Please check our EVENTS tab for exciting things happening in the Benefice!
A View from the Rectory
My brain is switching to holiday mode. Weeks of hot weather and hay fever inevitably point my mind in the direction of the ferry to France. I’m considering when I’ll get the time to stock up on engine oil and Liquide Hydralique Mineral and all the other
necessities for nursing the big Citroen to its homeland.
And then there’s the question of swimming trunks. The French don’t really like the giant girth-concealing shorts of the English swimmer and insist on skimpy things which require the wearer to have the body of an Olympic athlete in order not to look ridiculous. I’ll need to take out extra travel insurance in case my wife does herself an injury laughing at me when I first appear in them.
I’m spending time too, reading up on all the gastronomic delights of the region for which we are bound. Oysters are a must of course along with mussels. And there are all my old favourites too, particularly the fabulous salade gesiers, a green salad with ducks and/or chicken gizzards. No really, you should try it-utterly wonderful. Although I don’t think any of the family will be sampling calf’s brain again as I did once through an error in menu translation in Normandy.
The last time we were in France was two years ago. It was May, and even on the Cote d’Azur it was a bit rainy. I’ll never forget the horrified look on the face of the young French lifeguard on her perch by the campsite’s swimming pool as the Hill family arrived-in skimpy trunks of course, to swim in the rain. We were of course the only ones there.
You might be getting the impression that I enjoy both the anticipation and the event when it comes to holidaying. The word holiday comes from Holy Day, the first real holidays being the days of festival of the Christian Church, many of which carried on some of the pattern of pre-Christian times. Whole communities were involved in a heady combination of partying, feasting and worshipping God. Such festivals were oases of joy in what were undoubtedly hard lives. I can imagine our mediaeval ancestors in these six villages enjoying the anticipation and the event.
When I was a teacher I used to teach a module about religious attitudes to death. In a documentary film I showed the students a man called Michael, who was in the latter stages of a terminal illness explained that he was excited about death. Now to all those young people watching this was a shocking and strange concept. How could anyone be excited about death? But, what they had not then grasped was Michael’s absolute belief in Heaven and the assurance of his place there. He was anticipating the greatest Holy holiday of all. Even in its last weeks his life was full of hope and expectation. He knew no fear in life or death.
My prayer for all of us is that we may be given the gift of restorative holidays both sides of the grave.
Yours in Christ,
David Hill, Rector of the Six Villages
Midweek Services
Monday: Banham Evening Prayer 6.30pm
Saturday: Old Buckenham Morning Prayer 9.00am
There is a Eucharist every first Tuesday of the month at Old Buckenham at 10.00am followed by Coffee and Chat.
We produce a weekly Sunday Pew Leaflet which includes services for the following two weeks, collects and post communion prayers, intercession prayer lists, diary of events and advance notices for upcoming events. There is also a monthly Six Villages Newsletter which is sent out to all the residents in the six parishes.
The Quidenham Group consists of the following six parish churches:
On 23rd April we are launching an initiative to open up the Church in Banham as a safe place for young people to come on a Friday evening to meet together. We will be working with people from the RHCC and Integrate Youth for Christ, with the aim of “serving our community's needs by providing a safe place for young people to meet together in peace".
If anyone would like to get involved in this exciting project please do have a chat with the Rector. Additionally, if anyone feels they would like to help financially towards the costs of heating and lighting the Church when it is in use for this, please do let us know.
