For Your Prayers

The people on our list greatly appreciate your prayers.  Please take time to pray for the following people during the week, according to their needs.   To put a name on the list for the Prayer Group please phone Phyllis.

In our community

For all those who live in Greenacres and Green Lane.

Those in particular need through sickness and suffering

Paul and Margot Preusse and Ernie Rosson.

Those who value your ongoing prayer support

Eva Griffiths, Judith Carter, May Skinner and Katie Foster

Years mind

Joan Harling and Enid Coates

Mark Major:  The Major family would like to thank all those who have prayed for Mark during his illness. He is now much better and has had the all clear from the hospital.

Martin Carter: After a major stomach operation (peritonitis) and a long period of convalescence Martin is now recovered and back at work. Many thanks for your prayers.

Please pray for Alexander McCombie (John and Marilyn's grandson) who is being baptised this morning at the church of Saint Antony with Saint Silas, Nunhead , in the Diocese of Southwark.

Afghanistan: Sheila Billings of Bushey and Oxhey Methodists has a son serving in Afghanistan. He is anxious to maintain his men's morale (keen young officer!), and has asked for food parcels. Up to 2 kg is free to army postings. Savoury snacks are particularly popular, and at 45 in the shade chocolate is a total no-no! Suggestions are instant noodles, vacuum packed poppadums and chappatis, rice crackers, Cheddars, Pringles, small tins of fruit, and so on.  The address is: 2nd Lt. P. Billings, 25185672, D coy., 2 Para, Op Herrick 8, BFPO 792 

Back to Church Sunday 28th September 2008: This is a national initiative that we are taking part in at St. Matthew's. The idea is that we all think of people who used to come to our church but have stopped for whatever reason and then we invite & welcome them to our service. We will be keeping Harvest Festival on 28th September so it should be a popular service. More details will follow but now we commend the day to your prayers. Fr. David

St Matthew’s and the Belgian War Memorial  In February, I was contacted, via our website, by Guy Leus, an historian in Belgium, who was involved in erecting a new memorial to the crew of an RAF bomber that crashed there in 1943. He was trying to trace the family of one of the crew, a local man, who had lived with his wife at 39 Hillcroft Crescent. Lewis William Curtis was a 32 year old air gunner aboard a Short Stirling bomber of 149 squadron, shot down by a German night fighter and crashed in Geetbets on 4/07/43. Guy had tried to trace the family but without success.
I love searching through old documents, so I went to the County Records Office, Hertford to look at our old parish records, to see if I could find any details of Lewis Curtis’s family. From our baptism register I discovered his daughter, Jessie Annie Curtis, born in 1941 and baptised at St Matthew’s on 13/04/41. The national marriage index showed he married Louise A Brill in Kingston upon Thames, (July-September 1932) and, crucially, gave his place of birth as Okehampton, Devon. I emailed this news to Belgium, where Guy then made rapid progress.  He found the Curtis family in Northlew, nr Okehampton, where his second phone call was to Lewis Curtis’ nephew. This led to the nephew’s uncle, Lewis’ brother, who gave the phone number of the daughter I had discovered. She was very excited when Guy told her about the new memorial. She sent him a picture of her father the same day.
Guy ultimately found pictures of all 8 crew members and on 3^rd June 2008, Patrick Hodgkinson, (the nephew of crew member Patrick Hodgkinson) unveiled the new commemorative plaque in Geetbets. Guy says it was a very emotional moment for all present. The final sentences on the memorial are "Heroes are often common people who only do their duty. This commemorative plaque wants to keep the memory of these young people alive".
There is a picture of the memorial plaque elsewhere on our website at http://www.stmatthewsoxhey.org.uk/curtis.htm Colin Richards

Items for the weekly notice sheet to Angela Nicholas, Email to newsletter@stmatthewsoxhey.org.uk.
Usually the deadline is Wednesday evening