PASTORAL LETTER JANUARY 2012

Christmas at the Court of King Herod the Great

The morning watch was uncertain what to do when the three visitors turned up at the Palace gate towards the end of his shift. The three visitors announced themselves as ‘magi’ and ‘kings’. The guard wasn’t sure if they were beggars or madmen – they were hardly dressed like Royalty and no guards or servants accompanied them. The guard decided to err on the side of caution – in Herod’s employ caution tended to keep you alive unless a real emergency occurred, in which case speed, decision and absolute loyalty to the King were the three virtues which ensured that you still had a head on your shoulders.

Festival of Christmas Trees December 9^th to 11^th 2011

This was by far the biggest event we have undertaken with seventy sponsored Christmas Trees forming the Festival.  At least one thousand five hundred people visited the Church during the three days, and on the Friday evening, Saturday and Sunday afternoons there was live entertainment.  Click on the "Read More" button to view Roger Rickett's video and see further details.

Nature Notes

Birds of a feather flock together; especially outside the breeding season.  There are flocks of Jackdaws, long-tailed and other tits, gold, green and other finches, pied wagtails, redwings, fieldfares, starlings, Brent geese, lapwings, golden plovers, and many more species.  Why do they do it?  The answer is generally security.  Many eyes looking out for predators means that it only needs one to spot danger and the rest will know within seconds.  The other good reason is food.  It follows that when one of the flock finds food, the others will soon know about it.  There may be a third reason, and that is roosting.  If they all snuggle up together at night, they can conserve heat.  There is one other thing that is happening, and that is, like going to a party, it is a good opportunity to find a mate.  Watch out for busy flocks of birds in every habitat type.

	Church Clock Restored – 10th November 2011.   Five months after the Clock was removed (on the 4th July 2011) for cleaning and overhauling, the mechanism was reinstated, and together with the repainted, and re-gilded, clock faces the town has its landmark timepiece back in action.
4th Jul 2011		12th Nov 2011

The clock was made in 1883 and although on the clock’s ‘setting dial’ it bears the name of a local man and the word Uckfield, it was, in fact, made by Thwaites and Reed of Clerkenwell in London.  It is typical of their design at that time and very similar to their clock in the Knightsbridge Barracks in London. The clock features dials that are unusually placed, being on the out-built mountings on the four sides of the spire.  Likewise the clock itself is also unusually mounted because it is above the bell-frame in the belfry and on a level with the base of the spire.