The Shepherd, September 2006
BROOKWOOD NEWS, 2
BUILDING PROGRESS
IN THE EVENT, the building work did not begin as anticipated on 31st of July, but it did start two days later on St Elias’ day, and we have been impressed with the efficient, tidy and considerate way in which the contractors, H. W. Fisher and Son of Aldershot, are undertaking the work.
On Tuesday 22nd August, a second meeting of the parties involved, chaired by our employers’ agent, Tony Sumners of King Sumners Partnership, met at the Brotherhood to iron out certain problems and review progress. Those attending were Fr Alexis, Mrs Irina Hoble - architect, Mr Lee Jackson for the contractors, Mrs Elizabeth Castle - treasurer, and Mrs Annie Shaw who is responsible for the landscaping around the new house. It was at this meeting, also somewhat belatedly as is the way of things, that the contracts were signed.
WEBSITE PICTURES
PICTURES of the building work in progress are now being posted on our website every week by our webmaster, David Jepson, so you may now keep an eye on how things are going.
BUILDING FUND STATUS
WE ARE NOW having to make payments from our Building Fund, and so the interest accruing on the sum will diminish somewhat, and therefore we ask you to give generously at this time to make up the shortfall. However, glory be to God, to date (31/8/06 n.s.) we have collected or have had pledged a total of £497,363.10, approx. 76.52% of our target figure of £650,000.
We are particularly grateful to Archbishop Kyrill of San Francisco and Western America who recently sent a second generous donation to the fund, and to Bishop Basil of Wichita who also gave a generous gift during his recent visit to Brookwood. Our thanks are also due to Reader Andrei Psarev, who was on the editorial staff of the journal “Pravoslavnaya Rus” (Orthodox Russia), for translating our Appeal brochure into Russian, and to Archbishop Hilarion of Sydney, Australia and New Zealand, who very kindly has already published a slightly shortened version of this in his diocesan magazine, “Tserkovnoe Slovo” (Church Word).
NEW PUBLICATION
A NEW EDITION of John M. Clarke’s “The Brookwood Necropolis Railway” has been published by the Oakwood Press. It is an enlarged and improved version of the earlier edition and contains more photographs. Its primary interest will, naturally, be for railway anoraks, but John has included two extended references to the Saint Edward Brotherhood and our building project here, and the back cover has a picture of the old mortuary building and the South Bar station, on whose site our new monastic house is being erected.
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PRACTICAL TIP
THOSE OF YOU, who find it helpful to follow the services in church in a book, should take great care to discipline yourselves. It is in fact almost impossible to follow the services with just one book and it is unlikely that, coming to church, you will be able to bring the range of books necessary to follow the whole service. It would be impracticable in any case. So there will be parts of the service that you simply cannot follow in the book. During those periods, be strict with yourself and make sure, that you attend to the service itself as well as possible, or quietly say the Jesus Prayer to yourself. If you do not discipline yourself strictly, you will find that, instead of attending to the service and joining the congregation of the faithful in prayer, you will be browsing through your book. Maybe you will find yourself looking up when Easter will fall in 2020, or studying what happens at the end of the Midnight office in Great Lent, or when the Annunciation falls on Great Saturday, or you will simply be reading prayers that are not being read in church at that time, and so you will be distracting yourselves and, to that extent, separating yourself from the rest of the faithful gathered in church. You will miss the service that is actually going on, while you browse.
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