Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1978)

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex CM4 0RN

Dear Friend(s)

19 — Christmas — 78

In previous years the Christmas greetings conveyed through my annual letter have been the first of the year but this year they are the second. A local group based on the nearby town of Brentwood is producing a talking newspaper for the blind and partially sighted in the district. A few weeks ago I was asked to record a short talk for the blind listeners and as it will be heard by them at about the time you read this I concluded with a greeting and good wishes as I shall do this letter.

As I address myself then to this twenty-second Christmas letter from Blackmore Vicarage I recall a sermon I heard preached many years ago. The text was "There are many who say, ‘O that we might see some good! Lift up the light of thy countenance upon us, O Lord'." Psalm 4:6. The preacher pointed to the many who saw nothing but gloom and doom arising out of man's inventive genius and then invited his congregation to consider God, the Psalmist's God, who had better things in store for man. Half a lifetime later I find the world is not greatly changed. Man's capacity for violence and destruction go side by side with his capacity for caring concern. Those who have been enlightened and enlivened by the Lord do not despair, however gloomy the prospect, because like the Psalmist, they find their God is master of the situation. The Psalmist records the ground of his confidence - "Thou hast given me room … The Lord hears when I call to him … Thou hast put joy in my heart ... Thou alone, O Lord, makest me dwell in safety". With such an experience who can wonder at the Psalmist's confidence and that confidence can be ours - yours and mine - with equal validity.

Turning to the Parish of Blackmore and the Church in Blackmore, 1978 has been a busy and rewarding year, yet one is aware of the potential for greater things if only the Holy Spirit had greater freedom to bring us under the discipline of the Lord Jesus Christ and to teach us from the Holy Scriptures. Of Blackmore then, my friend and colleague in the Gospel, Pastor Douglas Francis continues to lead a growing and active fellowship at the Baptist Church. We in the Parish Church also rejoice in those who are coming into fellowship. Jointly our congregations continue to serve the younger generation. Our joint outreach this year took the form of a tent mission led by Geoff Carr. He was able to lead a number to profess faith in Christ and others had their faith strengthened. Geoff reached various sections of our community and was able to speak at assembly in the schools in and around Blackmore where our children attend. Our togetherness continues in joint worship on two Sunday evenings each month and in the house group Bible studies and prayer meetings. A number of our young people were able to attend Covenanter and Juco camps. I had three wonderful days with some of them at the Aquasports camp at Harlow, only I didn't aqua!

We are still without a regular organist for the Parish Church but we have several with musical talent in the congregation. A new singing group calling itself "The Priory Singers" has been formed and includes some of our small choir. The group shows great promise. Church repairs are always with us and our south wall has been a long while in the hands of contractors. We have been helped by a grant of £500 from the Historic Churches Preservation Trust and a loan of £500 from the Diocese. A fine oak mobile bookstall has been donated to the Church and is being well supported. The occasional services of baptism, weddings and funerals give me pastoral opportunities. The Ongar Deanery of which our parish is a part provides opportunity for wider fellowship with neighbouring believers through quarterly joint services of Evensong. We meet together in a different Church each quarter and this gives some of our more remote country Churches a chance to have an overflowing congregation from time to time.

On personalities, we greatly miss David and Annette Whisker and their three children. They felt a call to serve the Lord in France and have removed to Bordeaux. David was Churchwarden and Treasurer and most able in both offices. Peter Hunt, my Lay Reader and other Church-warden continues tower of strength and has as his co-warden Dr. Stuart Jennings with his wife Catherine and their two boys have moved into Whisker's house. We all had a sense of loss when Peggy Ford went to her Lord on the 14th March. Geoff her husband preceded her by two years. They were a lovely couple. Other parish activities which have my interest and support and to which reference has been made in previous Christmas Letters continue. The Women's Institute thrives as do Blackmore Players, the Jericho Sixty-Plus Club and Blackmore Wives. Blackmore Charities Trustees have succeeded in increasing income from the Charities' assets so that more money is available for distribution. It is a privilege to be involved in the affairs of our local Primary School where things are going well, thanks to an able staff. Last Christmas we had a Nativity Play on horseback in the open-air for the physically handicapped. We hope to do the same again this year. It such a wonderful occasion for the handicapped youngsters. Another great occasion was the Silver Jubilee of the Coronation of Majesty the Queen. We had our Street Market again and there was a general dressing up in medieval attire. King Henry VIII and Queen Anne Boleyn graced us with their presence once again - and we had a lovely time, with two weddings thrown in for good measure for yours truly.

Holidays have been rather piece-meal this year. The inside of a week at Eastbourne in January, the inside week in East Anglia visiting relatives and friends in June, three days in Weymouth with the Easeys who entertained me in their home in Italy last year when they lived there and lastly, two weeks in Jerusalem in September. This last was in company with Bishop and Mrs. Goodwin-Hudson. We saw a good deal of the Old City and its places of interest. Each day we spent some time visiting the Garden Tomb where the Bishop has involvement as Chairman of the Garden Tomb Committee. We met interesting people in Church affairs and Israelis with responsibility in various fields, such as education, medicine and broadcasting. There was a conducted tour of a kibbutz whore we had an excellent meal. A visit to a development of a 400 acre site in the Judean hills called the Garden of Israel. Here all the flowers, herbs, plants and trees referred to in the Bible are being planted and grown. In ten years time the present promise should become a full realization.

Walking in the hills where Jesus once walked and looking on scenes which must have been familiar to his eyes, a wonderful sense of the presence and Person of the Saviour of mankind. This letter brings you my Christmas and New Year greetings but above all my earnest hope that the presence and grace of the Lord Jesus Christ might be a growing experience once in your life through all your days to cone.

Your friend,

MONTAGUE H. KNOTT 

Blackmore: News

Pleased to report The Prince Albert has reopened.  Checked it out for a pint - and a second to be quite sure - today

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1977)

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex. CM4 ORN

Dear Friend(s)

19 - Christmas - 77

When I reached my twenty first birthday, in law I came of age. It might be said that with this communication my Christmas letter has come of age for it is the twenty first to originate from this study. Following custom I abstracted a copy of last year's letter from the file and as I did so thought I'd take out also the letter for Christmas 1957. What nostalgia swept over no as I recaptured the sentiments that moved, me when I had so newly entered my incumbency of the Parish of Blackmore. At the time of writing that first Christmas Letter the land between the Vicarage and the Church was the kitchen garden of Jericho Priory and I had an unobstructed view of the church tower from my study window. Now three houses stand on the site of the kitchen garden. I remember my dear wife sat in front of the fire knitting as I wrote. For thirteen years she partnered me in my ministry and I drew strength from her loyalty, practical support and warm affection. It is almost eight years since our Lord took her from her earthly service and I have been blessed in the spiritual oversight of a parish which has kept me busy and has shown a kindly care for its Vicar.

The year 1977 has been a good one. Both churches have maintained a consistent ministry of God's word and our joint efforts in work among the children and teenagers continues to encourage. This year, for the first time, some of our Jucos (11-13) went to camp and enjoyed it, while our Covenanters (13 and up) went again to Aqua-Sports Camp at Marlow and also enjoyed it, despite the weather. In both instances some committed their lives to Christ and others deepened their faith in the Saviour. In February a team of some twenty four people of different ages and from different backgrounds came from the Parish Church of St. Luke, Cranhan Park to lead in a Together Week-end. It was an exciting experience. The team was entertained in various homes and a real sense of togetherness in Christ was our experience. Then, in Easter Week, a team came from the London Bible College to lead a Holiday Bible Club. Again the team was entertained in local homes. The children turned out in good numbers and there was meaningful contact with parents too.

Pastor Douglas Francis and his Deacons at the Baptist Church are encouraged by an increase in the number of young people attending their services and in the Parish Church the attendance at the monthly Family Service fills the Church. The fortnightly House Group Bible Study is conducted by one or other of our combined company who is gifted to minister the Word of God, usually in the house of the one leading the study. Recently our numbers have been in excess of thirty persons. There are many one would like to name but to do so might seem invidious. However, I must make mention of my Churchwardens, Peter Hunt and David Whisker. In my spiritual warfare on behalf of the people of Blackmore I feel they are Aaron and Hur to my Moses. I thank God for them. Other church activities continue. The preparation of parents before the baptism of their babes, the preparation of couples prior to marriage and the sharing with bereaved families, all provide wonderful pastoral opportunities.

The highlight of the year was surely the Queen's Silver Jubilee Celebration. Blackmore went to town over it, as they say. The whole community threw itself into the celebration. A school pageant, a medieval street market, races, community singing, firework display, dancing and a moving Service of Thanksgiving in the Parish Church. A Silver Jubilee Programme of a high standard remains to testify to a truly wonderful and loyal occasion. The weather was kind, crowds came in from all around and I shall never forget how early each morning the men of the village were out clearing the debris and untidiness of the previous evening so that by 10am Blackmore had a "Best kept Village" look. It was fitting that the nation should show its affection for its Queen, whose service to her people and worthy occupancy of the Throne commands our loyal support.

The preceding paragraph introduced the subject of leisure and leads me to mention two spells of holiday taken this year. In May I went to Italy for two and a half weeks staying at Rocca di Papa nearly twenty miles south of Rome. I was entertained by a gracious Christian couple with whom I had become acquainted when staying with Alan and Marian Leach last year. My host and hostess were Bill and Jopie Easey recent converts but full of the joy of the Lord. Day by day we shared the Scriptures and found the experience most profitable. Rocca di Papa is part of a range of volcanic mountains the highest point of which is Montecavo. I climbed it and was repaid with a wonderful view. Day by day I walked on the mountains and enjoyed every step of the way I made two or three trips into Rome and spent four days in Florence with Jopie and her pretty daughter Carol. Bill had to be away on a businessman's course over that period. The Easey's are coming to live in England in January so I hope to see more of them. My second break in September was spent in the West Country, mainly in Wales. I had happy fellowship with friends new and old and found myself viewing sights and staying in places for the first since before the last World War. And the weather was good on the whole.

Other items that suggest themselves for mention are Village Hall to which we are adding Squash Courts; the refurbished Community Centre and Library are being increasingly used; our Jericho Sixty Plus Club thrives and we have started a Family Film Night. The Blackmore Players present three productions each year, a Pantomime, a Comedy and a Drama. The players and members of the congregation presented a nativity play in December. Our Baptist friends still await planning permission for the development of their site.

As I think of the five thousand souls committed to my spiritual care I draw comfort from the realization that a gracious God pursues them in love. Throughout their lives people and events give testimony that God cares for them, will come to them when they admit Him to the rule of their wills and in the ordering of their lives. One sees this taking place. There are a number in the parish who will readily admit that the year has seen the introduction of a new dimension into life, a peace, a joy that had not been there before. On what better note could I finish! The Lord Jesus said:

"You are made clean by the word which I have spoken to you.... If you keep my commandments you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full".

My Season's Greetings and affectionate good wishes for 1978 come with this letter.

MONTAGUE H. KNOTT. 

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1976)

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex. CM4 0RN

Dear Friend(s)

19 - CHRISTMAS - 76

I've just completed my first year as a septuagenarian and it has been a good year, thanks to the providence of God and the friendship of many. My heart echoes the words of the hymn writer "How good is the God we adore, our faithful unchangeable friend”.  Each year as I come to the writing of my Christmas Letter, I feel humbled as I consider how faithful to his promises God proves himself to be. If you have been on my mailing list long enough this will be the twentieth of my Christmas Letters to reach you.  I cannot speak of my outgoing to you without making grateful acknowledgement of the response my letters evoke. Sometimes a few on a Christmas card and sometimes a newsy letter. All are so welcome and make more meaningful my prayers for you.

The start of 1976 found me very much the poorer for the loss of my dear friend and Churchwarden, Geoffrey Ford, who went home at the end of last year. Through the years Geoff was a true and dependable yoke-fellow in the work of the Church. David Whisker, a younger and equally dear friend, has become Churchwarden in place and works creatively with Peter Hunt, my Lay Reader and colleague and co-worker in the ministry of the Word of God. An impending change for me is the handing over of the editorship of our parish quarterly, Friends. For sixteen years I have had the interest and pleasure of writing up our quarterly and with Oct-Dec. issue Friends came to an end. With the Jan-Mar. 1977 issue the parish quarterly becomes 'Contact', the joint editors will be Zoyla Hunt and Sandra Keetch. This spreading of the load will be a good thing and there are lots of ideas in the air.

Our Baptist friends seem encouraged and are hoping to improve their facilities by the development of their parcel of land. They hope to erect a block of flats for retired missionaries or pastors and a general purpose building of church and ancilliary apartments. For some years now the Anglicans and Baptists have worked jointly in outreach. Now we are worshipping together on two Sundays in each month. The Junior Church, Adventurers, Jucos and Covenanters the age range 4 - 17 years. We are encouraged by the interest shown especially when teenagers make a clear cut profession of faith in Christ and show it in their lives. A highlight for the Covenanters is the annual Aqua Camp. I was able to join them for an overnight stay. The site at Marlow was a large field beside the Thames. Nearby were water-filled gravel pits where sailing and water-skiing were the order of the day. The tented camp was well organised and the weather perfect.

Other interests continue, Women's Fellowship, Mothers' Union, Group Bible Studies. Our Baptist friends are encouraged by the attendance at their Youth Service on the second Sunday in each month and in the Parish Church we generally have a full house for the Family Service on the first Sunday of the month. We are trying to encourage these young families to come also to a shortened Family Communion on the third Sunday. It is wonderful to see how the Holy Spirit is working in the parish. Nominal Christians are coming alive with the life of Christ and it makes a difference to the quality of their lives and the effectiveness of their testimony.

I see another sign of spiritual advance in the increased giving of the congregation. This has meant that the Church's giving to support Christ's work in this and other lands has shown a marked increase this past year. We continue to face church repairs. Earlier in 1976 repairs to the tower were completed and now we face repairs to the south wall of the nave. The District Council cuts the churchyard grass regularly and other voluntary help keeps the churchyard tidier than ever I've seen it. Before turning to the secular side of parish life I would mention the Blackmore Young Wives' Fellowship. I always receive a warm welcome when I am free to attend. Membership seems to have dropped but varies according to the subject. The programme offers variety but seems always to have general interest.

Earlier letters have spoken of our fine Village Hall upon which so much community activity is centred. Now we are blessed with additional facilities. The old primary school has been modified and a branch library has been built on. The School building is now the Youth & Community Centre. The Church already makes use of it and the local Youth Club will resume using it. The Village Hall is in great demand and we welcome other accommodation to ease the pressure. The Sports and Social Club, the Blackmore Players and our successful Play School all make great use of the Village Hall. In fact, during the summer vacation we ran a Summer Play School for 150 children. It was a great success. In January we started the Jericho Sixty-Plus Club with 40 members. Our other over sixty-club the Stondon and Blackmore Old Folks Club goes steadily on. At the latter I conduct a fifteen minute devotion once a month. It consists of a Scripture reading, a mini-talk, a hymn and a prayer.

The County Primary School is one of my special interest. It is a privilege to serve as a manager, to find we have dedicated teachers and other staff which make it a well-run school. And then there are the children. They help to make Blackmore the wonderful place it is. We are fortunate to be in a Green Belt area. The parish centres in the village with some 1500 out of our 4000 population and around the village are fields. Outlying parts look towards the village and this gives a wonderful sense of community.

Two valued young friends invited me to stay with them Italy for two weeks in February. The husband works for the European Space Agency and they had a home a few miles outside Frascati where they now reside. Rome was 25 miles away and I was able to explore it to my instruction and pleasure. I also visited Naples, Pompeii and Herculaneum. I completed my holidays in September with a trip starting in South Wales and moving through the southern counties back to Essex. Two weeks of calling on friends of long standing which proved enjoyable. This concludes my survey Blackmore and of Blackmore's Vicar and his doings for another year. I hope you will find items of interest and subjects for prayer.

Looking at the conclusion of last year's letter I see wrote of "uncertain times with an even less certain future Humanly speaking, I see no reason for a change of sentiments. As a nation we have been spending money we have not earned. We borrowed against expected future wealth and are in danger saddling the yet unborn with the cost of our feckless behaviour.  I am reminded of a ship with its engines broken down and tide carrying the vessel unresisting towards the rocks while the crew questions the authority of the captain and makes demands for more pay, more leisure and improved retirement pensions. Meanwhile the passengers look on with no manifest sense of urgency or power to change their situation. The Psalmist (107, 25f) pictures the scene in these words, "a mighty wind began to blow and stirred up the waves. The ships were lifted high in the air and plunged down in the depths. In such danger the men lost their courage; they stumbled and staggered like drunken men - all their skill was useless. Then in their trouble they called to the Lord and he saved them distress".

If only the men of this generation would call to the Lord.

In another place the Psalmist (4, 6 & 7) says, "There are many who pray: 'Give us more blessings, Lord. Look on us with kindness'." Such are those who consider only their bodily needs, their earthly desires. The Lord Jesus charged men to seek first the Kingdom of God for God would take care of their material state. So the Psalmist continues, "But the joy that you have given me is more than they will ever have with all their corn and wine". To advance in years framing one's attitude to the world around and one's understanding of what the future holds, from the Bible is open to every Christian. And to be taught by the Holy Spirit to hold material things with an ever-loosening grasp is the wisdom of every Christian. While to move onto life's highway at the beginning of each new day in company with the Lord Jesus, enjoying his presence and experiencing his power is just a wonderful prelude to heaven itself. May all this be a growing experience with you.

In sending the Season's Greetings, I assure you that you are remembered with affection.

Montague H. Knott. 

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1975)

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex. CM4 ORN

Dear Friend(s),

19- CHRISTMAS - 75

In one way, yet not the only one, this has been a special year for me. I have reached and passed my seventieth birthday. I say with the Psalmist "Surely goodness and mercy will follow me all the days of my life". It is with a deep sense of gratitude to God that one takes stock of one's life and traces both the mercy and the goodness without which a very different story would be told.

Going back to the year under review, there has been no general election, no special diocesan event, no overseas holiday on which to comment but in our local situation there has been much Christian involvement. The Holy Spirit has been working in the lives of individuals and the believing community. The Anglican and Baptist Congregations continue to work together amongst the young and in Christian outreach sharing in prayer and Bible study to those ends.

I have glanced afresh at a copy of last year's Christmas Letter to see if I should refer back to any item and I was reminded that the Rev. Dick Rees was called from earthly service to serve and honour his Lord in a heavenly sphere. This able servant of Christ will be missed by many yet the faith he held and the quality of service that his life revealed will surely continue in the lives of those he influenced.

In the parish a new children's department has been started called Jucos. It covers the 10-13 years age range for boys and girls. The Anglican and Baptist congregations, by pooling personnel and facilities are now able to give Christian instruction to our young people from age four to seventeen years. Blackmore Parish is in the Archdeaconry of West Ham. During the year the Archdeacon, James Adams became the Bishop of Barking, with pastoral care for the Archdeaconry. Our new Archdeacon is John Taylor, former Vice Principal of Oak Hill Theological College where I trained before my ordination in 1955. We had a Flower Festival over our Patronal Weekend and our annual Parish Gift Day showed a more generous giving than last year.

Pastor Douglas Francis and his Baptist Congregation have an old chapel with vacant land alongside. They plan to redevelop with a modern Church and flats. This could facilitate the work of Christ's Church in Blackmore and we pray for the success of this venture.

As regards the community generally, things go in an ordered way. The various activities seem to maintain their vigour. There was no Donkey Derby but instead, a Fete. The display of produce and art was of a very high order and well worth seeing. We got our name into the Press because of an effort to clean and tidy up the village. Our menfolk were pictured cleaning up the village pond.

Our school grows. We now have three demountable classrooms added to the permanent structure. The teaching and ancillary staffs work well together and the children benefit. On Guy Fawkes' night the Parent Teachers Association arranged a bonfire and fireworks display which was a great success. More than one thousand people watched and I helped the ladies sell cups of hot soup. The Local Authority invited me to continue as a manager for which I am grateful. Soon after the return from summer holidays we opened our splendid new swimming pool. It is covered and heated and has all amenities.

My holidays were taken in England and Scotland this year & provided an unique experience. I made a list of twenty six friends of long standing with whom I maintain contact through the post & who live anywhere between here & Edinburgh and covered more than two thousand miles calling upon them. I found no fewer than twenty one of them at home. Only one knew in advance of my coming. Every call brought pleasure and a revival of memories.

Some had entered into retirement and looked good advertisements for it. A young doctor I knew years ago gave me four wonderful days in his home. He is an ear, nose and throat consultant and has a lovely family. I also stayed several days with a Scottish widow and her daughter. The husband was my close friend and I was best man at their wedding fifty years ago this year. A German Jewess, whose family died at the hands of the Nazis, and who herself escaped through the care of the Dutch underground movement, came to England in 1946 and stayed three weeks in our home. I tracked her down twenty nine years later to find her looking much the same but married to a Scot and the mother of twenty-one year old twin daughters, It was wonderful to meet again and hear a thrilling story of God's movement in her life. Another friend who had given long years of competent and faithful service to an employer, not always easy to get along with, found himself inheriting half his employer's considerable estate when the latter died. I can't think of anybody more deserving or likely to use his good fortune more wisely.

After a lapse of several days I resume the writing letter. Pondering on news of the success of the Gospel Christ in many parts of the world it seems that this success is most evident in the poorer parts and in places where the active opposition to Christianity. The materialism of the rich countries seems to stifle the Holy Spirit in those places. Yet one of the greatest comforts to my mind is that the Holy Spirit is at work unceasingly everywhere, though it may not be apparent. From time to time I look at parishioners who give no evidence of concern for spiritual things, who never or rarely come to the House of God and I remind myself that from the cradle they have been within the compass of God's love. That the Holy Spirit by inward conviction and through various agencies has moved in their lives to build up an experience of God which in his good time, could lead to their conversion. I say could, for God’s salvation is free to all and if one should miss that experience it would not be because God could not but because men would not.

For this reason I try to encourage members of Christ’s Church in this parish not to be isolationists but to be outgoing, identifying themselves with the interests of their neighbours providing that doing so does not compromise Christian standards. So many about us are asking questions, they are seeking someone who will have time to listen. They are ready to be moved by a true spirit of compassion. Our blessed Lord found it so. It was not in the Church of his day that he encountered understanding and co-operation in his work for God but out in the market place or on the highway, among those for whom the Church was uncaring, I am grateful to our Heavenly Father that the Church locally has been used to win a number to Christ both from among the non-churchgoers and those who are. Of course there are tensions. Those who find change unacceptable. Those who resist at the point where they are challenged to be more wholly the unquestioning servants of Christ.

Concluding this, the nineteenth successive Christmas Letter I have written in the Study of the Vicarage in Blackmore I am mindful of the changes which have taken place. From a rural and largely agricultural parish to a mainly dormitory one. With a trebling of houses and people yet at the centre and nestling in the fields a true village with a Church that links it with the Normans. If times and places change, from our village Church is proclaimed the unchanging message of an unchanging God. He is close to every one of us. In these uncertain times and faced an even less certain future God says, "Fear not, for I am with you, be not dismayed for I am your God; I will strengthen I will help your I will uphold you with my victorious right hand”.. (Isa. 41:10).

Holding you affectionately in remembrance I send my good wishes for Christmas and the New Year.

Montague H. Knott 

Blackmore: Reprieve of 261 Bus Service

A vigorous campaign by the Blackmore, Hook End and Wyatts Green Parish Council; many e mails from local residents and a massive Facebook presence has resulted in Essex County Council changing their mind regarding the future of the 261 Bus Service from Blackmore to Brentwood via Doddinghurst.  

This from the County Councillor:

Thank you for your recent communication highlighting your views on the 261 commercial service withdrawal.

I am pleased to report that I have agreed that Essex County Council is to step in and to initially support the service, from early in the new year. 

Following the statutory notice given by the commercial operator in the autumn, officers at Essex County Council have worked around the clock to find a solution within extremely tight deadlines and financial constraints.  Unfortunately, due to the notice period required for registration of bus services, the service can only start early in the new year so there will be an unavoidable gap in service.  I appreciate the inconvenience that this may cause but I would like to stress that every effort has been made by officers to continue the service seamlessly.

As all bus services continue to be under financial pressure it will be important to keep using and promoting this clearly much loved service to ensure its long term future. 

I am afraid I will not be able to reply again to individual emails with the full details of the new service.  These will be announced by the council and I will also ensure that local county councillors and the parish councils are informed so they can disseminate the information locally.

I would also like to take this time to wish you and your families a restful holiday season and a happy new year.

Best wishes

Cllr Eddie Johnson

Cabinet Member Highways and Transport Delivery

Essex County Council

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1974)

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex CM4 ORN

19 - CHRISTMAS - 74 

Dear Friend(s),

This brings my greetings and as I address the envelope you fill my thoughts and become the subject of my prayers. A number of happenings have made this Year of Grace 1974 a memorable one for me. It will be a pleasant exercise to record subjects which I hope will prove newsworthy and of interest to you.

Let me begin with what lies nearest my heart, the parish and in particular the Church in the parish. We began the year with the Bishop of Chelmsford's "Call to Mission" challenging us to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of the Diocese by renewed commitment to Christ for the extension of his Kingdom. The Jubilee Year was marked by a visit from the Archbishop of Canterbury, who spent Thursday 13th June at Chelmsford meeting clergy and laity and the Diocesan Great Family Day held at Debden Airport on Saturday 13th July. The rain fell continuously but far from being a wash-out, some 7,000 people from all parts of the Diocese met in a family spirit which found expression movingly in the service of Holy Communion, where more than 5,000 remembered our Lord and Saviour in his own appointed way.

From the wider sphere of the diocese to the narrower one of the parish, the visit of the Rev. Dick Rees for an effort in Christian outreach under the Title Contact '74 was a highlight for Blackmore. It was not a case of numerous conversions although two or three made a profession of commitment to Christ. The Anglican and Baptist Churches have found a greater unity. Individuals have experienced a deepening of their faith and a sense of urgency and renewed purpose marks the Church in Blackmore. Although our community is a happy one and much blessed materially, there are who have a great and often unrealised need of Christ.

Looking at the Parish Record for the year there have been comings and goings. Familiar faces have passed away and new faces vibrant with life are in our midst. The newly-weds are adjusting to their changed circumstances and are, I hope, finding rewards the bonds of marriage. A charming girl from the parish married a young man, a fine Christian of the Roman Communion. I shared the marriage service jointly with a Roman cleric and a moving service it was. What a change in relationships from those which obtained but a few short years ago. Work amongst the young continues encouragingly and our Lay Reader is Co-ordinator of the whole age-range, Junior Church, Adventurers and Covenanters. Bible study and prayer meetings look as though they are being better supported since the parish mission. The Parish Gift Day brought heavy showers with driving wind. I was on the green in the village from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. under a large garden umbrella; another I turned about according to which way the wind was blowing the rain. But it was worth it. Parishioners were generous. They brought £257. I had a marvellous hamper lunch and even got my picture in the paper.

Our Young Wives Fellowship thrives as does the Women's Institute. The Blackmore Players, our local amateur dramatic group, put on an amusing one act play at the Parish Harvest Supper and is currently rehearsing the Pantomime, to be presented soon after Christmas. The annual Donkey Derby and Country Fair was a successful occasion and the weather was fine. Involvement with the children of our community as a school manager is one of the most enjoyable and rewarding aspects of my life. Our local school is a County Primary so when the children reach ago eleven they go to senior schools outside the parish. We have a good team in the School Head, his Deputy and the Staff, both teaching and others.

A first time ever experience was a trip to the Holy Land in a party organised by the Rev. Dick Rees. We were away during the second half of June. The first week was spent seeing the sights in the south of Israel whilst we were based on the Pilgrim Palace Hotel just outside the walls of the old city of Jerusalem. The second week we stayed at Caesarea on the Sea of Galilee and from there saw the places of interest in the north. The Israelies themselves offer as much interest as the land. For Christians the land and people are inextricably linked and the movement of events only emphasizes the fact. The Israelies have purpose and a will to succeed. We began to see it in the thoroughness with which we were screened at London Airport. Then in the effective way in which the land is being made to thrive. I was also impressed by the taste and skill with which sites and structures of historic interest are being preserved. I am left with a longing to go again.

On a personal note I would like to record my gratitude to God and my parishioners for continuing kindness. I am kept busy and houses are open to me so that what might be the loneliness of my situation is eased. My late wife's only surviving sister died in early October. This was my last link with the family generation into which I married and the loss brought its own poignancy. The onset of angina involved me in one month's enforced rest in the spring and later an injured knee cramped my style considerably.  However, at the time of writing, I feel fine, thanks to the medics and to drugs.

During the eighteen years throughout which these Christmas Letters have issued from Blackmore Vicarage there has not which brought two General Elections. The populace seems uncertain and divided and our politicians unable effectively to govern. There is no outstanding leader and in the picturesque language of the Bible our nation is like sheep without a shepherd. Too often one gets the impression that sections of the community secure their own interests because they are strongly placed to do so. We voice a concern for the needy but - after the meeting of our own needs. Panic buying and hoarding are indications of this. Biblical and secular history seem to indicate that when nations experience period of peace and material prosperity, spirituality declines and the people tend to become selfish, soft and lacking in fibre.

The world of nations is knit so closely because of instant communication and speed of travel that isolation is impossible. The major nations with their tools of war and the power to destroy each other with suspicion, and form their own satellite power blocks. Smaller belligerents are equipped by major nations and their fields of battle become the proving grounds of sophisticated weaponry which the major nations may one day use against each other. Strangely, smaller nations sometimes advantages from this state of affairs. Can one imagine the Arab nations being able to hold the world to ransom in respect century ago. But with an oil-sufficient U.S.S.R. to defend the interests of the Arabs the oil dependent West must grin and bear it.  Two other factors will have a material bearing on our world as the Twentieth Century moves to a close, pollution and oecology. The poisoning of our environment and man's unthinking disturbance of the balance of nature could well exact a heavy price and that sooner than we think. Yet, in spite of so much gloom, I am glad to live in this age. It seems to me that there never was a time when to know Christ as Saviour and to live in his service, was more rewarding. The Bible-taught Christian is not taken unawares by what he sees taking place around him.

A friend gave me a nicely bound copy of The Living Bible and I have found blessing in reading it through the year. As I bring my letter to a close and remember again that God was manifest in flesh when the baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem, I am led to quote from St. Paul's Letter to the Ephesians, as rendered in The Living Bible:-

"Salvation is not a reward for the good we have done, so none of us can take any credit for it. It is God himself who has made us what we are and given us new lives from Christ Jesus; and long ages ago he planned that we should spend these lives in helping others. Attitudes and thoughts must all be constantly changing for the better. These are difficult days. Don't be fools; be wise; make the most of every opportunity you have for doing good. Don't at thoughtlessly but try to find out and do whatever the Lord wants you to."

In sending my affectionate good wishes for Christmas and the New Year I pray that God's intent for mankind may be fulfilled in you and me.

MONTAGUE H. KNOTT. 

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1973)

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex CM4 ORN

19 - CHRISTMAS - 73

Dear Friend(s),

There is a line of a hymn which runs "Change and decay in all around I see". Change? Well, yes! But decay? Hardly, where the Parish of Blackmore is concerned. When my dear wife and I came Blackmore in 1957 it was a quiet agricultural village. Things were different then but not better. Change has come through the years and continues. Hundreds of new houses have been built. Our population has grown by over two thousand persons. The majority earn their keep in London and neighbouring Essex towns. Indeed, comparing the Blackmore of today with the Blackmore I first knew decay is the last word I'd use.

So I come to my seventeenth Christmas Letter to be sent out from Blackmore Vicarage. It was three years ago last March that my wife entered into that fulness of life which, in the body, we cannot experience as we would. I know that God has provided for her and he has provided for me. For me, with a calling that employs all my time and faculties, and friends, both in and out of the parish, whose interest, care and demands enrich and challenge continually. However, my greatest sense of well-being stems from the fact that Christians here are drawing closer together in the Lord Jesus Christ and in his service. There is a growing interest in the study of the scriptures and the Holy Spirit has moved in the lives of many. I wish I could extend my letter to tell of one and another who have committed themselves to Christ as Lord and Saviour and are demonstrating the fact in their daily lives.

To be more particular, my Lay Reader, of whom I wrote a year ago, is proving an able colleague who preaches acceptably and assists in many ways. Earlier in the year we started a monthly Family Communion Service, using the new Series III Order of Service, with the holy table in the nave and the chairs arranged on three sides. The congregation participate in the prayers and in the reading of Scriptures. It has been good to see young parents with their children coming to the Lord's Table. In response to our Bishop's Call to Mission the Anglican and Baptist Churches have combined to arrange a parish mission to be led by the Rev. Dick Rees in October of next year. We are preparing ourselves for the Mission and a continuing strategy of Christian Outreach. Five Parish Weekends have been planned as part of the preparation. A fortnightly joint Bible study has also commenced. Other parish activities mentioned in earlier letters continue.

So far I have concentrated on local news. However, we live in a large world and we find ourselves less and less able to confine ourselves to purely local interests. At the time of writing, the Middle East War between Arab and Jew has given way to truce. Christians, sensitive to the part Palestine has played in history and the part it may yet play, if certain interpretations of prophetic Bible passages are correct, have no doubt wondered whether the stage was set for Armageddon. Certainly the state of world affairs is disturbing to the natural mind. The morality and integrity of some in high and influential places leaves room for doubt. Wealthy and powerful nations seem to tolerate local wars and find in them a means of proving sophisticated weaponry. A spirit of anarchy is abroad and materialism breeds selfishness. Godless socialism is as ruthless towards its opponents as are the religious devotees who kill one another while professing to serve the same God. Had Robert Burns lived today one wonders whether he would have found other words to express "man's inhumanity to man". How wonderful it is for the Christian to realize the sovereignty of God over all the universe and not least in the affairs of men. God's own book assures the believer "In quietness and confidence shall be your strength". For my Christmas - New Year message I want to say something about a passage from Genesis (16.13). It is the story of a woman in great distress. An underdog, who, like Esau and the Prodigal's elder brother, tends to appeal to our natural sympathy. She was a younger wife of Abraham. She was with child and the envy of Sarah, Abraham's first and so far childless wife. God had promised Abraham some ten years earlier the Sarah would bear him a son and heir. God's time for the fulfilment of his promise was a quarter century later. In his providence God sometimes proves the measure of our confidence in him by making us wait for the fulfilment of his promises. His time for the coming of special blessings alone is the right time.  Abraham and Sarah grew impatient. The years were passing, getting older. Let me have a son by proxy said Sarah to Abraham. Take my maid and make her the mother of a son. So Abraham Sarah and, weakened in faith, went ahead of his God instead waiting to be led by him.

Repercussions from his act have distressed the Middle East through succeeding centuries. And Sarah, who had heard God’s promise of a child through her, brought trouble of mind to herself, to Abraham and to the whole family through giving Hagar, the Egyptian slave, as wife to Abraham. When Ishmael, the son of Hagar, was about fifteen years old and Sarah had borne Isaac at the age of ninety, the resentment of Sarah forced Abraham to banish the slave wife and her son. Hagar and Ishmael were great-extremity in the desert and like to die of thirst when God intervened. Hagar said, "Thou, God, seest me". At a time when it seemed she was all alone and none at hand to help, she came to know that God was there, at work in her life. His eye was on her and Ishmael her son. It must have been in Abraham's household that Ishmael had learned to call to God for help and God, who distress, also heard Ishmael's cry. The seeing God, who became so real to Hagar that day, looked with pity and compassion on mother and son and flew to their relief. What God did was literally to give them the water of life freely, and they lived and prospered under the good hand of God, in spite of the neglect of Abraham and the bitterness of Sarah.

In this world it is the lot of men and women, and young people too, to feel desperately alone at times, when it seems that nobody knows, understands or cares. All too often this is sadly true where our fellow humans are concerned but it is never true of God our Maker. As Hagar discovered, He sees, His eye is over all the earth. It matters not who or what we are the eye of God is upon us.

This is a sobering thought. God sees what is commendable and what is not and what is so wonderful is that he never writes us off. The divine eye that looks on all my resistance to the will of God, my folly and stupidity, sees also the potential for godliness (god-like-ness) if I am willing to drink of the water of life freely.

Perhaps 1974 will bring you times of loneliness, times when you feel unable to cope. Or times when things go so well that you may be in danger of growing careless of your spiritual needs. In either case and at all times remember Hagar and say as she said "Thou God seest me". Such realization will be balm to your soul. To know that God, your Heavenly Father, sees, cares and will be your supply.

In sending my good wishes for Christmas and the New Year, I commit you to the grace, mercy and peace of Him who is perfectly revealed in his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.

MONTAGUE H. KNOTT.

* * * * * * * * 

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1972)

19 - CHRISTMAS - 72

Dear Friend(s),

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex.

It is early October, for some weeks the writing of this my sixteenth Christmas Letter from Blackmore Vicarage, has been in mind. For the past two days the radio announcer has given latest date of posting for Christmas notices, in respect of certain distant places and this has galvanised me into action. At last I've started. I know I shall not go uninterrupted to the end of my letter.

This has been a good year in many respects and I am glad of the opportunity to share my news with you. From letters received and conversation with recipients of my Christmas Letter, I find an interest in parish affairs this is where I'll start.

The Church Annual Meeting came early on. We prepare, for it in part by revising our Electoral Roll, as we were required to do. This process eliminated some dead wood and gave a more realistic total of those described as church members. Our church officers and Council are a responsible body and I feel myself strengthened by it in ministry and pastoral duties.

A special source of encouragement is that one of our fellowship, having studied and passed his theological examinations, was admitted a Lay Reader by the Bishop of Chelmsford in January. He has real gift and assists me in the services.

January also saw the start of the Thursday Fellowship. This is a group of mainly younger women who desire to grow in a knowledge of the Scriptures and to relate their Christian witness to the contemporary situation. They meet twice monthly and are going well. This leads me to the Blackmore Young Wives which has a mainly secular emphasis. Many of its members are regular attenders at the monthly Family Service when the church is generally full. Throughout the year the fortnightly meeting in the Vicarage for prayer and Bible study has been maintained. The Anglican and Baptist communions in Blackmore, working together in witness and service to Christ, have met challenge and encouragement, particularly in the field of work amongst the young.

What are called the occasional service's relating to baptism, marriage and burial take a fair proportion of my time. I always spend more time in preparation with those concerned than is given to the actual service. Pastorally these times of preparation are valuable, for human feelings are deeply stirred over a birth, a marriage, or a death and our God is a God for every situation be it one of joy or sorrow. Every bride looked charming and every babe most lovable. Among the mourners, God's promise of comfort to those who cast their care upon Him has not failed. I sense that my own bereavement of my dear wife has been used of the Lord to give me a closer identification with the sorrowing.

Although we have something over 3,500 people in our parish, Blackmore is still very much a village. In such situations one tends to find a closer link between church and community, with the parson having a special part. It is my privilege to serve as a School Manager, as a Trustee of Blackmore Charities and as President of the Old Folks Club. These and other involvements enable me to touch community life at different levels and to identify with the interests and aspirations of my people.

Our new Village Hall, opened a year or so ago is well used and much in demand. As our school population grows we hope to hear any day that additional classrooms will be built to complete our building programme. At the end of the summer term we lost our Head Teacher and Deputy Head through retirement and resignation respectively. Both had a warm place in our regard and will be missed. However, I believe the new Head Teacher and Deputy Head will serve our community well.

The former school canteen has been converted into an indoor swimming pool by the Parent Teacher Association which raised the money and did nearly all the manual work. It is a wonderful job and well used by children and parents. The old school is being used as a youth and community centre. Members are carrying out modifications and we expect to put the premises to increasing community use.

Our drama group the Blackmore Players continue vigorously, putting on their three productions each year. The Donkey Derby was held as in previous years. We held Church Garden Party. These and other events brought a general involvement of parishioners and raised funds fox church and community.

I have reached a point in this letter where I would like to introduce a thought which might stay with you through the year to come and bring some spiritual cheer. As I so often do, I had left home at 6.00 a.m. for a walk around our country lanes some two weeks ago when I had unusual experience. The sky was dark and starlit. My eye caught a moving light brighter than any of the stars. My first thought was, a fast moving plane but immediately I realized I was looking at an earth satellite. I was fascinated as I considered this thing, lightless and MON by forces outside itself, traversing the sky. As I walking all my world was shrouded in darkness. Up there the satellite moved in an inky void. Then whence its light. Beyond my eastern horizon and wholly unseen was the sun and because the satellite rode so high in the sky its reflective surface caught the full glare of the sun and it shone brightly in its dark setting.

As I continued my walk shrouded in pre-dawn shadow, where my accustomed eyes could see shapes but not colour I thought I had a picture of life on earth. From what one hears and sees so many appear to live out their lives it shadows, their existence is colourless. The satellite is also a thing of earth that came under a compulsive force which set it above the earth. There it was exposed to the radiance which gave it light. Thus has God dealt with men. He has brought them under the compulsive force of his Spirit lifting them out of the darkness of unbelief, above the shadows of doubt, to a state where they are lightened by the Sun of Righteousness and pursue an unswerving course in the Way of Life. The Psalmist (34.5) says of such "They looked unto him and were lightened and their faces were not ashamed." The Apostle Paul penetrates the external light to its inner source when he says (II Cor. 4.6) "God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ."

Remember, during this coming year, if shadows beset your path or darkness seems to hide your future, God's own Spirit is available to lift your spirit so that you rise above any earthly situation to find rest and triumph in the Lord Jesus Christ, the Sun of Righteousness who ever rises above our horizons with healing in his wings.

It is no surprise to me to find that this letter begun in early October is concluded as the month draws to a close. There have been many interruptions. As for me, as I wrote at the outset, it has been a good year. The Lord has sustained me in health of spirit and body. There is never an idle hour yet each day I enjoy a sense of inner quiet and feel relaxed. My friends and parishioners surround me with affection and care so that I am always in their debt. I hope the post will bring me good news of you in due course.

The God of all grace grant you joy at Christmastide and abiding peace throughout the year to come.

Yours affectionately in Christ,

Montague H. Knott. 

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1971)

19 - CHRISTMAS - 71

Dear Friend(s),

The Vicarage, Blackmore, Essex.

I am sitting in my study to write this my fifteenth Christmas Letter from Blackmore. Through the window I see a cloudless blue sky and sunlight brightens the dying foliage of tree and bush. The red brick garden wall is dappled with light and shade and October has but four days left. Christmas seems rather remote and summer lingers on. But if my greetings and good wishes are to reach my relatives and friends in far away places before Christmas I must draft my letter at no later date, In the appropriate file I have numerous letters making acknowledgement of my last Christmas Letter and bringing news of those of whom I think and for whom I pray. Thank you all for writing, Each letter will bring me renewed pleasure as I re-read it and make supplementary comment at the foot of this necessarily general letter.

Turning now to the parish it appears to me that our community continues to thrive in its various interests and activities. Our people seem ready with their smiles and the children are numerous and bonnie. The companies of Christians related to the Baptist and Parish Churches, working together, study to serve Christ in the overall life of the community, particularly among the young. To accommodate the Junior Church, the Adventurers and the Covenanters, the full age range, we use the village hall, the old school building, the Baptist Hall and the parish church. Guides and Brownies parade at the monthly Family Service in the parish church. Church officers play an effective part in filling out the functions of the witnessing church as also do the Choir, the Needlework Guild, the Flower Guild, the Women's Fellowship, Mothers Union and Young Wives Fellowship.

Further work has been carried out in the restoration of our old church, mainly in the tower. The latter looks superb. Special events were the Flower Festival and the Parish Gift Day, both of which proved interesting and rewarding. In July, our church and choir appeared on television in colour in the programme "Seeing and Believing", In early December I hope to make an appeal for the church over radio on the Week's Good Cause Appeal. Another special event was Bishop John Tiarks' resignation and the coming of Bishop John Trillo to the See of Chelmsford.

Our new County Primary School is already bursting at the seams and additional classrooms are needed. The young fathers of the village have nearly completed the conversion of the old school canteen into an indoor swimming pool for the children, under the auspices of the Parent-Teacher Association. The old school itself is about to be adapted as a Youth and Community Centre for all age groups and as a department of the County Library. Our Football Team is giving a good account of itself and helps train the boys at weekends, The Blackmore Players, our drama group, is well supported and is managing two plays and a pantomime each year. A high standard too. The annual Donkey Derby drew great crowds and was a success. Each year sees new houses going up here and there. This year several stretches of pavement (sidewalk) have been laid down.

Sometimes when I meet an old friend whom I see very occasionally the question is asked "How are you getting along in Blackmore?" My reply invariably is "I like the people, I like the place and I like my job." It is a joy to serve such a parish as also to be served by the parish. I have received great kindness, especially since I lost my dear wife. I have considerable correspondence and two parishioners help with typing and duplicating. A keen Christian man has been taking theological examinations to qualify as a Lay Reader. When he is licensed he should be a great help with the services.

Ours is a world of change and I always feel a sense of loss when some family I have come to know has to remove from Blackmore. But as one advances in years more hurtful partings come increasingly upon one. This year my only brother died suddenly from a coronary. Although we did not meet often we were very close in affection. A loved sister-in-law passed away as also a missionary friend who, since her retirement, had become an absolute pillar of the church. Another dear friend, whose best man I was at his wedding in 1925, was taken from us recently. Mercifully, for the Christian, human sorrow in bereavement is lightened by his confidence that being with Christ is a far better part and the resurrection holds the promise of a glad reunion in the glorious presence of Christ our Redeemer.

After a gap of twenty years the way opened up for me to revisit Canada. An invitation to give a week of Bible talks at a Christian holiday centre led to my staying on for a further two weeks to renew acquaintances with friends of the past, some of whom I had been writing each Christmas. All my travels were in the Province of Ontario which I reached in a Jumbo Jet. I started with two days on the Niagara Escarpment where I saw something of the Canadian Menonites, a strict Christian sect which reminds one of the Puritans. The Bible talks were given at Elim Lodge in the Kawartha Lakes country. I went to Canadian Keswick, a Christian conference centre in the Muskoka country. My last week was spent in Toronto and district. I was able to preach in the Church of the Epiphany in Oakville. In all I was entertained with great kindness in seven different Canadian homes.

Increasingly I discover all sorts of problems hidden beneath the surface of people's lives. In nearly all cases I can trace these problems as arising from a failure to relate to God. As I grow older and realise that my years of active Christian service are limited in number, I feel an increasing urge to be involved with people. The one question I want to ask men is "Do you know Jesus, my Lord?" The one possession I want to commend to my fellows is the Holy Bible. The one society into which I fain would draw the wayfarer is the company of Christ's Church. In this way I know a responsive soul would come to God the Eternal Father. This is really what Christmas is all about. This is why God became flesh and dwelt among us in the Babe of Bethlehem two thousand years ago. Be thankful for his coming.

As for me, I am busy, well and rejoicing in the Lord. It is my hope and prayer that the same is true of you. This brings my affectionate Christian greetings,

Montague H. Knott 

Blackmore: Christmas Letters from Revd. Montague Hardwick Knott (1970)

19 - CHRISTMAS - 70

Dear Friends,

The Vicarage Blackmore, Essex.

It is a pleasant thing to address oneself to the writer of this annual letter. Through the years it has been a means of sustaining friendships which otherwise might have lost some of their significance. This year is different though, for my pleasure is tinged with sadness. Of the fourteen Christmas letters which have originated from Blackmore Vicarage, this is the first not to bear the name of my beloved wife as joint correspondent.

Most of our friends are aware that the Lord took my dear partner to himself on Easter Monday last. After a long a wearisome illness, she had serenity and a glad confidence her Saviour and the future, as she passed from us to him. Both through and since this experience I have been kept busy and the presence and power of the Lord Jesus Christ have been very real to me.

Turning from the personal to the general, the year has been full of interest as regards the parish. Among the events, the Old English Street Market held on 8th August was the most spectacular. Stallholders and others dressed in costume. King Henry II and Eleanor of Acquitaine, his queen, performed the official opening. Ladies and gentlemen of the Court and the Prior of Blackmore (yours truly) were attendance. We raised just on £400 for the Church Restoration Fund. The Parish Gift Day on 28th November (future at the time of writing) will augment this sum.

In last year's letter I could report no progress as regards church restoration. This year it is different. The Sanctuary has been furnished with new carpet, a new table and a new credence table. A new communion rail in the form of moveable houseling benches is set off by the newly carpeted chancel, New seating of linking - stacking chairs on a block floor which has been sanded has transformed the appearance of the nave. There are now framed doors to the West doorway. All this new timber furnishing is in choice oak. Considerable work of a tedious but necessary kind is in progress in respect of the tower. We shall have to find a further £2500 to cover the cost of additional work to the latter.

As regards the living Church. My last Christmas letter mentioned Synodical Government. Now we have it. It's too early to pass judgement but I believe that if the new order is properly used it could benefit the Church of England and make it more effective in the world of our day. Already deanery and diocesan synods have met and, at the time of writing, the General Synod is about to meet. Our Church Annual Meeting earlier in the year was the best attended since my becoming vicar, and was important in a new way because we elected our own Synodical Representatives to the Deanery Synod.

The combined Anglican - Baptist promotion of instruction to young people goes well. Junior Church, Adventurers and Covenanters cater for an age range of four to nineteen years. Brownies and Guides are flourishing but no Cubs and Scouts yet. Our overriding need is for suitable accommodation. A Guest Night Service is a new and further joint effort with our Baptist friends and is held on the third Sunday evening in each month. The Baptists have been greatly strengthened this year with the coming of a pastor. He is a stable Christian with a sincere concern for people and their spiritual needs.

Other parish activities mentioned in previous letters continue. Two happenings are noted. First, our Young Wives Fellowship held a special service of thanksgiving and prayer for family life with a renewal of marriage vows and a rededication of husbands and wives to God and to each other. It is hoped that this will become an annual event. Second, as a parish we took part in a Deanery Lent effort entitled "Christian Outreach", a school for evangelism. We had five first rate speakers and discussion groups enabled those enrolled to draw out the teaching to advantage.

Earlier in the year our local Member of Parliament opened our fine new County Primary School. I feel privileged to serve as Chairman of the Managers. Our parish drama the Blackmore Players have provided very good entertainment and the Blackmore Choral Society is going Fell. At Easter they sang Stainer's Crucifixion and at Christmas will present an arrangement of carols. Other community activities continue to flourish.

For the first time in years I was able to take a holiday lasting through almost the whole of September. I shared of the time with a dear parson friend, enjoying the scene and hospitality of Scotland. I drove home alone stopping en route to visit with friends I had not seen in years, since the early 'forties. It was such an enjoyable experience. I am hoping the way will open up to visit other old friends next year but in more distant parts.

I turn now to my own situation. As can be imagined loss of a partner with whom one had lived in sweet intimancy for forty-three years meant a dramatic change in more ways one. I am so grateful that I was left with happy memories and a sure trust in the sufficiency of Christ my Saviour. The demands of the parish left no time for introspection self-pity, to which one less occupied might have succumbed.

It has been a great help to have someone keep the garden tidy and another to keep the house sweet and clean and to launder my linen, etc. This has left me free to concentrate on my ministerial duties as well as feed myself and do chores. A Christian's life should always be disciplined. That is what disciple means. But I have found an added need for discipline in my own experience since becoming a widower and in the exercise of discipline an added blessing.

The Apostle Paul's exhortation to Timothy challenges and I share it with you in the hope and with the prayer that it might challenge you. Here it is: "Do your best to yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth". Three words stand out, approved - ashamed - truth.

I judge that a person cannot be in a worse case that to be unaware, or unwilling to accept the fact, that everyone's life is lived out before an omniscient Creator. God is, and God is aware, through every hour of one's existence. The only intelligent and acceptable response of man the creature to God the Creator is for awareness to issue in dutiful service. Paul coveted such an attitude for his son in the faith, Timothy. Therefore, he urged him, as the Holy Spirit through the Scriptures would urge you and me, to strive for the approval of God in the ordering of his life; to shun all that would leave him ashamed; and to study the Scriptures carefully that he might teach them faithfully to those about him.

This is what Christmas is all about. The babe that was born to Mary in Bethlehem enshrined in himself the word of the truth, and himself said "I am the truth ... no-one comes to the Father (God) except by me". That truth is preserved and revealed in the Holy Scriptures by means of which, with the aid of the Holy Spirit, you and I may come to the end of life's journey unashamed, with the mark of God's approval upon us because we lived out and told out the word of truth.

May Christmas prove a holy and happy season and the New Year bring the prosperity God designs for you in spirit and body. I send you my affectionate greetings in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Montague H. Knott 

Blackmore: News

News this week is that The Prince Albert will be re-opening shortly, and The Bull PH has been sold and may live to be a public house once again.

Blackmore: 261 Bus Service Axe. Essex County Council will Not Support Continuation.

A message on Facebook posted by the Parish Council:

The County Council will not meet representatives from the parishes affected by the ending of the 261 service. Instead, they announced today (Thursday) that: ..."the budget for supporting local bus services is fully committed this year and in future years. As a result it is unlikely to be in a position to replace the service."

Blackmore: News

Villager writes on Facebook: 
A very sad day for the village .Our lovely old post office closed, glad its reopening in the Co op but that wont be the same . ...also sad to see the Albert shuttered . The village used to be a thriving hub for the whole area. Lets hope the Albert isn't bought by another property developer. The Bull fight continues!

Blackmore: End of Era as Blackmore Post Office Relocates

End of Post Office

Thursday 24 November 2016 is a sad day for local historians in Blackmore, as it marks the final day of trading at Blackmore Post Office which opened in 1888, and has above its door ‘JHA 1888’ where this is John Henry Arthy the first postmaster on the premises.  John Henry Arthy is recorded a churchwarden of the Parish Church and has his name inscribed on a bell recast in 1901.

Times change.  The Post Office moves to the local Cooperative Store on the following day and is very much a trend.

My great great uncle, Robert Knight (23, bachelor) married Augusta Arthy (22, spinster) on 29^th October 1865 at St Leonard’s Church, Lexden.  Robert lived in Water Lane, Lexden, Augusta in Shore Hill in the same parish.  Robert was a carter, his father-in-law, John, a husbandman.  Augusta’s brother I believe, looking at my notes from 2006, was John Henry Arthy.

Final days of Blackmore Post Office

Blackmore / Brentwood: Withdrawal of 261 Bus Service threat

Hi. you may or may not be aware that the 261 bus service is being withdrawn from the 16th December.

The parish council have posted information on this link:

http://www.essexinfo.net/blackmore-hook-end-and-wyatts-green-parish-council/bus-261/

They have included information on who to contact to voice concerns. 

I believe this is an important service which we need to ensure keeps running. If you feel the same please email the relevant people in the information and also pass this on to anyone you know who may be affected by the withdrawal of the service. 

John

Ingatestone: Somme Commemoration

The events of the first day of the Battle of the Somme were remembered at 8am today with a simple service by the War Memorial to mark the centenary.  Gordon J W Francis, a Private in the Royal Fusiliers died on 1 July 1916 and is remembered on the Memorial. He was born in 1891 and lived at 21 High Street, now the butchers. He was a carpenter and married Lillian in 1907. He had two children.  He was a bell-ringer and is remembered also on the War Memorial in Chelmsford Cathedral and, specifically today, in the ringing on muffled bells at the church he attended.  An ordinary man - like the nearly 20000 who were killed 100 years ago to the day.

1st July 1916: The Opening Day of the Battle of the Somme

The Revd. Edward Reeve, rector of Stondon Massey, kept a diary called ‘Notes for a Parish History.  In it he wrote his observations of the First World War from his study in what is now Stondon Massey House.

“1^st July 1916: As I write, the reverberation of the great guns and explosion of mines are shaking the windows of the Rectory and of all the other houses, I suppose, in the southern and south-eastern counties of England.  There is evidently a very heavy bombardment in progress."