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The following are extracts from"Take Notice"the monthly magazine for the Dore & Totley United Reformed Church for September 2010.   If you would like to have a copy of the magazine please contact one of the secretaries

Muse

Dear friends

My first school was a small Church of England establishment in Kinsley. This was the next village to Fitzwilliam where I was born and grew up. I have three memories of the infants: the first day, which I hated; the after lunch sleeps, which were fine unless you were caught whispering to your mates; and being taken to the Head Mistress falsely accused of deliberately scratching a car, which was dreadful.

Apparently someone had seen me, but I don’t think I was told who. Any car would have been bad enough but this was the Head’s own car. I honestly denied the deed but I don’t think I was believed. I don’t remember any punishment but I felt awful. Whether this was because I wasn’t believed or simply the embarrassment of being taken to the Head Mistress and judged to be capable of such a serious act, I can’t remember.

Forty or so years later at Yorkshire Water we had a head of department whose nickname was (pardon the pun) “The Prince of Darkness” based, I think, on his supposed machinations in order to achieve his own ends. Even though many who used the nickname had little personal knowledge of the individual, we all thought it was rather clever.

Following promotion, I was naturally pleased but I suppose it would be fair to say I found some of the new responsibilities difficult. At a quarterly appraisal with my boss, a good friend, I was asked how I felt I was getting on. He told me that the head of department was concerned for my personal welfare in the new role. This was not something I had expected. Perhaps not such a well-judged nickname after all.

On a particular Yorkshire Water training course we were shown an exercise that would be useful following difficult exchanges we might have had with colleagues. This consisted of considering how things went from our own point of view, how they might have seemed from the other person’s position and how they might have been judged by a third person, an observer. I found this a very powerful tool at the time though I probably didn’t have the self discipline to apply it very often. It’s much easier to find alternative perspectives when listening to someone else’s “difficult exchange” though for me judging between the need for sympathy and objectivity can be more difficult. On the course God wasn’t mentioned in the third person role but I’m sure he would be the best observer.

All of the above was inspired by the first verse of Matthew Chapter 7 which I suppose most of us would remember as “Judge not, that ye be not judged”. The rest of the chapter will be familiar but always worth re-reading.

Rob Studd

FAMILY NEWS

It is with sadness that we record the deaths of Grace Roberts and Rose Taylor.

We think of Elsie Dale and Ted Walkden who are both in hospital and those members of our Church family who are in Care Homes or are housebound.

Congratulations to Fiona Wiles on her excellent ‘A’ level results. She has been accepted by Leeds University to study dentistry.

THANKS

Elsie, Anne and Andrew Dale would like to thank all their friends for their prayerful support and good wishes during Elsie’s recent illness. She is still in hospital but hopes that this will not be for too much longer.

LEPROSY MISSION

The morning service on September 12^th will be led by Mr James Greig from the Leprosy Mission. Please join us if you can.

SPONSORED WALK

The Leprosy Mission sponsored walk of hope at Carsington Water will be on Saturday 25^th September. You can join a 1, 3 or 8 mile walk commencing at 10 a.m.

This event has been organised to help those people living with the effects of leprosy, through the Naini Community Hospital, Uttar Pradesh, India. Every little amount can make a huge difference to these Leprosy Mission Hospitals. £45 is enough to feed the patients at Nairi Hospital for a day.

For more details please see Judith Norris (Tel: 2363410)

LADIES’ GROUP

The ladies’ group will be going to the Pomegranate Theatre on Wednesday 8^th September to see The Titfield Thunderbolt.

Wednesday 6^th October: Anna Hollingworth will be talking about the National Trust.

Wednesday 3^rd November: Stephanie Dixon will be talking about her recent trip to Israel and the Occupied Territories.

Wednesday 2^nd December: Christmas meal.

QUIZ

Congratulations to the Harrison family for the first ever 100% score. All the entries were well into the 90s except for Judith Norris who, yet again, retains the booby prize, albeit with her highest score ever, almost an A* at 86%.

Jeanne Clark

CHRISTIAN AID HARVEST QUIZ NIGHT

The Fellowship Committee will be holding a quiz night on Saturday 9^th October to raise money for Christian Aid. The evening will include a ploughman’s supper.

Please put your thinking caps on and join us.

Fellowship Committee

HARVEST APPEAL

Each year we thank God for our food by a service of Thanksgiving and a collection of items for the Archer Project. Once again we will be collecting goods for this appeal at our Harvest service on October 10^th and this year we will have a representative from the Archer Project to give us more information about their work. Please see the advert for more details of which foodstuffs and toiletries are most needed.

THANK YOU

Some facts and figures about the Archer Project:

Ø Established 1990

Ø Supports the homeless and vulnerable in Sheffield

Ø Assists approximately 100 clients a day

Ø Free hot breakfast for everyone

Ø Subsidised hot lunches

Ø Numeracy and literacy classes

Ø Occupational and health groups

Ø Showers and laundry facilities

Ø Medical visitors

Ø 80 – 100 food parcels per week

Ø £1,200 per day to run the project

Cathedral Archer Project

HARVEST APPEAL 2010

The project needs

TINNED FOOD	DRY GOODS
soups, meats, fish	orange juice
desserts	cereals
baked beans	tea bags, coffee
tomatoes	sugar
fruit & vegetables ravioli, meat balls stewed steak (ring pulls if possible)	snacks, biscuits, pot noodles cuppa soups

TOILETRIES

wash items

toothbrushes

razors, spray deodorant

hair brushes, combs

cleaning materials

washing up liquid

sleeping bags, blankets

Please bring any of these items to the Harvest services on October 10th. (Fair Trade goods welcomed)

Breakfast, lunch and food parcels provided for the most marginalized and destitute people in the city centre

Please join us at this Beavers’ and Brownies’ event. We need fruit pictures and margarine tubs before the event and any offers of help on the evening would be much appreciated.

WAY FORWARD GROUP

An initial meeting has been held with C R Gibbs and Sons, our building design contractors, and a start date of 13^th September is being aimed for with completion of Phase 2 (the building of the new meeting room and the vestry/office) by 18^th December.

Phase 3, demolishing the existing church hall prior to re-building, will commence 5th January.

There will be a covered safeway link between the church and the new vestry, etc. as well as a new path leading down the “field” side of the church to the patio door entrance to the new meeting room.

The corridor created in Phase 2 will provide access to the cellar, which is being retained.

Richard Moffat

Way Forward Group

A WEEK OF ACCOMPANIED PRAYER

For some time now (too long!) I have been dissatisfied with my personal prayer life. It had become routine, repetitive and boring. I decided that my praying had to improve; but how?

Then, in June’s Take Notice I read Jane Moffat’s experience of ‘a week of accompanied prayer’ that she had attended and which was to be repeated in the week Sun 27^th June – Sat 3^rd July.

I was intrigued, certainly, but had my usual pinch of scepticism when I attended the ‘taster’ session at D & T on Monday 14^th June. However I found it interesting, so I threw out my scepticism and made a commitment to attend the week of meetings.

We met at Michael Church. On Sunday afternoon the technique was fully explained to our small group and we were each assigned a ‘prayer partner’ for the week. My partner, Mary, gave me a short passage from scripture to read, think about and meditate upon before we met to discuss the experience next day. This process continued throughout the week until the final group meeting on Saturday, when we were able to share our experiences with our ‘partners’.

Here are some of the comments made at that final meeting:

Q. What has the experience of the week meant to us?

A: It opened a door between me and a deeper self
It deepened my relationship with God in a positive way
It helped me to ‘let go’ of the baggage and find peace
Awareness of God’s presence in everything

Q. Looking forward, what do you hope for?

A: To set aside a regular time for prayer/reflection
To develop a deepening relationship with God
To try to maintain spiritual awareness

To sustain what we’ve gained this week

Q. How could it help our church worship?

A: Focus on quiet reflection
Bringing prayer to the forefront of worship
Try different forms of prayer

Ron Webber

SOCIAL CLUB

The Social Club programme for 2010/2011 opens with a games night on Thursday 23^rd September at 8 p.m. in the church.

The Club is open to all, and new members are most welcome. Annual membership is £8. In addition, there is a 50p fee at each meeting attended, which includes refreshments. Non-members pay £1.50, refundable if they become members.

The programme for 2010/11 includes many interesting talks as well as members’ nights of games and quizzes. We also have a Christmas dinner and annual dinner outing.

We hope you will join us as a member of the Club but, if not, at any of the meetings which appeal to you.

Christine Smith

TOTLEY BROOK CLUB

We begin our new season on 14^th September and look forward to the return of our faithful members. We are, however, very much in need of new members to boost our flagging numbers, and would like to see more ladies and gentlemen from the church come and join us.

We meet at 2.30 p.m. on the second Tuesday of the month for talks, film shows etc. and close at 4 p.m. Tea and biscuits are included in the £1 charge which goes towards the cost of speakers, rent and refreshments. Transport is available if required.

So!! – any over 60s please give it a thought and come along and join us – you can be sure of a warm welcome.

Dorothy Land: 236 2334

Jean Walker: 236 0654

COFFEE ROTA

Sept 5^th Fiona Green

12^th Isobel Frew and Ella Lawrie

19^th Fiona Green and Marion Spiers

26^th Jeanne Clark and Christine Smith

Oct 3^rd Liz Keach and Liz Walkden

FLOWER ROTA

Sept 5^th Eileen Haigh and Dorothy Teare

12^th Gill McAdie

19^th Eileen Boler

26^th

Oct 3^th Douglas Thacker

SUNDAY MORNING DOOR STEWARDS

Sept 5^th Margot Willis and Brenda Hague

12^th Molly Webb and Jim Martin

19^th Norine Brown and Isobel Frew

26^th Brenda and Roy Harrison

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