The magazine of Holy Trinity Parish Church Sutton Coldfield
July/ August 2017
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Stella
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John
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Jean Schneider
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Margaret was born in Riland Grove, Sutton Coldfield and latterly lived in Riland Road until her final illness. For a time she lived in Coleshill Road, in Falcon Lodge , and for eleven years in Walmley ,before she moved to 10 Riland Road in 1969. So she never strayed far. Margaret was born on the 2nd August 1920. Her parents were Walter and Louise Perry. Her father was a plumber and an ex sergeant major, her mother was a cook. Margaret was an only child. She attended Town School, leaving at 14, which was the school leaving age then. She trained as a seamstress in Sutton - very high standards were expected of them. During the war she worked on the wiring for aircraft, spitfires and Lancaster bombers. Bill joined the RAF before the war to train as an engineer, he was born in Ford in Northumberland, was posted to Birmingham and met Margaret in Sutton Park. They were married at Holy Trinity church in 1941 by the Rev George Harvey. Their honeymoon started with them stuck on a train in a tunnel because of an air raid. They lived In Coleshill Road and had three children: John born in 1944, Janet in 1948, and Richard in 1958. Janet sadly died in 2003 of breast cancer. Margaret stayed at home looking after the children, until they moved to 10 Riland Road, when her mother who lived there had to go into permanent geriatric care. In 1969 she went to work at the new hospital nearby, Good Hope, starting as a cleaner, then taking a vacancy in the sewing room where she worked until she retired in 1985. She continued as a volunteer hospital visitor. Margaret was a faithful member of Holy Trinity church, she was part of the healing prayer group, belonged to the Mother’s Union, she had a very strong faith, she also helped at St Giles Hospice, doing anything that needed doing. In the 70s and 80s Bill and Margaret enjoyed touring in a caravan, mostly visiting Northumberland, especially the area where Bill was brought up, also going to Scotland. Bill ‘s health started to deteriorate, Margaret looked after him faithfully, until he died in 2011. Bill and Margaret , Mum and Dad, Gran and Grandad, however you called them, were always devoted to each other, and were never thought of except as a couple. The family grew to nine grandchildren, and ten great grandchildren. Margaret was always unassuming, she didn't like a lot of fuss made of her. When she was 90, we managed to give her a cake after the 10.30 service on Thursday. Bill was there and it gave us a chance to show how valued a member of Holy Trinity she was. Margaret was very independent and often refused help, especially offers of lifts, she did not want to be a bother to anyone. Margaret only wanted a simple funeral at the crematorium, rather than a more formal service in church. The family would especially like to thank Rita Jeff's for all the help she gave to Margaret who will be missed by all who knew her and remember her little kindnesses. God bless you, Margaret. Pauline Manfield
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Elections
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John Wright and Ros Dyke - Churchwardens
Karen Wright, Louise Perry, Claire Parker and Neil Parker - PCC
Tanya Arroba, Sue Ingley and Margaret Le Brocq - Deanery Synod representatives.
Reports on Parish Life: These were circulated prior to the meeting – copies of these and the abbreviated accounts may still be available to view. Please ask the Rector.
Accounts for 2016: These were presented by David Thebridge. He stressed the need for us to increase our income substantially from all sources. He concluded by saying that he wished to stand down as Treasurer. Electoral Roll – This now stands at 151 members. Rector’s address
John spoke about our response to God’s grace in our lives, as it relates to our commitment to this parish and church, which means talking about our support through the offering of our money, time and skills. He outlined our financial situation and the offering of time and skills. He emphasized the need for all of us to play our part and for newer and younger faces to step forward and join in, and also noted the positive feeling that people gain from involving themselves more.
PCC membership consists of two churchwardens, the Deanery Synod representatives and PCC members elected (noted above), the Rector and PCC members whose terms continue: Judith Exell, Colin Ingley, Liz Petley, Philip Thebridge, Marette Ambler, Chris Chubb, Nicola Revell and Stella Thebridge. Election of PCC Officers: Treasurer – No one stepped forward at the meeting. John Routh offered to be a temporary treasurer until a new one is appointed. He noted that the time this takes will inevitably impact from his normal rector’s duties. Stewardship officer – Bob Dyke Legacy Officer - Mike Somers PCC Secretary - Margaret Le Brocq PCC minutes’ secretaries: Margaret Le Brocq, Elizabeth Petley, Sue Ingley Child & vulnerable adults safeguarding officer and Identifying officer:Elizabeth Petley Children’s advocate - Neil Parker Vulnerable Adults’ Advocate – vacancy Health and Safety Officer – Claire Parker Electoral Roll Officer – Colin Ingley Group Council Representatives – Simon Ambler, John Routh, Tanya Arroba
Appointment of Committee Chairs: Revd John Routh - Standing and Worship Stella Thebridge - Mission Tanya Arroba - Children and Young People Revd Paul Duckers - Pastoral Sue Ingley – Social Colin Ingley - Trinity Centre and Church Management Ros Dyke – Trinity Centre, Church and Grounds Nick Revell - Friends
Appointment of Working Group Chairs: Revd John Routh - Re-Ordering Tanya Arroba – Financial Improvement group Stella Thebridge – Heritage Project Steering group. Margaret Le Brocq, PCC secretary
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Peter was stationed during his service, in the RAF, at Bawtry Hall near Doncaster, and he and several friends often visited Nottingham where I met him. He introduced Bill, his lovely, Scottish friend to Jean, the girl friend with whom I shared a flat, and so as it turned out two friends subsequently married two friends and have shared a deep friendship ever since. He also introduced Jean and me to his fellow officer, Richard, who became and still is a treasured friend, along with his wife Celia. They later became Neil’s godparents and are here today to share in this service of celebration. After our marriage, in 1961, we moved to Bakewell, in Derbyshire, where Peter had obtained a job. Neil was born there three years later and shortly after that we moved to Sutton Coldfield so that Peter could take up a post, at Dunlop, as Chief Quantity Surveyor. He stayed with Dunlop for seven years before taking the plunge and setting up his own practice, soon joined by Roy Foster as his highly valued partner and friend. When the Trinity Centre was later built, it was the Hollow and Foster practice that did the quantities and managed the building contract for Holy Trinity.
We had discovered when we met that we came from Christian families, and were very used to church attendance, and from then on, we attended church together. and rarely missed a Sunday so it was natural that, when we first arrived, in Sutton Coldfield, we looked for a church and found Holy Trinity where we have worshipped ever since. Jonathan, born a year after our arrival in Sutton, was baptised here and as they grew older Neil and Jonathan became leading lights in the youth activities until they left home as young adults. We discovered several other things as the years went by, firstly that we both had a love of France resulting eventually in our buying a property over there which we enjoyed for 27 years, until we sold it last year. While in France, we worshipped with two of the three Anglican congregations which had been set up in the area by ex–pats and made some very good friends. Secondly we shared a love of travel generally and particularly in retirement were able to enjoy a number of trips to different parts of the world together, where we both relished meeting people of different countries and cultures. And last, but by no means least, we learned to become a team and support each other through the ups and downs of life. Peter always sought to be kind, open, and caring not just where I was concerned but to the many people with whom he had contact. It has meant that my life is now enriched by good memories of the things that we have done, enjoyed and achieved together. Finally I want to pay tribute to our two lovely and supportive sons Neil and Jonathan, who have been with their father every step of the way during the last few months. Peter’s face always lit up when they arrived. He was very proud of all members of his family Neil, Di, his three lovely grand–daughters Fiona, Kirsty and Lucy, Jonathan and Oscar and took an intense interest in what they were each doing. They were his delight.
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Naming a child can be a very difficult task, however the parents of Peter got it exactly right. They chose a name which has Biblical significance, Simon Peter was the first disciple of Jesus, and Jesus named him Peter, the rock on which the Church would be built. And so it was: Peter Hollow he was a rock on which this Church depended, a rock of friendship, integrity, and faithfulness.
He worshipped at Holy Trinity for over 50 years and had a variety of responsible duties. He served as Deputy Warden, PCC member, Communion Assistant, Home Communion team member, and Pastoral Visitor to mention just some of his activities. A very impressive record of unremitting and tireless service to the congregation. Peter wore all these various responsibilities in a very low key way, he was quiet, self- contained and always reliable. Peter always preferred to work away in the background and was always embarrassed when thanks were given for his work.
At the centre of his contribution to Church life was his part in the building of the Trinity Centre. He was a key member of the Committee that was responsible for the planning and building of the Centre. As an independent quantity surveyor he brought his considerable professional expertise to bear. His contribution was invaluable, the Trinity Centre must be one of the very few building projects that have been completed virtually on time and to within a whisker of the original estimate. An amazing achievement. Peter remained at the heart of the team that were responsible for running the Centre, volunteering in the office, writing business letters, arranging the furniture, manhandling the sliding walls, completing the annual check on chairs, tables and carpets, and clearing out drains blocked by grease, that was an awful job; but it was all done cheerfully and without complaint. It was only in the last weeks of his illness that he gave up setting the heating controls.
Peter lived his Christian faith, and although he would probably never acknowledge it, he was a role model for many of us. His faith was constant and strong, confident in the promise of eternal life we are promised by the Resurrection of Jesus.
In this Church we have the practice of taking out Holy Communion to those who are house bound or ill and therefore unable to be with us in Church. Communion was taken to Peter on Easter Day which also happened to be his birthday. Peter read the Resurrection account from the Gospel of Saint John to his family. We shall hear it in a few minutes read by his sons, Neil and Jonathan. He read the Gospel with faith and confidence in the future. God bless you Peter.
Continued overleaf
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On Saturday 20th May, we had a study day in our reordered church called Becoming an inside out church. We welcomed Emma Sykes, Associate Missioner from St. Michael’s, Boldmere to lead us as well as two others from neighbouring churches to join us for the day.
The day started with a cuppa to get us going. We learnt that because of God’s love, God sent Jesus to us and Jesus sent his disciples out so God sends us out through the Holy Spirit to do Mission. Being a part of God’s church means that everyone is invited to be and is involved in mission even if we feel we may not do Mission directly. In our discussions, we reckoned we did a lot of going out even if we don’t label it Mission, through our pastoral visiting, the film club, youth work, the Heritage at the Heart project and Trinity (this magazine!). However, the second part of Mission is “Evangelism”, a word that can make us feel scared and that we have to proclaim the Bible on street corners. But Evangelism means giving the message of God and his love. In a very condensed, one line version of Acts 10, God sent Peter to talk to Cornelius (an outsider Roman) about faith. It wasn’t just a brief chat, it was a detailed conversation about God’s message that changed Cornelius and Peter. Luckily God doesn’t expect us to have detailed conversations very often but we do need to keep God’s word in mind when we go out on behalf of God. Both Mission and Evangelism go hand in hand. If we just do good deeds then what’s the difference between Social Services and Church? If we just proclaim God’s word will people outside listen?
In groups we had to draw a map of our local community including the church and where we spend our time. Fortunately we had a scout leader in our group although our map wasn’t to scale. From there, we identified places where we could do mission including The Gracechurch Centre and the central location of our church building. We shared our picnic lunches together as we started to share our ideas for mission so far. We ended the day using the CMS Daily Prayer. Just as Cornelius and Peter met with God leading to their encounter so we need continually to pray to God who sends us out to do his mission and spread his word. There was a real buzz in the air by the end of the day as ideas flowed. In the next couple of months Mission Committee will be looking at the Mission we currently do and how we might take Mission and Evangelism further in light of our 10 year vision and Heritage at the Heart project. The new space in the church provides us with a building and a new start to do mission. We may not know what Mission will look like in 10 years’ time but God does. Over the next few years there will be more opportunities for Mission that we can all play our part in. We have study days about once a year as well as Lenten and Autumn study groups. These are open and accessible to everyone. It’ll always be great to see you. Lastly, thanks to Emma for an inspirational day. See images on back cover
Phil Thebridge
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Bible verse
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