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Remembering the Armistice

To view the Rector’s sermon reflecting on the end of the First World War, click here.

An accompanying poem written by Stewart’s friend, who writes under the name Johnny Precious:

Quite glad of the war

I was quite glad of the war;
we had comrades, friends,
shared quick talk of motors,
at afternoon tea,
in the shade of the Summer sun.

Somehow, life was simple then:
treats were tobacco, jam, coffee – sleep,
music and song;
the arrival of a letter,
carrying stamps and love
from those you’d left behind;
and, sometimes,
parcels bore snacks!

We would sleep out
under the night stars:
there was a kind of glamour
to being a soldier.

You’d pray to God
for King, for country,
for His gifts
of faith, hope and love –
and the preservation
of life itself, of course.

You’d think of
your girl back home,
whom you’d met out dancing,
and, after some romancing,
married quick.
You hoped simply
to hold her
in your arms once more –
but, you never knew,
you never knew.

When that sweet victory
came at last,
the streets were crowded with folk,
their flags and voices raised,
cheering,
waving,
sighing with relief –
I can still hear those sighs now.

You always thought that
war was the enemy,
but, when war passed,
you realised the enemy
might be peacetime:
people stopped talking with one another;
they didn’t listen.
Sometimes, I would think,
even if I could release tears,
I wouldn’t know who or what
to cry for –
but, then,
you didn’t cry.

O, the violence, the horror
of lifeless boys scattered in fields –
cold, lonely,
and so far from home;
the terror
of booming guns
(deafening they were),
the sight of blood and mud,
friends felled by shells –
what grief,
what gore,
what glory.

Men suffering, dying,
shot, burned, maimed,
poisoned, gassed;
whizzes, bangs, planes in the air –
bombarded from everywhere we were,
lost in moments so surreal that
we scarce knew they existed,
but they did.

And I remember
the pangs of hunger,
the thirst;
those shells – their sudden bursts
were like intervals in a play
whose acts were, in the main,
long, the same, boring, mundane.

How I wished it were a play,
I certainly knew the scenes:
gaping ruins and lands,
that once were the very hive of communities
lay now empty,
bereft of life.
I saw the devastation,
not just of towns and cities,
but lives, human lives:
our men;
our women;
our children.

O the wounds of war run deep:
my heroes, our brightest and our best –
all they had prayed for
was peace and their daily bread.

The bodies of those brave boys,
I see them even today:
for the end of that war
was not the end of the war for me:
they are ever in my heart.

Copyright Johnny Precious www.pintofpoetry.com – more Remembrance poetry is available at his webitse, audio readings by me in the “Films” section.

To read a poem written by our bugler, describing our Remembrance Sunday commemoration click here

Mission Community Latest News

Our ecumenical Mission Community, part of the God for All initiative was successfully launched on 17th June.  Here’s a photo of us eating the excellent scones served at the event!

The Mission Community Council

Since the launch, in order to facilitate the establishment of the Mission Community an ecumenical council has been established.  The purpose of the council is to help local churches share in Christian mission in their local communities.  It’s aim is to encourage and support the local church, rather than to centralise power. We are keeping its membership to a workable minimum in order to avoid tying everyone up in meetings, but where it is appropriate to invite others to join us for a particular item of business, we will do so.  We also want to make ourselves as open and accountable as possible.  For that reason we will:

• Try to circulate a brief news bulletin after every meeting;
• Make ourselves accountable to the Methodist Circuit Meeting and the Anglican Deanery Synod.

The members of the Council are: Rev’d Stewart Fyfe, Rural Dean of Appleby Deanery; Rev’d Stephen RadfordMethodist Circuit Superintendent Minister; Glenda Burtonand Jim Walker, Methodist Circuit Stewards; Sue Wigley, Anglican Deanery Lay Chair; John Tillotson, Chair of the united Area Steering Group; Rev’d Andrew Sterling, Methodist Minister; Rev’d Peter Boyles, Associate Priest for the Heart of Eden Anglican parishes; Joyce Keetley, the Mission Community Office Manager and Father Peter Houghton, Roman Catholic Priest from Our Lady of Appleby. Donald Marsden, representing the Baptist Church is also invited to meetings along with Avril Swinbank Methodist administrator.

Rev’d Sarah Moore, president of the United Reformed Church in Cumbria will also be joining the group as a critical friend and consultant.

Report from First Two Meetings of the Mission Community Council

Two meetings were held in October.  The first meeting on 1^stOctober was led by Archdeacon Lee Townend in his capacity as Ecumenical Officer for the County, to facilitate the appointment of a Mission Community leader.  Following discussions with church leaders, it was agreed Rev’d Stewart Fyfe would be the first leader of the Heart of Westmorland Mission Community. The leadership, however, will be shared by the whole council and part of our job in the first few years is to consider what model of leadership might be appropriate in the longer term, e.g. is it better to have a lay person as leader, or a shared leadership?

At our second meeting on 15^thof October the Council was joined by Rev’d Jane Maycock from Cumbrian Christian Learning to plan some ‘Moving Forward Workshops’ to help a wider range of people form the Mission Community to become involved in its shaping and development.

These Workshops which will be led by members of the CCL team, will take place during 2019. Anyone who is keen to be involved in planning for the future and the exciting developments ahead, can come along to the workshops. The workshops will provide a platform for the wider church community to be involved in planning for the future. There will be four workshops in all starting early 2019. These will be advertised in the coming months.

 Future Business

Our key future business will include: bringing the Mission Community together in prayer; encouraging planning for joint missionin the Mission Community; and finding ways to explore Theologytogether to encourage a deeper understanding of our common life and our diversity.   Our next meeting is on 22 November.

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Contact us
General enquiries can be sent to info@northwestmorlandchurches.org.uk or you can have a look at the Ministry Team page or the People page to find the best person to contact.

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