What a lot has happened since the December issue of the NewsLetter came out! We have had the Open Day at the Manse, by kind invitation of Pat and Peter, which raised about £120 for the two charities; then there was the Kindergarten Nativity play, and our own Lunchtime Carol Singing – I wish the audience for the former had been able to stay for the latter!  On 11^th December there was our Toy Service with Junior Church’s Nativity, the Afternoon Fellowship 'Christmas Celebration', then our ‘Carols by Candlelight’, and on Christmas Morning the family service. You will find photos from most of these events in this page..

Now it’s into the New Year. Read our Secretary’s letter and see some of the things that are planned. And, of course, on 28^th January we shall be holding our Burns’ Supper in aid of having a good time and the Shooting Star Hospice. But whatever is ahead, we can go forward in confidence with this thought (by Anon.) in mind:

Well done, the donors of Epsom! There was a 4-hour session in Unity Hall on Boxing Day – of all days! – and it was very well supported. The Service has advised me that 89 people turned up and 82 people actually donated. The first time Unity Hall was used, 14^th December 2004, there were 104 donations in two 3-hour sessions; on 27^th October, donations were well down, only 56 donations, so to have 82 donations on such a day, and a short day, is very encouraging. It also means that 89 people – apart from the NBS team – visited Unity Hall, have seen the work on the notice boards and are getting the idea that the hall is there.

Further donor sessions are planned for 2006, the next one being on Maundy Thursday, 13^th April. I believe that there should be some form of discreet advertising of the church, probably around the foyer or the kitchen area, where it can catch the eyes of people as they enter and leave, and have their cups of tea. It’s Good Friday the next day – now, there’s an opportunity! There were no decorations up in Unity Hall for the Boxing Day session; maybe we can do better for Easter.

I close by wishing all my readers a very happy and successful New Year and may 2006 be all that you wish it to be.

It was good to see Marjorie and Ann at church recently, and to have Alfred back with us. We were pleased to welcome his daughter again a couple of weeks ago

Del has not been too well, with a couple of infections recently, but we hear that he and Lynne and John spent Christmas Day with Ceri and had an enjoyable time.

Daphne’s daughter Pamela has not been too well while staying with Daphne, and she, being the only driver, and Andrew have had to delay their return to Nottingham. We hope that this will have been sorted by now.

Greetings to our church members have been received from postal recipients of the NewsLetter, among them being Liz Crocker, Allan Healey, Phil and Sue Castle and Elizabeth Brain.

Andrea Board writes on behalf of herself, Charles, Fran and Olly:

I like the story of the Wise Men/The Magi/The Three Kings. I don’t care what you call them, they are truly wonderful. They begin by going to the king to find out what he knows of the birth of a new king, a rather foolish thing to do, one might think. But by the time they leave to go back to their own country, they no longer pay heed to what the king has to say. They literally and figuratively go home another way. At the start, they understand practically nothing about this new king, but by the time they take their leave, they know that this king is like no other king that ever lived. They see things from a new point of view. These rich and powerful men learn from the poorest people in society, the outcast shepherds and the peasant parents.

As a congregation, are there people from whom we need to learn? It often seems to me that we are doing too many things the way we have done them for the last 20 or 30 years. This does not seem to be working, does it?  Perhaps we should be listening to people who no longer come to church, or who have never come into a church before. What do they have to say about us? Perhaps we could learn from them.

These Wise Men quite simply do a turn around. They are not the same people they were when they came. They go home by a different way. They go home different. Changed.

This story seems to ask us to widen our horizons, to listen to those who do not see things as we see them. Our future lies in being open to change and to doing things a different way. It does not lie in doing things as we’ve always done them or in doing things just to suit ourselves. How do you think God is calling us to change? What different path might God be calling us down?

All the best to you in 2006.

Pat

I hope you all enjoyed Christmas, especially the Carol Services which I thought were excellent. We began the celebrations with the Nativity from the Kindergarten, they are a very young group and they performed so well. The lunch time Carol Service that followed was disappointing in numbers, but the readings were very interesting. The Ewell Church looked really beautiful for the Wednesday Candlelight Service and so did Epsom for the Sunday Candlelight Service. Thanks to Wendy and Neil for erecting the candle hoops again. There certainly is a wonderful atmosphere at this service each year, and it is always good to meet with old friends who travel many miles to attend. The coffee and mince pies were good too!

Christmas morning at Epsom was great, especially to see so many folk. It must have been the best attendance on Christmas morning for a long time, and the singing was wonderful. I have it on good authority (from my Granddaughter) that Father Christmas definitely visited Ashtead on Christmas Eve: he left "A terrible mess, crumbs all over the carpet, some mud, and a half eaten carrot on the driveway and do you know what, a sleigh bell that was half squashed as well!"

Now we look forward to 2006. It is almost two years since Pat came to us. We have achieved a lot in the past two years, but there is still much to do, and I know Pat has more ideas and ambitions and we must all support her. The first project for 2006 is to complete the "Young People’s Corner".

January looks like being very busy with meetings, and don’t forget the Burns’ Supper Celebrations at the end of January. This was a great success last year: let’s make it even better this year. All profits will be donated to The Shooting Star Trust.

The Elders’ have a important meeting to attend on 18^th January, hence the change of date for the Church Meeting to the following Wednesday. The Moderator, Rev. Nigel Uden, has called a Meeting for all serving Elders in the Wimbledon District to discuss "Catch the Vision of God’s Tomorrow" and also some other issues we face: "What is the Church for? What people resources does it need in order to be what it is supposed to be, and what is the place for paid Ministers within that bigger picture?" This certainly sounds very challenging and interesting. We will report back to you at the next Church Meeting. Don’t forget – 25^th January in the Longhurst Room. So January starts the year with food for thought.

A very happy and peaceful 2006 to you all.

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At the start of the Service the young people were still upstairs in the Longhurst room donning their costumes for the Junior Church presentation of ‘Off to Bethlehem’, a musical of the Nativity. The young people joined us and the scene was set with the Angel Gabriel telling Mary of the impending birth. 

Mary and Joseph then travelled to Bethlehem, where the baby Jesus was born. From the pulpit the angels told the good news to the shepherds in the fields below, who then danced with joy before rushing off to Bethlehem to see the new-born King. The three Kings – one on crutches – complete with camel rode their way into Bethlehem to present their gifts, and the final tableau was seen.

The congregation joined in the singing, and Tom Rhind-Tutt, who was taking the Service, thanked the young people and the junior Church staff for once again making the Service special.

After the tableau, gifts of toys, games and toiletries were received for the Prisoners’ Wives and Families Association, and it was lovely to see so many beautifully wrapped which I am sure made the recipients very happy.

After the Service we all enjoyed coffee and socialising with friends old and new – once again, a very successful morning.

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‘Why do I do it?’ I asked myself
As Toy Sunday drew near.
‘We haven’t sufficient children
For a musical this year.’

But still I went to Brownies
And some of them wanted to come.
‘I don’t know if I’ll be allowed
- please wait and talk to Mum.’

So then we had some shepherds
And angels rallied round.
But other major characters
Were nowhere to be found.

On Sunday 3^rd, we had Mary,
And two kings out of three.
But who could we find to be Joseph?
I had to ring round to see.

By Friday we’d got our Joseph
But Mary could not be there.
Yet the shepherds danced and the angels sang
And hope was in the air.

‘At least the wise men will be good.’
(One of our better touches!)
ut as I was comforted by this,
Tom arrived on crutches!

The Sunday came and I wondered again,
‘Is it worth the bother and stress?’
But when I looked at the children’s faces
I knew that the answer was ‘YES!’

LIVING THE GOSPEL
Geoffrey Dunstan

Often, with nothing better to do, I get myself into Waterstone's (the booksellers) here in Epsom, not to buy necessarily, but to browse. It's amazing what there is to read without actually purchasing!

So the other week, I was asked by someone if I would mind getting a New Testament for her to give to her God-daughter. As the weather wasn't up to much, I decided to telephone Waterstones, instead of getting myself there.

The young female who answered, but whose name I couldn't catch (it was probably something like Cheryl or Tracey), but she sounded very nice, said: ‘Good morning, Waterstone's here. Can I help you?’
‘Hello. Do you stock Bibles?’
‘Yes.’
‘Good. I would like a New Testament.’ (Pause)
‘A new what. . . ?’
‘Testament... a New Testament. It’s the second part of the Bible and it's sometimes published separately.’
‘Oh.’ (Pause)
‘So could you go and see if you've got one?’ (Pause)
‘How does it start?’
‘Ah... well there are four things called gospels and the first one is named Matthew.’
‘Oh.’ (Long pause, while she tried to absorb all this arcane knowledge that was being thrust at her. Then I heard her go and look somewhere else. She came back and said):
'The one I've got here starts with something called Numbers.’
‘I don’t think it does, my dear. Have another look.’
(Much riffling of pages.)
'Oh, yes. It starts with something called ‘Gen... How do you say it?'
‘Genesis?’
‘That’s it... It starts with that.’
‘So would you go and see if you've got one that starts with Matthew.'
(Long pause, while she thumbed through Waterstones’ entire stock of Bibles.)
‘No, they all start with... well, what you said just now.’
‘Ah well, then you don't have what I'm looking for, but thank you so much, you've been most helpful.’

Exactly.  She had tried to help me but my knowledge wasn't up to her skills.

‘In my father's house there are many rooms.’ I only hope there is a stupendously huge space reserved for those who know nothing of the Bible but by grace possess the New Testament by living it.

On 19^th February, the Roughditch Band from Farnham will be joining us for the
morning service.  'Roughditch' is a folk band that has provided occasional
music in several Farnham churches, including the URC, for a number of years. 

One of the members of the band is also a member of the Farnham URC. They are
especially good with hymns that have Irish/Scottish/English folk tunes so we will
be singing some of those. They come highly recommended by Pat who has worked
with them many times.   We are aiming to make this an all-age service, so
that we can all enjoy them for the whole service.

This year the theme for the Afternoon Fellowship was Christmas Entertainment and was introduced by Barbara Wood with her assistants, John Wood, Gwyneth Smith and Charles Senior. We were treated to a carefully devised programme of music and Christmas readings showing us the variety of Christmas entertainment from years past to the present, all this interspersed with some favourite carols.

With an excellent narrative we were presented with music from the Nutcracker Suite and Messiah and the thoughts of a child performer and a poem about pantomimes. Gwyneth gave us an idea of Christmas happenings in Yorkshire with a very creditable Yorkshire accent. We were shown how political correctness could infiltrate in the production of pantomimes when John and Gwyneth gave their rendition of part of Snow White – so sorry - that should be Olive Brown! An Edwardian Soirée featured Gwyneth reciting a poem, John singing a Kashmiri song accompanied by Charles, who then played a solo piece on the piano. The entertainment concluded with the Nativity in Yorkshire fashion.

The whole subject had been very well researched and then beautifully presented and everyone who was able to be present enjoyed it very much. Thanks to Barbara for all her hard work and also to John, Gwyneth and Charles for taking part.

The Afternoon Fellowship will be re-opening their doors on 24^th March.

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We had a very happy evening on 5^th December when the video "The Snowman" was presented by Gwyneth, and although an old favourite of many years, was still very enjoyable. The Christmas Bites were a foretaste of things to come!

The next meeting on 9^th January will be an old favourite again – yes, a Beetle Drive! This will be followed by refreshments, and donations of sweet and savoury foods would be appreciated.

Here’s the first and most important date for you to put in your nice new 2006 diaries! We are holding yet another Burns Night, with the proceeds again going to The Shooting Star Children’s Hospice

The Shooting Star Children's Hospice in Hampton Hill is a local charity raising funds to maintain and run the much-needed children's hospice, Shooting Star House. Like shooting stars, each life-limited child is unique and shines bright but, like a shooting star, they are gone far too soon.

There is currently only one bed available per 6 children living with a life-limited condition providing specialist hospice care in the whole of the UK and, before Shooting Star House, Children’s Hospice opened, there were none in this area.

The Shooting Star Children's Hospice receives no statutory funding. They rely entirely on voluntary donations and need £2.5 million a year to sustain the care service provision.

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A good haggis, with a perfect balance of peppery spice and meaty, nutty oatmeal texture is one of life's gastronomic treats. As a Scot, I rate it up there with white truffles and lobster.

But watching it being made requires a strong stomach. As Edinburgh butcher Jonathan Crombie plops the blood-red lamb lungs, great lumps of beef fat and long, bony lamb flanks into bubbling water in a gargantuan boiler, I am thankful I have never been squeamish.

Once it has been simmering for two to three hours, the meat is minced with onions and oatmeal (medium-grade and pinhead), then hand-mixed and seasoned. Although every butcher's haggis has similar ingredients, the seasoning often varies. At Crombies this includes "all the peppers" and salt, but, as I sniff the air, I detect coriander and even mace.

Once combined with lamb stock, the mixture is squished into the natural casings of beef intestine (a sheep's stomach is used only for the mighty 10 lb "chieftains") in the sausage machine, tied, pricked arid cooked in the steamer for 40 minutes. As me meat has been cooked twice by the butcher, all you need to do is reheat it – the ultimate fast food.

• The easiest way to cook haggis is to prick it all over, wrap it in foil and place it in a snug-fitting baking tin in a preheated oven (180C/350F/gas mark 4) for 60 minutes per 500g/1lb 2oz until piping hot. Or remove from its skin, tip into a bowl, cover and microwave for 8-10 minutes, or until hot all the way through.

• Use cold haggis for stuffings. Slit it open, tip out the contents and heat in a covered dish, then serve as stuffing for roast chicken or pheasant. Or use to stuff large flat mushrooms; drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with Parmesan then bake in a hot oven until the mushrooms are tender.

• The classic accompaniment to haggis is tatties (potatoes) and neeps (swede), both mashed with plenty of butter and black pepper; or clapshot, the Orcadian combination of tatties and neeps. Mashed, roasted butternut squash is also excellent.

• lthough a dram is traditional with haggis it is only ever drunk from a glass alongside; dousing whisky over haggis is a sacrilege and a waste of good malt. A gutsy red wine such as an Australian Shiraz, or even a real ale will do the trick.

Editor’s Note: there now – after all that, how can you resist it! Get your tickets early from Valerie and Phemie, or myself by email to Alan Wood.

On Monday 5^th December a few Brownies went with the Leaders to sing carols and Christmas songs to the residents of ‘The Croft’. The residents joined in with the singing and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I was very pleased that Lynne Lewis was able to be there this year. The Brownie visit concluded with some very welcome refreshments.

After many telephone calls we finally received permission for our Brownies to sing carols at Epsom Station on Wednesday, 7^th December. We sang for an hour and were assisted by one of the ticket collectors, Otis, who joined in the singing and even did some collecting for us. We managed to raise the grand total of £232.25p. for the local ‘Riding for the Disabled’’. When we had finished singing we were told that we had transformed the station that evening. We would like to thank the travelling public for their generosity.

Several Brownies will be going to see the pantomime, Cinderella, at Epsom Playhouse at the beginning of January.

Our new term will begin on Wednesday, 11^th January 2006.

To all Newsletter readers,

A peaceful new year

From all at 12^th Epsom brownie Guide Pack

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List of Meeting Dates for the House Group 
meeting at the home of Sheila and George Smith. 
They are:-

16^th January 2006 (To be confirmed)
20^th February
20^th March
24^th April

All are welcome! Please let Sheila or George know if you wish to join this Group

Meetings start at 7.30pm.

The Coffee Morning in December was very generously supported, and a good sum was donated to Tadworth Court.

The next Coffee Morning, on 10^th January, will be in aid of the Lifeboats. Please join us.

Decoration at the Church

The church is very grateful to the Women’s Church Council, especially Joan Davies, for the attractive way in which they had decorated the church for the Christmas Season.

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This was a good occasion, with popular carols and well-chosen readings.  About thirty people attended, all being attached to our church or Ewell church - unfortunately there were no newcomers.  Despite all the publicity, with bright colour posters displayed, local businesses advised and 500+ flyers distributed by a local newsagent, nobody from outside the church was attracted to join in with us.

   
Preparing for the onslaught . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . which did not materialise

It may be that the date was too early, and people were not yet 'in the mood for Christmas'.  This date was chosen as it followed straight after the Kindergarten Nativity play.  However, thought will need to be given to this if we do it again next December.

The Kindergarten

The Kindergarten held their Nativity play on the morning of 6th December.  This was very well supported by parents, all eager to catch the action on a variety of digital cameras.

The arrangement of the rostra suited the children very well.  Brought in by their leaders, they all played their parts well, right down to the bow at the end.  

The play was followed by coffee and mince-pies in Unity Hall.  Louise Kirby took the opportunity to thank everybody for their support for her first Nativity play in charge and for the Kindergarten in general, and the the church for allowing the event to take place in such lovely surroundings.

Re-arranging the rostra for the Kindergarten

Many thanks to all those who arrange flowers in the church in 2005, or made donations to them during the year. Some names have come up two or three times so there have been very few gaps in the flower rota this year.

A new list of dates will be put on Sunday. Some months are very popular, i.e., May and June, so if you want a special week, sign up early.

Again, thanks to everyone who contributed in any way.

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Copy for the next issue should be with the Editor by 22nd January for publication on 29th January 2006.  

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