a partner church in the WOLDSBURN benefice
CHURCH AT KIRKBURN
EDITORIAL
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It’s amazing how time flies. It seems only yesterday that I was talking about the beginning of the 9th volume of St. Mary’s Magazine. And this issue is the first of the 10th volume. I can hardly believe it. And I don’t feel much older - except when I sit down and have difficulty standing up again. But as I’ve always said, age is nothing to do with years, age is a state of mind. And I owe a debt to all of the contributors to this magazine. One of my first contributors was Cathy Otton Goulder a friend for whom I have much regard, but her articles were always a re-print from Liz Dewsbury’s “BAINTON CHAT”, unfortunately and regrettably, now defunct. My first, and regular contributor, with original material was Audrey Baxter. She might not know it but her support was actually vital to me in continuing to run this magazine. Audrey did live in Bainton, and then in Tibthorpe, so she knows more than I ever will know about the individuals and personages in our Parish. She moved to Nafferton some while ago and she has told me that due to personal reasons she cannot continue to support the magazine on a regular basis. All I can say is that I will miss her, perhaps more than she realises, that I thank her immensely for her original and common sense contributions which have helped me enormously and which I know have been read with interest by many of our readers. Her last contribution is printed in this issue but I do want to assure her that if ever the muse strikes her again, her contributions will always be welcome so long as I edit this magazine. From the heart, thank you, Audrey.
This last quarter has been a strange one: last year we held for the first time the “Heritage Open Days” in September 2006. We had over 150 visitors through our doors. This year we did it again and we had a maximum of 30 visitors and almost all of them were from far distant parishes and churches. It was, from one point of view, a success but we had very few people from our own parish and benefice. I suppose that “the been there, done that, and got the T-shirt syndrome” affected the issue. St. Mary’s, however, is a marvellous building and there is much to be seen and much to learn about it, its history and its development. It takes more than one visit to really get to know St. Mary’s. Familiarity does breed contempt. My wife and I had visitors for lunch recently. We jointly decided to go for a walk (in Cranswick where we have lived since 1973) after lunch, my wife leading the way. She chose to go via a route she had halfway trod some years previously, but on this occasion we went further and found ourselves on a circular route ending up almost back where we started. On route we admired the hedgerows, the tracks (obviously used by heavy horses), and we saw a number of hares and a fox in one of the pathside fields. Doing this 3 mile walk for the first time really opened my eyes to the beauty of my own village. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but the beauty of vision is that it often brings new insights.. So far as the Heritage Open days are
This last quarter has been a strange one: last year we held for the first time the “Heritage Open Days” in September 2006. We had over 150 visitors through our doors. This year we did it again and we had a maximum of 30 visitors and almost all of them were from far distant parishes and churches. It was, from one point of view, a success but we had very few people from our own parish and benefice. I suppose that “the been there, done that, and got the T-