Minister: Rev Mark Bates

Tel: 01204 653477

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4 “They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We shall remember them”

Rose Hill United Reformed Church, Bradford Road, Bolton.

A member of the Vision Pastorate, together withTonge Moor URC and St Andrew & St George URC

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Church Elders

Anne Fitton (Secretary) ................. 01204 401273

John Waith (Treasurer) ................. 01204 391894

Rita Dunn ........................................ 01204 305339

Philip Garsden ............................... 07854 614245

Sylvia Hodgkiss ............................. 01204 363263

Anne Taberner ............................... 01204 793341

Janet Waith...................................... 01204 391894

—–— oOo ——–

Items for the next issue of Rose Hill Recorder should be handed in to Rita Dunn or sent via email to gwdunn@btinternet.com on

or before Sunday 23rd November

Book of Prayer

If you would like a church member or friend to

be remembered in the morning prayers, please

write their name in the Book of Prayer located in the porch,

prior to the start of the service. Doing this will also serve to

keep Elders and members informed of any pastoral concerns

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Minister’s Letter.

Dear Friends

Throughout the churches, you will all either have had, or be having your

Harvest celebrations. This is a time when we can think of the rich

provision that God has provided for us, giving thanks and praise. We look

at the abundance of God’s goodness and mercy towards us and that not

only applies to food, water and shelter, but to peace, friendship,

freedom, and being in the fortunate position to ‘hope’ for a future with

all these things a part of it. However Harvest for many of us in this

country doesn’t mean the same as it once did. You can buy fruits and

vegetables throughout the year not just when they come to ‘fruition’ in

this country. This marks the seasons which continue to rotate year on

year. The leaves will change to the oranges, yellows and russets that we

all enjoy, as the weather becomes cooller.

As we have commemorated the outbreak of WWI ‘The Great War’ to

end all wars we find ourselves still amid conflict and strife throughout

the world and in particular the Middle East. All too often we are

reminded of the futility of war and the devastating effect it has on

people’s lives. We discover that reviewing the past and the people who

were a part of it, is an important part of being prepared for the future.

We learn from the past, so as not to make the same mistakes in the

future. In November we will spend moments remembering past events.

There will always be lessons to learn from the past that are worthy of

carrying into our future. There will always be people worthy of

remembrance.

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under

heaven: a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time

to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time of war and a time of

peace. (Ecclesiastes 3:1,7,8)

Let us pray together that we can soon enter a time where we can speak

out in love, make amends and share in peace

Mark and Gill

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Pastoral News

Congratulations to Jennifer Garsden on the birth of her son,

Jack, on the 21st July A new grandson for Philip Garsden

The service on the 17th August was held to commemorate the

50th Anniversary of the Ladies Circle. Freda Cooke led the

service with the help of other circle members. Thank you to

Jessica for her help in the children's address. The choir, made

up of Circle members sang two songs, 'God is our Strength and

Refuge' and 'Lord of the years' with appropriate words

written by Freda for the occasion. Freda was one of the

original founders of the Ladies Circle along with Margaret

Tatlock and Ivy Stafford who have now sadly passed away.

We remembered them and former Circle members in our

prayers.

Our thanks and appreciation go to Fred Tatlock for his 50

years as choir master at Rose Hill. Fred celebrated his 84th

birthday on the 31st August and has decided that it is now the

time for him to retire from his position. Fred had a musical

background along with his sister and three brothers. Their

father, Herbert, was also the choir master at Rose Hill for

many years. Herbert was presented with a walking stick at

Ringley Methodist church in 1939 for services rendered. It is

now owned by Fred. A treasured family heirloom.

Congratulations and best wishes to Joan Lord who will be

celebrating her 80th birthday on the 11th October

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Our thoughts and prayers have been with Pat Howard and

Elsie Fraser ( Judith’s mother) who have both suffered falls

but are now recovering.

Well done to Marian Rimmer who took part in the 2014 Bolton

Hospice Midnight Memories walk and raised £280 for the

cause. Marian would like to thank church members, friends and

all those who sponsored her.

One of our Sunday School children, Hannah Owens, started

her secondary school education at St James school, Farnworth,

in September. We hope that she will be happy there and that

God will be with her.

The quarterly church meeting was held on the 28th July when

maintenance, finances and pastoral care were discussed. The

next church meeting will be held on Monday 27th October at

7.30pm in Church. All church members and friends are asked to

attend if possible to share in the ongoing church matters.

The Minor Hall now looks bright and clean following the

completion of the decorating which took place in August/

September. Several new electricity points have been installed

and also a smoke alarm system which was tested during the

service on the 24th August.

To commemorate the arrival of Rev Mark Bates and his wife

and family in Bolton three years ago, and the completion of his

three years apprenticeship, a joint service for the three

churches in the Vision Pastorate was held at St Andrew and St

George's church on Sunday 14th September. The service

included worship, songs by Gill and members of the three

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churches 'Come and Sing' group, and two songs by the Rose Hill

Sunday School children. Members of the three churches

presented the Bible readings, dramas and prayers. The

offertory at the service was donated to the charity Urban

Research which had, during the school summer holidays,

prepared and provided over 1,800 free sandwiches for children

who would normally receive free school meals. A worthy cause.

It cannot have been easy for Mark to take on the leadership of

three churches but we know that God has been with him and

his family and we hope he will be with us for many years to

come. Thank you Mark for all your hard work.

I hope you have all enjoyed the lovely summer weather, but as

Autumn now approaches we are looking forward to our Harvest

Festival service, which will be led by Mark , on Sunday 12th

October. There will be extra flowers in church that morning so

please give the names of anyone who you would like to nominate

to receive flowers to the Elders the week before the service.

As the harvest hymn says,

Come ye thankful people, come ,

Raise the song of harvest home!

All is safely gathered in,

Ere the winter storms begin.

God our Maker doth provide,

For our want to be supplied,

Come to God's own Temple come,

Raise the song of harvest home.

Marjorie Plant.

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Ladies Circle

On 23rd July we were entertained by the well known guitarist

Neil Smith. He told us about his life and the adventures he had

experienced while working abroad. He worked as an engineer

for the Ministry of Defence and became a professional

musician in 1968. He played at the Palais, Empress Wigan

Casino and other places nearby. In 1962 while working at the

College Club in Manchester he was invited to Hamburg by the

man who represented Cilla Black, The Beatles and Billy J

Kramer. They were all relatively unknown then. Unfortunately

Neil would have had to pay £1000 to get out of his contract

with De Havilland so he declined the offer. He maybe could

have become the fifth Beatle! He has played in Italy about

fifteen times and once memorably played ‘Spanish Romance’ for

Liz Taylor. He had exciting times in Greece, Russia and

Northern Ireland. Closer to home he played at the Labour

Party Conference attended by Tony Blair and Bill Clinton. One

of the highlights of his career was playing for the Queen

Mother’s 100th birthday celebration at Glamis Castle in 2000.

We enjoyed his talk and his wonderful playing.

On the same night we ordered group photographs of Ladies

Circle taken the week before to celebrate our fifty years of

existence. We hope many of you have enjoyed the display that

Barbara Howard spent time putting together. We thank her for

her efforts.

The week after, Jean and Barbara Rushton organised a bottle

tombola. It was very successful and raised £70.

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On August 6th Go on tour or Golden Oldies visited us. We

thoroughly enjoyed their song and dance routines. There were

about twelve in the group and their costumes and props were

wonderful. Keith, the compere, told funny stories between the

acts – sorry, I can’t remember any of them. Michael sang ‘You

are my sunshine’ and ‘If you were the only girl in the world’ plus

others. Rene (a sprightly 89 years old) included ‘Getting to

know you’ and ‘Moon River’ in her repertoire. Some of the group

danced to ‘Saturday night fever’ and ‘Mama Mia’. I thought Ken

had a lovely voice when he sang songs from ‘The Wizard of Oz’.

I particularly enjoyed their finale ‘Sweet Caroline’ as it is one

of my favourite songs. We all enjoyed joining in with the well

known songs and had a lovely evening.

August 13th was set aside for a practice for the Ladies Circle

50th Anniversary Service which took place on the following

Sunday. Unfortunately I was on holiday and missed the event,

but according to all accounts Freda Cooke did a wonderful job.

Our speaker the week after had to cancel due to ill health.

Barbara Howard organised a video of ‘Cinderella’ performed by

members of Rose Hill in 1993. It was interesting to see

Marjorie, both Pats, Joan and Marion from over twenty years

ago!

We were pleased to have our minister, Rev. Mark Bates, join us

on 27th August for a party to celebrate fifty years since the

Circle was set up. Thanks to Barbara and the committee for a

lovely buffet supper and a very enjoyable evening.

Carole Tomlinson

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Ladies Circle Programme

October 1 Quiz with Alison and Steve

8 Harvest Supper

15 Speaker Toni Forrest - Guide dogs for the

blind

22 Uno.

29 Speaker -Joanne Halliwell --Betsy the

Housemaid

November 5 Guy Fawkes

12 Speaker Rita Greenwood - Holy and Unholy

Matrimony.

19 Quick on the Draw

26 Christmas Silent Auction.

—–— oOo ——–

Sunday School.

Hello from all of us in Sunday School! We hope you have all had

a lovely summer and enjoyed the sunshine. I thought in this

edition I would write about our Sunday School children and

some of their achievements and news. We have 14 children in

the infant class, and 19 with the middle and youth class

combined. We are all very proud of the children and some have

been up to some very exciting things.

Holly Garsden started school this September and has settled

in well although she’s not liking the early mornings or long days!

Hannah from our older class has started secondary school at

St James and seems to be enjoying it, so far! Daniel Smith and

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Marshall are currently looking at the secondary schools for a

place next year.

Marshall, along with Bede’s Brigade (St Bede’s Academy)

entered the dance “Make Your Move” competition to raise

funds for the British Red Cross. At the first heat, in

Manchester, they put on a spectacular performance on a WW1

theme; in which they showed youngsters dancing, playing

hopscotch and leap frog etc, and when the air raids went off

they had to run to safety. It also demonstrated the aid that

the British Red Cross gave in such dark times of WW1. They

won! They competed in the regional finals in Stoke and won

again. Winning the regional heat meant they had to compete in

the National finals in London at the O2 Arena. This was a

fantastic opportunity for the children and parents to perform

in such a famous arena. The day was compered by Angela Ripon

and judged by some famous people including Ashley Banjo’s

mum from Diversity who won “ Britain’s Got Talent”. They didn’t

win the event, but the kids were all winners in the eyes of

parents and Sunday School. However, they did win the award

for best entertaining act! Well done to Marshall. We enjoyed

hearing all about his success in Sunday School.

We have a new addition to our infant class. Libby and Poppy

have a new baby sister, Florence, born on the 1st August.

Congratulations to Keeley and family and we look forward to

getting to know Florence. Poppy also obtained her 25 metre

swimming badge over the summer which is an amazing

achievement. She is very proud, and so she should be. Lydia

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Hurst competed in the Iron Kid’s Race in the town centre in

July. She ran 1,000m, so well done to her. We may just have an

Olympian in the making!

Daniel and Holly Smith have caught the “Strictly Come

Dancing” bug and have both been passing dance exams over the

summer. Dan is a man of many talents and also a budding

sportsman. He took his first wicket and scored runs in his first

season at Farnworth Cricket Club.

Courtney, our oldest member of Sunday School, was selected

to go to Florida with a charity who take children with medical

conditions away to the Disney parks. She had the time of her

life and is still smiling!

All the children seemed to have had an action packed summer,

from playing out with friends or going on their holidays and it’s

always lovely to hear their news.

Both classes had been practising for the songs we sung at SS

Andrew and George for Rev Mark Bates’ celebration service,

and as always they did wonderfully well. The infant classes have

been learning all about Noah and his ark and have enjoyed

singing a song and completing craft activities about this bible

story. They have also listened to the story of Mary and Martha

and thought about why it is important to listen and support

each other. The children thought about the places where they

need to listen and also who listens to them. To symbolise this,

the children made a circle of handprints, with Jesus at the

centre, to display in the Sunday School room.

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—–— oOo ——–

We are now full steam ahead practising for the Harvest

Festival. The infant and middle classes will be singing a song

and the youth class will be helping Mark with prayers and

poems. The older children have been learning about the

community, dealing with disagreements and learning how to

forgive. We have learnt about fairness and equality with the

tale of the worker in the vineyard taken from Matthew 20.

After Harvest we will be cracking on with (dare I say it)….the

Nativity! Yes, it’s that time of year again!

We would like to welcome James Smith back on the Sunday

School team with his wife Heather and also Joy who has also

agreed to join us. This is a massive advantage to us as having

these extra leaders will help out with our ever growing Sunday

School Thank you, and welcome

Thank you to you all for your continued support. Please keep all

the children and their families in your prayers as we look

forward to the next few months in Sunday School.

Tracy Garsden

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A Grandparent's Prayer

Let no one hurry them, Lord

Give them the rare and incomparable gift of time

Days to dream, dragonfly days, days when the kingfisher

suddenly opens for them a window on wonder

Let no one chivvy them, Lord

Let them meander lark happy through childhood by the

fern-curled streams fringed butter yellow with kingcups,

by secret ways, that paws have worn through the wild

Give them cuckoo loud days, and the owl's cry by night

Dear Lord, give them rainbows

Show them a nest filled with sky blue promises

Scoop up for them the sounding oceans in a shell

Let them keep their dreams

So that they will always turn their faces to the light.

Live merrily, love well

Hold out un-gloved hands to flower and child

Be easy with animals, come to terms with time

Lord, let them keep their dreams

Let their riches be remembered happy days.

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Gideons International

Bolton Branch

On 14th September 1898 John Nicholson, a travelling salesman, was

staying the night in a hotel in Wisconsin USA. He was well known

to the receptionist who told him that the hotel was crowded and

suggested he share a room with Samuel Hill. Because of John’s

custom of reading the Bible before retiring, he asked permission to

keep the light on a little longer. The two men discovered that they

were both Christians and shared their evening devotions and talked

and prayed long into the night. They shared idea’s that developed

into a plan to form an association for promoting fellowship among

Christian travelling salesmen away from home. Consequently on 1st

July 1899, following a meeting of like mined people, the Gideon’s

were formed. The name Gideon’s was adopted for the association

as it was recognised that Gideon was a man who was willing to do

exactly what God wanted him to do, irrespective of his own

judgement as to plans or results. Humility, faith and obedience were

the great elements of his character. This is the standard which the

Gideon association seeks to establish in all its members, each

member being willing to do God’s will at any time, in any place and

in any way in which the Holy Spirit leads. Thus the Gideon

Association was born and 600 men joined in the first year.

The first Gideon placement was in November 1908 when 25 Bibles

were placed in the Superior Hotel, Iron Mountain, Montana. Over

the years the Gideon work has been expanded to cover 197

countries. Gideon work in the UK began in November 1949.

Locally, the Bolton Branch currently only has six members. We may

be small in number but the Branch is as active as we can be. In the

last year we visited many local secondary schools and gave out 1400

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testaments and psalms to year seven children. We try to visit as

many hotels as we can and only the other week we took 80 Bibles to

Bolton West Premier Inn. The Fresher’s Fair at the University of

Bolton is another of our regular visits and we hope to give out 500

college testaments to the students and staff. Each year a Bible is

presented to the new Mayor and Mayoress.

The Branch lost contact with many local Churches over the last few

years because of our small number of active members. Active steps

are now being taken to re-establish contacts. One of our new

friends is Rev. Mark Bates who has become a good friend to the

Branch.

We are desperately short of members, if any current member leaves

there is a distinct possibility that the Branch could close and that

would be a terrible shame. If anyone would be interested in

becoming a Gideon please contact me for a totally informal chat.

What we would ask is that you support the Bolton Branch in prayer.

We cannot continue our important work in this increasingly secular

society without prayer support.

Yours in Christ

Derek Bailey

Secretary – Bolton Branch of Gideon’s International

Tel: 01204 408324

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Oct 5 Barry Bradshaw

12 Harvest / Parade Rev. M Bates

19 Shirley Holland

26 Communion Michael Hawksworth

Nov 2 Chris Hodgkinson

9 Remembrance Day Alan Nuttall

16 Rev. M Bates

23 Mrs Joyce Roe

30 Communion Rev. M Bates

Services

FLOWERS COFFEE

Oct 5 Barbara and Barry Howard Sunday School

12 Helen Ireland Joy Gibbon & David Redwood

19 Amanda and Amanda Pat Longworth & Heather Smith

26 Anne Taberner & Family Barbara Howard & Judith Fraser

Nov 2 Barbara Rushton & Hazel Henry

9 Eunice and Peter Lavin Sylvia Gibbon & Eleanor Magor

16 Marjorie and Keith Plant Florence Spencer & Joan Lord

23 Betty and Ted Holden Sunday School

30 Florence Spencer and

Alice Dawson Joy Gibbon & David Redwood

Rotas

The flowers in church are very gratefully received, and give much comfort to the sick and troubled members of

our congregation and families.

Printed by: Sharon Press, 168 Crook St, Bolton, Lancashire, BL3 6AS