CARTERS LANE BAPTIST CHURCH HALESOWEN

CHURCH MAGAZINE OCTOBER 2016

Carters Lane Baptist Church Carters Lane Halesowen West Midlands www.carterslanebc.org.uk

Magazine October 2016 November magazine will be available from Sunday 6th November 2016 Please let me have any articles for publication by Sunday 23rd October 2016 Any articles received after the closing date will be published in December 2016 Thank you Marcelle Secretary Minister Rev Siôr Coleman MA Treasurer Ian Perry

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Mr Philip Turley 0121- 550 4678 [email protected]

Editor Mrs Marcelle Matthews 0121 422 6767

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Welcome We are so happy to extend the warmest of welcomes to Siôr, Michele and Lisa as they join our fellowship. We pray that God will richly bless their ministry and that they will be happy at the centre of our church family.

Thank You We are very grateful to Stephen Harris for acting as our Moderator during this interregnum and would like to thank him for all he has done. We wish him every blessing in his continued ministry. Don’t be a stranger!

Prayers Found on the Church of England Website May God, who gives patience and encouragement, give you a spirit of unity to live in harmony as you follow Jesus Christ, so that with one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Go forth into the world in peace; be of good courage; hold fast that which is good; render to no one evil for evil; strengthen the fainthearted; support the weak; help the afflicted; honour everyone; love and serve the Lord, rejoicing in the power of the Holy Spirit.

PASTORAL NOTES OCTOBER 2016 October, and all around us are the signs of autumn. At the time of writing the Autumn Equinox is yet to come and the daylight is just a bit longer than the night, but in a few days’ time those dark mornings will be upon us. It’s the time to remember those who find the longer periods of dark difficult. Several folks have already told me how much they are dreading the autumn and Winter. Haven’t there been some glorious late summer days though! Some days very much hotter than July and August - some lighter thoughts to uphold us during the darker weeks ahead. Welcome A very warm welcome into the fellowship to Siôr, Michelle and Lisa Coleman and every blessing to Siôr as he officially becomes the minister here at Carters Lane following the Induction Service on 1st October. We look forward to moving forward together in Christ’s service. New Home We wish Sheila Bashford every happiness in her new home now she has moved in with daughter Lucy and family. A time of change for Sheila and the family. Here and There One of our members had a nasty fall recently damaging her face. We are relieved that it looks as if she should recover well and it was good to see her in church the Sunday after her visit to hospital. We trust the healing will continue. Another member has also had an unexpected visit to hospital and it is hoped that he too will soon be on the way back to better health. One of our church ‘handymen’ is due to have an operation on his hand in early October. We trust all will go well for him. We remember those within our wider church family who are going through difficult times of loss and bereavement and pray for courage and peace of mind for them. Some of our faithful members of the fellowship have been unable to share in worship over recent weeks for a variety of reasons. It’s good to know that some church friends are keeping in touch with them. If you notice someone has been missing from church why not get in touch with them yourself as well as mentioning your concern to others.

Our lovely Harvest Celebrations have been a reminder of God’s continuing goodness to us and of how when our small gifts are distributed they can bring pleasure to others. At the time of writing the busy weekend of 30th September/2nd October is yet to come. There is already a slight sense of panic about whether enough cakes will be produced! A thank you in advance to all those bakers who so freely share their skills with others and to those folks who quietly work away in the background preparing and tidying up afterwards on these occasions. A Different Point of View At the time of writing the Paralympics are just about to come to a close. Haven’t they been an inspiration? There will be many memories from these games, happy and sad ones, but it was the Opening Ceremony I shall remember - the carrying in of the Paralympic Flag with the smiling children supported by their fathers - literally walking with them in their shoes, the fragile looking woman who fell whilst carrying the flame, dropping it in front of the world, but getting up unaided and carrying on - and then the athlete who was to light the Flame being faced by a flight of steps inaccessible in his wheelchair, until a ramp, a way through, suddenly appeared. Reminders to us all that we are all God’s children depending on him for strength and courage to face each situation and that even in seemingly impossible situations He is there showing us a way through. Whatever these next days bring for us may we be reassured of God’s love for each one us. Lynne Riley

Thank You Thank you Carters Lane Baptist Church for the warmth and kindness shown to all of our family at my father Jim Priest’s funeral on 26th August. Special thanks to Phil Turley for facilitating the service, Jenifer Adams, Maureen Reynolds and Val Starkey for their excellent hospitality, Dennis Riley for racing from another funeral service to be able to attend and visiting Minister Reverend Hazel Charlton for the lovely services at both Powke Lane Crematorium and Carters Lane. Nick Priest

LUTLEY COMMUNITY VOICES

Will be performing their Autumn

PROMS CONCERT At Carters Lane Baptist Church On SATURDAY15th OCTOBER 2016 At 7.30pm(doors open at 7pm) Guest Soloist – Hilary Crowhurst The performance will be in the church. There will be interval refreshments in the hall. Proceeds in aid of Halas Homes, Children of Chernobyl and Tuberous Sclerosis Association Tickets – Adults - £5 Children - £3 (available from the choir 07502 574082 or from the church – Phil 0121 550 4678)

OPERATION CHRISTMAS CHILD 2016 Barbara Pearson from Pershore (Edna Cosnett’s niece) has, again this year, very kindly let us have 150 ready wrapped shoeboxes for us to use in this year’s appeal. She is amazing and spends all year wrapping boxes for others to fill. Last year she wrapped 13,500 boxes (that works out at 37 boxes a day!!). If you wish to have any of them then just help yourself. They are being stored in the bandroom (off the main porch) where the foodbank items are kept. Some of them are in twos with boxes inside. Unfortunately, these days she struggles to get shoeboxes and paper free as she used to in other years and has asked if we can contribute towards the costs of these boxes. It is suggested that we donate 50p per box. It’s worth 50p to have someone else wrap your box – it’s the hardest part of the process. Again, help yourself to whatever number you want and give the money, if you wish, to me. The deadline for getting your shoebox to church this year is Sunday 20th November. This year’s leaflets can be found in the porch. Thanks for supporting this important cause. Phil Turley FOR SALE MG Sports Car - £500 Diane Brown thinks that it is in perfect condition but as the editor hasn’t seen it, and even if she had she wouldn’t have a clue, she really cannot be held responsible in any way.

Phone No. for Tony – 079745 31166

Come and join in the Carters Lane ‘Happy Hour’ !!

A Warm Welcome Awaits! Next dates for the Over Fifties Club Thursday October 13th Thursday October 27th Thursday November 10th

2.00 – 3.00 pm Cost £1 per person per visit. It would be good to see YOU if you would like to come.

Tuesday Gentle Exercise Group A warm invitation to our gentle exercise group . Every Tuesday at 1.45pm – 2.45pm Cost £3.50 per session Tea and biscuits included

QUIZ NIGHT

SATURDAY 12th NOVEMBER At 7pm £2 per person (To include light refreshments) David Bower, from Worcester, is coming to lead this quiz. A number of us recently attended one of his quizzes at Catshill Methodist Church, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We thought it would suit us here at Carters Lane. Invites are going out to other churches and groups but it would be great if as many as possible from CLBC could take part. We need teams of 5 or 6 people. Proceeds to go to our appeal to pay for repairs to the roof. Please see Phil Turley for more details.

Christmas Fair Is being held on

Saturday 19th November

11.30am. – 2.00pm. WE NEED INDIVIDUALS OR GROUPS OF PEOPLE TO ORGANISE AND RUN STALLS AS WELL AS GENERAL HELP ! WHAT CAN YOU HELP WITH ?? Please see Janet Southall with offers of help a.s.a.p. (07910876676) Thank you!

Please support the Black Country Foodbank. Provides three days emergency food for those in most need

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUPPORT Donations to be placed in the box in side room of Church porch

WANTED!! Any unwanted mugs, needed for the Christmas Fair. These will be filled with sweets. Please leave in kitchen or give to Rob Willetts. Thank you! Elaine

Congratulations to the following who celebrate their birthdays with a donation to the BMS medical work. If you wish to join the BMS birthday scheme please speak to Gwen Evans or Louise Perry.

October 18th Roger Adkins 23rd Mary Croft 24th Lynne Riley

More From the BMS News Bulletin About the Birthday Scheme Helping Yousef to Wa Another Chadian child has a future thanks to a BMS World Mission nurse. Yousef nearly didn't make it to his sixth birthday. Severely malnourished, weak and suffering from TB, Yousef was very close to death. Fearful for her little grandson's life, Yousef's grandmother bundled him up and took him to Guinebor II Hospital (G2). At the BMSsupported hospital, BMS nurse Rebecca North took charge of his care. "Yousef had TB of the spine and acute malnutrition as well," Rebecca recalls. "He was nearly dying." The team of medical staff at G2 began giving him much-needed blood transfusions and treating Yousef's malnutrition. Within a week he had put on 1kg - a visible improvement. As time passed and treatment continued, Yousef began to speak. A few weeks later, little Yousef had gained a healthy amount of weight and could walk with the help of a frame - something he hadn't been able to do for years! Yousef has now been discharged from the hospital and is staying nearby with relatives so that he can continue his treatment and come in for regular check-ups. The last thing Yousef did before he was discharged? He played a (tame) game of football with Rebecca! Another little miracle in a Christian hospital in Chad. Rebecca left G2 and Chad in June 2015 and on her last day she had the privilege of seeing Yousef take his first three independent steps. "I had not quite let myself believe that Yousef would one day walk again/7 says Rebecca. "It just seemed too fantastical, having seen where he had come from." Thanks to the amazing work of the medical team at G2 and your support through the BMS Birthday Scheme, children like Yousef have a brighter future.

GEMINI CHOIR Will be performing a

CHARITY CHRISTMAS CONCERT In the hall at CARTERS LANE BAPTIST CHURCH On

SATURDAY 17th DECEMBER 2016 Further details to follow

The Point System A man dies and goes to Heaven. The next thing he knows he is standing before St. Peter at the Pearly Gates. St Peter explains, “Here is how it works. You need 100 points to get in to Heaven. Tell me all the good things you have done. I will give you a certain amount of points for each one, depending on how good the act was. When you reach 100 points you get in.” “Okay,” the man says. “To begin, I was married to the same woman for over 50 years and I was ever faithful. I never cheated on her and loved her with all my heart.” “That is wonderful,” St Peter responds. “That is worth three points.” “Three points?” the man questions. “I also attended church all my life and supported the ministry with my tithe and devoted service." “Tremendous!” says St Peter. “You get another point.” “One point?” Once again the man is in disbelief. “Okay how about this, I started a soup Kitchen in my home town and worked in a shelter for the homeless.” “That’s good for two more points,” St Peter offers. “Only two points!” the man cries. “At this rate the only way I will get into heaven is by the grace of God!” “Come on in!”, St Peter smiled.

To read, to think, to love, to hope, to pray, these are the things that make men happy. – Thomas Carlyle

TUESDAY CIRCLE

Tuesday at 7.30 pm October 4th

Christmas Craft Jude and Lenora

11th

Shoe Box filling

November 8th

AGM, Bring and Buy

Everyone welcome (that means you) £2 to include refreshments PLEASE COME AND JOIN US

NOTES FROM THE COUNTRYSIDE

Welcome to the 200th edition of `Notes from the Countryside`. The first edition appeared in 1998. At the time we had a lot of elderly members who had grown up in Halesowen but could no longer go out and see the local countryside for themselves. As I was regularly running along the footpaths I thought I would bring the countryside into their homes by writing about what I saw. The idea came from my mother`s parish church in Shropshire where a church warden and farming contractor wrote an article for each magazine on what he saw from his tractor. I stole his idea but when I told him he didn`t seem to mind. I hoped to write for twelve months and cover the four seasons. I achieved that and 18 years later I am still running and still writing and grateful to those who tell me of their own nature sightings. I get a particular buzz when children tell me what they have seen. In the first edition I mentioned seeing a buzzard and described it as a real gem. I still like buzzards but we see them every day now. How times change.

by Tony Pritchard

This month I have an apology. A while ago Marion Turley said that she had seen a lesser spotted woodpecker. Being a sceptical old so and so I doubted this. I have only ever seen two and they were nowhere near Halesowen. No one else has mentioned seeing one locally. However, in the local paper there was a report of an ornithologist surveying the Coombs Wood area, close to Marion`s home, and amongst his sightings was lesser spotted woodpecker. Sorry Marion for doubting you. I will try to enjoy the humble pie. On 21st August I was running with neighbour Russell and young super fit Harvey, who you all know, when we came across a group of five pheasants as we approached Illey. Then we disturbed two small muntjac deer. One dived into some bushes but the other trotted along the field before disappearing. A short distance further on we saw them again. The cornfields had been harvested and the straw bales had been collected. This will be followed by hedge cutting and then ploughing for next year`s crops, but more about that later. The field behind our house is part of Leasowes Park and towards the end of August four longhorn cows began grazing

there. During the first week in September more joined them. I have counted eight in total but there may have been more concealed by bushes. They spend their lives on parkland so are used to people and nothing seems to bother them. Their task is to eat the vegetation and encourage next year`s flowers. They will eat all sorts of plants including briars and they have no shortage of food. On 31 August I noticed how many swallows were flying around near our house. They tend to gather in groups prior to migration. The next day we took two grandchildren to Boscobel House, where Charles II hid in the oak tree after the battle of Worcester. We saw lots of house martins. Some were still in nests under the eaves putting their heads out looking for parents to bring them food. It was difficult to imagine that in three weeks time these tiny birds will be winging their way south to spend the winter in Africa. I went for a countryside walk with daughter Alison on 7th September. We went through Woodgate Valley Country Park,

then over Carters Lane and through a field of sheep down to Lapal House. We then went through several stubble fields and past The Abbey. A tractor was working in a stubble field pulling an enormous set of disc harrows. The driver stopped as he passed us to say that he was leaving a strip around the edge of each field to allow for hedge cutting. He said that the law has changed and doesn`t allow for hedge cutting until 1st September. That seems a bit late to me. I would have thought that hedge nesting birds would have had the job done by 1st August. I was able to tell the driver that I used to pull much smaller disc harrows around fields with a tractor as far back as 1954. If you really want to know about the tractor I used, it was an Oliver 80, which was imported from the USA during WW 2. Why not look it up on Google? Comparing it with modern tractors it is like comparing a 1940s car with a new one. It was the first of what must be thousands of vehicles I have driven in my working life and I loved it, but I was only thirteen at the time.

Congratulations and many thanks to you, Tony, for all the hard work, (not to say mileage) you have put into producing your countryside notes. Many people have

told me how much they enjoy them and look forward to reading them. May your running shoes never get holes in them. You most certainly have earned this Editor’s Special Award. Prayers of Penitence Father, I confess that I am not always eager to come into your presence When things get too difficult and I think you cannot possibly help me Help me to turn to you When I know I am doing wrong yet I just cannot get it right Help me to turn to you When I cannot seem to stop being selfish in spite of seeing the needs of others Help me to turn to you When I am the most important person I know Help me to turn to you When I cannot see the wheat for the chaff, when I am just plain confused about life and all that stuff, Help me to turn to you. Take me Lord and mould me into the person you want me to be. Amen. Taken from another church magazine.

Gwen Evans Did You Know? Venus rotates so slowly on its axis that its day is longer than its year. There are over 1,200 species of bat in the world and not one of them is blind.

Fund Raising Report – October 2016 We are by now settling back into our church routines following the Summer holidays and we have been busy on the fund raising front. First of all, thank you to the Tuesday Exercise Group for donating a further £25 to the CLEAR Fund from their subscriptions. They regularly do this and we do appreciate their support. We do need it at present. Most of you are aware that we have committed to having major renovation work done to the rooves of our premises. This involves major expenditure and we are dedicating the money in the CLEAR Fund to offset this. We do need to devote fund raising time and initiatives to bolster church funds and, to this end, we are asking individuals and groups to organise events with this in mind. The Over 50s have already donated £150 to this “Roof Fund”. This is good start and we are grateful to them. At the time of writing, I know the Toddler Group is planning a “Sponsored Toddle” and, hopefully, this will again be very successful. Toddler Group has a great record with this type of initiative. They recently presented the church with a further £200 for the “thank you for the music” fund in memory of Paul Starkey”. This means we have almost covered the amount needed to cover the cost of the new sound system. Thank you to all those who supported the Harvest Supper. It was well attended and a good time seemed to be had by all. Special thanks are due to those who provided and prepared the food. It was a lovely meal. Thanks also to those provided the “Pointless” entertainment. It was good to see Samantha Hughes, Pamela Adams, Terry Hughes, Fred Mapp, Alison McGuire, Aiden McGuire, Ian Perry, Caroline Perry and James Perry all demonstrating their grasp of “Pointless” knowledge! They were all great sports. Aidan also made sure that I was thanked for leading this but, have to say, I enjoyed it as well. Maybe we can do something similar again soon.

The money raised at the Harvest Supper traditionally goes to Home Mission and this time we raised £234 for the cause. Thank you to everyone involved. A further £5 has been donated to Home Mission via the boxes that individuals regularly pay into. Thank you. There are a number of other events being planned. Saturday 15th October – Lutley Community Choir – Proms Concert. Further details can be found elsewhere in the magazine. Saturday 12th November – Quiz. We are hoping that we can get as many teams as possible to take part in this. David Bower, from Worcester, is coming to lead this quiz. A number of us recently attended one of his quizzes at Catshill Methodist Church, and we thoroughly enjoyed it. We thought it would suit us here at Carters Lane. Invites are going out to other churches and groups but it would be great if as many as possible from CLBC could take part. We need teams of 5 or 6 people. Please do your best to support this. We hope to put the proceeds to the roof fund. There will be a Christmas Fair on the 19th November. This is still being planned, and hopefully, further details will be available soon. GEMINI choir are returning to Carters Lane for a Christmas Concert on Saturday 17th December. They performed here last year in May and were very good indeed. Members of our fellowship, Rhian Adams and Sonia Williams are members of this choir. Further details will be available nearer the date but do keep the date free. Finally, have a think about what sort of fund raising events and initiatives we can organise over the next few months to help offset some of the expenditure we need to make to ensure our buildings are secure and dry. Let me have your ideas. Thank you Phil Turley

Sudoku

Complete the grid so that each row, column and 3x3 box contains the numbers 1-9

Pathfinder

Starting from the shaded centre letter T, move up or down or sideways (but NOT diagonally) to find the path through twelve famous people born in 1914.

FORTHCOMING DATES OCTOBER Sat Mon Wed Mon Tues Sat Mon

1 3 5 10 11 15 17

2.00pm 7.30 pm 7.30 pm 7.30 pm 7.30 pm 7.00 pm 1.00 pm

Mon Tues Sat Mon Sat Mon

7 8 12 14 19 21

Sun

27

7.30 pm 7.30 pm 7.00 pm 7.30 pm TBA 1.0 pm 7.30 pm 11.00 am 6.00 pm

Induction of Rev S Coleman Deacon’s Meeting Church Activities Meeting Singing Practice Tuesday Circle Shoe Box Filling Lutley Community Choir Concert 65 Lunch

NOVEMBER Deacon’s Meeting Tuesday Circle AGM Quiz Night Singing Practice Christmas Fair 65 Lunch Church Meeting Toy Service Bereavement Service

DECEMBER Sun Mon Mon

4 5 12

Tues

13

12.30 pm 7.30 pm 1.00pm 7.30 pm 7.30 pm

Sat

17

TBA

Faith Meal Deacon’s Meeting 65 Christmas Lunch Singing Practice Tuesday Circle Carols and Mince pies Gemini Choir Charity Christmas Concert

C L B C

ARTERS HANGING

ANE IVES

APTIST BUILDING

HURCH OMMUNITY

www.carterslanebc.org.uk