March - Cruse Bereavement Care

Cruse was founded in Richmond on Thames in 1959 by Margaret Torrie, a social worker, and the wife of a consultant psychiatrist. She realised that there was no service that provided help to grieving widows, and she advertised in the local newspaper to test out the possibility of setting up a group. Nearly thirty widows turned up at the first meeting and the service grew from there, altering its outreach in 1987 to include all those going through a period of grief.

Cruse Bereavement Care is now the largest charity of its kind in the world. There are branches in all regions of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and there is a similar but autonomous organisation in Scotland.
The name of the charity comes from an archaic word for an earthenware jar.  The ‘cruse’ refers to the story in 1 Kings chapter 17 which tells of the widow who used her last oil and flour to feed Elijah, and from then on found that her jar (cruse) was always full. Cruse has no political or religious affiliations and provides practical advice and counselling through trained volunteers.

Services and support are available for anyone trying to come to terms with bereavement, with special emphasis on children, Service families, suicide and victims of crime. They also help following major incidents.
As well as training their own volunteers Cruse gives training to external organisations and individuals who may encounter bereavement in the normal course of their work.

Apart from a small central staff in Richmond the service relies entirely on volunteers and generates no funds of its own. Nobody who needs help is turned away for financial reasons, and clients make a contribution that they can afford. Support sessions can take place in an individual’s home, a Cruse office or by telephone or via email.

Local support groups meet on Tuesday mornings in Cheltenham, and Friday mornings in Gloucester.
Friendship groups meet on those same days.

Cruse websites are very ‘user friendly’ for both a grieving person and someone wanting to help them.
For young people between 12 and 18 (approximately) there is a specific website and freephone helpline:

www.rd4u.org.uk
( 0808 808 1677

National contacts:
www.cruse.org.uk
( 0208 939 9530

Local contacts:
gloucestershire@cruse.org.uk
( 01242 252518

February: Severn Freewheelers

From 4x4 wheels used in last month’s charity we are now moving to 2 as we support one of our Mayor’s charities.

Severn Freewheelers are a group of advanced motorcyclists providing a free out-of-hours courier service for hospitals in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire, North Wiltshire and Herefordshire. Carrying anything from blood to X-rays and patient notes between hospitals in the area, they are available from 7.00pm in the evening to 7.00am the following day, and all day at weekends.  All riders are volunteers and must have an advanced riding qualification (ROSPA or IAM) with a yearly check-ride.  All receive extra training in emergency response riding, and go through a First Aid course. In short, a professional team delivering a professional service, FREE to the NHS at the point of use.

Each "shift" consists of two people, a rider and a dispatcher. The dispatcher fields calls from the hospitals and plans the route for the evening based on the calls received. Emergency calls are obviously dealt with first, and for these they can use their blue lights.

For those of you who are interested in the technicalities of the machines used, this is what the website has to say about the bikes themselves:

“We run a fleet of five motorcycles. Each bike is specially modified to carry the packages given to us by the NHS, and liveried in emergency response reflective battenburg colours.

The three original R1150RT BMWs are being replaced after nearly three years of service by the next generation R1200RT BMWs. These are the bikes commonly used by police forces throughout the UK and have a reputation for robustness.

These emergency service bikes are specially built by BMW. We have four of these bikes, having replaced one after completing over 60,000 miles.

Our most recent purchase was a Honda Pan European (ST1300) from Honda UK. This bike is similarly liveried and equipped to the BMWs.”

If you would like to see the team in action they will be at the Prescott Bike Festival, Prescott Speed Hill Climb on Sunday 7th April.

For more information click here and visit the Severn Freewheelers web site at http://www.severnfreewheelers.co.uk

January - Gloucestershire and Worcestershire 4 x 4 Response

Gloucestershire & Worcestershire 4×4 Response began life in 2006 by a small group of members of a responsible 4 wheel drive association. They recognised the need for a local team, able to respond to incidents in our locality using specialised vehicles with trained drivers.

The first major incident was the flooding of 2007. Gloucestershire 4×4 Response (as it was then) worked with the British Red Cross and other 4×4 response teams delivering bottled water, hygiene packs and food to Care Homes across the county.

Teams responded to freak weather conditions on Crickley Hill the following winter, making checks on drivers and passengers of cars stranded in the traffic and snow.

In 2009 they were involved with Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) and Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust when wintery weather spread through the county. They had teams out for almost a week and covered several hundred miles collecting medical personnel, and transferring them from home to work and vice versa allowing wards and home visits to continue as well as the conditions would allow. During the warmer months of 2009 they became involved in the Worcestershire area and began recruiting members to strengthen the service they could provide. They were elected onto the Worcestershire CVEC (Community Volunteer Emergency Committee) and attended meetings and presentations about how the deployment of voluntary services can be effectively managed. With this involvement came the decision to re-brand the team and they became known as “Gloucestershire & Worcestershire 4×4 Response” or GW4x4R.

Gloucestershire & Worcestershire 4×4 Response (GW4x4R) provide 24 hour 4-wheel drive support to the Emergency Services, Civil Authorities and selected volunteer and utility organisations in Gloucestershire & Worcestershire. GW4x4R is a non-profit making voluntary organisation whose members use their own 4×4 vehicles, at their own expense, to provide this service to the emergency and other services.
If you are ever frustrated by trying to park at Highbury on the third Tuesday evening of the month (which is when they meet) please use it as a reminder to thank God for this service and to ask his blessing and protection on its members.

December: Children's Homes in Kerala Stage

There was a brief history and outline of the work of the Chiks charity in the December 2010 Highbury News, and its founder and co-ordinator, Robin Radley addressed the Highbury congregation last June. A synopsis of his entertaining update was that, like most charities, Chiks is struggling to meet the needs of our friends in India. Donations from Britain have dropped and prices of even the most basic requirements of life in India have escalated. Demands for help have also risen, so a vicious circle is in place.

Since 1999, through Chiks, one Children’s home, Karunanilayam, has been established and two others have been given great support. All three homes are in the state of Kerala, South India, a region also known as ‘Gods Own Country’ for its beautiful scenery. Unfortunately, beauty does not always mean wealth.
Karunanilayam, is run by Sister Mary Mathew, and currently over 30 children are resident. They are fed, clothed, educated and, most of all, are happy. I’ve been associated with Chiks since 2002, and seen expansion of the home from a single house to an extensive plot of multi-purpose buildings.

Likewise, the two homes in the mountain regions of Kerala, Little Flower Mercy Home and, even more remote, Carmel Matha Santhi Bavan have much to thank Chiks for.

Little Flower Mercy Home was started over 20 years ago by Molly and Mathew Manuel to shelter one hundred destitute and mentally-handicapped adults. Seeing a need for shelter for wandering children more recently, their scope has widened. Again, purpose built buildings have been erected, but already they are full to overflowing, partly because the Indian government has decreed that boys and girls must not share the same facilities.

Carmel Matha Santhi Bavan, run by Brother Joy Daniel, houses boys of all ages. The help of Chiks has also seen that home rebuilt and extended; and significantly, a large area of farmland purchased with a view to self-sufficiency. The land was already planted with banana, coconut, coffee trees and rice paddy.
Those are the successes. Now, the disappointments:-

Each month there are worries that bills will be met and food available. Meat has become a treat rather than a regular part of the diet.

At Karunanilayam, children have grown up, and will leave school. Then what? A training centre was planned to teach sewing skills and I.T. to the girls, also to be open to other girls in the neighbourhood. That project is now on hold, indefinitely.

Little Flower had an adjacent large plot of farmland on the market which would have been ideal for self-sufficiency. Chiks could not raise the asking price (which was hiked when the seller realised European finance was involved). However, a generous landowner has offered a smaller plot where a new boys’ home can now be built.

Carmel Matha Santhi Bavan farmland needs fencing to prevent theft of produce by needy neighbours. Again, insufficient funds are available.

If you actually see for yourself the happy faces of these children compared with the faces of those begging on the roadside, emotions are touched.

Some have horrific backgrounds ... death or illness of parents, desperate poverty leading to alcoholism and suicide. A boy saw his father step out in front of a train,  another spent his first years tied to a table then was given away in exchange for a cooking pot. More recently, a boy raised in squalor with an idle drunken father saw his mother die in agony after being beaten and poisoned by the father. While the man is in prison the boy is now safe in one of the homes.

Children may be from unknown origins, could be Christian, Hindu, Moslem or Buddhist. All join in daily prayers to Jesus to give thanks for their blessings, for Chiks and for supporters in the UK. All the Homes are sustained by an abundance of love, faith and prayer. Need I say that more support is always needed.
India has great wealth but, thus far, no welfare system. It could be decades before cultural traditions, the caste system and dowries (both of which are technically illegal) and responsibility for the destitute change.
Meanwhile, children do not deserve to suffer, and Chiks is doing all it can to ensure that some don’t.
The work goes on. Robin’s regular ‘Letter from India’ is always cheerful and optimistic, but so often frustratingly disappointing that more cannot be achieved as fast as his aspirations would wish!

Sue Cole

November - Langley House Trust

As a Christian Charity, our mission is to work with those who are at risk of offending, or have offended, establishing positive foundations so that they can lead crime-free lives and become contributors to society. At Langley House Trust we believe all people are:

 made in God’s image
 loved by Him regardless
 called into community
 offered redemption by His grace
 promised His glory

Our Vision - The Trust will work towards the fulfillment of its vision of a crime-free society where no-one is unfairly disadvantaged or excluded because of their past.

The Knole in Cheltenham is a Registered Care Home, providing accommodation for fourteen men aged 30 years and over. Our aims are to enable and equip former offenders to address their physical, emotional, mental and spiritual needs within a caring Christian environment; and to assist each person to progress towards more personal independence, learning life and social skills in order to live a fulfilling and crime-free life. We also offer a floating support service which is able to support residents in their own accommodation after their stay at the project. The Knole is committed to achieving equal opportunities for all. Religion, race, nationality, disability, age and sexual orientation will not be part of the selection criteria. We will challenge any discriminatory attitude within the house. The Staff provide each resident with a confidentiality policy, through which they seek to safeguard and keep secure all confidential information received regarding an individual.  With your support we can continue our work to help overcome the challenges faced by our residents such as gaining meaningful employment and/or voluntary work, furthering education, enhancing social skills in order for them to rebuild their lives and become part of the wider community.

If you wish to find out more about our valuable work please visit our website www.langleyhousetrust.org www.langleyhousetrust.org or contact The Knole on 01242 526978

October Listening Post

“Listening Post is a professional voluntary counselling service, Christian in foundation, formed twenty years ago to relieve emotional and psychological distress in Christians and non-Christians alike. We are an organisational member of the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy and work within their Ethical Framework. We provide counselling for anyone over 18, regardless of financial status, gender, religion, sexual orientation, race, colour or ethnic origin.


We serve any resident in this county, including those who might otherwise be financially prevented from accessing professional counselling support. Private counselling can cost up to £50 an hour – a cost that many people desperately in need cannot afford. Unlike private practitioners there is no set fee for our services. All we ask is that, based upon individual means, our clients make a donation per session.

If, as a client, you draw support from Christianity or any faith and want that to play a part in your counselling we work within the context of your faith. If you wish to work without reference to any religious beliefs, you are equally welcome. A Listening Post counsellor’s professional concern is to gain an understanding of how you see yourself and of what distresses you, and then work with you to determine how you can best be supported.

We have three counselling centres in Gloucestershire, and you are welcome to contact any of our centres about counselling; other enquiries are best made to our main office in Gloucester.”

Cheltenham: 01242 256060 Stroud: 02453 750123 Gloucester: 01452 383820

As with so many of the charities we support, Listening Post is struggling with both the increases in their costs and the volume of clients needing their help. They are very grateful for any help we can give them.

I was struck by the “Thought for the Month” on their website in September, when I was writing this piece, and would like to share it with you.

Mary Michael

“Often our call in life grows out of the compassion that we have built up because of our own woundedness. In that sense we can begin to see our woundedness as a gift rather than a failure; it is out of our woundedness and our personal limitations that our healing gifts will come; healing, praying, loving, all go hand in hand. Healing is loving; when we heal, we love; when we love, we heal. Sometimes in our life we can try to solve a problem, and there is a time for that, but sometimes just letting ourselves love again and be loved can solve many problems. When we get burned out, it isn’t usually because we are doing too many things, but often because we are not letting ourselves be loved.”

Peter Hoskin - Jesuit priest

and clinical psychologist

September Nicaragua Appeal

In September we combine the monthly charity with the annual Harvest Appeal, and this year we are supporting the Congregational Federation’s work, with Christian Aid, to help projects in Nicaragua.
Nicaragua is approximately the same size as England and is in Central America, between Honduras and Costa Rica. It has a population of almost 6 million people, a quarter of them living in the capital city Managua.

The country, which lies within the tropics, is regularly hit by hurricanes and tropical storms that sweep across the Atlantic each year. The destruction these cause have held back the country’s economic development. Nicaragua’s problems have been made worse by its turbulent recent history.
Following many years of military dictatorship, a revolution in 1979 and a counter revolution in the 1980s left the country’s infrastructure ruined and its people desperately poor. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere after Haiti: 80 per cent of the population live on less than US$2 per day.



Christian Aid in Nicaragua
The country faces two key challenges that Christian Aid and its partners are seeking to tackle.
Climate change: Nicaragua is one of the three countries in the world worst affected by weather catastrophes, and the United Nations has warned that storms here will only get worse.

Economic justice: in Nicaragua, 80% of urban jobs are in small companies, and 90% of rural businesses are linked to small, family-run farms. One of the biggest challenges for small producers is being able to reach a market where they can sell their products. With limited access to transport, little bargaining power and no marketing or sales expertise, many struggle to earn a living.

Christian Aid works with three main partner organisations in Nicaragua. Our gifts will be funding the overall Nicaragua country programme.

This summary is taken from the Congregational Federation’s website. If you are able to access it yourself you will find details of individual projects, and I am sure we will be sharing more details in church during this month.
Mary Michael