Stockbridge In the Age of the Coronavirus - the DL's Visit October 2021

On 8th October 2021 the Deputy Lieutenant of Hampshire, Andrew Kent, came to Stockbridge to thank all those who had played a significant part in helping the community during the lockdowns caused by the pandemic. Much of the organisation had been carried out by Chantal Halle.

He visited Stockbridge Primary School, where the use of the kitchens was offered by the head Emma Jefferies, and free lunches were cooked by the school chef, Shawn and delivered to vulnerable residents.

The Deputy Lieutenant, Andrew Kent, talking to the pupils of Stockbridge Primary School. The chef, Shaun, can be seen standing in the background. 

Beccy's the greengrocer had stayed open throughout, with being purchases collected by the staff so that customers could remain outside. 

The DL thanking Beccy

The Co-Op had offered free baked goods. and John Robinson's and Thyme & Tides had supplied low-cost meals, as had Prego.

Vishnu and Tom from the Co-Op being thanked by the DL

The DL thanking Robinson's 

The DL thanking Thyme & Tides 

The DL thanking Prego, accompanied by Alex Edwards, the chairman of the Parish Council 

After his perambulation, the DL was given tea in the Scout Hut. 

 

  

The Church Closers' Charter and Other Attacks on the CofE Churches

Following the closure of all C of E churches (ie not Catholic ones) in March 2020 because of the pandemic, many people became very disillusioned and particularly with the church hierarchy. Not only was the complete closure of churches for so long thought unnecessary, but noone seemed either to be in charge or supporting the immense mount of pastoral work that was being done as a consequence of the lockdowns. Furthermore, it seemed that the long-running battle to stop the church from abandoning the traditional rural parishes in favour of evangelical city churches was being lost..  

The issues were well aired by Giles Fraser in a piece in UnHerd in July 2021 'The Church is Abandoning its Flock.'  

Since then, further sinister moves have been made, more particularly with the publication of a 'Consultation on 'A Mission Revision' Paper GS2222'. This seemingly innocuous piece of bureaucracy could further strip the rural parishes of their churches and vicarages. This document has been analysed by Emma Thompson in the Spectator in September 2021 in an article that names GS2222 'The Church Closers' Charter'. 

Many objections to the 'charter' have been raised and below is one that captures the points that most of us would make.     

 

1. This consultation has to be seen in the context of a widescale (universal?) belief that our beloved Church currently, and patently, lacks meaningful leadership and a coherent message for our own congregations, let alone the general populace. During the recent Covid crisis, our Church performed very badly and deeply upset many hitherto committed Christians. Sadly it mirrors the labour Party in being out of touch with its own supporters

 

2. Recent reorganisations of rural parishes have reduced the number of clergy (while not reducing the Parish Share!) to the point of ineffectiveness. The C of E seems determined to continue down this process gradual decline. The focus on inner cities and church plantations is welcome and commendable but should not be at the expense of traditional rural parishes, which remain the heartland of the Anglican Church and the financial ‘bread-basket’ of the dioceses. At the moment, It is all so negative and defeatist. As a previous Diocesan Chairman of Finance, I have absolutely no doubt that most parishes are capable of producing significantly increased with better fundraising and determined leadership. This in turn would fund a new breed of more able and enthusiastic clergy and reset the Church on an upward spiral of growth, which our country as a whole desperately needs.

 

3. My fundamental objection to GS2222 is that  these proposals are designed to facilitate the process of decline and, if implemented, a further, and possible fatal collapse, will be precipitated. Your rural congregations cry out for positive leadership and the vision of an expanding church and not one in perpetual and terminal decline.

No satisfactory response has been received to these points.

Europa and Zeus at Old Swan House

 

This plaster cast from a display at the British Museum has recently been installed at Old Swan House. 

It has given rise to a discussion on what scene was being depicted. My local classical scholar thinks that it most probably depicts the myth of the Rape of Europa, in which Zeus disguises himself as a bull and carries Europa off to Crete, where she gives birth to the Minotaur among others. This scene must be early in the story as Europa seems unwisely to be treating the bull as a pet. Soon afterwards, he persuades Europa to climb onto his back, whereupon he swims with her off to Crete. 

See a painting of the myth, Titian at the National Gallery - Love, Desire, Death.  

 

Winchester Cathedral Flower Festival 2021

The Jane Austen display

The Flower Festival has been held again in  Winchester Cathedral's after the loss of 2020 and it was spectacular and beautiful as ever. Special mention should be made of the design of the Jane Austen arrangement with its soft colours; some dislays used colours that were too harsh against the grey stones.

Part of the Jane Austen display 

   

The Garden in August 2021

 August was not a good month in the garden, apart from the grass which was near perfect after weeks of rain and little sun. 

The lawn seen though one of Alan Titchmarsh's planters

The 'money shot' when the sun was out.

The chaise longue in the long grass; it will never move again

The grass garden at evening 

A Long Indian Summer - by Rolls Across India

 

 

Favourite Poems - The Second Coming - WB Yeats

 The Second Coming

Both sections, in their complex ambiguity, seem so relevant today, as the Taliban move towards Kabul.  What a mess.

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst   
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   
The darkness drops again; but now I know   
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

WB Yeats