Easter Issue

Hello and welcome to the first issue of The Millbrook Mirror.

Let me start by explaining why I am editing this magazine. Since I was a little girl my strongest voice has been not in the spoken word but in the wr i t t en word . I wr i t e professionally and for pleasure. Writing is also how I process my life, The poetry that I have written in the darkest moments of my life will never be shared, but it is as much who I am as the nose on my face. My diary entries are tangible memories to pass on to my children.

The words of other people are important to me too. The words o f a t r ave l w r i t e r h ave transported me to an island paradise without the need of a passport. The comments of a

journalist have given me a new perspective. Brutally honest biographies have inspired me and quotations from all kinds of people adorn the walls of my office giving me the strength to keep going.

And this is the focus of the magazine, to be a collection of voices that inspire, inform and entertain. The magazine will become an outreach tool that I hope will engage the local community and of course make us a church relevant and accessible. The magazine will also be published online giving us a very up to date edge!

Clearly this issue is mostly full of my voice, but my aim for future issues is to include contributions from other people - stories, interviews, poetry, how to guides, recipes and anything

else that you would like to see in print. I would also love for someone to compose some puzzles for the magazine. So put pen to paper and let your creative juices flow, no need to be a professional or even a c h a m p i o n s p e l l e r , a l l contributions are gratefully received.

I am really excited to see what future issues will look like! Thank you for your support ...

MargaretEditor

I was going to add a picture of my office here, but I am a creative soul and the ‘organised’ chaos is just too shameful!

From the desk of the EDITOR

What’s on locally ...

Joseph is coming to town!

This production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat stars Keith Jack. Keith was a contestant on the extremely popular television series - Any Dream Will Do. Although he was initially thought to be too young to play Joseph, he proved all those who doubted him wrong and has gone on to give strong and perfectly polished performances that are a joy to experience.

Joseph will be at the Mayflower from 2nd - 6th April

Do you know of any local events that could be featured here?

Type to enter text

How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!Psalms 119:103

8oz chocolate2oz butter3 shredded wheat2oz raisinsminiature chocolate eggs

1. Lightly grease a bun tin2. M e l t t h e b u t t e r a n d chocolate in a heatproof bowl put over a saucepan o f simmering water until smooth.

3. Crumble the shredded wheat a n d s t i r t h e m i n t o t h e chocolate. Add raisins and stir well.4. Spoon the mixture into the bun tin. Make a depression in the middle of each nest and fill with miniature eggs5. Allow to cool and set before eating!

Chocolate NestsChild Friendly Cooking at its best ...

Though one of the shortest books of either Testament in the bible, the Book of Ruth remains one of the most moving and relevant- scriptures for women of faith. The lessons to be learned from the Bible’s most famous widows are countless, and can be applied to almost every aspect of life, religious or not. But perhaps the most inspiring part of the story of Ruth lies in what we can take back and apply to our every day family life. There are lessons contained in those four chapters that, as women, we can share not only within our church community, but with our families and friends.

Among the most beautiful of these lessons is loyalty to family-especially in times of hardship. Ruth’s husband died, and she was presented with an “easy out”. She could have returned to Moab, remarried, and never looked back. Instead, she realises that the right thing to do is to stay with her family- her mother in law Naomi. Ruth knows that her loyalties need to lie with the members of her family that need it most. The Lord rewards Ruth’s selflessness with the greatest gift imaginable- she would be fore mother to Jesus himself. In fact, there are very few women named in the lineage of Jesus of Nazareth, but Ruth is among them. (As mother to Obed, who would later become grandfather of David, she is instrumental in the family line that will lead to Jesus. Again, God has chosen to reward her faith with family blessings)

Another powerful theme of the book of Ruth is the concept of Hesed, more commonly referred to as Loving Kindness. As women, nurturing and compassionate, we are called to show loving kindness to everyone, but most especially to those in our own home. How can we instruct others to be loving and kind to everyone they meet, unless we lead by example? Charity, as well as respect, begins at home. Ruth’s kindness towards her mother in law after the death of Naomi’s two sons is a perfect example of Hesed, and the affection and kindness Boaz shows Ruth continues this theme. God instructs

us to be kind and loving. Like Ruth, we should reach beyond this, and lead our own families to be loving, kind, generous, and respectful.

Finally, Ruth gives us a special lesson just for our daughters. It is possible to be not only respectful of your elders, but to also be a strong woman in your own right. Ruth was never disrespectful-in fact she was loyal and loving to Naomi even after her “legal” obligation was over and done with. But even more importantly, she, as a young woman, chose to make the decision to stay with Naomi and return to Bethlehem with her. She made the decision to remain with Naomi- and more importantly, with God.

The book of Ruth stands as one of the most well-loved and often read books of the Old Testament. The lessons on love and family are just some of the reasons for Ruth’s popularity. There are words of wisdom and guidance to be found everywhere in the Bible. As women, as leaders of both community and family, it is up to us to find these lessons, and share them with those we love most.

But Ruth said, "Do not urge me to leave you or turn back from following you; for where you go, I will go, and where you lodge, I will lodge. Your people shall be

my people, and your God, my God. "Where you die, I will die, and there I

will be buried. Thus may the LORD do to me, and worse, if anything but death parts

you and me." Ruth 1:16-17

The book of Ruth is for all women

The resurrection gives my life meaning and direction and the opportunity to start over no matter what my circumstances.

~Robert Flatt

I am no theological expert, but I do know God or rather he knows me and armed with this knowledge he made sure that fifteen hundred years ago the central american rain forrest was blessed with what the Mayan’s called a Cocao plant. Literally translated from the Mayan language, the word Cacao means ‘God Food’. Ahha! Such insight!

Having proven that chocolate is in fact a a gift from God, we now have to tackle the big question - Is there a place for chocolate eggs in the Easter celebrations of a Christian family? I am going to have to say yes, in my humble opinion there is room for palm crosses and yummy eggs on my table.

Is it any different from eating mince pies at Christmas? Things can only be as important as the importance that we place upon them. For me the image of the cross and the sight of chocolate both provoke an emotional response. BUT when I am talking to people it is not the chocolate that I attribute to my inner peace. It is not our job as christians to be holier than thou, it is our calling to reflect the light.

So, would Jesus eat chocolate eggs? If he comes to my home this Easter, and I have to say I am fully expecting him to be present, he most definitely will be offered some - and who can resist chocolate?

EASTERwould Jesus eat a chocolate egg?

It would be great if this page had some puzzles on it

could you compose some?

All photography courtesy of PRshots

What’s in a name?

By Maddy McIndoe

1 AnthonyVacarello For La

Redoute. Blouse, £69,skirt, £69.

2 Orla Kiely ForPeople Tree. Skirt.

3 La Redoute. VanessaBruno shirt dress, £89.

4 Zakee Shariff For PeopleTree. Paisley mini dress, £45.5 Geri By Next. Colour-block

dress, £38.6 Debenhams Preen/Edition.

Colour-block printed dress, £65.7 Principles By Ben De Lisi For

Debenhams. Pleat dress, £60.8 Fearne Cotton @very.co.uk.

Cotton pleated long skirt, £35.

Collaborations between high-enddesigners and high-street brands arenothing new. In fact, we barely even

bat an eyelid anymore, at the throngs offans camping outside stores at 5am toget the first look-in. Versace for H &M was perhaps the most hyped-up collection yet, but, wehave to ask ourselves, dothey live up to the mediaattention they receive?Luckily for you, wehave done all thelegwork to findthe best piecesfrom thecream of thecollaborationcrop this year.Form an orderlyqueue, ladies.

Colour blocking hasbeen the daddy of alltrends for several seasonsnow, and SS12 is no differentto the others. This colour blockdress, the lovechild ofpartnership between Debenhamsand London label Preen is a sure-firehit. One of the more low-keycollaborations, yet with perhaps morelongevity and less need for PR hullabaloo,Preen’s EDITION range for the high-streetgiant focuses on Preen’s strength: well-cutpieces that make women feel fantastic.Coupled with the reliability and value-for-money prices Debenhams offer, the entirecollection would make a sound investment.

When it comes to paying a premium pricefor what is, essentially, a high-streetmanufactured piece, versatility is key. ThisVanessa Bruno for La Redoute shirtdress hasit all- a flattering fit and the perfect mix of laid-back cool and sexy, due to the slouchy shapeand sheer chiffon fabric. Wedges, lipstick anda leather jacket would transform it from adaytime dress to a vamped-up party outfit inone fell swoop.

People Tree, the fair trade fashion pioneer,has teamed up with both Zakee Shariff and

Orla Kiely this season. Both offerings arecharacterised by each designers’signature prints. Zakee Shariff’s designsfeature delicate, illustrative prints with asmattering of paisley whilst Orlia Kiely’sfeatures bolder designs.

Celebrity collaborations are often evenmore anticipated than the high-enddesigners (who could forget Kate Moss for

Topshop?) Geri Halliwell by Next issurprisingly well thought-out: structuredpieces in solid colours and girlie floral printproduce a mix of grown-up chic and fun.From March also is a selection inspired bythat Union Jack minidress, albeit not sotight and with a longer hemline.

The limited edition nature of thesecollaborations means that unfortunately it

can be very difficult to get hold of even theless popular items, let alone the keypieces. For this reason, it is advisable tocheck with stores to find out when theyreceive delivery of the items. It may soundextreme, but will avoid disappointment.The plus side is knowing you have paid afraction of the usual price for your favouritedesigner!

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Every 1st Wednesday of the monthAll ages welcome for crafts, stories, singing and supper

Editors note ...

absolutely gratuitous use of a cat in a hat!

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ lbs/ 560g ready made almond paste (***marzipan)

• 1 lb/ 450g dried mixed fruits

• 3 oz/80g candied chopped peel

• 8 oz/ 225g all purpose/plain flour

• Pinch salt• 1 tsp ground cinnamon• 1 tsp freshly grated

nutmeg• 6 oz/ 175g butter• 6 oz /175g fine/caster

sugar• 3 large eggs, beaten• Milk to mix• 2 tbsp apricot jam

Preparation:

Heat the oven to 325°F/170°C/Gas 3

• Line a 7 inch cake tin with parchment or greaseproof paper.

• Divide the almond paste into 3 and take one portion and roll it to a round the size of the cake tin.

• In a large roomy baking bowl mix the mixed dried fruits and candied peel with the flour, salt and spices.

• In another large bowl cream the butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the beaten egg to the butter mixture a little bit at a time, beating well after each addition - do not try to rush this process as the mixture could curdle. If it does curdle simply add a tbsp of the flour and mix again, this should bring the mixture back together.

• Carefully fold in half the flour and half the fruit into the egg and butter mixture, once incorporated repeat with the remaining flour and fruit.

• Put half of the cake mixture into the tin, smooth and cover with the round of almond paste. Put the remaining cake mixture into the tin and smooth the surface carefully. Bake in the center of the oven for 1 hour.

• Lower the heat to 300°F/150°C/Gas 2 and bake for 3 hours until the cake is golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool in the tin.

• Roll another third of almond paste, again to the size of the tin. Make the remaining almond paste equally into 11 tiny balls.

• Once the cake is completely cool, remove from the tin and brush the top of the cake with apricot jam and cover with the disc of almond paste. Place the 11 tiny balls of paste evenly around the edge. Brush the paste all over with a little apricot jam and place under a hot grill until lightly browned.

• The cake can then be decorated as you wish with tiny Easter eggs or any other Easter theme.

SIMNEL CAKE

MY GRANDMOTHER’S CHICKEN SOUP

My grandmother was a marvelous cook, I loved being in her kitchen. She travelled and bought back all sorts of recipes, her Yorkshire puddings always rose to the top of the oven and her chicken soup was the only way to get through the winter ...

I am not such a marvelous cook! No one goes hungry in my house, but I achieve this by cooking stuff that takes the least amount of effort and time in the kitchen. To this end I am not actually going to give you the 300 * pages of chicken soup recipe that my grandmother gave me. This is my recipe ...

you will need

1 chicken carcass1 red onion - unpeeled and cut in half1 or 2 chicken stock cubesthe rind of a hard cheese teaspoon of paprika

Chuck it all in a pot cover with water bring to the boil and then simmer all day.

Drain off the liquid and if not eating straight away refrigerate or freeze.

I like to serve my soup with dumplings and again I don’t faff about like Granny. Suet dumplings are fine. Form small balls and drop into the boiling soup, cover and simmer until dumplings are cooked.

I sometimes add a couple of handfuls of veg before adding the dumplings

* possibly a slight exaggeration

Last year I founded a campaign called ‘I am Woman’ - the campaign works on the idea that we all have a voice whether that be as the written word, social media, professionally or simply just talking to the people around

us. I feel very strongly that we should all use our voices to speak for those who have lost their voices through violence, illness or war. To this end I have now compiled two anthologies of short stories written by women with a strong voice. The books are only available to purchase on Kindle at the moment but as the campaign grows, I hope to produce actual copies with real pages! All the royalties are sent to our three nominated charities who support women in need.

Marie Colvin has been my inspiration as far back as I can

remember. Very few of us will ever have the drive and the

courage that she displayed every day of her life. It takes a very special person to report and

record the most depraved

moments of humanity. Marie

used her voice to tell the most heartbreaking of stories and in

doing so she made a difference.

Hers was a life lived with an

extraordinary grace.

Marie Colvin was an award

winning American journalist, she

died whilst covering the siege of Homs in Syria on 22nd February, 2012..

As a specialist in the Middle East, Marie Colvin covered conflicts in

areas such as Chechnya, Kosovo,

East Timor, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe. In 1999 in

East Timor, Colvin was credited

with saving the lives of 1500

women and children from a

compound besieged by Indonesian backed forces. Refusing to abandon them, she

stayed with a United Nations force, whilst continuing to report the situation. They were all evacuated after four days. An

inspiration to us all this courageous woman won the

‘International Women’s Media

Foundation’ award for courage in

journalism for her coverage of Kosovo and Chechnya.

In April 2001, Marie Colvin lost the

sight in her left eye after being

caught in a blast by a Sri Lankan

Army. She had walked over 30

miles through the Vanni jungle

with her Tamil guides to evade

government troops and report on the humanitarian disaster in

the northern Tamil region,

including a government blockage

of food, medical supplies and

prevention of foreign journalist access to the area. She went on

to suffer from post traumatic stress disorder.

In February 2012, Marie Colvin

crossed into Syria on the back of a motorcycle, ignoring the Syrian

government’s attempts to

prevent foreign journalists from

covering the Syrian uprising. She

made her last broadcast on the

evening of February 21st, via

satellite phone. Describing the

‘’merciless’ and indiscriminate

shelling and sniper attacks against civilian buildings by Syrian forces, reporting it as the

worst conflict she had ever experienced. Colvin and French

photographer, Remi Ochlik, died

whilst fleeing an unofficial media

building.

Tributes were paid to Marie Colvin across the media and political world following her death. Her legacy is the very real proof that one voice can save many lives.

The strength of our voices and the conviction of our words Together we will speak for those who are silenced by fear, war or illness. We will defeat silence with words of humanity. We will combine our voices and we will make a differenceMargaret Boyt

Instead of spending a fortune on fabric freshener -

mix fabric conditioner and water in a spray bottle for an effective alternative

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I am delighted to be able to contribute to this first edition of the Millbrook Mirror magazine and to encourage you this Easter time.

After the resurrection of Jesus, two friends (followers of Jesus) are returning home from Jerusalem to their village called Emmaus (Luke chapter 24). They had been to the Passover feast and had also seen first-hand, the death by crucifixion, of Jesus, the man whom they thought might be the Messiah. As they are walking and discussing the details of what had been happening, a stranger approaches them and asks what they are talking about and why they look so upset. The two friends cannot believe that the stranger does not know, and they relate to him the events of the past few days. They conclude by saying, that when some women went to the tomb this very morning, it was empty, and the women then said ‘they had seen angels who told them Jesus was alive!’ The stranger then tells the two friends they are rather slow in their understanding of the writings of the prophets of long ago, because they prophesied that the Christ (Messiah) would bear extreme suffering on behalf of mankind before returning to heaven.

To many people, throughout the ages and those living today, the idea of Jesus suffering such severe agony (as depicted in Mel Gibson’s ‘The Passion’) is both bew i lde r ing and somewha t unnecessary. Why would a loving God allow his beloved Son to go through such suffering – what was the point? To understand this we need to return in our minds to the Garden of Eden and the account of Adam and Eve (Genesis chapter 3). Creation was perfect and man was placed within a wonderful garden. In the middle of this garden was a tree (the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), the fruit of which man was told he

must not eat . Through the enticement of Satan man ate from the tree, and at that point sin entered the world, and the perfect relationship between God and humanity was broken. From that moment on, every person is born under that original sin. It could be argued that this is not fair and that it was only Adam and Eve who did wrong, and that mankind should not be charged with the same offence; it should have stopped with those who were guilty. But the understanding of this is in the word ‘mankind’. We are all part of mankind (humankind) and we cannot stop being mankind.

If a person is severely wounded in their chest and is inevitably going to die, and their big toe on their right foot objects to this outcome, stating that as the toe ‘it was very healthy and simply minding its own business, and it was only the chest that was wounded, so why should it (as part of the foot and not the chest) die’ – would its objection save it? The toe is connected to the body, and it cannot stop being part of the body. It may not be injured like the chest, but because it is part of the body it must inevitably die too. In the same

way, everyone is born into the race of mankind. Mankind, through the sinful act of Adam is born into the broken relationship between man and God. There is no amount of objection that can excuse an individual or separate them from this, as they will always be part of mankind just as the toe remains part of the body.

As the two friends listen to the stranger (later to be recognised as Jesus), he explains that Christ had to be crucified, and it becomes clear to the two friends that this was the only way to re-establish the broken relationship between man and God. It may seem brutal, but it is only through the death and resurrection of Jesus that we can be rescued from the original broken relationship between ourselves and God.

Happy Easter.

A Moment With the Pastor

Every day I try to reflect the Grace of God

Some days I fail, Some days my light shines so brightly

that people want to know why ...

Put some SPRING into your stepColour is a great mood changer and at at this time of year nature is giving us a helping hand. The spring sun is shinning on daffodils, green shoots and as it happens it is also shinning on my dirty windows but we wont dwell on that. Now, you might think that yellow is the perfect colour to brighten up a room etc etc etc. You would be wrong! Its all very well when used by mother nature, but when reproduced and introduced into the home as paint, furnishings and even clothing the way that it affects our brains is quite different. Sitting in a park looking at a bed of daffs is enough to make us all happy. Sitting in a room with yellow walls is scientifically proven to have a negative effect on mood in some people. The number of pigments in yellow cause the eye and therefore the brain to be over stimulated and this can lead to anxiety. There is also some research that shows babies to cry more in a room with yellow walls. Orange is a much more effective colour for increasing energy and boosting the mood. Splashes of orange around the home are guaranteed to have a positive affect on our well being. The perfect excuse to purchase some new cushions! I would also suggest a large orange bag as a way of taking that positive energy with you throughout the day. For those of you who are a little braver, how about a jaunty pair of orange trousers?

Easter Issue

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