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The Parish of Horndon,Knowing and sharing the love of Jesus in the Church and community. |
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We have now held an afterschool Messy Church in each of the three primary schools this term, which have been a real success, with the children exploring a religious theme and making something to help them understand it and a shared meal.
The most recent was on Monday 12th November in Horndon where the children were looking at ‘Christ is The Light’ as the theme and made decorated jam jar lanterns and candle images.
The evening of Saturday 24th November was a treat for those with love of choir singing when Thurrock & Havering Male Voice Choir held a concert in Horndon Church, who were joined by Sonia Ward adding her vocal talents to the proceedings.
The evening was an enjoyable and resounding success raising about £700 for Horndon Church.
Rector’s Reflections
We have just celebrated Harvest in all three parishes and I would like to thank all those who worked so hard and imaginatively to decorate our Churches. St Mary’s Church, the Church of St Peter and St Paul and St Giles and All Saints Church all looked lovely; each completely different but the three reflecting the glory of God’s creation and the abundance of his provision for us.
Our Harvest reading this year was from Matthew’s Gospel, Chapter 6, verses 25-33, the passage in the Bible which tells us not to worry about what we wear or eat or drink. During Harvest, not only have we been thanking God for what we have received, but we have been reflecting upon our part in God’s purpose to ensure that our world’s resources are shared fairly so that no one goes without and so that no one needs to worry about having their needs met.
Most of us are fortunate enough to have warm homes, clean water and nutritious food, but we are only too aware that there are people not far away from us who will have no meal today. A group of ministers in Thurrock have met recently to consider how the churches might help those who are currently without a home. Our news has highlighted the plight of people affected by the devastation of the recent earthquake and tsunami in Indonesia. We are constantly reminded of the effects of climate change and the consequences of our greed and overuse of resources such as plastic. There are children in some countries who will receive nothing this Christmas.
Harvest has been a good time to consider our responses, both individually and as a church, to situations of need in our world such as those mentioned above. We have collected food for the foodbank and financial donations for the DEC Indonesia Tsunami Appeal. Harvest also provided us with an opportunity to encourage people to put together Christmas shoeboxes for children in other countries who, otherwise, would not receive a Christmas present. Thank you, so much, for your Harvest donations and for your responses to the DEC appeal and thank you to those of you who have put together a Christmas shoebox. These boxes will be collected at our United Benefice Service on November 4th at 10am at Bulphan Church. You are all very welcome to come along.
Also, on the afternoon of 4th November, at 4pm, we will be holding a service to Commemorate the Departed, at Bulphan Church, where everyone is invited to light a candle in memory of a friend or loved one who has died. You are all invited to attend this moving service. You don’t need a formal invitation, you can just turn up. And, of course on November 11th we will be holding Remembrance services which, this year, will be particularly poignant as we celebrate the anniversary of the end of the First World War.
There is lots going on in November and I look forward to seeing you soon.
With my continued love and prayers.
Sue
We are now well into the swing of the Autumn term. Pupils and staff have returned to school after the summer holiday; clubs and societies have recommenced and, at church, several things have happened, or are happening.
Over the summer we were pleased to welcome a new parishioner into Horndon, The Right Reverend John Perumbalath, our new Bishop of Bradwell, along with his wife Jessy and their daughter Anugraha. We were very fortunate that Bishop John came to preside and preach at our United Benefice Service at Orsett in September and, at this service, he made a presentation to Canon Glyn Jones who, after many years of faithful service in this Benefice has decided to rescind his licence giving him permission to officiate. On behalf of the Benefice, I would like to express grateful thanks to Glyn for all he has contributed over many years. And, as Bishop John said, although he will no longer officiate, he will always be a priest.
Messy Church is now established and, this year, we are very fortunate that we are able to offer Messy Church, once a term, in all three of the primary schools in the Benefice, the dates of which are in this magazine. We are also very grateful to W. Howard and Son, who have kindly supplied us with lots of stationery, craft material and posters for this, and to Tesco, who have given us some vouchers to spend in their store on food. Families are welcome at all three Messy Church locations and not limited to the one in their particular parish. We look forward to seeing you at Messy Church; it is great fun! Please remember, though, that children need to be accompanied by an adult. We have also just set up a ‘WhatsApp’ group to advertise this, and an email circulation list, so please do let me know if you wish to be added to these groups.
You are probably aware that, in May, the Government introduced some new legislation with regard to data protection, with which we have to comply. This means that all members of the three church electoral rolls are required to fill in a GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation) form in order for us to be able to contact them regarding church matters. If you are on one of our church electoral rolls and have not yet filled in one of these forms, please could you do this as soon as possible. Also, if you are not on an electoral roll, but attend church or church activities and would like to be kept informed, I encourage you to fill in a form too. The forms are available at the back of all three churches. And, perhaps, when you do this, if you are not currently on a church electoral roll, it might be the time to consider whether you might like to be, giving you the right to vote on church matters. Forms for this are also available at the back of all three churches.
Recently I attended the Orsett Forum meeting where I was presented with a cheque for St Giles and All Saints Roof Fund, raised by the proceeds of the Fun Run. Thank you, so much, to Orsett Forum. We are very grateful for this kind donation which has helped towards the roof fund.
And, finally, we have just launched our new website. You can find it at hobnob.org.uk.
I am very grateful to David Mortimer, Thomas Mann and Charles Mortimer who have been working hard since last October, to create this website and we are fortunate, now, that Philip Oderinlo has also joined the team to share his expertise. We hope that you find this website helpful and informative. It is a work in progress and, as time goes by, we hope to develop it. We would like to keep our new website fresh and up to date, so I encourage anyone who leads a church group and who would like upcoming activities publicised, or news or photos of events which have taken place, shown, (provided that GDPR rules are complied with) to send this to, either:
p.oderinlo@hobnob.org.uk or d.mortimer@hobnob.org.uk
I look forward to seeing you soon.
With love and prayers,
Sue
On Sunday 26th September 1943 inhabitants of Bulphan and West Horndon witnessed the tragic accident of two USAF B17 “Flying Fortress’ bombers the “Dorsal Queen” and “Raunchy Wolf”, colliding in mid-air and crashing near Dillingham Hall Farm and Notti’s Farm resulting in the deaths of all but one of the crews. The sole survivor was the Dorsal Queen’s tail gunner, Sgt John Adams.
On Saturday 22nd September a service of commemoration, thanksgiving and remembrance was held at St Mary’s, Bulphan to mark the 75th Anniversary of this accident. Present were Lieutenant Colonel Jim Gringras (assistant Air Attaché US Embassy) and family, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Slazinik (Officer Commanding 100th Air Refuelling Wing, RAF Mildenhall) and family, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Essex Mr Stephen Bennett and his wife, Councillor Barbara Rice (Mayor of Thurrock) and Councillor Sheila Murphy (Mayor of Brentwood). Also present was the Chairman of Thurrock Branch Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Mr Jim Gooding who himself served as a tail gunner on Lancaster’s in WW2, flying from RAF Mildenhall, as well as members of RAFA, RBL and other interested groups. The Base Honour Guard from RAF Mildenhall also attended. The service was conducted by Reverend Sue Mann Rector of the Benefice of Orsett, Bulphan and Horndon on the Hill, with the address and blessing made by the Venerable Mike Lodge, Archdeacon of Southend, Mr Stephen Bennett DL read the lesson and Lt Col Gringras and Lt Col Slazinik read the names of the crews.
Janet McCheynne relayed her mother’s memories of the incident and how Sgt Adams came to their door, although injured and somewhat shaken was largely OK after his ordeal. It was mentioned that Sgt Adams never flew again after this.
Wreaths were laid by Lt Col Gringras and Lt Col Slazinik on behalf of the United States Air Force and Mr Jim Gooding on behalf of RAFA, during the Act of Remembrance.
Jane Bennett (of Bennett funeral services) presented framed a framed Roll of Honour Lt Col Gringras, Lt Col Slazinik, Cllr Rice and Cllr Murphy.
The ladies of Bulphan WI provided refreshments after the service.