Dave King
Pupils at St Peter's C of E Primary School in Netherseal have been doing their bit for the Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal, raising £242.85 through various table-top sales.
After the teachers shared details of the appeal, a Year 6 pupil asked if they could do something practical to help - and the Save Zimbabwe Sale was born.
Headteacher Melanie Machell said: "The children worked extremely hard and organised everything!
"They wrote posters, bought 'stock' for their stalls, wrote letters to businesses for donations, baked cakes, designed games and collected from parents.
"It was fabulous that the children felt so empowered to make a difference and we are very proud of their achievement."
The 70 pupils at St Peter's also spent time discussing the plight of the people of Manicaland and praying for them.
This year's appeal, Harvest Homes, is raising funds to help rebuild homes in Manicaland, Zimbabwe, where Cyclone Idai destroyed homes, crops and livelihoods.
On hearing of their efforts, Bishop Libby said: "This is a joy to hear about – our children giving us a lead in generosity of spirit and action.
"I am grateful to all the pupils, staff, parents, and everyone else who has contributed to this remarkable outcome.
"And I thank God that these children have helped the vulnerable people of Zimbabwe, most affected by Storm Idai, rebuild there lives.
"No wonder Jesus said children are at the heart of the Kingdom of God."
>> More about the Bishop of Derby's Harvest Appeal.
Have you been raising money for Harvest Homes? Please tell us about your fundraining events.
One of the newest choirs in the Diocese of Derby has been practising hard for a Remembrance Sunday performance – the group’s first public outing.
Signs from the Peaks started when Buxton Team Rector Liz England got together with a group of other people who were keen to start a signing choir.
Liz has a Level 1 in British Sign Language (BSL). She joined forces with Steph Bennett, a BSL teacher, Elaine Hill, who works with the deaf community, and Liv Lazarus, also BSL qualified, to form Signs from the Peaks – a now 20-strong ensemble.
And after around six weeks of rehearsing, Liz decided to invite the choir to perform at the church’s Remembrance service.
That in itself is a milestone for some of the choristers who have never before attended a church service.
Liz said: “I love the inclusivity of it. Not only do we have people who use sign language regularly, but also members of the community who have never signed before.
“The choir is open to anyone, whether they have experience in signing or not.
“The aim of this amazing choir is to get people involved who are passionate about being creative and like a bit of tea and biscuits too!
“And one of our founding members, Ana Mankiewicz, runs Grapevine Wellbeing Centre, a mental health charity in Buxton - so she invites people who feel isolated to join in. This is a win-win for all concerned.”
Signs from the Peaks meets on Tuesday evenings at 6pm at St Mary’s Church, Dale Road, Buxton.
See them on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/704810786658751/ or contact Liz England on 01298 212667.
Each year, the nation prepares to remember the fallen.
And each year, an army of volunteers heads out into the Diocese to help sell those poppies and raise vital funds to support today's Armed Forces community – and to help ensure we never forget.
In the village of Hulland Ward, not far from Ashbourne, one such volunteer has been committed to selling poppies for a staggering 75 years!
James Milwain: ordained deacon on 30 June 2019
"It has been wonderful... to proclaim the Gospel, to preach regularly and to serve at the altar."
Hello, I’m the Reverend James Milwain and I am in many ways returning home to the Diocese, having grown up close to the city of Derby.
The village of Eyam has been recreated in fruit cake!
Baker Lynn Nolan's model took three months to make and the tasty model is on display in St Laurence's church until the end of November 2019.
Lynn used a total of 65 cakes, which are held together with skewers and covered in icing.
You can see the model at Eyam Church from 10.00am to 4pm on weekdays and Saturdays, and on Sundays from 1.30pm to 4.00pm.
One of the great things about going to school is that you get fed!
And whilst not every child relishes the thought of having a school dinner, at least those that do don’t go hungry.
But what happens during the school holidays? If parents are struggling to make ends meet there is a real possibility that some children can start the new term malnourished.
Breakfast and lunch clubs during school holidays have proved to be part of the solution for some areas.
Hannah Grivell reflects on Christ Church Belper's involvement in the town's first Pride festival.
As soon as I heard that Belper was hosting its own Pride event, I knew that Christ Church had to be involved.
Snowballing from a small picnic planned in the memorial gardens to the town-wide event it became as interest grew, Pride in Belper presented a fantastic opportunity for us to spread Christ’s redeeming message of love and acceptance to a community who had, directly or indirectly, often had painful experiences with the church.
This was in line with our mission as an Inclusive Church, which we signed up for in November 2017. Inclusive Church is a network of churches, groups and individuals uniting together around a shared vision:
"We believe in inclusive Church - a church which celebrates and affirms every person and does not discriminate. We will continue to challenge the church where it continues to discriminate against people on grounds of disability, economic power, ethnicity, gender, gender identity, learning disability, mental health, neurodiversity, or sexuality. We believe in a Church which welcomes and serves all people in the name of Jesus Christ; which is scripturally faithful; which seeks to proclaim the Gospel afresh for each generation; and which, in the power of the Holy Spirit, allows all people to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Jesus Christ.”
The celebrations kicked off, like most Prides, with a parade—but this being Belper, it was far more fitting for this to be a ‘Strutt’ down from the marketplace, along King Street, then back up to the memorial gardens. Crowds lined the streets, with people leaving shops to watch the Strutt—even mid-haircut!
We were grateful to have been allocated a stand in a prominent position—as were the Unitarian Church and the Quakers—to ensure that the healing message that God’s love does not discriminate was front and centre.
>> More about Christ Church Belper
>> Read Together Issue 6 online
>> More about Together Magazine
This was a deliberate move by the organisers which not only allowed us to have many conversations with all kinds of people, it also meant that our sign quoting 1 John 4:16—“God is love. Those who live in love live in God, and God lives in them”—was unmissable by all walking by, with some stopping just to photograph it.
We encouraged any who visited the stand to write names or prayers on a second sign with the word ‘LOVE’ written out, which a truly touching number of people chose to, and our intercessions the following day were centred on holding each of these people and situations in prayer.
Our shirts, provided by One Body One Faith who run the Christians at Pride movement, also proved a valuable witness and meant that even away from the stand people would stop us to ask questions or to simply thank us for being there.
With around 2,000 people estimated to have attended, the reaction we received was overwhelmingly positive, though even the most heartwarming reactions to people receiving the message that they are loved and accepted for who they are carried an undertone of sadness for the lifetime of alienation, rejection and secrecy that this revelation betrayed.
We will continue to carry the stories and situations we heard in our hearts and prayers, and hope that the spectacular success of the festival is the spark for wider change and growth in the church.
This feature was originally published in Issue 6 of Together Magazine
Bishop Libby is pleased to announce that the Revd Canon Dr Elizabeth Thomson will be Acting Dean of Derby from 1 October 2019.
Canon Elizabeth has been at Derby Cathedral since 2014 as Canon Missioner, and was appointed sub-dean by the outgoing dean, the Very Revd Dr Stephen Hance.
On making the announcement, Bishop Libby said: "We are very thankful that Elizabeth is willing to take on this crucial role during the vacancy. Elizabeth has a proven track record of leadership and creative ministry in the cathedral. I am confident she will not only love and support the cathedral through this time of transition, but bring her gifts and experience to enabling the Cathedral to flourish and grow during this time."
>> Stephen Hance bids farewell to Derby Cathedral
The task of selecting a new dean is already underway. The Archbishop of Canterbury will appoint someone who knows Derby and Derbyshire well to chair the panel that will oversee the process.
The panel for the interviews represents the diversity of the diocese, the cathedral and the wider community, reflecting the wide-ranging nature of the role of a dean. The panel works with the Bishop to make this appointment.
Consultations will be in mid-September. Individuals and groups have been contacted who can give the panel a really broad and deep sample of views about what the diocese, the city of Derby and the county needs in its dean, and there will be an open meeting for the congregation on Tuesday, 17 September.
All these conversations and other contributions will be drawn together to create a profile of the role, the cathedral and the kind of person who might be called to become Dean of Derby.
Both Derby Cathedral Chapter and Bishop Libby will submit their requirements and vision for the new dean, to complement a statement of needs and role specification.
It is intended to interview before Christmas, in the hope that an appointment can be made, and the new dean installed in 2020.
The full text of Dean Stephen Hance's farewell sermon at Derby Cathedral
So, we have come to my farewell service, the last chance I have to preach from this pulpit, and I want to thank you for being here to share in this act of worship as we say our goodbyes to one another today. It’s good to see you.
Cathedrals have been in the news again this summer. First of all, it was Rochester Cathedral with their mini golf course. Then it was Norwich with the helter skelter in the nave. And both of these had the predictable response from the usual people. This was, apparently, a desecration of holy ground, further proof that the Church of England, which for hundreds of years had thought that worship and prayer and pastoral ministry was sufficient, had now entirely lost the plot and was obsessed with gimmickry to get people in.
