2011 May 29 « Paxtonvic’s Blog

Scenes from parish life

Saturday’s weddng – Paul and Kalu at Little Paxton Church. What a joy to be with them and their family and friends from all over the world….

The champers was very nice afterwards ….. it softened the blow of Man United loosing to Barcelona….

This wrought iron holder has been in the chancel at St James I imagine for some time, but of late with nothing in it. But Kalu decorated the church very simply with glass bowls on the window ledges – and we came up with the idea of putting one into the holder – here it is complete with candle. It looked lovely….

Meanwhile, at Great Paxton a few hours before….

A keen audience of people from our Deanery listened intently as Scilla Latham, the Ely Diocesan Churches Support Officer told us about the many imaginative projects taking place in the Cambridgeshire/Norfolk area which are making churches more flexible in use. Once upon a time many activites took place in the nave of the building…until Georgiana nd Victorian pews made all that very difficult. We spent some time talking about pews….in or out??

Rogation Sunday……. started in a lovely way for Paxtonvic. One of our ladies in Little Paxton church, Pauline, has made a charming cot quilt with Noah’s ark pictures on…. and to raise funds for our CHUFT project, I agreed to sell it on e-bay for her, which I did. I had an e-mail from the lady who bid for it and won to say it would be for her infant son who has problems with his eyesight…. we never know when we make something, or say something or do something quite who it might effect and help in positive ways. Here is Pauline with her quilt at Great Paxton Church.

After a magnificent lunch with a GP family ( lots of thinking about what our next project in church should be – effective heating has got to be top of the list!) back to Little Paxton to meet a family who gather from different parts of the country at LP churchyard once a year in May to remember a young family member, Paul, who died 52 years ago in a local childrens home then called Riversfield House.

It is still there, in a poor state now, in the midst of the new Mill Lane site development. Whether it will be pulled down and apartments build on the site or whether it will be refurbished I dont know – I got conflicting stories today from folk I met on the site. After prayers and thoughts in the churchyard we went over to look at Riversfield House until the family took leave and I spent some time walking round the new pathways of the development.

And then back at home, some time in the garden and watering my plants

My day actually started listening to Radio 4 just after 8.00am and the endless acrimonious debate about Gay Bishops and priests in the Church of England What makes me sad and cross is that whilst every day parish life would never hit the headlines, the ongoing tensions within the wider church do – and to my mind are given far more importance than they deserve. If anyone wants to read a balanced and informative opinion on this topic, try reading the “Church Mouse” Blog entry for May 28th 2011

http://churchmousepublishing.blogspot.com/

Tomorrow – who knows…. thats what I love about this way of life!

May 29, 2011 Posted by paxtonvic | Uncategorized | Leave a comment

About Annette

Greetings to everyone who finds ” Paxtonvic” blog.

Paxtonvic is The Revd Canon Annette Reed, Vicar of Little and Great Paxton with Diddington and since February 2014 minister-in-charge of Southoe in Cambridgeshire near to St Neot’s. I have also been Rural Dean of St Neots since 2007.

( I’m the one on the right!)

Do come in and explore Paxtonvic.

You will find information about church and village life of Little Paxton, Great Paxton, Diddington and Southoe as well as St Neots and the surrounding villages.

I have another blog just about Great Paxton: http://www.greatpaxtononline.wordpress.com

If you feel moved to do so, please leave a comment. Its easy to do that – just click on ” comment” at the bottom of each entry and a little box comes up which you can type in.

If you would rather just read about St James Church at Little Paxton, please go to :

http://www.littlepaxtonchurch.org.uk

You can also follow St James Church on Face Book at:

http://www.facebook.com/St JamesChurchLittlePaxton.

st james little paxton

St James Church at Little Paxton

A little bit about me.

I was born Annette Richings in Tuckton Nursing Home near to Bournemouth in July 1954. Building had connections in past years with Leo Tolstoy and his secret printing press and I am grateful to recent contributors who have sent me more information about this interesting piece of history.

Some of my earliest memories are of being on Boscombe sands, playing in the waves and pulling on the penny fruit machines with my Grandad Will Trimby helping me. We moved to Portsmouth when I was 9 years old and here is me at Portsmouth Grammar School c 12yrs old.

little me

In 1966 we moved to Oxford and it was there that I fell in love with the Church of England as we lived in Christ Church College where my father was a lodge porter. I used to go to Oxford Cathedral most days for Evensong sung by the Cathedral Choir and developened a deep love for english choral music and the gentle spirituality of the regular offices.

I also used to sing as a teenager at St Mary Magdalene Church in Oxford City, a church with a distinct high church tradition which also infomed my explorations of the Christian faith.

If I had to define my ” churchmanship” ( always seemed a strange word to me) I would say I am a Liberal Anglican who appreciates both the best of Ango-catholic tradtions and the passion and conviction of Evangelicals. I trained for Church of England Ministry at The Queens College in Birmingham and was deaconed in Coventry Cathedral in 1987. Priesting followed in 2004.

I served as curate at Clifton-upon-Dunsmore near to Rugby and later at Walsgrave parish, both in Coventry Diocese. After three years in Hinckley, Leicestershire, I had eight wonderful years as Team Vicar in the Bosworth and Sheepy Benefice, looking after the Sheepy Group of five churches.

In 2006 I moved to The Paxtons and became Rural Dean of St Neots in 2007.

I was honoured to be made a Canon of Ely Cathedral in May 2014.

I love all the contact we have with young families and children and one of events I most enjoy is the Tots and Carer’s group at Little Paxton every Wednesday morning and being part of Great Paxton School as a governor and taking assemblies there.

I delight in welcoming people into our church commuities who ever and however they are. I am pleased when people enjoy coming to worship of any kind, but am equally at home out about and getting involved in village life. I am passionate about church buildings – both in respect of their architecture and also in regards as to how they may be adapted/re-ordered to serve their communities better. I like to think of myself as a bit of a local historian and run two history groups in the Paxtons.

I love plants and tending the vicarage garden. I have a rescue greyhound called Polly who lives with me and often look after my son’s lurcher dog called Charlie. I have two children, Mike who is a teacher locally and Adele a student in Coventry.

Polly my rescue Greyhound.