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Letter from the Editor

This is my last (planned!) edition of the Record—I shall be passing it on into Jo’s capable hands in January. It’s bee two years, which is scary. I would like to take the opportunity to say thank you to everyone for being patient with my occasional errors in these pages!

It’s always hard to know what to write in this column, because it’s written in advance so it’s very hard to make it relevant to current events. However, as a congregation we have lots to look forward to this year, and hopefully 2015 will be one in which we will all thrive, one way or another. I certainly have plenty of things lined up to look forward to, and probably some surprises along the way as well.

I usually try to pick an image for this page which is vaguely seasonal or content-related, but this time it’s purely self indulgent—one of my favourite films for my last issue. How very frivolous! Happy New Year!

Eleanor Dickenson

The Record Mailing Lists

If anybody would like to receive their copy of The

Record by email or by post, please pass your details on

to the Editor, either in person at the Chapel, or by email

to millhillrecord@gmail.com

Notices Charitable activities

In committee meetings we've been discussing our charitable giving as a Chapel; at present we tend to give as requests arise (from groups like Christian Aid, Save the Children etc.) Should we begin to consider a more structured and strategic approach? First we'd like to hear the views of as many members and friends of the congregation as possible; are there particular charities that you would like to see the chapel support? What percentage of our annual income from all sources should we as a church commit to? Should we commit to a strategic approach or remain with our flexible system?

Traditionally the Judeo-Christian tradition places great emphasis on giving, and for many individuals 10% of total income has been a standard. Should we as a church body give less than this - or more? Should we give what is right or just whatever is left? Remember this is not a question about how much you individually should contribute nor do we wish to pry into your own personal charitable giving, but we would love to hear your views on how much, and how, Mill Hill Chapel should give.

Car Parking

To all car park key holders:

It has been noticeable that over the last few months there has been an increase in the number of times the top car park gate is being left open.

While it is much easier just driving off, the gate is there to protect the safety of the users’ cars. Would all car park users please ensure that the gate is locked when you come in or go out, except for the odd occasion when it needs to be open, i.e. Sunday morning or if there is a recognised event which requires access. Details of events are on the notice board next to the serving hatch in the Hall.

Thankyou!

Chapel Management Committee

Introducing Myself

Members and friends of Mill Hill Chapel are invited to take the

opportunity to say a little about themselves in the pages of the Record,

our former chair of Congregation Fred Gamble is starting the ball

rolling, thanks Fred:

Fred Gamble

Born in 1926 in Leeds the younger son

of John and Ada Gamble who became

respectively Superintendent of the

Sunday School and President of the

Womens’ League, I was 'called up' into

the army in 1944 and served in the

Royal Artillery for four years, including

two years in India. On returning home I

continued membership of the chapel

but my own social activity was as

secretary of the Badminton club which enjoyed the spacious facilities

of the then Priestley Hall. At this time the Dramatic society was also

very strong but my interests lay elsewhere as I had been asked to

become Scoutmaster of a group attached to the Anglican Church. This

I accepted and had reasonable success until moving to another group

attached to a Methodist Church where I had many happy years,

maintaining at the

same time my

membership of Mill Hill

where, in time, I was

asked to become the

Chair of Trustees.

Over some 20 years

the property owners on

all sides of the Chapel

decided to build or re-build which involved many arguments and

objections over property rights. Considerable work was also

undertaken on the Chapel itself. My elder (by 4 years) brother John

was treasurer of the Chapel for 42 years.

After leaving school [in 1940] aged 14 I attended night school and

'picked up' information wherever possible but when I returned to my

job after the war I was still starting from 'scratch'.

Along came a piece of luck when a mentor

discovered that my army service would assist

me in climbing the ladder to professional

qualifications. This meant hours of hard study

but with my now wife Rose and with baby

Chloe's smiles I undertook the task and

became a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of

Loss Adjusters (F.C.I.L.A.).

I am now blind in one eye and very hard of

hearing so I find it more difficult to have

conversations with people in Chapel. Since I lost Rose I have no

one to interpret for me (except my lovely daughter Chloe,

granddaughters Hannah and Sarah, and my two sons Andrew and

Graham) so I ask newcomers to be patient with me and forgive me

if I repeat anything I may have missed - but please don’t hesitate to

come and have a chat.

Fred Gamble

Many thanks to Fred for writing the first biography in what we hope will be

a series. Please let Jo have your story for inclusion, in person or by email.

You can include pictures as well as text if you would like to.—Ed

Chapel Management Committee Susan Coggan

Chapel Management Committee meetings will be on:

Wednesday 21st January and Wednesday 18th February

ANTHEMS DURING JANUARY 2015

Jan 4th: What cheer? Good cheer! - Peter Warlock

Jan 11th: Kings in glory - Martin Shaw

Jan 18th: From the rising of the sun - Frederick G. Ouseley Jan 25th: Jesu, joy of man’s desiring (from Cantata No. 147) - J. S. Bach

ANTHEMS DURING FEBRUARY 2015

Feb 1st: Worship - Geoffrey Shaw

Feb 8th: God be in my head - John Rutter

Feb 15th: Let all the world in every corner sing - Eric H. Thiman

Feb 22nd: Turn Thy face from my sins - Thomas Attwood

Flowers & Flowers & WelcomersWelcomers for Januaryfor January & February 2015& February 2015

Jan 4th: In loving memory of Alice Johnson Roy Coggan

Hunslet Memorial Flowers in loving memory of Alice Johnson

Jan 11th: Flower Fund Roy Perry

Jan 18th: In loving memory of Molly & Stan Maney Susan Coggan

Jan 25th: In loving memory of Clarice & Harold James Roy Perry

Feb 1st: Flower Fund Roy Coggan

Feb 8th: In loving memory of Dorothy & Austyn Barran Roy Perry

Feb 15th: In loving memory of John & Joan Gamble Susan Coggan

and daughter Karen Isobel Honnoraty

Feb 22nd: In loving memory of Ernest, Percy Roy Perry

& Joan Dalton

If anyone would like to make a donation to provide flowers in memory of a

loved one, to celebrate anniversaries or remember a birthday, then please

contact Joan Perry or Susan Coggan (Flower Secretary). A few dates in the calen-

dar are still available . . . . .

Service Structures

As you'll have noticed service structure and orders of service have been more flexible recently as I 've been investigating how best to serve the wishes and needs of all who attend. Don't hesitate to feedback to me your thoughts and feelings about this.

One suggestion that has come forward I'd like to take up immediately; members of the congregation could propose a favourite hymn that you'd like to hear included in a service.

We'll be planning services well in advance so if there is a hymn you'd like to hear on a particular occasion give us plenty of notice. I look forward to hearing from you all.

Jo

Services during January and February 2015

Sundays: Morning service: 10.45am

Contemplative worship: 6pm

Wednesdays: Half hour quiet service:

1.15pm

Thursdays: Early evening service 6.15pm

Led by our Minister, Jo James

Sunday Morning February 8th will be led by

Rev Celia Midgely

First Sunday of each month—bring and share lunch after

morning service, in the Priestley Hall. All welcome!

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night is a festival, in some branches of Christianity, marking the coming of the Epiphany and concluding the Twelve Days of Christmas.

It is defined by the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary as "the evening of the fifth of January, preceding Twelfth

Day, the eve of the Epiphany, formerly the last day of the Christmas festivities and observed as a time of merrymaking". There is some confusion, however, as to which night is Twelfth Night. The older tradition of Twelfth Night being on the eve of 4th January stems from the Hebrew and later Roman Catholic liturgical practice of the day beginning at sunset rather than at midnight as it does now. Thus Twelfth Night falls on the night of 5 January nowadays.

A belief has arisen in modern times, in some English-speaking countries, that it is unlucky to leave Christmas decorations hanging after Twelfth Night, a tradition originally attached to the festival of Candlemas (2 February) which celebrates the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple.

Origins and history

In medieval and Tudor England, the Twelfth Night marked the end of a winter festival that started on All Hallows Eve — now more commonly known as Halloween. The Lord of Misrule symbolizes the world turning upside down. On this day the King and all those who were high would become the peasants and vice versa. At the beginning of the Twelfth Night festival, a cake that contained a bean was eaten. The person who found the bean would rule the feast. Midnight signaled the end of his rule and the world would return to normal. The common theme was that the normal order of things was reversed. This Lord of Misrule tradition dates back to pre-Christian European festivals such as the Celtic festival of Samhain and the Ancient Roman festival of Saturnalia.

Traditions

Food and drink are the centre of the celebrations in modern times, and all of the most traditional ones go back many centuries. The punch called wassail is consumed especially on Twelfth Night, but throughout Christmas time, especially in the UK. Around the world, special pastries, such as the tortell and king cake are baked on Twelfth Night, and eaten the following day for the Feast of the Epiphany celebrations. In English and French cus-tom, the Twelfth-cake was baked to contain a bean and a pea, so that those who received the slices containing them should be designated king and queen of the night's festivities.

In Ireland it is still the tradition to place the statues of the Three Kings in the crib on Twelfth Night or, at the latest, the following Day Little Christmas.

In colonial America, a Christmas wreath was always left up on the front door of each home, and when taken down at the end of the Twelve Days of Christmas, any edible portions would be consumed with the other foods of the feast. The same held true in the 19th-20th centuries with fruits adorning Christmas trees. Fresh fruits were hard to come by, and were therefore considered fine and proper gifts and decorations for the tree, wreaths, and home. Again, the tree would be taken down on Twelfth Night, and such fruits, along with nuts and other local produce used, would then be consumed.

In the eastern Alps, a tradition called Perchtenlaufen exists. Two to three hundred masked young men rush about the streets with whips and bells driving out evil spirits. In Nuremberg until 1616, children frightened spirits away by running through the streets and knocking loudly at doors. In some countries, the Twelfth Night and Epiphany mark the start of the Carnival season, which lasts through Mardi Gras Day. Modern American Carnival traditions shine most brightly in New Orleans, where friends gather for weekly King Cake parties. Whoever gets the slice with the "king", usually in the form of a miniature baby doll (symbolic of the Christ Child, "Christ the King"), hosts next week's party.

In parts of Kent, there is a tradition that an edible decoration would be the last part of Christmas to be removed in the Twelfth Night and shared amongst the family.

Drury Lane Theatre in London has had a tradition since 1795 of providing a Twelfth Night cake. The will of Robert Baddeley made a bequest of £100 to provide cake and punch every year for the company in residence at the theatre on 6 January. The tradition still continues.

In some places, particularly south-western England, Old Twelfth Night is celebrated on 17 January. This continues the custom on the date deter-mined by the Julian calendar.

In literature

Shakespeare's play Twelfth Night, or What You Will was written to be performed as a Twelfth Night entertainment. The earliest known performance took place at Middle Temple Hall, one of the Inns of Court, on Candlemas night, 2 February 1602. The play has many elements that are reversed, in the tradition of Twelfth Night, such as a

woman Viola dressing as a man, and a servant Malvolio imagining that he can become a nobleman.

Ben Jonson's The Masque of Blackness was performed on 6 January 1605 at the Banqueting House in Whitehall. It was originally entitled The Twelvth Nights Revells. The accompanying Masque, The Masque of Beauty was performed in the same court the Sunday night after the Twelfth Night in 1608.

Robert Herrick's poem Twelfe-Night, or King and Queene, published in 1648, describes the election of king and queen by bean and pea in a plum cake, and the homage done to them by the draining of wassail bowls of "lamb's-wool", a drink of sugar, nutmeg, ginger and ale.

In Harrison Ainsworth's 1858 novel Mervyn Clitheroe, the eponymous hero is elected King of festivities at the Twelfth Night celebrations held in Tom Shakeshaft's barn, by receiving the slice of plum cake containing a bean.

Mill Hill Chapel Online

You can keep in touch with events and people at the Chapel online!

Our website www.millhillchapel.org.uk

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/MillHillUnitarianChapel

Jo’s blog http://spaceofpossibility.wordpress.com/

Chapel Twitter https://twitter.com/millhillchapel

Jo’s Twitter https://twitter.com/jojames_

Minister Rev Jo James Mobile 07949 052024 @jojames_

Facilities Manager / Lettings: Malcolm Clarke Chapel 0113 243 3845

Chairman of the Congregation Alan Hawkins

Director of Music Anthony Norcliffe Home 01274 637 535

The Record Editor Eleanor Dickenson Mobile 0773 631 7215 Email millhillrecord@gmail.com @millhillchapel

CONFLICT or UNITY?

There is no greater cause of conflict in our world today than the diversity of race, religion, culture and creed. Israel, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, Russia, Spain, Africa, India, Indonesia and elsewhere : this is fundamentally the case. Yet whether we are Jew, Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Bahai or a member of any other religious faith, we share the same universe; the same planet Earth; the same environment; the same human biology and the same evolutionary process of nature. Clearly then, without a move-ment toward greater unity as one world and one people, there will be no peace.

Leeds is a modern city, which incorporates people from a variety of cultur-al and religious backgrounds. Their children sit alongside each other in schools, and lie alongside each other in hospitals. Yet the traditions of pre-vious generations present obstacles and barriers to the natural and neces-sary integration of modern-day communities. It is now imperative that hu-man beings everywhere embrace a vision of the “oneness” of God and of Humankind. Peace and harmony for future generations depends directly upon the success of this challenge. Of course, such unity will not come easily or overnight, and there will be many objections along the way. Nev-ertheless an attempt must be made, and where better to begin by way of example to the world, than in our fine city of Leeds?

This matter will not go away, and it is of little use hiding in our Syna-gogues, Temples, Gurdwaras, Mosques and Churches, and thinking that we can continue safe in our exclusive, cultural and religious, traditions. As intelligent and responsible adults, we have a duty to our children and to our world to address the problem now. If you share our vision, or are in sympathy and agreement with our views, then perhaps you would like to make contact with us, and together - whatever our differences - we might begin to find and establish that vital path to greater unity.