All of us at St. David’s wish you a Happy and Healthy New Year.

This coming year we face great challenges.

On Sunday 8th December our vicar the Rev. Peter Smyth announced he was leaving us to be vicar at Holy Spirit Church in Dovecot, a church he had worshipped at before he was ordained and where he had been helping out during their interregnum – the term used for when one vicar leaves and another is appointed, but when he applied for this vacancy he thought he was leaving us in the capable hands of our Ordained Local Minister the Reverend Sheila Jennifer Gillies. Tragically less than a week later we received the news that Sheila had died after a short illness.

Sheila was one of us, having attended our church in her youth. Then like so many went away to college to train as a teacher and then went on to teach in a British Army School in Germany where she made many lifelong friends.

When she returned from Germany she taught in primary schools in Liverpool but by the turn of the century her hearing problems made life difficult to hear her pupils and she reluctantly had to take early retirement. At the age of fifty she was diagnosed with breast cancer and she faced the problem with positivity. After treatment she went on to train as a Church of England Reader. This involves reading, but also taking funerals, leading Services and preaching. Then with the development of science she had an implant and after a couple of months had the latest hearing aid fitted. She was amazed to find when driving home from the hospital that cars made different noises when you accelerated and braked and that when she turned off the gas fire it also made strange noises.

After much soul searching she applied to the Church of England to become a priest, but because of her early retirement on health grounds they would only accept her as a Non-Stipendiary Priest. That meant she would not be paid but would continue to serve in her own parish of St. David’s.

The Bishop of Warrington ordained Sheila deacon in her own church, and as we waited to process into church I looked up and on the church bell tower I saw two white doves, the symbol of St. David. It seemed he was giving her his blessing. A year later she was priested in the Anglican Cathedral just days after the Rev. Robert Williams had been inducted as our new vicar. Not many new vicars would welcome saying that there would be no service on the their first Sunday as most of us were going to the Cathedral to support Sheila. There then followed ten years of happy partnership between Sheila and Rob.

Sheila was involved in all aspects of church life, leading a house group where she challenged her group but her quirky sense of humour always came to the fore. On Mondays she would be helping at the lunch club, often washing the dishes and then sweeping the floors. She also helped run the babes and toddlers group on Tuesdays and on Fridays would be helping in the café.

She loved taking baptisms and weddings with her own individual style. When she took funerals she brought comfort to the bereaved. She helped the chaplain at Broadgreen Hospital and if anyone was ill she would be visiting them at home or in hospital.

In spite of many health problems Sheila would be always laughing and joking, even as she left the health centre the day before she died. We are all going to miss her greatly, I count it a privilege to have been her friend for nearly a quarter of a century. We send our condolences to all her family.

Sheila passed away in Fazakerley Hospital on 13th December and her Funeral took place on 8th January at St David’s.

Cynthia, PCC Secretary

Many years ago, I visited the war cemetery at Oosterbeck just outside of Arnhem in the Netherlands with a group of school children, I was amazed at how peaceful it was. It was certainly a well kept and cared for cemetery. I could not help but feel sadness as many graves were simply engraved…

“Soldier, Name unknown. Known to God.“

We came across one grave of a seventeen years old boy. One of the children said,…

“He was only seven years older than me!“

This year we commemorated the 75th anniversary of Operation Market Garden, when 35,000 British, Polish and American parachute and glider troops dropped into the Netherlands in order to secure key bridges across the River Rhine. It was a daring but ultimately doomed attempt to shorten the war.

I read an article in one of the papers how Willemien Rieken has laid flowers for 75 years on the grave of Trooper William Edmand as he was one of those who had made the ultimate sacrifice fighting for our freedom. The article also told how Willemien, as a young girl, had been forced to hide in a small cellar underneath her father’s cake shop. The family was discovered by the Germans who interrogated them before setting them free. The family then found the bodies of four dead British soldiers in their garden.

Most of us have no personal experience of war. Certainly, when I was a young child no-one talked about war. I only learned about some of my father’s experiences after his death. Today, we are more aware of the consequences of war which actually happen before our eyes on television. We can easily condemn all wars. Some people would debate that they are justified. It does seem tragic that so many people, often very young, have made that ultimate sacrifice.

November is the month of Remembrance when we give thanks to all those who have died to protect us. In the bible we read how Jesus died making the sacrifice so our sins can be forgiven and to give us the hope of eternal life. St John’s Gospel states…

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.“

Indeed, God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world but in order that the world might be saved through Him.

May the Peace of the Lord be always with you and your loved ones.

Sheila

Here we are at the end of August and at last our summer seems to have arrived! We are basking in blazing sunshine and enjoying time with family and friends outdoors. September will soon be here and will bring the autumn equinox, a day of equal light and darkness. This is a balance that happens only twice a year. September is a time of change as children start or return back to school. Many of us are returning from summer holidays spent at home or abroad and I can’t believe that someone mentioned to me very recently that there are only about 18 weeks until Christmas!

We will soon see autumn change the glorious green of summer into the blazing red, gold and bronze of this season. It is at this time of year that we celebrate the Harvest Festival, a time when we should give thanks for the bounty we are receiving as the farmers gather in their crops. I recently spent some time in Cambridgeshire and saw the tireless efforts of farmers working day and night to bring in their crops. We have a lot to be thankful for in our lives and as Christians we thank God for our daily treasures. Our prayers do not only have to be said in church – we can pray anywhere at any time. We can pray to give thanks, to seek guidance, to ask for strength, wisdom and for the gift of unwavering faith. We can pray in our homes, on the street, up a mountain, in the woods or on the beach. God doesn’t care where and He will always answer us. Sometimes He will say “yes, sometimes He will say “no” and sometimes He will say “wait”.

So, as the summer draws to an end and the long days of autumn and winter approach let us be always thankful for the gifts we receive, for the strength we have to endure difficult times and for the eternal promise that God is beside us.

Blessings to you all, Adrian and Jo