The Vicar's Letter (written by Reverend Coralie McCluskey, Vicar of St Mary's Church in Eaton Bray) has been appearing in the villages Focus magazine since March 2011
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Vicar's Letter

June 2016

Reverend Coralie McCluskey, vicar of the Church of St Mary The Virgin, Eaton Bray with Edlesborough.

March went out like a lion
Awakin' up the water in the bay;
Then April cried and stepped aside,
And along came pretty little May!
May was full of promises
But she didn't keep 'em quickly enough for some
And the crowd of doubtin' Thomases
Was predictin' that the summer'd never come
June is bustin' out all over
The feelin' is gettin' so intense,
That the young Virginia creepers
Hev been huggin' the bejeepers
Outa all the mornin' glories on the fence!

I've always enjoyed musicals, the songs are easy to sing along with and musicals usually have a happy ending. Travelling around the Diocese, with my rural hat on, is a joy at this time of the year.

The hedgerows, before they have the short back and sides treatment, are beautiful and bursting with life. The Vicarage garden has been glorious with a riot of colour, plant and bird life. However it is not fit for Open Gardens, it's wild in the true sense of the word and teeming with bird and insect life. The primroses have been in flower for months, the bluebells have only just died off and Anthriscus sylvestris (cow parsley) is rapidly taking over the woodland edge. Cow parsley is one of the most familiar wild plants of the British countryside. Throughout the month of May, most roadsides are lined with the white flowers, seemingly impervious to traffic pollution, salt-spray and regular mowing by the highway authorities. The plant has a number of local names; hedge parsley, wild chervil and Queen Anne's lace. The latter apparently arose from the days when Queen Anne travelled in May, and people believed the roadsides had been decorated especially for her.

In the church and community the sunshine, warmth, beautiful hedgerows, gardens and road edges I hope have helped to alleviate the pain and grief many families have experienced in our villages over the last few months.

I look forward to a number of weddings at St Mary's in July and August and an increased number of Christenings. These occasions help to restore the balance between grief and celebration that we all experience at some time in our lives.

Finally, you may have heard by now, if not, I will be leaving the four villages at the end of August and moving to mid Wales. I will be sorry to leave but my energy levels are running out.

Coralie

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About the Vicar's Letter

The Vicar's Letter has been appearing in the villages Focus magazine since August 2002.

The Rev. Peter Graham also used to publish The Vicar's Letter in the parish magazine of 1964. Please see the area for these.