Notes for 8 October 2023

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Dear friends,

We’ve just returned from a lovely break in Norfolk. We had planned a trip to Sicily but when that couldn’t happen we changed plans and had a lovely time. The picture is of one of numerous boot scrapers we noticed outside older houses in Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds and even built in walls of churches. We had never seen these before and had to take some pictures.

This week I will be ordering organic and fair trade Christmas goodies for the LOAF stall next Sunday after the parish communion service. Also on sale (on behalf of Stuart Cole) will be Traidcraft Christmas cards. Please come and have a look whilst you enjoy an after service coffee.

Only a few more days left of balmy weather before autumn sets in: do make the most of it!

God Bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

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Weekly Notes
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Cafe Church Menu
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Weekly Readings

Post expires at 1:42pm on Monday October 7th, 2024

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October 2023 Garden Tips

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Garden Notes for October 2023.

October is the month to start clearing away summer growth and preparing for the next growing season. This will generate a lot of material. By far the best use is to compost it.
Composting is very important, no matter how large or small your garden is. Shredding woody material and large items like cabbage stalks is important.

Dahlias are the most likely to show when there has been an early morning frost. The leaves will turn black and all growth will stop. When this happens, cut the top growth down. Standard advice is to lift the tubers and let them dry out thoroughly before storing in a frost-free place through the winter. I find that the tubers get so large that they take up a lot of space, so I experimented last year and left them in the ground covered by a thick insulating layer of straw. I had much greater success this way than I ever did trying to store them in the conventional way.

Carnations and pinks should be planted in prepared beds. Clear leaves and rubbish around stems. In mild spells firm the soil around plants if they have been lifted by frost.

Before it gets too cold, give the greenhouse a thorough clean and clear out. Remove tomatoes. Night temperatures are dropping considerably now with the result that the skin on the fruit gets pretty tough. Other plants in the green house can be given temporary B&B elsewhere and then the glass should be washed down to remove as many of the ‘nasties’ as possible.

Plant out wallflowers, polyanthus, sweet williams, foxgloves and other similar biennials for a good display in the spring. Spring cabbage should be planted out while the ground is still workable, keep up a succession of winter lettuce like ‘Winter Density’. Cut remaining marrows, squashes and pumpkins. Put them away in a dry, frost-proof place. Clear away all the pea and bean haulm, then dig over the vacated ground.

Once the ground has been cleared it is a good idea to break it up. If you have heavy clay (as most of us do round here) the best way is to use a spade and to leave it with large clods that will break down over the winter with weathering. If you break the soil down too much at this time of year, it will just become a ‘pudding’ and you will have to start all over again in the spring.

If you want early sweet peas, now is the time to start them off. For best result sow one or two seeds in rooting pots as sweet peas have an exceptionally long tap-root. Germinate the seeds in the greenhouse with gentle, consistent warmth. Once they have emerged sweet peas can be kept outside in a cold frame, only needing protection from the worst frosts by having a cover over them

All are welcome to come to the Annual General Meeting of the Horticultural Society which will be held in the Capel Parish Hall on Thursday 9th November starting at 8pm.

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Notes for 1 October 2023

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Dear friends,

This email comes to you from sunny Cambridge rather than from Italy, where we would have been if the car hadn’t played up.

Norfolk proved to be a great holiday destination with one of the highlights the theatre show with the Rev Richard Coles last Wednesday in the Theatre Royal of Bury St Edmunds. We had an informative and entertaining tour in the theatre in the morning as well, as the picture testifies.

We are missing the wonderful Harvest Festivals and we hope you enjoy tomorrow in Capel.

God bless,

Dineke

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Weekly Readings – Ockley
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Harvest Readings – Capel
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Weekly Notes

Post expires at 9:50am on Monday September 30th, 2024

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October 2023 Issue 77

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Celebrating Creationtide and the season of harvest in the October issue.

Christian Aid Harvest prayer

The earth is fruitful
may we be generous.
The earth is fragile
may we be gentle.
The earth is fractured
may we be just.
Creating God,
harvest in us joy and generosity
as we together share in thanks
and giving.

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Inspire Magazine Oct 2023

Post expires at 9:43pm on Saturday September 28th, 2024

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Notes for 24 September 2023

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Dear friends,

This is a first of several: posting to the PCC website only and doing so from a laptop away from my desk. Let’s hope it all goes well!

This Sunday is the first of our two Harvest Festivals. Our Harvest collection moneys will go to a very good cause (see notes) and food donations are for the local foodbank. Please consult the attached DAF flier for goods most required.

The picture is of a tiny froglet (15mm or half an inch) finding a hiding place to overwinter. It will rest and grow to emerge in early spring to ensure the next generation of this beautiful native species.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

pdf icon Readings-20230924-Creation.pdf
Weekly Reading – Capel
pdf icon Readings-20230924Harvest.pdf
Readings Harvest Festival – Ockley
pdf icon notes-20230820-24th-September.pdf
Weekly Notes
pdf icon DAF-Harvest-2023-flier.pdf
Foodbank requirements

Post expires at 7:53am on Monday September 23rd, 2024

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Autumn colours and textures

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Revd Liz Richardson

This month begins with final week of our season of Creationtide. Five weeks where we have explored our role as human beings in the story of creation, our relationship to the earth, and the earth’s relationship with the Creator God. It has been a fascinating time of discovery and one which as a parish we hope to continue as well as aiming to cut our carbon footprint in our church buildings and churchyards. We shall be celebrating and giving thanks for God’s creation at our Harvest Festivals, and Capel’s Harvest Festival is the very first day of this lovely month of October.
We will be welcoming your donations of food that is suitable to take to Dorking Foodbank for their distribution as well as LeatherHEAD START who provide emergency housing for homeless people in the local area.

As well as donations of foodstuff we will be collecting monetary donations and offering our Harvest collections from both churches (St Margaret’s Ockley and St John’s Capel) to the charity ShelterBox. This charity based in Cornwall exists to ensure no one is without shelter after disaster. Providing tents, shelter kits, and other essential equipment ShelterBox works to support thousands of people affected by disasters all over the world. Currently their teams in Morocco have been visiting villages in the mountains where homes have collapsed leaving people with very little in the way of shelter and belongings. As winter approaches they are looking to support people affected by the earthquake with tents, blankets, solar lights and kitchen sets. ShelterBox is also responding to the humanitarian needs in Libya in partnership with ACTED another humanitarian organisation who are already working in Derna before Storm Daniel and have a good presence there. Do support these or any other humanitarian support agencies as they try to support those affected by these devastating so called natural disasters. If you would like to add to our ShelterBox donation this Harvest, please come to one of our Harvest festival Services or pop it through my Vicarage door in an envelope marked Harvest Donation.

On a lighter note (really?!) we have the opportunity to become amateur sleuths as another Murder Mystery play and supper is performed. Two performances, two villages, two suppers! Hurry and book your tickets for either Friday 13th October for Ockley or Saturday 14th for Capel. Should be great fun!!

Finally, at the end of the month we will be holding our annual service of comfort for those who are bereaved. Lists for names of loved ones will be put inside churches towards the middle of this month. This peaceful service will be followed by teas as usual.

In the meantime enjoy the colours and textures of Autumn, do visit your lovely parish churches and enjoy our harvest flowers, a fitting tribute to the glorious creation that God has given us.

With my love and prayers

Liz

Post expires at 6:33pm on Thursday September 19th, 2024

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Notes for Sunday 17 September 2023

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Dear friends,

The last days of summer are here and what an Indian summer it has been!
The weather will be turning and we are looking forward to harvest with rosehips and haws nearly ready to pick. Sloes will need a bit longer and blackberries, apples and plums are nearly over. The picture today is of my rhubarb vodka that has been stewing for several months. I am looking forward to sampling it one cold winter evening.

Only those of you who have signed up to receive these notes via the church website will be receiving them for the next three weeks: I will not be able to access my computer and data protection rules prevents me from copying all your email addresses to my mobile phone. Please follow the link below if you would like to keep receiving these notes. It’s great that more than 50 people have already signed up in the last year.
Just one person has informed me that they would like to receive these from my personal account and, having received their permission, I will forward the notes to them as they go out.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

 

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weekly Notes
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Weekly Readings
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Post expires at 12:53pm on Monday September 16th, 2024

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Notes for Sunday 10 September 2023

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Dear friends,

Most urgently, please note that due to poor health of our vicar, the service in St Margaret’s tomorrow has been cancelled. All are welcome to come to café church in the garden of the Crown in Capel at 10:30, where Bob and the Band will be making beautiful music and challenging our pre-conceived ideas. The order of service (menu) is attached.
Please remember Rev Liz in your prayers as she has had a rough time of it this summer and we pray that she will be restored to full health soon.

Many thanks to all who have so far signed up to receive these notes via our website. If for any reason you can’t sign up this way (see foot note) please let me know by return email so I can make sure you keep receiving the notes after I close down the current system by the end of this month. If in doubt please get in touch.

I hope you can all stay cool in these record temperatures.
The picture today is of the back of our house (the open windows are next door’s). For many years now I have followed the South American system (inspired by novels of Gabriel Garcia Marquez) of keeping cool by closing all windows, doors and curtains and covering windows with white sheets before the sun hits the house. Only when the outside temperature falls below the inside (around 7pm at the moment) do I open everything so the house can cool down.
Do try to enjoy the balmy evenings before autumn settles in.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

 

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Weekly Notes
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Weekly Readings
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Cafe Church Menu
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Post expires at 9:43am on Monday September 9th, 2024

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Notes for Sunday 3 September 2023

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Dear friends,

My stint as editor of the weekly notes has come to an end. Rev Liz has already edited some last month, when I was too busy with the Capel Show, and will continue until someone else is prepared to take it on. Please contact her if you have any questions or are considering to take it on.

I will keep sending these emails but after begging for a year there are still around 50 people who haven’t signed up to receive these notes via the church website. If that is you, please read the following carefully:

* If you have no alternative but to receive these notes directly from me. Please let me know by return email and I will make sure you keep receiving them.
* If you can sign up, please do so as soon as possible using the link at the bottom of the page.
* If you have tried to sign up but struggled to make it work, please let me know and I will help you.
* If I don’t hear from you either way in the next month I assume you no longer wish to receive the notes and I will respect your wishes and delete you from the list (in accordance with data protection rules).

The picture today is of the bridge I made for the Capel Show. It enables access to the show by disabled people who are now required to park in the public car park field (kindly offered for the day by Marilyn and Ollie Turner). It is wide (and sturdy) enough for a mobility scooter or wheelchair and reusable for many shows to come.

God bless,

Dineke van den Bogerd

 

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Weekly Notes
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Weekly Readings
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Post expires at 11:23am on Monday September 2nd, 2024

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September 2023 Garden Tips

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Garden Notes for September 2023.

As John Keats so famously wrote about autumn being the “Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness/ close bosom-friend of the maturing sun”, September sees the time when crops are harvested and stored for the winter months that are to come. Carrots should be lifted and stored before the roots start to split, which they will do very quickly once the heavy autumn rains begin. For the same reason, beetroot are better lifted and stored this month. Looking forward to next year, spring cabbage should be planted now. Remember to firm the soil around each plant after planting. Lettuce can also be sown now in a cold frame, or greenhouse. Varieties to choose include ‘Winter Density’, ‘All the Year Round’ and ‘May Queen’.

Watering plants is always a good topic of discussion. It is either too dry, or it’s too wet. The essential thing is to try to get the right balance. When it is dry the closable leaf pores on plants (technically called ‘stomata’) shut down and slow down the process of photosynthesis. When there is enough water the stomata open, transpiration takes place, allowing the air containing carbon dioxide to go into the plant, which, together with sunlight, powers the reaction of water and carbon dioxide to make the sugars that are the plant’s energy source and building blocks. Watering keeps the stomata open in dry spells. As a rule of thumb one square metre of vegetation draws the equivalent of an inch of rainfall every day. Growth of plants in the summer normally requires additional irrigation. There are now numerous automatic systems that can be put in – especially for containers and hanging baskets.

The start of autumn means that many plants are producing seed heads, which we normally ‘dead head’ to keep the succession of flowers going. With the cost of seed increasing year on year it might be worthwhile considering saving some seed head for sowing. Flowers like Sweet William, Love-in-Mist (Nigella), Cosmos, or vegetables like Runner Beans, can be harvested just before the seed-pod has fully dried. Use brown paper bags to hang the seed head upside down and store in a dry place. Remember to label the variety, and then when it is all nice and brown shake out the seed and you have saved yourself pounds for a few minutes work. Unfortunately the lovely hybrids that abound now will not breed true and you will have to rely on the expertise of the professional for that, but if you don’t mind a variety of colour in your Sweet William and so on it is fine.
The growth of rampant climbers like some of the clematis (remember to check) wisteria and climbing roses can be cut back in the middle of September. September is a good time to establish a new lawn and for transplanting evergreens. Remember to divide your irises and to sow hardy annuals for the spring. Towards the end of the month make space to move your tender plants under cover to protect them from the cold nights.

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