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 16 November             Second Sunday before Advent

  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, John and Shirley, Margaret, Graham, John, Kathy, Mo, Matt.
The long term sick and infirm:-
George, Peter, Diana, Liz, Keith, Rob.
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 16 November         2nd Sunday before Advent
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Dr Sacha Pearce
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Dr Sacha Pearce

Monday 17 November
1000 James Bridgwater celebration of life service

Wednesday 19 November
1000 Morning Prayer

Sunday 23 November        Christ the King
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Fr David Watson
1130 PCC Meeting

WELCOME BACK
To Rev’d Dr Sacha Pearce, who will be with us
this Sunday.

SERVICE STREAMING
I am looking for 'volunteers' to be shown how to
operate the streaming of Sunday 10am Services.
During January & February I potentially will not
be able to attend regularly so additional cover is
required to ensure others unable to attend in person
can join in our worship. If you are able to support
this valuable offering please speak to me, but not
all at once! Thanks.
Ian G

JAMES BRIDGWATER Celebration Service
There will be a Service of Celebration for the life
of James Bridgwater in Stoke Damerel church on
Monday 17th November at 10am led by Rev’d Sue.
All are very welcome. There will be teas and
coffees after the service. If you wish to make a
donation in memory of James, it is suggested
either the National Autistic Society, Theatre Royal
Plymouth, Shekinah, the Proprietary Library or
Stoke Damerel church.
All are also invited to a community celebration of
James’ life with bring and share food, music,
poetry and stories in a community space to honour
a person who gave so much to his friends and
neighbours. Probably on the evening of 28th
November, details to be confirmed.

CONFIRMATION
After checking it out with Archdeacon Jane
and both PCCs, I am currently gathering together
the names of those who would like to explore
becoming confirmed from Stoke Damerel and
St. Aubyn churches.
So far, I have four folk, of mixed ages, two from
each church. Please get in touch with me if you are
interested in finding out more:
sue.nicholas@hotmail.co.uk or 07434393286
or come and chat with me after one of the services
this Sunday.
More information can also be found on the Church
of England website:
https://www.churchofengland.org/life-events/
confirmation
Rev. Sue

MARILYN'S MEMOS

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY






FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS
You might have noticed the silence in church :
there will be no bell ringing until the scaffold is
down, since the access to the bell tower is boarded
over!! The roof work has to be completed by 19th
December but can we be sure the scaffold will be
down?? Those of us with experience of scaffolding
companies know it can be left for weeks
afterwards!
No pressure here with Christmas looming.

CHALLENGE

Our boiler engineer, Jon, overcame the challenge
of the scaffolding poles in order to verify why the
boiler is not activating. We have a mega busy
month coming up ( Christmas Fairs, college and
school rehearsals and performances, concerts plus
our own services) and needed to know beforehand
if there was a problem.

ST. ANDREW'S NIGHT CELEBRATION AND QUIZ
SATURDAY 29th NOVEMBER
Just a reminder about this annual event which is on
Saturday and not Friday of the week after next.
We’ll need an idea of participants and volunteers
to prepare cottage or shepherds pies or crumbles.
Debbie will be running the evening.

CHRISTMAS FAIR
Just a final appeal for good quality bric-a-brac,
raffle prizes, hamper items, jams, chutneys and
cakes for our fair.
Helpers will be needed on the day and possibly
beforehand to set up tables. Please fill in your
names on the rota in church if you can help.

RUTH’S REFLECTIONS
Last Sunday one of the lectionary passages for
Remembrance Sunday was from Job. Perhaps one
of the most famous verses from Job and one that is
often used at funerals. “I know that my Redeemer
lives and that at the last he will stand upon the
earth”.
For those of us who are privileged to be involved
in ministry, there are opportunities to be part of
local Remembrance services. For me, my
opportunity is City College. This year Bishop
James was leading the service with help from
students from the college and two amazing Marine
buglers. The event was attended by students with
their cadet corps, staff, and invited veterans with
senior management. The large sports hall was full
to overflowing and some were even in the corridor.
This was a very real opportunity to stand and
remember and for silence to descend over the
college. The bishop’s message included quotes
from the sermon on the Mount reminding us that
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be
called children of God.”

It struck me yet again that we need to pray for
peace. Our world is troubled and so are people.
Peace in our time seems almost an impossible ask
and yet when Job was in serious trouble his
response was a clear statement of faith in his Lord.
“I know that my Redeemer lives”. During the
World Wars and other conflicts since, you may ask
the question, what got people through? The British
spirit of getting on with it may have helped but
deep down there may have been that real sense of
hope. That is the message of the Christian faith and
when life gets tough, hope is there for us to hang
on to. Hope is looking forward, hope is a reason to
pray, hope keeps us going when all around is full
of destruction. Hope is more than a feeling, it is
motivation to believe that things can get better and
gives energy, despite setbacks, to move things
forward into a better future.
The book of Job is full of struggles and often
despair but despite all that Job went through his
hope was in his Saviour. Hope goes alongside
faith. Our faith is not in hoping that all will be
well, it is trusting that our lives and circumstances
are in God’s hands and knowing that He is with us
keeps us going through our life. Perhaps that is
what we need to remember this Remembrance
season.
Ruth

BLANKETS FOR UKRAINE
Ruth delivered four new blankets on Tuesday


HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN NOVEMBER
Bevan Wilson, Julia Steere, Matilda Burgess,
Rhona Prichard, Marilyn Goldsborough.

DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Nov 21 Christmas Fair                11am - 3pm
Nov 22 Christmas Fair                11am - 3pm
Nov 29 St Andrew’s Night Supper 6.30pm
Nov 30 World Aids Day Celebration 12.00pm

THE MEMORIAL TO MAJOR JACKSON
There are a few old photographs stored in the
church archives, which were probably taken some
time in the second half of the nineteenth century.
At first glance the photograph reproduced below,
looking towards the east wall from the back of the
church, looks very familiar. Although not
everything is in sufficient detail, we can see the
two lines of columns separating the nave from the
two side aisles, the three neo-gothic stained-glass
windows, and a number of still existing wall
memorials. Beyond those items, a number of
interesting variations can be seen. Starting at the
top of the photograph, all of the, now exposed,
roof timbers are hidden behind a curved ceiling.
There is also another later photograph which
shows that this ceiling was made of cloth and
started to fall apart prior to the early twentieth
century renovations.

Most prominent, in the foreground, is the stone
font, familiar to us all, but in a different position to
where it is now located. The photograph was taken
before the construction of the south porch. The
font was then close to the entrance into the church
which was through the external door into what is
now the choir vestry. We can also see that the
building is full of chapel chairs which must have
been purchased after the old box pews had been
removed. The more recent pews that some of us
will remember were not installed until just prior to
the second world war.
What I find most fascinating though is the dark-
coloured pipe, extending up to the roof, on the
right of the photograph. This was the flue from a
small coal-fired stove and may have then been the
only heating at that time in the whole church
building. The photograph was taken when the only
form of lighting would have been from candles or
oil lamps. Gas and electric lighting did not arrive
until the next century, so some services might have
been rather dark, as well as a bit cold, in winter.
You may have noticed that I have added a small
red circle onto the photograph. This indicates the
location of the memorial to a Major Jackson and a
more recent photograph of this memorial is
reproduced below.

This particular memorial is the reason I decided to
research one of the many people remembered
around the walls of our church. Back in
September, when we held the Open Day, someone
asked if I had any more information about Major
Jackson. Unfortunately, I have forgotten who that
was but decided to carry out more research
anyway. Having unintentionally concentrated in
the first part of this article on the changing
appearance of the church building, I now have
little space left but will endeavour to add some
information to that noted on the memorial.
A letter written on 25th. February 1843 by Major
Reid, who then commanded the 12th. regiment,
Bombay native infantry, was published in the
London Gazette of 9th. May 1843. In the letter he
wrote about some of the soldiers who had
distinguished themselves in the battle of Meeanee
(near to Hyderabad, India), fought on 17th.
February 1843.
Of Major Jackon he wrote - “I take this
opportunity of recording the gallant conduct of
the late Captain and Brevet Major Jackson, who
fell at the head of the grenadier company, in a
personal conflict with several of the enemy.”
Another entry in the London Gazette of 11th. April;
1843 had listed the total losses for the 12th.
regiment in that battle - 3 officers, 1 havildar, 1
drummer, 10 privates, killed; 2 officers, 2
havildars, 43 privates, 1 dooly bearer, wounded.
There is more information available, so I may
return to this subject before researching other wall
memorials in our church.
Tony Barnard