Rowley Villagers~The Way It Used To Be

At the end of June, in this our Centenary Year, Rowley’s Open the Book Team welcomed pupils from Blackheath Primary School into Church to help them make connections with the Rowley of 100 years ago. Letters of appreciation expressed the success of the venture

So here we are, Joyce Walker behind the counter of a local shop, Paul and Isobel Byrne getting ready for a tough day in school, Olwyn Plant getting ready for ‘knocking’ the house over, Emma Cartwright and Gwen Sidaway in their Sunday best, and that’s Paul again … he just had to pop into the shop to buy the loaf of bread, lastly David Walker and Tony Comfort off to the Quarry to chip away at stones for the road.

Rowley Villagers Or The Way It Used To Be

Bayley’s Post Office

Although I wasn’t around, most definitely wasn’t around ,a 100 years ago Bayley’s Post Office was and spending my sixpence at the sweetie counter was the highlight of my early years. All sorts went on in the post office including grinding coffee beans. Turning the steep corner, by the telephone box. walking down the even steeper Springfield Lane took me home to number 68 the ‘cottage’ where I was born. Both the Bayley Brothers were members of St Giles Church both were PCC members. And, both used to call it Rowley Church … not Saint Giles. Everyone knew the Church on the Hill as Rowley Church, with pride because every single body in Rowley contributed in ways small and large to rebuild it following the fire in 1913 which razed it to the ground.

Time does not stand still, outside the boundary wall new houses are being built in more or less exactly where houses remembered in my childhood, were demolished less than 50 years ago.

The Open the Book Team visit our local primary school nearly every week during Term Time, they present the stories from the Bible and share with children the precious news that we have a Father in Heaven who loved the world so much that He sent His Son Jesus to live amongst us as a Villager who worked in a Carpenters Shop.

Rowley and the lives of its people go on, the Church on the Hill reaches up to the sky, although the streets around us, the buildings come and go and of a necessity the present building will also change… but the Home. The Dwelling Place which God has prepared for us will never change…meantime, Open The Book Team, Reverend John and the whole church family have a “foundation” to build on.

By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ

1 Cor. 10. 11

Memorabilia and Way Stones

Celebrating the Coronation of King Charles III – Photos courtesy Yvonne Owen

Carole Annetts Vera Round

6th May 2023 was celebrated in many and and varied ways, why should the Black Country and our Parish Church be any different, after all we do proudly boast our small Royal Connections to the Monarchy dating back to 1199. Yvonne Pictured with Barbara her mum and my adopted mum, in the middle picture, top row took the photos and made the kingly cup cakes, Isobel bottom row, middle helped us to wave the flag with the deliciously edible Union Jack 🇬🇧 cake crowned with strawberries. The flower girls Carole and Vera made sure Church was fittingly adorned with flowers, Vera took time and care to produce the embroidered design and, Barrie, well Barrie fleet of foot took part in a “Run” with other members of his family and dashed to join us just in time to help eat up last crumbs.

What a lovely Sunday afternoon in the Church Hall for our Church Family, Messy Church and others…

“We will do it again, wont we Miss?” Said Rosy the Churchyard Mouse, her little belly, just a little rounder.

And we all said!”

YES!

https://www.facebook.com/stgilesrowleyregis

Please take a look at St Giles Face Book Page for more photos of the Coronation weekend which falls in the 100th year of the present Buildings, This is 4th Building on the Top of the Hill with its own tales to tell, the last 100 years have seen many changes, many comings, goings, laughter and tears, sunshine, rain .. God has remained faithful through all. And it is our intention to remain faithful to him

Yvonne’s photos, Vera’s Embroidery, will remain with us, the cake, the wine? Well let’s just say we won’t forget them. Neither will we forget those we shared these things with, and who joined in the Shout, “God Save the King” The photos, embroidery, memorabilia mark the passage into a new age just as the centennial year does. We are moving forward. Perhaps 🤔 a little unsure, we don’t know what the future may bring, but as people of faith we are moving forward leaving behind our own Memorabilia and Way Stones.

Joshua 4:19-24

19 The people came up out of the Jordan on the tenth day of the first month, and they camped in Gilgal on the eastern border of Jericho.²⁰Those twelve stones, which they had taken out of the Jordan, Joshua set up in Gilgal, ²¹saying to the Israelites, ‘When your children ask their parents in time to come, “What do these stones mean?” ²²then you shall let your children know, “Israel crossed over the Jordan here on dry ground.” ²³For the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan for you until you crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea,^*which he dried up for us until we crossed over, ²⁴so that all the peoples of the earth may know that the hand of the Lord is mighty, and so that you may fear the Lord your God for ever.’

Israelites Crossing the Jordan River- Drawing by Gustav Dore (1832-1883)

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Gilgal with its standing stones was a place where Israel gathered together where God was honoured, worshipped. Church is a place where the followers of Jesus (Yeshua) gather together and finding strength and grace from Him March forward and upward, ever upward..

The people of God are a people of faith. Our God is King reigning from before time and beyond all time. He, is the only Ruler of Princes we shout “God Save the King” it is God who hears and answers prayer and that is the Witness of Saints in Heaven and saints on Earth. Salvation is of Christ the Lord.

We are marching, marching.
Forward, forward in Jesus Name.
For we too would share a crown;
Thorns twisted, piercing,
Wounding and scarring
Our Kings brow are become
Our Crown of Glory Now.

February

Snowdrops in the Churchyard

To A Snowdrop

Lone Flower, hemmed in with snows and white as they
But hardier far, once more I see thee bend
Thy forehead, as if fearful to offend,
Like an unbidden guest. Though day by day,
Storms, sallying from the mountain-tops, waylay
The rising sun, and on the plains descend;
Yet art thou welcome, welcome as a friend
Whose zeal outruns his promise! Blue-eyed May
Shall soon behold this border thickly set
With bright jonquils, their odours lavishing
On the soft west-wind and his frolic peers;
Nor will I then thy modest grace forget,
Chaste Snowdrop, venturous harbinger of Spring,
And pensive monitor of fleeting years!

William Wordsworth 1819

I spent happy moments this morning browsing in the parish churchyard. True the churchyard shows it’s age but it is that time of the year when it also shows the young buds of spring, although the old and twisted trees are starkly bare against the blue sky now in a little while, and it is a very little while, green buds will begin to burst, daffodils will be showing their yellows, even this morning buds were beginning to rise from their green bladed sheathes. Blue crocus are clustered here and there, in a very little while hazel catkins will wave their flags too, as Spring blows her trumpet, sounding reveille.

So good afternoon friends in Rowley and much farther afield, whatever you may be doing, and whatever plans you are making for the weeks ahead, we wish you well from St Giles and Rowley, happiness in the planning and the doing.

The snowdrops are lifting up their heads amongst the debris of winter and this brings to mind the rubble, twisted, collapsed buildings of Turkey/Syria

The tragic, devastating loss of life and destruction caused by the earthquake in Turkey/Syria is in everyone’s mind, and causes us to tremble at just the thought of the loss, whole families, parents separated from children… it is a pain and grief we can feel even at so great a distance. The snowdrops bring to my own mind other times of disaster and loss and off struggle to break through heaviness and difficulty… always there is the thought when I see snowdrops raising their heads of the difficulties these tiny venturous harbingers have in pushing up from the earth and into the light…. But they do, and so we pray will the people of Turkey and Syria. That is all we can do and give to the relief agencies what we can, trusting that God will use our gifts and many hands to work miracles with them.

Lord,

There is a grief, and a loss,

Which we cannot frame in words,

Even in prayer, to Thee, dearest friend,

But look, here is our prayer,

Caught in the tear drops which fall,

Accept our tears, Lord,

And lift up the heads of those who mourn

Those who survive,

Comfort them and give them strength to rebuild,

To survive the storms of grief, pain, loss.

Lord help them to lift up their heads.

Amen

Prayer from one if St Giles Intercessors

Looking Back and Looking Forwards

Since the reign of King John, Rowley has had a church on top of the hill, sadly we “have been a little clumsy” as former Church Warden Ken Hadley used to put it, and managed to lose 3 buildings the one we now have is our 4th .. almost, but not quite 100 years old.

Since the days of Henry VIII, St Giles has enjoyed the privilege of being able to clothe its Servers and Singers in Red, since a cousin of Henry, Isabella used to take Mass here, Henry kindly granted us the honour of being a Royal Chapel.

Plans are now are now being made for the celebration of the buildings 100th year but before then, we shall, of course be marking Her Majesty’s Platinum Jubilee, over the Jubilee weekend 4/5th June.

Previous Occasions of Celebration

And never to be forgotten Mrs Kathleen Harris with her invitation to receive Maundy Money from our much younger queen. Over very many years, Mary as she was known raised many thousands of pounds for Charitable Causes including the Childrens’ Society and Cancer Research. She was also our Church Hall Secretary from its opening of doors in the 1950s until no longer mobile and even then hosted Hall Committee Meetings in her home, with her successor Pat Dyas tucking her up for the night before we all left… R.I.P. Mary you were a Queen yourself.

The photograph is old, copied from a newspaper clipping, please excuse the quality … Mary deserved her place in our Church History and the place she still occupies in many hearts.

Mary Harris with her Maundy Invitation

We look back…

We look forward..

But always our prayer…

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN

Congratulations!

Bethany and her Ben

August and for the first time in over 18 months the Bells rang out to express their joy as weddings returned to Rowley. This is Bethany Johnson and her Benjamin Davies married on the 21st August. The photographs appear with permission

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day’s
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Familiar words from Elizabeth Barrett Browning 1806-1861 and which seem appropriate for this post both for Beth and Ben and for the other 3 couples who married here in August.

Married on the 7th August …. Keith and Joanne Cutler

Married on the 14th August …. Gary and Zowie Cooper

Married on the 28th August …. James and Jodie Drew

Congratulations to you all may your years together be blessed, your joys many and your troubles few from all of the St Giles family with love and prayers.

One of the favourite posts on Tides and Tidings, still receiving many visits in a year is “Remembering Saint Mabel, well it just so happens that Beth was one of Mabel’s well loved girls.

Mabel and two of her lovely girls

Happy Bridesmaids

Happy Bride

And, a word from an Angel,

“Write this: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb’ And he said to me, “These are the true words of God”

Revelation 19.9 (E.S.V.)

The Day We Met Again

Today some of St Giles family attended a short service in church for the first time since closure under Pandemic Measures. It was a strange experience with no hymns sung, and a wave replacing a handshake, hug or kiss at the Peace. But it was good. Very good to see much loved faces finally. Not virtually but in real life time.

So much was said in that wave! So much expressed in carefully, socially distanced conversations out in the open air afterwards…. Just a precious few minutes.  The first photo is St Giles, it was taken on a sunny, I think spring day.  St Giles is not a rich church, Rowley folk have never been rich. The rebuilders in the early 1920s. Following the Great War would have been hard pressed to feed their families, let alone raise money to rebuild a burnt out shell, but the miracle is they did! Inspired by the Revd. Cheverton, they rolled up sleeves and set to work

St Giles on a sunny day

Our new Vicar, Revd John Bridge met, at a distance some of his new congregation for the first time this morning. There were no fanfares blown at his induction…our lovely plans all shelved by Coronovirus… the documents were signed in front of a video camera with carefully chosen prayers and words from Arch Deacon Jenny Tomlinson, witnessed by Parish Representatives Yvonne Owen and Ken Hadley online at home.

Such an inauspicious beginning to a ministry?

But was it?

Witnessing happy people arriving this morning and the sheer determination on the part of many just to be there and just to get started again I am minded that the Rowley Spirit is engaging with the Holy Spirit in a new, fresh way. At the moment it feels like we are one with our great grandfather’s and mothers, every bit determined to pick out the best bricks, the children of the 1920s actually did this, out of the rubble, and begin again.

But, oh I did miss the singing.

Duke of Hereford Knob.. Eric Ravilious 1938

This painting depicts a Baptist Chapel at Capel-y-ffin, Powys, Wales. Where I imagine no singing in church quite an unheard of thing.  But it is the melody that’s ringing in our hearts that is the most important thing

In my heart there rings a melody,

There rings a melody with heaven’s harmony:

In my heart there rings a melody:

There rings a melody of love.

Ellen M Roth (Redemption Hymnal?

One day Coronovirus will be consigned to history but we are told and it is our faith, that three things will remain forever:

These three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

St Paul: 1 Corinthians 13. 13

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Lord, so loving this world you gave your only dear Son, who laid down His life so that we might have life and enjoy Your Presence for ever –

Grant to us, in these uncertain times

The certainty of your love holding us and all whom we love, safe in the palm of your hand.

We give you thanks for today and all we have shared it with and for the Bread which truly comes down from Heaven

Amen

Tides and Tidings

Happy Easter Spelt Out

Revd. Barrie Spells it out

Coronavirus couldn’t keep St Giles from sharing in the Good News of Easter.

Reverend Barrie Roberts also known as the +Bosun= recorded his own special Easter Card, (st home) and here it is posted with love…

Happy. Easter from Revd Barrie, Revd John Bridge, Revd Carole, Rosy Mouse, Yvonne and all of the church family of St Giles Rowley Regis.

Coming Soon

Reverend John Bridge, Siobhan and Bradley

Well, the waiting is nearly over.

On The Evening of 26th March at 7:30pm, John will be Instituted by the Rt. Revd. Anne Hollinghurst, Bishop of Aston and Inducted by The Venerable Jenny Tomlinson, Archdeacon of Birmingham as Vicar of Rowley

John continues a very long line of Vicars of Rowley, and we are so happy about this that Rowley’s 8 Bells will peal out a welcome and Rowley’s ladies are planning a feast. There may be just room to squash a few more in to witness John taking his Oaths, and receiving the Key of the door and then as befits the Vicar of Rowley ring the Tenor Bell on the 26th.

A little about John

John was born in Plymouth, but most of his childhood was spent in Bognor Regis. He had various jobs in retail management, before being called to the Ministry, after Ordination John served his curacy at All Saints , Four Oaks (Sutton Coldfield) and then, at Emmanuel, Wylde Green (still Sutton Coldfield) for 6 years

He is married to Siobhan, who is also a vicar, and they have a 13 year old son, Bradley, plus a 16 month old Labrador, three cats, two chickens and a hamster!

Rosy the Churchyard Mouse just squeaked at the mention of 3 cats. But is quite looking forward to the 26th and Sunday the 29th March ~

John celebrates his Communion and preaches his first Sermon as Rowley’s Vicar at 10:15am on the 29th March when we will be joined by our friends the Congregations of St Paul’s, Blackheath and St James, Rounds Green. Join us for this Service, when there will be more time for Rowley folk to meet their new Vicar. A Vicar who is not just coming for us, regular Sunday Pew Fillers but for everyone in Rowley.

No wonder Rosy and Fred Mouse are excited,

Just think of the cake! Really these Mice’s favourite meditation focus is cake! Their little bright jewel eyes are just glowing right now. Cake it’s just the thought…..

Ahem!

No wonder Student Voice, over at St Michael’s School are getting prepared….

Rowley, please get excited with us.

Come and meet your New Vicar …

Waiting for The Carol Service

Once upon a time, I used to sing in the choir. In my day we wore white surplice, violet robe with ladies and girls sporting a three cornered hat. The small ones, girls and boys wore a frilly ruff and hated them!

Times change and St Giles Singers no longer sport the traditional garb, although always smartly turned out; and boys and girls no longer tug at ruffs, but the singing is angelic and I am waiting patiently for Sunday Evening’s  9 Lessons and Carols. 

This year I haven’t been able to sit in on the Singing Practices so there will be surprises, but no surprise can equal the one given  the shepherds out in the fields when the angel of the Lord showed up. Smelly Shepherds, in that day were held in as much respect as those who live on the streets today, unprepared,  ( we use that word in our Communion Service ~ “our hearts were unprepared”) wearing grubby apparel, sleeping in the open doing nothing to enhance their appearance, those shepherds were the last people expecting the Angel of the Lord, yet appear He did, together with a multitude of heavenly beings, praising God and saying,

“Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace among those with whom He is pleased” (Luke 2:14] (E.S. V)

I look forward to the Carol Service, and unprepared as I am, to seeing peace reigning on the earth.

Lord, I  pray for gentlenes, and your strength to be forgiving.  Lord Jesus  I ask for patience that I might understand and the blessing of endurance like yours to stand for all things that are just, and right, holy and good that I may know your peace and praise God aright all my days.Amen

(Image Pixabay)

Towards Christmas

St Giles Church, Rowley Regis circa 1840

My friend Ken, often says Rowley folk have been a little careless with their churches, because we have had 4 churches on the top of the hill since 1199, that’s a long time, since before Magna Carta was signed, there has been a church on the hill, and even before the church was built a churchyard. We are coming to the end of 2017, frosty nights and mornings begin to make their presence felt and the churchyard trees are almost stripped bare; the crab apples have disappeared into squirrel larders, or maybe visiting badgers have enjoyed midnight picnics.

It seems strange, looking at this old drawing, that once upon a time, there were no trees; and so few gravestones, back in those days, Rowley was a village with very few houses, the tall building on the right, we called the ‘Mansion House’ when I was growing up – it wasn’t demolished until the early 1970s – all things change. Time doesn’t stand still, but I would like to think that tomorrow’s children will still have trees, that blue-tits, robins, woodpeckers and a friendly owl will still be around, and that the present 4th Church will still be playing host for School Carol Services, that the great tenor bell cast in Tudor times will still be calling out welcome to visitors to the Christmas Midnight Service, and that loving hands will be making a Holly Crown for the Advent Candles.

Who knows what the years may bring? It’s December 1st  and Joyce Walker is taking a winter break, dreaming a dream, that our old churchyard, and long forgotten stories will spring to new life as The Living Churchyard Project unfolds – but first the Winter,  Carols, Christmas the Snow. 

Is this really Santa?  Maybe Larry Emms, St Giles neighbour and friend knows?

“Thank you Larry, Terry, and the, so very many, more Rowley friends who came to visit the Christmas Fayre in the Church Hall – you helped raise £1679 towards keeping the children warm as they visit church over Christmas.”  ~ from The Churchwardens, (Yvonne and Jean) and the Elves.