All Saints Church Marlow

The BridgeLent 2017 - Free Copy

Adventures in Space - See Community News from Sandygate

Six days invisible, one day incomprehensible.

This memorable description of a vicar’s job reveals the fact that most people have not the faintest idea what being a vicar involves. What does a vicar actually do? It’s not an easy question to answer, partly because every vicar does the job differently and partly because of the sheer variety of the work. In the belief that clergy should be transparent and accountable, here’s a window into one of my busier working days … Wednesday 22nd February

6.45 Alarm goes off! Wake up the children and have breakfast with family

7.45 Pray and read the bible. This morning I was short of time so some of my prayer time happened while I was doing the washing up.

8.15 Say goodbye to children and see them off to school

8.30 Check emails and my schedule for the day. Harriet (my PA) does an amazing job of organising my diary and emails – she is almost always on my emails first thing in the morning. About 10-20 every day get marked ‘urgent’ and I try to respond to these within 24 hours. The rest I catch up on as other commitments allow. Tomorrow I’m hosting the Bishop of Oxford for the whole day on his visit to our Deanery, so there are quite a few last minute checks and changes to see to.

8.55 Bike ride to Sarah Fitzgerald’s house at the other end of Marlow. On the way I’m reminded how many others spend hours each day on trains and in traffic jams. I love the fact I can just jump on my bike to go to meetings!

9.00 Two hours with the clergy and

churchwardens from the four churches in our 4U team. We meet every month to pray, review and make plans: one of the most important meetings I attend. Graham starts us off with a great reflection on Ephesians chapter 2, reminding us that God’s love comes before any work we have to do. We discuss the sermon programme to November (good!), how the vision for the 4U team is developing (getting there!) and our approach to children and communion (work to do!).

We also discuss the upcoming annual meetings, leadership succession and the very encouraging draft annual financial results. We end with an update on the new Small Groups 4U initiative and news from the churches. A very encouraging 2 hours with a godly and committed group of leaders. We drink coffee, laugh a lot and pray.

11.00 Cycle home and fit in a few phonecalls and emails: supporting someone else who is dealing with a very painful pastoral situation; talking to a school headteacher about a problem they’re facing; planning a Deanery Away Day with a visiting speaker (theme: the film ‘The BFG’!); a quick chat with my wife Helen about Marriage Preparation that begins tonight.

12.00 Monthly 1-to-1 meeting with Gill Taylor – our Worship & Creative Prayer leader. Gill has brought lunch (ham & brie baguette!). We review some staff training and then I’m excited to hear about the Prayer Course that Gill has just started. We discuss new band members, strategic future possibilities for interns on the church staff and forthcoming prayer events.

1.30 Time to review and print out the final scripts for Marriage Preparation tonight. I remember a friend who’s having a very big day at work and pray God will help them. 1.45 Harriet arrives for our weekly

Six Days Invisible ..... Dave Bull

meeting to review my emails and diaries. We discuss diary dates and priorities – ensuring we build in space for prayer, family and rest as well as reserving some time for unforeseen emergencies.

2.45 A letter needs posting and I decide to walk slowly to the postbox and pray as I walk. It takes less than 5 minutes but is a beautiful and peaceful pause in my day. I return to my desk feeling very peaceful.Some time planning the shape of Sunday’s services (the sermon preparation will happen later). Graeme – who helps me lead the Deanery – pops in for a quick chat about final preparations for the Bishop’s visit tomorrow.

4.00 Jump in the car to drive to High Wycombe to visit a baptism family. On the way I hit a massive traffic jam and realise I’m going to be very late – and that in turn I will be very late for tea with my family. Sitting stationery in traffic I realise my pulse is rising and I’m feeling very stressed: the worst moment of my day. I decide to grasp the nettle. Embarrassed, I phone the family, apologise, and ask if they would mind rearranging to the day after next. They don’t mind at all and suddenly the stress melts away.

4.30 My change of plan means I can collect my children from hockey practice at

school. I arrive early and have time to chat with other parents in the playground.

4.50 Pop over to the church hall to check equipment for this evening is ready; back home to prepare the playlist, which is always a subject for comment amongst the team. (Coldplay wins)

5.00 Write most of this article for The Bridge!

5.30 Cook tea for the family and enjoy hearing about everyone’s day, followed by bathtime and helping the children prepare for bedtime and the school day tomorrow.

7.00 Head over to Marriage Preparation in the church hall. The team has prepared everything and it looks amazing. The evening goes really well as over 30 couples spend 2½ hours eating cake, learning principles of communication and having conversations with their partners. A really satisfying end to the day – the team are buzzing as the guests leave.

10.30 Finally get home after talking to guests from the course and packing away equipment. It’s been a long day, but there’s so much to give thanks for. I review the day and pray before bed – giving thanks for the many good things and handing the rest over to God. And sleep …

Music Matters - Martin Seymour

Civil Service having returned to Germany last summer and hopes to take on a church position once he has a more fixed work placement.

It has been some time since Marco left us and also his successor Tom Brockington, who has now returned to this country and started the next part of his law course in London. As you are aware we have been looking for a suitable replacement and I’m delighted to say that Rhidian Jones will be joining us at the start of April as my assistant. Rhidian who lives in Maidenhead with his wife Sally, comes originally from a Welsh non-conformist background. He has been involved in church music, teaching and education for a large proportion of his career and for the last ten years or so has been at St Luke’s in Maidenhead. Now that he is semi-retired he feels it’s time to take on a new challenge and we very much look forward to working with Rhidian over the next months - welcome!

As with many areas of church life and community there continues to be a buzz and growth in the choirs. We are endeavouring to make stronger links between our congregations through music and it would be great to see more of the 10.59 families being

It has been a busy period since Christmas with various events for several groups.

Epiphany saw the combined choirs singing together followed by a social bring and share tea for the parents and choristers to get together. We also appointed head and deputy head girls in the junior girls’ choir so congratulations to all.

At the start of February in preparation for our singing in Southwark Cathedral, which is happening in only a few day’s time as I type, a mixture of the girls and boys sang ‘Noble in B minor’ and Bob Chilcott’s ‘Be thou my vision’. At this service we also inducted ten new girls and boys into the choir. Welcome all as you take your first steps along your musical and Christian journey in our supportive community.

On the site of Southwark Cathedral there was originally a convent in AD606 followed by a priory in 1106. The buildings then became a parish church in 1540 but it was not made into a cathedral until 1905. It is still awe-inspiring to sing in such a building with such heritage, particularly for the choristers and yet it is an open, welcoming space and community.

At the start of March a mixture of the older girls and boys will be taking part in the Beaconsfield Choral Festival. A few weeks later they will also perform at Maidenhead Arts Centre with several youth choirs including the Taplow Girls’ Choir. Having exposure to other choirs and groups is extremely valuable and although this has not happened so much in recent years I’m glad we’ve now had some opportunities to take this in hand. The other major event of the year is in October when we are going on tour to Germany. Many of you will remember Marco who was our organ scholar here for eighteen months and he is helping us behind the scenes with many of the preparations. Marco is presently working for the German

Churches Together in Marlow - Tony Threlfall

The choir at Southwark Cathedral - February 25th 2017

involved in choir activities too. Whether this is as a singer, child or adult, or coming along to the evening ‘Be Still’ service that we hold once every four Sundays.

We welcome new people into all the groups

During the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, over 70 people attended the

Unity Supper at St Peter’s School and the United Service at All Saints Church Marlow. At the Unity Supper, Neil Graham described how ‘Embrace the Middle East’ works with Christian partners in Egypt, Israel/Palestine, Lebanon and Syria to bring lasting change through education, healthcare and community development projects. CTM was able to donate £150 to the charity.

This year, proceeds from the annual Pancake Day celebration at Marlow Methodist Church will go to support the extended Love Marlow festival from 2nd - 17th June. Three ecumenical groups have been set up to follow the York Course ‘Receiving Christ in five different ways’ during Lent. Home groups at Christ

Church and St Mary’s will be using the same material.

Arrangements are in hand for the traditional Walk of Witness to take place on Good Friday. Walkers will be invited to gather at 10.30 am for an informal act of worship in Higginson Park before processing up the High Street to participate in an all-age service at the Methodist Church at 11.15 am.

The Presidents of Churches Together in England have invited churches of all traditions to partner in prayer in the days leading up to Pentecost from 25th May – 4th June. The aim of ‘Thy Kingdom Come’ is to pray that the family of God may see an outpouring of the Holy Spirit to transform lives and communities in the nation.

and we must mention the Occasional Singers too who sing once or twice a month usually in the morning 9.15 service. Like the small groups that are being started up if you’re a singer, why not contact me and see where you might like to have a sing for a while?

At the annual church meeting I shall be laying down the role of church warden

after five years. It is a good moment both to reflect on the past but also to look to the future.

I came into the role not really knowing what it entailed and five years on I am still discovering new things and learning more about what God has in store for us as his people in Marlow. It was after much prayer, talking and heart searching that I agreed to take on the role and it has been my pleasure to serve the church in this way. It hasn’t always been easy but overall it has been an exciting period of time to have such a responsibility as the church has embraced change and growth.

So much has been achieved and it has been amazing to work alongside so many other people who are committed to giving of their time and talents in taking the Kingdom of God forward in this place and in our community. A huge range of tasks are carried out by so many people week in and week out without fuss or fanfare for which we have to be truly thankful. It has certainly made things easier for the wardens and is not taken for granted.

The role of church warden has constantly evolved and emphasis and responsibilities

Over but Not Out - Richard Powell

have changed and changed again. One of the key challenges that we have faced as leaders, is the need to communicate what is going on. Whilst I hope that we have improved in this area there is always more that can be done and it continues to be ‘work in progress’.

As I look forward, I believe that there is still so much to do and what God has in store for us as we seek to discover His will and way for us both individually and as a community. We are about to launch the new ‘Small Groups’ along with some pioneering work in developing leaders amongst other things. I have agreed to continue to look after property matters so will still be involved on the sidelines of the Leadership Team. I am confident that others will be challenged and inspired to consider taking on the role that I am leaving behind. It is a great experience that I have found both challenging and faith stretching!

So thank you to all of you that have supported helped and encouraged me over the past five years. A particular thanks to Mu, Elizabeth and Julie who have served and ‘walked’ with me over the five years. I look forward to continuing my service in a new and different way as we move forward together.

Helen Godwin has recently been appointed as our part-time Youth

Leader.

As a family, we moved to Medmenham in October 2016 and started to look around for a church for the three of us. We were amazed to see how well the churches worked together and visited a few, all of which we loved. But the pull for us was the children’s work and when I checked out the church on-line there appeared to be a part time youth leader post.

I had just finished 10 years of youth leading in two different churches and came with the hope that if I were to again be employed, I would only want to be part time due to us looking to become foster carers. It was an almost impossible ask, but God knew and answered.

So the adventure begins! My hope, prayer and brief is that we will try and create a youth work in All Saints and Marlow that will enable our youth to discover and grow in their faith. A place where they feel part of the family and be able to see and truly know the love of God in their lives and become lifelong followers of Him.

To this end I am wanting to form a Youth Council, so that we ensure we are praying together, listening and working with the youth in all that we do. Out of this we hope to take a fresh look at all we do and ‘have a go’. We are taking a fresh look at Sunday mornings and how we can cater for the 9.15 & 10.59 youth and families that attend, both in terms of creating community and a place for them to explore their faith.

I am also hoping to establish a stronger base for the Wednesday night youth group that used to meet and hopefully establish a programme of activities by creating strong links with the adult small groups which are

about to launch.

With regard to Sunday nights, our hope is to really see this grow and youth engage with God via worship, hearing God’s word clearly spoken to them and hopefully down the line offering them opportunities to step up with in leading, preaching, worship and prayer.

We are also so grateful for links that have opened up with Borlase School and I would love to establish a team who could assist as we look to regularly work in the school.

So, please do keep us in your prayers as we look to see God move amongst our youth and families. My heart is for the youth team to be as varied as the church and for the youth to be known not just by the regular youth team but by everyone, as we all work and grow together. So, if you are below 110 years old, please do be listening and seeing if God would like you to join us as we take these next exciting steps.

Helen Godwin - Our New Youth Leader

Teamwork - Anna Clarke

Teamwork can make the dream work.

As you’ll all be aware, Amelia (our Children’s Intern) has been with us since September 2016. You may see her scurrying around on a Sunday morning, carrying the All Saints Bunny up the high street or dancing along to kid’s songs – but what else does she get up to? Well, I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you an exciting development that has been made possible because of Amelia’s addition to the team.

Since my appointment in August 2015 God has been opening doors in Marlow. We are incredibly blessed to have such a good relationship with our church schools and there are constantly new opportunities arising and areas where I see potential for growth. Unfortunately, even I have to recognise that I am only one person and so some opportunities have to be put on hold. For a long time I have wanted to invest more in Little Marlow school but have not had the time to do so; however, with Amelia joining our team we are now able to take hold of more of these opportunities. Since September Amelia has been accompanying Sarah Fitzgerald into Little Marlow school to assist with collective worship and begin building relationships with the children. After spending more time in school Amelia felt it was the right time to launch a new club at Little Marlow!

Amelia, tell us more …

What were your first impressions of Little Marlow school? Little Marlow is much smaller than the other two schools we work in, meaning it’s a more tight-knit community. I went to a small primary school back at home so it’s much more what I’m used to.

How did the children react to you coming into school? The children have been very open. Some of them know me from helping

out at Little Marlow’s monthly all-age service ‘All Together’ so it’s good to be able to make that link too.

What are your plans for the new club? Initially it will be just for children in year 2. We’re going to call it LITTLE LIGHTS. We often talk about being lights in the world and I want all children to know that being young doesn’t make them any less of a light. Just like at Sandygate we have our Sandygate Stars, in Little Marlow we will soon have our Little Lights! I hope to run it in a similar way to Sandygate Stars with a Bible story, some songs and a craft activity each week.

Amelia and I are so excited about this new opportunity at Little Marlow. It is a small school with just 90 children but we recognise that those are 90 children that God cares about. We pray that through our work there, these children will begin to know God’s love for themselves. Please join with us in praying for the launch of Little Lights, for Amelia and for all those involved. And if you’re even half as excited about this as I am, then perhaps you would like to support Amelia in joining her newly formed Little Lights team on Wednesday lunchtimes!

Being part of a child’s first steps in discovering God for themselves is an exciting journey to be part of and so even if you feel like you wouldn’t know what to contribute please do still get in touch and let Amelia know you are interested - (amelia.collins-patel@4u-team.org).

Having Amelia on team is enabling us to dream bigger and expand our outreach. With your support too we can continue doing this.

In the words of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: “teamwork can make the dream work”. So what are you waiting for? Come and join us on this adventure and help these children learn how they are part of God’s story!

New Headteacher at Sandygate

Sharon Reynolds was appointed as Headteacher of Marlow Church of

England Infant School on February 3rd. Here she writes ...

It is a real privilege to be appointed as Headteacher at Marlow CE Infant School and I am thrilled to be able to lead the school forward into its 150th year and beyond.

I have been involved with Marlow CE Infant School (Sandygate) for many years now. My relationship began as a parent when my son started school in Reception. At this time I was working in London and knew very little about the local area, community and education. I very quickly learnt what an important role a school plays in the wider community.

I was brought up in North Yorkshire and attended University in London and in Reims, France where I studied European Business Administration. My first career was in Marketing, where I worked in the drinks industry for Moet & Chandon and various sales promotions agencies as Brand Manager and Account Director respectively.So the change of career to teaching was a big step but I was able to train at Sandygate and I have never looked back! I have taught in different year groups and held many different roles in the school since I started teaching.

I am passionate about Sandygate and what it represents. We offer a specialist infant

education that really nurtures our children as they take their first steps in a school environment. It is inspiring to me, the team and those the school serves that we are to deliver all this on a foundation of strong Christian values.

I love seeing the impact of new learning on people’s lives, children and adults alike, and this is something that is close to my heart. The idea that people’s lives can be transformed by education, exploring together, learning from each other, enabling everyone to achieve their potential, is the reason I’m a teacher.

Finally, I am really looking forward to working with the governing body, the staff, the parents and children to map out the first steps of Sandygate’s next 150 years!

THE BRIDGE

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It was a busy start with the whole school undertaking assessments in their mid-year

assessment week, the second week back. The children all coped well though and we must commend them for their determination and perseverance during the week.

Year 5 had their mini enterprise competition during the afternoons that week, so while they were concentrating on their English and Maths skills in the mornings, they had the chance to develop their business skills in the afternoons.

Community News from Marlow’s Church of England Schools

Sandygate - Holy Trinity - Little Marlow Spring Term 2017

Holy Trinity - Tim Williams - Head of School

The Federation of Holy Trinity and Little MarlowChurch of England schools

Well done to all of you – it was great to see some wonderful team work and cooperation in the groups.

Since then Year 3 have been particularly busy. Firstly, they had a fun and informative day at Hazard Alley near Milton Keynes. There, the children learned all about how to avoid the potential dangers they may encounter each day, what to do in an emergency and how to keep themselves and others safe. It was a really useful day and the children learned a great deal.

Following that, Year 3 had another great day developing their technology and coding skills with the Robot Man! He joined us at the end of January and spent the day with each class building robots and programming them to compete against each other. The children thoroughly enjoyed the day; learning loads about computing technology through their own Robot Wars event!

In January the school Quiz Team travelled to Great Missenden School to take part in an area heat of The National Inter-School Quiz Championship. There were a variety of topics with questions ranging from general

knowledge, science, history and maths to art, music, tv, books, sport and spelling! The children all thoroughly enjoyed the event and did the school proud, eventually finishing 4th

having lead the competition at one point.

Well done all of you!

The school enjoyed their own Songs of Praise service at All Saints on the last Friday of half term. The children were all involved in selecting some of their favourite hymns and the school ambassadors and messengers led the service explaining why these songs are special to them.

At the start of the new term the children were incredibly excited at the arrival

of their new classroom carpets and new reading books this term; and both kindly funded by the school PTA – thank you so much. The children now have much more room to sit while listening to their teacher and a much wider range of books to read in the classrooms.

It didn’t end there; the week before the half term break there was even more excitement!

After a few weeks’ delay we at last had the playground marking company in to create lots of new activities and games on the school playground. The children had a great time watching the man transform the playground and now are loving their new fitness trail, hopscotch and other games.

Teachers too are excited at the additional outdoor learning space this provides. Again we are extremely grateful to the PTA for funding this wonderful resource.

Little Marlow - Katie Penney - Head of School

One great addition to the school has been our ‘Little Hub’ – a new nurture club to support small groups of children. It’s lovely to see these children all enjoying themselves while developing their confidence and self-esteem through play and the sharing of tea and toast at snack time.

The nurture club has been established alongside ‘The Hub’ which has been successfully running at Holy Trinity for many years now. We would like to thank all the staff at Holy Trinity who have supported us in this project – let’s hope the ‘Little Hub’ is

as popular and successful as its big brother!

We had a wonderful film night in January when we all enjoyed watching Ice Age 5 with our friends in the school hall while eating popcorn! We’d like to thank all the parents who organised the evening and who stayed to supervise the children.

As a final half term treat before a week off the children attended a school disco on the Wednesday! They all had a fabulous time and we’d like to thank the PTA for organising these events for the children

Sandygate - Year 2 - Fire & Ice

It has been a busy and exciting start to the spring term in Year 2. The children are

enjoying learning about the Great Fire of London and they have recently made their own dioramas; replicating either Samuel Pepys’ bedroom or the bakery on Pudding Lane where the fire started. A lot of thought and detail went into designing, making and evaluating the dioramas.

Learning about the Great Fire of London really came to life when ‘History off the Page’ came to spend the day in school. The Year 2 children learned what London was like in 1666 and had the opportunity to try out some of the jobs that the people did at that time. Children enjoyed being tanners, candle-makers and perfumers.

In the afternoon, they were lucky enough to be able to do an archaeological dig. They brushed and brushed until artefacts that survived the fire were found. The next problem was to work out what the objects were and which shop they might have come from. An exciting day was had by all – even those who had the plague!

Year 1 - Aris Daryono

The Year 1 classes have been very fortunate to spend time with Aris Daryono

from Java over recent weeks.

Aris has been visiting for the past seven years, immersing pupils in the Indonesian culture as part of their Java topic. The children have enjoyed making shadow puppets with Aris and learning about the different animals in Java. In addition to this they have listened to traditional tales from Indonesia, learnt songs and made batik patterns. One of the favourite activities the children took part in, earlier in the topic, was the sampling of Indonesian food and they have even learnt how to answer the register in Indonesian! Another highlight for the

children has been learning to play gamelan instruments with Aris - the staff have enjoyed hearing the ringing and chanting echoing throughout the school.

The culmination of the two weeks work was a fabulous evening show where the children performed for their parents. Each class had written their own version of an Indonesian traditional tale and then some children used their shadow puppets to retell the stories and others accompanied the puppet shows with gamelan music.

The whole experience was wonderful and we are already looking forward to his visit again next year!

Reception - Blast-off in Space

This term the children in Reception have been learning about space. As part of

this exciting topic we have covered many aspects of space, for example, the planets, the stars and astronauts including Neil Armstrong and Tim Peake. The children particularly enjoyed learning about the International Space Station and watching videos about how to wash your hair and go to the toilet in space! The final week of our learning really sparked the children’s imagination as we read the story ‘Aliens Love Underpants’ by Claire Freedman. An alien space ship even landed on the

playground! The children were very excited and wrote police reports so that the aliens that were let loose to steal our underpants could be found!

Be still ...

Enjoy music and worship of an ancient tradition.

Services each Sunday evening at 5.30pm.

Join us for an opportunity to reflect on the week past and prepare for the week ahead.

We look forward to welcoming you.

www.4u-team.org

Have a peaceful start to your week