Digital version of the June-July 2022 Stambourne Newsletter, the bi-monthly printed newsletter published and distributed by Stambourne Parish Council – No: 268
The latest Stambourne Newsletter is now available. Read all about the Parish Council, news from Stambourne Chapel and Stambourne Church, activities in Stambourne and more.
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
In this issue:
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
STAMBOURNE PARISH COUNCIL
The Annual Parish Assembly and Annual General Meeting took place on Thursday, 19th May 2022 at the village hall. We were pleased to welcome our Essex County Councillor, Peter Schwier.
The Parish Assembly is a roundup of the year. The Chair, Neil Pyman, presented his report:
“At the beginning of the year we were still concerned about Covid restrictions, however with the situation in Ukraine that seems like yesterday’s news.
With a quiet period over the summer it was good to have the Parish Council firework display back in the autumn. It was a great success, so much so that parking became an issue with cars having to park as far back as Greenfields Farm.
We have again made some major improvements to the Pavilion with redecoration and new flooring – it looks great. Finally we have a very striking new addition on the playing field with the Jubilee Beacon and I think we can all agree it is very impressive. Let’s hope for a sunny afternoon and evening as we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
Thank you to all the Parish Councillors for their hard work, I think we were all involved in bonfire night and then Val, Vanessa and Karen with the Pavilion and Martin, Ronnie and Keith for the beacon. Thank you also to Richard Van Dulken (Braintree District Council) and Peter Schwier (Essex County Council) for their support and Debbie for her commitment and guidance.”
Pavilion
The Pavilion is available for hire, please contact me (details below) if you would like to book. I think you will all agree it looks extremely smart with its redecoration and new floor. Thank you to Mick Pyman who kindly reframed the photographs and put them back up in the main room.
Playing Field
Again it is being kept well maintained by Michael Turner who cuts the grass. As mentioned earlier the Platinum Jubilee Beacon is now installed ready to use. Thank you to Ronnie and Keith Argent for making the brazier and Martyn Fall who supplied the post and brick plinth.
Footpaths
One of a parish councillors and a local resident kindly spent a great deal of time walking the footpaths to identify any issues. These will be reported to ECC. Any Highways/footpath problems can be reported online at essex.gov.uk/highways.
Financial Year End 31 March 2022
The accounts for the year end have been completed and approved by the Internal Auditor. These will now be sent to the external Auditor.
Proposed Prison at Wethersfield Airbase
We will continue to monitor this situation.
Parish Council Meeting Dates 2022
• 21st July 2022
• 22nd September 2022
• 23rd November 2022 (Wednesday)
All are Thursdays at 7.30pm in the Village Hall unless shown otherwise.
More details may be found here »
Full minutes are available on the village website: stambourne.com/parish-council.
Debbie Hilliard, Parish Clerk
debbiehilliard614@gmail.com, 01440 785 629
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
ST. PETER & ST. THOMAS BECKET PARISH CHURCH
It is with great sadness that I start my Newsletter contribution with the passing of two Stambourne residents:
David Waller whose funeral service and burial was on Wednesday, 8th June. David was on the Parochial Church Council of St. Peter and St. Thomas and will be greatly missed for the many jobs he undertook inside and outside the Church and for his expert advice.
Carol Davison whose funeral service was on Wednesday, 15th June at 1.30pm at the Church followed by cremation.
We pray for the families and friends of both Carol and David at this sad time.
I would like to thank those of you who entered flower arrangements in the Church for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee. Although only four were entered they were of excellent quality and interpretation of the Jubilee. Well done to Jenny Wiffen who won the prize.
With the children’s painting/drawing competition there were six entries and Ronnie Davis-Hatton won a prize for his excellent drawing of Buckingham Palace and Daisy Humberstone also won a prize for her delightful drawing of the Queen.
Well done and thank you to all who took part and to Rev. Liz Paxton for being our judge!
I know I can only echo the positive comments of many people in the village about the amazing Jubilee celebration day on 2nd June. Well done to all who helped or took part — a day to remember!
Cream teas at the Church
Saturday, 16th July — 2 – 4pm, at the church of St Peter and St Thomas.
All welcome
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
SERVICES AT STAMBOURNE FOR THE NEXT TWO MONTHS
| Date | Time | Service | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd July | 10.30am | Morning Prayer | Dave Brown |
| 10th July | 9.30am | Holy Communion | Rev. Caroline |
| 7th August | 9.30am | Morning Prayer | Dave Brown |
| 14th August | 9.30am | Holy Communion | Rev. Liz Paxton |
Val Kerrison, Churchwarden
valeriekerrison@outlook.com
01440 785 752 or 07879 816 362
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
RECTOR’S RAMBLINGS
Earlier last month I went on a pilgrimage with four other women from Melrose in Scotland to Holy Island (Lindisfarne) in Northumberland. We walked 66 miles in total, with the last 2½ miles over a tidal causeway, only passable when the tide is out. The walk is named after Cuthbert, a 7th-century saint, a native of the Borders who spent his life in the service of the church.
My life, like many peoples these days, is usually lived in such a rush; you might have seen my little red mini whizzing round the countryside from village to village. It was such a pleasure to slow down to walking pace and take the time to admire the views, to hear the birds and smell the flowers and to ponder things and pray. At the final destination, Lindisfarne, we celebrated with communion and soaked our poor feet.
For the four weary travellers this pilgrimage felt like a kind of ‘threshold time’ between one season of life and the next and that was certainly true for me as I returned once more to a very busy diary and the noisy splendour of a Jubilee weekend. The time out for me was a pause in the present between past and future, a moment to ‘catch breath’ rather than rushing from one activity to the next. I was reminded of something I read in theology college by St Augustine of Hippo “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”
As a vicar it is easy to feel that there is always one more thing to do (writing a newsletter, for example) and there is never enough time. We all need to remind ourselves that:
- No one is indispensable
- You don’t have to do EVERYTHING yourself
- Our hearts are always restless until they find peace by resting in God.
The Jubilee weekend certainly showed what can happen when a whole community comes together, and the Thursday afternoon at Stambourne was no exception. I won’t say more, as it has all been covered elsewhere, other than that it was utterly magnificent and I have never eaten so much cake in all my life!
I do want to draw your attention to a couple of activities coming up.
In July, and back by popular demand, we are having a Cream tea afternoon at St Peter and St Thomas church (you should have worked off the Jubilee cake by then).
Also, on Saturday, 6th August at 7.30pm in Sible Hedingham Church (St Peters) there is an evening performance to raise funds for Ukraine by an international duo called “Kyiv Duo Accordions”.
Oleksiy Kolomoiets and Igor Sayenko from Ukraine play button accordions and are very accomplished musicians. Both were students at the National Music Academy of Ukraine and have performed together since then as the Kyiv Classic Duo.
ALL PROFITS TO UKRAINE FUND
These guys play for the Kyiv Ukrainian orchestra and will cover classical music, Ukrainian folk tunes and much more. It’s a fantastic evening and you will need to buy tickets (£10 in advance, £15 on the door) from revlizpaxton@gmail.com or call on 07932160594.
Bless you all and remember to take a moment to ‘smell the roses’ or have that extra scone at our fundraiser and enjoy the summer.
Blessings,
Rev. Liz Paxton, Rector
The Benefice of the Hedinghams and Upper Colne
revlizpaxton@gmail.com
07932 160 594 or 01787 277 270
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
STAMBOURNE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH
News from the Chapel
June this year was a wonderful time of celebration for the Queen’s Jubilee, but I wonder how life changing it was for you all. As we look back through the years we see life changing moments and in August the Chapel celebrates its 360th Anniversary (24th August at 10.45am — do come along!). For that year in 1662 was truly a life changing year in the lives of both the Chapel and the Church in Stambourne. The Church of England incumbent at the time – one Henry Havers, refused to acknowledge the King of the time as the one who should dictate how we worship God and so he, along with 2000 others, “lost his living” — a nice way of saying he was thrown out!
Well that led to the start of the Congregational Church that we still have in the village, and also led to the opportunity for one Reverend James Spurgeon arriving from Clare in 1810 and staying on for 52 years. So started the village association with Charles Haddon Spurgeon, his grandson, called the prince of preachers and the minister to the largest church in London! Right at the end of his life he wrote a book called Memories of Stambourne which shows what life was like at the end of the 1800’s when the straw platting business failed and farm land changed hands for very low prices. So several of these farming families still live in this neck of the woods and still contribute to life in the village.
All this from one event in 1662. I wonder what event has that effect on our lives today. What is it that changes us so that in five or even ten generations people will be able to look back and say there was a life changing moment then. I am sure it won’t be the Jubilee celebrations — they will be long forgotten, just as the celebrations of past Kings and Queens have been forgotten. As we look back we see that life changing moments can be caused by international events – the war in Ukraine will be remembered by the people there for generations to come whatever the outcome, both by people living there and people who have fled the conflict. And for Russia too it is a life changing moment in their relationships with the rest of the world.
But life changing moments occur every day in our individual lives. They occur as we see changes in health or age, or relationships, and this is the reason why Stambourne Chapel Care was set up 18 months ago. We stand beside people in those difficult times and help people make decisions and support them in their everyday living. The Church, as Canon J John puts it, “is in the business of transforming lives” for it is through faith in a living God that we can be changed and many in our churches will give testimony to the change we have experienced in our lives. This change through belief is truly life changing, but for all the right reasons! (Many transforming moments can be for reasons we would sooner forget!) So this autumn we want to give people the opportunity to find out for themselves and will be running courses that will answer so many questions we have about our ever changing lives. Watch out for more information come September and October!
Plant sale
At our Plant Sale and Swap in May we received over £550 in donations toward our building project and wish to express our thanks to all who grew the plants, swapped plants or came along and helped.
We appreciate all the support from the village so thank you all.
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
WHAT’S ON AT THE CHAPEL
| Day | Activity |
|---|---|
| Sunday | Sunday Services 10.45am in the Chapel. but if you can’t come and would like a printed version we will be happy to deliver or email a copy each week. |
| Tuesday & Thursday | Coffee morning 10am – 12pm. The Chapel is open for a chat and coffee and for a time of private chat and for prayer. |
| Tuesday evening | Band practice From 7.30pm our band practices their songs. You are welcome to come along and listen or sing along with us. |
| Wednesday | Wednesday Club 10am – 2.30pm. For people with learning disabilities. |
EVENTS for July, August and September
| Date | Activity |
|---|---|
| Sunday, 21st August | Chapel Anniversary Celebrating 180 years. |
| August – date TBD | MS Trust Coffee morning and sale |
| Late August | Family Sponsored Cycle ride At the Discovery Centre Gt Notley in aid of Stambourne Chapel Care. |
| Sunday, 25th September | Harvest celebration 10.45am at the Chapel. |
| Friday, 30th September | Macmillans Big Coffee Morning |
Prayer
The Chapel prays regularly for many people, but sometimes you may feel a need for an urgent prayer as you face some difficult situation, or in need of comfort or strength to face life’s ups and downs. Please call either Adrian or Margaret, or just drop a prayer request note through the Chapel post box. We don’t need a name or details, but promise we will pray for whatever you feel able to share.
STAMBOURNE CHAPEL CARE
Stambourne Chapel Care has helped the Chapel win a “Church in the Community” award from the Congregational Federation and supported by Congregational Insurance. The plaque will be displayed in due course.
We now have volunteers who are willing to pop in to see people for a friendly chat, do some shopping, pick up prescriptions, provide transport, walk dogs, or discuss needs and find appropriate resources to help you. We are working in all the local villages between Braintree, Halstead and Haverhill, so if you know of anyone who needs care and support do call and we will visit and assess what we can do to reduce loneliness, provide or find appropriate support, and assist with life through changing circumstances.
Call Jill Holmes on 07883 423 528, or email at holmesjill30@gmail.com
Contacts:
Adrian Burr, Minister, stambournechapelminister@gmail.com, 07983 656 166
Margaret Mead, Secretary & prayer request, margaretannmead@gmail.com, 07561 283 587
Jill Holmes, Project Lead & Stambourne Chapel Care, stambournechapelcare@gmail.com, 07883 423 528
Find us on Facebook: Stambourne Chapel or Stambourne Chapel Care
STAMBOURNE LADIES GROUP
We’re back — save these dates!
If you’d like to know more than please visit the Stambourne Ladies Group section or contact Vicky on 07908 099 904 or Lorna on 07980 922 636.
Fish and chips supper »
- 13th July 2022 – 6pm for 6.30pm at The Pavilion
- Fish and chip supper, guests welcome
- Bring your own drinks
Life and Death in a Victorian Gaol »
- 10th August 2022 – 7pm for 7.30pm at The Village Hall
- Open to all. £3 for non-members
Buffet provided courtesy of SLG.
Reminiscences of a Stansted Customs Officer »
- 14th September 2022 – 7pm for 7.30pm at The Village Hall
- Open to all. £3 for non-members
Buffet provided courtesy of SLG.
Knit & Natter Club »
- Every 3rd Thursday of the month — 5pm – 7pm. We are trying out different venues — get in touch to find out where we’ll be meeting next. More info »
- Get crafty with knitting, crochet, embroidery, sewing, quilting and more!
- Bring along your projects, share ideas and tips, get inspired or just come for a chat. Everyone welcome!
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
STAMBOURNE ACTIVITIES
Village Hall available for hire »
Hiring Fees, including heating and electricity:
- For residents: £8 per hour
- For non-residents: £10 per hour
To hire the Hall, ring Rosemary on 01440 785 339. More info »
Silver Link Club »
Stambourne Chapel from 2pm to 4pm every two weeks.
Dates for next meetings: 21st June, 5th July, 19th July PICNIC in the Park, 2nd August, 16th August, 30th August.
For more information, contact Vanessa on 01440 785 122 or Lois on 01440 578 720. We love to welcome new members.
Bingo »
To everyone who was going to Bingo, Cath is very sorry but she hasn’t been very well lately.
However, she will start the Bingo again in early August.
Keep an eye out for signs.
Women’s workout »
Low impact, women’s only fitness class, improving strength, flexibility, balance and core. Suitable for any ages and ability, exercise seated or standing.
This friendly group meets every Tuesday at 6pm at the Stambourne Village Hall (please book in advance).
For more information, contact Lara on 07471 105 210.
60s music by Reflections »
- Saturday, 16th July 2022
- Cheese Nibbles and Wine
(Bring your own glass) - Start: 7.30pm
- £10 per person
Stambourne newsletter June – July 2022
PLATINUM JUBILEE
It was months in the planning but finally the Platinum Jubilee celebration took place at the Playing field on Thursday, 2nd June.
It was a great success with plenty of you coming to enjoy the quiz, food, music and socialising.
It is impossible to put on an event like this without a team of volunteers who gave up their time and put in a huge amount of work to ensure it ran smoothly.
A huge thank you to everyone!
Photos courtesy of Lorna Tew Polley and Karen Crago.
See more photos and a video of Stambourne’s Jubilee Party »
OTHER ACTIVITIES
Finding your feet walks – Finchingfield
Put a SPRING in your step! Finding Your Feet Walks have returned to Finchingfield with their fun FREE guided walks, for everyone who would like to get active and meet new friends along the way.
- Every Friday – 9.15am
- Finchingfield Green, B1053, Finchingfield CM7 4NN
Please contact Jo Bryant for further information on: information@community360.org.uk or 01206 505250
Stambourne Newsletter
Ideas and contributions for the next newsletter to Karen Crago at kcrago@btinternet.com or the post box at Tagley Farm by Friday, 29th July 2022.
In the meantime you can find up to date local news on stambourne.com and on Facebook.
Thank you.
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