St. Andrew's Church

How to contact the Benefice

For all Benefice Business please ring 01454 260096 and leave a message, or email

The Office will usually be open from 12:00 noon until 15:00 Thursdays when messages and emails will be dealt with.

If you would like to make an appointment to speak to Rev. Jenny phone 01453 890384. You might need to leave a message and she will return your call as soon as possible. For more urgent matters you can try Rev. Jenny's mobile: 07540 322744.

There is a letter box on the gate at Falfield Village Hall where you can leave letters for the Benefice and Rev. Jenny or articles for 5Alive, although emailed items would be much preferred. If articles are put in the box:

(a) they should be clearly labelled either Benefice Secretary OR 5 Alive
(b) the box is unlikely to be emptied on a daily basis, so bear that in mind when dropping items off.

St. Andrew's has a new website - please check it out: www.saintandrewscromhall.org.uk

5Alive

5Alive is the Benefice newsletter for Falfield, Tortworth, Tytherington, Rockhampton and Cromhall.

Click here to download the January 2012 5Alive

Photocopying

You are welcome to have photocopying done, (for a small charge to cover costs) during office hours, but we would ask that you give us a call first as we will sometimes be doing long runs of printing, since we will now be printing 5Alive and will not be able to help you immediately if you just call in.

We can copy A4 or A3 and usually have coloured paper available, enlarge or reduce originals and do other clever things!

Family History

We have had a number of enquiries from folk tracing their family history. We do not hold any records (apart from current ones) in the Benefice.

They are all held at the Gloucester Records Office, who if they are contacted beforehand will assist.

Email:
Website: www.gloucestershire.gov.uk/archives

Weekday Eucharists

These are running, with Tytherington and Tortworth alternating each week. See the weekly newsletter for details.

The Clergy and the readers are glad to bring Holy Communion to the home for anyone unable to get to church: Please ring Rev Jenny on 01453 890384 if you would like one of the team to come to you.

Cromhall 100 Club

We are now into our third year and doing well. Membership for the year is £10 per number. There are four quarterly draws for £30, £20 and £10 plus a Christmas and Easter draw for £50. Enquire at Cromhall Shop.

Please pay your £10 subscription per number to any member of Cromhall PCC or hand it in at Cromhall Village Shop.

All profits from the sale of membership go towards the care and upkeep of St Andrew’s Church.

Bell-ringing vacancies

Would you be sad if Cromhall Church Bells no longer rang out on Sunday mornings and for weddings?

Unless new people are willing to learn to ring, this may well happen.

Cromhall ringers practice on Monday evenings between 7.30 and 9pm. If you are interested in learning to ring and would be available on Sunday mornings to ring for most church services, either turn up on a Monday evening or call Peggy Collett on 01454 294545 for more details.

Anyone over the age of 11 until you can no longer climb stairs is able to learn. Rising 11 year olds are not covered by insurance but are able to learn if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Pewsheet

As we join together in our new pattern of services, it is important that news is still available, so please consider receiving the pewsheet by email - just drop Fiona an email: to be added to the distribution list.

Easyfundraising.com

St Andrew's Church has set up an online shopping facility through Easyfundraising.com, where you can generate income for the Church merely by using all the usual online stores via our Easyfundraising portal.

Click here to visit www.easyfundraising.org.uk/standrewscromhall

Julian Trust

St Andrew's Church has a box in the church porch for donations to be taken to the Julian Trust, which urgently needs tinned goods (especially meat and sausages), toiletries and toilet rolls and warm men's clothing including socks and gloves.

Several of the church members do a duty there either on an evening to prepare a meal or to supervise the guests overnight and prepare breakfast.

Anyone interested in joining the volunteers rota would be very welcome. Contact Peggy Collett on 294545.

The Reverend William Frank Burlton

Born in 1912, his twin brother George died at birth, Bill had polio as a child and his father was killed in the First World War, leaving his mother as a young widow to bring up Bill and his younger brother, Harold, alone. He recovered well from the polio but it left him with a permanent limp. These early struggles gave him great strength of mind and enormous sympathy with other people.

He worked first as a printer and then studied for the priesthood with the evacuated Kings College, London, during the Second World War, whilst also being a member of the Fire Service in Bristol and Bath. After the war he became a curate at Northleach, then priest-in-charge at Hewelsfield and curate at St Briavels before moving to Cromhall where he spent the next thirty years as the parish priest and assistant chaplain of Leyhill Prison. In addition he also became priest-incharge of Tortworth and Rural Dean.

On retirement he moved with his wife, Marjorie, to Marazion in Cornwall to be near their son Christopher and his family.

While there he took services in almost every church and chapel in the area until he was physically unable to continue.

He sat on committees, on local councils, he was a Scout Commisssioner, a governor of several schools, a church bellringer and chaplain to the local ringers guild and always, always, always, in whatever capacity, he was at the service of his fellow human beings. It did not matter to Bill whether the person he was dealing with was a roadmender, an obstreperous toddler, a juvenile delinquent, a housewife, a murderer, a duchess, a farmer, a good Christian or the village drunk – if they were a person he loved them even if he deplored what they had done, but he did not judge, simply tried to love them enough to lead them into the right path.

He was never narrow in his Christianity, taking services from behind the bar of the village pub when they wanted to celebrate harvest there and from a roundabout when a Steam Fair was held in the Rectory field. When pop music began attracting the attention of the young he did not condemn but invited them into church to play and sing during the service.

Indeed it was he who hosted the service at Tortworth at which Roy Hudd and the George Mitchell Minstrels performed.

His sermons were legendary for the singularity of both content and delivery; while the meaty Christian message was always there it was served up in a palatable and enjoyable manner. Who else, wishing to impress the virtues of perseverance on a congregation of Boy Scouts in Gloucester cathedral, would have taken “Incey Wincey Spider” as the text of the sermon?

In all this he was ably seconded by Marjorie, his wife for 63 years, who brought to their partnership the necessary practical qualities while sharing his faith and his service to anyone who needed it.

He is survived by Marjorie, his children Mary and Christopher, daughter-in-law Gill and grandchildren Naomi, Robert and Thomas.