|
Welcome to St Eustachius' parish church, Tavistock. We aim to be a lively and caring Christian community, which encounters God and is engaged in transforming the town which we serve. We hope that you find these web pages helpful, we look forward to greeting you in person, and are glad to receive any feedback or enquiries that you have. |
|
A History of Tavistock Parish Church
 Tavistock’s parish church is at the centre of the town, its position symbolising its historic role at the heart of the community. Dedicated to St Eustachius, it is a beautiful building, perpendicular in character but incorporating fragments of earlier churches on the site. In itself, however, it tells us little about the people who worshipped there through the centuries. Some two years ago the PCC commissioned Gerry Woodcock, our well-known historian, to write a book about the history of the building, its happenings, and its people. The story takes us from the beginnings, when the parish grew up alongside the great abbey, through periods of calm and unity alternating with spells of turmoil and division. St Eustachius’ was never an insular or inward-looking institution, and one theme that is followed is the way in which it responded, on the one hand to pressures from such as kings, popes, and bishops, and on the other to the wider needs of the community that it served. And through it all emerge the people: the 57 vicars, 36 patrons, numerous curates, readers, wardens, musicians, choristers, ringers and other officers and servants of the church, as well as the innumerable generations who occupied the pews, and to whom the book is dedicated. The book is scheduled for publication at Easter 2012. It will have 125,000 words (probably 240 pages) with 95 illustrations. Included are a final chapter that takes the form of a walk round the present-day church, and an extensive index.
Orders for the book at this pre-publication stage can now be taken at the discounted price of £15 that will apply until 31 January 2012. After this date the price will be £25. If you would like to avail yourself of this opportunity, please complete the coupon below, and send it, with your remittance, to the address shown. A separate receipt will be issued for each book ordered, and these can be exchanged subsequently when the book is published. Perhaps you would not mind me suggesting that a receipt might make an acceptable Christmas present?
John Askham: Book Committee Treasurer
Please print and send to John Askham, Book Committee Treasurer, 9 Limes Lane, Tavistock PL19 8HL.
Please reserve me . . . . . . . copy/copies of Homage to St Eustachius’.
I enclose £15 (please amend if more than one copy is being ordered).
Cheques should be made payable to Tavistock PCC Book A/C.
Your name . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Tel No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Post Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
You will receive a receipt as an acknowledgement of your order. Please retain it to be exchanged for your book(s). Public notice of the details of the arrangement for the exchanges will be given on publication. All copies of the book will be signed by the author. If you wish Gerry to include a special message (eg To . . . . . ) please include it.
|
|
|
our lay reader Wendy writes |
|
1 January 2012
As I sit and write this particular letter, I am minded of a tale of a young boy who desperately seeks to play the part of Joseph in the school nativity play so that he can show others his acting talent. When the time comes for the parts to be allocated though, the young boy finds he is disappointed when given the part of the Innkeeper. He perseveres though, intent on sharing his thespian skills with the world. During the performance, in front of a packed school hall, when Joseph and Mary ask him if there is any room for them in his inn, the disappointed little boy chooses to abandon the script and, in a moment of inspiration, opens the inn door wide and says in a loud voice : ‘of course there’s room for you here; come on in!’
One of my most treasured photographs is one of my two children taken some fifteen years ago when they were dressed for a nativity play; Hannah is dressed as an angel with a halo of golden tinsel adorning her head, while Jonny wears a splendid golden crown on his head and a cloak of deep red about his shoulders, as befits one of the magi. Whenever I gaze upon this photograph, aside from smiling at the sight of my excited children, I find myself thinking of Matthew’s magi. I don’t know about you, but I have always been fascinated by those characters that seem to appear just the once in the Bible, and Matthew’s magi are just such characters. We are told very little about them, apart from that they came from the East; we are not told how many of them there were and there is certainly no mention of any names or gender. Interestingly, the characters say nothing apart from asking one question : “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” The magi feel called to make a complicated journey, crossing boundaries and cultures: it must have been of major importance to their lives since they persevered on an incredibly difficult journey.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year |
|
1 December 2011
I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied, “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And he led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East.
These words by Minnie Haskins, dear to Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, and famously used by George VI in his Christmas broadcast in the poignant year of 1939, are often recited at the end of the calendar year. They are even more relevant at the end of one church year, and the beginning of the next - I write precisely at this time - the days following the feast of Christ the King which close one church year, before the new church year begins on Advent Sunday, 27 November.
|
|
Read more...
|
|
