Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, It is my pleasure to bring you the Winter edition of the Landsker Link. This issue takes us through Advent, with all our Christmas Celebrations, right up to the middle of Lent and the end of March 2019. It seems a long way off and the seasons seem to turn more quickly these days. And maybe that’s why we need to pause often as Christians and consider where we are on our journey. Christmas gives an opportunity to pause and reflect and the Lenten period is also a time where we can pray in earnest for our selves and our churches. But the risk is that we join with all the rush of life and miss important Christian Festivals that benefit our souls and reinforce our belief and faith and empower us to bring others to Jesus. The sharing of our belief is important. It shows we are willing to bring others to Christ and that we are unafraid to say we are His disciples. There are many ways of sharing our faith and I’m well aware how difficult this can be, especially when we are trying our best and our efforts seem fruitless. And more so when we feel our pews have less people than we think we want in them! But take heart. I was at a conference recently where the speaker made the point that in today’s church, the membership are true, authentic Christians; not in a church because of any thing that has upset their life or under any compulsion, but in church to revere Christ as Lord and to share the hope that comes through Him. Thank you, then, for being true, authentic Christians. Without YOU your church may have closed a long time ago and we would not be able to share our faith in the way we do. So, in the next season of the Christian calendar, take time to pause and reflect. Put Christ first in your lives and share the faith with those around you. As St Peter said: … in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect … 1 Peter 3:15 News from the Churches Crundale URC The weather for our Harvest Thanksgiving in September was simply dreadful but, although it did affect attendance, the rain failed to dampen our enthusiasm. Our Minister officiated, and the organist was Mrs Sian Lewis. The Church had been tastefully decorated by lady members who also served refreshments at the close of the Service. Earlier that day Salem Fellowship, at the invitation of members, held their monthly meeting at Crundale. Mr David Padfield our guest speaker gave an illustrated talk on behalf of the Charity Save the Children which was well received. Last year Mr Padfield spoke on Water Aid and we could see how closely these two charities are linked and very worthy of our support. The last few weeks have seen us celebrate a number of Christenings at the Chapel. In August we had a triple celebration when we witnessed the Christenings of Maria Rose Gwenllian Wolsey, Ffion Elizabeth Thomas and William Glynne Thomas. In November we witnessed the Christening of Hollie Marie Margaret Harris and the church was almost full of relatives and friends on both occasions. In August we also had a wedding at the Chapel when Jan and Chris, our good neighbours, ‘tied the knot’. Jan is the grandmother of Hollie, mentioned earlier. We wish the happy couple many years together as husband and wife. At the end of this month we have our annual Coffee Morning at Crundale Hall when we will welcome your support. Our Christmas Service followed by Christmas tea is at 4 pm on the 16th of December when we will again welcome your support. We wish our Minister his family and all our friends in the Landsker Pastorate peace and happiness for Christmas and the New Year. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Bethel, Wolfsdale URC Our Harvest Thanksgiving Service was held on Wednesday 10th October and the Revd Jonathan Brewer from Sandy Hill Chapel took the service. Although the weather was not good, we had a good turnout and the collection was shared between Shalom House Hospice, St Davids and Water Aid UK. Water Aid build wells to supply clean water to the underprivileged countries, who have no access to clean drinking water. On Wednesday 7th November we hosted the Landsker Open Guild and a talk and slide show was given by Dr Simon Hancock on ‘Pembrokeshire in the First World War’. Again, we had a good turnout and a very interesting evening was enjoyed by all. We also enjoyed a cup of tea afterwards and Simon answered questions about his subject. Thank you all for your support. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Keyston URC Our electrics have been updated, passed muster, and so we now have our Safety Certificate issued. The brick gate posts have been cleared of ivy ready for re-pointing and the whole of the outside has been cleared of saplings and weeds. We celebrated our 231st Anniversary in September with a combined Harvest service presented by our guest preacher Kate Wolsey, which was most enjoyable. The recent Coffee Morning was well supported especially considering the weather conditions. Many thanks go to all who contributed to a successful time. During November and December, we shall have a collection box available for Christmas items to be donated to PATCH. Our Remembrance Service attracted extra attendance including some new residents from the village. If we can achieve increased attendance for the special event services by putting posters out as a reminder we are here, it is a hopeful start to making friends and perhaps more of a commitment all year round. A very warm welcome to Elizabeth Rees on her return to Dudswell and to Keyston URC. Keyston Chapel is hosting the Camrose Community Centre Carol Service on Friday 14th December at 7.30pm and also Keyston Residents Association Carols on the Green event on Wednesday 19th December at 6.30pm. All are welcome at both of these events. Wishing everyone a Happy Christmas and a Healthy and Peaceful 2019. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tiers Cross URC As appears elsewhere in the Link we were all pleased to have found the Royal box and pen after all these years. Plans are now being made to have them on permanent display in the Chapel. We all enjoyed the Harvest Supper held at Crundale hall in September. It was well attended event and a delicious meal was once again served by the Ladies’ committee. Many thanks to them for all their hard work. We all attempted Martin’s quiz but with not much success. Sonia and Paul’s wedding was a happy occasion for the Chapel which we all joined in celebrating. We wish them both every happiness for the future. Our Harvest Services were well attended. The ladies had decorated the Chapel in readiness for the Friday evening when Bishop John Saxby led the service in his usual manner. His sermon was laced with many stories and anecdotes and enjoyed by us all. Milford Haven Operatic Society paid their annual visit in October. This year the show was entitled Pack up your Troubles and included songs commemorating World War 1. Again, a capacity audience joined in the community singing. Remembrance Sunday conducted by Mr Graham Passmore began at the Chapel before the congregation moved to the Memorial Garden to continue the Service and to lay wreaths on behalf of the organizations present. Refreshments were served afterwards in the hall. Members enjoyed the Concert at Tabernacle Chapel to commemorate the end of the Great War. Thanks to all concerned in its organization, especially our own Mrs Shirley Williams and Rev Martin Spain. Some of the ladies will attend the Pembrokeshire Women’s Network Carol Service at Carew on December 6th at 2pm. A concert of Christmas music will be held in the Chapel on Friday December 7th at 7.30pm given by Cantorian Tyddewi. All are welcome to join us for this festive event. We wish our Minister and his family as well as members of the Landsker Pastorate season’s greetings and health and happiness for the new year. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Zion’s Hill, Spittal URC Thank you to all those who supported our Coffee Morning way back in June. We decided to hold this event in Spittal Church Hall for the first time, previously we have been very successful in Crundale Village Hall. The intention was to raise our profile in our community and to encourage support from people living in the village. We had mixed success because although we raised a similar amount of money to previous years, we had fewer people actually attending. Back to the drawing board for next year, more local publicity perhaps! Our Carol Service will be held on 2nd December at 11.00am and we extend a warm welcome to everyone. Coffee/tea and mince pies afterwards. We are looking forward to our Community Christmas Service on Sunday 23rd December at 4.00pm in Spittal Church Hall. All our local churches are invited, and we hope to involve everyone in the service. Lots of mince pies are planned for afterwards. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Nolton Haven URC With the work in the chapel finished it has been wonderful to welcome many visitors this year. It is good to report that Anne Kenyon and David Phillips have both returned home from hospital. We have missed them in chapel and send them both our best wishes. The harvest service was well attended and the children taking part made it a special service with the new television making its debut. Again, for Remembrance Sunday the television added a new dimension to the moving service conducted by the minister. Also, his contribution to the wonderful Remembrance Concert in Tabernacle in the evening was much appreciated. Members who attended the LOG meeting in Wolfsdale very much enjoyed the illustrated talk given by Dr Simon Hancock on Pembrokeshire and WW1. We look forward to the Crundale LOG on Wednesday 5th December. The knit and natter group are very busy (every Wednesday 2.30pm) and have recently distributed twiddle muffs, trauma teddies and blankets to various care homes and surgeries in the County. New knitters always welcome especially for the 'sewing up' of blankets in preparation for distribution. On Sunday 23rd December the children will have their tea party at 3pm, and it is hoped Father Christmas will have time to drop in. The children will then change their characters and present a Nativity at 5pm, as part of the Candle Light service. Names for the dinner/ fellowship on the last Sunday of the year in Allt yr Avon must be in by early December. Wishing Martin, his family and all members and friends of the Landsker Pastorate a peaceful, healthy and happy Christmas and New Year from all at Nolton Haven. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Lost and Found by John Morgan, Tiers Cross URC
In the 1920s, plans were made to build a schoolroom that would adjoin the chapel at Tiers Cross. The Sunday School had over 100 pupils and fundraising began in earnest. The Church Meeting, led by the Revd Howell Phillips, wrote to the Royal Family at Buckingham Palace, respectfully asking whether they would contribute something to a ‘Bazaar’ auction that was planned. Many months passed until a reply came from Queen Mary stating that, by Royal Declaration, a gift would be sent to the church. The package arrived on the Great Western Railway, Paddington to Milford Haven train and was handed to Revd Phillips, who met the train at Haverfordwest. The gift turned out to be a table top writing bureau with matching pen stand and ink pens. Included in the box was a handwritten card from Buckingham Palace that simply said, ‘for the bazaar’. The writing set was sold at auction and immediately donated back to the church. The schoolroom was opened in 1932 and for many years after, the Royal Pen would be used to sign wedding registers, christening certificates and the like. It was common at a wedding to hear the Minister declare ‘The couple will now sign the register with the Royal Pen’ and this would be reported in the local paper. However, during the second world war a bomb fell in Tiers Cross, just yards from the chapel, after which many items of value were taken out of the chapel for safe storage, including the Royal Pen. As the years went by, all trace of the Royal Pen was lost. The writing box had faded away into memory, losing its connection to the pen. In 2014, the chapel celebrated its bi-centenary and the story of the Royal Pen appeared in the book written for the celebrations yet still there was no sign of this precious gift. And then one day in the summer, Mrs Betty Roch received a telephone call from the family of the late Dr Bill George, who passed away on Easter Sunday, 2018. There was talk of a large wooden crate found in the attic and something different inside. Walter Roch was dispatched to collect the wooden crate and on opening it he saw, for the first time in many years, the writing bureau, pen stand and Royal Pens. Inside the bureau was the card from Buckingham Palace. So, after 70 years, the Royal Pen was found and returned to the chapel. In September 2018, the marriage took place of Paul and Sonia at Tiers Cross Chapel and at the end of the ceremony the Minister, Revd Martin Spain announced, for the first time in 70 years, that ‘The couple will now sign the register with the Royal Pen’. Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, While I am writing this, we are experiencing the warmest and driest spell of weather for many years. The grass has turned from lush green to a dry brown and there is talk of the sun shining well into next month and beyond. I hope you have managed ‘life as normal’ in what is an unusual situation for us in Pembrokeshire. There are advantages to a good summer of course, not least that our outdoor activities can take place as planned and it was good to see so many supporting the concert at Nolton Haven, the coffee mornings and cream teas in most of our churches, and Sea Sunday. We have had a number of events in our churches and these are set to continue for the next few weeks. This gives us the opportunity of reaching out to our communities and I want to thank you for the hard work and effort you put in to making this happen. Saying thank you is important. On my travels as President of the Congregational Federation I have always thanked people for the efforts they put in. And I think it important to say that everywhere I visited, congregations prayed for our Pastorate and thanked YOU for allowing me away from local pulpits. Now that we are getting back to normal I want to thank you again for putting up with my absences when I was away. *********************** You will be aware that my Certificate of Limited Service has been renewed and the URC have offered me another three years as your Minister. I thank all the members and Elders for your continuing support and hope I can serve you to your satisfaction. However, I’d like all churches to think and prayerfully reflect on what you want to do in the next stage of our journey together. All of us are getting older and we need to think about the next generation of worshippers and getting our churches in an order that would attract new people. There are a few things I’d like you to consider. How welcoming is your church building to a newcomer? Should you consider a more comfortable worshipping environment? Do you need to consider serving refreshments before or after a service (even if occasionally) so we enjoy a time of fellowship? What about installing a large screen TV that we can use for presentations and worship? How about looking at installing WiFi to every church? These are small steps that you can all look at and which are very achievable. And then there are more major things you could consider, like heating systems, re-configuring the interior with the use of glass walls/panels and maybe having smaller worship areas that can be opened out when needed. All of our churches have made the decision to allow different ways in which people can be associated with us by being a member, friend or patron. How many have you ‘recruited’ since you made the decision? We also need to appoint more Elders and some churches have agreed to do this but, in the URC,, Elders need to be ordained, so we need to set firm dates for this to be done. I’m hoping you will look at these matters and together we can start work on a few of the ideas. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ News from the Churches Bethel, Wolfsdale URC Our Anniversary service this year was on 22nd April and it was good to have Revd Graham John as our guest preacher. It was a bit special for us at Wolfsdale as Revd John is married to Sian, who is one of the children of the chapel and the daughter of Mrs Eileen Hughes. It was wonderful to see Mrs Hughes in the chapel. We have managed to repair the ceiling in the chapel, which was damaged by storms in the winter months. Our thanks go to Mr Wayne Phillips for doing a first-class job on a very awkward and tricky part of the building. We had another special service on 24th June when Mel Ablitt was inducted as President of the Free Church Council of Haverfordwest and District. Our Minister Presided over service and the induction was carried out by Revd Christopher Gillham. We enjoyed fellowship over some tea and cakes after the service. Thanks to all the ladies for working hard to provide the teas and cakes. A very pleasant two hours are spent in Wolfsdale Vestry every Monday evening (term time only). Moira and Jean provide the cuppa, Brenda oversees the crochet etc. Members and friends work many crafts including Crochet, Knitting, Rugmaking, Pebble Art, Cross Stitch and Tapestry. The latest project is knitting vests for ‘Fish and Chip’ Babies – so called because babies born in some parts of Africa are wrapped in newspaper when they are born to keep them warm. Their parents cannot afford clothes. This initiative was presented to the group by Mrs Janet Davies, Mrs Sadie Davies and Mrs Haulwen Davies who visited from Blaenconin Chapel, Llandissilio, and explained that they had been knitting little vests and hats for the babies. Members of Crafty Cuppa have enjoyed making baby vests to add to the Blaenconin collection. Anyone interested is welcome to join the Crafty Cuppa, which is enjoyed by all who attend. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Keyston URC Our Coffee Morning in May was a successful event and we were able to welcome some new residents that have moved into the village. The rear stairs have now been repaired and made safe thanks to Danny Belton. New carpeting has also been laid. The electrics have been checked and a few things need to be attended to before a safety certificate can be issued. Looking forward, we are planning our Anniversary and combined harvest Service in September when our guest preacher will be Kate Wolsey. We shall have a collection box for any produce that we will donate to PATCH once again. We wish you all a good summer, warm Autumn and pray for continued support of each other. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Crundale URC We celebrated 181 years of Christian Worship at our Church Anniversary on Sunday 20th of May. Mr Gareth John, a popular choice, was our guest speaker while Mrs Peggy John was the organist. We were delighted to welcome members of the Landsker pastorate who along with members of the congregation joined us for refreshments at the close of the Service. The Church was full, a rare occurrence these days, for the christening, by our Minister, of Lyra-Mae daughter of Kayleigh and granddaughter of Mrs Vanessa Llewellyn. Vanessa was a former scholar of our Sunday School. In June a weekly Mother and Toddler group, organised by Mrs. Kate Wolsey commenced at our Church. For those interested, it is every Friday 9.30-- 11.30 am. Please contact Kate on 01646 697423 for further details. Our next planned event is our Harvest Thanksgiving on Thursday September 20th at 7 pm and this will be conducted by our Minister. We wish all our friends in the Pastorate a very happy and enjoyable Summertime. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Zion’s Hill, Spittal URC Zions Hill members, along with everyone else in the Pastorate, were delighted to receive confirmation of the renewal of Martin's Certificate of Limited Service and the agreed extension until the end of December 2021. This is a golden opportunity to work with Martin for the next three years and to leave a lasting legacy for the Landsker Pastorate. We have relaxed recently and not been as active in our chapel as we have been in previous years. There was a commitment at our last chapel meeting to do something about this and Martin's confirmation will, I am sure, spur us on. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Nolton Haven URC We welcome Martin back and with the knowledge he has been granted another 3-year Certificate of Limited Service, look forward to getting back into routine and finding new ways to stimulate new growth. The knit and Natter group have produced a good number of blankets. teddies and twiddle muffs. These will all be on display in the chapel on Sea Sunday before being distributed to various charitable organisations. The mid-summer concert went very well featuring the Landsker Singers, Little Landskers and soloist Tony Lloyd. The church was full and the evening raised over £800. Being such a beautiful evening, it was good to welcome everyone to stay for food and fellowship after the concert. We send congratulations to Rev Dr David Owen on the publication of his new hymn book. We were pleased to welcome David to the Choral Service when we used the new Priory Praise. We are pleased to welcome two new friends to our church, Ian and Ann Hooper, Ian also plays the organ, so we are delighted to have another organist in our midst. We wish both Anne Kenyon and Muriel Roberts a speedy recovery and think of David Philips who, for the present is confined to his home. Our Anniversary preacher is the Rev Adele Hargreaves who we welcome back and really look forward to seeing and hearing again. For the Praise, Prayer and Picnic service, we will provide tea, coffee and squash but please bring your own food. We look forward to welcoming you all to our two joint services. A final thought; Now that Martin has been granted the licence for another three years, let’s make the most of it. We all missed him when he was away- now he's back can we be enthusiastic and support him and each other, maybe join together more, grow and enjoy our Christian journey? How about a few pastorate events: Summer Trip, A social group? Could we perform The Mustard Seed again? Lots to think about! ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Tiers Cross URC We have had a quiet few months in Tiers Cross recently. However, our Cream Tea was held on a lovely day in mid-June and despite the date clashing with several other local events it was very well supported by friends and also many members of the Landsker Pastorate. Thank you all for your support. The tea as usual was delicious and the laden cake stall soon sold out. Thanks to those who donated generous raffle prizes, and thank you to everyone who helped in so many ways to make it a huge success. An excellent sum of money was raised for Chapel funds. Our Ladies and Disabled toilets are due to be renovated shortly, hopefully the work will be completed in time for our Anniversary which is to be held on the 19th August. We look forward to members and friends joining us for this special date in our Church calendar. Our guest preacher will be the Rev. Martyn Evans. It has been good to support the other Chapels in the Pastorate at their various events and we look forward to several more over the summer months. We wish everyone in Chapel, as well as our Minister and family a happy summer holiday and although the farming community and gardeners are hoping for some much-needed rain, it would be good for some sunshine as visitors to the county and the local schoolchildren embark on their summer break. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Other NewsCongratulations to Walter Roch, on being awarded the Rotary Club, |
Landsker Singers Christmas Carol Concert St. Mary's Church, Haverfordwest Sunday 17th Dec. 3pm Soloist -harpist, Isobel Harries. £10. inc. Mulled wine and mince pies. | The CD of 'The Appearance' the words written by Rev Dr David Owen performed recently by the Landsker Singers in the Cathedral will be available for Christmas. The CD is £10 but the complete Trilogy (3 CD's) is on a special Christmas offer for £25. |
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