ChadNet – no 242 – Sunday 10th November 2024
Welcome to this week’s edition of ChadNet – the eBulletin of St Chad’s Church, Pattingham with Patshull.
In this week’s ChadNet:
- View from the Pews – Jane Horton
- Sunday 10th November – Remembrance Sunday
- This week
- Sunday 17th November – 2 before Advent
- Follow the Star – Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th December
- The Well Foodbank
- Dementia Friendly Church – weekly prayer
- From the Memorial Book
- Giving to the Church
View from the Pews
On 24th May 1941 in the Denmark Strait, between Greenland and Iceland, HMS Hood, the battleship Prince of Wales and 6 destroyers were ordered to intercept the German Battleship Bismarck and the heavy cruiser Prinz Eugen which were en route to the Atlantic, where they were to attack convoys. Less than 10 minutes after the British opened fire a shell from Bismarck struck Hood near her ammunition magazines. Soon after Hood exploded, and sank within 3 minutes. All but 3 of her crew of 1418 lost their lives that day in the ice-cold waters of Denmark Strait.
Amongst those who perished was the ship’s doctor, Surgeon Lieutenant Christopher H.C. Dent, of Pattingham House, High Street, Pattingham. He was 27 years old, a member of the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, and he had joined Hood on 26th August 1939, which was 8 days before Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain formally announced that Britain was at war with Germany, on 3rd September. He left behind his grieving parents, a brother and a sister.
Christopher was born in Wolverhampton in 1913, and after completing his education at Cambridge University he went on to serve as house physician at Addenbrooke Hospital, Cambridge and house surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital, London.
His parents were Doctor Howard Dent and Olive Dent who lived for many years at Pattingham House. Doctor Dent died in 1972 aged 98, having spent his later years at Hilton House, Bridgnorth, so it is quite possible that some of our readers might remember the family. After completing his medical studies he worked first in Birmingham and then settled in practice in Wolverhampton, where he was surgeon at the Wolverhampton and Staffordshire General Hospital and medical officer at the Royal Orphanage. With his wife Olive and their young family, he lived first in Oaks Crescent, Wolverhampton, then later moved to Pattingham.
Doctor Dent had served as a civil surgeon in the Boer War from 1899 until the war ended 1902. During the First World War, by now a Lieutenant Colonel, he served with the Royal Army Medical Corps. He was given command of 1/3 North Midland Field Ambulance, a Territorial unit that was raised in Wolverhampton. On 22 April 1915, in an attempt to gain the Ypres salient, the Germans used poisonous gas for the first time. The use of chlorine gas opened a hole in the line 4 miles wide. Over 10,000 men were gassed and around half of them died that day. Howard Dent was among the medical staff treating the gassed soldiers, and he left a moving and vivid account of the scenes in his diary. “The type of ‘gas’ or ‘liquid’ used by the Germans has not yet been discovered….. The Germans have a special corps for this work armed in India rubber suits and respirators. At a given signal they start the gas from cylinders which is heavy greenish Brown in colour and blows towards our trenches.”
He served until the end of the war, commanding a variety of Field Ambulances and Casualty Clearing Stations. He kept up his connection with the Territorial Army in peace time.
Christopher is commemorated on the Portsmouth Naval Memorial, Southsea, Hampshire, and on a memorial erected by his parents in St Chad’s Church, Pattingham.
“At the going down of the sun and in the morning we will remember them.”
Jane Horton
Would you like to write a View from the Pews?
We welcome contributions for View from the Pews from anyone who would like to write one. It does not need to be on any particular subject. If you would like to write one please send it to or contact Henry Ibberson ( / 01902 701136).
.Contacts
We do not have a Vicar at the moment. For matters which would normally be dealt with by the Vicar the churchwardens are the first point of contact. The Vicarage phone (01902 700257) is redirected to the churchwardens. When they are not available a message can be left on the voicemail and they will return the call when they are available. Emails to will be received by the churchwardens.
Contact details for church officers can be found on the Contacts page of the church website. You can use if you are nore sure who to contact and the churchwardens will be able to forward it to the correct person.
Notices, which should be received by Friday afternoon for inclusion in that week’s ChadNet, and other communications in relation to ChadNet should be sent to
Articles for the magazine should be sent to (note – this is different to the address used before November 2020 which no longer works).
Sunday 10th November – Remembrance Sunday / 3rd Sunday before Advent
At 10.30 am (note the time) there will be a Remembrance Sunday Service in church, led by Ken Scott. There will be no Communion Service. Coffee (and tea and biscuits) will be available after the service.
There is no evening service.
In the Parish Prayer Diary we pray for those who live and work in:
Moor Lane, Elms Paddock, Little Moor.
In the Trysull Deanery Prayer Diary we pray for:
St Philip, Penn Fields.
This week
The church will be open every day. Look out for the “church open” sign outside the porch.
On Tuesday Prayers for Peace will be said in church at 6 pm. Please do join us and if you would like more information or are willing to lead a session, please contact Mary Hayward ().
On Wednesday at 10.00 am there will be a service of Holy Communion, led by Revd Roberta Maxfield, in church which will be followed by tea, coffee and cake.
After the service the church will be open from 10.30 am until at least 11.00 am as a Place of Welcome when anyone who wants to will be welcome to share in the coffee, cake and chat, whether they have been to the service or not. Those attending will receive a warm welcome.
At 6 pm the Pattingham Shower Singers meet in church. All are welcome – just come and sing and have fun! If you need more information, contact Alix at .
At 7 pm on Wednesday Choir Practice takes place in church. Anyone interested in joining the choir should contact Martin Fox or any member of the choir.
Sunday 17th November – 2nd Sunday before Advent
At 10 am there will be a service led by the Youth Group in church.This will be followed by a short service of Holy Communion, led by Revd Sue Watson, to which you are all most welcome. Coffee, tea and biscuits will be available after the service and members of the congregation are invited to join the ringers to celebrate the 300th anniversary of the casting of the back six bells with cake and fizz
In the Parish Prayer Diary we pray for those who live and work in:
High Street, Meadow View, Broadwell Lane, Old Smithy Close.
In the Trysull Deanery Prayer Diary we pray for:
The Venerable Bede, Wombourne.
Follow the Star – Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Sunday 15th December
This Christmas St.Chad’s Church is holding its first “Follow the Star” event – on three days from Friday 13th to Sunday 15th December you will be able to view a wonderful variety of stars, some three dimensional, some hand-drawn – some coloured, some lit – some will be outside, but mostly they will be displayed or hanging inside the Church itself.
On the Friday evening at 7.30pm in the church, there will be a presentation using the church’s AV system by local amateur astronomer, Doug Bickley, who will discuss one of the most famous Christmas stories – the Star of Bethlehem. Tickets are £8 each, which includes mulled wine and mince pies, and are available from Jill Parker on 01902 700755 or .
There is some more information on the church website at <https://www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk/web/news-and-events/follow-the-star/>.
The Well – the Wolverhampton Food Bank
We have received an email from The Well saying:
“Thank you so much for the donations of food and toiletries given to The Well over the 3 month period of July– September 2024.
The total weight we have recorded for your donations was 148.5 KG. (This weight is an approximate as occasionally the recording of a donation can be missed in the busy warehouse!). Also, this does not include Harvest donations, for which you should have received a separate acknowledgement.
Your generous donations during the past 3 months have enabled us to deliver parcels across the WV postcodes to 917 households, supporting 1807 individuals, including 909 children.
You may not know that as well as providing food parcels, we are also privileged to help other projects doing amazing work across the WV postcodes. For at least 14 years we have been able to support The Haven with 20 toiletry bags each month, beautifully prepared by 2 of our wonderful volunteer team. We also distribute (tithe) 10% of monetary donations in food pallets to other food projects.
There is so much to celebrate in the good work going on in our city by loving, compassionate individuals and organisations. Your partnership in your generous giving is part of this good work, and so today we celebrate YOU!
With Love & Blessings
Gary & Caroline
(Project Leaders)”
The Well continues to need our donations and prayers. The box remains at the rear of the church for donations of food and toiletries and the wishing well for donations of cash.
If you wish to know more about the work of The Well, or would like to know how you can support it in other ways, do connect via their website, where you can sign up to the newsletter and link to their Social Media pages: <www.thewellwolverhampton.co.uk>
Dementia Friendly Church
Weekly Prayer
To Know Myself As God Knows Me
Oh God, I am losing myself to this disease. Slowly, but surely dementia eats away at me. Little by little it takes away what makes me who I am. But you merciful God, continue to know me fully. Dementia cannot change who I am in your eyes. To you I am the sum of all I have been and all I will be and so you celebrate all of me and all of my life. You wrap all of who I am in love, acceptance and forgiveness. So God, I ask you to help me step outside my moments of loss and help me know myself as you know me. Help me see nothing of me is lost to you. Help me celebrate with You. Help me embrace your gifts of love, acceptance and forgiveness.
You will always and forever know me fully and love me deeply. For this I give you thanks and praise, God of my life.
Amen.
(Unknown)
If you would like to suggest (or write) a prayer for inclusion in this series please let Tracey Williams, our Dementia Friendly Church Co-ordinator, know.
From the Memorial Book
Those whose anniversaries occur between 3rd and 17th November.
Eileen Curtis – 3rd November 2020
Timothy John Cooper – 4th November 1999
Adam Witold Kwiatkowski – 4th November 2002
Hilda Mary Smedley – 7th November 2013
Elizabeth Scarth – 7th November 2014
Rupert Neville Hayward – 9th November 1964
David Challinor – 9th November 2022
Stanley Charles Weaver – 12th November 1999
Alan Hill Stubbs – 13th November 2023
May Weaver – 15th November 1938
Elizabeth Wood – 16th November 1934
You can see all the pages of the Memorial Book on the Memorial Book Online page of the Church website.
Giving to the church
Details of the various ways in which you can give can be found on the Giving page of the website.
We have a JustGiving page to enable people to make one off donations. It’s at www.justgiving.com/pattingham-church. You will be asked if you want to make a contribution on top of your donation. If you do it will go to JustGiving and not to charity. If you do not want to make such a contribution select “other”. If you are a taxpayer please consider gift aiding your donation.
You can make a bank transfer to our bank account (Account name: Pattingham Parochial Church Council – Sort Code: 20-97-78 Account No: 50655023).
If you are paying by cheque please make the cheque payable to “Pattingham PCC” or “Pattingham Parochial Church Council“.
ChadNet
This bulletin is sent to those who have requested it. We now have 135 subscribers but there may still be some people who are not aware of it and would wish to receive it. The weekly bulletin for each Sunday will normally be sent on the preceding Friday or Saturday. Additional bulletins may be sent if required. It is only being sent to those who have requested it.
If you know of anyone who might be interested please tell them about it and ask them to sign up using the form on the website (www.pattinghamchurch.org.uk/web/information/chadnet/sign-up-to-chadnet/) or by email to
St Chad’s Church, Pattingham with Patshull Registered charity no 1151604