2011 Newsletter

from the Revd. John Wilkinson, Chair of the Association

tel: 0121-434 3526 .
e-mail: jrwilkinson@dsl.pipex.com

203 Barclay Road
Bearwood
Smethwick B67 5LA
 
The Festival
I am writing to invite you and all friends of the Diocese of Belize to this year’s BCA Festival. This year we’ll be bringing you news live from Belize. We’re pleased to welcome Tom Emmett, who will introduce us to the wonderful work of Liberty Children’s Home, Ladyville, where he was a volunteer for a month last summer. Tom, from Toby Marchand’s parish in Bishops Stortford, is now a student at London University.
Please make a special effort to join us on this occasion and to extend this invitation to anyone you know who has links with Belize. The more who attend, the more enjoyable is the occasion!

The Festival will be held on Saturday June 25th at St Anne’s, Brondesbury, 125 Salusbury Road, London NW6. The programme is:
• 11.30am Festival Eucharist
President: Revd. Malcolm Lambert, Preacher: Revd Toby Marchand
• 12.30pm ‘Rice and Beans’ Belizean Lunch 
  delicious home-from-home Belizean food (adults £10, children £5,
  2 adults+2 children £25).
• after lunch
- latest from Belize
- personal message from Bishop Philip
- launch of this year’s Sports Equipment Appeal for Belize schools
- quick-quick-quick AGM and raffle
- lots of time to meet and chat, and:
‘Unbelizeable!’ - Tom Emmett introduces us to the Liberty Children’s Home, Ladyville.

Please book lunches with Barbara Harris (tel 01295 811310, e-mail bkayharris@googlemail.com) or complete and post the enclosed form) by June 18th. Also, please let her know your e-mail address – even if you can’t come – to save us postage costs in future.

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Annual Report 2011
 
During the Year – in Belize
Diocesan Synod opened in Belize City on October 19th 2010 Bishop Philip planned to use workshop methods of discussion to develop implementation of the Diocese’s five-fold vision of the work of the diocese, namely Finance and Stewardship, Youth, Ministry, Outreach and Fellowship.

Hurricane Richard, however, swept across central Belize on 21st October, causing widespread damage to pubic buildings and homes, and to agriculture.
Diocesan schools and churches were damaged; the Cathedral and the Beatrice Gill Youth Centre, home to the Youth Department, the Mothers' Union and Cursillo, were flooded. The Association made a special appeal and £620 was raised.

Christ the Good Shepherd, a new church in Lord’s Bank, Ladyville was consecrated on Sunday 27th February 2011. It’s the first of three new church consecrations planned for this year. Lords Bank is a popular developing area, so the opening of a new church is an important step in the history of the Diocese.

A Companion Relations Committee has been set up by Bishop Philip to oversee relations with organisations of friends of the Diocese abroad. The largest of these are in the United States but there are at least two in the UK: ourselves and the Diocese of St. Albans. Fr. Eric Richards and Lillith Parks-Soberanis co-chair the Committee, whilst its Secretary is our good friend Sue Harris, Diocesan Schools Resources Officer.

The Diocesan Service was a wonderful day of worship and fellowship for members and friends from all over Belize as they celebrated the goodness of God together in the Cathedral on March 6th. Taking part in the worship were Garifuna drummers and dancers and a combined choir, with the participation of several of Belize’s many ethnic groups. In Year of the Family, the Diocese thus affirmed its own identity as a family of God. Bishop Philip hopes such a service can happen at least three times a year.

Advance notice: July 20th, 2012 will be the 200th anniversary of the laying of the corner stone of the cathedral. A ‘massive celebration’ is planned. Bishop Philip asks for our support for the intended purchase of a new organ, the restoration of parts of the Cathedral interior, and raising the Cathedral's profile in the nation.

Lloyd Faber RIP: Mr Lloyd Faber died in January of this year. He has served the Diocese for well over eighty years, starting out as a six-year old altar server and ending up as the Diocese’s most senior licensed Lay Minister. He had led worship in just about every congregation in the Diocese, never hesitating to officiate in remoter places. A Service of the Resurrection in thanksgiving for his life was held in the Cathedral on January 26th.

During the Year – in England
Schools Appeal: highlight of the Association’s year was our very successful appeal for books and educational materials for Diocesan schools. Donations from schools, churches and individuals up and down the country were obtained by several Association members so that, in August, Toby and Madi Marchand were able to take a very large vanful down to Portsmouth Docks. The boxes were then transported to Belize free of charge on a Fyffe’s Bananas container ship. Thanks to all who helped, not forgetting the good folk who work for Fyffe’s.

Sports equipment: The appeal was so successful that Sue Harris has asked us to repeat it, but this time with a special request for sports equipment. This will help support a programme to provide positive activities for young people who are at risk of developing anti-social and violent behaviour. Please see the attached flyer and let me know what you can do. If you want to bring items to the Festival, please do. Otherwise we can collect them, or you can bring them to Toby in Bishop’s Stortford or to me in Birmingham.

Website and Facebook: there’s a lot of new material on the website, including some inspiring pictures of the life in Belize. Do look at it from time to time. Last October we decided also to have our own Facebook page, so please do join us on http://www.facebook.com/pages/Friends-of-Belize-Anglican-Church-Schools/166196510107264. Please also invite your friends, and anyone who is a friend of Belize, to join the page.

St. Albans is a partner diocese of Belize (and three other Caribbean Dioceses). It’s good to know that the Bishop of St. Albans and others from the St. Albans Caribbean Links Group will visit Belize in November. Meanwhile Bishop Philip will be making a short visit to England in June in connection with Alpha courses. It is expected that he will visit St Albans as well and also meet Association members. Sadly, he’s not here for the Festival.

Chris Stuart has told us he feels it is time to hand over to a new Treasurer. The Committee hopes to be able to nominate a successor for election at the Festival. Chris has done a splendid job in setting our finances on a proper professional basis. It is his advice on how best to invest our reserves which has enabled us to guarantee a minimum of £2,500 each year for the Diocese’s general fund. I am delighted that he is willing to continue as a member of the Committee. Thank you also to Ann Miles and Norma Best for their long service on the Association Committee.

Money sent to the Diocese this year includes: Diocese general fund £2,500, Hurricane Richard Appeal £620, St. Matthew’s Pomona Feeding Programme £1,260, St. Hilda’s Georgeville Feeding Programme £400, St. Stephen’s Monkey River £300.

Daphne Russell RIP: The Association records with regret the loss of Mrs Daphne Russell, who died in Cassington, near Oxford, last December. Daphne was appointed President of the Association in 2002 in recognition of her service in earlier years in Belize, when her husband Fr. Alban Russell, was Dean of Belize, and latterly as our Secretary.
The Chair, Vice-Chair and Secretary of the Association, as well as other members of the Association, attended her funeral at Cassington Parish Church (near Oxford) on December 9th. Condolences were received from Her Excellency Ms. Kamela Palma, High Commissioner for Belize and from the Rt. Revd. Philip Wright, Bishop of Belize. The Association is pleased and grateful to learn that Mrs Russell's estate included a bequest of £2,500 to the work of the Association.

For your prayers
Please remember in your prayers Dr John Holder, Archbishop of the West Indies, Bishop Philip and all the clergy of Belize, readers and officers of the Diocese, and for its life and work and mission. Please also pray for the souls of Daphne Russell and of Lloyd Faber.

AGM
As required by the Charity Commission, there will be a brief AGM, . Please become a memberof the Association if you have not already have not already done so, as we are required by law to have a membership base for the Association. The annual accounts will be presented at the AGM.

Finally
The Committee look forward very much to seeing you and other friends of Belize at this year’s Festival.
  John Wilkinson