Letter from Pat Ryder in deepest Surrey

 

To all my Dear Friends at Bolton Parish Church,

 

I apologies for not saying goodbye to you just before Christmas when I moved away from Bolton.

 

The move was very traumatic, not least because I took an attack of Shingles. This was the reason I could not come to church in case I gave any of you Chicken Pox for Christmas. I am now very much better and busy house hunting with Susie and Tristan. I am also much nearer to Thomas, Gail, Arran and Honor in Oxford. Pippin is not quite sure what is happening and sticks to me almost like glue, but she is really enjoying her long walks on the hills near Ewhurst.

 

Ewhurst is a small village with a lovely old church where I have been made most welcome. I have also been to Guilford Cathedral which is about forty minutes away.

 

I do miss you all very much and particularly our wonderful services, the outstanding quality of our Organist Stephen and the members of the Choir.

 

I have so enjoyed and felt very privileged to have been a member of the P.C.C. continuously for twenty eight years and been a member of the restoration committee and Organ Appeal Committee. I am still the Secretary of The Friends of Bolton Parish Church but have had to step down as a Trustee of Canon Slade School.

 

It is good to be with my family and Susie and Tristan have given me a wonderful welcome as have their friends and friends parents who have stopped me in the village or the playground when I am collecting Tristan and welcomed me to Ewhurst. The lady in the bank this morning said, “You are the lady who has come from Lancashire, welcome to Surrey.” So I am beginning to feel very at home.

 

I wish you all a very happy and peaceful 2008.

 

With my love to you all

 

Pat Ryder 

SNOWDROPS

 

Those small Winter wonders,

Little white snowdrops,

Silently, valiantly they appear;

Coming forth from deadened earth,

To cheer the Winter drear.

Symbols of new life and hope.

Stalwart crocuses surprise us,

By their early flowering show;

So suddenly, daffodils surround us,

Bathed in sunshine yellow glow.

But there’s nothing quite like snowdrops

On a better Winter’s morn;

Proof beyond all doubt,

That our land shall be re-born.

 

FR

HE DIED AT CALVARY

 

How long He suffered there

Upon the cross so high.

His sacrifice for us on earth -

That man should never die.

 

His loneliness was such

That He thought all was lost.

For man He lived and died,

Yet did not count the cost.

 

His heart, so full of love,

Was broken on that tree.

For all the love He gave to us,

His death was meant to be.

 

Sylvia Rose Brooks

©2005.3.25

PEW-CARDS IN A LAKE DISTRICT CHURCH READ:

 

“If after Church, you wait awhile,

Someone may greet you with a smile,

But, if you quickly rise and flee,

We’ll all seem stiff and cold, maybe.

The one beside you in the pew

Is, perhaps, a stranger too.

All here, like you, have fears and cares,

All of us need each other’s prayers;

In fellowship we bid you meet,

With us around God’s Mercy Seat.”

 

Author unknown

Car Park Fees

 

If you did not pay your car park fees in September then they become due on the 1 March.

 

The fees are as follows:

 

If you are waged the fee is £65 per year or £35 per six months.

If you are unwaged the fee is £35 per year.

 

Please make your cheques payable to “Bolton Parish Church Car Park Account” and forward them to me.

 

S J Mort