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From The Magazine


CONTRIBUTE TO YOUR PARISH MAGAZINE!!
The Parish Magazine is produced in the Parish Office and edited by Elisabeth Cooper and David Robinson. The editors are always looking for articles for publication; your contributions can be sent to the parish office by email to: office@parish-of-dartmouth.org.uk . Or left at the parish office in “hard copy” form. Please let us have your articles by the 15th of the previous month.

THE ANCHOR CLUB
A new venture was launched on 28th October. The Anchor Club, named after the symbol for St.Clement’s, was formed. The Club is intended for children, young people and families. It will take place once a month on the fourth Sunday of each month in St.Clement’s Church at 9.30am, which is a bit early for some, especially in the winter, but it may not seem so bad in the summer. Invitations have gone out to all families who have been to our churches for baptisms in the last five years and to recently married couples, who are known to be living in the area.
The Club is unlike anything seen in St.Clement’s before. There is no order of service and no books are used. Everything that people need will be projected on to a screen. All members will be issued with badges.
Attendance to date has been small, but promising and comments regarding the Club’s activities have been greatly encouraging. Although the Club is still in it’s early days, new families have become members of the Club, and are wearing their Anchor Club badges with pride.
The children are involved as much as possible during the service with action songs, music makers and other activities along with stories from the scriptures and a time to say their prayers. Images also are used as much as possible during this service as a way of helping our young members understand the theme.
It is hoped that the Anchor Club’s membership will increase over the next few months and that more badges will be being worn around the town. Advertising is essential to the progress of this Club, so if you come into contact with young people and families perhaps you could suggest this once a month Club to them or give them one of our flyers! However, if you don’t come into contact with young people, please would you pray for this venture, asking God to bless our work with young people in helping them to see something of God’s Glory.
All are welcome at the Anchor Club.
The next service will be Sunday 24th February

PRAYERS FOR PEACE
Our world is a funny old place. There are areas of calm and beauty, as well as places where there is blood and violence and despair. If what we are concerned with is that everyone should have a fair chance, then we can never forget the bad places. And there are millions of people in the world for whom life is unpredictable, violent, unfair and tough.
Every Friday at 11.30am we have Prayers For Peace in the Lady Chapel of St. Saviour’s, which bring to God our worries and anxieties about the lack of peace in parts of the world. It’s just a chance to remember for half an hour the misery that people cause to people, and to make it known that we care.
There is always room for anyone who want to come. It’s a fairly formalized but very straight forward half an hour at the end of the week to which you are very welcome.

ST CLEMENT'S PROJECT
Things may have seemed a bit quiet lately as regards the plans to modernise and improve the interior of St.Clement’s. Despite this a lot of work has been going on. The Architect produced his first ideas in March 2002. Since then there have been numerous meetings, visits and consultations. Many changes and developments have been made to the project since those early ideas.
The members of St.Clement’s District Church Council have done a great deal of thinking about the needs of the church and the community as we look to the future.
An artist has produced impressions of what the interior of the Church will look like after the work is complete. These are on display soon.
Also a management group has been set up by the PCC to handle the actual work and the financial arrangements.
In order to undertake any major work in a church building a Faculty has to be obtained. Churches are exempt planning permission, because the Church has its own legal process for approving work of this kind. It is an extremely thorough and rigorous procedure. At times it seems very frustrating, but it does mean that our church buildings are not spoilt by ill considered plans or the use of the wrong materials. The DCC has been supported by the St.Clement’s Project Group, which did a great deal of work in developing the plans. Recently another group has been set up to manage the project and the funding of it. To obtain a Faculty we first have to obtain a Certificate from the Diocesan Advisory Committee, who advise on whether a Faculty should be granted. It is good to report that the application for this has been submitted and we await the response.
St.Clement’s have some money, which has wisely been put aside in the past from legacies, but a major appeal will be needed. There should be details of this available soon. Ideally the money needed will be raised, or given, very quickly and a long drawn out appeal avoided.

For those who do not know what is planned, the project involves these basic elements,
1. Disabled access via the North Door. This involves lifting the floor a few inches to its original level and lowering the door step. Also a small porch will be included.
2. Disabled Toilet under the Tower and a new screen at the back of the Church
3. Catering facilities at the North West end. (There is only a stand pipe at present)
4. A movable screen across the St.Francis Chapel to make a Choir Vestry
5. The Font to be moved to the south to make it possible for a Baptismal party to gather around it.
6. The pulpit to be moved to the other side of the Chancel Arch so that it is in a more central position.
7. A new altar will be positioned below the Chancel arch, where it will be visible from all parts of the Church.
8. The present pews will be replaced by moveable seating, so that the interior can be used in a flexible way when necessary.
9. Access to the bell ringing chamber will be provided via the tower steps.
10. New Choir Stalls will be installed.
11. New heating and lighting. The heating will use the existing boiler.
The result should be a beautiful, prayerful church building, which is attractive and adaptable for other suitable uses.

ST CLEMENT'S PROJECT  UPDATE - JANUARY 2008
It is great to report that we have received general approval for the reordering scheme in St.Clement’s Church. This is the first stage in the process of obtaining a Faculty, the legal document needed for any work on a Church building can be undertaken. The next stage is for the Architect to provide more detailed plans. In particular these are needed for the heating and lighting designs. When they have been obtained the formal application for the Faculty will be submitted.
Obviously it will cost a lot of money. A certain amount of money is available in the Church’s reserves, but nowhere near enough to cover the cost. An appeal will be launched in the New Year. It is worth mentioning now some important features of the appeal;
It will be an appeal to the whole parish, which is the same as saying the whole town. St. Clement’s was built before 1200 and is probably the oldest building in the town. It is the Parish Church, originally linked with Torre Abbey. Not only is it an ancient centre of worship, linking us with Christian people, who have worshipped and prayed on this site for over 800 years, but it part of our local heritage. It therefore deserves support both from the Church and from the wider community.
It is important that people share in the work of improving their Church. We might think it would be good to receive a huge legacy out of the blue, which would pay for it all. Actually this would not be so. The Project is much more likely to succeed if people are behind and have invested their time and the energy and hopefully some money into it.
Parishioners will be asked to do two things. They will be asked to raise money and also to give money. These are quite separate things, which should not be confused. Many ideas have already been provided about how we can raise money. More ideas are invited. Please do suggest any ideas you have for raising money. Hopefully there will be further details of what is planned before long. As regards giving money, the hope is that people will think very deeply about this appeal and make donations according to their means. We are a varied society in Dartmouth, probably more than most towns, and nobody is in a position to tell someone else what they should give. On the other hand it is legitimate to suggest that people make a comparison with other spending, especially spending on inessentials.
It would be good to get the appeal complete within the year. Some Churches erect thermometers outside, which often stay in place an awful long time. Let us try and avoid that. A good date to aim for would be St.Clement’s day 2008, 23rd November.
The appeal will be extended beyond the parish to those people and institutions known to have a link with the parish.

ST CLEMENT'S PROJECT  UPDATE - JUNE 2008
There has been a lot of reporting of the progress of the work at St.Clement’s Church. Hopefully by now most people will have seen the plans and the artist’s impression of what the Church will look like after the Project is complete. We have received informal approval from the Diocese. There have been many frustrating delays, but now the District Church Council believes it time to start raising the money.

On the basis of the advice of the quantity surveyor and taking into consideration all funds available to us, it is clear that there needs to be an appeal for £100, 000. It is a huge sum, but we believe to be achievable. Our Project Appeal Group is doing what it can to raise money from sources outside the parish, but inevitably the main source will be our parishioners.
Please note that on July 12th there will be a Gift Day in St.Clement’s Church from 10.00am to 3.00pm. All who would like to help with this essential work are invited to bring their gift on that day
 

JOHN HAULEY, HIS YEAR
Many like to assume that Chaucer’s Shipman is modelled on the second and most famous of the three members of the Hawley family (of Allaleigh),who all bore the name of John. We give a place of honour to John Hawley at St Saviour’s as the benefactor who provided for the chancel to be built. As we make our way to the altar-rail we tread upon carpet that protects the fine brass-work above his tomb.
This John Hawley was a man of great distinction, twice an MP, nine times mayor and, as such, charged in 1388 with improving the port’s sea defences by building the fortalice at the estuary. Frequently he was a leading figure in the improvised squadrons of local vessels instructed to destroy the king’s enemies. In effect this virtually gave licence to ravage shipping in the Channel and in particular off the north French coast. Hawley and his associates seem to have been very successful at ravaging as, for example, when they raided the Norman coast, captured a number of ships and seized 1,500 casks of wine.
There is a fine line to be drawn between patriotism and self-interest when it comes to the ‘swash and buckle’ of life on the high seas at that time. As we come to commemorate John Hawley on the 600th anniversary of his death, the 30th of December 1408, the old arguments will be renewed about whether he was more of a pirate than a privateer. Collins describes piracy as ‘robbery on the seas within admiralty jurisdiction’. A privateer is defined as ‘an armed, privately owned vessel commissioned for service by a government.’ From the point of view of a trading vessel, with rich pickings, it must have been of little consequence whether the robust cog bearing down on you with its mean looking crew was officially licensed or not.
Although it is said that ‘the wind always blows fair on Hawley’s Hoe’ it could on occasion turn against him. He was, for instance, imprisoned in the Tower by Henry 1V in 1406 and ordered to make restitution of merchandise illegally stowed away in one of his warehouses. We may indeed ask ourselves whether the spacious chancel of St Saviour’s was built with conscience money. Having said that, it would be wrong for us to think of him too much within the context of our own times. In his day there was no such thing as a navy, royal or otherwise, so it was left to such stalwarts as Hawley to defend our shores. It seems probable that when it came to a fight, at sea or when the Bretons were defeated at Blackpool Sands, he like Chaucer’s Shipman ‘of nyce conscience took no keep.’ It was the way of the world, even for crusaders!
Personally I will be delighted to turn the spotlight on John Hawley in 2008. He represents something of the colourful, significant and often inspiring history of our town which deserves to be celebrated. To many in his day he was ‘venerabilis vir’, a man of distinction and something of a national hero. Call him pirate or privateer it is surely a matter of semantics; even Francis Drake was charged with leaving his post as Vice-Admiral during the battle of the Armada to shepherd a prize he wanted for himself into a safe harbour!
Nor is it of great concern whether Hawley is to be spelt with a ‘w’ or a ‘u’. These letters were often interchangeable at the infancy of our language (I always thought the splendid tugs of the Lower Ferry were called Hauley thanks to a witty pun.) But we may all be persuaded to revise our views when the new biography of John Hawley is published, very appropriately, to mark this very special occasion. What matters is that we beat the drum, blow the bugle and make a merry din as most surely he so often did.


HAWLEY CELEBRATIONS UPDATE

This year sees the 600th anniversary of the death of John Hawley. He was a remarkable man and a powerful influence in the life of our town. At the end of June and in early July there will be a number of events and activities to mark Hawley’s death. These are listed in the “Hawley 600” leaflet, but certain things will take place in St Saviour’s, much of which was built by Hawley

First a specially written play will be performed in the Church on the evenings of 29th and 30th of June and on 1st July. It will be performed by the Dartmouth Players and tickets are £7.00.

On 4th, 5th and 6th July there will be a Flower Festival in St Saviour’s, in which all the aspects of Hawley’s life will be depicted in flowers. Admission is free, but a festival like this costs a huge amount of money to mount and visitors will be asked to make a donation. The Hawley Brass will be on display all week

In addition our local schools have given over two whole days to Hawley. There will be some re-enactors around the town from time to time, so keep your eyes open; you may just run into John Hawley himself one day.

On the 25th July a brand new book on Hawley by Michael Connors will be published. It is a carefully researched account of his life and achievements. Also a smaller but equally interesting booklet is being published by our local History Research group. The Museum is mounting an exhibition to be shown at the Flavel Centre. Sir Geoffrey Newman is leading a Hawley Trail, visiting sites associated with the great man. Details will be published nearer the time.

Sunday 6th July is Sea Sunday, when we join with the Missions to Seafarers to think about all who work on the sea, sometimes in difficult and dangerous conditions. There will be a special service of Evensong at St Petrox at 6.30pm at which we will also remember Hawley, who was of course a seafarer.

There has been some discussion about how to spell his name. Should it be Hauley, as on the lower ferry and Hauley Road or Hawley as in many books? The second spelling has been used here because it the one to be used in Michael Connors’ book.

Some have queried the reasons for commemorating someone who may have not always operated strictly within the law. On the other hand we would not have St Saviour’s Church without him. Hawley was certainly a mixture. Perhaps he was like the rest of us.

‘OUR MEN IN SOUTH AFRICA’ - A Report by Sam James
Since Christopher returned back to England, both Joe and I have been very busy in South Africa. We quickly built up a routine at the school and became very settled into our two host families; the Matasimbas during the week, and the Allwoods at the weekends. Both families have accommodated and welcomed us fantastically and we have formed close relationships with them. The teaching has not been what we had expected. We thought that we were going to be teaching assistants, and generally helping out at the school, but we have actually been doing quite a lot of the proper teaching in our respective classes. We didn’t expect it, but it is quite honouring to us that the teachers feel that we are competent enough to lead the class and want to make use of the skills we may have. Joe teaches in Grade 1 and 2, and I teach in Grade 3 and 4. We cover basic subjects like Maths, English and Life Skills, with the additional subjects of Social Science, Technology, Natural Science, Xhosa (the local language), and Life Orientation in Grade 4. The teachers unfortunately do not have very good skills when compared with English teachers. They haven’t received the same training which unfortunately consequents in the restriction of learning, so the project aims to assist them as much as possible to try and up-lift the children’s education. Rewards are rarely given to hard-working students, and weaker students are not helped quite as much as they could be, which is something Joe and I have changed. The children have come to respect us and like us, purely because we show a lot of interest in them, and encourage them to learn. Each child is so eager to learn and it is wonderful that they appreciate the hard work we are putting into the school. General jobs like fixing tables and chairs, painting walls and blackboards take up some of the afternoons, and we have also made shelves and a shower for our own facilities.
The first term at the primary school ended with us both exhausted and ready for the long summer holiday. We were pleased with how well we had both settled into the school and had become completely involved in everything that happens at the school. Over the holidays, we were still very busy, and managed to travel around a little bit. We started off by going to the nearby mountainous region of Hogsback, which hosts tall mountains, forests and many waterfalls, and was a relaxing getaway. We then went to the Addo Elephant National Park for our safari trip. The first day was spent travelling round the game reserve, where we saw many elephants, buffalo, tortoises, and various species of buck. The second day consisted of us going elephant-back riding, which was fantastic and a unique experience, although a little painful! We were meant to go on another game drive on the third day to see rhinos and lions, but unfortunately Joe developed muscle spasms in his back and we spent the day in hospital in Port Elizabeth. Joe recovered quickly thankfully. During the rest of the holiday we spent time with the Allwoods in King William’s Town, and a week with their friends in the seaside town of Port Alfred. Christmas was spent in Jubisa with the Matasimba family and we had a wonderful time. It was a little strange celebrating Christmas in hot conditions, but it was great to spend the festive season with our new family. There was a big birthday celebration on Christmas Eve for three of Thamie’s grandchildren: Qhama, Mahlubi and Sisipho. This was as their mother had come down from Johannesburg and they only get to see her once or twice a year. Thamie is an amazing man, and it is all thanks to him that we have settled so quickly into our new environments. He is approaching seventy but still works very long hours in his garden and tending to his animals. He takes pride in his marvellous vegetable patch, which is by far the best in the village. He and the rest of his family look after us very well and it will surely be very difficult for us to leave. Now we are looking forward to getting back to the school so we can begin teaching different classes and getting to know more students.

ST SAVIOUR'S CHURCHYARD

Recently there has been an effort to improve the look of St. Saviour’s Churchyard. It occupies a very prominent position in the town and it is important that it is well cared for.
The Churchyard was closed for burial many years ago because it was full, although a small area at the west end was reserved for the burial of cremated remains, under the supervision of the St. Saviour’s District Church Council. This area is now almost full, and the District Church Council has decided that there will no more burials, except of those where spaces have already been reserved.
Closed Churchyards are the responsibility of the local authority and St.Saviour’s is maintained by Dartmouth Town Council. Generally they do a very good job, but are not able to do much more than mow the grass. There are several ways in which the public, especially regular visitors to the Church yard can help with the upkeep of the Churchyard. These particularly concern the ashes area.
1. Please remove dead flowers. There is no one else appointed to do this. There is a compost bin provided for all compostable material and a separate rubbish bin for other material such as sticks, rose cuttings, oasis, paper, plastic or glass.
2. Please do not dig up the ground around the graves or plant plants around the graves. If you use planters, please look after the plants in them or remove them if they die. Also please do not place stones, gravel or other objects around the graves. For obvious reasons it is strictly speaking illegal to dig in Churchyards anyway. Also these things make maintenance more difficult.
3. Fortunately we are able to leave the Churchyard open via the north gate, but sometimes this is abused. Bottles and other things, some very unpleasant, have been found in the churchyard. Everyone is asked to keep a friendly eye on it so that it may continue to be a suitable and respected resting place for the departed and a peaceful and pleasant place for the living.


REAL GIVING
The basis
Once in a while the subject of giving has to be addressed. Some might say that it is really the subject of money, but it is giving that matters. There is a basic belief behind Christian giving. This is that the Church is the people of God. It is not a separate organisation, which we may or may not choose to support. When a person becomes a committed member of the Christian Church he or she takes on a responsibility for it. It is as simple as that. If we believe that the Church is the Body of Christ and has a vital purpose in the world, and if we find it brings purpose and hope to our own lives we need take our responsibility very seriously.
The need
Certain myths persist. Some still believe that the Church gets money from the state. This is not true. A body called the Church Commissioners, which was set up by Parliament not the Church, looks after inherited money, which supports the church to a limited extent, mostly by providing clergy pensions. Locally it is sometimes said that the Church has plenty of money. This is probably because the Church gets help with the maintenance of buildings from the Dartmouth Trust. This money is quite limited and is not available for our huge running costs. Last year in addition to all the day to day expenses and heating and lighting the parish contributed £46000 to the Diocesan Common Fund which pays and houses the clergy. This is not far from a thousand pounds a week for this alone and is totally provided by parishioners..
Thanks
Fund raising takes place during the year, but the main income of the Church is from giving. Thankfully we have always had enough people who take their responsibly seriously and give generously. Their regular guaranteed giving is the foundation upon which the Church is able to do its work. The accounts last year show that we only just broke even. This is extremely worrying, because costs will only rise. It is therefore time to ask all church members to think about their giving and ask whether it has kept pace with rising costs. The best way is to compare what we give to the Church with what we spend on other things, especially inessentials. This can be very revealing. For example if we give the Church less than we spend on things like newspapers, or coffee or drink what does that say about us?
Commitment
All are asked to commit themselves to regular giving. This may be done by banker’s order or through the envelope scheme. These make sure our giving goes on, even if we are not able to get to Church. All tax payers are encouraged to use Gift Aid which greatly increases the value of the gift. Our congregations contain a wide range of people and means vary. No one is able to tell someone else how much they should give, but we should all accept the biblical principle that we are the Church and make our own personal decision responsibly.

 

The Wonderful Web
More and more people use the Internet. For many people Email is the main way of communicating. It is amazing that you can write something down and someone else can read it within seconds anywhere in the world. It is surprising how many people in Dartmouth use it to keep in touch with families and friends. It is a particular godsend to those who have problems with their hearing and for those who have relatives and friends abroad.
More and more organisations have their own Web Site.
The Diocese of Exeter also has a web site and uses the internet to communicate with parishes. The address is
www.exeter.anglican.org. It has recently been improved and contains a lot of interesting material.
In the parish, whereas only a few years ago, the minutes of meetings were read out of a big book, most of them are now sent to the members through Email. There are Email addresses for the clergy and the Parish Office and they should be on the back page of the magazine.
Worship is our first duty, and we try, and hopefully make the worship here, both reverent and accessible. What is not so obvious at first is the life of the Church within the community. The Anglican Church has always sought to serve God through the life of the community.
Here in Dartmouth we try to do that through involvement in all aspects of local life.

Brace yourselves
Generally speaking we do not have to keep having lots of appeals to pay the bills in the parish of Dartmouth. We are fortunate in having a lot of regular givers who are absolutely crucial to the life of the Church. These people make sure the Churches are opened and staffed week by week. It is generally reckoned that in the Diocese of Exeter the Church needs an average of £8.00 a week from all Electoral Roll members to do its work. Thankfully we have enough good and methodical givers to make sure our income is maintained.
In addition we have some historic funds which are available to help with buildings. The parish is unusual in having three Grade 1 Listed buildings, which means all repair and maintenance work has to be done to the highest standards.
Soon this may change. We are now approaching the final stages of planning for the development work at St.Clement’s. The DCC believe they have satisfied all the agencies that have a say in these matters. These are English Heritage, The Victorian Society, The Council for the Care of Churches The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and of course the Diocese of Exeter. It should be possible to make the formal application for a Faculty to undertake the work soon. The work has not gone to tender but the Architect has given the DCC an indication of costs. The total cost could be as much as £250,000. This is a hefty sum for the parish to meet, but the DCC believe that it is achievable and that unless the building is brought up to date its future is uncertain. There are some invested funds earmarked for this work and some money from legacies. However it is not enough and an appeal will be necessary. Throughout the process every effort has been made to keep parishioners up to date with developments and to listen to people’s views.
At the same time, some vital remedial work is scheduled for St.Petrox. Last year the gable end was repaired and the weather protection improved. The next step is to enable the walls to dry and then re-plaster the interior which is in a terrible state. Again this will be extremely expensive and there are only limited funds available. An appeal will be necessary.
It is worth mentioning also that the problems with the Gallery at St.Saviour’s are being investigated and the Architect is preparing plans to strengthen the supports. Needless to say this will cost a lot.
 In this parish there are people with a particular link with one or other of our churches and it is good thing to have a particular focus for our commitment and devotion. At the same time we are one parish and there is only any point in having three churches if they provide something unique within the general work of mission here. Thus all parishioners have an interest in the matters and will all be able to make a considered response to the appeals when they are made. Hopefully the result will be a better equipped parish for its work in the future.

 

 

 

 

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