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 3 May                    5th 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, Diana, Liz & Keith N, Rob, John and Shirley.
The recently departed:-
We give thanks for the life of Reverend Peter Warland.
We pray for his family and friends at this sad time.
The Ministry Team:-
Wendy, Ruth, Marilyn.

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 3 May            5th Sunday of Easter
0800 Morning Prayer
Led by Ruth Sayers
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist
Celebrant: Fr David Watson

Wednesday 6 May
1000 Said Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Brian Wood

Sunday 10 May        6th Sunday of Easter
0800 Holy Eucharist
Celebrant: Rev’d Sue Nicholas
1000 Sung Parish Eucharist with Confirmation
Celebrant: The Right Reverend James Grier,
Bishop of Plymouth

WELCOME BACK
To Father David Watson who returns for our 10am
Eucharist. Many thanks to Ruth Sayers for leading
Morning Prayer at 8am.
Next Sunday we welcome the Bishop of Plymouth
to preside and preach at our 10am service and to
confirm six candidates. Please pray for these
candidates as they make their final preparations.

MARILYN'S MEMOS

Rev'd Fiona

How encouraging to see how Fiona is moving on
in her career. This shows her giving a sermon with
a very interesting array of visual aids. There are
still parts of the Eucharist that she is unable to
conduct as a deacon, but in June she will become a
fully fledged priest. Tickets are to be received in
due course and it is hoped that she will have good
support from our congregation at Exeter Cathedral.
How very pleasing that two young people we
know well (Scott and Fiona) have chosen to
become priests: an extremely challenging and
demanding calling. Good luck to them both.

Plymouth Concerts “Shepherd on the Rock”
On Sunday afternoon, soprano Catherine
Hamilton, clarinettist Olwen Knowles and
accompanist and organist Richard Line gave us a
wonderful and varied musical treat, featuring
Gounod, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Strauss, Noble,
Cook, Gade, Chausson, Hahn and McCabe!
What a musical feast and much enjoyed by our
enthusiastic audience.

Wednesday Eucharist 10am
We look forward to welcoming Rev’d Brian Wood
next week, and his lovely wife and chauffeuse!

Sunday 10th May 10am
Bishop James will be welcoming six full members
of the Church of England into our family next
Sunday. We do hope you will be able to attend and
support them. They have been studying hard for
some time now with Rev’d Sue, assisted by Rev’d
Fiona. If you were in church last week, you will have
made their acquaintance.

Very sad loss of Rev’d Peter Warland
I am sure we will all be greatly saddened to hear of
the death of our long standing, highly valued and
respected friend, Peter. He has been a huge
supporter of our church for very many years.
Indeed, he conducted the funeral of my father
more than 22 years ago. Although to be confirmed,
the provisional date for his funeral will be
Wednesday 13th May at 11 am. Rev’d Keith Robus
will be presiding, as an old friend and naval
colleague. Morning prayer will take place as usual,
but we will arrange for it to be in the office above
the kitchen in the parish centre, on this occasion.
We will be hearing details of Peter’s long life and
career in our next Sunday sheet. We send our
heartfelt condolences to Margaret and family.

Drain challenges
The parish centre drains have been causing us a bit
of a headache and expense this past month or so.
The external drains have been cleared twice and
the ongoing problem is the ingress of tree roots.

Progress on the bell tower



Our Le Page architect, Simon, has had a meeting
with Simon, the Storm Force boss. It seems further
work is quite straightforward. Repairs have been
agreed on the existing oak timbers. New carcasses
are expected to be delivered next week. The steel
girders are not yet on site but all ready to go in.
There will be another meeting after the Bank
Holiday weekend.
No completion date as yet.

4th Plymouth Urban Tree Festival 9 to 17th May
Plymouth Tree People organise the Plymouth
Urban Tree Festival. This year will be the 4th and it
runs between the 9th and 17th May. The group is a
charity dedicated to caring for and planting trees in
Plymouth. They have been active for over 20
years, aiming to increase tree canopy cover in the
city and replacing lost trees due to natural causes.
Their efforts include planting nearly 1,500 trees in
parks and streets, and they work with community
groups and local authorities to ensure the health
and maintenance of these trees. The organisation
also encourages residents to learn about trees and
get involved in their care, making it a great way to
support the environment and promote community
engagement.
Richard Fisher, a local guide, has kindly agreed to
hold a couple of guided walks and it is hoped to do
one in Stoke Damerel Church Yard. The festival is
a not -for- profit organisation and the walk will be
free. After doing the first part of the tour in the
church yard the group will be going over to
Devonport High School for Boys to look at their
trees. The visit is planned for 12th May and tea will
be provided at a time to be agreed for the group.
Marilyn

BLANKETS FOR UKRAINE

One hundred hours work per blanket!
Big thanks to reliable knitters.
Ruth

HAPPY BIRTHDAY IN MAY
Fiona Lang, Diana Cooke, Lorna Bartlett,
Margaret Bibby, Elaine Cresswell, Ruth Sayers.

WHAT IS IN A PERSON’S TITLE?
After last Sunday’s service, Russell and I were in
conversation. We both wondered about the use of
the title of Esquire. This word can be seen on some
of the wall memorials around the inside of Stoke
church. Not a word you would find in day-to-day
use now, but use of this title once related to a
person who might be held in higher esteem.
There are just two small, rectangular brasses
amongst all the stone wall memorials in the
church, located either side of the organ pipes.
The brass on the left, beneath the three memorials
to members of the Bacon family, is in memory of
Lieut. Col. Boggis, his daughter Cecilia Frances,
and his first wife Mary Cecilia, who was the
daughter of “Edward Stephenson Esquire”.

Carrying out a check on the web, I discovered that
the word originally related to “a knight’s shield
bearer” and derived from the Latin “scutarius”,
via the old French “esquire”. Later, Esquire
referred to the holders of knights’ estates (at that
time a parish’s principal owner of land), who
therefore became “the squire”. More recently the
term has been used as a courtesy in relation to
professional people.
Directly above this brass is an oval memorial stone
dedicated to “WILLIAM BACON Gent.” who
passed away in 1742.

This made me wonder whether the use of Gent.
also denoted someone of a higher level in society.
My research indicates that this is an abbreviation
of Gentleman (or even Gentlewoman) and goes
back to the days of Yeomen. A Gent. was then
higher status than a Yeoman but lower status than
an Esquire. The term Yeoman was first noted in
the middle of the fourteenth century to denote
someone who cultivated their own land, as well
as middle ranking servants in noble households,
whose status was below landed gentry but above
the peasants.
One of the memorials I included in last week’s
article, to John Reynolds who died in 1723 (or
1724), refers to him as “Mr.” It appears that,

up to and including the nineteenth century, there
were two levels of “Gentleman” The higher level
was Esquire and below that was Mister. If an
Englishman is fortunate enough to receive a letter
from Buckingham Palace, even today, he would
still be addressed as Esq. However, any man from
abroad would be just a Mr. as far as the palace is
concerned.
One further word, not associated with any of the
above is “Lector”, as can be seen on the memorial
to James Bullock who passed away in 1825. Lector
refers to a reader of lessons in a church service, so
we could, should we wish, rename the Readers rota
as the Lectors rota.

Tony Barnard