All Saints, St John the Baptist, St Denys and St Mark's

A Letter from Vanessa

Hello! Remember me? (Vanessa!)

I flitted in last year, and then disappeared off on maternity leave. I’m now emerging from a fog of nappies, and thought perhaps I should
reintroduce myself. A quick biography, for those of you who are
interested - I’m a born and bred Essex girl (but without the footballer husband). I originally trained as a teacher, and taught for a couple of years before going back to theological college. I came to
Southampton in 2000 to do a full time curacy just up the road in North Stoneham and Bassett. I imagined that I would be leaving
Southampton at the end of my curacy, however, I managed to collect a dog and a husband on the way, so now I seem to be staying. I spent some time working as a Non Stipendary Assistant Priest in Swaythling before we moved here last year. Chris and I have three children, Alfie, Nathaniel and Benji, so as you might imagine, I am essentially a full time mum, but try to be as much part of parish life as I can.

Being away from parish life for a while has the advantage of making me re-evaluate what church is all about. Two things seem to be
increasingly important. One is being part of the community -
demonstrating God’s love by building relationships with the people around us. I facilitate a toddler group on behalf of the PCC’s of North Baddesley and Chilworth (Chilworth Cherubs) with the aim of doing just that - building relationships with parents at what can be one of the most stressful times in their lives. The second important function of church is to be a vehicle for social justice - to demonstrate God’s love by pushing for change in our society and speaking up for those who have no voice - the ‘Drop the debt ‘ campaign and action against
people trafficking are two examples of this.

The link between these two things is demonstrating God’s love to
others, but in order to do this, we must first be aware of God’s love for us. However long our journey with God, it’s always easy to lose sight of our worth in God’s eyes. So as I join you on this bit of the
journey, let us pray for each other to know that love, and live it out in our lives.

With love
Vanessa

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AMPFIELD WI REPORT

During the summer our activities have been rather relaxed. After the 60th birthday celebration we had an enjoyable tea party in July and in August there was a “craft day” when some of us produced a rather colourful “item” from bits and pieces. The instructor was Mrs J Lewis who earlier in the year had given us a talk on “Today’s Rubbish, Tomorrow’s Creation”.
It was the turn of Hampshire Federation of WI to organise this year’s ACWW European Conference (Association of Country Women of the World) which took place in Southampton early in September. Betty Fuller and I attended one day to hear an excellent talk on climate change and also something about recycling in the Test Valley. I am now looking for those magic numbers 1,2 and 3 at the bottom of plastic containers, which are recyclable in Test Valley. If only they were a bit larger.
Sadly, when we have our Annual Meeting in November the Ampfield WI will be closing. The fact is that the numbers are falling and we are unable to get new officers to run the institute. It has been suggested that it could be continued as an evening meeting, but for this to happen new willing members and three officers are required.
On October 15th we will have a speaker from Marks & Spencer Ltd. meeting as usual at 2pm in the Village Hall.
Lahja Swan
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URGENTLY NEEDED BRASS CLEANING VOLUNTEERS

Volunteers willing to clean the various items of brass in St Mark’s church, on a rota basis, involving only two hours, 3 to 4 times a year, would be much
appreciated. Thank you in anticipation.

Please call Anne on 01794 368392

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From the Registers
Marriage
We send our congratulations to
Simon Knibbs and Sarah Mounsey, who were married at St Marks on 6th September
and wish them a very happy married life together