THE PARISH CHURCH OF STOKE DAMEREL
(ST. ANDREW & ST. LUKE)

Email:   info@stokedamerel.church                                          
www.Stokedamerel.church
www.facebook.com/StokeDamerelChurch

Please note: Stoke Damerel Church does not divulge
personal information to third parties.

Sunday 19 April                3rd Sunday of Easter
 

Merciful God,
we entrust to your tender care
those who are ill or in pain,
knowing that whenever danger threatens
your everlasting arms
are there to hold them safe.
Comfort and heal them,
and restore them to health and strength;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.

PLEASE PRAY FOR:-
The sick:-
Maureen, Margaret W, Graham, John S, Kathy, Mo, Matt,
Bertie, Morwenna, David J, Wendy.
The long term sick and infirm:-
George, Peter, Diana, Liz & Keith N, Rob, John and Shirley.
The recently departed:-
We give thanks for the lives of Peter Charles Davis and
Janet Vickers. We pray for their families and friends at
this sad time.
The Ministry Team:-
Wendy, Ruth, Marilyn and Rhona.

BLESSED SACRAMENT CANDLE

If you would like to have the candle lit for a week
for a particular prayer / thanksgiving /
commemoration, etc., please send a £5 donation to
Debbie Smith, clearly marking your donation as
being for the candle. Details of your intention can
be emailed to:- sarah.lundstrom@virginmedia.com
so that a mention of the commemoration, etc., can
appear in the Sunday Sheet.

SERVICES THIS WEEK
Stoke Damerel Parish Church is a hybrid church
open for public worship and private prayer and all
services will be live streamed.
By attending a live streamed service, you give
implied permission to have your image captured
on CCTV and to be broadcast as participant in the
liturgy.

Watch our livestreamed services
Please follow the link to make your way to our YouTube page: 

 STOKE DAMEREL YOUTUBE CHANNEL 

Sunday 19 April            3rd Sunday of Easter
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Scott Angell
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Scott Angell
with Rev’d Fiona Lang
Followed by APM and APCM

Wednesday 22 April
1000 Morning Prayer

Sunday 26 April            4th Sunday of Easter
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas
with Rev’d Fiona Lang

WELCOME BACK
To Rev’d Scott Angell, who is going to be
extemely busy this Sunday multi-tasking! Rev’d
Scott, our one-time organist and choir master, is
going to play some of the hymns and also the
voluntary at the end of the service. To help him out
with parts of the service, we welcome back Fiona!

RUTH’S REFLECTIONS
Thomas – Proof and encounter
Over the past weeks the gospel accounts have
moved on a pace. We have passed the times of
Jesus teaching and miracles, his encounters with
the sick and dying, and then there was Holy Week.
The fallout from Holy Week goes much beyond
the rejoicing of the Resurrection. The reality of the
Resurrection comes to the fore when there are
personal encounters with the risen Christ. The
reading that we used last Sunday included the
account of Thomas meeting the post resurrection
Jesus. I feel for this man who has been labelled as
a doubter. Was he a doubter or did he just want
proof? How human is this desire. I know as I am
sure you do; proof just makes things so much
better. Get rid of the rumours, deal with the gossip,
just see for yourself. But Thomas wanted more. He
wanted to touch and feel. Thomas for some reason,
was not around with the other disciples when Jesus
revealed himself to them. He had followed the
nomadic preacher and had witnessed much of the
life that Jesus lived. The Jesus he wanted to meet
was the Risen Christ and he wanted to have a
personal encounter. He may have been absent
when the disciples gathered in the Upper Room
when Jesus appeared, but here he was seeing for
himself and demanding that Jesus show his
wounds to him.
A thought, John the writer here, began his gospel
describing the invisible God. “In the Beginning
was God”. A passage we often read at Christmas
as an introduction to the Nativity account and it is
this mystery that John predicts that ends with
Thomas demanding proof. Jesus gave him the
proof that he needed, and his response was a
personal statement of faith “My Lord and my
God”. The message had got through, and Thomas
was faced with the person of Christ, his Christ,
God in his human form.
“Jesus said to him (Thomas), “Have you believed
because you have seen me? Blessed are those who
have not seen and yet have believed”.
Is this where we come in? Faith and belief are part
of the mystery of God. Many have tried to prove
that God exists, and many religions have tried to
put in place objects of worship as a way of trying
to tie God down to something that can be
explained. The Old Testament warns us, as Jesus
does, the danger of worshiping idols. Making God
into a form that we can see, and touch is a
dangerous pastime. John clearly tells us that God
is Spirit. Thomas has the privilege of seeing and
touching a physical Jesus. Would we have reacted
like Thomas when demanding proof of the
resurrection? The most effective “proof” we can
have is personal experience. Our own experience
of the love of God cannot be denied and certainly
provides a positive witness. Jesus, the Son of God
was God’s presence in this world and the mystery
of his life and death is our hope for eternal life.
During this Easter season, let us ask God for an
encounter with Him.
Ruth

MARILYN'S MEMOS

Janet Vickers

I am very sorry to inform you of the recent death
of Janet Vickers. Since moving from Fitzroy
Terrace some eight or more years ago, she had
been living in various care homes and most
recently at The Bethany Christian Home near
Freedom Fields Park. Only a minority of our
present congregation will have known Janet. I can
well remember her attending services more than 20
years ago at Stoke Damerel and St. Aubyn’s, with
Rev’d Dr David Nixon. She was a Reader and had
trained whilst her former husband was Rector at
Holsworthy. After his retirement, I took Janet and
Maureen there to celebrate the installation of
Rev’d Elizabeth Burke as priest-in-charge, with
the service conducted by our new Archbishop of
Canterbury, The Most Rev and Rt Hon. the Lord
Archbishop, Dame Sarah Mullally, DBE, the then
Bishop of Crediton. Rev’d Elizabeth had helped us
out during our second vacancy. Janet was a highly
intelligent lady with many interests and hobbies.
Three of her children live in the Devon and one in
Canada. She has eleven grandchildren. She was
well known by many in the area, particularly
members of the clergy. Throughout her lifetime,
she experienced considerable health challenges
and in her later years she was confined to a
wheelchair. The Reverend Tim Buckley, a long-
term visitor, is expected to officiate at her funeral
(crematorium) and memorial services (Stoke
Damerel), dates to be confirmed.

Eucharist and APCM
This coming Sunday will see a double act by
Rev’d Scott Angell, who will play the organ and
preside at our Eucharist, ably aided by Rev’d
Fiona Lang. Scott was our organist, prior to John
and Robin, and replaced Terry who retired. Scott is
now a priest in Honiton. Fiona is completing her
training at St. Pancras and was a regular member
of our congregation, and Eucharistic Assistant
during her early training. You are advised to ask
them directly whether they are deacons or priests!
Our APCM will follow the Eucharist, with time for
coffee!! Please do try to stay around to hear what
has been happening in our church over the past
year. Please consider a useful roll on our PCC.

Confirmation Sunday 10th May
Bishop James will officiate at our Eucharist and
will be confirming three members of our
congregation: Pui Lam Mok (known by us as
Lemmy), William and Eleanor Brown together
with three candidates from St. Aubyn’s. It will be a
joyful occasion, and it is hoped we will have great
support from our congregation and that of St.
Aubyn’s.

Message from Bishop Michael
As explained by Archdeacon Jane on Easter
Sunday, the practice of dipping wafers into the
common cup is NOT advised. Please read
carefully what Bishop Michael has said below.
Please assist our Eucharistic Ministers by
taking the wafer plus the common cup if you
wish or if you prefer not to share the common
cup, just move back to your seat, without
dipping your wafer into the chalice. Following
Bishop Michael's advice will be much
appreciated.
Many thanks
Marilyn and Rhona

Bishop Michael writes:
Holy Communion
Where intinction is offered (individuals dipping
wafer into wine), this should now be replaced with
the common cup. Please be aware that to receive
in 'one kind' is perfectly acceptable if that is the
communicant's preference (bread or wafer only).
To do so is still to receive communion in full, even
where wine is not consumed. This means that it is
perfectly in order for communicants to receive
only bread and decline the cup temporarily if they
are feeling unwell.

Visitors from Australia
How delighted we all were to welcome back
Debbie and Gerry, on a fortnight’s stay in
Plymouth. They were able to attend our 10 am
Eucharist on Easter Sunday and last week. We
certainly missed them when they left last year to
return home, as they had fitted so well into our
community. We look forward to seeing them again
next year when it is hoped they will be able to stay
a bit longer. Gerry’s pictures grace the wall, as
shown in the photograph.




Advanced warning of our Summer Fair
Our annual fund-raising event will be on
Saturday 4th July. Preparations the day before.
Poster attached.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN APRIL
Chris Tozer, Jenny Storey, Deborah Turner,
Matt Forster, Lemmy.

RESEARCHING LOCAL FAMILY HISTORIES
Apart from my maternal grandfather who was born
in Monmouthshire, my ancestors all hailed from
the midlands – Herefordshire, Gloucestershire, and
Worcestershire. Even though there are two
Barnards buried in Stoke Damerel churchyard,
(David Barnard [gunner RN] and his wife Ann,
who both died in 1850), there is unlikely to be any
relationship.
However, there are other parishioners whose
families are local and may go back a few
generations or more. I have recently updated the
document kept in church, which contains the
record of visible headstones still in the churchyard,
either mounted against boundary walls, or laid as
paths around the churchyard, together with internal
wall memorials, originally published in 1995.
I have written before giving some guidance on
research, but the revised introduction to that
document now includes, as well as the list of
names on the memorials, directions on how to
access information available in Plymouth City
Council’s on-line archive. Therefore, below is an
extract from the document for anyone wishing to
research their local family’s past.

Stoke Damerel churchyard was closed to all
new burials (except for additions into existing
vaults and tombs) in 1871, when a replacement
cemetery was opened at Milehouse, although
not all Stoke Damerel parish burials then took
place at Milehouse. Other cemeteries may have
been used at Ford Park (opened 1848), Efford
(opened 1904) and Weston Mill (opened 1907).
Milehouse Cemetery closed in 1967, when all
burials were re-interred in a mass grave at
Efford cemetery, so that the church of St.
Bartholomew could be constructed on the site.
Some headstones from Milehouse were also
moved to Efford, along with the burials.
However, many headstones had been destroyed
or badly damaged by bombing during the
Plymouth Blitz.
At the beginning of the 20th. century, Paradise
Road was widened in order to accommodate
tramlines, taking up part of the churchyard.
Burials affected by this were re-located in 1903,
although no record of where they were moved
to has yet been discovered. Although the
churchyard was closed to new burials in 1871,
Plymouth City Council did not take over the
grounds until 1964. All remaining headstones
were then laid out as they are now, either as
paths (some face down) or secured to the
surrounding churchyard walls (Generally, only
vaults and tombs are still in their original
locations). A basic listing of headstones and
memorial inscriptions was first created in
1978/79. Still visible and legible, headstones
were photographed. These were digitised and
made available online and can be viewed on the
Plymouth City Council archive website. The
following is a link to that website: -
https://web.plymouth.gov.uk/archivescatalogue/
Enter the relevant family name in the box at the
top of that page, under the heading "Search the
Archives Catalogue" Basic information about
every document in the local authority collection
relating to that name will then appear. All the
digitised photographs of headstones in Stoke
Damerel churchyard have a reference starting
with 3522. By inserting that number in the
search box instead, a list of the photographed
Stoke Damerel headstones will appear,
although not in alphabetical order. A
description of the inscription on each headstone
is included, and headstone photographs can be
viewed.
Legible headstones from Milehouse were also
photographed and can be viewed by entering
706 in the search box. The only record of the
1903 removals is a basic list of names, which
can be seen by entering 769/27 in the search
box.
Plymouth City Council is still responsible for
maintenance of the churchyard and the ability
to inspect inscriptions on site might be
relatively easy at times, immediately after
maintenance work. At many other times
headstones may be buried in undergrowth,
including many brambles. Low galvanised
railings have been set alongside many of the
headstone paths.
However, do take care when on site as
headstones laid as paths can be very slippery
and people have fallen and injured themselves.
Tony Barnard