THE choir of St Mary Magdalene under the direction of Dr Sean Sweeney returned from their August holiday to sing a service of choral evensong for the first Sunday in September.

The service was led by the vicar, Rev Dr Michael Dobson, returning from his break in Canada, who also preached and acted as cantor in the Responses by Sanders.

The choir also sang Psalm 121 and Kate Hancock read the lessons from Isaiah and St John. The Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis were sung to a setting by Tertius Noble in B which involved all four voice parts dividing, the organ played by Dr Sweeney with Bernard Pink conducting as well as singing the top tenor part.

The anthem was the unaccompanied “If ye love me”, by Thomas Tallis and Dr Sweeney ended the service with a great organ prelude in C minor by J S Bach.

Next Saturday, September 13, after a wedding at 12.30pm, Andrew Millington, former director of music at Exeter Cathedral, will give a free lecture on the organ music of Sir Edward Elgar at 2.30pm after which there will be a retiring collection and light refreshments.

The next choral evensong will be on Sunday, October 5, at the usual time of 5.30pm.

BEING intrigued by the stories of “The Beast of Bodmin Moor “Lezant WI invited Mark Camp to give a talk about the Myths and Tales of the Moor.

Diana Anderson, president welcomed Mark. He illustrated the main areas of interest with stunning photographs, highlighting such places as The Hurlers, Trethevy Quoit, Warleggan, Crowpound, Goonzion and the two Ogham Stones at Lewannick. The well-known Cheesewring had a fascinating tale that at midnight on a starry night the very heavy stone on the top is supposed to move around completely. He talked of the Rillaton Barrow and the amazingly beautiful Rillaton Gold Cup, now in the British Museum in London. Then on to the many connections with Kings and Saints in the local Churches, mentioning especially St Neot Church with its very early stained glass, the Cornish tors, abandoned farmsteads and Dozmary Pool and of course the famous Jamaica Inn. The Beast of Bodmin Moor? Mark has never seen it. Still a mystery. Keep looking!

Joy Hancock thanked him for his fascinating talk

Members were invited and several booked to share a coach with Stoke Climsland WI members to the Autumn council meeting in Truro where Pam Ayres is the main speaker in October. Preparations were made for the next big event, Lezant WI Craft and Produce Fair at Trebullett on October 25. Name and win a teddy bear made by a member then with funds going to the air ambulance

Competition results, Beast of Bodmin Moor: 1st Yvonne Taite.

Flower: 1st Irene Nash. Shrub: 1st Linda Watkins.

THE September meeting of Holsworthy History Society welcomed Mr John Killingbeck and his wife who gave a very interesting talk on Admiral Benedictus Marwood Kelly who was born in Holsworthy in the 1800s, joined the Navy at 13 years of age rising through the ranks and ended his naval career on HMS Pheasant where he liberated many slaves off the African coast and having lived a meagre life left his estate to fund Kelly College in Tavistock. His achievements Holsworthy can be extremely proud of.

The next meeting on October 9 is a talk on Edith Cavell in The Manor Suite at 7pm.

Thank you to everyone who gave up their time on Saturday 6th to help with the 'autumn clean' of the Chapel and Stable premises and with the cutting and strimming of the Burial Ground and Chapel Meadow. It really was a case of many hands making light work!

Rev Meg Slingo led the Holy Communion service at the Methodist Chapel on Sunday 7th. Mark Shepherd gave the welcome and highlighted key notices.

We worshipped the Lord by singing: ‘I stand amazed in the presence’, ‘Holy forever’, ‘When the music fades’, ‘Purify my heart’, ‘Freely, freely, you have received’ and ‘Hear the call of the Kingdom’.

The singing was led by Sandra Shepherd and Christine Tratt playing keyboards, Mark Shepherd playing guitar and with Pam Newton, Avril Glessing and John Cleave as vocalists.

The lessons were read by Mark and Sue Banks.

The Holy Communion was administered by Rev Meg, assisted by Mark Shepherd and with Mary Care acting as Communion Steward.

Refreshments were served after the service.

Members of Bude Inner Wheel met at the Falcon Hotel in September after the summer break. It was a larger group than usual as members had all been encouraged to bring a friend in order to make Inner Wheel better known to a wider community.

New President, Mandy Hamley, started the meeting by introducing Cyril and Gill Cox who gave a short presentation about their charity, Adsurf, which is one of Mandy’s chosen charities for the year. Adsurf is a local charity which was set up in 2022 and aims to bring the benefits of the sea and surfing to everyone regardless of their mental or physical difficulties. It was obvious from the pictures they showed and the testimonies received that their work brings enormous pleasure to a wide variety of people of all ages.

The meeting proper then followed with details of forthcoming fundraising events throughout the year and members were encouraged to take part in various brainstorming sessions to help plan the events. There was much lively discussion and the Club hopes to have some entertaining fundraising events for the local community in the coming year.

The service at the Methodist Chapel at Shop on Sunday, September 7, was led by the Merrytones Praise Group.

The theme of the service was 'As a potter remolds the clay, God remolds repentant sinners'.

Bill Cleave led the prayers of adoration, thanksgiving and repentance.

Colin Tape was the organist for the hymns: ‘New every morning is the love’, ‘Come let us sing of a wonderful love’, ‘I am trusting Lord Jesus’ and ‘Forth in the name of the Lord I go’.

Freda Olde read another of the many poems written by the late Elizabeth Oke of Gooseham. This one, Lizzie had entitled 'Harvest Thanksgiving 1956'. With Harvest Festival season upon us, it was particularly apt and brought back many memories for all of us of Harvest Festivals gone by, and reminded us of the many traditions which we still maintain in celebrating Harvest. Although Lizzie was disabled and virtually house-bound for a great part of her life, she wrote hundreds of poems, and having passed away in 1960, she lives on with her poems often read at services at the Chapel.

The lessons were read by Stuart Ash and Ken Boundy and the prayers of intercession were led by Jill Johns.

The Merrytones Praise Group rendered: 'This 'Ole House' and 'Search me O God'.

The service was followed by coffee and a chance to chat in the Wesley Room.

Marhamchurch WI met early for a soup and sweet lunch.

On offer were home made broccoli and stilton, vegetable and tomato soups. After members were treated to a delicious selection of desserts. Thanks were given to the committee for providing a sumptuous lunch.

Having enjoyed their lunch the ladies settled in for the annual harvest auction as members unable to attend early arrived for the September meeting.

There was a host of different items to sell. The auctioneer was Rachel Roberts ably assisted by runner Jenny Linares Marten. Although only the second year this pair had appeared together they managed to make it and afternoon of fun and laughter as well as clearing the table of all items.

Next month’s guest speaker will be Flotsam Flo.

Visitors are always welcome.

A CHARITY car wash has raised several hundred pounds for charity.

Fire fighters from Wadebridge Community Fire Station took to the car park of their local supermarket offering to wash the cars of customers.

In total, £732.77 was raised for the Firefighters Charity thanks to the efforts of the fire crews, who later when confirming the amount raised issued thanks to those who donated.

A spokesperson for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service said: “A huge thank you to Tesco for kindly allowing us use of their car park for our charity car wash, and to everyone who brought their cars along to be washed.

“Your support made the event a real success and we couldn’t have done it without you. A grand total of £732.77 was raised!”

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