The service had been written by Christian women of Palestine this year. They urged us to bear with one another in love, something that must be very difficult in their present circumstances. The choir sang and the church had a lovely decoration which reflected this theme. The service was led by Anne and there was tea and coffee afterwards. After the service today we celebrated the birthday of Carol one of our stewards who turns 70 this week. This was done in style with a cake at our post service tea and coffee meeting.
Our service of candlelit carols was led by Rev Nick Jones and supported by the choir who sang a new version of "Little Donkey" for the congregation as their finale. Lessons and carols were sung and we thank all those who read so ably for us. This year we had new LED flicker candles but still maintained tradition with proper burning candles on the side tables. We even had a special playlet where the Angels in Heaven discussed the coming of Jesus and decided to descend and view proceedings. Mince pies and festive treats were washed down with tea and coffee afterwards in the school room. Merry Christmas to you all. The church looks lovely with the flowers and the local produce and many people have donated dried and packet food for the foodbank collection. The service was led by Jill and lots of others helped with readings but especially Libby who gave a heartfelt speech about what it is like to be a modern dairy farmer. It put their jobs into perspective to help the rest of us understand the magnitude of the work these independent farmers complete day in and day out. ‘Our Life on the Farm’
Jill asked me if I would give a brief run through of our life on the farm, and in a moment of weakness I said “yes”, I just cant say NO to Jill ! No two days are ever the same, there are good days and bad days, so here is just an insight into our small traditional family farm. We have a herd of 120 pedigree Ayrshire cows which are bred and reared on the farm alongside 180 young stock – some dairy, some beef cattle. On average each cow produces 7000 litre of milk every year, but for a cow to milk she has to calve every year. Cows love nothing more than to calve in the early hours of the morning. Fortunately my husband Andrew has perfected the art of getting in and out of bed without disturbing me but occasionally he needs extra help. Seeing the birth of a new life is one of the greatest joys – one of which I don’t think I will ever tire. Milking cows happens twice a days, 5am and half past 3 in the afternoon. It can be a quiet, calm atmosphere with only the beat of the milking machine, but during the summer months with the introduction of freshly calved heifers, irritated by flies and the heat, it does feel much more chaotic with cows kicking and newbies jumping as they are first introduced to their new regime. Fortunately, they settle in quite quickly and a calmness resumes. Once milking, which takes about 2.5 hours is over the cows return to the comfort of a deep straw bedded yard and an unlimited amount of forage to eat. However, unlike some herds, ours graze the grassland pastures as soon as the weather permits. Delighted to be free from the confines of their shed they frolic in the sunshine and graze the fresh spring grass. With the workload easing as the cows go out, it is time to catch up with seasonal jobs whilst continuing to feed and care for the beef cattle. The early summer months can be stressful as we watch the forecast, constantly trying to predict the best time to cut the grass for silage. It is critical that the grass is cut at its optimum stage in growth in order to produce the best silage – our winter feed for the cattle. Dodging the showers can be difficult – every year is different and the weather can be our friend or enemy. There's always a sigh of relief when the silage clamp is full and sheeted up, but then there is the straw to cart – the winter bedding for the cattle, followed by maize to harvest as more winter forage. Maize is an expensive crop to grow, and more sensitive to British climate than grass, so mistake can’t be made. Together with the seasonal jobs of sowing and harvesting come the more mundane maintenance jobs such as weed spraying, fencing and deep cleaning of the parlour, whilst continuing to keep on top of the every increasing paperwork and the 6 monthly Bovine Tuberculosis test. As I said in the beginning, there are good days and bad days. The safe delivery of a heifer calf from one of our favourite cows inevitably makes the hard work worthwhile but an old saying which I learned from a very young age was “where you have livestock you have deadstock”. As farmers we care passionately about our animas, administering medicines and preventative treatments when necessary. But despite our best efforts, we have to accept losses, but this doesn’t get any easier despite the number of years of experience we have had. Life on our farm is at times tiring and stressful and we like many other small dairy farmers feel undervalued by our milk processors who continue to cut the price of our quality product whilst our overheads of feed, bedding, water, fuel and electricity continue to escalate! BUT, we love our farming life, I couldn’t imagine living without our livestock. They enable us to live in the countryside and as a family farm, we work together, 3 generations – my 80 year old in-laws, ourselves, and 17 & 12 year old children. Despite its challenges we are grateful to those of who support British Farmers and I hope and pray that God will continue to give us the strength to continue to do the job we so love to do. Libby Hall, local farmers Pauline took our service today having celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday. The service mentioned getting old and local heroes touching particularly on John Sumner who developed the Ty-Phoo tea brand and was born in Coleshill and is remembered by his alms houses. After the service there were cakes to be eaten one we had all sung happy birthday to Pauline
Rev Nick Jones led our Holy Communion service today with some thoughts on Ascension Day. He reminded us of the was that the Lord was lifted up to heaven particularly with reference to the Peter Rogers "The Ascension". He made us all thank the Lord when we all thought that the picture had a similarity to the FIFA world cup when he admitted that was his own thoughts when studying the original at his theological college. However Nick tied this in with the 1966 images of the world cup being lifted high and glorifying an event which relates to the Glorification of the Lord as he Ascends to Heaven. More information about this picture from the Methodist art collection here
Our service was led by Rev Chris Giles who reflected on the Easter day happenings reminding us of what an exciting encounter the women had, who went to the tomb early on the first Sunday.
This year the theme of the service is based on Ephesians 1:15-19. The choir led the singing. Within the service with a number of ladies took turns to read from the written elements by the Taiwanese women. Fiona made a melt in the mouth pineapple cake of Taiwanese origin recipe. The choir sang and prayers were said and £104.50 raised for WDP.
Our traditional candle lit carol service was led by Rev Nick Jones and consisted of carols sung by both the choir and the congregation along with a series of bible and other readings to reflect the Christmas story. Afterwards mince pies, tea and coffee along with a pre Christmas chat was indulged in by those who attended. Our thanks to all our readers and the choir.
Todays service led by Jill included a new carol written by Marjorie Evans of Solihull especially for Nether Whitacre. Marjorie used to be a very regular lay preacher at our chapel and it was a pleasure to sing these verses today. Sung to the a common metre tune such as St Anne (O God our help in ages past) but we sang it to St Fulbert (Fill thou my life)
This Christmas as we meet to sing And give thanks for Christ's birth, We'll think again about the role That we should play on earth. A time of love, togetherness, Of joy, forgiveness, peace. A time of prayer and thankfulness The hope all strife will cease. But above all this Christmas We'll pray Christ comes again And praise, endure and carry on Until He comes to reign. copyright Marjorie Evans 2022 |
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