Chilton Thanks

On Thursday evening at Townhill in Chilton the PCC and clergy came together to give a heartfelt thanks to three members of the congregation who have served the church fathfully for many, many years.  Peggy Beard has been doing beautiful flower arrangements for over fifty years.  Lyn Clarke has also helped with the flowers and has been instrumental in organising choirs and silver bands to come and play and sing at the annual church carol service and George Baker  has opened and locked the church door every day for over fifteen years.  It was calculated that George will have walked up and down that steep church path some 8000 times!!  It was also noted that the combined ages of the three was over 240 years.  Wow! 

Best wishes to Bob abd Lyn Clarke as they prepare to move from Easington , down the hill to Long Crendon. We hope that we will still see them at times in Chilton Church.

Hope for Planet Earth

If you’ve not been to The Barn at Chilton do try it sometime. With its comfortable facilities it proved to be an ideal venue for a double billing on Sunday in 31st January. This was organised by Lesley Fellows and it attracted a good turnout from our various parishes. First on the agenda was a half-hour seminar on Climate Change given by Dr Martin Hodson, Principal Tutor in Christian Rural & Environmental Studies at Oxford Brookes University. This topic increasingly occupies our thoughts, and after the recent disappointing outcome from Copenhagen, many of us really feel the need to improve our understanding of the issues involved.

Dr Hodson gave a factual outline of the various factors linked to climate change, illustrating with graphs the changes that have been occurring, with the prospect of what this could lead to in the future. Included in the talk was the retreat of ice from the Arctic Ocean, the prospect of the future loss of low-lying land (as in Bangladesh) to the sea with mass migrations of humans to more habitable places, and also the loss of biodiversity. Tackling the problem was not simply achieved through securing international agreements controlling CO2 emissions, but also through us in our individual lives as Christians. To that end we were provided with the Tearfund pamphlet “The Carbon Fast” with useful tips on how we could live a non-wasteful, energy-saving Lent. The talk elicited some thoughtful questions from the floor, testimony to the interest it provoked.

After the coffee break we continued with the second part, a Eucharist led by Lesley, in which the prevailing theme in the prayers was of our need to cherish the Earth. It neatly complemented the preceding talk and was very well received by those who attended. Thank you to Lesley for arranging this.

Thank-you to David Chetham for writing this article. There is a new blog for the Diocese looking at environmental issues here.

Thank-you

On Sunday I was at Chilton and I was struck by how beautiful the building is. What also struck me was that the pews were polished, the flowers arranged, the Altar linen clean, the floor swept. Who does these things? I should know, but I don't know. Possibly people who don't worship on a Sunday but serve their community in this way.

In the photograph above there is Norma, who faithfully sets up before the services and Wynn who plays the organ for us at many services. So many people give their time and talents to keep the seven churches in the Benefice looking so beautiful and acting as places of worship.

I took these pictures, fearful that it would only be the three of us. Chilton is a small place and some of the regulars were away. In fact we had 15 people, which is a large number on a Sunday for this church, and the reason was that we had many people travel from other villages in the Benefice, from Brill and from Wotton Underwood. It makes such a difference when people are willing to worship in other villages, so thank-you to you too.

Hope for Planet Earth

Would you like to know more about Climate Change?
We have invited Dr. Martin Hodson, an environmental biologist, author and lecturer to come and give a seminar followed by a question and answer session on Sunday 31st January at 10am at ‘The Barn’, Chilton.

This will be followed by refreshments and a Eucharist for those wishing to stay.
For more details contact Revd Dr Lesley Fellows