Letter From Alex - December 2012 & January 2013

December 2012 / January 2013

Dear Friends,

S

O…. HERE WE ARE, heading fast for the end of another year. If you’re anything like me, it probably seems like five minutes since last Christmas and you have no idea where the months in between have gone!

I think 2012 – so far – has been a pretty memorable year. Certainly it’s been a big year for our country; we hosted the Olympics and the Paralympics, there was the Queen’s diamond jubilee with all its associated celebrations and we saw British players in the Wimbledon finals at long last! There was an election in America, scandal and warfare ruled the headlines as usual, and the Great  British summer was a washout – again. And of course, if rumours are to be believed, 2012 will be the last year that we see, as the world is predicted to end on 21^st December, when the ancient Mayan calendar comes to an end!

We, perhaps it’s not so likely that the end of the world will come in the next month or so. But what if it did? We all go around living our lives as if everything will last for ever – but of course, it won’t. Even if the world doesn’t end, our earthly lives will, one day; and if we knew that it really would all come to an end within a matter of weeks, what would we do? Are there things we haven’t done that we would really regret missing out on? Are there sights we would have wanted to see, places we would have wanted to visit? And what about the more personal things? With whom would we want to spend those last weeks of the world? Would we regret not taking more time for our friends and loved ones, regret things we said in the heat of the moment, wish that we had taken our chances to have fun and laugh with others rather than do all those tasks that seemed so important at the time? It can be a good learning exercise to imagine what we would regret; and what we wish we had done instead. Because if the world doesn’t end next month – then there may still be time to put things right.

And as we think about the turning of the year, we have no idea what 2013 will hold for us. But whatever it brings, we need to remember that we don’t go into the future alone. God is in all the places that we have ever been, all through our lives; and the God who is beyond time is already in all the places that we will go during the years to come. Whatever meets us in the future, wherever we may find ourselves, God will be there before us, waiting to meet us, to rejoice with us or to weep with us, to guide us, reassure us and show us the next step forward. We never travel alone. Jesus himself promised that he would be with us even until the end of the age – whenever that may be.

In 1908, an anthology of poems entitled “The Desert” was published. It was by a little known author called Minnie Haskins and it included a poem called “God Knows”. Its first lines are now well known; but the rest of it is well worth a read. And may God’s light shine before us all as we head into 2013 together.

And I said to the man

who stood at the gate of the year:

“Give me a light

that I may tread safely into the unknown.”

And he replied:

“Go out into the darkness

and put your hand into the Hand of God.

That shall be to you better than light

and safer than a known way.”

So I went forth,

and finding the Hand of God,

trod gladly into the night.

And He led me towards the hills

and the breaking of day in the lone East.

So heart be still:

What need our little life

Our human life to know,
If God hath comprehension?
In all the dizzy strife
Of things both high and low,
God hideth His intention.

God knows. His will
Is best. The stretch of years
Which wind ahead, so dim
To our imperfect vision,
Are clear to God. Our fears
Are premature; In Him,
All time hath full provision.

Then rest: until
God moves to lift the veil
From our impatient eyes,
When, as the sweeter features
Of Life’s stern face we hail,
Fair beyond all surmise
God’s thought around His creatures

Team Confirmation Service

Sunday 18^th November

W

E WERE BLESSED to have a truly wonderful service of Confirmation at St. John’s, Wolverley, on Sunday 18^th November. This was a joint service with the churches of the KPCTM team. The sun poured down on a beautiful late autumn morning and the church was almost full as the candidates, their families and supporters and members of all the congregations gathered to share in the Confirmation service and the Eucharist.

The service was led by the Right Reverend Mark Santer, former Bishop of Birmingham and Honorary Assistant Bishop to the Diocese of Worcester. The eight candidates came from St. Mary’s, Kidderminster; St. Barnabas at Franche; St. Peter’s at Cookley and from the neighbouring parish of St. Mary’s, Alveley. All of them were presented by Confirmation Sponsors and all made their declarations and promises with enthusiasm, honesty and clarity. It was a privilege to see these eight people make such a public commitment to their faith, to receive the sacrament of Confirmation and, for seven of them, also to receive their first Holy Communion during the service. There was much rejoicing after the service as refreshments were served and numerous photos taken as mementos of a very special day.

Please do continue to remember the newly confirmed – Gill, Lynne, Andy, Rachel, James, Kirsty and Ryan – in your prayers. If you are thinking of Confirmation for yourself and would like find out more, please speak to any member of the clergy, or look out for information in the magazine around the middle of next year.

 Revd. Alex Vaccaro

From the Parish Registers

           

Christenings

Joshua Xavier Roath; 14^th October at St. John’s, Wolverley

Oskar-Owen Stanley Round; 14^th October at St. John’s, Wolverley

Katy Elizabeth Rose Hopkins; 28^th October at St. John’s, Wolverley

Brody Benjamin Hull; 4^th November at St. John’s, Wolverley

Kobi Leon Roberts; 11^th November at St. John’s, Wolverley

Adam John Williamson; 11^th November at St. John’s, Wolverley

Cerys Victoria Morris; 18^th November at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Weddings

Martin Zinzan and Jennifer Holden; 6^th October at St. John’s, Wolverley

James Hough and Rachel Fortune; 20^th October at St. John’s, Wolverley

Funerals

Dorothy Eileen Ann Newbould; 17^th October at St. John’s, Wolverley

Rose Reaves of Cookley; 24^th October at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Stephen Henry O’Connor of Wolverley; 26^th October at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Phylis Mary Leake of Cookley; 31^st October at Wyre Forest Crematorium

Doreen Walker; 30^th November at St. John’s, Wolverley

Confirmed at St. John’s, Wolverley; Sunday 18^th November

Ryan Aldridge                   Lynne Daniels                   Gillian Salt   

Andrew Seymour               James Seymour                Rachel Seymour

Kirsty Williams

Letter from Rose - October & November 2012

Letter from Rose

October/November 2012

Dear Friends,

While out driving recently, I noticed that the leaves on the trees were beginning to change – the sign that autumn was approaching – the time for summer was almost over. I began to think about change, how sometimes it creeps up on us almost without us knowing then on other occasions it can hit us with a suddenness that makes us reel back as we experience it.

I recently led my first service at St John the Baptist Church, in Wolverley where I referred to the change that we are all at this moment beginning to feel as we negotiate our way through the retirement of a much loved Vicar and colleague Geoffrey Shilvock from both Wolverley and St Peter’s Cookley, and the changes that are beginning to experience within the Kidderminster Parish Church Team as we all move towards the formation of the new Kidderminster Ismere Team that will include seven churches and the areas we serve.

At the service I quoted from a book written by The Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, a powerful writer and broadcaster for many years.

The book is ‘Celebrating Life – finding happiness in unexpected places’ and in it there is a passage on ‘turning strangers into friends.’

In it he says –

‘In one of the synagogues where I used to worship there were several millionaires. Sitting alongside them was the man who sold newspapers in Piccadilly Circus, and another who lived alone and always turned up with holes in his shoes and patches on his clothes………

There was always a fair sprinkling of lively people in their eighties and nineties……..

They would come each week, and often each day, to give thanks for being alive and as often as not to exchange the latest gossip of who had fallen out with whom……’

Then he asked – ‘What brought us together? Not power or exchange.
Just the need regularly to remind ourselves of who we are, what we belong to, the faith we share, the story of which our lives are part………’

All of us, no matter who we are or where we are, are part of the community of faith, part of the family of God’.

Yes, we are all living through a time of change –
a time of change in our world –

a time of change in our country –

a time of change in our churches too.

The change within our churches, some may feel has been forced on us, but it is happening and it is up to us as ‘the community of faith, part of the family of God’ to work through this change together for the benefit of all the people in the seven areas we belong to and care for - seven areas that are coming together in the service of the one God.

St Teresa of Avila wrote this prayer:

‘Christ has no body now on earth but ours,

no hands but ours, no feet but ours.

Ours are the eyes through which must look our Christ’s compassion on the world.
Ours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.

Ours are the hands with which he is to bless us now.

Jesus never promised that things would be easy if we follow Him, but he did promise that he would always be there for us and sent us the Spirit to help us.

With God’s blessings as we journey through change together.

Revd. Rose Lawley

 

From the Parish Registers

Christenings

Max William Turvey; 2^nd September at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Oliver William Slym; 9^th September at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Eva-Mai Pocierznicki; 23^rd September at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Connor John Price; 30^th September at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Kimberley Elsie Williams-Young; 30^th September at St. John’s, Wolverley

Weddings

Andrew Baker and Laura Oliver; 1^st September at St. John’s, Wolverley

Lee Davies and Kelly Taylor; 8^th September at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Neal Addison and Nicola Jones; 15^th September at St. John’s, Wolverley

Christopher Tibbetts and Gemma Powell; 15^th September at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Funerals

Robin Humble of Cookley; 29^th August at Stourbridge Crematorium

Maureen Addison of Wolverley; 11^th September at Stourbridge Crematorium

Audrey Peace of Cookley; 14^th September at Stourbridge Crematorium

Steven Michael Jones; 27^th September at St. Peter’s, Cookley

Letter From The Vicarage - September 2012

A Final Letter from the Vicarage

Dear Friends,

This sadly will be my last letter for The Herald after more than twenty-seven years.  I have greatly enjoyed the magazine which I have always considered to be a valuable way of communicating with the two parishes and an important voice for the two villages with information about various activities and organisations.  It hasn’t been just a “church magazine”.  I have found it rewarding working with Fleur Bradley when she was Editor, with Liz Layton, and latterly with Andrew Bancroft.

There are inevitably going to be some changes both in the life of the church and also in the production of the magazine.  As from October the magazine is going to become Bi-Monthly in order to bring it into line with the team Magazine and so that the same letter can be inserted as that one in that production.  Therefore after the September edition there will be a October/November issue and a December/January one.  This was decided at both our PCC’s recently.  It will also make it easier for Paul and Cynth who nobly print, collate and distribute the magazine to the individual distributors. The magazine will also contain some items from the team and the publication of events organised by other members of the team. 

I hope that ‘The Herald’ will continue to be a valuable organ for the villages as well as giving some important information about the new team.

As far as the services at our two churches are concerned there will be some changes too.  These have been approved by both PCC’s.  The Sunday services at Cookley will change from 9.00am to 9.30am.  as from the first Sunday in September, and the Wolverley Sunday morning service has already changed from 10.30am to 11.00am.

Evensong at Wolverley and the midweek services will remain the same – Evensong at 6.30pm and Wednesdays at Wolverley at 10.00am and Cookley on Thursdays at 10.30am.

It was hoped that we should be able to keep our usual service times at least for the Interregnum whilst the legal process is going on to set up the new team, but there has had to be some flexibility in order to allow the team clergy to cover all the services.  Changes have had to be made by Saint Oswald’s and St. Barnabas in order to accommodate our two parishes.

Although I finished in the parishes at the end of August, I don‘t actually retire officially until the end of September. I shall still legally be “Vicar” until then although I shan’t be doing any work. I am in the happy position of having a month to organise myself and move.

Finally I would like to say that this isn’t really “Goodbye” but only “Au Revoir” for a time.  Sue and I will not be living very far away.  In fact we are going to be living in Saint Mary’s Parish and I expect to do take some services in the new team.  So no doubt you will see me again from time to time.

Thank you so much to all the people who kindly wrote about me in last month’s Herald.  I’m sure that I don’t deserve all adulation, but it is really nice to feel that I have been appreciated and that I’ve been able to make some small contribution to the life of the two parishes. I would also like to thank Andrew Bancroft for putting the magazine together and for having done so since he took over.

Thank you all for your support and companionship.  It has been a great journey and one that continues, albeit in a different direction.

With every blessing,

Geoffrey,

Your Friend and Vicar

From the Parish Registers

Christenings

Summer Lyndon at Wolverley – 5^th August

Ruby and Evie Oliver at Wolverley – 11^th August

Noah Meredith and Rylan Arens at Cookley – 12^th August

Jack Yarnold at Wolverley – 25^th August

Weddings

Craig Gould and Eleanor Oakes at Cookley – 4^th August

James Whitehouse and Carina Russell at Wolverley – 4^th August

Mark Joslin and Lydia Evans at Wolverley – 11^th August

Paul Schofield and Juliet Goldsmith at Wolverley – 17^th August

Jonathan Perkins and Deborah Digger at Cookley – 24^th August

Owen Southan and Sapphire Hardy at Cookley – 25^th August

Russell Hadley and Haley Shurmer at Wolverley – 25^th August

Julian Penn and Joanne Speight at Cookley – 31^st August

Funerals

Beatrice Emily Seedhouse at Stourbridge (Cookley) – 9^th August

Brenda Price at Cookley – 10^th August

Sheikla Nash at Stourbridge (Franche) – 15^th August

Terence Oldnall at Cookley – 17^th August

Irene Chamberlain at Wyre Forest Crematorium (Wolverley) – 21^st August

Patricia Kathleen Tolley at Stourbridge (Cookley) – 28^th August

Letter From The Vicarage - June 2012

Dear Friends,

June is the month when we have our two Patronal Festivals.  On 24th we celebrate the Nativity or Birth of St. John the Baptist, which is exactly six months before Christmas so we reach the half-way point – a sobering thought!  On 29th we celebrate St. Peter.  Increasingly he is linked with St. Paul.  This seems a pity to me.  Saint Peter, being the chief of the Apostles should have his own day.  And in any case St. Paul has another day – the Conversion of St. Paul on January 25th.  I always make a point of keeping the 29th as St. Peter’s Day only which the Church of England permits.

What is a Patron Saint?  Most Churches, especially if they are of the Anglican or Roman Catholic persuasion are named after a saint.  Usually, in times past often, because some relic of that person was reputed to have been housed there. Sometimes they are named after a Festival such as Holy Trinity, Christ the King or Holy Cross, but if a church is named after a Saint it should at least gain some inspiration from that person and from his or her particular faith and strength of character.

In the Roman Catholic or High Church tradition, they no doubt believe that they can ask that Saint to intercede or pray for them.  In the wider Anglican expression of Christian Faith that is not the kind of thing we tend to do, but at least we can try and be like that person.

Like John the Baptist we at Wolverley can try and emulate his passion for Social Justice together with a willingness to stand up for what we believe – whatever the consequences to us personally.  At Cookley we who are named after Saint Peter can try to imitate his spontaneous, reckless even, devotion and loyalty.

Here in our sister parishes, we have been given two men of great stature to try to follow.  It isn’t just a name to distinguish us from other churches.  Let us take our Patron Saints more seriously.

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey




From the Parish Registers
          

Christenings

Roxie Rose Jordan at Wolverley - 28th April
Lucy Julia Stiles at Wolverley  - 13th May
Joseph George and Lily May Warrilow at Cookley - 20th May

Weddings

Joseph Hall and Rachel Insull at Wolverley - 28th April 
Alexander Round and Natasha Gilbert at Wolverley  - 25th May

Funerals

Edith Chapman at Wolverley - 4th May
Joan Charnock at Cookley  -8th May
Reginald Cutler of Wolverley (Wyre Forest Crematorium) -17th May 
Roland Torode at Wolverley - 22nd May 
James Hill at Wolverley - 25th May
Graeme Smith at Cookley - 25th May 

Letter From The Vicarage - May 2012

Dear Friends,

On the 17th May we are celebrating Ascension Day.  It is regarded as one of the important festivals in the Church’s year, but I think it is probably the least observed.  That is probably because we don’t really understand it.

First of all it marks the end of the Easter Season.  It rounds off the Easter Story by describing that Jesus returns to the Father in Heaven.  His mission on earth has been accomplished.  He has shown us as a human being what God is like so far as our finite minds can comprehend that.

In an age when they believed that heaven was literally above the earth, then it made sense to them to describe the event as Jesus ascending upwards into heaven

We use spatial terms still when we want to say that someone achieves something.  We say of a child that he or she goes up to the next class. 

We say of a person who has just heard about a promotion at work or has just got married that he or she is on cloud nine.  We talk about someone being on a high

Secondly, the story of the Ascension reassures us that Jesus is Lord and that he reigns.  Again this may seem a somewhat old fashioned way of speaking, but essentially what it means is that Jesus’ values hold sway or have sovereignty in the world.

We look up to Jesus – again a spatial metaphor.  We find this way of speaking so descriptive.  We try and emulate him or try to be like him because we believe that God’s love and as part of that, the way of sacrifice and service, is the most important way of living our lives.  That is why the Feast of the Ascension is so important and why we ought to observe it.

With all good wishes,

Geoffrey



From the Parish Registers
          

Christenings

Henry Jack Harrison at Cookley - 1st April
Daisy Annabelle Baylet and Matthew Winsper at Cookley - 7th April
Charlie Adam Jones and Cassie Jayne Jones at Wolverley – 14th April
Ruby Emma Garrish at Cookley - 21st April 
William Alfred Manning at Wolverley - 22nd April 

Weddings

Sean Roberts and Lydia Rowles at Wolverley -13th April 
Benjamin Green and Rebecca Cannon at Wolverley -21st April
David Garrish and Emma Green at Cookley -21st April

Funerals

Peter Fellows at Wolverley - 16th April
Joan Chadwick at Wyre Forest Crematorium -17th April
Tom Burkett at Wolverley - 24th April 
John Fereday at Cookley -1st May 

Letter From The Vicarage - April 2012

Dear Friends,

WHAN that Aprille with his shoures soote    
The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote,

So begins one of the finest works in English Literature, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.  In modern English it might be translated somewhat prosaically:

When April with his sweet showers
Has pierced to the root the drought of March…

There is something rather wholesome about the month of April with its gentle showers and warm sunshine bringing everything to life.  It is a real springtime of the year when the deadness of winter blossoms forth.  It’s surprising that the opening speaks of the drought of March.  March has traditionally been associated with wind and rain, but this year the summer has seemed to come early and temperatures have soared.   Evidence of Global Warming we say.  It maybe, but perhaps there have been times in history when weather didn’t follow the traditional patterns.

The Pilgrims on their way to worship at the shrine of Thomas a Beckett in Canterbury entertain themselves by each telling two stories.  Some of them are ribald, even by modern standards, but others are moral tales.  They tend to poke fun at the Church and other highly regarded institutions. 
There is an irreverence which we have to learn to deal with before we can see the truth below the surface.  They have a serious point to make.

This is true of much humour.  Jokes can make us laugh, but sometimes we make many a serious point in jest.

We can say things in funny stories which we can’t say in straightforward language.

The stories of the New Testament, though not funny or humorous are often saying things which straightforward language is incapable of saying.

A composer played a piece of music he had written for a friend.  His friend asked what it meant.  The composer turned to the piano and played it again.  In other words, it is what it is, you can’t explain it in words.  A famous artist said that if he could say something in words, he wouldn’t paint.

Perhaps this is something of what the Resurrection of Jesus is all about.  We can’t translate it into words.  We have to accept it as it is.  It speaks to us about new life, the death of death and gives us hope for the future.  And it does this at the springtime of year, when April’s sweet showers strike at root of March’s drought.

With every blessing this Easter time.

Geoffrey


From the Parish Registers          

Blessing of Matrimony

Colin and Jean Jones at St. Peter’s Cookley 10th March

Funerals

Raymond John Hutton (Stourport) at Wyre Forest Crematorium 6th March
Ronald Rey (Wolverley) at Wolverley Church
and Wyre Forest Crematorium on 7th March
Dorothy Coley (Halesowen) at Stourbridge Crematorium 21st March
Philip Stanford (Wolverley) on 11th April

Letter From The Vicarage - March 2012

Dear Friends,

I believe that Lent is a time for some serious thought about our Christian Faith.  We may choose to observe it in various ways – by giving something up like sweets, chocolates or cakes and by giving the money saved to a Charity.  It is actually good to do this from a health point of view.  It gives our bodies a rest.

This enables us to learn not to have dependence upon certain kinds of food.  It is also strengthening spiritually to follow some discipline.  It may not be the sweets or chocolates that matter in themselves, but it is the restraint that is important.

You may like to use the Lent Boxes for the Church Missionary Society which are available at the back of Church (or which can be obtained from the Vicar). You may like to take on something extra, like going to church midweek, doing some extra Bible Study or trying a new kind of prayer or meditation.  There are lots of ideas about. One idea is to sit in front of a cross or a lighted candle and use that as a focus for your thoughts.  There is no need to “think” about anything in particular; in fact to do so is not necessarily a good idea.  Just learn to be still and quiet and empty your thoughts, experiencing being in the present moment.  That may take some practicing.

But you can spend time thinking about your faith.  After all, Jesus spent the Forty Days in the Wilderness, working out his priorities and thinking about his Ministry.  That would be a good model to imitate.

Whatever you decide to do, and there is no right way, remember the words of Isaiah, who when speaking about fasting said,

“This is the kind of fasting I have chosen:
Loosen the chains of wickedness,
untie the straps of the yoke,
let the oppressed go free,
and break every yoke.
Share your food with the hungry,
take the poor and homeless into your house,
and cover them with clothes when you see them naked”.

What is important is the kind of life we lead and what Lent does for us in fostering that kind of life.

With all good wishes for Lent and for the Easter season,

Yours sincerely,

Geoffrey






From the Parish Registers
          
Funerals

Betty Nickolls at Cookley – 7th Feb
Ron Rice at Wyre Forest – 17th Feb
Gerald Heseltine at Cookley – 17th Feb
Derek Whitmore at Stourbridge – 21st Feb
Irene Young at Kidderminster Cemetery – 22nd Feb

Letter From The Vicarage - February 2012

Dear Friends,

I’m reading a very interesting book at the moment. It is called “Fix me; Love them.” It is subtitled “Christianity as it should be.” It was written by Matt Wells and the description of the book says: ‘So often, as followers of Christ, we feel it is our calling to "fix" people for God. But is this really the Christian life as Christ intends? Is it really our place to judge, condemn, and mould people into who we believe they need to be, or are we only to focus on bettering ourselves, so that we may better love others?

I suppose that this sums up my own attitude to religious faith and that’s why I find it so attractive. However, it made me think about what religion was for.

The theme of the book as the quotation says is that the main object of prayer and worship is the improvement of ourselves, not judgment of others or an attempt to squeeze them into a mould we think they ought to be forced into – an idea of Christianity that we have and which we feel that everyone should adopt. In other words to make other people just like us.

Our job is just to love other people. We’re all made in the likeness of God, which if we think about it means that we all – without exception – have the divine spark of life within us. The author maintains that every action and every behaviour is governed by the need to be loved and valued, however misguided that may be.

This means that we don’t need to expend time and energy trying to convert the world – an impossible task anyway, but that we should tend our own garden. It may be that others will see in us an example to follow and an inspiration for their own life. If that happens, then all very well; if not, then God still loves other people, accepts them and if he wishes, may use others to inspire them to go in a different direction to the one we have chosen to go.

Lent begins on Ash Wednesday 22^nd February. Have you given any thought to how you will keep it? Are you giving something up, or are you taking on something extra? Whatever it is it needs to be an expression of your own personality, in view of what I have just written.

With all good wishes,

Geoffrey

From the Parish Registers

Christenings

Ethan Jason Oliver at Wolverley - 1^st January

Funerals

Mollie Turvey at Cookley – 6^th January

Terry Maiden at Wolverley – 12^th January

Kate Bagshaw (Cookley) at Wyre Forest Crematorium – 17^th January

Pauline Coole (Sion Hill) at Wyre Forest Crematorium – 19^th January

Mandy Partridge at Cookley – 27^th January

Letter From The Vicarage - January 2012

Dear Friends,

 "A cold coming we had of it. Just the worst time of the year for a journey, and such a long journey…

So famously begins T.S. Eliot’s Journey of the Magi.  On January 6^th we celebrate the Epiphany, the coming of the wise men who were led to the Christ Child by following a star.  We normally concentrate on the gifts which they brought – gold, frankincense and myrrh, but this is primarily a story about a journey. 

They are mysterious people.  Did they come as tradition says from Persia, modern day Iran?  Did they come from different places?  Were there three of them because three gifts are mentioned, or were there more?  How did they arrive – on camels or horses? We don’t know.

What the story does tell us is that they travelled a distance and it was not an easy journey, as it wouldn’t be in those days.  There were no motorways or fast cars.  For anyone travelling a long way there were many hazards, from robbers to rough terrain.

The wise men followed a star and they travelled a long way to see Jesus.  It is an example to all of us as we tread out on another type of journey – the long journey of 2012 with all the hazards and difficulties we may meet along the way.  Nevertheless it is right that we follow the star of our dreams and aim for a definite goal.  It gives us hope and encouragement.

We are going to celebrate Epiphany on Friday 6^th January at Saint Peter’s Cookley at 7.30pm.  It is going to be a joint service with Wolverley and the Kidderminster Team.  Come and join us.

And I wish you all well as we travel together into the unknown, following our own star as we journey through 2012 and hopefully find the Holy Child in the most unexpected of places.

Yours,

Geoffrey

From the Parish Registers

Christenings

Esmé Paige Laker at Cookley –  20^th November

Oscar James Stafford-Hill at Wolverley – 4^th December

Funerals

Warren Preene at Wolverley - 30^th November

Duncan Ross – His ashes interred at Wolverley after funeral service in Australia - 6^th December

Cheryl Page-Horrocks at Cookley - 9^th December

Paul Duke at Cookley - 15^th December

Pat Beard at Wolverley - 16^th December

Raymond Shuck at Wolverley - 23^rd December