All Saints Bawdeswell

Many thanks to the Church Friends, and one friend in particular, for the fine new gate that replaces the missing small one.  It matches very closely the main gate which we will now have to repaint to make it look as good..

The re-wiring of the church is to go ahead in May thanks to the support of the Church Friends.
Before then we have a concert to look forward to on 30th April.  See details elsewhere in the magazine. 

Two funerals took place during March, details of which follow.

Gwendolen Margaret Nock
of Dale Farm Bungalow died on 17th February aged 82 years.
Her funeral at All Saints Church on 2nd March was taken by Revd Tom Candeland and the organist was Celia Joice.  About 40 friends and family attended.  She was buried in the churchyard extension with her late husband.
Gwen had been a midwife and brought joy to many people.  She was said to be small in stature but big in heart and she will be greatly missed by all who knew her. 

Mary Marjorie (Peggy) Tiplady  of Norwich Road died on 24th February aged 92 years.
Her funeral at All Saints church on 8th March  was taken by Revd Tom Candeland and the organist was Celia Joice.   Members of the family bore the coffin on their shoulders and Peggy was given a moving send-off. 
Peggy was born and brought up in Belgium where she also trained as a nurse.  She furthered her nursing training in England where she met her husband-to-be whilst dancing a Paul Jones at a Fireman’s Dance.  It was to be a lightning romance and they were married and on a boat to Hong Kong within 60 days of meeting.
When they returned to the UK some years later, they ran a general store for a while and eventually retired to Bawdeswell.
Peggy was a well known figure in Bawdeswell as she liked to take her exercise and often walked around the village.  She attended the church regularly and it seemed to bother her little  that her eyesight was failing because she knew the services off by heart and most of the hymns too. We will all miss her, family and friends.
The church bell was tolled in salute as she left the church for the last time on her way to St Faith’s Crematorium.
 

Dear Everybody, hello again.

Prince Charles and Camilla Parker-Bowles are marrying this month.  We wish them happy.

It’s not ideal.  It never was.  They obviously love one another to bits.  But behind their relationship lies a trail of wreckage that will never go away.  It is entirely suitable that they marry in a Register Office, as many couples do without having any history of damage.

The service that they will have following their wedding is incorrectly called a “blessing”.  In fact, it is a “service of prayer and dedication after a civil marriage”.  If they marry, we should support them in this, pray for them, ask God’s blessing upon the two of them, and stand by them as they dedicate their marriage for the service of God and others.

There are many un-ideal things which exist in life.  Where possible, they need to be changed.  If the opportunity to change them has passed, then we do need to support all those who are trying to make the best of things.  Sometimes this support will be accompanied by a level of criticism, sometimes not.

The time after Easter is a time when we remember the new life that we can have.  For Christians, it’s less relevant to ask whether Prince Charles should be our king because of the way he’s lived his life so far, than to pray for him to find both forgiveness and a sense of purpose and dedication.  But for all of us, the question remains, how do forgiveness, love, and duty fit together?

God bless you in this Easter season

David Head