St Giles’ Church, Oxford

Parish News

Picture © Heather Spears. Reproduced with permission.

March 2018 Free

 PARISH CONTACTS
Vicar: Canon Andrew Bunch, 01865 510460
The Vicarage, Church Walk, Oxford OX2 6LY vicar@churchwalk.eclipse.co.uk
Associate Priest: Revd Tom Albinson 01865 515409 or 07426 948251
tomalbinson@gmail.com
Lay Minister: David Longrigg, 9 Hawkswell Gardens, Oxford OX2 7EX (576638)
Benefice Manager: Meg Peacock
10 Woodstock Road, Oxford OX2 6HT beneficemanager@st-giles-church.org
Churchwardens
Maureen Chu 01865 726011 maureenchu1@gmail.com
Joanne Russell 01865 760788 joannerussell1@me.com
Acting Treasurer: Rod Nixon treasurer@st-giles-church.org
Organist: Andrew Patterson andrew.patterson@finemusic.co.uk
Choir Director: Nicholas Prozzillo choir@st-giles-church.org
PCC Secretary: Sarah-Jane White sarah-jane.white@ihs.ox.ac.uk
Captain of the Bells: John Pusey bellringers@st-giles-church.org
Church Flowers: Mary Whitlock stgilesflowers@gmail.com
Benefice Secretary: Anne Dutton secretary@st-giles-church.org
Twitter @StGilesOxford
Instagram stgileschurch
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ChurchStGilesOxford
Website www.st-giles-church.org
________________________________________________________________
WEEKLY SERVICES AT ST GILES’
Sunday: 8:00 am Holy Communion (BCP)
10:30 am Holy Communion
6:30 pm Evensong (BCP)
Monday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Tuesday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Wednesday: 12:30 pm Eucharist
5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Thursday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Friday: 1:15 pm Taizé Worship
5:30 pm Evening Prayer
Saturday: 5:30 pm Evening Prayer

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The newsletter is free, but if you wish to contribute towards production
costs this would be much appreciated. Please put your donation in the
wall safe, and mark your envelope Parish News. Items for inclusion in
the magazine should be sent to secretary@st-giles-church.org

Contents – March 2018

From the Parish Registers Page 3
100 Years Ago – Parish Magazine March 1918 Page 3
Minutes of Cowley and Oxford Deaneries: Joint Synod Page 4
Bellringing News – John Pusey Page 5
A Prayer for Grandmothers with swimming pools – H Spears Page 5
Remembering the First World War – Thomas Parker George Page 7
Dates for your Diary – March 2018 Page 8

FROM ST GILES’ PARISH REGISTERS

Funeral
9th February 2018 Stella Morgenstern

________________________________
100 Years Ago – Parish Magazine, March 1918
Vicar’s Letter: I would ask for your earnest prayers on behalf of the
Candidates for Confirmation, who will be confirmed if all is well in Holy
Week at St Peter’s in the East Church and make their first Communion
on Easter Day. We are very fortunate in the promise of Mr Seaton
[Principal of Cuddesdon Theological College and formerly Archdeacon
of Johannesburg] to take the Three Hours’ Service on Good Friday. I
should like you to know that the House of Refuge and the Friendless
Girls’ Association, to which the collections on Wednesdays and at the
Three Hours’ Service are given, are in considerable financial difficulty
owing to War conditions; so that we much try to make our collections a
substantial help to them. Revd Charles C Inge

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 Cowley and Oxford Deaneries: Joint Synod

Minutes of Synod on Wednesday 27th September 2017

at St Barnabas Church, Jericho, Oxford

The Synod was held at St Barnabas Church by kind permission of Revd

Jonathan Beswick.
The Synod, convened at 7.30 pm, was chaired by Area Dean for
Oxford, Revd Will Donaldson, and Lay Chair for Oxford, Prudence
Dailey, and opened with an act of worship led by Revd Andrew Greany,
Assistant Priest at St Barnabas and St Thomas.
Notices included thanks for the ministry of Very Revd Bob Wilkes
who retires in October as priest in charge of the Church of St Michael at
the North Gate.
Jayne Ozanne and Prudence Dailey reported back on General
Synod in York where motions seeking changes in the pastoral care of
LGBT people were passed: one condemning conversion therapy, the
other asking the House of Bishops to consider producing a special
liturgy to mark gender transitions.
Revd Kate Seagrave spoke about her new role as mission priest
to set up and lead the Bishop of Oxford’s new St Frideswide Mission
Community which will operate across the City of Oxford. The church of
St Frideswide will be the centre of the new community’s life of prayer.
At this meeting, we welcomed Bishop Steven who spoke
stimulatingly about the developing Diocesan Vision, Contemplative,
Compassionate, Courageous, and how this might be worked out in the
two deaneries. He spoke about his desire for the Church to be more
like Christ and invited everyone in the Diocese to explore the
Beatitudes. He said: “I want people to be asking what do they teach us
and tell us about Jesus, what do they tell us about being human in the
21st century and what do they tell us about what kind of Church we’re
called to be.” After refreshments, discussion about his talk took place
in groups and then Bishop Steven summed up the evening.
The Joint Synod closed at 9.25 pm with prayers led by Area Dean
for Cowley, Tim Stead.

Henry Gibbon
Secretary for the Oxford Deanery

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 BELLRINGING NEWS

T HE St Giles’ bellringers will be sad to lose Namiko and Fukine Minai,

mother and schoolgirl daughter from Tokyo, who will be returning
to Japan in March. They have been learning to ring since last October,
have made very good progress, have been helping to ring on Sundays
for a few weeks, and were elected to membership of the Oxford Dio-
cesan Guild of Church Bellringers in February. Namiko is an associate
professor at the Japanese Women’s University in Tokyo, and has been
in Oxford as an academic visitor to the School of Built Environment at
Oxford Brookes University, interested in design and management of
streets and living environment.
Three other new recruits have also been coming to practice
regularly recently, and should be starting to ring on Sundays shortly -
but in order to be able to ring all eight bells every Sunday, we still need
several more. John Pusey
__________________________________________________________
John Pusey writes: Heather Spears [whose drawing appears on the cover of
this month’s magazine] is a professional poet as well as artist, and has recently
sent me a copy of one of her published collections of poetry. One item which I
particularly enjoyed is titled A Prayer for Grandmothers with swimming pools,
and I think perhaps you might consider it for the Parish Newsletter (she has
given permission for such publication, without payment). She is in Oxford in
March, and will be visiting St Giles’ to sketch pictures of bellringers.
A PRAYER FOR GRANDMOTHERS WITH SWIMMING POOLS
Dear God, this should start
Not wanting to ask too much but just
remind You of an area You could perhaps
target for minor improvement
in a very modest way. How about
well not in the entire USA, as this would cause
widespread speculation and statistical disturbance.
We don’t want that, we want
the world as it is, largely, slow and
predictable with its landslides
somewhere else and its weathermen
on the ball and its near-miss meteors
interesting but invisible to the naked eye.

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 In this case then God, You could narrow it down
to one state, say Florida, or even
(we do not want to overstretch You) one city
say Tampa. And surrounding counties. After all
it’s nothing that would confound the overall
course of things, or make
even a butterfly’s wing of difference
in the long run, except for the best. And I’ve been humble
preparing the contents of my prayer.
It would indeed have a small local effect
on a certain number of children
toddlers mostly, and those
(in descending order of magnitude) who owned,
lent, tended, cared for, knew or knew of,
heard of or read about them.
Nor need it be
spectacular like a rescue, the ensuing result
might quietly go unnoticed
with someone in an apron in a doorway
calling the child in five minutes before
and the child for once obeying.
It would go like this then: Dear God
Do not allow any kids to drown
in their grandmothers’ swimming pools.
You could give it a time limit
as well, say two weeks or even generously three
(though again I don’t want to demand too much)
say between the second week and the end of May.
In Tampa. And suburbs.
Now, everybody pray it.
It might work. Heather Spears

PALM SUNDAY (25th MARCH)

9:50 am Blessing of Palms at St Margaret’s Church,
followed by procession to St Giles’
10:30 am Benefice Holy Communion at St Giles’.
6:30 pm Pergolesi Stabat Mater at St Giles’ (in place of Evensong)

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 REMEMBERING THE FIRST WORLD WAR
Thomas Parker George
Died 12th March 1918

T HE notice below, from St Giles’ Parish Magazine of April 1918, gives

some more details about T P George. His story, which will be
displayed in rather fuller detail on the board in church, is I think
especially poignant in the context of a war memorial in a church. (He
was the only man of whom I could find no photographic portrait.)
Alison Bickmore

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 DATES FOR YOUR DIARY – MARCH 2018
Sunday 4th March THE THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT
10:30 am Holy Communion
followed by Chorister Concert and choir-led Bring &
Share Lunch in the Parish Rooms

Sunday 11th THE FOURTH SUNDAY OF LENT (Mothering Sunday)

10:30 am Holy Communion
followed by coffee and Simnel cake in church
Wednesday 14th
7:30-8:30 pm Chess Club (over 11s) (every Wednesday)

Friday 16th
4:15-5:15 pm Chess club (under 11s) (every Friday)

Sunday 18th THE FIFTH SUNDAY OF LENT (Passiontide begins)

6:30 pm Choral Evensong

Sunday 25th PALM SUNDAY

9:50 am Blessing of Palms at St Margaret’s,
followed by Procession to St Giles’
10:30 am Benefice Holy Communion
6:30 pm Pergolesi Stabat Mater (in place of Evensong)

26th, 27th, 28th Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of Holy Week

8:00 pm Discussion and Eucharist at St Margaret’s

Thursday 29th MAUNDY THURSDAY

12:30 pm Eucharist
8:00 pm Sung Eucharist at St Margaret’s

Friday 30th GOOD FRIDAY

10:30 am Matins and The Litany
1:30 pm Solemn Liturgy at St Margaret’s
7:00 pm Mozart Requiem

Saturday 31st Easter Eve

8:00 pm Service of Light/First Eucharist at St Margaret’s

Sunday 1st April EASTER DAY