Dear Friends,

It may seem like an age ago but this is our first Parish News since our Easter Vestry which took place on Wednesday 24th March, in the week before Holy Week. We were saddened that some people felt they had to stand down from the Select Vestry because of commitments elsewhere, but it gave us an opportunity to move people about and create a number of openings. Not least, we welcome Phil Houston as our new People’s Churchwarden. Billy gives you more details about the new members of the Vestry later in the magazine, but I would just like to say how delighted I am that three people have been so willing to come on board and all three have made considerable contributions to all our deliberations already. So, thank you to them and welcome!

We’ve been very busy just doing the normal things in the parish. And apart from all the usual concerns we had Confirmation to keep us on our toes. Glencraig was the first of the Bishop’s confirmations this year in the Diocese and it was a tremendous Service. I thought it was an interesting observation afterwards that some of those who were present felt that it was quite a long Service (there was quite a lot going on) and yet those being confirmed didn’t feel this at all. It was a real pleasure to guide nine of our young people through Confirmation. I hope it is a beginning and not an end; at least it is another step on our Church journey. Congratulations to all.

It was on Confirmation Sunday that I felt I had to tell the Bishop about our daughter Lydia. To his credit, and I remain grateful to him for this, the Bishop decided that I should have a couple of weeks off just to get my head around things and I took him at his word (I even missed the Lenten Challenge Presentation at the Family Service and the Table Quiz!). I remember Billy offered to chair the Select Vestry meeting the very next day, and although there were some other things that were easier just to do than to cancel, I did take the time off. I don’t want to make this all too personal, but it is a means by which I can say a very sincere thank you to everyone who sent cards and good wishes and offered up their prayers. I cannot tell you how much it has meant to us all as a family and not least to Lydia herself. Thank you. The movement of Lydia’s eye has improved remarkably, I could say miraculously, in fact more than anybody was expecting. We had been told that nerves had been severed in the fall and that her eye was not going to move. You can imagine for a young twenty year old this was all pretty devastating. The huge operation to put a plate around the eye was to fix up the damaged orbital lobe. We thought at the time that if this was going to fix everything, you would put up with it. But there was still no guarantee that the eye movement would ever come back. But after her sixth week review with the surgical team, they were astonished that the movement to the eye had improved so much. The eye had recessed a little, but it didn’t concern them so much. Lydia was able to take her exams with knowledge that all may be well in the end. The following week and another consultation to take finer readings confirmed the positive feelings of the surgical team. But this was followed immediately by a consultation with the Ophthalmologist. This time the news wasn’t so good. The eye had indeed recessed and may continue to do so. Lydia will have to wait for twelve to eighteen months for a final picture. An operation to correct this would be hugely complicated and only two or three surgeons in the UK would even attempt it, if at all. So, that’s where we are at the moment and please forgive me for being so self-indulgent about our own affairs. But I felt you ought to know exactly the state of play as it stands at present and I wanted to say thank you for all your concern and all your prayers.

Back to the Parish! I don’t know how many times I have suggested putting forward a slight change to our morning services in our monthly rota; at least it has been on my mind a lot. It is simply to suggest that we change slightly our Service on the Third Sunday of each month, just to add a little variety and edge to our Sunday worship. I’m not putting forward anything radical like plasma screens or anything like that, just a slightly different take on a Sunday morning to help reflect the time of the Church’s year. This would mean that our normal monthly cycle would be First Sunday, Family Service, Second Sunday Morning Prayer, Third Sunday something a little different, Fourth Sunday Family Communion. We’ll not worry about this too much over the summer and we’ll try something for 19th September!!

Speaking of Family Services, we plan to get this Parish News out in good time to let you all know that we have a special guest preacher on Sunday 6th June. He is Rev. William Haslett, former minister in Ballyblack Presbyterian Church, Newtownards and he’s well-known for his expertise with puppets! It will be worth being there if you can make it and I’m sure our youngsters will love it. William is well known to a lot of us clergy because of his chaplaincy in Bangor Hospital and he is a good friend of Pat Brown and her family. In fact William is marrying Pat’s granddaughter, Clare Johnston to Mr. Roland Graham, in Glencraig on 6th August!

It has been such a delight to welcome the Girl Guides to our Hall. They started here on Thursday 4th March and all their contact details are printed out later in this Parish News.

As always, thank you so much to all our gallant Christian Aid collectors and helpers. On the Sunday when we had our Christian Aid lunch I extolled their virtues, so I hope they know how much we appreciate all their efforts. Thank you especially to Hazel Johnston, our Christian Aid coordinator who had to organise things in a bit of a rush since she had been a victim of the volcanic ash cloud and a return home had delayed her considerably – till the night before Christian Aid Week. Between the collection and the lunch the area raised something in excess of £3, 200.00. Thank you.

Our organist, Ian Mackrell, has been with us for over three years which is hard to believe. We have always known that he is a very talented person and we also knew that his time in Glencraig wasn’t going to be forever. He has just received a promotion in his work and he has been asked to take up a new position in Ikea in Geneva. This is a tremendous opportunity for him and we congratulate him whole-heartedly and we wish him every blessing. His work there begins on 7th June which means that Ian’s last Sunday with us will be Sunday 30th May. This means that we are back to looking at our list of organists who have been so helpful in times past and seeking out people whenever they can play for us. Through all this, as in the past, the Choir has remained faithful and loyal and I ask them to hang on in there until we can hopefully work something out on a more permanent basis.

Whatever your plans are over the summer, I hope you manage to get some rest and relaxation, for the body and for the soul.

Paul Hewitt

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Vestry News

It seems strange to be talking about a new year in the life of the Glencraig when it is just past Easter, though maybe Easter and the spring is a good time to find new life. Our Easter Vestry always marks the beginning of another year for the Select Vestry.

The Eater Vestry Meeting took place on 24 March and was attended by twenty-five parishioners with an added number of apologies. It is always a little bit disappointing that the turn-out is so small each year, though we understand that even compared to  much larger parishes our turn out represents a fair proportion of all parishioners.

That having been said the Select Vestry has welcomed three new members in the persons of Ian Black, Simon Haselden and Jonathan Park. We are sure that they will represent the views and opinions of many parishioners. Ian Black comes from a long line of ancestors who have given so much to Glencraig in earlier years; his grandfather, William Watson and his great-uncle, Cecil Watson. And in like vein, we also have a new People’s Churchwarden, Phil Houston, who is following in the foot-steps of his father-law, John Sinclair. Ann Kitson continues as Vicar’s Churchwarden. Our Glebewardens are Richard Holmes and Maurice Dowds. Tony Gregg and Billy Mercer continue as Hon. treasurer and Hon. Secretary respectively.

As you can imagine, finance is still a problem as the recession, or whatever you want to call it, continues to bite. You can be assured that the Vestry really does  try to keep our out-goings to the bare minimum, but unfortunately as in all households things turn up that have to be met with cash. In fact, the Vestry hates having to keep on nagging about finances, but it is inevitable that that particular F-word is part and parcel of our daily life. Maybe some day things will get better. It would be great to get back to the old days when the slogan was: ‘You’ve never had it so good!’

Back to something more forward looking! We have just been informed of some progress on the vicarage site. We understand that our planning permission request will go to the North Down Council with a recommendation for approval. So by the time this issue gets to you we may have taken a major step forward after so many hitches and delays. Every member of the Vestry has his/her fingers crossed. Times will still be difficult for selling the sites judging by all of the property notices in the neighbourhood.

New lighting fixtures have been installed in the porch and in the Watson Chapel. Our poor churchwardens were having difficulty with the lighting in the porch which was so dim. The fluorescent tube in the side chapel has been replaced by something more in keeping with the surroundings.

You will find with the latest issue of the Parish News information about the possibility of constructing a Garden of Remembrance within the surrounds of the church. This has been on the agenda of the Vestry for some time and obviously needs to be thought through very carefully. It is for this reason that we are seeking to gauge the wishes of parishioners. There are presently a number of urns in the front lawn of the church and these have been carefully mapped out. It was decided some years ago that permission could no longer be given as it was becoming increasingly difficult, despite the map, to be sure where urns had been buried. We feel that the idea of a formal Remembrance Garden would be much more fitting.

Some things appear minor but can be very irritating. Some of you may know that there has been the occasional difficulty with the lock on the door of the Church Hall. Gerald Hudson took up the cause and with much ingenuity and resourcefulness has had the lock repaired. For which many thanks.

Simon Haselden has agreed to undertake scraping, sanding and repainting the doors of the church which have been seriously affected by the sun. This is quite some task and if there is out there some assistance on offer, then make yourself known to Simon, the Vicar or Peter Johnston as soon as you can.