the spire june/july 2014 no. 602...

June/July2014• The Spire 1

The Spire

June/July 2014

No. 602

Pentecost

June/July 2014No. 602

2 The Spire •June/July2014

The SpireJune/July 2014 - Issue No. 602A publication of the Clayton Wesley Uniting Church

Building community through friendship, worship and careCHURCH INFORMATION:

Clayton Wesley Uniting ChurchCorner of The Parade and

Portrush Road, Beulah Park SA, 5067

Church office/general enquiries: (08) 8331 9589

W: www.claytonwesley.org.au

Worship and Fellowship each Sunday at 10AM

Ministry TeamRev. Paul Turley: (08) 8359 2237

or 0488 537 781Rev. Richard Miller (Minister-in-Association): (08) 8388 4203 or

0448 670 273Organists: Matthew Atherton,

Richard Chew, Pip Parkin

THE SPIRE is published by the Clayton Wesley Congregation of the Uniting Church in Australia and was first published in November 1956.

THE SPIRE GROUPGeoffrey Bishop (Coordinator), Yvonne Sinclair, Christine Staker, Natalie Oliveri, Rev. Paul Turley

CONTRIBUTORS: Paul Turley, Natalie Oliveri, Yvonne Sinclair, Geoffrey Bishop, Marie Smith, Christine Staker

PRINT: West PressQUANTITY: 140

Cover – Memorial window to Rev. Walter Stanley Dawe, depicting a crusader armed with sword and shield. Rev. Dawe was killed in World War I. The window was transferred to Clayton-Wesley from the former Norwood Wesley Methodist Church.


Church & Community Activities Friday Prayer GroupFridays 10.30AM in the Choir Vestry. All welcome to join us.

FellowshipOn the first Thursday of the month at 1.30PM in Hope Hall.

Choir Practice Thursday at 7.00PM in the Church. The Clayton Wesley Uniting Church Choir performs at service each Sunday accompanied by our grand 1897 pipe organ. We sing from Together In Song, a collection of classic and current Australian hymns and classical repertoire.

Meet Our CongregationWe hold shared luncheons bimonthly on the second Sunday in Clayton Chapel.

Hope’s CaféFriday from 10AM to 4PM in Hope Hall. Offering a light lunch, coffee and hospitality, we also offer free English classes from 11AM.

Tuesday Gang Tuesdays from 9AM. Our version of a ‘Men’s Shed’, we offer people the opportunity to meet while taking part in looking after the maintenance of our beautiful heritage-listed buildings.

Goodies Op Shop Hours: Mon-Fri 10AM to 4PM & Saturday 10AM to 1PMPH: 8332 8631Goodies Op Shop is always full of good, used gear donated by the wider community and staffed by friendly volunteers.

Uniting Communities Eastern AdelaideHours: Tue-Fri 10AM-4PMPH: 8331 3529 Offering assistance to those in need, UC is a service where people can acquire emergency food parcels and vouchers, counseling and financial help.


Sharing Faith Words from Clayton Wesley Uniting Church’s Minister,

Paul Turley

Things change in winter.

We sometimes call it dying but it’s not really dying, it’s change.

The plant that a few months ago delighted us with flowers and fruit has changed. No longer does it put all of its energy into these glorious and bountiful displays. Now, in this season, the plant’s life goes inward. The glory that was a flower is now hidden in the tiny seed. The energy that was a tomato, an orange or a cherry is now harnessed and concentrated and hidden away.

The plant is not dead it is in a different phase of its life. Now is not the time for being big, on display and loud but for being small, secret, and quiet. For a plant there is a time for every season. The same is true, according to the book of Ecclesiastes, for all of us too. As we enter the season of winter we have the opportunity to examine what in us is changing. We do not live in a climate where we have to change much in our lifestyle as winter comes on us. We won’t need snowshoes for our feet or snow chains for our tyres. We are not expecting long nights and little daylight for months to come. Entering a new season where we live is a far more subtle experience. And because it’s subtle, we can easily miss the chance to observe the world around us and ourselves as the seasons change.

What season might the season of winter be for you this year?


SharingFaith

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:a time to be born, and a time to die;a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;a time to kill, and a time to heal;a time to break down, and a time to build up;a time to weep, and a time to laugh;a time to mourn, and a time to dance;a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;a time to seek, and a time to lose;a time to keep, and a time to throw away;a time to tear, and a time to sew;a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;a time to love, and a time to hate;a time for war, and a time for peace.

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8


Oh, the church roof

“I could wish that some workemen and servants of the Church might be obliged to spend one day in a quarter to view the Roofe and cleanse the gutters and prevent the growths of weeds, and take notice of drips before they doe Mischief, and report any drips they find, for drips happen sodainly, and one shilling seasonably expended prevents great charges, and sometimes able damages in such Fabricks as these.”

This quotation is from a postcard from St Alkmund’s Church, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, (built c.1470-1795). The quote (with the original spelling retained) is from Sir Christopher Wren and relates to St George’s Chapel, Windsor but could equally apply to any church of antiquity.

The sentiments are of interest and relevant, but just as interesting is how English expression and spelling has changed over the past 300 to

500 years.


About Our People The days and lives of Clayton Wesley Uniting

Church’s busy congregationExtra Special Good NewsSepideh and Fatima Ghanbari have been accepted into Adelaide Secondary College and started their Australian schooling life there after the Easter school holidays (in second term). Our congregation have made donations to enable them to buy uniforms, books and other essentials. Congratulations and best wishes to them both. They have told congregation members that they love their new school life and thank us for assisting them.

New Babies!Congratulations and best wishes also to Alicia and Troy Schroeder who have a baby son Aiden Connor born at Burnside Hospital on 15th May at 1.00am. All are well. Grandmother Joy Spirat is absolutely thrilled.

Haley, who lives in Alice Springs and is the granddaughter of Chris Rogers, gave birth to a beautiful baby boy, Winston Stewart on 16th April at 1.35pm. I am sure that Chris will proudly show you photos of her great-grandson.

A Nice VisitElizabeth Finnegan was extremely pleased to have her son David and grand-daughter Mary visit her for a week in April from Scotland. Mary is staying in Australia to work at Sydney University for a short time before going to work at a university in Melbourne.

In Our PrayersWe have lost another of our members. Mary Cave who lived in Clayton Church Homes at Magill died on 27th April. We will miss her and offer her family and friends our loving sympathy.

You Little BeautiesTo the ladies who arrange the flowers every week we give a giant thank you. They are always beautiful but on Mother’s Day they were especially appreciated. There were at least eight large vases of white chrysanthemums displayed throughout the church, both in the usual place at the front of the pulpit and on the platforms erected for the fans during the summer months.


Church FellowshipOn 1st May at 1.30pm in Hope Hall the Church Fellowship held their meeting with guest speakers Rev Brian Polkinghorne and his wife Jill. They recounted some wonderful stories about their work in Tanzania. A most enjoyable afternoon was had by those who attended.

Community Garden ChampionsWe have been extremely happy to have Georgia and Veronica (Occupational Therapy Students from UniSA) on placement with us for the past few months mainly working on the community garden project. Holy Week concluded their time with us and we wish them well and thank them for all their work.

We welcome Bahar Forghani who has offered her time to continue to develop the Spire Community Garden Project and will be on site regularly, working on recruiting volunteers, sourcing resources and managing meetings. Bahar has completed her Masters degree in Public Policy and Management from Carnegie Mellon University.

Palm SundayOn Palm Sunday Richard Chew was our organist. Richard accompanied Janet Anderson (violin) on the piano when they played the beautiful “The Eternal Friendship” by Phil Cunningham as part of our worship. Richard Miller led the service and Paul Turley conducted the two baptisms. At 2.00pm some of our church members took part in the Walk for Justice for Refugees, which met on the steps of Parliament House. The peaceful procession then made its way along King William Street and Currie Street to Light Square where they paused in silence outside the immigration office.

Seeing RedThe Red Cross Blood Mobile Unit was in the lower car park of our church servicing the community from the eastern side of the city from the 22nd to the 25th of April. This is the second time they have used our car park location and they have found it very successful.

Holy WeekServices during Holy Week were held on Maundy Thursday at

AboutOurPeople


7.00pm when we remembered Jesus’ supper with his disciples and heard his final words before his arrest. Good Friday at 9.30am we contemplated the death of Jesus and what it means for us today. Easter Day at 6.30am a service was held in the cemetery where those present meditated on the mystery of the risen Christ. We ate hot cross buns for breakfast at the conclusion of the service, which was followed by our usual morning worship, when we celebrated the heart of our faith in the miracle of the risen Christ. During this service Matthew Atherton was the organist and the choir sang, “The Strife is O’er”. Matthew played the organ under great difficulty as he had torn a muscle or ligament in his leg that morning.

A Star Among UsDid you see the advertisement on ABC television for the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra? Janet Anderson was one of the ladies putting on her make-up in the advertisement.

Intrepid OnesSome of our members have been off travelling. Elaine and David Annear spent a few days at the end of March in Stansbury having a lovely time with friends. Val Lewig also spent time in Western Australia visiting her sister in April. Shirley and Jim May enjoyed a cruise on the QE2 – what a wonderful experience for them. Unfortunately, Jim was not well whilst on the cruise and on his return. It was good to see Shirley in the congregation again since Easter. Robin and John Douglass spent a few days in Whyalla visiting John’s brother-in-law who is extremely ill and is in the Whyalla Hospital. Marie Smith has been to Melbourne to see the beautiful flower show which was held there. After Easter Paul

AboutOurPeople


Turley and Jana (Paul’s partner and one of the ministers at Pilgrim UC) spent three weeks in the USA visiting Texas and Florida to see family and friends. Paul spent some time with his grandson whilst in America and had a lovely time with him. Paul returned refreshed and raring to go on 25th May.

What a Team!While Paul was away it was a pleasure to be able to welcome on 27th April Rev Geoff Hurst (one of our newer members) into the pulpit. He also led our worship on 4th May. We thank you Geoff for your messages to us. The following week, Mother’s Day, Cynthia Gifford conducted our service and David Annear played the organ, for which we are most grateful. Richard Miller led our service on 18th May. At the service on 27th April Richard Chew played the organ, conducted the choir and accompanied Sharon Turley (daughter of our minister, Paul) on the piano when she sang a beautiful Bach aria. Pip Parkin was organist and choirmaster on 4th May.

IllnessesWe have missed Bob Rodda especially from the choir for a number of weeks, as he has not been at all well. He spent time in Wakefield Street Hospital having gallstones shattered, but when this was not successful his gallbladder was removed. He spent over a week in intensive care following the operation and a further week in a ward before transferring to Calvary College Grove for recuperation. On his return home he was lovingly cared for by his wife, Helen. Ronda Brace has also been in hospital when she had a pacemaker inserted. Thankfully they are both feeling much improved. Pip Parkin and his partner drove to Geelong in early May to visit his sister Cherry who has been having chemotherapy and radiotherapy for breast cancer. Thankfully her treatment is now completed and she is feeling much improved and life is slowly returning to normal. God bless.

AboutOurPeople


A Doctor of MusicRichard Chew has something to smile about. He has completed his PhD in music. A commemoration ceremony will be conducted in August at UniSA when he will be presented with his PhD. Recently he spent time in England at the premieres of his compositions – an oratorio and an opera (The Six Swans). What a great achievement!

What A Woman!Yvonne Sinclair has had further wonderful news – when she visited her oncologist on 9th April she was given “a clean bill of health”. Yvonne’s hair is growing in leaps and bounds so she is no longer wearing her hats. On 4th May she performed six solos (three from Handel’s Messiah with organ and three with piano) in a concert at St David’s Anglican Church, Burnside, with Ray Booth. Ray played music for Easter on the organ. A retiring offering was taken to assist music scholarships for students at St Peter’s Collegiate Girls’ School. A CD is being made of the concert.

Hopeful BeginningsHope’s Cafe is growing each week, with more and more people coming in on Fridays, seeking companionship, English lessons, good coffee, a bargain from Goodies and a great coffee made by Fida! Thank you to all who help each week by making food and coming along and supporting the cafe.

Thanks to Helping HandsDuring the morning service on Easter Day Evelyn White had a strange turn at which time the ambulance was called. Many thanks to those who assisted her until assistance arrived. It was great to see her back in the congregation the following week.

Yvonne Sinclair

AboutOurPeople


Our lovely church and grounds, stained glass windows and 1897 pipe organ were on show for visitors and friends on Wednesdays the 14th and 21st of May. Geoffrey Bishop led people on a tour of our church and cemetery, talking about its rich history. Ray Booth, a past organist of this congregation and now organist and choirmaster at St

About Time, Clayton WesleyClayton Wesley Uniting Church has again taken part in South

Australian History Month ‘About Time’.

David’s Anglican Church Burnside, played and demonstrated our organ’s capabilities to those who came along. Ray has done this for a number of years now and thoroughly enjoys himself. A total of 50 people attended the events. Some had past associations with the church but for most, it was their first visit.


A Cherry of a Harvest

Following on from Riverland Fruitgrower’s recollections of fruit harvest in an earlier edition of The Spire, Geoffrey

Bishop thought it might be of interest to record what happened each cherry season on his property in the Adelaide

Hills. Much has changed in recent years, but prior to that each season ran by a familiar pattern.

Our family has been growing cherries in the Adelaide Hills since the 1850s and at Basket Range since 1871. Traditionally, family members (including children) and local lads were employed to pick the cherry crop over the Christmas season (cherries are, after all, a Christmas fruit). In the years following World War II when migration from Europe increased, more and more of our pickers were from Italy, with an occasional Greek or Cypriot.

As secondary school students, we Bishop cousins spent a good deal of our summer holidays picking cherries. The days were long and the weather was generally hot. Cherries are individually picked from the tree by hand, so it is a slow process. It is a ‘soft’ fruit so bruises easily. Picking was variously done from the ground

or from ladders, depending on the size of the tree, and the fruit placed into a metal bucket hanging from a picking belt at your waist. Once the bucket was full, the fruit was gently emptied into a wooden case holding approximately 20lbs of fruit, a bushell case. We grew around 30 different varieties of cherries, which ripened from early to late in the season.

The cases of fruit were collected throughout the day and taken to the packing shed where they were dipped in cool water and then put in the hillside cellar (later a cool room). The purpose for this was to reduce the core temperature of the fruits as a hot fruit deteriorates very quickly. Once the fruit is cool it is ready for packing.

At this time, the mid 1960s, cherries were packed in half-cases


lined with green or purple tissue paper and fitted with wooden tops. These days, they are packed in special plastic bags, which line a cardboard carton. The wooden cases were stencilled on the ends with the cheery variety, weight, grower’s name and generally the market agent’s name, as well.

But, back to fruit picking...

Each morning we would walk up the hill to the packing sheds (referred to by the family as ‘up top’). By 7 am, we were ready to go out to the orchard to start

picking.

Most of our Italian pickers travelled each day from Adelaide by motor vehicle or by a contract carrier. At times, some lived or camped in our pickers’ quarters located in our old stone barn. They ate and slept there in moderate comfort and they enjoyed themselves. On occasions, my parents were invited for a meal of pasta or spaghetti, then a relatively unfamiliar food to Australians.

Group of Italian cherry pickers, c.1960



The Italian pickers enjoyed the work, which brought back memories of life in Europe. They talked and sang, mostly in Italian, as they worked; they even taught us some basic Italian in the process. Their morning tea was an education for us. No vegemite or jam sandwiches and hot tea for them. They ate crusty, white bread with cheese, salami and raw garlic. On occasions they would have homemade red wine in a Thermos flask. My father’s name was Murray but hey called him Mario, of course. I recall him being up a 6-foot ladder and one of them asking him if he would like a glass of wine? - a tumbler of red wine was duly passed up to him.

Most of the men were on Christmas holidays from GMH and filled their days by picking cherries. Whether they were supposed to do so, I’m not sure. My great uncle had problems relating to the Italian pickers but firmly believed that if you spoke loudly to them, they would understand.

At the end of the picking season,

the pickers and their families would come back for a picnic in the orchard. I only recall attending one of these and it was great fun with lots of interesting Italian food to try, prepared by the womenfolk whom we had not before met.

As mentioned previously, cherries are picked and packed by hand, a labour-intensive process. It is only in recent years that our fruit has gone into the market as ‘Bishop Orchard Cherries’. Previously, it was far more anonymous but having a name that consumers recognise is important, rather like marketing cheese or wine.

In years past, we sold huge tonnages of white cherries to confectionary producers such as MacRobertson’s but now Eastern Europe supplies such markets. The dark or black cherries were sold through merchants in the East End Market where growers had a stand. The individual growers’ names were not shown. The fruit went to local, interstate and South-East Asian markets.

Today we sell direct to around


10 greengrocers in Adelaide and smaller quantities go interstate and overseas. Our pickers are no longer Italian but are from Vietnam, Cambodia, Sudan, Croatia and Serbia. A changing scene in many ways but the harvest season remains our busiest period and full of interest.

Geoffrey Bishop is The

Spire’s editor and historian extraordinaire.


Bill (W.J.) Bishop with a laden cherry tree, 1965

Speaking of growing things...The Community Garden will soon need resources to start work with volunteers. If you have gardening tools you no longer require please speak to Natalie Oliveri on Fridays, or email her at [email protected]. The first round of collection for donations will be tools and other non-perishable resources that can be used to build garden beds. Once the structures and storage facilities are in place, items like plants, soil and seedlings will be accepted.


Learning English in Hope’s CaféFor many of us, learning another language can be an exotic

pursuit for fun or in preparation for travel, but for many new arrivals, learning English is necessary for survival.

Shirley Wheeler is a volunteer teacher in Hope’s Café helping to run English classes for refugees. She writes about the

language difficulties those on refugee bridging visas face when they enter our community.

Long-term residents of Australia tend to take their English language skills for granted. After all, they think in English and all their language interactions are in the same language. If they speak other languages, this is usually viewed as an enriching advantage.

But what of those who need to learn English for their very survival?

Recognising this essential language need for residents of Australia, the Australian Government usually provides 510 hours of professional English Language tuition to those newcomers who do not have basic survival English skills. Together with English language teaching, some basic instruction in Australian culture, history and services is also provided by experts. Australia has long had an enviable reputation

in absorbing, welcoming and integrating productive citizens from many different cultures. But what happens when the Government services are denied to newcomers who do not speak survival English nor know the ways of the Australian culture?

This has been the plight of bridging refugees who are assessed by Australian officials as not being a security risk, so are living within the Australian community. In this category are recent newcomers from Iran and the Zahari people who have been severely persecuted by the Taliban in Afghanistan. Most have had all their English language services funding cut off by the Australian Government, with no health care cards, no public transport travel concessions, no legal assistance with visa applications, no Australian


Learning English in Hope’s Café

services information, no access to education, and significantly less monetary assistance than, for example, NEWSTART allowance, and with a prohibition against undertaking any paid work in Australia until they have their permanent residency visas.

Obtaining an Australian residency visa is a process that can take years, as the former countries of some refugees do not always readily supply the identity

paperwork required. One may well wonder how Joseph and Mary with their precious baby Jesus would have fared in Egypt, had they been subjected to such a punishing welcome in their country of refuge, fleeing from deadly persecution in their country of birth.

The support for such desperate refugee Australian residents has largely fallen to charities, such as Uniting Communities. At


Clayton Uniting Church, Hope’s Café, located next to the Uniting Communities Office, began to provide a nourishing lunch on a Friday for any member of the community on a donation basis for those who could afford to contribute to the cost of the ingredients. As more and more refugees began to access Uniting Communities services, and also enjoy this Friday lunch, the need for English language classes became very clear.

Someone must have been praying, because volunteer teachers were attracted to the role, and very informal language conversation classes became more formalised. The atmosphere is more akin to a café than a classroom, but many complex needs are being met, with ongoing adjustments on all sides, in a friendly, caring atmosphere.

Volunteers have already assisted some young teenage refugees in accessing secondary school education by locating schools that could waive school fees, and collecting donations to enable

basic school uniforms to be purchased, as well as seeking out other sources of funding support where applications could be made for help. The need is great and there will soon be 100 people availing themselves of lunch at Hope’s Café, according to present trends, with refugee attendance at over 30 per week.

Learning a completely new language is hard and time-consuming, especially at first. Second Language learners benefit from a target-language rich environment and a supportive atmosphere where their basic needs for food, clothing and shelter are already met, not to mention the ever-increasing utility bills in South Australia.

Childcare for energetic youngsters can allow their mums a chance to focus on their English language learning for a while. School students often learn English quite quickly because they are surrounded by it, have specialised teaching support and need to learn this language for their survival and advancement.



Adults can find it hard to concentrate on learning the type of conversational English they need for survival when they are cut off from opportunities to hear, understand and practise everyday Australian English. They do not think in English at first, so need time to process the new sound combinations and structures they hear before they can respond in haltingly constructed English sentences. Over time, their vocabulary increases, their verb tense mastery improves and all the extra parts of speech and local expressions of colour begin to naturally enrich their confident communication. It is a wondrous and rewarding process that does not happen in a vacuum.


Without everyday English language skills, newcomers are not empowered to manage their lives and to take advantage of opportunities to participate in Australian life. Thankfully, there are people who are assisting our newfound friends in their language and cultural learning, with all its ups and downs.

Shirley Wheeler

Photographs by Ian Routledge

Hope’s Café (formerly Café Spire), is open for lunch on Fridays from 10am until 4pm (excluding public holidays) and all donations of food and teaching supplies are gratefully received.


Where is the ‘clever’ country?What do the brand names Spotify, H&M, IKEA, Nokia, LEGO, Skype have in common? Or for that matter ‘The Killing’, Steig Larsson, Björk? They are all Scandinavian or Nordic in origin.

The come from Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Finland and Iceland. The creative output of these nations in recent years has outstripped the rest of the world. Their creative output tests assumptions about the ability of capitalism to thrive under big government. An observer comments, ‘[They] don’t just produce successful companies. They have a creative capacity that transcends language and cultural barriers to fascinate, humour, and entertain global markets.’ (CSM 12 May 2014).

These nations have lead the world in public welfare policies, from universal preschool and paternity leave to vocational training schools and voucher programs for private schools. Their private income tax system pays for all this and is high by Western standards, ranging from 38% in Sweden to 28% in Denmark. In return their citizens

get comprehensive pensions, unemployment insurance, and universal health care. The result, as the journalist Sarah Miller Llana observes, ‘is a robust middle class’. All five Nordic nations are ranked by the OECD in the top 10 most equal countries globally. There are differences in wealth but few people are considered poor by Western standards. It is considered that ‘with taxes you can build a good society’.

The OECD top 10 for income equality are listed below. On the so-called Gini Index, 0 is perfect equality, with each person receiving the same income and 1 being perfect inequality with all income going to the person with the highest income. The top 10 nations are all European – Iceland, Slovenia, Norway, Denmark, Czech Republic, Finland, Slovakia, Belgium, Austria and Sweden. The USA comes in at 4th from bottom, just ahead of Turkey, Mexico and Chile. It would be interesting to discover where Australia sits, but I have a fair idea.

Geoffrey Bishop


The SpireA publication of the Clayton Wesley Uniting Church

www.claytonwesley.org.au

Please send contributions for The Spire to Geoffrey BishopP: (08) 8390 3138

E: [email protected]

Contributions for the August/September edition are due by Sunday 20th July 2014

the spire june/july 2014 no. 602...

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