There was a request in the last St Pius InPrint email for contributions related to the Great War. I am grateful to Frances Allen and Veronica Ker who both responded - in quite different ways...
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The morning after: A normally closed border crossing between East Germany (foreground) and Czechoslovakia has been damaged and left open; fresh tank tracks are visible. A group of Russian or East German soldiers stand on the Czech side. The road leads to a small village, then to Chomutov and Prague. Taken by George Cranstone, 21st August 1968. It is 50 years since some 650,000 Soviet troops invaded Czechoslovakia, to reverse the reforms introduced there by Alexander Dubček in the “Prague Spring” of 1968. My own recollection of this event, on 21st August 1968, was seeing a newspaper headline as a 14-year old and witnessing the evident concern on my parents’ faces. But at the time of the invasion Agnes and George Cranstone and their three sons had a much closer perspective, and George has written this account of the family holiday which took a dramatic turn.
NF The recent visit of Pope Francis to Ireland, to attend the World Meeting of Families, has attracted enormous attention and has been widely discussed in the press. Maureen Rivett was amused by this photo in the Telegraph on Thursday 23rd August, showing one of the items of merchandise inspired by the visit: a “souvenir Lollipope”!
Friday 15th June was a perfect day to be out and about – the sun shone and the temperature hovered around 20° for most of the day. I set out for the coast and had an agreeable walk along the Bognor Regis sea front. But the sea air was not the main purpose of my outing – the real reason for visiting West Sussex lay at my next stop, in Chichester, where Stephen Hornsby-Smith’s latest exhibition ‘To Lock Horns’ was taking place.
A big thank you to the children and teachers of St. Thomas of Canterbury School, who produced the outstanding Stations of the Cross which were displayed in St. Pius church during Lent and the Easter season 2018. These remarkable images depict the Passion in a most striking and arresting way. Together, the 14 Stations represent the work of each of the classes in the school.
Take a look below to appreciate these wonderful works of art. Thanks once again to Bob Durston for this latest newsletter from the charity WaterHarvest (formerly known as Wells for India). It includes the Spring 2018 edition of the WaterHarvest magazine, which may be downloaded. This is a most informative magazine which includes "Where we work and what we do" in the form of a map, a description of the Chauka system and how it works, and even a recipe for 'Paneer in Spicy Tomato Sauce'.
One of the things I hope for this magazine is for it to reflect the interests, in as general a sense as possible, of the community. Thanks once again to Bob Durston for keeping us up to date with one of the charities in which he and other parishioners take a great interest. As we see in this announcement, the name of Wells for India is being replaced, and the latest edition of WaterWise magazine is available to download.
NF This charming piece, contributed anonymously, recounts happy memories of a much-loved and dearly-missed parishioner. Our contributor has counted some 25 church and local community activities in which the 'Lady on the Bike' was involved. She is surely missed in all of them.
Thanks to Helen Stewart for bringing the work of this Christian charity to our attention. Helen writes: I am not sure how many Parishioners are aware of this organisation. I was advised of their existence by the lovely lady who runs the Sewing Machine Shop in Guildford.
Thanks to Bob Durston for this newsletter from Wells for India, which includes a link to a three-minute video charting the great progress the charity has made in Rajasthan over the last 30 years. It makes encouraging viewing...
Bob Durston has contributed this open invitation to a Wells for India event to celebrate the charity's 30th birthday.
From Bob Durston Thanks to Bob for this update from Wells for India in the 30th year of the charity's activities. There is an opportunity to learn more about the work of Wells for India, a current appeal, and to download the latest edition of WaterWise magazine by using the links at the end of the article. The new issue of our bi-annual magazine, WaterWise, is out now! In this our 30th Anniversary edition, we celebrate having harvested 1.3 billion litres of water, working in 1,562 villages and with 1.6 million people. We have profiled our specialist partner, Tarun Bharat Sangh (TBS), based in the foothills of the Aravalli Mountain Range of Rajasthan. TBS was founded more than 40 years ago by students and professors from the University of Rajasthan, Jaipur, to promote rural education. Wells for India and TBS began working together in 2014 on an ambitious project partnership, co-funded by the local community in the Sarsa river catchment. This water and livelihood project has proved so successful that a second project is now planned, starting in late Spring this year. Font of Knowledge appeal We've also highlighted our Font of Knowledge appeal, which seeks to protect and preserve the wisdom of the community by looking after the elders. While expensive polluted water causes poverty, sickness and death, our water capture structures, called taankas, will provide safer drinking water. Thank you for your continued support, The Wells for India team Use the links below to learn more:
Website: https://www.wellsforindia.org/ Anniversary magazine download: https://www.wellsforindia.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/waterwise-issue-63-2017-online.pdf Font of Knowledge appeal: https://www.wellsforindia.org/font-of-knowledge/ By Pat Jones Pat Jones writes here about her first-hand experience of the Depaul orphanage in the Ukrainian village of Zaluchya. The orphanage was one of the beneficiaries of the St. Pius Christmas 10% Collection 2016. Pat first visited Ukraine in 2014, and then every three months for the following 18 months. She remains in contact with the Depaul organisation there. My first visit to Ukraine was quite a marathon. I flew to Kharkiv, near the Russian border, and spent three days there seeing the work of Depaul Ukraine. First, outside the Cathedral, under a half-tent, a small team of staff and volunteers were feeding around 90 homeless people each day with hot home-made soup.
For someone with only the merest appreciation of art, occasions to chat with and ask questions of an artist are few and far between. When I asked St. Pius parishioner Stephen Hornsby-Smith recently whether he would like to write an article about his art for St Pius InPrint, he simply directed me to his excellent website (1), of which I was previously unaware. Having looked at some of Stephen’s work there I recognised at once a strong visual appeal, but felt inadequate to the task of understanding what I was looking at. I wrote to Stephen to register my appreciation and admit my ignorance. In his reply, he kindly offered to discuss some of his work with me after Sunday Mass. I wondered whether we might look at a few paintings and search for significance and hidden meaning amongst the vivid flowing streams and contortions of colour. If I am honest, I feared being immediately lost in artistic explanations on a plane far above the mundane world I seem to inhabit. Instead, Stephen showed me a YouTube video lasting about 17 minutes, in which his work speaks for itself, and is accompanied by a sound track of lively music, and commentaries by himself and Andre Figueiredo. I was fortunate enough to have Stephen’s own commentary too. What did I learn? I learned that Stephen’s work reflects stages and locations in his life, and his observation of world events; that he has been influenced by Picasso and the concept of naïve art; that his work expresses concern for, and acute observation of, the natural world; that the seemingly insignificant detail in his paintings can express the challenge or harshness that Stephen wishes to convey; that just when you think you cannot be further surprised by Stephen’s art, he comes up with another piece which starts the process all over again. I also learned that one does not need to be an art guru to appreciate the humanity expressed in some of Stephen’s work – notably for me in his stirring depictions of the 9/11 and 7/7 tragedies. At least I thought I was making progress towards some understanding, until I watched a second video, which ends with the caption “How can you contain distortion and beauty, abstraction and the figurative, natural and the industrial? Find a way.” I think I need another chat with Stephen…
[Stephen later explained this was a reference to the unsympathetic attitude of Ted Hughes to his troubled wife, Sylvia Plath. He also links the ‘find a way’ reference to what he calls his “ambivalent” relationship with art.] I thoroughly recommend a visit to one or more of these:
ART EXHIBITION BY STEPHEN P. HORNSBY-SMITH (PAINTER), CRANLEIGH ARTS CENTRE, 2-26 OCTOBER 201326/11/2016 By Gillian Elsom Be prepared to be moved by Stephen’s paintings, there is vibrant colour, fierce and beautiful wild animals, repeating patterns, or motifs, on a black background, which come back in each painting to unify the whole collection. The motifs have been influenced by Stephen’s study of Global Art and in Stephen’s words are a mixture of ‘naïve form and calculated ideas’, using ‘elaborate design’ and ‘simple techniques’.
Stephen says ‘I paint naïve, colourful and semi-abstract paintings. Increasingly I’ve painted people as animals from wildlife, their surroundings and experiences… For me painting is bittersweet and free, like the ‘wildlife’ I paint, dangerous when cornered.’ From a wild cat, gorilla, elephant, tiger, peacock or snake, to a spider with a butterfly trapped in its web, these animals are dangerous when cornered but have their own wild beauty; it is left to our imagination as to whom they could represent, maybe characteristics in us all? In his four paintings of the seasons ‘Spring’, ‘ Summer’, ‘Autumn’ and ‘Winter’: ‘Spring’ is a painting of bright, fresh colours, ‘Summer’ too has its own feel, while ‘Autumn’ moves towards warmer Autumnal hues and the cold of ‘Winter’ is painted with white motifs on a black background. The colourful motifs have been used to create a unique and beautiful New Zealand wool ‘Contemporary Carpet’, hand woven in India. Although the sign said ‘do not touch’ the first thing the carpet makes you want to do is touch it, as you can feel the design from the raised pile. The motifs have also been painted onto his own papier mâché animals and recycled animal figurines. There is something for everyone to appreciate in Stephen’s paintings: from a train hidden in the design, the suggestion of cypress trees in his ‘Travelling Through France’, to a huge snake (painted in black motifs on a gold background), becoming even more menacing as it slides onto the painting, so large it will only partly fit; they are fun and serious, in his words ‘harmonious but unsettling’. Stephen is a parishioner of St Pius X Church, Merrow, Guildford. To find out more about his work see www.stephenhornsby-smith.com By Anna Klaptocz
This summer, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to go to Nicaragua as an International Citizens Service volunteer with Progressio. It was the Parish’s prayers and donations that made my fundraising and trip possible, and for that I am extremely grateful. This is a blog I wrote for Progressio which I am posting here to give a flavour of what life was like in Nicaragua, and to reflect on a very important international day: the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. |
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