The Venerable Dr Christopher Cunliffe, Archdeacon of Derby, reflects on Epiphany.

Epiphany is the poor relation of Christmas. This is a shame, not least because the carols and music of Epiphany are very special.

And the symbolism of the Epiphany, with the Three Kings or Wise Men bringing their gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh, is equally memorable.

The Epiphany – or, to give it its other title, the Manifestation of Christ to the Gentiles - gives Christians the opportunity to consider a crucial question; how is Christ to be born in the world today?

A look back at some of the stories of 2019.

It was a year that saw the arrival of Bishop Libby, and the departure of Dean Stephen Hance.

The cathedral saw a couple of high-profile events, and the Peak Centre in Edale reached a golden milestone.

And, of course, great work by clergy, staff and congregations continued in the Diocese of Derby and beyond...

The Bishop of Derby's office has announced that a Thanksgiving Service for the Revd Ian Mountford will be held on Thursday, 9th January at 12.45 pm at St Alkmund’s Derby (DE22 1GU).

A private family funeral service will take place earlier that day.

Refreshments will be provided in the church hall. Any donations will go to the Nightingale Macmillan Unit – Royal Derby Hospital.

Revd Ian Mountford died on 7th December, 2019.

For many people, attending a carol services in a church or at Derbys Cathedral is where Christmas really starts and there’s something magical about listening to the sound of choristers singing carols at Christmas.

But what is it like for those who are working hard behind the scenes to produce such music at this busy time of year?

The Cathedral's director of Music, Alexander Binns, gives us a festive flavour of what Derby Cathedral Choir get up to over the Christmas period.

More than 100 volunteers gathered at St Peter’s in the City, Derby, to help pack hampers for Christmas Lunch on Jesus – a project that provides low-income families and individuals with a Christmas meal.

The volunteers packed more than 400 hampers which will feed more than 1,500 people.

Did you know that each week 130,000 young people participate  in over 3,000 cadet units in the UK?

I didn’t… but arriving as a new curate in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, I wanted to find some way to connect with  the town’s young people and being of more mature years, I couldn’t see me going to a youth club or  hanging out at local haunts without looking a bit like a fish out of waters.

When, as legend has it, the devil sat on Chesterfield parish church’s spire, little did he know that he would create one of the county’s most iconic church buildings, grabbing people’s attention far and wide. 

If the legend were true, then good clearly triumphed over evil. 

The slightly less glamourous reality is that the Crooked Spire’s distinctive feature was caused by the weight of the roof distorting its wooden frame, causing the woodwork to twist and bend – resulting in the tip of the spire being some nine feet off centre.

Foodbanks are now, sadly, a common feature of many towns and cities as more and more people struggle to find the money to pay for life’s basics.

Of course, foodbanks don’t tackle the core problem, but they do at least help some of those who struggle to pay for one of our basic requirements – the need to eat.

And most of the Derbyshire foodbanks have strong connections with our churches.

One such foodbank is in Long Eaton, which is a collaboration between a number of churches of different denominations and is based at the Methodist church. It relies on donations and a team of 40 or 50 volunteers who are drawn from churches and the local communities.

It also has a foodbank in Sawley and a satellite in Castle Donington.

The volunteers do a range of jobs, including packing, welcoming guests and offering conversation, logistics, signposting people to other services, warehouse organisation, and collections.

Revd Samantha Tredwell is the vicar of St John in Long Eaton and is involved in the foodbank. She’s been telling Together Magazine more.

Q: How bad is the problem of food poverty in Long Eaton?

A: There’s been an increase of 52% in the use of the foodbank in the last 18 months and that’s been at the same time as the roll-out of Universal Credit across the region. We knew it would go up – but it’s gone up and stayed up. So we’re now getting as many as 18 to 25 users each session.

Q: And who uses the foodbank?

A: I would say everybody. People with young families – particularly in the holidays, people who have been made redundant and homeless people. We also see the working poor - people who aren’t earning enough to pay their rent and to feed themselves, or people on zero-hours contracts who don’t know from one month to another how much money is coming in and there isn’t enough to go around.

Q: So anyone could find themselves in this situation then? If for example they were to lose their job? 

A: Yes, because people think there is a network of benefits. There are benefits but there is quite a serious time lag between applying and getting that money. The government says it’s five weeks, but we’ve seen it be eight or nine weeks without any money. The longest I’ve come across is a lady who went for seven months without any benefits – because of complications, because you need identification or a bank account – those things that perhaps people don’t have.

Q: As a vicar, how does it make you feel seeing these people at the foodbank today who haven’t got enough to eat?

A: It makes me angry – angry that people should go hungry. It feels wrong on all levels. We are a wealthy nation … and we also throw away a large amount of food each year. And we frequently come across people who have chosen to feed their children rather than themselves and have gone for days without eating. That makes us angry!

Q: So how does this work? Where do you get the food from to give to others?

A: The food we give out all comes from donations, which come from the community – from Long Eaton and Sawley. The community keeps us going and is very, very generous. We have food bins in Tesco and Asda that are filled up twice a week – we get tremendous help from them. The churches are collection points, people do collections for us and we have a Facebook page where we publicise what we need.

Q: How do you decide who needs what? 

A: The Trussel Trust gives us a picking list – they’ve put together a list of things you would need to keep you going for about three to four days. The list includes cereal, milk, coffee, vegetables etc – so because we’re part of that network they’ve done the hard work for us. Obviously, a single person gets less than a family… but we give out more single parcels than anything else.

Q: This has led to other activities, hasn’t it?

A: Yes, it’s a real ecumenical process. One of the things about the foodbank is that you don’t really get to know people well. So, at St John’s in Long Eaton we are fortunate to have a big hall and a kitchen, so we decided to do a lunch once a week to build on friendships and to serve a hot meal. We thought we’d do that for six weeks – and two years on we’re still going. This week we fed around 100 people! They include young families, people who are older and lonely and some older people who are not managing on their pension. And another church, Oasis, has started a breakfast club on a Monday morning and a job club.

St John’s has also applied for a grant to put on some basic cookery classes. It’s all very well people coming to collect food, but not everyone has the skills to cook.

Q: What’s the best thing people can do to help?

A: Checking what we need is really helpful – we don’t really need baked beans all the time – we often need milk vegetables and other things. So please check first. I had a significant birthday this year and instead of presents I asked for food – and I collected about three-quarters of a ton for the foodbank – so people could try things like that too!

Find out more and get in touch by checking out their Facebook page: @longeatonandsawleyfoodbank

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