The December-January copy will be posted at the end of November.
From the Rector
Dear Friends
11 November this year marks the 100thAnniversary of the end of World War I, or the Great War. This war was formative in the creation of the Australian identity as well as being harrowing in the scale of loss. Members of the congregation went to this war: and many never returned. It’s harrowing to know the details of some of those men who went away: Fred Neate who enlisted, then discharged as wounded but enlisted again under another name only to be killed in France, George Schultz, a server here, who went to Gallipoli partly to look after this brother and died there; Stanley Lyons, a churchwarden who also died in the tragedy of that war. This year Armistice Day, 11 November, falls on the Sunday and we will have a special mass here at 9.30 am for peace with a guest preacher Deacon Joe Johns, a former chaplain and American marine, and now living in Clare. There will be prayers at the War Memorial at 11 am.
Besides Fr Joe we have two other guest preachers coming to St George’s in the next few months. For Michaelmas, 30 September, we have Mother Joan Claring Bould. Joan started as a student here with Fr McCall and was then ordained and has had a long ministry in Adelaide, principally as a hospital chaplain. She is also well known for her radio appearances in the small hours of the morning. Then for Christ the King, 25 November we have a newly ordained deacon, Wendy Morecroft, to preach. Wendy used to be a communicant at our midweek masses before her ordination last year and now assists at the Cathedral. She will be the third deacon to preach at St George’s this year: one from Adelaide Diocese, one from Willochra Diocese and one from the Diocese of the Murray.
During September I will also be away for a few weeks on leave so there will be restricted services at St George’s, with no Friday and Saturday masses until my return.
God bless
Fr Scott
Being Prepared – the End of WWI
Rather surprisingly, there is no mention in our records of a mass or other event being held at St George’s to mark the Armistice on 11 November 1918 that ended World War One. Any celebration seems to have been delayed until The Day of Universal Thanksgiving (not to be confused with Peace Day) that took place sometime in May 1919. Fr Wise encouraged his congregation to attend a special thanksgiving mass on that day and to give generously towards the War Memorial that stands in front of our church.
This does not mean that St George’s was not prepared for the peace. The foundation stone for the War Memorial was laid as early as 10 October, 1917 by the governor of the day, Sir Henry Galway. The crucifix, carved in England and put in place a couple of years later, was unveiled by Capt. Blackburn, V.C., M.P. on 25 January, 1920. The final stage was the arrival of the soldier saints, also carved in England, in July 1923. The completed Shrine was unveiled by the then governor, Sir Tom Bridges and blessed by Fr Percy Wise on 11 November, 1923.
A lamp of remembrance was added in 1924 but this disappeared many years ago. The spears held by the two soldier saints are recent, replacing those stolen sometime in the 1950’s.
Emily Harding
Grantchester
On our recent ASA Tour to East Anglia we spent an afternoon in the charming Cambridgeshire village of Grantchester, setting for the recent TV series based on the Sidney Chambers books by James Runcie. Following a visit to the church and old vicarage garden we took tea and scones in the nearby Orchard Tea Rooms, then we were poled back down the river Cam in two large punts to Cambridge.
Rupert Brooke (1887-1915) lived in the village prior to WW1 and from a café in Berlin wrote the poem “The Old Vicarage, Grantchester” which finishes “… stands the church clock at 10 to 3, and is there honey still for tea?” In this poem he recalls picnicking on the river in a sunny pre-war arcadia. The former vicarage where Brooke lodged was purchased by former politician and author Lord Jeffrey Archer and his scientist wife Lady Mary in 1979 as a country retreat, now surrounded by a delightful garden with modern sculpture including a statue of Brooke. Archer made a writing room at the end of the garden out of a ruined building.
James Runcie, son of former Archbishop of Canterbury Robert Runcie sets his stories from 1950 onwards in Grantchester village and nearby Cambridge around the life of vicar Rev. Sidney Chambers, a character loosely based on Runcie’s father, Robert. His interesting mix of pastoral and detective work, working with his friend, Detective Geordie Keating. Many outdoor scenes in the TV series were filmed in the village including the delightful 14thand 15thCentury church of St Andrew and St Mary. Apparently, the filming fees helped repair the church roof.
Having enjoyed the TV series, I found Unley Library had most of the books in print or as eBooks available to borrow, so decided to read them in sequence starting with “Sidney Chambers and the Shadow of Death” written in 2013. With many film adaptations great licence is taken with an author’s original work to suit the shorter and visual format and this is true of the Grantchester mysteries. The original books chart a period of radical change in British society through the eyes of Chambers and his responses to real moral dilemmas, the nature of forgiveness and conflict of loyalties. Runcie does not avoid deep issues and voices an honest examination of Chambers’ faith and reactions to the world around him that is somewhat watered down in the filmed version.
I can highly recommend these books – they are inspirational but also a very good read.
Margaret Heathcote
Remembering our “Daughter Church”
In “The Messenger” of November 1951 it was announced that “This month will end the long association of S. Alban’s Mission, Keswick, with St George’s Goodwood…it is natural to regret the coming separation…Keswick is now an integral part of the new flourishing parish of Glandore, and St Benedict’s Church must become the centre of future loyalty”. Thus ended an association of St Alban’s mission church with St George’s that extended back more than 50 years.
The mission church, known then as the Church of the Ascension, was at first attached to St James’ West Adelaide (later to become St James’ Mile End). A weatherboard structure, it had been erected in 1898 on land given by the Everard family. In about 1900 the oversight of the Church of the Ascension passed to St George’s and in the first issue of “The Messenger” in April 1901 the services listed include those to be held at the Keswick Mission Church. At first Holy Communion was celebrated there only once a month but over time services became more frequent. In the early days Fr Wise had curates to assist him at the Keswick Mission, a ministry for which he was later solely responsible.
Conditions for getting about were primitive. In July 1909 Fr Wise praised the Keswick folk for being regular in their worship in spite of “inclement weather, the terrible condition of the roads and the woeful absence of footpaths”. Fr Wise’s mode of transport to Keswick from early 1913 was by motorbike. He would ride on the footpaths to avoid muddy roads. A story goes that one day he was pulled up by a policeman who said, “You’re riding on the footpath”, to which Fr Wise replied, “Of course I am” and proceeded on his merry way! This was of course well before the days of the motor car. Later on in December 1929 Fr Wise noted with some amazement that there were as many as four cars parked outside St Alban’s on a Sunday morning.
Fr Wise was of the strong opinion that a church should be under the care and protection of a saint, so in May 1918 he announced a name change from “The Church of the Ascension” to the “Church of St Alban”. The Keswick Mission at that time was flourishing with occasionally as many children attending church as there were adults. Twelve months later Fr Wise wrote that “It is good to see the little Church filled Sunday after Sunday with the really devout congregation which assembles there”. But the worshippers were still meeting in a weatherboard building, a fact that as early as 1911 had prompted Fr Wise to move the time of Evensong from 3pm to 7pm during the summer months “a change obvious to those who have ever tried to worship in a wooden building at 3pm on a summer day”, and to propose the erection of a stone church. This idea was re-visited several times over the years and a Building Fund was established, but by 1924 at least 1,000 pounds was required (in October 1926 there was 134 pounds three shillings and one penny in the Building Fund) and what with increasing costs, wartime disruption and the shortage of materials, a stone church never saw the light of day.
Fr Wise considered it a privilege to be the rector of St Alban’s in addition to St George’s. He watched over his little flock at Keswick with great care through various ups and downs. At least two of St George’s parishioners had a connection with St Alban’s – Dorothy and Jim Coulter whom some of you will remember. In 1930, while a student in his last year at St George’s School, Jim offered to do cleaning at St Alban’s. He went on to be an Altar Server there. He was thought of highly by Fr Wise who described him as “one of the best Altar Servers any church ever had”. His wife Dorothy would accompany him to Keswick.
St Alban’s was closed down many years ago, but we are fortunate to have in our possession a tangible memento of our daughter church in the form of a chasuble. It has a finely embroidered depiction of St Alban on the reverse and was made for the Mission by St George’s needlework guild early in the 20thcentury.
MICHAELMAS
Sunday 30 September
8.00 a.m. Mass
9.30 a.m. Procession & Solemn Sung Mass
Preacher: Mother Joan Claring-Bould.
Street Works
We await the final stage of the lights before the War Memorial. They were started to be installed in July, but as at the time of writing there is still some delay by Unley Council for them to be completed.
Computer Needed
We are in need of another Macintosh computer to help with the accounts of the Church – if anyone has a old one that they are prepared to donate, please see Fr Scott.
The Hall
Our hall has now been completely refurbished and is let out to a manager for three years. However, we still have access on Sundays and for our regular activities. The works done are repainting, air-conditioning and a new veranda floor. It was used recently as part of SALA.
Cell of Our Lady of Walsingham
The next meeting of the Cell of Our Lady of Walsingham will be on Saturday 3 November 2018 at 9 am for a mass and shared breakfast at the rectory.
Devotional
“Christ’s yoke is like feathers to a bird; not loads, but helps to motion.”
Bp Jeremy Taylor, died 1667.
Our prayer brings great joy and gladness to our Lord. So he says this, ‘Pray inwardly, even though you find no joy in it. For it does good, though you feel nothing, see nothing, yes, even though you think you cannot pray. For when you are dry and empty, sick and weak, your prayers please me, though there be little enough to please you. All believing prayer is precious to me’”
Julian of Norwich, born c1342.
Christ has no body now, but yours. No hands, no feet on earth, but yours. Yours are the eyes through which Christ looks with compassion on the world. Yours are the feet with which Christ walks to do good. Yours are the hands with which Christ blesses the world.
St Teresa of Avila
CHRIST THE KING
Sunday 25 November
8.00 a.m. Mass
10.30 a.m. Procession & Solemn Sung Mass
Preacher: Deacon Wendy Morecroft
Followed by a shared lunch.
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