school for the deaf. Cecil founded a Girls' Friendly Society in Londonderry, and was known for caring and ministering to the sick and the poor, regardless of their creed. Cecil also translated into English All things bright and beautiful, There is a green hill far away, and the Rector’s favourite, St Patrick’s Breast Plate.

You’ve heard them say “Behind every good man there is a good woman”? Well this clearly applies to Rev. William Alexander. Cecil married him in 1850. He later became archbishop of Armagh and Primate of all Ireland.

O Little Town of Bethlehem

In 1865, Phillips Brooks travelled abroad for a year, mainly to visit the Holy Land. On December 24, he went from Jerusalem to Bethlehem on horseback and by nightfall he was on the field where the shepherds saw and heard the heavenly hosts. He attended the Church of the Nativity from ten o'clock until three o'clock the following morning. After this quite stunning experience, he wrote this to his Sunday School children: " I remember especially on Christmas Eve, when I was standing on the old church in Bethlehem, close to the spot where Jesus was born, when the whole church was ringing hour after hour with the splendid hymns of praise to God, how again and again it seemed as if I could hear voices that I knew well, telling each other of the 'Wonderful Night' of the Saviour’s birth, as I had heard them a year before." Two years later when he was 32 years old, he wrote down the words to "O Little Town of Bethlehem." It was first sung at a Sunday School Christmas service in his church. So you Sunday school kids, just remember every time you hear this carol, you lot inspired it!

See amid the winter’s snow

I have to admit I researched this carol, because it is one of the few which I love, but did not learn in childhood. I discovered it during a children’s service on Christmas Eve, in St Johns. I particularly enjoy the lusty chorus.

It was translated by Edward Caswall, one of the greatest translators of hymns, who was born on July 15, 1814, almost two hundred years ago. When he was 35, his wife died of cholera. Caswell was distraught and inspired to enter the Oratory of St. Philip Neri at Edgbaston, Birmingham (local lad!), joining Dr. John Henry Newman, whose writings had influenced his decision to become a catholic. He spent the rest of his life at the oratory, focusing on his clerical duties, serving the poor and writing his devotional materials, hymns and translations, including this carol. Caswall died on January 2, 1878.

Silent night

As Blue Peter fans of a certain age will know, the story of the writing of "Silent Night" is among the most interesting of stories about hymns. During the Christmas of 1818, the organ was not working in St. Nikolas Church, Oberndorf, in the Austrian Alps. The assistant parish priest, Joseph Mohr, wrote a new hymn for the service which the parish organist, Franz Gruber, set to music that afternoon and played for the service that evening on his guitar. The two sang it as a duet, with the choir repeating the last two lines in four part harmony. The carol became well known in the region. Karl Mauracher of Zillerthal, an organ repair man, got a copy of the hymn and took it with him wherever he went, calling it a Tyrolian folk song. A musician from Dresden heard some glove makers from Zillerthal, the Strassers brothers, singing it in 1832 and copied it down and took it to Berlin. Later it was sung by another touring musical group to the Czar of Russia, Queen Victoria, Napoleon III, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, which guaranteed its fame.

O come O come Emmanuel

John Mason Neale, one of the most important Greek and Latin translators, was born in London on January 24, 1818. Neale could read, write and think in 21 languages and was especially conversant in Latin and Greek. He was man of "scrupulously delicate and honourable character". Neale translated many hymns from the ancient and medieval periods. He should have had a rapidly ascending career, but he had high church views, which kept him to obscure and low paying positions throughout the duration of his service. Soon after assuming his first incumbency in Sussex, chronic lung disease took hold and he had to relocate to the Madeira Islands off the northwest coast of Africa; but there he found a wonderful library, which became a source for later books he wrote. He returned to England and spent nearly half his life, where he died, at the age of only 48, in the position of warden of a refuge for destitute old men in East Grinstead, on a salary of £27 a year. Over the course of a stunted career and short life, he established the Sisterhood of St. Margaret to minister to the poor, sick and needy. From this work grew an orphanage, a middle class school for girls and a house of refuge for prostitutes.

The antiphons, known as the "O antiphons," on which the carol is based, date back to the ninth century and possibly earlier. They were sung at Vespers, before and after the Magnificat, from December 17 to 23. Each verse addressed the Messiah with one of his titles. Some time after the 9th century, an unknown author collected the antiphons into Latin verse. The earliest known source of that work was the Appendix of Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum, of 1710. It was from this work that Neale produced his translation. Neale's translation was first printed in Neale's “Hymni Ecclesiae” in 1851

Good King Wenceslas

The words to the carol "Good King Wenceslas" were written by John Mason Neale and published in 1853. The music originates in Finland 300 years earlier. This Christmas carol is unusual as there is no reference in the lyrics to the nativity. Good King Wenceslas was the king of Bohemia in the 10th century. He was a Catholic, martyred following his assassination by his brother Boleslaw and his supporters. His Saint’s Day is September 28th, and he is the Patron Saint of the Czech Republic. St. Stephen’s feast day was celebrated on 26th December which is why this song is sung as a Christmas carol.

Away in a manger

Probably from the German-American communities in the 19th century, this lovely children's carol was first found in the Little Children's Book for Schools and Families in 1885, published by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in North America. It next appeared in J. R. Murray's “Dainty Songs for Little Lads and Lasses”, in 1887. It has been attributed to Martin Luther, who famously began the reformation when he nailed his theses to the door of Gutenburg church. J.R.Murray is most likely the composer of the tune, but his attribution of the carol to Martin Luther as "Luther's cradle hymn" pointed attention away from him and toward Luther.

O come all ye faithful

Much research has been done to place the origin of the hymn. Many authorities feel it is from the 17th or 18th century and of French or German authorship. Even though it was written in Latin, it may even be of English origin. It was very popular in France and may have originated there and brought to England. It has also been attributed to St. Bonaventura, a scholar of the 13th century, but was never found in any of his works.

Most recently the hymn and the tune have been attributed to John Francis Wade. The hymn has been translated into at least 125 languages and is regarded as one of the most popular of all Christmas hymns.

In the bleak midwinter

Christina Rossetti came from a well known literary and artistic family. Her father, Gabriele Rossetti, in political exile in England, was a professor of Italian at King’s College in London. Her brothers Dante Gabriel and William Michael were among the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, which gave birth to the 19th Century English art movement of the same name. The Pre-Raphaelites, for whom Christina was a frequent model, also included Edward Burne-Jones, William Holman Hunt, Ford Madox Brown, John Everett Millais, William Morris, John Ruskin and James McNeill Whistler. Her family friends included Charles Dodgson (better known by his pseudonym Lewis Carroll), author of Alice in Wonderland.

Gustav Holst (Gustavus Theodor von Holst) wrote the tune. Despite his german name, he came from Cheltenham. Holst is most famous for his orchestral suite, The Planets. His music was influenced by Indian spiritualism and English folk tunes, and is well known for unconventional use of metre and haunting melodies.

While Shepherds watched

The carol While Shepherds Watched dates back to 1703. The words were written by Nahum Tate, who was the Poet Laureate in the reign of Queen Anne, and Nicholas Brady. Only the Psalms of David were sung in the Anglican Church prior to that time. Tate and Brady were the first to paraphrase the psalms for singing in rhyme, which then became distinctive of their work. The familiar melody used for While Shepherds Watched was taken from "Siroe," an opera by George Frederick Handel.

The Holly and the Ivy

The version we of the Holly and the Ivy that we are familiar with today was first published by Cecil Sharp. The Holly and the Ivy is thought to have Pagan origins and could therefore date back over 1000 years. It is most unusual for a carol like the Holly and the Ivy to have survived over the years especially during the stern protestant period of the 17th century.

The Holly and the Ivy have always been taken indoors during the winter, the hope being that the occupants would survive difficult conditions, just like the hardy Holly and the Ivy. The colours of the Holly and Ivy, green and red are traditionally associated with Christmas. The author and composer of the Holly and the Ivy are unknown.

Communion at St John’s

“All church is good” said young Jose, the Mayan gardener at the nearby hotel. Jose, born in Belize, is a “Mestizo” – a person of mixed European (probably Spanish) and non-European (possibly Mayan) ancestry. His family escaped years ago from the violent country of El Salvador. He was interested to hear that a small town like Henley (although ten times the size of the local village) could have four different churches. He was also interested to learn that my own church was, like the one I was about to visit, called St John’s. Jose’s own church is the Roman Catholic one, several miles away.

The Episcopal Anglican Memorial Church of St John in the village of Placencia, Belize, where our daughter Ginny lives with husband John and new baby Erica, is a smart hexagonal wooden structure built on legs, painted white outside and fitted out inside with the beautiful local hardwoods. Before the service the doors on three sides are flung open, so it’s open to “whosoever will”!

I reported for the service of Holy Eucharist at 8.00 am on Sunday and on arrival was warmly welcomed by the minister, Father Gerry Jones, an American or Canadian I think.

“Ah yes,” he said with a twinkle, “but which St John?”

“John the Baptist,” I replied.

“Same as ours, then.”

There was one other member of the congregation, a young local man. Just before the service started we were joined by a young woman and her little boy. Casting his eye over the four of us, the minister remarked, “we’re a pretty sparse crowd today”, observing that perhaps the Lobster Festival on the previous day might have something to do with it.

The service was conducted from the West Indian version of the Anglican prayer book and was very formal and quite “high”, but with many periods of reflection. The Minister’s sermon grasped our attention: it was built around one of the readings, from the book of Job. He used the fact that we had experienced a series of violent “tropical waves” – short, sharp storms with torrential rain – in the last few days – to illustrate how God may use the stormy spells in our lives to prove us and to test our resolve and our faith. “God may put an oak tree where the wind will blow,” he said. After communion we all received a personal blessing from the Minister.

Matthew 18.20: “…Where two or three are come together in my name, there am I in the midst of them”.

And He was.

Ray Holding