The St Cross Fellowship is a local community group with close connections with the
Parish of St Faith.
Its meetings are open to those who worship in the Parish, to
all who live in St Cross, and to all family and friends of the community.
There is
no annual subscriptions, but a collection is taken at each meeting to defray expenses.
Meetings are normally held in St Faiths Hall, Back Street, on the second Thursday
of each month commencing at 7.30pm. See programme for timing of other events.
Coffee/tea
is served at the end of the meeting.
St Cross Fellowship
President
The Master of The Hospital of St Cross
Poetry and Music was on the menu for our December meeting, followed by mince pies and mulled wine. Once again Bishop John and Jill Baker read us a selection of well-known and not-so-well-known gems from over the centuries. John Lunt with singers from various choirs in Winchester provided music with seasonal and rural flavours with a flourish of Blackpool to finish with. Thank you to all the performers.
During the evening a Raffle was held and the Fellowship will be sending £61 to the Winchester Deanery linked Dioceses of Kigesi and Muhabura in Uganda. This will purchase one bicycle in their campaign to equip every Lay Reader with transport. Our thanks to everyone who gave so generously, to Sue Fairbrother who organised the Raffle and the mulled wine, and to those who supplied the mince pies.
The January meeting is on Thursday 14. The speaker will now be Alan Skinner, Operations Manager of the Probation Service in North Hampshire, who will speak on the same theme.
John Pringle
Our outing on 11 February to the Fellows' Library, Winchester College, was quite an eye-opener. Behind those daunting flint walls in College Street is a collection of books, old and recent, to rival the best of the Oxbridge Colleges. And it is still growing. The Librarian, Geoffrey Day, told us about the recent bequest of 45 ft of books that he is wondering where to locate.
A highlight of our visit was the Thomas Harmer Room where Warden Harmer translated the Gospels, Acts and Revelation for the King James Bible in 1611. As well as a number of precious Bibles it contains a set of the complete works of Anthony Trollope, each volume dedicated to his son by the author.
We meet next on March 11 when our Chaplain will talk about Islam.
John Pringle
At our March meeting our Chaplain, Reg Sweet, gave us a wide ranging talk about Islam. We learnt its origins and rapid development over a wide geographical area. He explained some of the tenets of the religion and how they clash with Christian principles despite some common ground in the acceptance of Old and New Testament figures as prophets. Two short videos illustrated his points, one a selection from a speech by a Muslim Member of Parliament. The many questions showed the interest generated in this subject. Our thanks to the Chaplain for sharing his considerable knowledge with us.
At the April meeting Denise Baker will continue her history of the Houses of St Cross. This will be an illustrated talk on Thursday 8 April at 7.30 pm in the Parish Hall. Please note the Fellowship Supper is on the 29 May. Full details in the May Parish Magazine.
John Pringle
Our April meeting was a presentation with slides by Denise Baker on the houses of St Cross. We were taken down the St Cross Road from the roundabout, stopping at the older houses on the left as far as Stanmore Lane, then back up to the Fish and Chip shop on the other side.
With the added interest of many of the residents being present in the audience, we heard about the history of the houses and their occupants going right back to medieval times. We heard that some of the houses were at times shops and there were three pubs in the short stretch from Cripstead Lane to the Hospital. What a fascinating community we live in! Thank you Denise for sharing your detailed knowledge with us.
The next event will be on Thursday 13 May when Michael Carden will take us on an Architectural Walkabout at the Hospital of St Cross.
We will meet under the Beaufort Arch at 4.00 pm.
Our Fellowship Dinner will be on 29 May in the Parish Hall at 7.30pm. As it was last year, this will be a catered event at a cost of £20 per person. All are welcome but numbers are limited to 40 so please sign up as soon as possible (John Pringle Tel 01962 870426)
That will complete our programme for this season. Please look out for the new programme that will start in October 2010.
Our second outing was an architectural walkabout of the Hospital of St Cross led by Michael Carden. As a former Architect to the Trustees he gave us fascinating insight into aspects of the history and workings of the Hospital through the ages. Within the church we learnt about the various stonemasons whose work is represented in the early phases of its construction. We thank Michael for his willingness to share his unique knowledge with members of our Fellowship.
By the time you read this we will have had our Fellowship Supper, bringing to a close our activities. The programme for the October 2010 – May 2011 season will be available with the September magazine.
John Pringle