Kensington Parish News Spring 2011

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St Mary Abbots Christ Church St Philip’s

Spring 2011

Canon Andrew Pearson on Christian conscience and the law, profile of David Banks, eulogy to Anthony Howard, Fr Gareth in Egypt, SMA School’s new dining hall and fluffy Easter Bunnies!

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Spring 2011

Contents 5-6 Vicar’s Voice – the Rev’d Canon Andrew Pearson 7 Holy Week: the origins of the Easter Bunny, by Barbara Want 8 Parish Directory 11 A profile of David Banks by Barbara Want 14-17 Eulogy to Anthony Howard by Robert Harris 19 The next chapter of the Book Club, from Barbara Hensman 20-23 Fr Gareth Wardell in Egypt 24-26 The New Dining Hall at SMA School. Reports from headmistress Nicola Doyle, Year 6 pupils Charlie Rhodes and Grace MacIlwain, and Year 2 pupil Lola Stadlen (and friends).

27 SMA School’s Book Day Parade photos by Charlotte Fisher 28 Classifieds and Regular Worship Would readers wishing to submit articles for our next issue (Winter 2010) please email kensingtonparishnews@googlemail.com If you would like to advertise in the KPN (all proceeds to the Church), please contact Fiona Braddock on 07802 761 822 Editors: Fiona Braddock and Kira Jolliffe Printed by Prontaprint, Kensington. Distributed free through our three parish churches.

Copyright remains the property of the respective authors.

Heartfelt thanks, as always, to all our contributors.

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Canon Andrew Pearson of Christ Church on the Judges and the Christian Conscience

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hat are we to make of recent legal judgements which state that, under the Equality Law, the rights of one minority “should take precedence” over that of another? So the judges said in the recent John’s case. If you ask why they ‘should take precedence’, rather than carry equal weight, the answer the judges gave was as follows:– “Our society is now pluralistic and largely secular. We sit as secular judges serving a multicultural community of many faiths. The Laws and usages of the realm do not include Christianity, in whatever form. The aphorism that “Christianity is part of the Common Law of England” is mere rhetoric.

If that were true all the more reason, one suggests, for the judges to protect the consciences of such a minority. But is it true?

History records the major influences which the Christians faith and Christian people have had upon our nation, making it so attractive to others:– the rule of law, our parliamentary democracy, our institutions, our trade unions, our social welfare and moraes, our scientific revolution, and support for freedom. So one is bound to ask “when was it that Parliament decided that our society is now ‘largely secular’, or that our judges, once ‘secular judges’, or that the ‘Law and usage of the realm do not include Christianity in whatever form?’”

The answer, of course, is that Parliament

From the Clergy

Vicar’s Voice

has never so decided, it is our judges who have so decided, and at a time when the majority of British people call themselves Christians. Their case rests not upon a body of evidence but upon their personal opinion. In effect we have a small group of judges ignoring the will of Parliament by reinventing the social and historical context in which they apply the Law, so that it chimes with their secular prejudices.

This follows last year’s judgement in the Court of Appeal in the McFarlane case, where Lord Justice Laws said:– “The conferment of any legal protection upon a particular moral position, on the ground that it is espoused by the adherents of a particular faith, however long its tradition, however rich its culture, is deeply unprincipled.”

Presumably this would apply to all Quakers, who, in time of war, have, for hundreds of years, been conscientious objectors. In many cases they have served with distinction as medical personnel, even in the front line. Personally I disagree with the pacifist conscience but I much admire and respect it. Likewise I disagree with Mr. McFarlane’s conscience on gay relationships, but I certainly respect it. I would argue that such consciences like that of Christian doctors unable to perform an abortion, are, in fact, deeply principled, and that what is deeply unprincipled, illiberal 5

From the Clergy

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and intolerant, is to make no allowance in Law for the religious consciences of members of our society.

To make matters worse Lord Justice Laws also said:“The promulgation of Law for the protection of a position held purely on religious grounds cannot be justified. It is irrational, as preferring the subjective over the objective. But it is also divisive, capricious and arbitrary”. He added that “in the eye of everyone, save the believer, religious faith is necessarily subjective, being incommunicable by any kind of proof or evidence”.

These remarks prompted the former Bishop of Rochester, Bishop Nazir Ali, to wonder if the learned judge had heard of such great minds as those of Augustine, Aquinas, Erasmus, Newton, Boyle and many others.

By their ability to articulate the Christian faith in an objective and communicative way, they have been among the principle intellectual architects of our western civilization.

Moreover one is also provoked to ask, a little cheekily, if the Lord Justice of Appeal is entirely familiar with the legal standard of proof, which is that of proving ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, or ‘on the balance of probability’, and not with absolute certainty, not beyond doubt. For there is a considerable body of proof, or evidence, available to any unprejudiced mind, which, to great thinkers and ordinary people alike, proves ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ the essential rationality, objectivity, consistency, unifying force and communicability of the Christian faith.

Perhaps most alarming of all was the advocacy by Lord Justice Laws of what amounts to a complete divorce between the

divine basis of Law and the Law of the land. For the logical outcome of such a position is that there is no higher legal and moral authority than the State. Whatever the State decides must be right, for the State is all. And that, of course, is totalitarianism. Under such a system all truth is relative. What the State decides today it can undecide tomorrow. How like communism which, as Solzhenitsyn wrote out of bitter experience, “has never concealed the fact that it rejects all absolute concepts of morality. Depending upon circumstances, any act, including mass slaughter, may be good or bad, it all depends upon the State’s ideology, as defined by a handful of people at any given time.”

In His teaching on the Sabbath, and on other moral questions, Jesus summoned his generation to return to the Diving purpose in creation and to the Divine basis of law.

Our generation needs to understand that the road down which we are heading is towards a relativist, arbitrary, capricious and divisive kind of law, based on no higher authority that the subjective views of the contemporary makers and interpreters of that law. This road does not lead to freedom. It leads to slavery.

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t was Shakespeare’s Hamlet who said: “The play’s the thing, in which to catch the conscience of the King”. Our Court of Appeal seems to be saying “The Law’s the thing, in which to crush the conscience of the Christian”.

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Holy Week

The Easter Bunny – Holy Chocolate or Wholly Chocolate? asks Barbara Want

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here’s no story in the Bible about a rabbit which hides eggs in the garden, yet the Easter Bunny has a big role on the day we remember that Jesus rose from the dead.

Here are a few things about the Easter Bunny that you may not know…

Bunnies, chicks and eggs were pagan symbols.

Their role in celebrations can be traced back to pre-Christian Germany, when the Teutonic deity Eostre was the goddess of Spring and fertility. Her symbol was the rabbit because rabbits breed like errrr… rabbits. Eggs too were an ancient symbol of fertility and of the new life that comes with Spring.

Feasts were held in honour of Eostre on the Spring Equinox, the 21st March.

The pagan festival occurred at the same time of year as the observance of the resurrection of Christ. As Christianity spread and the festival became Christian it took the name Eostre and eventually became Easter.

The Easter Bunny legend was first documented in the 1500s and stories emerged later of Easter bunnies laying eggs in the garden.

A tradition arose of making nests for the eggs and these soon became colourful baskets. Children believed the Easter Bunny would leave them eggs if they were good.

The Easter bunny was introduced to the United States by German settlers in the 18th century and became known there as the Spring Bunny.

The first edible Easter eggs were made in Germany during the early 19th century and were made of pastry and sugar. Chocolate soon followed.

In 1873 the first mass-produced Cadburys Easter Eggs were made in this country.

According to one survey 76% of people prefer to eat the ears of a chocolate Easter bunny before any other part.

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Parish Directory

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Parish Directory Clergy, wardens, vestry and office THE PARISH The Rev’d Gillean Craig (Vicar of the Parish) 020 7937 6032 gillean.craig@stmaryabbotschurch.org Parochial Churchwardens Susan Lockhart 020 7602 6073, Adrian Weale 0207 937 0765 Children’s Advocate Karsten Alva Jorgensen 020 7361 1505 Electoral Roll Officer Sally Bessada 020 7727 3210 sally@bessada.co.uk Parish Office Secretary Susan Russell 020 7937 2419 admin@stmaryabbotschurch.org ST MARY ABBOTS The Rev’d Gareth Wardell (Associate Vicar) 020 7937 2364 gareth.wardell@stmaryabbotschurch.org Non-Stipendiary Ministers The Rev’d Rob Marshall 020 7937 2259 The Rev’d Peter Stubbs 020 8868 8296 Deputy Churchwardens Carole-Anne Phillips 020 7937 3448, Thomas Williams 07768 166 422 Director of Music Mark Uglow Contact via Vestry St Mary Abbots Vestry George MacAllan 020 7937 5136 george.macallan@stmaryabbotschurch.org St Mary Abbots Centre Terry Pritchard (Manager) 020 7937 8885 manager@smacentre.com Stewardship Secretary Simon Baker 020 7937 2203 Children on Sunday Lesley Bilinda children@stmaryabbotschurch.org Friends of St Mary Abbots Steven Atack (Chairman) 020 7402 1531 St Mary Abbots Bellringers Rachel Titmuss (Secretary) -rt-@live.co.uk CHRIST CHURCH The Rev’d Canon Andrew Pearson 020 7476 6730 Deputy Churchwardens Adrian Weale 020 7937 0765, Philip Witheridge 0207 937 5184.

ST PHILIP’S The Rev’d David Walsh (Assoc Vicar St Philip’s) 020 7603 4420 vicar@specr.org Non-Stipendiary Minister The Rev’d Lesley Perry 020 7938 1367 lesley.perry@specr.org The Rev’d Ijeoma Ajibade ijeoma.ajibade@specr.org Deputy Churchwardens Tim Whitfield 07852 732 364 tim.whitfield@specr.org, Callum Stewart 07860 579 838 callum.stewart@specr.org Licensed Reader Rupert Steele 020 8747 1556 rupert@specr.org Membership Secretary Stephen Tutcher office@specr.org Director of Music Rebecca Taylor Rebecca.Taylor@specr.org

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Profile

David Banks, 521/2 A profile by Barbara Want

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sked to profile David Banks for the KPN and I’m embarrassed to admit that I don’t know who he is. ‘Former churchwarden’, Father Gillean emails. ‘Deeply involved in supporting justice etc issues in Zimbabwe, about 60 years old.’

‘60?’ explodes David. ‘I’m 52 ½, thank you.’ So I’m happy to set the record straight here and to express my amazement that when he was first elected to the Parochial Church Council back in 1978 David was barely 19.

The week we meet he’s busy briefing members of the House of Lords in preparation for a debate on Zimbabwe, and is about to take a delegation of British parliamentarians to a meeting with their counterparts in Harare. For nearly ten years David has acted as a link between the UK and those working for democracy in Zimbabwe.

Fearing we may have to discuss international politics I’m relieved to discover that he’s burning to talk about St Mary Abbots instead. ‘What I love about the church is that it’s not overly-pious,’ he says. ‘It’s easy for people to join in without feeling they have to be hyper-spiritual. It’s dignified in its worship without being stuffy.

And it’s not an inward-looking holy huddle.’

Back in the ‘70s when he first joined he was alarmed at ‘how old’ the congregation was. There was no established Sunday school, so David got one going again and ran it for the eleven years he was churchwarden, from 1989 to 2000. ‘It was a real

challenge and a real treat to have the children for an hour every Sunday - one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done,’ he claims. His mission, 52 weeks a year, ‘was to talk about love, not sin, because I wanted it to be positive for the children, as well as being chaotic and fun.’

Young families began to arrive including a child who assumed David was the Almighty Himself. (The child’s mother had explained that St Mary Abbots was the House of God).

His too was the idea of giving children candles at the altar rail, as was the annual Bonfire Night party for the parish children in the vicarage garden. (Rumour has it that he nearly caused a diplomatic incident when he launched a rocket from a wonky milk bottle and scored a direct hit on the Jordanian Embassy.)

For David, church is the one place where he comes across people of all backgrounds and all ages, ‘and you see them through the ups and downs of life. People going to church and worshipping together are living in the same poem. And they’ve shown me more about the love of God than any amount of sermons.’

Would he change anything? ‘Yes, the service sheet. I think there should be just one. And maybe some of the hymns. I’d prefer a Radio 2/Classic FM approach to the choice of hymns, so I can really give them a bit of welly.’

David Banks, 52 ½, master of the deftlyworded turn of phrase.

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Eulogy

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Anthony Howard The funeral of Tony Howard took place at St Mary Abbots on 5th January 2011. Here we print friend and novelist Robert Harris’ moving eulogy for an influential and much missed member of our congregation

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any writers have a voice in their head that cajoles or rebukes them as they work, and for almost a quarter century, that voice for me has been Tony Howard’s. I was 29 when at his instigation I was hired as political correspondent by the Observer, even though I’d never written a newspaper article in my life. He taught me the trade. He took a paternal interest in me. Eventually I graduated to the Elysium Fields of what he called his “lost boys”. On Fridays and Saturdays I used to take my copy in to show him in his office, where he’d be sucking a wine gum or puffing on a cheap cigar. Mostly he was kind, though he could be rude if necessary.

He once described an article I’d written as “the work of a perfectly competent pork butcher”. On another occasion he noted with pursed lips that I’d misspelt Iain Macleod: he called it “a vulgar error”.

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Talking to Carol last week, she mentioned that Tony had been famous at school for his performances of Polonius and Lady Bracknell – and I’m not sure he ever entirely stopped playing either role. I can hear his voice now, as he stands at my shoulder, looking down at what I’ve written: “Call this a eulogy? You must be off your toot.

You clearly haven’t done a hand’s turn.

Even Trelford would have done a better job than this…”

Tony was a wonderful combination of paradoxes. In a characteristic inversion of the modern commonplace stance, he didn’t believe in God but he did believe in an organised religion. He was almost literally born into it, on the 12th of February 1934, about 500 yards from where we’re sitting, in a church flat at 24 Cheniston Gardens.

His father, Guy – “a poor parson,” in Tony’s words – was then a young priest

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very low fellow”. He had his own strange language. The wireless was “the puff-puff radio”. Holidays were taken in “French France”. The Observer’s literary editor was always “Blakey Blake”. The News Editor, “Little Miss Muffett”. And so it went on.

His father was a lifelong Conservative and as a young schoolboy Tony had a picture of Winston Churchill on his wall. But quite early in his life, he decided, to quote the current phrase, that his “heart beat on the left”; and unlike others’, it stayed there.

He was suspicious of wealth and privilege, despite – or perhaps because – he attended Westminster School and Christ Church. His family’s means were modest and he remained by nature frugal. He recalled that at his first private school, in Highgate, the other pupils used to shout after him “charity boy”, even though he was sure his parents had saved to pay the full fees. He professed himself shocked by the way the son of John Strachey was bullied at Westminster, merely because his father was a minister in the Attlee government: that made him instinctively sympathetic to Labour. And at 15 he fell under the spell of Dick Crossman, who came to speak to the school political society in 1949. Forty years later Tony wrote in his biography of Crossman: “I can see him now – talking in that magnetic way that was entirely his own… I was not only beguiled, but bewitched.”

Tony was a member of the Labour Party for nearly sixty years: at one time he was the youngest Parliamentary candidate in the country, for Epsom, though he never fought the seat. He believed in a party that represented what the Bible calls “the hewers of wood and the drawers of water” – a favourite quote of his. He started out as a

Eulogy

here at St Mary Abbot’s and the infant Tony is reputed to have received from the parishioners of Kensington, some 300 items of baby wear – in which case it may be that the only time he was fashionably dressed was in his pram.

Tony continued to worship here until the end of his life – chiefly, he said “out of custom” and an “aesthetic appreciation of church services,” but also because he loved the Church of England. Jane BonhamCarter recalls talking to Tony at a party last year, when he suddenly glanced past her and his face became suffused with pleasure.

He had spotted that the Archbishop of Canterbury was coming over to speak to him.

When his old friend and former brotherin-law, Alan Watkins, died last May, Tony organised his funeral. At the interment, there was a mix-up, the priest didn’t arrive, and Tony, rising to the challenge, found himself reciting over the grave, from memory, the funeral service from the Book of Common Prayer. I’m not sure which man, Alan or Tony, would have relished the many ironies of that scene more.

Tony followed the minutiae of ecclesiastical appointments as other men might study the football results. He could tell you the difference between a prebendary and a canon, just as he knew the order of precedence between a marchioness and a countess.

Here was another of his paradoxes: the leftwing journalist who looked and sounded like a member of the Establishment. He detested vulgarity. I don’t think I ever heard him swear. One of his greatest compliments was to observe: “that boy has beautiful manners.” His most damning insult was to call someone “a booby”, or, even worse, “a

I can hear his voice now, as he stands at my shoulder, looking down at what I’ve written: “Call this a eulogy? You must be off your toot.”

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Eulogy

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Bevanite, more or less, and – more or less time as deputy editor – and finally at – he remained one, long after Bevan had The Times, as obituaries editor. Throughout died, it being a characteristic of Tony’s that, these fifty-odd years he also worked conhaving found something he liked – a politistantly in broadcasting, presenting procal party, a dish in a restaurant, a suit, a grammes on the BBC (both on television friend – he saw no reason to change it, but and puff-puff radio), on Channel Four, on stuck with it stubbornly, especially when it ITV and on Sky. He was so closely became unfashionable to do so. involved in the annual journalism awards He was never sectarian. Michael organised by What the Papers Say, that Heseltine was one of his oldest and closest they became known as “the Tonys”. friends, and was for a time his landlord and It’s no secret that he would have liked to flatmate, in what developed into a legedit a national newspaper and he occasionendary story of leaking roofs, skipped rent ally fancied himself a Machiavellian plotter and live-in girlfriends that sounds like a to this end, but was, as Alan Watkins used cross between Rising Damp and The Odd to remark, endearingly hopeless at it.

Couple.

Seeking to mount a coup to become editor Tony, in typical of the Observer in 1988, English style, didn’t What interested him he waited, like some care much about politiLatin American colonel, cal ideology. Ideology about politics, and about until Donald Trelford bored him almost as life in general, were the was out of the country, much policy – and poliand then struck. foibles of human cy bored him a very Unfortunately, Donald great deal. Crossman character. That was what turned out to be on Tiny devoted fifteen years of Rowland’s yacht. The made him such a his life to a Trollopiantroops returned to their sounding scheme called Tony left the wonderful journalist. barracks. the National paper.

Superannuation Plan, He wrote three fine yet Tony mentions it only twice in an official biographies – of Dick Crossman, almost 400-page biography. What interested Rab Butler and Cardinal Basil Hume – and, him about politics, and about life in generwith Dick West, one of the best journalistic al, were the foibles of human character. accounts of British politics ever published, That was what made him such a wonderful The Making of the Prime Minister (1964). journalist. He would have been a terrible If ever I wanted to tease Tony, all I had to politician. do was tell him was that this was the book The last time I spoke to him, about a that made the youthful Peter Mandelson month ago, he ticked me off, in his usual want to become a politician: it was a comTonyish way, for having referred to journal- pliment he invariably received with a shudism on Radio Four as “a profession”: it der. was, he rightly corrected me, “a trade” – a As a journalist, he was a rare blend of trade that he practised full-time from 1958 talents. There may have been more knowl– first on Reynolds News and the Sunday edgeable political historians over the past Pictorial, then on the Manchester 50 years. There may have been finer proseGuardian, the New Statesman, the Sunday stylists. There may have even been Times, the Observer, the New Statesman shrewder judges of public figures. But there again – this time as editor – the Listener – was no one who combined all three abilities again, as editor – the Observer – again, this as successfully as Tony Howard. To take

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here is a coda to this story. In 1993, Tony embarked on a six-year Indian summer as obituaries editor of The Times – his ideal job in many ways: “rowing people across the Styx,” as he called it – and I remember the schoolboyish glee with which he described how he now had access to all those Establishment obituaries that were held on file, and how he could subtly alter them, usually by the simple insertion of a sentence beginning, “However, comma”. Alec Douglas-Home was one recipient of this treatment; Princess Margaret another.

One of the reasons Tony loved those years editing obituaries – what he called “the hinge of history and journalism” – was that they took him back into an office again. And that brings me to the last thing I want to say. He hated working alone, which perhaps explains why he wrote only four books. He needed the company of other people: for stimulus, for diversion, for gossip. In particular – a final paradox for a

man who sometimes seemed set in his ways – he adored the company of young people.

“If there’s one thing I can’t bear,” he used to say, “it’s an old sweat.” He’d been helped at the start of his career by Alastair Hetherington and John Freeman and it delighted him to be in a position to perform the same service for another generation: he called it quite simply “the most important part of being an editor”.

Journalism is ephemeral. What once seemed brilliant issues and memorable articles are now as dead as poor old Crossman’s National Superannuation Scheme. But the people Tony brought on – that remarkable collection of young writers at the New Statesman, and the many others he encouraged afterwards at the BBC, the Listener, the Observer, and The Times – these people really are his true professional monument.

It was a privilege to have known him, and to have known, through him, Carol, his wife of forty-five years. He would not have achieved half what he did without her. It is a measure of his devotion to her that she even persuaded him to spend some time in the country, at Ludlow – although I must say that whenever he visited us in the country he never removed his black Oxfords, or forgot his navy blue raincoat.

“I hope I’m not frightened of death,” Tony said in an interview two years ago.

“I’m frightened of illness and pain and that kind of thing. But if I could just heel over, would I mind all that much? I don’t know. I tend to believe that death is the end, but I’m not sort of 99 per cent convinced that is true. I could be wrong about that, and I might get an agreeable surprise.”

Let us hope that he is indeed experiencing that “agreeable surprise”. As for the rest of us – no longer boys, alas – we will at least always carry in our heads that wonderfully rich, wise and distinctive voice, which is, even now, telling me to cut the guff, and kindly leave the pulpit.

Eulogy

just one article out of thousands: on December the 14th 1962, Tony wrote in the New Statesman about Tony Benn’s campaign to renounce his viscountcy.

Presciently headlined (with a question mark) “Mr Home and Mr Hogg?” it pointed out that one unintended consequence of the Peerage Bill then going through Parliament would be to widen the field of potential successors to Harold Macmillan, for if a Labour lord could renounce his title so too could a Tory. No one else had then spotted it. The-then Earl Home, many years later, told his official biographer that reading Tony’s article was the moment he realised he could become prime minister, and he started making plans accordingly.

Given that Tony once told me that every day Home was prime minister he woke up ashamed to be British, he can’t have been especially pleased by this achievement. But it did show just how remarkable a political commentator he was.

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from the Book Club, by Barbara Hensman

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e have read two books so far this year in the Book Club, Small Wars by Sadie Jones and Hearts in Atlantis by Stephen King. These books, while being very different from each other, are linked by the theme of war and the havoc it brings on the lives of those involved.

Small Wars, first published in 2009, is set against the Cyprus emergency at the time of the Suez crisis in 1956 and the struggle of Greek Cyprus to achieve union with Greece.

The story is told through Clara, the young wife of a successful officer Hal, who accompanies him to live in officers’ quarters in Cyprus.

Faced with the realities of war; unprovoked violence to the local civilian Greek community, rape and murder committed by soldiers, Hal finds it impossible to come to terms with army procedure.

Jones opens up themes of relevance today, such as how people are urged to consider the greater good and not pursue allegations which they know are true, about how wrongdoing is swept under the carpet, about how soldiers conduct themselves and their campaigns.

Stephen King, a well know author of science fiction, wrote Hearts in Atlantis in 1988. The theme is of the Vietnam war. This is not science fiction, but the reading group was interested in

Book Club

The Next Chapter how King used his science fiction techniques to enhance his story. There are five linked but separate stories here, in a very long book. The first story, Low Men in Yellow Coats has tantalising references to other mysterious goings on, which only become comprehensible when you understand his oblique references to his other works. But the theme sings out clearly: the tragedy of the Vietnam War, and what it did to a whole generation of American youth, girls as well as boys. “We blew it” is the quotation from Easy Rider which fronts the book. We are lucky in having two members of the reading group from USA who were able to set all this into context for us.

The reading group has a list of books and dates and meets roughly monthly to discuss the books we have read. Then we meet again in Fr. Rob Marshall’s flat to see the “film of the book” (where that exists) and, over a light lunch, compare notes about how it is portrayed. I find the books interesting, often challenging, and having the dates set makes me keep up with reading.

We also went as a group to see The King’s Speech at Kensington Odeon. And there is talk of a possible summer river trip to Hampton Court to see the King James Bible.

The next meeting of the Book Club is on the 31st March and they’ll be reading Lovely Bones, by Alice Sebold,

19

Egypt

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Our Man in Egypt Fr Gareth, who has long-standing links with Egypt through friends and family, decided to do his four-day annual retreat at a Coptic Monastery in the Egyptian desert, He found himself there, just after the recent revolution, at a fascinating time in Egypt's history.'

I

still recall vividly, my first ever visit to a Russian Orthodox service. It was in a rather dreary suburb of Moscow, over thirty years ago, at a time when the Soviet Union still looked confident, assured and completely unassailable. The biggest struggle was just getting into the building in the first place. I could see the golden onion domes of the church from a distance, but accessing the entrance through the seemingly impenetrable fencing that surrounded the church, had deliberately been made as difficult as possible. Nevertheless, I’d been assured by Olga, our ever-present Soviet guide that this was indeed a functioning church, because in the Glorious people’s Union of Soviet Socialist Republics there was complete freedom of religion. I made it into the church and remained throughout the liturgy, captivated by the beautiful, haunting singing, the exquisite icons surrounded by flickering candles, and deeply moved by the cross-section of ordinary Russian people I saw there, willing to risk everything in order to remain faithful to Christ in an aggressively atheistic environment.

By contrast, the first Nepali Church service I ever attended couldn’t have been more different. The congregation was comprised of mostly illiterate peasant farmers and, in comparison with the ancient liturgy and 20

iconography of the Russian Orthodox, the service entailed a limited range of simple choruses, extemporary prayers and an exceedingly lengthy sermon. In contrast to the secularism of the Soviet Union, Nepal was and is one of the most overtly religious societies in the world. Nevertheless, in common with their Russian brothers and sisters in Christ, the Nepali church was for decades a persecuted minority. Each week as I left church with my Nepali friends, we were likely to be photographed by plainclothes police, who monitored the services carefully. Permitting oneself to be converted was punishable by 18 months in jail, whilst the simple act of baptizing someone from a Hindu or Buddhist background who had freely requested baptism, carried a mandatory sentence of six years in jail.

But what a difference a couple of decades makes. Today, the Russian Orthodox Church is flourishing in the former Soviet Union. Likewise, the Church in Nepal is one of the fastest growing Christian Churches in the world with probably a million members and much higher levels of church attendance than here in the UK. The country is now a secular state guaranteeing freedom of religion to all, and Christmas Day and Good Friday are public holidays. But thirty year ago, if you would

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The past two months have seen massive, seismic changes taking place across the Arab world. Most commentators agree that one would need to go back to the events of 1989 and the fall of the Berlin Wall to find a situation of comparable significance, and it’s still very far from clear how things will eventually shake-down. There’s unlikely to be any quick resolution to the situation in Libya and small protests have begun even in places like Saudi Arabia.

The other week I returned from my annual retreat which this year I spent at a Coptic Orthodox Monastery and retreat centre in the Egyptian desert about 75 miles from Cairo – although I did also find time to visit the demonstrations in Tahrir Square (I gather another much more eminent member of the St Mary Abbots congregation was also in Tahrir Square that same week – so never

let it be said that St Mary Abbots isn’t always at the cutting edge!!). This was my fourteenth visit to Egypt in the last seventeen years. One of my brothers-in-law is an Egyptian and a number of my closest friends live there, so over the years I’ve been privileged to gain some insights into the life of the Coptic Community. Egypt has by far and away the largest Christian community in the region. Out of a population of 80 million people, there are approximately 8 million Copts.

The word Copt literally means ‘Egyptian’, and when you ask Copts about their culture, they will quickly tell you that they were the original inhabitants of Egypt descended from the Pharaohs, and that the country was predominantly Christian long before the Arab Muslim invaders came.

Today 90 % of Egypt’s population is Muslim and in numerous different respects, Copts face difficulties in their lives and are often made to feel like second class citizens. When you travel around Egypt, Church buildings are very clearly visible,

Egypt

have told persecuted Christians in either country what the future held, I think they would have found it hard to imagine a situation in which such change could come.

Cont’d ...

21

Egypt

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pp. 21 ... some of them ancient, but trying to get perambivalent. For the past thirty years, the mission to build new churches, or to carry Mubarak regime and before him the regime out maintenance work on existing buildings of Anwar Sadat, has ruled Egypt with an is often well-nigh impossible. The curricuiron fist (although for the West it was seen lum in Egyptian schools is tightly conas a somewhat benign iron fist in a velvet trolled and only Islam is taught, with no glove). Mubarak, our governments reaprovision for teaching about Coptic history soned, may have been a dictator who rigged or culture. In the poorer, rural areas of the elections and brooked no dissent, backed-up country, particularly in Upper Egypt, by a repressive state-security apparatus, but Churches have been the target of attacks at least he ensured stability in a notoriously and Christians have even faced confessional volatile region; while the Camp David killings. It’s little peace accords with wonder then that, Israel ensured the supAlthough Christians although Christians port of the west and comprise only 10% of comprise only 10% of significant aid to Egypt’s population, of Egypt’s population, of t Egypt’s military. Most those Egyptians who significantly perhaps, hose Egyptians who emigrate each year to in an age of increasing seek a new life fears about Islamic emigrate each year to abroad, 90% are extremism, Mubarak seek a new life abroad, was highly successful Copts. Things came to head on New Year’s in persuading western 90% are Copts.

Day this year, when in leaders that he alone Alexandria a Coptic Church was targeted could provide the necessary bulwark against when a massive car bomb killed 24 people Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood. In and injured 97 others, all of them Copts. general the Coptic community bought into In the face of such pressures the relationthis narrative. They’ve come to resent their ship between Copts and the Egyptian state de-facto second-class status, but in the face has, perhaps unsurprisingly, been somewhat of their very real fears about what it might 22

kpn spring 11_1-911545122.e$S:St Mary's 21/03/2011 15:08 Page 25

Egypt

mean for them if the Muslim Brotherhood development I had never seen before in all came to power – they regarded Mubarak as my visits to Egypt was that outside many of the lesser of two evils and a more effective the mosques and churches were enormous guarantor of their security. banners of the Egyptian flag with, in one Well, no one could have predicted the corner a crescent and in the other a cross, regime would be swept away quite so and emblazoned across the flag in Arabic, quickly. During my week in Egypt, I spoke the words: Muslim or Christian, we’re all with some of those who had demonstrated Egytpians. (Such an aspiration of national in Tahrir Square and all of them without unity alongside diversity is a very far cry exception spoke of from the situation in how these events had Pakistan, where, tragOutside many of the brought Egyptians ically, we recently closer together – how saw the brutal assasMosques and Churches they had begun to sination of the were enormous banners of Minister talk with neighbours, for Minority and those of a differthe Egyptian flag ... and Affairs, Shabaz ent socio-economic Bhatti, a Roman emblazoned across the flag Catholic and the only background to themselves. They had surChristian in the cabiin Arabic the words, “ prised themselves net killed for daring Muslim or Christian, with their courage, to challenge that resolve and determicountry’s draconian we’re all Egyptians.” nation and spoke of blasphemy laws). feeling proud to be In Matthew’s Egyptian for the first time. For the Christian Gospel, Jesus said: ‘Truly I tell you, if you community, perhaps the most shocking have faith the size of a mustard seed, you development is the news that the feared and will say to this mountain, “move from here all-powerful former Minister of the Interior, to there” and it will move; and nothing will Habib Al Adly, may have ordered the New be impossible for you.’ The quiet but digniYears’ Day massacre of Copts in fied faith of our brothers and sisters in Alexandria, as a means of heightening the Christ in places like Russia and Nepal has, Christian community’s fear of Islamic in recent years born witness to the moving extremism, and so ensuring continued of many mountains in their lives. For our Coptic support for the Mubarak Coptic brothers and sisters, the future Government. This is only an allegation, but remains unclear, although right now there is there is sufficient evidence for the case to great hope and anticipation that recent have now been referred to the public prosechanges may herald a brighter future. cutor, and the former minister is now under Meanwhile for Christians in Pakistan and arrest. elsewhere in the world, some Everest-sized mountains need to be moved before they ne by-product of the recent changes will ever enjoy the freedoms we take so is a sudden flurry of church buildmuch for granted. ing activity, as Coptic leaders take So, as we thank God for the freedom we advantage of the current power vacuum, to have to worship Him, let us remember our press ahead with building projects which fellow Christians not so blessed. Let us had been blocked by the former regime. hold them in our prayers, and learn from There are also signs of greater co-operation their example of courageous faith in the and communication between different relimidst of great adversity. gious communities. One encouraging

O

23

SMA School

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The New Dining Hall at SMA School

After and before

From the Headteacher, Mrs Nicola Doyle

T

uesday 1st March 2011 was certainly a ‘red letter’ day in the life of St Mary Abbots School. Pupils had returned from the half term break waiting with anticipation to get a glimpse of the new kitchen and dining room that had been out of sight since July 2010.

The pupils walked down the staircase into the basement area and all I could hear were comments such a ‘wow’, ‘how cool,’ ‘fantastic,’ ‘magic,’ etc. In fact, the pupils were so entranced by the dining experience that they forgot to line up for the food!

Many children have also commented on the 24

‘vegetables taste much better’ and ‘chips on Friday are different,’ and that the food is ‘hotter than before.’

We are truly very grateful to everyone who has made this vision possible. Many people have worked so hard behind the scenes and we are immensely grateful for their hard work and commitment to the school. We are blessed as a school to have this new area completed and so beautifully in keeping with the character of the building.

All we need to do now is to give our school restaurant a new name!

kpn spring 11_1-911545122.e$S:St Mary's 21/03/2011 15:08 Page 27

F

or months, all the students of St Mary Abbots have been enthusing on our new dining hall, often trying to catch a glimpse of what was actually behind the huge mountains of scaffolding. Even the teachers couldn’t suppress their excitement for when the hall would finally open. In the time leading up to the grand opening, all of the pupils untameable imaginations were running amok. And after what seemed like years of refurbishing, a huge snake of rushing happy children piled into the hall for their first ever lunch there. The children sat down at their new seats, happily making faces in the reflective plates. When the dinner ladies called for the main course all the students clambered over each other to be first in the line, their insides screaming to be fed. I was part of this demonic frenzy to be fed, perhaps the rushing was uncalled for, why shouldn’t I be excited?!

One of the bonuses of this fantastic new hall is that the social life of the pupils has improved considerably. Also, another of the factors contributing to this wonderful breakthrough is that the packed lunches now sit with the school dinners, making a lovely atmosphere for the pupils to eat in, as well as being able to sit with different people and make new friends.

Furthermore, a group of new dining staff have been employed and so that gives us the opportunity to learn to socialise with all ages.

Through all the benefits of the new dining hall my favourite is the most

obvious, the food. There has been a massive change on the way we eat now, its healthy, its delicious, and now the children can now enjoy good ingredients, made into great meals all on the school premises.

Everything in the new hall is improved, including the mood of the kids as we chatter joyfully away to each other. I also find it lovely being with all of my friends in the basement, and being surrounded by people, that in the playground I might not usually have a chance to sit with.

SMA School

From Charlie Rhodes and Grace Mcilwain, Class 6

I originally had packed lunch but after watching this wonderful transformation I was at loss at why I hadn’t joined school dinners earlier! I have had school dinners for a week now and I do not regret my choice one teeny bit. The transition from packed lunch to school dinners has been huge and only one or two people in my year are still packed lunch, and to me for utterly unknown reasons! The new dining hall may have a few faults, however we and many others feel it has overall scored a 10 out of 10!!

Dining Hall Cont’d ...

25

SMA School

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pp. 25 ...

From Lola Stadlen and her editorial team from Class 2

A

s we first walked down the modern new stairs nothing had prepared us for what we were about to see. We saw a shining, shimmering, awesome new dining room. The first word that immediately popped into our heads was EPIC! When we first tasted the food it was scrumdidlyumptious! On the first day we had luxurious cottage pie. Turkey curry and rice has been the overall most popular food so far. A class two child reported “I have never enjoyed such a good meal before.” The jugs, cups and plate are yellow and blue which matches our school uniform. “Isn’t that awesome?” reported one child. “The kitchen is sparkly like the stars, isn’t that

26

magnificent?” said another pupil. The floor tiles are blue, grey and white. A class one child said that he likes it better “because it has much brighter colours.” Another child stated “I like the floor because it is colourful.”

We would like to thank everybody who has helped to make our new dining room and kitchen. We would especially like to thank the builders, the people who raised the money and the people who made it possible for it to happen. It has made a massive difference to our school. Lots of packed lunches are changing to school dinners because the food is now so good!

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St Mary Abbot’s School pupils dress as characters from their favourite books

SMA School

Book Day Parade

27

Regular Worship, Classifieds

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uRegular Worship

CLASSIFIEDS

ST MARY ABBOTS Sundays 8.00 am 9.30 am 11.15 am 12.30 pm 6.30 pm

Mondays 7.10 am 8.30 am 12.30 pm 1.05 pm 5.30 pm Tuesdays 7.10 am 7.30 am 8.30 am 9.15am 11.30am 5.30 pm

Holy Eucharist SUNG EUCHARIST (with Crèche & Sunday Schools) Choral Matins & Sermon Holy Eucharist Evensong with Sermon & Holy Eucharist (1st Sunday in month: Taizé Prayer & Holy Eucharist) Morning Prayer Morning Prayer Holy Eucharist Sunday on Monday service Evening Prayer Morning Prayer Holy Eucharist Morning Prayer Informal Holy Eurarist Holy Eucharist (Book of Common Prayer) Evening Prayer

Wednesdays 7.10 am Morning Prayer 7.30 am Holy Eucharist 2.00pm 3rd Weds in the month: Holy Eucharist with Laying-on of Hands & Anointing 5.30 pm Evening Prayer Thursdays 7.10 am Morning Prayer 9.30am St Mary Abbots School Eucharist (in term time all welcome) 5.30 pm Evening Prayer Fridays 7.10 am 7.30 am 5.30 pm

LARGE ROOM IN A PRIVATE HOUSE SOUGHT to teach advanced singing, 2 days per week, 18pm, in Kensington or Notting Hill. A piano will be provided. Contact Paula Anglin on 07759 177392.

WELL-TRAINED PIANO TEACHER and student at the Royal College of Music offers piano lessons to all ages and levels. Contact Neus Giuriout at 07852691914 THE SINGING PAINTER/DECORATOR! Member of the church choir for painting and decorating. Chris Moore 07931590289 teaboychris@coplanco.com ANYONE FOR TENNIS? You book the court and ace player LTA rating 8.2 (Fr Gillean's stepson Tim Edwards) will give you a splendid game and, if you want, expert advice. Contact edwards.t3@sky.com to

Morning Prayer Holy Communion Evening Prayer

Saturdays 9.40 am Morning Prayer 10.00 am Holy Communion 5.30 pm Evening Prayer On MAJOR FEASTDAYS additional Services also offered: see the Bulletin & Noticeboard.

arrange.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED BY ALISON STEEL, SMA A J Painting & Decorating Services, W10 Interior/Exterior specialist, Free estimates 07931 323 668

CHRIST CHURCH Sundays 8.00 am 11.00 am 11.00 am

Holy Communion (on 1st, 3rd & 5th Sundays in the month & on major Feasts): SUNG EUCHARIST with Sermon (with Sunday School) (on 2nd & 4th Sundays in the month): Sung Matins with Sermon (with Sunday School)

St Philip’s Sundays 8.30 am 10.30 am

28

RELIABLE, AFFORDIBLE HANDYMAN For all those niggly little jobs around the house: painting, decorating, picture-hanging, small electrical repairs, unscrambling flat-packed furniture. Very highly recommended, extremely reasonable prices. Call Gareman on 07825

Holy Eucharist SUNG EUCHARIST (with Sunday School) 1st Sundays: all-age service with Eucharist

588240.

kpn spring 11_1-911545122.e$S:St Mary's 21/03/2011 15:08 Page 31

Fulham Prep School Providing girls and boys aged 4 to 13 with the education, confidence and ability to succeed in life.

Fulham Prep is a co-educational pre-prep and prep school providing continuous education for children between the ages of 4+ and 13.

The challenging academic programme is broadly based on National Curriculum guidelines but is extended to meet the more rigorous requirements of the 11+ and 13+ entrance examinations. No class has more than 18 children ensuring maximum individual attention. Our enthusiastic graduate teachers create a challenging, happy and disciplined environment within which every child can achieve their full potential.

Education is about developing the curiosity, confidence and security to learn and try.

Fulham Prep enables children to maximise their individual interests and abilities.

F S

For more information please call 020 7371 9911 or visit www.fulhamprep.co.uk

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