Xn issue one

FREE

Jan/Feb 12

Good news for Reading, Wokingham & Bracknell

NEW! FREE! Welcome in the New Year with your new magazine

FIRST ISSUE!

Getting fit, mind, body and soul

Sister Sedge PLUS: Blessing Sierra Leone | Feeding the hungry

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January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

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To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

Welcome to – a new way to share our good news v Free monthly news magazine

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v Brilliant website v Online trade & v We need for the latest news church directories your news!

WE want to report on everything that churches across the Thames Valley are doing – but to do that, we need your help!

If your church is holding an event, someone is going on a mission or you’ve got something else that you think other Christians would love to know about, get in touch!

Send your news to editor@xnmedia.co.uk

v We’ll be back in March

WELCOME to Xn, the brilliant new and free news magazine devoted to sharing the Good News from churches within the Thames Valley.

Every month we’ll bring you a FREE magazine packed with the latest news, inspirational testimonies, encouraging stories and brilliant features that will tell the story of our vibrant Christian communities across Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell.

Alongside all this, we’ll carry advertising that’s relevant to you.

Our talents directory will help you find the right person to help you with anything from building a wall to fixing your computer.

At the end of each advert in this section, you’ll find a weblink to our website, where you can find out more about the featured business and add your feedback to a job well done.

We’ll also share the latest news from the family in our Family Circle section. If someone is being inducted, Christened, married or baptised, this is the section to look at.

We’re the only place to find a comprehensive what’s on guide,

THIS issue covers two months – January and February. However, we’ll be monthly from March.

Xn will be published for the first Sunday in every calendar month thereafter, offering you the latest good news from across Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell. offering news and information about exciting forthcoming events organised by local Christians. With everything from choral concerts to plays, there’s something to keep everyone happy.

Add in book reviews, fantastic puzzles, fashion and cartoons and we’re sure you’ll agree it’s a brilliant monthly read – and it’s all FREE. And there’s more ... log on to our website, www.xnmedia.co.uk, and you can find the very latest news and features specially created by the Xn team.

The site will be regularly updated with breaking news from churches across the region, more information about forthcoming events and

comments, reflections and Bible studies to enjoy.

Once we get motoring, you’ll find weekly video news updates, and we’re planning to get our cameras out and about recording the latest events for a unique online Christian TV station.

Xnmedia.co.uk is the place to head if you want to find a Christian builder, plumber, pianist or even a translator.

Our online guide, tailor-made to the Thames Valley, will be an invaluable resource for every Christian looking for reliable contractors.

Xn’s ministry is funded by advertising – we encourage you to support our advertisers.

Enjoy reading this first issue. We look forward to hearing from you!

v We need your support Xn is free – we want to encourage, inform and inspire Christians and reach the widest possible audience while doing so.

To make this possible, Xn is funded by advertising. If you run a business, you can help our ministry by advertising.

For more details, call Fiona Crawforth on 01932 246408.

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January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

We wish you a very

The Revd Michael Bentley Chairman, The Bracknell Forest Christian Network As a former freelance Religious News reporter for BBC Radio 4, I am excited to hear about the arrival of Xn. Bracknell is not far from Reading in geographical terms but until recently there appeared to be little contact between the two towns.

Now that many Bracknell people are using the Royal Berks Hospital and its cancer treatment centre has come to Bracknell we are joined even closer.

Christian churches have always taken an interest in what is happening in other parts of the world so why should Bracknell Christians not want to hear what their brothers and sisters are doing in Reading?

So, as Chairman of the Bracknell Forest Christian Network it gives me very great pleasure to wish God’s richest blessing on all who write for and read Xn. We are very pleased that the churches in Bracknell have been invited to contribute and hope that together we can bring comfort, cheer and hope to all those who read these pages.

Happy New Year to you!

John Redwood MP for Wokingham Dear Reader, I welcome Xn, the new magazine for Christians of all denominations.

A New Year launch for a new venture is something to celebrate in these dark, short days of winter, amidst the gloom of austerity as the west fights its debts.

Christians can be united by more than divides them.

The story of Christ’s death to allow others to overcome a world of sin is told in gospels that are common to all the main churches. The strong traditions of Christian charity and education are

Michael Penny Chairman, Churches Together in Reading When I became Chairman of Churches Together in Reading, I was amazed at just how much Christian activity took place in Reading and the surrounding areas.

Not only services and meetings and gettogethers for Christians, but all the activities and events for those less

bred into all Churches.

I trust this magazine and the fellowship that lies behind it can trigger more common working, and common ground over campaigns and social action.

Christians share with many non-religious people an impatience to help fire a new generation of youth to educational achievement and good works.

Most men and women of goodwill wish to tackle poverty, raise sights, and extend the hands of friendship and opportunity to the many.

I look forward to hearing how this new venture is getting on. A great journey begins with a single step.

I wish you all a happy new year.

fortunate members of our society. I simply had no idea how much social action Christians did for other members of the community.

I had been wondering and praying about how this information could be disseminated, for it appears that many Christians were like me, unaware of how active Reading Churches are.

It would seem that Xn is an answer to that prayer.

A magazine about and for the communities of Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell.

Please use Xn! Read it! Pass it on!

Pray about the activities it promotes!

And above all, please pray for the editor and the team.

May God bless them and guide them, and may Xn be to the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Happy New Year!

The Revd Jonathan Wilmot Chairman, Reading Christian Network As chair of Reading Christian Network Trust, it is my pleasure to welcome you to this very first issue of Xn as it launches itself and us into 2012.

This year is going to be a year of great opportunity to live out the fundamental elements of what it means to be followers of the ‘Way’.

We must be people who know we are loved

by God and so love others unconditionally, who are filled with the inexpressible joy of God and who bear the peace of God wherever we go.

In a year when we are celebrating the Queen’s Jubilee and the Olympic Games what better calling could anyone have?

So be enthused and encouraged by this new magazine adventure, which, like RCN, seeks to build up God’s church in Reading without boundaries.

The Revd Nick Thompson Chairman, Churches Together in Berkshire On behalf of Churches Together in Berkshire, I am delighted to welcome the arrival of Xn to the people and churches of this area.

I do hope and pray that many people will be inspired and excited by this new venture and come to use Xn as a way to share good news of our life as faith communities working and witnessing together.

Happy New Year to you all!

We’re looking forward to sharing the good news from churches

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To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

Happy New Year!

The Revd David McLeod

Rob Wilson MP for Reading East First of all, I would like to wish all members of East Reading’s church community a very Happy New Year.

There can be no doubt that our community currently faces great challenges but I believe we can all draw inspiration from the core Christian values of charity, compassion and community.

It is important to help others if we can and I am proud to represent a constituency which has so many lively church groups in operation.

You are an enormous credit to East Reading and I am very grateful for your continued work in the local community.

As we go into the New Year, I have every confidence that it will be an exciting one which we can approach with confidence and optimism.

Confidence, because our common values will see us through even the greatest challenges and optimism, because the challenges that test us all will end and we will come out stronger.

So once again, a happy and contented New Year to all Xn readers and their families.

The Revd Keith Wilson Churches Together Earley & East Reading Congratulations on getting hold of some good news!

With so many positive

events and actions being taken by churches around the Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell areas, Xn has the potential to be a place of real encouragement and inspiration.

over the next 12 months!

Chairman, Churches Together in Wokingham New Year is a time when people often think about how to improve their lives and what the year ahead may bring.

New year resolutions are one way people set themselves goals and decide to make positive changes to their health and well-being. It is a time when change can be seen as a good thing.

Change is at the heart of human life, and this year Week of Prayer for Christian Unity will have the theme We Will All Be Changed.

The inspiration for this comes from the experiences of churches in Poland, who have been changed and transformed by many upheavals in their history and

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sustained by their faith in dark times.

As we face a year with many uncertainties, both at home and overseas, we too can find hope and peace in the good news Jesus brings. Hope for the future and peace during times of change; faith that the Lord will transform us and the light of Christ to share with others.

Please do join us at Wokingham Baptist Church on Sunday, January 15 at 7pm, when we will be celebrating what we share and praying for Christian unity in our town and throughout the world.

I pray this magazine will help us all to be available to God in new and exciting ways and follow where He leads us.

“Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His love endures forever”.

Psalm 136:1 May God bless you and give you his light and his peace throughout the year ahead.

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January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

Wokingham enjoys a very Happy Christmas Sam Flamingo, volunteer waiter Steven Woods and Ella-Mae, Stephanie and Zoe Stimson enjoyed a lunch at the Cantley Lodge Hotel, Wokingham on Christmas Day. More than 70 people came along for the special meal organised by, among others, Churches Together in Wokingham More than 70 people who would have otherwise faced Christmas Day alone were given a festive lunch at the Cantley Lodge Hotel in Wokingham.

Julie Carey, Cantley Lodge’s general manager, opened the hotel for the meal –

v Counselling skills course A NEW course for those interesting in counselling will also help develop your communication skills.

The Philippi Trust, a Christianrun counselling charity, is launching the course at the end of January.

Sessions run on Friday evenings from 6pm to 10pm and Saturdays from 9am to 6pm on January 27 and 28, February 17 and 18 and March 16 and 17.

They take place at the centre’s headquarters, based at 229 Kings Road, Reading.

The course meets OCN Level 2 requirements and costs £220.

For more details, call Jo White on (0118) 966 7422.

v Joint service CHURCHES in Wokingham will gather in the town’s Baptist Church on Sunday, January 15.

The occasion is the annual Churches Together in Wokingham Unity Service and will celebrate the interchurch work carried out within the town.

The service starts at 7pm.

held on Christmas Day itself – to people ranging in age from two to 97.

The event was organised by Churches Together in Wokingham, The Link Visiting Scheme, Faith in the Community and Katie James, community development worker

for the Earley Charity. Staff from the hotel also volunteered and Makro gave turkeys.

Wokingham town mayor Cllr Peter Lucey and Maurice Monk, managing director of the Cantley Lodge Hotel, thanked Julie for making the day a special one for so many.

Award means Nigel is the Pride of Reading READING has a new Community Champion – an Anglican vicar.

The Revd Nigel Hardcastle was awarded the title at the recent Pride of Reading awards.

Organised by the Reading Post, the ceremony saw Nigel (pictured) receive his honour for his tireless work with the Reading Faith Forum.

It was given to him by Reading-born TV presenter Chris Tarrant. The presenter of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? told the Reading Post that the humbling stories behind the winners always made him feel proud to come from Reading.

Speaking to Xn, Nigel added that he hadn’t expected to win the award.

“It was rather nice to be nominated,” Nigel explained.

“Then they called me to let me know I was on the shortlist.

Winning was a complete surprise!

“I’m just about to retire from the leadership [of the Faith Forum], so it’s nice to be commemorated.”

And the award ceremony was a great occasion.

“I was the first name to be announced, right at the beginning,” Nigel revealed. “There were also lots of interesting and moving stories being told.”

Nigel is also the vicar of St Luke’s and St Bartholomew’s churches, both based in East Reading.

He helped set up the Reading

Faith Forum 10 years ago and he has been instrumental in making it a successful initiative. He’s pleased that its work is receiving acknowledgement by the town.

“It’s a nice feather in the cap,” he says of his award.

“Recognition [for what we do] is always good.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve increased recognition of what the faith communities do for Reading within the town.

Faith organisations are being recognised as active participants in the work of the town.”

The Reading Post organises the Pride of Reading awards every year and seeks to celebrate the unsung heroes of the town.

Nominations are received from readers and cover a range of categories, including Child of Courage, Best Restaurant, and Local Hero. v For more on the Reading Faith Forum, log on to www. readingfaithforum.com.

News

7 v Birthday party for New Hope

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

A feast of New Year music

A STRING quartet will hold a concert in St Paul’s Church, Wokingham later this month.

The Lux Aeterna group will perform Holst’s St Paul’s Suite as well as works by Bach, Vivaldi and Beethoven on Sunday, January 22.

Starting at 2pm, the afternoon concert costs £7, £4 for full-time concessions in

advance or £8 and £5 on the door. They can be bought by calling (0118) 926 2219 or emailing stpaulsconcerts@hotmail.co.uk.

The church is also hosting the Bracknell and Wokingham Community band on Saturday, January 28 and the West Forest Sinfonia on Sunday, January 29.

Carey growth sees new plant A NEW church has been planted in Tilehurst and its launch was celebrated with a community carol service.

The Westwood Farm fellowship is a plant from Carey Baptist Church in Reading’s town centre and is a response to the parent church’s growth.

Speaking to the Reading Post in December, the church’s pastor David Magowan said that the church was faced with a choice of moving to two morning services or establishing a new congregation elsewhere.

With a number of its members coming from the Tilehurst and Purley areas, the church’s leaders decided to launch the new fellowship, which meets at Westwood Farm Junior School in Fulbrook Road.

“Carey Westwood Farm is a new and local meeting place for

those in the vicinity and anyone else who would like to join us,” says a post on its website. “We meet at Westwood Farm with the intention of enriching and embracing the local community.

We would like to do this by providing physical and spirtual encouragement and input to the community.”

It currently meets at 10.30am on Sundays and church leaders say that everyone is welcome.

The church started holding its services at the school in November, but waited until the community carol service, which was held just before Christmas, for its formal launch.

Carey Baptist Church, which was established in 1867, is turning the former Oasis pub in Reading into a community centre. v For more details, log on to www.careybaptistchurch.org.uk.

A CHURCH that was built on top of an older building is looking forward to celebrating its 10th anniversary this month.

New Hope Community Church, in York Road, Reading, was built to provide a resource to the local community as well as a home for a Church within the community. It is on the site of the old St Paul’s church.

The anniversary will be marked on Sunday, January 22 with a special service. The guest speaker will be the Bishop of Reading, the Rt Revd Andrew Proud. After the service, which starts at 10.30am, there will be the opportunity to enjoy some birthday cake.

New Hope seeks to “build a community through which everyone can experience God’s love” and achieves this through regular events.

These include a book club, Brownies, parents and toddler groups and a community day. v For more details, log on to www.newhopeweb.org.uk.

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January 2012 | To advertise call 01932 246408

Advertiser’s announcement

A brilliant big day out!

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ack in 1992, in the small Sussex seaside town of Littlehampton, a tiny monthly worship event began. It was called Cutting Edge, and just 35 people showed up for the first meeting.

Four years later, about 1,400 young people were gathering every month, and at the end of every summer term about 10,000 would come together on the seafront to worship and proclaim the Gospel, and to declare to those in the town that God and His church were not dead but very much alive.

Out of that event grew the band Delirious? which then spent the next 17 years, until 2009, travelling around the world, helping to facilitate and bring together large gatherings of the church.

The band may now have ended, but for the former keyboard player and manager of the band Tim Jupp, the vision of seeing the church come together in celebration on a grand scale lives on.

In June 2008, just six weeks before Tim had any idea that Delirious? was to finish, he was introduced to a local Sussex land owner who, unbeknown to him, had been given several prophetic and encouraging words about using his land to see the church unite together. And so the BigChurchDayOut was born, and, having expected a crowd of 7-8,000 in 2009, the sell out crowd of 15,000 gave birth to what has become the fastest and largest growing event of its kind in the UK. “The BigChurchDayOut has a multi layered vision,” says Tim. “For me personally, one of the things I love to see is an environment where many of the new Christians in our own local church who have no church background whatsoever, can come together and often for the first time realise that the church is a massive and exciting movement of people, which stretches so much further than any one of our smaller local congregations.”

He adds: “I think it’s important we understand that we’re not alone when it comes to wanting to influence our nation and seeing Jesus made known.”

Tim loves the paradox at big events: they are both a celebration of Unity, and also a demonstration of our diversity in the church.

“Having travelled all over the world, you get to see that God’s church comes in so many different shapes and sizes and shades and colours,” he continues. “Our different expressions of church all go together to make up the bigger picture of this great idea that God had for us called church.

“So the BigChurchDayOut is a chance to bring together some of these different expressions, and to show to a world outside that contrary to what we often read in the popular press about the church being in decline, it is very much alive and present in the UK today.”

The BigChurchDayOut has grown to 20,000 attending in just three years – something quite extraordinary for the UK. “The vision for the BigChurchDayOut is that the event is as inclusive to as many as possible, both in age and churchmanship,” Tim says. “With a focus on worship, prayer and hanging out together, the BigChurchDayOut certainly has something for everyone.

“One of its main attractions is the beautiful Wiston Estate in West Sussex which provides the backdrop to this all age celebration of the church.”

There is even a venue called the Tea Tent that provides a programme for what Tim calls the “Songs of Praise” demographic of the church, featuring choirs and orchestras and even one of the top UK Salvation Army brass bands.

The other two stages at the event are the UCB stage which is aimed at more of the teenage crowd, and the main arena, which has a focus on worship and attracts many of the top names in the Christian music scene from around the world today.

Tim says: “The BigChurchDayOut is not a music festival. I see it more as one huge church family church meeting. For me it’s not about who is the biggest or best band at the event, and that’s why – whatever happens during the day – we always end up at the end of the night with everyone together in the main arena in a time of corporate worship and celebration.”

Tim adds “We get several churches from the Reading and Berkshire area already coming to the

event, and with the location just a couple of hours away it is easily accessible to those in the Reading area.”

“Some churches visit for just one of the two days, but many groups also decide to camp and stay for the whole weekend. Part of the event’s vision is to keep costs down as low as possible so that people can have the opportunity to bring friends with them from outside the church, and this is made possible by the generous donations of individuals who are passionate about this vision.”

So if you’re wondering about a church day or weekend away, the BigChurchDayOut could be exactly what you’re looking for. It will provide a brilliant time for everyone without the church leader having to panic about what they need to organise to make this happen.

For more information, log on to www. bigchurchdayout.com.

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

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January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

Scouts set to stage Peter Pan SCOUTS from an East Reading church are busy rehearsing for a special pantomime. Oh yes they are.

The 71st Reading troop, which meets at Anderson Baptist Church, have teamed up with members of the church’s older youth group to stage Peter Pan. It will be held at Park United Reformed Church in Palmer Park Avenue at 7.30pm on Friday, February 3 and Saturday, February 4.

All proceeds from the shows will go to the Jehovah Jireh orphanage in Thailand.

“A group of young people from Anderson Baptist Church spent the summer helping to build toilets and

v Business breakfast MEN from across the region are invited to a breakfast and learn about being a Christian in the business world.

Taking place on Saturday, February 11, The Reading Churches’ Men’s Breakfast will welcome Tony Lighterness, who used to work with Rio Tinto Mining, for the event. His theme will be With Christ In The Business World.

The breakfast will be held at Reading Blue Coat School in Sonning from 8.30am and tickets can be reserved by calling John Broady on (0118) 954 3879. v The group is planning an Olympic themed evening open to families with a quiz and an Olympic silver medallist as a guest speaker on May 19.

v Pray for schools A PRAYER meeting for Learn4Life (Reading Schools’ Christian Work Trust), will take place on Monday, January 23.

It will be held in the Communicare buildings, at the back of Wycliffe Baptist Church, Kings Road, Reading.

The evening, which starts at 7.30pm, will be an opportunity to join the schools worker, Chrissy Towers, a member of Earley Christian Fellowship, and her supporters, to pray for the work.

For more details, log on to www.rscwt.org.

showers last year,” explained Anderson’s youth worker John Collins.

“Any money raised [from Peter Pan] would make a huge difference to the lives of the children in the orphanage.”

The show, John promised, will be hilarious and the youthful cast will make it a night to remember.

“The young people involved are an inspiration to us all, they have seen a need and come up with a fun way to do something about it,” he added.

The show will be suitable for all ages. v Tickets for the show cost £6 or £4 for children. To book, email youth@ andersonbaptistchurch.org.uk or call the church on (0118) 926 2559.

v More pantos v CAVERSHAM HEIGHTS Methodist Church is presenting Dick Whittington.

The show will be performed at 7pm on Thursday, January 19 and Friday, January 20, and at 6pm on Saturday, January 21.

Tickets cost £7.50 for adults or £5 for children and proceeds will go towards Action For Children and church funds. For details, call (0118) 947 3935. v Snow White And The Seven Dwarves will be performed in Woodley next month.

The pantomime is being staged by members of Corpus Christi Catholic Church in Wokingham.

It takes place at the Oakwood Centre from February 2-4.

For details, email ccparishpanto@hotmail.co.uk.

Kieran selected to run with Olympic torch

A KEEN runner who has a lifelong condition which affects his co-ordination has been named as the first Wokingham person to be a torch bearer for the Olympic Games.

Keiran Wassell, from Emmbrook – and supported

by St John The Evangelist in Woodley – has been selected to carry the Olympic flame when it arrives in Reading on July 11.

The 24-year-old said: “It is such an honour and I was over the moon about it when I found out.

“I do a lot of running for the Dyspraxia Foundation and they nominated me to be a torch bearer.”

Keiran, who works at Morrisons in Woosehill, was diagnosed with Dyspraxia when he was just nine and turned to running as the condition meant he found team sports challenging.

His father, Paul, said: “We are really really pleased for Keiran.

“When he was at school a lot of the sports is team sport and with Dyspraxia he wasn’t so good at that.

“But then when he was about 15 he started going to the gym and realised that he was good at that so he started running.”

John added that the whole family were looking forward to

getting out and supporting the runner when he carries the torch between Reading and Salisbury on its way to London for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Keiran said: “I’m really excited about the Olympics.

“When it is the opening ceremony I will be watching thinking I’ve helped it a bit.

“I’m looking forward to watching a lot of the running and being a runner I would like to watch my heroes like Usain Bolt as I look up to someone like him.”

Keiran will also be taking part in the Wokingham, Reading and Bracknell half marathons next year to raise funds for the Dyspraxia Foundation.

The foundation is the only national UK charity working to support thousands of people who are affected

by Dyspraxia each year.

The charity received funding cuts last year meaning its campaigns and support are more important than ever.

Sally Payne, chair of the Dyspraxia Foundation, said: “2012 is to be a year of double celebration for the Dyspraxia Foundation.

“As the charity celebrates its 25th anniversary year, Kieran has been chosen to be one of the Olympic Torch Relay runners.

“We are calling on all readers to join our celebrations this year by supporting our 25th anniversary year appeal in any way they can to ensure families get the help they need.” v For more information about the Dyspraxia Foundation, log on to dyspraxiafoundation. org.uk.

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To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

55 years of famous nativity

The cast of the Aldermaston Nativity are put through their paces by director Pat Eastop OBE, who has supervised the show every year since 1956. The show recreates a 14th century mystery play

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AN ALDERMASTON church’s nativity production was a sellout – for the 55th year running.

For three nights in December, members of the church performed The York Nativity Play, one of the medieval mystery plays.

It uses Medieval costumes, songs and words to retell the events of the first Christmas.

The 12th century parish church was packed out, with more than 100 people coming to each performance. Tickets are free, but have to be reserved as they are so popular.

Many of the cast have taken part in the show for years. The third shepherd, Leslie Woodley, for instance, has performed each year for over 48 years, taking over the part from his father, Charley.

“It went reasonably well,” says the play’s publicity director David Shirt.

“The church was full every night and the feedback has been very positive.”

The cast, which moves from the churchyard into the church frequently throughout the performance, were glad that the weather was with them.

“The only night we had rain was the last night.”

The York Nativity Play at Aldermaston has been performed at the church for 55 years.

Originally planned to run for three nights over one Christmas, the play uses a 1932 version of the texts which has been performed since at least 1463.

And the players have their sights on this year’s production.

“The intention is to carry on,” says David.

Truly an age-old story.

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January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

Visiting scheme plans to befriend Reading A visiting and befriending scheme which aims to address issues of isolation and loneliness among older people is looking into opportunities to expand across Berkshire during 2012.

The Link Visiting Scheme is a registered charity currently operating in Wokingham Borough having started originally in 1998 as a community project at Woodley Baptist Church.

The scheme operates by linking isolated older people (referred by health and social care agencies) to local volunteers.

Home visits take place either weekly or fortnightly for around one hour and these times are often the highlight of a resident’s week.

Other projects have also been set up to complement these regular visits including a weekly Understanding Computers Course, a Pie and Pint Group providing an opportunity for isolated older men to meet socially, and regular coffee mornings and other special

events.

Many residents have expressed significant improvements in their sense of wellbeing as a result of feeling less isolated and in more contact with the outside world.

The scheme initially began with three referrals from social workers in Woodley who each started to receive visits because they were to have been by themselves over the Christmas period.

This gradually increased to around 30 regular clients during the following 10 years.

Then in 2007, 20 churches agreed to work together to help reach older people by creating a network across the borough.

The local authority was then contacted to request funding to enable the new wider project to expand by taking on staff.

The joy of Christmas

CHILDREN everywhere celebrated the first Christmas with a series of special Christmas Eve services.

Churches across Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell held crib and Christingle services. Messy Church craft sessions were also organised, all ensuring that youngsters could celebrate the new born King.

This was agreed and, initially as a partnership with Age Concern Woodley, the scheme was able to offer visits to residents across the Borough of Wokingham.

The charity now oversees visits to over 130 residents through a team of volunteers of around the same number.

Efforts are now being made to develop a network of churches across Reading who can carry out similar visits in partnership with existing befriending groups in the area.

This is currently being piloted in West Reading by Reading Christian Network.

Following a number of enquiries in other areas, the Link Visiting Scheme is now exploring opportunities to create projects in other towns and villages across Berkshire.

Jeremy Sharpe – a trustee of the charity – is keen to speak with representatives from churches who would like to know more and he can be contacted on 07970 100131. v www.linkvisiting.org

News v Bill Hybels visits Kerith WILLOW CREEK’s Bill Hybels is coming to Bracknell at the end of the month for a special training day.

He will team up with Andy Stanley for A Leaders Gathering, which will be held on Monday, January 30, at The Kerith Centre.

The following day, Tuesday, January 31, Peter Scazzero will lead another conference at the Kerith Centre, Emotionally Healthy Leadership Conference.

For more details on these courses, or to book, log on to www.willowcreek.org.uk.

v Advice for unemployed Organisations from voluntary, faith and statutory sectors in Reading are pooling resources to help those about to lose their job.

Are You Facing Redundancy, Out Of Work, Wondering What Next? is a new leaflet that will provide employees with essential information that may not be offered by their employer, as they begin the process of redundancy, job applications or retraining.

Copies will be available later this month from CommuniCare, Cemetery Junction, Volunteer Centre Reading, Cross Street and JobCentre Plus Reading.

v Burns supper in Woodley A WOODLEY church is marking Burns Night with a traditional supper.

The evening, which will include haggis, neeps and tatties, takes place on Saturday, January 28 at St James’ church centre in Kingfisher Drive.

Tickets cost £10 and organisers will give profits to the church’s roof fund.

For more details, call the church office on (0118) 966 2568. v St Andrew’s church in London Road, Reading, will also be holding a Burns Night later this month.

The United Reformed Church hosts Reading’s Scottish Pipe Band for their weekly rehearsals.

News focus

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Costly £10k giveaway helps these children

13

Easthampstead Baptists help build a church in Sierra Leone thanks to generous gift

The Seaside Baptist Fellowship in Tombo has been meeting – and running a school, pictured above – from a rundown shack. Now, thanks to help from Easthamsptead Baptist Church, it can look forward to having its own buildings A CHURCH in Africa can now enjoy meeting in its own buildings, thanks to the refurbishment project from a Berkshirebased church.

Members of Easthampstead Baptist Church held a series of gift days so it could renovate and improve its meeting hall and decided to tithe the money so that it could bless others.

The church has built up ties with Seaside Baptist Fellowship in Tombo, Sierra Leone. The Fellowship currently worship in a shack that’s also being used as a school and is a plant from Regent Road Baptist Church, based in the country’s capital city, Freetown.

Church pastor Chris Porter was one of three church members who went out to see the church in June, praying with local people that God would make the dream of a new building a reality.

Now, that dream is well on the way to happening, as the gift days at Easthamsptead has raised the £10,000 needed.

“The church were meeting in the shack on a Sunday and during the week it was used as a school for the village,” Chris explains.

“The conditions were awful so to have the chance to help both the church and the local community is fantastic.”

Chris has been to visit Sierra Leone twice, seeing at first hand the basic conditions.

The church in Tombo have been encouraged by Easthampstead’s support.

“I think for them, even more significant than the building, is the thought that there are a bunch of people over the other side of the world who care enough about them to want

to try to help,” Chris says.

The groundbreaking ceremony has taken place and has caused excitement for the Tombo church as they can see that they’ll have a permanent home.

Chris says: “It will be able to grow their outreach work to the village and it will really help the school.”

Chris adds that the church was united in tithing the money from its gift days, even though it’s been a “costly decision”.

“It was just so clear to us that it was the right thing to do,” he continues. “It is often a matter of concern for churches and Christians to spend a large sum of money on their own buildings when there are people around the world living in desperate poverty.

“In our case, for 10 per cent of what we needed for our own main hall redevelopment we could build a whole new church and school and so it felt like a great way to honour God.” Easthampstead’s redevelopment is a response to a growing congregation. Services have been around 70 per cent full and events have been so popular that space is an issue.

The project has seen the church create new storage areas, enhance its audio/visual equipment and increase capacity in the hall by reducing the stage area.

“We are very excited that the church here at Easthampstead is growing,” Chris says. “It is my belief that healthy churches naturally grow and that God’s plan for our churches is that they should be growing, so we are delighted.

“We are finding that people in our community are very open to what we are doing and that by investing a lot in serving our local community we are building up a reputation and a credibility. It does bring its challenges, particularly with the space issues we have with our current building.”

The work was completed just in time for its Christmas events, which included a lunch on Christmas Day as well as Aliens Love Panta Claus, a special Christingle service on Christmas Eve that involved a special drama telling a tale of underpants, aliens and someone in need of a spaceship.

This approach, compared to traditional carol services, is something Chris is proud of.

“We really do try to run events and activities that engage people in our local community,” he says. “We will try to do something completely different and attract a whole different group of people many of whom might never normally go to church.

“We want those events to be really good fun and very engaging and we also want to use them to communicate the Good News of our amazing God.” v For more, visit www.ebc-bracknell.org

14

News

January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

Get to grips with Matthew’s Gospel

Pies right for MP & Mayor IF YOU want to know who makes the best mince pies in Reading, just ask Alok Sharma.

The MP for Reading West joined with other local celebrities including Cllr Deborah Edwards, the Mayor of Reading, to judge Reading’s first Mince Pie Bake-Off. Held at Argyle Community Church’s Christmas Fayre, the event saw 26 people enter the contest.

The top three pies were from Scott Versace, Janet Riley and Joy Davis.

Alok said: “I was delighted to help judge the Mince Pie Bake-Off. “All the entries tasted really good but Scott Versace’s mince pies, which had a twist of chocolate in the mix, were a worthy winner.”

Susanne Courtney from Radio Berkshire, along with Santa, cut the tinsel to officially open the event.

Lynne Colman, Community Development Worker at Argyle Community Church, said: “Our objective was to hold a great community event and secondly to raise money for charity.

“This Christmas, we supported Rahab (www. rahab.co.uk) and The Bible Society (www. biblesociety.org.uk).”

How well do you know Matthew’s Gospel? Are there parts of it you don’t understand or find perplexing?

Michael Penny, Chairman of Churches Together in Reading, will be leading a series on Matthew at Reading Central Salvation Army, near the Castle Hill roundabout.

The Visual Bible will be used each session.

After watching part of

the video, a study and discussion will follow, and there will be plenty of opportunity to ask questions.

These will be on Monday mornings starting on January 16.

Coffee, tea and biscuits will be served at 10am and the session will end by noon.

For more details, call Michael Penny on 01491 671357 or email admin@ obt.org.uk.

Service changes planned for Tilehurst churches 2012 will be a year of change for two Reading churches as they explores new ways to worship together.

The vicar of Tylehurst St George in Reading and St Mary Magdalen’s in Tilehurst, the Revd Adam Carlill, has just started a three-month sabbatical, during which time he will recharge his batteries and undertake a period of study.

When Adam returns to the pastorate in time for Easter, the churches will then see its assistant curates, the Revd Peter Grosse and the Revd Michael Oke, start winding down their ministries as they look to retire and spend more time with their families.

Writing in his parish magazine, Adam said: “We have been very blessed by their hard work and commitment to their ministry, in addition to looking after children, grandchildren and holding down various paid and unpaid jobs.

“They have indicated to me that they will be wanting to help out at St George and St Mary Magdalen’s. However, because they should be allowed to retire properly, it does mean that we will be facing a very different situation.

“From Sunday, October 7, 2012 I will be the only priest serving the two parishes in an official capacity.

This means that the current service pattern will be unsustainable. Try as I might, I cannot be around to take services at 8am, 9am, 9.30am and 10.30am in two churches that are over a mile apart. Something has to give.”

Adam’s solution will benefit both fellowships. From October, he will be leading worship at both churches – based in St George’s Road and Rodway Road respectively – and there will additional opportunities to worship during the week.

The present early morning Sunday services – 8am at St Mary Magdalen’s and 9am at St George – will be

replaced with a Monday service at St George and a Thursday service at St Mary Magadelen’s. There will also be community drop-in sessions in each church “dovetailing with the services”, Adam promises.

There will also be changes to the services times on Sunday, seeing each church hold services during three-hour windows on Sundays, between 8.30am and 1pm or 2pm and 7pm.

Adam writes: “For me to be present properly on a Sunday, and not just rushing in, taking the service, and dashing out again, each of the two main Sunday services will need to take place in a three-hour window that allows for pastoral contact between me and the congregations before and after the service.

“For nine years I have been present at one of the churches and not at the other each week, and I have found this a very unsatisfactory arrangement. It is too easy for me not to notice when somebody is missing for a few weeks, and, inevitably, this has led on a number of occasions to people feeling that I don’t care about them. This, of course, isn’t true. I do care very much, but not having the opportunity to show that care is leading to hurt. It is time to do something about that.”

The churches have also appointed ministry teams for each church, helping build up the new structures and engaging in some of the practical aspects of this new pattern of ministry.

“I am very encouraged by their enthusiasm for Christian service and I look forward to seeing how they develop, and to working with them on a regular basis,” Adam said.

Although these changes have been announced now, Adam is asking members to reflect on these issues during his sabbatical and take part in a series of consultation meetings during the summer before finalising the arrangements in time for the autumn.

Interview

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

15

Chloe’s horizons were widened thanks to a message from God SITTING in a Devon church a Wokinghamborn writer paused and listened to a preacher whose words would help to change the course of her life forever.

Having studied for a science degree at the University of West England in Bristol 24-year-old Chloe Banks thought her path was set in stone.

But when a preacher visited her small Dartmoor village and inspired her to put pen to paper it was the start of very exciting things.

“I was trying to find something to do because I didn’t really want to do science so I sort of tried writing, partly as a hobby,” says Chloe, who used to attend Ranelagh School in Bracknell.

“One day we had a visiting preacher at church and he said, ‘God is saying keep writing, you’ve got what it takes’, so I decided to do it.”

The young author went on to scoop the New Eastbourne Writers national short story competition for 2010 and has started work on her first novel, The Crosser of the Worlds.

She has also joined a company of up-andcoming writers who have showcased their work in a collection of short stories called Beyond the Horizon.

With a theme of discovery, the book takes readers from rooftops to bedrooms, shining a light on realisations, mistakes and human potential.

Showcasing new and original talent the book features tales from seven different authors and marks the start of exciting things from upcoming publisher Bamboccioni Books, founded in 2010 by Alasdair Firth, another former Ranelagh pupil, and pal Claire Bagnall.

“My story is a monologue or stream of consciousness of a girl getting ready for a party but she’s got other things on her mind,” explains Chloe, who now lives in Devon with her husband.

“I had an idea in mind that I wanted to write a story from the point of view of a young girl and just teenagers and the things they worry about and when I was approached about the book I thought that would fit quite well.”

Having been inspired by the words she heard in church Chloe is now writing her first full-length book which she hopes will experience the success of Beyond the Horizon.

A message from a visiting preacher was enough to encourage Chloe Banks to keep on writing and the result is a new collection of short stories “I’m working on a children’s novel and I’ve just started writing a final draft,” she explains.

“I’m hoping to get it published although it’s quite a long shot,” she continues, dreaming one day to reaching the dizzying heights of success achieved by authors such as Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

“It’s a fantasy book where a boy gets caught up in a war involving six worlds.

“It’s the same age group as Harry Potter so it’s quite tough because everything compares everything to it but then it’s being compared against the best of the best.”

Tucked away in a country house in Dartmoor the writer spends her days tapping away at a keyboard and editing her work or walking across the fields in search of inspiration.

“I find ideas really hard because I’m quite a scientific person rather than creative,” she says.

“I don’t have a way of generating ideas, but with my novel I sat down and thought if I write a children’s novel what would it be about.

“I thought about Narnia and that sort of thing. I did it all very logically.”

With her novel in its final

stages Beyond the Horizon has given Chloe a taste of having her work sent out for scrutiny in the form of a short story.

Often forgotten as a distant relative of novels, the short story is making a comeback and the collection draws together different writing styles and tales in one volume.

“I think there is becoming a bit of a trend towards short stories because people are so pushed for time,” says Chloe.

“People have commutes and they don’t want to read a novel but a short story fills the time, especially with things like Kindles now.

“Short stories is my thing and that’s how I got involved in the book because I won a competition and Alasdair saw it and got in touch.”

With Beyond the Horizon nestled on the bookshop shelves and the Crosser Of The Worlds nearing completion Chloe is poised as one of the fresh young writers to look out for.

And if, or when, she reaches the fame and fortune of JK Rowling she will look back and think it all began with a message given to her in a small church in Devon. v Beyond The Horizon by Peter Aitken, Chloe Banks, Caroline Cook and Claire Bagnall is published by Bamboccioni Books, £9.99. ISBN: 9780956871701 CAROLINE COOK

16

Focus

January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

The food parcels made FOOD banks are reporting increasing demands from local residents as the gap between rich and poor grows.

After a busy festive season which has seen more than 1,000 food parcels prepared and distributed by a range of local groups, churches are being encouraged to focus on the problem as part of their response to Poverty & Homelessness Action Week.

Taking place from Saturday, January 28 to Sunday, February 5, the week includes Homelessness Sunday and Poverty Action Sunday.

The theme for this year is Breaking Barriers and aims to challenge the barriers of misunderstanding, stigma and injustice that result from this financial gap.

Church Action on Poverty National Coordinator, Niall Cooper says: “Poverty and Homelessness Action Week will provide a timely opportunity for churches to reflect on one of the pressing topical issues of the day, namely: How can we break down the barriers between rich and poor; how can we start to break the barriers between those with wealth, money and power in society and those without?”

One of the ways in which the Thames Valley’s churches have responded to the increasing poverty is by providing the food banks. The service offer emergency food parcels to people in real need, and recipients are often people referred to by local agencies such as Social Services, Reading Borough Council and Reading Single Homeless Project.

The demand for services

v Shopping list Readifood • Tea (pack of 40 or 80 bags) • Instant coffee • Sugar • Cereal • Jam • Marmalade • Tinned meat • Tinned fish • Tinned Steak pie

is growing rapidly. Bracknell’s Foodbank, for example, helped 2,839 people in October 2011 – up from 1,230 in October 2010.

ReadiFood – Reading’s Food Bank – has also seen additional demand on its service.

ReadiFood is run by FAITH Christian Group, and is based in Silver Street.

Its director Malc Peirce, says that the credit crunch is one of the key reasons for the increased demand on its services.

“The current economic situation, with its loss of jobs and increasing living costs, especially food prices, is seeing a lot more people falling into genuine poverty,” he says.

“We are currently delivering up to 45 parcels every week to families and single people. Some of these are repeat deliveries, but most are new requests from local agencies.”

Food banks are very simple ideas, as Malc explains: “Very simply, people donate food to us and we sort, make up parcels and deliver.

“Most of our food these days comes from schools’ harvest collections. So usually we start to run out by Spring and certainly by the Summer.

“We only give to people who have been referred to us by Social services or similar local agencies.”

And to ensure that as much help is available, ReadiFood keeps its costs as low as possible.

“We run ReadiFood with a very skeleton staff of parttime employees supported by volunteers,” he says.

ReadiFood’s warehouse contains all manner of non-perishable food, both dried and tinned, that can be

• Tinned steak and kidney pie • Tinned chicken pie • Tinned peaches • Tinned cherries • Tinned pears • Tinned pineapple • Tinned mixed fruit • Tinned peas • Tinned carrots • Tinned tomatoes • Tinned potatoes • Tinned spaghetti

quickly turned into a parcel that will help those in need.

Recipients are often thankful for the delivery.

“Most people who receive a parcel are immensely grateful and surprised that such a service exists to help people

• Tinned baked beans • Tinned tomato soup • Tinned chicken soup • Tinned vegetable soup • Pasta • Rice • Biscuits • Chocolate

Bracknell Foodbank • Milk (UHT) • Cereal

like them,” Malc explains.

With the increased demand from people for ReadiFood’s service, Malc wants to encourage more churches to get involved.

“Many local Churches and one or two other local organisations already collect food on a weekly

• Tinned soup • Fruit juice (long life) • Pasta sauces • Baked beans • Rice/sponge pudding (tinned) • Tomatoes (tinned) • Pasta/Rice (500g) • Tinned vegetables • Tea Bags • Instant mash/ tinned potato • Tinned meat/fish

• Tinned fruit • Sugar (500g) • Biscuits and snac

Woodley Foodbank • Soup • Carrots • Peas • Green beans • Sweet corn • Meat • Tuna

Focus

e with love

ck bars

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

v Find out more v Organisers of Poverty & Homelessness Action Week have organised a range of resources, including worship guides and materials for work with children and young people.

They can be accessed from its website, www. actionweek.org.uk.

Organisers for the week are Church Action on Poverty, Housing Justice and Scottish Churches Housing Action.

ReadiFood parcels packed and ready to be given to those who need them

or monthly basis and donate to ReadiFood,” he says. “This really helps with our week to week supplies.

“We try to encourage people to by one extra item with their weekly shop. This also helps them to be thinking of and praying for the poor • Fruit • Rice pudding • Sponge pudding Drinks • Long life/UHT milk • Fruit juice in long-life cartons • Tea bags (up to 80 bags) • Hot chocolate • Instant coffee (100g jars) • Orange squash (1 litre) • Blackcurrant Squash (1 litre)

of the town on an ongoing basis.

We think that is far more helpful than asking for perhaps an annual cash donation.

“We are also always looking for more volunteers to join the team sorting and making deliveries of parcels.”

Food Banks are seen as important to the support given to people in dire poverty. In a testimonial on ReadiFood’s website, Ian Caren from Launchpad (formerly Reading Single Homeless Project) says that it is: “a critical service for the homeless and vulnerable of Reading which provides excellent balanced food parcels.

“Faith assists a lot of our clients in desperate need and are quick and efficient.”

With additional demand on its services, the Food Banks will appreciate your help all the more this year.

Malc says: “We are always grateful for every donation Other Items • Pasta (500g packs) • Rice (500g packs) • Noodles (plain dried) • Sugar (500g packs) • Breakfast cereals (medium boxes) •B iscuits •C hocolate and snack bars •P asta sauces (jars) •O live oil •S unflower oil

17

however large or small. As they say ‘every little helps’.

“We would encourage anyone reading this article to visit the website, either direct to readifood. org.uk or via fcg.org.uk and consider how they might help either financially, by food donation or by volunteering.”

v For details of the Reading Food Bank, log on to www.fcg.org.uk. v For the Bracknell Food Bank, log on to http://www. kerith.co.uk and click on the Keith In The Community menu. v Woodley Baptist Church also runs a Food Bank. For more details, call Margaret Barter, (0118) 969 9956.

RESPITE CARE

offers a break to individuals and their caregivers.

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You can choose from a range of locations – from the beautiful countryside of Wellsborough, to the fresh seaside air of the Essex Coast,(Ernest Luff Homes) to the ancient port town of Plymouth (Bethany Christian Care Home).

To enquire about availability, email. info@pilgrimsfriend.org.uk or go online at www.pilgrimsfriend.org.uk or telephone 0300 303 1400.

18

Special feature

January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

v Education

Advertisers’ announcements

A good prep school is like an extended family PROOF Jerry Gear, Headmaster of St Neot’s in Eversley is proud of the school. Here, he explains why: I became Headmaster of St Neot’s this September, my third headship, and starting here in September reminded me how much there is still to learn about being in charge of a vibrant, happy and successful school!

In a sense, I don’t think you ever stop learning.

Every day brings new surprises, fresh experiences and different challenges, but it is the most St Neot’s headmaster Jerry Gear says that life rewarding of jobs and I can honestly say that if at the school is the most rewarding of jobs I were to rewind to the start of my career again, there is nowhere else I would like to be now than church is also something that I looked forward to. at St Neot’s.

Back inMedia school, theLtd beautiful 70 acre site that Caversham I have always felt that a good prep school we enjoy at St Neot’s is an enormous bonus to PO Box 2955, Reading RG1 9PH should be like an extended family and, by living the children’s education. I have never worked, nor on site, my wife, our two sons and I are very much inspected another school that has quite so much central to this community. space. The space has a calming effect on the This sense of belonging has already been children and on the adults who work here. extended outside the school walls. It was a If you need some space away from others, on privilege to be invited to lay a wreath at the a site this size you can easily do so. The extensive memorial at St Mary’s Church, Eversley on grounds also allow children to be children, to climb Remembrance Sunday and to participate in such trees, build dens and play in the open air in their a moving service there as we remembered those boiler suits and I think that this is really important! local men and women who had given their lives I was also delighted to discover here that in conflict was a very special experience. Being children are not examined in religious education.

I have felt for some time that setting tests for RE involved in the recent Carol Service at the same

tisement for the f Families TVW.

S CORRECT d addresses.

can straitjacket a subject where, more than most, the teacher needs to have the freedom to explore issues and questions that the children raise without being hidebound by a syllabus.

Each day at the end of lunch one of our senior pupils will say grace. It says much for the creativity of the boys and girls in Year 8 that no two supplications have been the same!

Similarly at the beginning of term, I told the same year group that I would like them to write a prayer and read it us to finish assembly when we come together twice a week. This prayer can be addressed in any way that the children see fit, but I asked them to give consideration to those in our society, or further afield, who needed our thoughts and support at that time. It has been something that they have taken very seriously indeed and it has been a pleasure to hear what they have written every time we end our assembly.

I have always felt that spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects of education form the bedrock of a school.

If you get this right you will have a happy school, where children look out for each other, where there is a powerful system of support for and consideration given to the needs of others.

We are certainly on the way to achieving this here at St Neot’s and it is a privilege to be a part of it.

T: 0118 954 6893 E: adverts@familiestvw.co.uk

r approve

StNeot’s Neot’s -– aaworld St world of opportunity opportunity of

• Excellent pastoral care and first rate •facilities in beautiful 70 acre site Excellent pastoral care and • Safe and stimulating environment for first rate facilities in beautiful children from 3 months – 13 years 70 acre site • Focus on the individual child Safe and stimulating • •Outstanding ISI Inspection report • More than 30 scholarships obtained environment for children from in last 3 years including academic, 3 months – 13 years art, music and sport Focus on the individual child • •Day, weekly or flexi boarding • •Artsmark awarded in June 2010 Outstanding ISI Inspection report

• More than 30 scholarships obtained in last 3 years OPEN MORNING including academic, art, music and sport Friday 24th February (9.30am – 11.45am) • Day, weekly or flexi boarding Visit our website www.st-neots-prep.co.uk or telephone • Artsmark in June to awarded register interest or to2010 make an appointment Eversley, Hook. Hampshire, RG27 0PN Tel: 0118 973 9650 Email: pa@st-neots-prep.co.uk

OPEN MORNING

Friday 24th February (9.30am – 11.45am) Visit our website www.st-neots-prep.co.uk or telephone to register interest or to make an appointment

t’s - a Eversley, world Hook, Hampshire, RG27 0PN pportunity • Excellent pastoral care and first rate facilities in beautiful 70 acre site • Safe and stimulating environment for children from 3 months – 13 years

Tel: 0118 973 9650

Email: pa@st-neots-prep.co.uk

Special feature

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v Education

19

Advertisers’ announcements

What should you look for when choosing a school for your child?

SCHOOL DAYS are meant to be the happiest days of our lives.

And they can be, providing the school you choose for your child is the right one.

With so many education options available, making the right choice can seem like a daunting prospect.

It’s important to start your preparation and planning early, so you can make an informed choice about which schools you wish to apply for. It’s important to remember that just because your child’s nursery is attached to a school, it doesn’t mean that you child will automatically go on to the school without applying.

And for Christian parents, the decision is made even harder if you want your child to grow in their faith as they go through the education system.

However, help is at hand – and from the schools themselves.

All hold regular open days so you can see the facilities, meet the teachers and find out what you want to know about the school’s ethos and teaching methods.

Mary Cope, the registrar of Luckley-Oakfield, a Wokinghambased school for girls, thinks that open days are invaluable She says: “Parents should be looking for the ‘best fit’ for their child, taking into account the size of the school, the atmosphere, the educational and pastoral provision and the school ethos.”

Chosing a school is one of the most important decisions a parent can make. Thankfully, good schools will do their best to help you decide This is something echoed by Hayley Gardener, from The Vine Christian School at Three Mile Cross, near Reading.

“Parents should look at the ethos of the school,” she says, adding that they should “Read through their statement of faith. Secondly, look at the work and how the programme operates.”

There are also educational standards to look out for. The most common is Ofsted, but The Vine is also inspected by the Acclerated Christian Education programme.

“We have two inspections,” Hayley says. “One is carried out by inspectors from the ACE programme, to meet a standard of excellence by abiding by contractual guidelines. Secondly, The Vine Christian School is also inspected

by Ofsted whose reports are publicly available for viewing. The school recently had an outstanding

Are you looking for a Christian senior school for your daughter?

achievement for the moral and spiritual welfare of the pupils.”

It’s a similar story for LuckleyOakfield, as headmistress Vivienne Davis explains: “It is important that parents read the content as well as the headline judgments. They should

The Vine Christian School Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old he will not depart from it... Proverbs 22:8

OPEN DAY: Saturday 4th February 10am-3pm We hope that you will ‘catch the vision’ for Christian education and will want to embrace it for your family • • • • •

Accelerated Christian Education (ACE) Curriculum Fantastic ABC’s program for children learning to read September and January intakes Fully registered with the DFES Ofsted inspected

Come to an Open Morning and find out what makes Luckley-Oakfield the perfect choice Tuesday 20th March Wednesday 2nd May 9.30am to 12 noon

look for a school that is continuing to improve and that ‘adds value’, both academically and outside the classroom to all students.”

Luckley-Oakfield is proud of its school. Information given to parents notes that “Luckley is a small, warm and welcoming school, with a big heart. Our strong Christian ethos radiates throughout the school, bringing traditional family values and morals to the forefront of everything we do.”

All good schools aim to develop children so that they reach the best of their abilities.

Kate Leiper, the headmistress of Hurst Lodge school in Ascot, says that the school places an emphasis of building confidence.

“Our supportive family atmosphere and inclusive ethos v Continued overleaf

School fees 2011-2012* (*paid in 10 monthly instalments) Per Year 1st child: £2,500 2nd child: £2,000 3rd child: £1,750

‘Inspiring Young Minds’

www.luckley.wokingham.sch.uk

Tel: 0118 978 4175 Registrar@luckley.wokingham.sch.uk

Independent Christian Day and Boarding School for Girls aged 11 -18 years

The Vine Jan 12.indd 1

Per Instalment £250 £200 £175

BOYS AND GIRLS AGED 5-18 Contact us: Three Mile Cross Church Centre, Basingstoke Road, Reading RG7 1AT t: 0118 988 6464 e: thevinechristian@tiscali.co.uk www.vinechristianschool.org 12/16/2011 9:42:47 AM

20 Janaury 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408 Advertisers’ v Education announcements

Choosing a school

v From previous page

encourage pupils to develop a lasting sense of moral, social and spiritual responsibility within a caring pastoral environment that builds confidence and enables each individual to fulfil his or her potential,” she says.

“I would be delighted to show you our wonderful school and look forward to meeting you.”

It’s a similar situation at The Vine Christian School. Hayley explains: “Our learning also incorporates interactive activities in the afternoons and days out for hands on learning during the term.

We believe that a safe and secure environment where students know that the staff’s desire is to help them reach their full potential in Jesus and therefore achieving their aspirations and goals for the future is what helps a child to be ‘happy’ as they learn.”

And Luckley-Oakfield also places an importance on environment.

Headmistress Vivienne explains: “Luckley-Oakfield provides an



environment where the girls feel secure, and where they recognise that the staff know them very well and can therefore both challenge and support them in their studies and wider activities.” v The Vine Christian School uses a programme called Accelerated Christian Education. This is a baccalaureate style qualification that uses individualised learning in a corporate setting, whereby each student works on an individual basis of mastery learning.

The school says that character building is fundamental to this programme. v Luckley-Oakfield says its results speak for themselves with 100% pass rate at A-Level in 2011, with 89% achieving A*/B grades.

All of its Sixth Form secured places at their chosen university.

The school’s GCSE students also excelled, with 58% A*/A grades and all students achieving at least 5 GCSE A*-C including English and Mathematics.

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Faith at work

Faith and fitness FOR many of us, Christmas is a time when we get fat, never mind the goose. Now that the New Year is here, the annual battle of the bulge is well underway.

With a whole glut of exercise DVDs just released, usually featuring stars of the small screen, it appears that getting fit matters to many of us. But all too often, the path to a smaller dress size is paved with good intentions and, without encouragement, the DVD and exercise equipment often get forgotten about.

One way to ensure that the New Year resolution to lose weight doesn’t dissolve as January wears on is to join a health and fitness club – and a mum from Reading knows all about the benefits that a club can bring.

Sedge Gooding, who is a member of Wycliffe Baptist Church in East Reading, has been running Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness classes in Reading, Caversham, Earley and Woodley since 1995. She’s so good at her job that she keeps winning awards.

Last year, she was a finalist in the club’s Franchisee of the Year Awards – she received her honour from Rosemary Conley herself at a fantastic ceremony in October. But it’s not the first time that she’s been given this accolade.

The mum of three was also a finalist in 2000, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005. She scooped the top prize in 2001, beating off competition from 170 other franchisees from across the country.

Rosemary, who is also a Christian, says: “We are delighted Sedge is a Finalist in our Franchisee of the Year Awards this year. Sedge has performed exceptionally well to become a Finalist and I am really impressed by her high level of professionalism and commitment.”

Sedge herself is delighted with her honour.

“I am thrilled to become a Finalist in the Franchisee of the Year Awards 2011,” she says. “It is a terrific achievement to reach

this stage in the Awards and I love running a Rosemary Conley Diet and Fitness Club.”

But she’s not just doing it to make a living. She’s keen to see people’s lives transformed and will do what she can to help people reach their goals.

“I am an encourager definitely – whether it’s personality or weight loss or whatever. Oh yeah, definitely,” she says.

Sedge grew up in a Christian family, but it wasn’t until 2005 that she had an encounter that meant her life changed forever.

“I was at a baptism service and I felt the Holy Spirit,” she reveals. “It was like nothing I’d experienced before. It was just like oh my gosh!”

Afterwards, the fitness queen undertook some spiritual exercise, building up her faith by taking part in a Christianity Explored course before being part of launching a discussion group.

“After my baptism, we started a group for non-Christian friends. It met in my house on a Wednesday. They’d want to know why someone who was a little trendy and little bit with it, had become a Christian.

“They’d ask what has she got?

And can we have it a bit of that as well?”

Now, Sedge tries to put God first in everything she does, including her fitness classes, and that includes caring for the people she’s working with.

“Everyone comes up to me at the scales on a one-to-one basis … weight loss can be quite emotional,” she says. “People can just talk to me and often don’t realise that I’m praying for them.”

She also does her best to build up a community within her classes.

“If I see someone standing by themselves, I’ll ask someone to go and talk to them,” she explains.

“I’ve got loads of members and I really try to make everyone feel comfortable. If you’re a quiet person, come in late and I’ll talk to you afterwards.”

And Sedge wants to make sure that everyone has a good time too.

“It’s a giggle – it’s a total giggle,” she says of her classes.

Faith at work

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

go together for Sedge v Rosemary’s faith

Rosemary Conley presents Sedge Gooding with one of her many awards for being one of the best diet and fitness leaders in the country. As part of her prize she was awarded a beautiful diamond necklace cycle: “After the first week, [people get] great “People get it wrong, I get it wrong and it weight loss, second week great weight loss, just doesn’t matter! They come along, take third week oh, erm.. part and feel so much better.

“But by the fourth week they come in and “Men are welcome at my classes. In fact, they can see the results – they can see the we’d love to see more of them,” she adds. figures on the scale go down, they can And with January being the time when see the waistline go down, they can see many of us think about shedding some their fitness levels go up and they’re starting pounds or attempting to boost our fitness to make friends – we’ve got a really good levels, Sedge has some sage advice for you to community.” ensure that you don’t give up on your goals.

And don’t worry if you feel self-conscious Pay monthly is her first tip. “People don’t like about taking part in the classes, which focus losing money so it encourages them to come on Zumba fitness and each week,” she says. dance aerobics.

Sedge adds that being part “I enjoy a bit of banter,” of a group is really important she promises. “But you’ll if you want to succeed.

To view all the classes currently never catch me doing You’re more likely to running, with their times and something that will make persevere if you’re doing it you uncomfortable.” with friends you either come locations call Sedge on (0118) 926 2952 or email sedge.

Sounds like a good fit with or you meet in class. gooding@rosemaryconley.com. to us.

She reveals the typical

v Find out more

21

ROSEMARY CONLEY is known to millions as the person who helped them get fit, shape up and lose weight. Her diet and fitness clubs, books, DVDs and products are incredibly popular right across the country.

Rosemary is a much-loved figure and is also a Christian. Many of her fitness clubs meet in church halls and you’re just as likely to find her in those halls sharing her testimony. At these events, she says about half the audience tend to be nonChristians.

“I tell my story and hope that people will be inspired and consider giving their lives to the Lord as I did in 1986,” she explains. “I think that’s one of the reasons that God’s put me where he has - I can go out there and do that. People will listen to me because they’ve probably been exercising with me for the last 20 years, so there is a relationship there.

“I feel that being a Christian and meeting people in this manner is what God wanted to me to do.”

Rosemary now has more than 170 franchisees “earning a very good living” and is happy with being a successful businesswoman.

“I think Christianity and business go very much hand-in-hand in so far as Jesus told us to go out into the work place, into the community where people are and I think it’s important that, as Christians, we set an example within the work that we do and the ethos by which you run your company.”

Rosemary says she can also see the real benefit from people being fit and healthy.

“Losing weight makes people’s health improve immeasurably, it also increases their self-esteem beyond measure,” she explains. “People who have a depressive nature suddenly become more outgoing, they’re more confident in their work and family environment, so losing weight and getting fitter is just full of positives.”

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News

January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

v Bodies wanted for graveyard MEMBERS of the Arborfield Local History Society are holding a public meeting about Arborfield Old Church.

The Society is looking to establish a friends’ group to preserve and conserve the old churchyard.

The meeting takes place at Arborfield’s Village Hall at 8pm on Monday, February 20.

v Enjoy music at lunchtime A SERIES of lunchtime concerts is being held in the Corps and Garrison Church of St Eligius, Arborfield Garrison.

Taking place on the second Thursday of the month at 12.30pm, the concerts include a buffet lunch and entry is free. Donations will be taken in support of military charities and the military church communities.

The concert on Thursday, January 12 will feature Laura Beardsmore on the flute and Cecily Beer on the harp, while a concert on February 9 will see an organ recital by Peter Beaven, the organist at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst.

For more details, or to confirm attendance for catering purposes, call Rita Le Var on 01252 372230 or email rita_le_var@ntlworld. com.

The church is situated on Tope Road, Arborfield and there is parking opposite the church.

v Craft club launching A NEW craft club is launching at Caversham Heights Methodist Church.

All Sorts Of Everything will be held on the first Saturday afternoon of the month and is open to everyone.

Each session runs from 1.30pm to 4.30pm at the church hall, in Highmoor Road.

Entry costs £3, which includes refreshments.

For more details, call organiser Elizabeth Peirce on 07588 706119 or email epeircerg8@gmail.com.

Parents who have adopted have said that their first Christmas as a family was magical Picture: PACT

Adoption gives kids a very Happy Christmas ADOPTIVE parents have been celebrating their first Christmases as foster parents – and a Christian charity is hoping to make it a happier Christmas in 2012 for more foster children.

Last year, PACT introduced more than 40 children to their new adoptive parents, but this year they are hoping to recruit 100 adopters and foster carers.

The charity says that the first Christmas is a special time for both parents and children. Its adopters agree.

Berkshire-based Rebecca and Adrian (not their real names) said that they have special memories of their festive season.

“The first Christmas with our two children was so special it is difficult to put into words,” they revealed.

“There were many moments to treasure, like their looks of wonder at seeing all the Christmas lights on the houses, our son’s first Nativity Play, them both singing Away In A Manger at the tops of their voices at the Christmas Eve service at church

and their delight at opening their stockings on Christmas morning.

“It was the most magical Christmas ever.”

Reading-based adopters Linda and Matthew said: “We are very happy and excited about our first Christmas with our son.”

Saira, another PACT adopter, was looking forward to Christmas.

Speaking ahead of the festive season, she said: “This will be our first Christmas as a complete family, mummy, daddy, Zac and Amara.

“We cannot express in words the joy adoption has brought into our lives. We will be the happiest family this Christmas Thanks to PACT. Having Amara feels like Christmas every day.”

Jean Smith, PACT’s assistant director for adoption and fostering, said: “For many children in care, Christmas is an unsettling time.

“They may be missing birth family members who they don’t see and may be fearful about an uncertain future.

“For many adopted children, their new families are the present they have been wishing for, as they are finally in a safe and secure home with loving parents.”

The charity, which is a professional agency working on behalf of the Diocese of Oxford in the area of nurturing family life, is based in South Street, Reading and is entering its 101st year of helping children.

v Thinking of fostering?

If you are interested in being one of PACT’s 100 adopters and foster carers during 2012, you can find out more and request an information pack by calling 0800 731 1845.

The charity also holds regular Adoption and Fostering Information evenings, for more details log on to www. pactcharity.org/info.

News

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

Your choir could sing with Blake at concert CHOIRS are being invited to audition for the chance to join an internationally famous singing quartet when they perform a gig in Bracknell at the end of the month.

Blake are returning to South Hill Park on Sunday, January 29, and are searching for voices to accompany them for some of their famous classic-pop renditions, which includes Hallelujah, Jerusalem and Nessun Dorma.

Last year, the Reading Festival Chorus joined the boys on The Hexagon’s stage in Reading, and any choir is able to enter this year’s search.

With a unique style that bridges the gap between pop and opera, Blake’s music is full of incredible vocal lines blended together through rich harmonies.

The quartet came up with the idea of having a local choir join them on stage after touring schools, giving performances and talks about the music industry.

“The schools tour was part of the ‘campaign’ for our second Brit nomination, but it quickly became so much more than that to us,” explained baritone Jules Knight.

“The kids really engaged with what we did and we were blown away by the talent and confidence of some of them.”

Blake’s members want to share their passion for music with the communities they would be visiting on their tour.

“Getting some of the choirs up on stage with us would be a great experience for both them and us,” added tenor Oliver Baines.

Choirs who would like the chance to join Blake on stage should send a YouTube video link of the choir performing to info@BlakeOfficial.com accompanied by a short description of the choir. v Blake will perform at South Hill Park on Sunday, January 29. For more details, call (01344) 484123 or visit www. southhillpark.org.uk.

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v Alpha in Emmer Green THOSE looking for more information about the Christian faith can take part in a new Alpha course.

Taking place at St Barnabus Parish Centre in Grove Road, Emmer Green on Thursday mornings, the course launches on January 5.

The 10 weekly sessions will help people explore questions such as ‘Who is Jesus?’ and ‘Why did Jesus die?’

As well as the talks, there will be refreshments to enjoy and a creche will be available.

Sessions run from 10am to 11.30am and the course runs until March 29.

For more information, call (0118) 947 5744 or (0118) 947 9708. Alternatively, email alpha@ saintbarnabas.org.uk.

v Bell ringers to quiz you A QUIZ night organised by the bell ringers of Shinfield St Mary’s Church will be held on Saturday, January 14.

As well as the puzzling questions, there will be a twocourse supper to enjoy.

The fun starts at 7.15pm, with the meal at 8pm. Entrants will be divided into teams of six.

Tickets cost £10 or £6 for under 18s. All profits will go towards St Mary’s Church.

For more details or to book call Jill Grindal on (0118) 988 2158 or email jillgrindal@hotmail.com.

v Book sale

Generous Mayor gives & receives festive presents The week before Christmas, Michael Penny, chairman of Churches Together in Reading, presented the Mayor of Reading, Cllr Deborah Edwards, with a leather-bound Bible.

He suggested she might like to read Luke’s Gospel as Luke, like us, had never met Jesus and had sifted through the evidence available to him.

The Mayor, in return, gave Michael a special Christmas present – a big bag of food. This gift was then passed on to Mabel Boyd, the manager of the Churches In Reading Drop In Centre.

A sale of second hand books will take place at St Stephen’s Church in Upper Basildon on Saturday, February 18.

There will be thousands of novels, plus a large selection of Christian and children’s books, plus history, geography, cookery, art, sports – and more.

Tea, coffee and homemade cakes will also be served and there will be a Fair Trade stall.

It takes place from 10am to 2pm.

For more details, call Michael Penny on 01491 671357.

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January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

Swishing evening gives Rahab Project a cash boost

News

MP praises Chissock Woodcraft

A SWISHING evening gave a local charity a real boost.

The clothes sharing event helped raise £609 for The Rahab Project, a Reading-based initiative which offers support, befriending and advocacy to anyone who has been exploited in the sex industry.

The money raised will cover up to 50 Night Teams running its outreach in the Oxford Road area.

Organisers are delighted with how the evening went. It was held at St Laurence’s Church in Reading at the end of November. Theresa May opens Chissock Woodcraft’s new buildings, watched by Steve Hedger “During the event, numerous waste timber and wood shavings from local A HARE HATCH-based rehabilitation centre positive conversations took companies. boasted an extra special visitor last autumn. place,” explained a spokesperson “Good quality timber is used to make furniture or Local MP Theresa May opened the new buildings for the charity. is resold, medium grade timber is used for kindling for Chissock Woodcraft, a furniture project at “Three people voiced an wood, and all other wood waste is shredded and Yeldall Manor. interest in becoming volunteers used to make briquettes,” Steve explained.

Speaking in the new glass-fronted atrium of the and [there were] two donations “We have also installed a biomass boiler that Coach House buildings, she praised the work that of £100 each. is fuelled by wood waste, meaning that we have Chissock does in association with Yeldall.

“The opportunity to raise become self-sufficient in heating and hot water.

Theresa also reinforced the Government’s awareness of the issue of We get real pleasure out of knowing that every commitment to rehabilitation and extolled the prostitution and off-street scrap of wood is used in a positive way. importance of projects such as Chissock, which sexual exploitation was also “By recycling, we prevent a lot of wood waste provide a stepping stone beyond rehab in the form vital.” from ending up in local landfill sites.” of supported employment and training.

And the swishing event will And Steve is quick to praise God for the way in She added: “It’s a fantastic enterprise that is continue to bless women, thanks which he has directed the work. changing people’s lives and that, for me, is what to the items that were left over at “Despite the current financial crisis, since we this is all about.” the end of the night. first arrived at the Coach House in 2006, God has The new atrium provides additional space for The spokesperson added: shown us that He will provide both the work and the furniture-making and renovation work, while a “We’ve kept five bags of the materials we need,” Steve explained. “The grant to new barn houses Chissock Woodsave, which sells left-over clothes to distribute to renovate our buildings and to buy the machinery kindling, logs and briquettes. homeless women, or to those has only gone to prove that His provision is there Steve Hedger, who heads up the Chissock being released from prison, and a despite the circumstances.”

Woodcraft furniture project at few items can be eBayed to raise He continued: “With funding Yeldall Manor, said: “The atrium additional funds.” for training becoming ever more is proving a very useful area, “Staff and volunteers at The difficult to obtain, we hope to use while the barn houses our new Rahab Project would like to If you are interested in buying the profits generated by Woodsave recycling business, Chissock thank all those who contributed briquettes, kindling wood or to fund the training at Chissock Woodsave.” to making our Swishing Event a logs, or if you have any waste Woodcraft and to pay for more of The new project is led by great success. timber for collection, call (0118) our guys to take NVQs in Furniture a team of people including “Our work at Rahab is by Design and Making or Furniture Yeldall residents and graduates, 324 0078 or log on to www. no means glamorous, and we Renovation and Repair. as well as volunteers. It collects chissockwoodsave.co.uk. appreciate the many votes of support for the vital service we provide to extraordinarily vulnerable individuals.

It takes place on Saturday, Reading and District branch of WESLEY Methodist Church “Fundraising is key in enabling January 21, at Wesley, which the charity. will host a special fundraising our work to continue.” is based in Queens Road, 2012 is the 71st year that it concert for the Citizens Advice Plans are in place to make the Reading. Tickets cost £10 and has been able to offer gives free, Bureau later this month. event an annual feature in its can be bought from the Bureau’s independent, confidential and The evening, which will calendar, and organisers are keen offices or from the Lemongrove impartial advice to any member to hear from if you can lend your feature the Reading Male Voice Gallery, both in Minster Street.

Choir in concert with Lori Tingay of the community and the support again. concert will give a much-needed Alternatively, call (0118) 950 8331 Weber, will be the start of a v For more on the charity, log or emai rcabconcert@gmail.com. boost to its funds. fundraising programme for the on to www.rahab.co.uk.

v Wood heroes

Wesley to host fundraising concert

Calendar

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

v What’s on These are some special events taking place in churches over the next two months. A full events calendar, complete with listings for special church services and local activities can be found at xnmedia. co.uk.

You can also submit your own events by sending an email to editor@xnmedia.co.uk

Sunday, January 8 PURLEY – St Mary’s. Senior Citizens’ tea party. All welcome. 3.30pm-5pm.

Free. Booking essential.

Details: (0118) 962 5760.

Tuesday, January 10 CROWTHORNE – Vineyard Church Centre, Wellington Business Park, Dukes Ride.

Encouraging Mums: beauty for ashes. 12.30pm-2.30pm.

Details: (01344) 780087.

Thursday, January 12 ARBORFIELD – Corps and Garrison Church of St Eligius, Arborfield Garrison, Tope Road.

Lunchtime concert: Laura Beardsmore on the flute and Cecily Beer on the harp.

Free, donations for military charities and the military church communities.

12.30pm. Details: 01252 372230 or email rita_le_ var@ntlworld.com.

ARBORFIELD – CofE Church, Church Lane. Luckley fivea-side men’s curry night including a talk: No Guts, No Glory. £10. Details and to book: Tim@abch.org.uk.

EASTHAMPSTEAD – St Michael and St Mary Magdalene. Launch of new Exploring Faith course, first of six weeks. 7pm. Details: (01344) 428518.

Saturday, January 14 ABORFIELD – CofE Church, Church Lane. Breakfast: Christians and Sport. How to be faithful in attending church, while making the most of sport as an evangelistic opportunity.

8.30am-10am. £5, children free. Details and to book: Tim@abch.org.uk.

BURGHFIELD – Community Sports Assoication, James Lane. Quiz night in aid of Kisiizi Hopsital in Uganda.

Up to six per team, £5, includes cheese and biscuit

supper. 7.30pm. Details: Heather@mas1.fsnet.co.uk.

SHINFIELD – St Mary’s Church. Quiz night in aid of church funds, including two-course supper.

7.15pm. £10, £6 under 18s.

Details: (0118) 988 2158 or jillgrindal@hotmail.com.

Sunday, January 15 CAVERSHAM – St Andrew’s, Albert Road. Secret Film Club. 7.30pm.

Details: events@ standrewscaversham.org.

WOKINGHAM – Baptist Church, Milton Road.

Churches Together Wokingham annual unity service. 7pm. All welcome.

Monday, January 16 READING – Reading Central Salvation Army. Visual Bible course: Matthew’s Gospel, with Michael Penny. First of a six-week course. 10amnoon. Details: 01491 671357 or email admin@obt.org.uk.

Tuesday, January 17 BRACKNELL – Kerith Centre.

CAP Money Management course: a comprehensive yet astonishingly simple money management course to help you get, and then stay, in control of your finances. First of three weeks. 8pm-10pm. Details:

Thursday, January 19 CAVERSHAM HEIGHTS – Methodist Church, Gosbrook Road. Dick Whittington. 7pm. £7.50, £5 children. In aid of Action For Children and church funds.

Details: (0118) 947 3935.

Friday, January 20 ARBORFIELD – Village Hall.

Arborfield Local History Society are holding a public meeting about Arborfield Old Church. 8pm.

CAVERSHAM HEIGHTS

– Methodist Church, Gosbrook Road. Church pantomime: Dick Whittington. 7pm. £7.50, £5 children. In aid of Action For Children and church funds.

Details: (0118) 947 3935.

Saturday, January 21 CAVERSHAM HEIGHTS – Methodist Church, Gosbrook Road. Church pantomime: Dick Whittington. 6pm. £7.50, £5 children. In aid of Action For Children and church funds.

Details: (0118) 947 3935.

READING – Reading Central Salvation Army,Anstey Road. Burns’ night supper.

Details: (0118) 958 3019.

WOKINGHAM – All Saints, Norreys Avenue. Quiz night with fish and chip supper. 7pm. Prizes for best and worst team. £11, includes first drink. In aid of Children’s Society. Details: (0118) 979 2797.

Sunday, January 22 READING – New Hope Community Church, York Road. 10th anniversary thanksgiving service, with the Rt Revd Andrew Proud, Bishop of Reading. 10.30am.

Details: www.newhopeweb. org.uk or (0118) 959 6534.

WOKINGHAM – St Paul’s, Reading Road. Lux Aeterna String Quartet in concert.

2pm. £7, £5 concessions in advance. £8, £5 concessions on the door. Details: (0118) 979 2122.

Monday, January 23 READING – Reading Central Salvation Army, Anstey Road. Start of A Life Worth Living course. 6.30pm.

Details: (0118) 958 3019.

UPPER BUCKLEBURY – All Saints Church. Bradfield Deanery Spiritual Development Group presents: Engaging With Young People: Should the Church Be Confident Or Concerned? With the Revd Canon Professor Martin Percy, principal of Ripon College, Cuddeson. 8pm.

Thursday, January 26 READING – The Warehouse, 1a Cumberland Road.

Christianity Explored course launch night. 7.30pm9.30pm. Continues for seven weeks. Details: (0118) 929 9911.

Friday, January 27 READING – Phillipi Trust, 228 Kings Road. Counselling skills course launch.

6pm-10pm. Also Saturday 9am-6pm and February 17, 18 and March 16, 17. £220.

Details: (0118) 966 7422.

Saturday, January 28 WOKINGHAM – St Paul’s, Reading Road. Bracknell & Wokingham Community Band in concert. 6pm. £5, £3 concessions. Details: (0118) 979 2122.

Sunday, January 29 WOKINGHAM – St Paul’s, Reading Road. West Forest Sinfonia in concert: Vaughan-Williams: Fantasia On A Theme, De Falla: El Amor Brujo, Mahler: Blumine, Mendelssohn: Symphony No.4. 4.30pm. £15, £12 concessions, £1 under 18s and students.

Details: Nicola Brown, (0118) 933 2435.

Monday, January 30

25

Vine Christian School open day: learn more about the school. 10am-3pm. Details: (0118) 988 6464 or www. vinechristianschool.org.

SANDHURST – Sandhurst and Yateley Methodist Church, Scotland Hill.

Leprosy Mission Concert: performance open to all.

7pm. Details: 01252 872503.

Thursday, February 9 ARBORFIELD – Corps and Garrison Church of St Eligius, Arborfield Garrison, Tope Road.

Lunchtime concert: organ recital by Peter Beaven, the organist at the Royal Military Academy in Sandhurst Free. 12.30pm.

Details: 01252 372230 or email rita_le_var@ntlworld. com.

Saturday, February 11 CAVERSHAM – St Andrew’s, Albert Road.

Culinary Cinema.

6pm. Details: events@ standrewscaversham.org.

Tuesday, February 14

BRACKNELL – Kerith Centre.

A Leaders Gathering: a conference for church leaders, with Bill Hybels and Andy Stanley. 9.30am-5pm.

Details: www.willowcreek. org.uk or 023 8071 0295.

CROWTHORNE – Vineyard Church Centre, Wellington Business Park, Dukes Ride. Encouraging Mums: Nurturing Nature. 12.30pm2.30pm. Details: (01344) 780087.

Tuesday, January 31

Saturday, February 18

BRACKNELL – Kerith Centre.

Emotionally Healthy Leadership Conference: Pete Scazzero explores how to implement a discipleship paradigm. 8.30am-5pm.

Details: www.willowcreek. org.uk or 023 8 071 0295.

Monday, February 20

Thursday, February 2 WOODLEY – Oakwood Centre. Corpus Christi Church parish pantomime: Snow White. Also Friday and Saturday. Details: ccparishpanto@hotmail. co.uk.

Saturday, February 4 CAVERSHAM – Caversham Heights Methodist Church, Highmoor Road. Craft club.

1.30pm-4.30pm. £3. Details: 07588 706119.

THREE MILE CROSS –Three Mile Cross Church Centre, Basingstoke Road. The

UPPER BASILDON – St Stephen’s Church. Book sale. 10am-2pm. Details: 01491 671357.

ARBORFIELD – Village Hall.

Arborfield Local Historical Society public meeting to establish a Friends’ group.

8pm. All welcome.

Friday, February 24 HARE HATCH – Yeldall Manor, Blakes Lane.

Monthly celebration for work of Yeldall Manor.

All welcome. 7.30pm.

Details: (0118) 940 1093.

Saturday, February 25 WOODLEY – Baptist Church, Hurricane Way. Barn Dance. Details: (0118) 969 9956.

26

Trades

January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

v Sharing talents God has given each of us unique gifts and skills.

Xn’s talents directory is an opportunity to connect local people with local businesses.

From next issue, at the end of every linage advert will be a unique weblink where you can find out more about the advertiser and offer your feedback on their services.

We’re sure you’ll find these pages invaluable.

Build up your business with

To advertise call 01932 246408 v Funeral directors A.B. Walker & Son – Berkshire’s leading family funeral and masonry service. www.abwalker.co.uk

v Resources Faith in the Community (Wokingham) – helping Christians work together to transform their local communities. Phone Sharon Elliott 07843 091950 CHURCH NEWSLETTER ARTICLES. Great selection, new every month. Specially written and drawn. www. thesheepdip.co.uk

Plumbers, electricians and gardeners

Painters, decorators, builders and more!

Music lessons and accompanying

Place your advert in

Build up your business and reach Christian buyers To advertise call 01932 246408

Writers, advertising and Fitness trainers and marketing gurus aerobic tutors WE want to help build up your business, whatever it is.

Xn is a unique opportunity to reach Christians attending churches in Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell … and, thanks to the internet, anywhere in the world for that matter.

Our talents directory is your chance to share the good news

about your business and the services it provides Take out a linage advert and you’ll be entitled to space on our website, xnmedia.co.uk, for the duration of your campaign.

And, being the internet, you’ll have unlimited space to talk about the services you provide.

You can add photos, videos and

Private lessons and tuition testimonials to your page. And, to make it even more invaluable, readers who have used your company can add their own feedback to the page.

It’s a brilliant way to boost business in the Thames Valley – and we want you to be part of it.

For more details, call Fiona on 01932 246408.

Special feature

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

v Beauty & brides

27

Advertisers’ announcements

Congratulations on the engagement … what next?

OVER Christmas, champagne corks will have been popped and glasses raised as engagements were announced.

As happy couples celebrate their marriage proposals with friends and family, thoughts inevitably turn to the big day.

Planning for a wedding is important – every detail has to be got just right. Thankfully, help is at hand thanks to a range of services.

To ensure that you have the happiest day possible, it’s important

that you don’t feel rushed into making decisions that you could regret later. This is where talking to experts will help you greatly.

Berkshire Brides carries a range of sample and second-hand wedding dresses, with prices to suit all budgets.

It says that your dress is the most important part of the wedding and, when visiting, you should allow yourself plenty of time to look around and decide on the style you would like.

“A stressed bride is not a happy dress and will transform the bride bride,” it advises on its website. for the day.

The store has more than 250 Thankfully, companies such as dresses in stock at any one time and Grace Bridal can offer trial sessions features a range of designer names, so you can see what complements including Mia Mia, Sharon Dowen you and co-ordinate with your and Gemy Couture. wedding’s overall colour scheme.

To ensure you choose the right Of course, your church leaders dress, the store offers one-to-one will also be happy to help you consultations, lasting around an hour plan the ceremony and may also and a half. This ensures the staff can encourage you to take part in give you the best possible advice. a pre-marriage course. These are BerksBridesAd63x190:Layout 1 21/6/10 Choosing the correct make-up is really helpful. also important. It complements the Enjoy preparing for your big day!

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09:46

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v New books Praying with the Grain: How Your Personality Affects the Way You Pray

By Pablo Martinez, Monarch, £7.99.

ISBN: 9780857211521 Why do so many struggle to pray? Dr Pablo Martinez, a doctor and psychotherapist, suggests that our personality type affects how we pray, and what we pray about. This book helps us understand, and work with, our own spiritual path.

The Edge of Paradise

By Martin de Lange, Monarch, £7.99. ISBN: 9780857212306 Martin de Lange recounts how he moved his family from South Africa to Turkey, to spread the Gospel. After 15 years Martin is faced with a difficult choice.

Head for the safety of home, or live where God has led them?

In the Steps of Saint Paul

By Peter Walker, Lion, £12.99.

ISBN: 9780745955551 Drawing mainly on Luke’s account in Acts, as well as Paul’s letters, Peter Walker reconstructs his travels, detailing the most important sites of the early church.

The Wrong Messiah

By Nick Page, Hodder Faith, £8.99.

ISBN: 978 0 340 99628 7 Everything about Jesus of Nazareth was wrong. How could this odd-job man be God’s Messiah? In this illuminating new biography, Nick Page strips away centuries of misrepresentation to reveal the real personality of Jesus.

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Serving the Church & Communities in Berkshire with Christian Resources

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Arts

January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408

Maidenhead | Reading | Slough | Wokingham • Bibles & Christian Books • CDs & DVDs • Gifts & Cards • Discipleship Course Material • Church Candles • Communion Wafers & Wine • Confirmation, Christening & Baptism Certificates • Bible Reading Notes & Study Guides • Sunday School & Teaching Material • Children & Youth Work Resources • and much, much more Pop into your local store Monday-Saturday Or visit us online at quenchshops.com Store addresses & opening hours are on-line

v Music

Leigh breathes new life into old hymns It almost goes without saying: Leigh Nash grew up singing in church, but it wasn’t like you might think.

She wasn’t the golden haired angel singing the solo in the Christmas pageant or the powerhouse vocalist in the junior high choir. She was the girl in the pew on Wednesday nights, sitting between her Sunday school teaching mother and her church librarian grandmother, listening to her grandmother’s sweet voice, just beginning to discover her own.

“I remember wishing that I could hear myself,” Leigh says. “I thought, ‘These people need to stop singing so maybe God could hear me a little better.’

Even as shy as I was, I had the desire to be heard.”

For Leigh, the church was a calm, safe nest in a not-so-calm childhood, a place she witnessed real passion for God, where she encountered the music that first calmed and lifted her spirits.

Hymns & Sacred Songs, the first of three worship projects in the works, marks Leigh’s rediscovery of the sacred songs that stirred her imagination, long before her career ever took a turn toward stardom.

The shy young girl in New Braunfels, Texas, launched the group Sixpence None The Richer with a friend and will soon

release a new album, Lost in Transition.

Life has offered up its share of personal challenges in recent years: the joyful arrival of her son, Henry, a painful divorce, and the death of her father.

In the midst of all of it, Leigh has discovered the reality of God’s grace and comfort firsthand.

She says: “To discover that songs written hundreds of years ago are still so relevant to my life, that grace is most real when you need it most, I honestly felt every word on this record.”

Hymns & Sacred Songs features 12 stunning arrangements of beloved classics, including Blessed Redeemer and Be Still My Soul.

Collaborating with Chris Eaton (best known for penning Breath of Heaven), Leigh wrote new melodies for two hymns on the project, Come Thou

v Top reads Chart by Quench

1 2

Heaven is for Real

by Todd Burpo

The Grace Outpouring

by Roy Godwin and Dave Roberts

3

Getting Your Kids Through Church Without Them Ending Up Hating God

by Rob Parsons

4 5

Redeeming Love

by Francine Rivers

Faith Under Fire

by Andrew White

6 7 8

Living Beyond Your Feelings

by Joyce Meyer

Her Daughter’s Dream

by Francine Rivers

The Essential Guide to Healing

by Bill Johnson & Randy Clark

9 10

Thunder Dog

by Michael Hingson

Songs of Fellowship Volume 5: Music Edition

Fount of Every Blessing, which dates back to 1758, and Fanny Crosby’s lesser-known Oh Heart Bereaved and Lonely.

“What a great thing this is to be able to infuse those old beautiful sacred words with newness, with new melodies,” Leigh says.

“These melodies make the words jump up off the page, which makes the words even more meaningful and clear.”

Recording Hymns & Sacred Songs, Leigh says, was one of the most natural processes she’s experienced in her career.

“I wasn’t sure I could do these songs justice, but the players were simply amazing. It was such a shock to, for the first time in my life, find myself elevated, off my feet, dancing, and just moved by the music. That had never happened before.”

The result is a collection of classics that modern music lovers will embrace wholeheartedly – those who relish modern worship, as well as those who feel disconnected from it.

“So many people are discouraged right now,” she adds.

“My hope is that these sweet melodies will inspire people to take heart.” v Hymns & Sacred Songs is published by Kingsway, £12.99.

Product code: KWCD3263. v A longer version of this article can be found at www. xnmedia.co.uk.

v Top CDs Chart by Quench

1 2 3 4

10,000 Reasons

by Matt Redman

We are the Free: Soul Survivor Live 2011 ComeTo The Well

by Casting Crowns

How Great Is Our God: The Essential Collection

by Chris Tomlin

5

Awakening: Live from Chicago

by Jesus Culture

6

Songs of Praise: Celebrating 50 Years Spirit Break Out

7 8 9 10

by Worship Central

God is Able

by Hillsong

Love Shine Through

by Tim Hughes

Response

by Phil Wickham

Announcements

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

29

v Family circle v Funeral directors

Keeping the family in touch

Fifth generation family funeral directors and monumental masons. Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ Ÿ

24 Hour assistance 4 Offices with parking Competitively priced Flowers by telephone and on-line Stone memorials Pre-paid funeral plans

Birth announcements

Christenings and dedications

Confirmations and first communions

Believers’ baptisms

Engagements, weddings and anniversaries

Promotions to Glory and in memory

Reading head office 0118 957 3650

branches: Wokingham, Bracknell, Henley-on-Thames, Thatcham

www.abwalker.co.uk

v To place an announcement in Family Circle call Fiona on 01932 246408

LIFE is an amazing journey. From our very first breaths to our last, we are told to live it to the full.

There are so many things we can celebrate and commemorate and sometimes telling everyone can be a tricky job. This is where Xn can help.

Our Family Circle page is designed for you to share your news. It could be the birth of a new baby, an ordination or induction, a wedding, an anniversary,

a baptism service or even a first communion.

Whatever the occasion, we’re here to help you share with the church family in Reading, Wokingham and Bracknell.

Our skilled staff will help you choose the correct wording for your notice and you can be assured it will be read in churches across the region.

We think this is an invaluable service you’ll really treasure.

Keep in touch with the wider church family Categories include: births, christenings & dedications, birthdays, confirmations, baptisms, ordinations, inductions, engagements, marriages, anniversaries, deaths, in memory.

Please call Fiona on 01932 246408 for more details.

30 January 2012 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | To advertise call 01932 246408 Sudoko SUDOKU

Tough

4 4

Editor Phil Creighton editor@xnmedia.co.uk

2 8

7 4

Advertising Richard Roper & Fiona Crawforth, Roperpenberthy 01932 246408 advertising@xnmedia.co.uk

7 1 8 5 9 8

9 8

3 6 8

Contributors Michael Penny, Caroline Cook, Jeremy Sharpe Thanks to Michael Penny, Alan Magness, Louise Cole, Abbey Baptist Church, Richard Kingston, Mary Brockington, Judith Creighton, Paul Burnish

2

4

1 5 How to beat Str8ts – Like Sudoku, no single number 1 to 9 can repeat in any row or column. But... rows and columns are divided by black squares into compartments. 2 1 4 Each compartment must form a straight 6 4 5 a set of numbers with no gaps but it can be 4 5 in any order, eg [7,6,9,8]. Clues in black cells 4 3 6 2 remove that number as an option in that row and column, and are not part of any straight.

3 5 2 1 Glance at the solution to see how ‘straights’ 2 1 3 are formed.

9 1 7

9 © 2011 Syndicated Puzzles, Inc.

Xn is published by Xn Media c/o Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, Reading RG1 3BE www.xnmedia.co.uk Twitter: @xnmedia

6

9 8 4

Easy

5 3 4 2 3 9 6

6 7 1 4

4 3 5

To complete Sudoku, fill the board by entering numbers 1 to 9 such that each row, column and 3x3 box contains every number uniquely.

5 3 2 2 1 1 5 4

For many strategies, hints and tips, visit www.sudokuwiki.org for Sudoku and www.str8ts.com for Str8ts.

If you like Str8ts and other puzzles, check out our books, iPhone/iPad Apps and much more on our store.

Printed by Newbury Weekly News

Str8ts Solution

1 5 3 2 9 6 7 8 4

7 6 2 4 8 1 9 5 3

4 2 8 6 7 3 5 9 1

3 7 5 9 1 4 2 6 8

Sudoku Solution

6 1 9 8 2 5 3 4 7

5 3 6 7 4 8 1 2 9

2 4 1 3 5 9 8 7 6

8 9 7 1 6 2 4 3 5

The winners will be drawn at random from the editor’s hat.

Only one entry per household and the editor’s decision is final. Usual rules apply.

ANSWERS 9 8 4 5 3 7 6 1 2

This issue is dedicated to Fenton Wallace, who would have been part of the Xn team

…oh, and this notice outlines the church notices we’ll be handing out the following week

4 3 1 3 2 4 1 2 3 7 9 9 8 9 8 7 7 6 8

In memory

Martin Manser’s Ultimate Bible Fact & Quiz Book contains an incredible 4,500 facts and quiz questions taken from God’s Word. Quizzes range from the simple to those that might baffle the most avid Bible student.

It’s a simple format that has seen the book sell more than 100,000 copies worldwide and it’s perfect for use in church socials, Sunday school classes and home groups or for family games and devotions.

We’ve teamed up with publishers RoperPenberthy to offer you the chance to win one of 4 copies of the book, worth £8.99 each.

All you have to do is answer the following question, which is taken from the book.

What was King Herod’s final command concerning John the Baptist?

Send your answer, along with your full postal address to: Ultimate Bible Fact & Quiz Book Contest, Xn, c/o Abbey Baptist Church, Abbey Square, Reading RG1 3BE by Tuesday, February 7.

Alternatively, email editor@xnmedia.co.uk.

www.drawingfromexperience.blogspot.com

2 3 5 4 6 8 7

Xn conforms to the newspaper industry’s voluntary Code of Practice, administered by the Press Complaints Commission.

If you feel we have made an error in a report, or have fallen below our usual high standards, please write in the first instance to: Phil Creighton, editor, Xn, c/o Abbey Baptist Church, Reading RG1 3BE. If the editor is unable to resolve your complaint, it will be passed to Xn’s independent Council of Reference for arbitration.

The PCC code of practice, along with details of how to complain, is available from Halton House, 20/23 High Holborn, London EC1N 2JD, www. pcc.org.uk. Email complaints@pcc. org.uk or telephone 020 7831 0022, helpline 0845 600 2757.

Win The Ultimate Bible Fact & Quiz Book!

Steve Vaughan-Turner

7 8 3 4 6 1 2 5 9

The views expressed by contributors are not necessarily those of the publishers. Every care is taken to ensure that the contents of the magazine are accurate but the publishers cannot accept responsibility for errors.

While reasonable care is taken when accepting advertisements, the publishers cannot accept any responsibility for any resulting unsatisfactory transactions.

They will, however, investigate any written complaints.

Competition

8 6 4 7 6 5 6 5 7 8 7 6 1 4 1 2 2 3 1 3 4 3 2 4 2 1 5

Xn is published monthly by Xn Media.

© 2011 Syndicated Puzzles, Inc.

Str8ts STR8TS

Puzzles

Resources

v Xn shop Every month, we’ll put together a range of special offers and discounted books specially for you.

Here’s our latest selection. Look out for another collection of great titles next issue!

The Ultimate Bible Fact & Quiz Book With 4,500 Bible Quiz Questions and Facts, laid out in easy-to-use Quizzes, The Ultimate Bible Fact & Quiz Book is a must-have for youth groups, home groups and church socials.

Test your minister to see if his Bible knowledge is up to scratch!

RRP £8.99, Xn

price £6.74

Get A Life Author Tony Powell has had at least three, first as a policemen, then as a missioner for the Royal National Deep Sea Fishermen’s Mission and finally as Pastor for the Shaftesbury Society Mission in Battersea.

His descriptions of encounters with characters from the seamier side of life and of the humorous and faith-filled way he dealt with them are an inspiration to anyone.

RRP £8.99, Xn

price £6.74

The Fat of the Land Eaten too much over Christmas and the New Year? Time to lose a bit of weight? THROW AWAY THE SCALES! Author and Research Scientist Chris Grummitt debunks a lot of dieting myths and in his humorous way describes his own weight loss journey and the consequent improvements in his health RRP £7.99, Xn

price £5.99

To advertise call 01932 246408 | www.xnmedia.co.uk | January 2012

25% off

for

31

readers

Thy Kingdom Come: the past present and future of Evangelical Christianity Is your image of an evangelical that of a white, middle-class Republican voting Texan? Think again, she’s more likely to be a Nigerian widow living with AIDS. Tracing the growth of evangelicalism from its 18th century roots, Dr Catherwood shows how it has emerged as a global faith movement in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.

RRP £8.99, Xn price £6.74

The Most Famous Book in the World, a Celebration of the King James Bible Twenty two well-known personalities; clergy, politicians, media and sports personalities, scientists and businessmen, from across the spectrum of churchmanship, reveal their favourite Bible passage.

Which author chose ‘Jesus Wept’, the shortest verse in the Bible?

RRP £4.99, Xn

price £3.74

Curious Cat’s Way Out Bunch Let Curious Cat take you on an adventure to discover the endangered animals of Planet Earth.

Ten enchantingly illustrated books, with beautiful rhyming text, introduce children to some of the world’s rarest and most exotic animals.

Suitable for 4-7 year olds.

RRP £5.99, Xn

price £4.49

To order, call 01932 246408 state code RXn001 To order your books and claim your discount telephone 01932 246408 and state code RXn001.

Alternatively write with a cheque to RoperPenberthy Publishing Ltd, Springfield House, 23 Oatlands Drive, Weybridge, Surrey KT13 9LZ or email grace@roperpenberthy.co.uk. Post and packing £1.50 per book, orders over £10 post free.

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