8th November 2020 – 32nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

Covid-19 Guidance – November 2020

On 4 November 2020, Parliament passed into law The Health Protection (Coronavirus, Restrictions) (England) (No. 4) Regulations 2020. These are in force from 5 November to 2 December 2020. As well as the Regulations, the Government has updated its Guidance for the safe use of places of worship to reflect current circumstances. The Regulations preclude gatherings for communal worship, including the celebration of Mass, baptisms and most weddings.
Funerals can take place following present guidelines and restrictions.
So in accordance with the above there will be no public celebration of Mass or any other form of Public Worship in any of our churches at present.
Fr. Paul will continue to celebrate Mass each day in one of our three churches, without a congregation and behind locked doors, as required.

Remembrance Sunday:-

Today is Remembrance Sunday— the day when we always offer special prayers for all the victims of war, as we also celebrate our remembrance of those whose generous sacrifices have ensured the freedom, safety and survival of so many others. Since we are not able to gather as we usually would, let’s make a special effort to offer a prayer at home, and remember the two minute silence at 11.00 a.m. on Sunday and next Wednesday.

THE WORD THIS WEEK:-

“Watch early for wisdom”: wise words, and ones that the foolish bridesmaids of the Gospel should have taken to heart! This is the ultimate in ’putting off till tomorrow…’, since the reading is about the end of time, when the Son of Man will come again. Then there will be no tomorrow. If a thing is worth doing, it’s worth doing today. Quite often we contemplate the end of time with anxiety and fear: this is not what God wants. Look at the Psalm, where we hear of desperate longing, a thirst for the Lord, that cannot wait. We should not just wait for the Lord with patient endurance, but with impatient longing: what could we desire more than the coming of the Lord, the rising of the dead and an eternity of joy and glory?


Bessemer FROM THE ARCHIVES
http://sunsationalhomeimprovement.com/sunsational-blog/page/2/ An extract from the Girls School Log Book – 1875
October 15th Louisa Higginson resigns the charge of this School

October 18th School re-opened by Winifride Mary Parkinson a Certificated Mistress of the Second year from the Liverpool Training College. At this date the apparatus consists of 2 sets of Reading Books for each Standard, a good supply of Slates, pens and pencils, 2 Black boards, a Map of Africa, Europe, England, Lancashire and the United States. The attendance has been good considering the season and fair time. Examined Standards III, IV, V, on Reading, Dictation and Arithmetic and found reading pretty good. Dictation bad and Arithmetic fair. There is the Pupil Teacher in her 4th year
Examined Standard I in Reading and Transcribing and found the former subject fair. Arithmetic is poor in Standard II and Multiplication Table unknown. Best exercise books are given to Standards III, IV and V and the children seem pleased, and take great pains in the writing and neatness of their exercises. Two new songs are taught and a holiday given on Thursday and Friday in honour of the fair. Night School attendance pretty good.

October 25th Examined Standards IV, V, and III in Arithmetic and found them backward. Standard I examined in Reading, Writing and Arithmetic
Found Reading good. Writing fair, and Arithmetic pretty good.

November 5th Examination papers given to Standards III, IV and V. A little improvement made during the week. Visit of Rev’d Manager several times during the week and new song taught.

November 12th Rev’d Manager distributes tickets of attendance and good conduct to deserving scholars. Examined Standard I in all subjects and found Dictation poor and the Multiplication table bad.

November 19th Drafted 5 children from Spelling Class into Std I. Examined Standards III and V in Arithmetic result pretty good.

November 26th Lessons satisfactory all week and the attendance very fair considering the weather. Visit of Rev’d Manager on Tuesday. Standards V & IV worked sums in Reduction and are found extremely backward. Standard I examined in Reading, Arithmetic and Tables, result fair in Reading and very fair in Arithmetic but bad in Tables. Three children left school for full time at the Mill, and several taken on half time.

November 30th Visited the school today. Found all in good order.

W.H.Brewer


Extract from a membership card for Clitheroe Catholic Amateur Dramatic Society from 1946:
Clitheroe Catholic Amateur Dramatic Society
Membership Card 1946

MEMBERS NAME…………………..

Subscription for the year 1946, is
Hereby acknowledged as paid

…………………………………

EXTRACTS FROM RULES
The president shall be the Rector for the time being of S.S. Michael & John’s Church, Clitheroe
Membership shall be open to Catholics, whose admittance shall be subject to the approval of the Committee.
The Committee shall consist of not more than eight members, including Chairman, Producer, Business Manager, Secretary-Treasurer, and Stage Manager.
Extracts from Rules (continued)
An Annual General Meeting of the Society shall be held in the month of March.
The Committee shall have power to expel any member shoes conduct is inconsistent with the objects of the Society; but any member having been expelled by the Committee shall have the right of final appeal to the President.
Any dispute arising as to the meaning of any rule shall be decided by the Committee, whose decision shall be final. The Committee shall also have power to make additional rules and to modify existing rules, subject to the approval of the President and that of a General Meeting of Members.

Subscription – 1/- per annum – due January 1st of each year


Clitheroe Advertiser and Times
22nd October 1954
“WORM’S EYE VIEW”
A Three-Act Comedy by
R.F.DELDERFIELD
It’s Far From Quiet On The Home Front
‘LODGERS’ IN UNIFORM TAME A SEASIDE SHREW

St Michael’s Players might be among the newest recruits to the Clitheroe Amateur stage, but they have lost no time in learning Lesson Number One, which is the ability to spot the silk purse from the sow’s ear. So much was clear from their choice of R.F.Delderfield’s phenomenally-successful comedy of wartime days, “Worm’s Eye View,” with which they rang up the curtain on a new season at the Hall, Lowergate on Wednesday.
With a bunch of R.A.F. lads as its reluctant heroes, this particular theatrical purse is blue serge rather than silk, but the contents are no less rewarding for that.
They include a string of riotous situations neatly threaded into a story which relies basically for its appeal on the always irresistible spectacle of the straight-laced being unbuttoned. The formula is a sure-fire laughter-maker, and in this case it is clothed skilfully in the tale of a group of “Erks” billeted on a tyrannical landlady in a Northern seaside town. An evocative brand of Service humour and a portrait gallery of easily-recognisable types decorate the plot entertainingly.

GLORIOUSLY FUNNY

A comparatively youthful cast contrived to make it all gloriously funny, particularly in the last two acts, when early traces of hesitancy were replaced by a firmer grip. As there were few moments when the audience was not laughing, a tendency to talk on top of laughs could be excused if not commended. But otherwise there was a praiseworthy absence of usual first night flaws in a crisp, attractively-mounted production, which got full value from some richly comic material.
One of a number of young actors whose ability augurs well for the future of this new Society, Derek Rawcliffe hit the bullseye as the irrepressible Porter, the Cockney accent in which you could almost hear the Bow Bells, Rawcliffe not only succeeded brilliantly in breaking the accent barrier – a notorious difficulty – but embellished it with a wealth of expressive gesture and comic invention that brought out the full humour of a choice role.

TALENTED HELPERS

As co-partners in undetected crime he had willing and talented helpers in William Taylor, displaying a sure comedy sense as a worldly wise “Duke,” and John Brown, whose capacity to maintain an ingenuous countenance and gallant attempt at a Rhonda accent were bright features of his role as the lugubrious Taffy.
John Cowman as the thoughtful corporal-in-charge, whose romance with the landlady’s daughter precipitates the final crisis, created a thoroughly likeable study, while the R.A.F. quintet, was pleasantly completed by Thomas Cowman, as “Pop,” the veteran of the group. He neatly conveyed the warmth and understanding of the character, but an older make-up might have helped bridge the gap between two world wars more effectively.
Elizabeth Wright, as the landlady, Mrs Bounty, succeeded wholly in suggesting the requisite severity and domineering characteristics of an unsympathetic role, and there was another excellent piece of acting from Derrick Hutchinson as her priggish son, Sydney, a caricature rather than a character, but convincingly portrayed here nonetheless.
A pleasing stage presence helped Margaret Brown create a charming heroine as Bella, the daughter of the house, while Pat Hargreaves shaped an effective little study as Thelma, the maid. Another notable contribution was that of Ignatius Calvert as the henpecked Mr Bounty, a domestic worm that turns magnificently in Mr Calvert’s portrayal during a memorable final scene in which the has of Mrs Bounty and son is well and truly settled. And amid the informality of a “civvy billet,” Peter Fehrenback smartly reminded us of more businesslike but no less human R.A.F. in a brief visit as the men’s C.O.

HIGH MARKS

The play was produced by Mr Norman Cawley, who earns high marks for his deft handling of first-rate comedy scenes, and the production is well served by Donald Kershaw’s excellent setting.
Frank Lofthouse was stage manager, assisted by P.Fullalove and M.Dixon with J.Smith responsible for lighting arrangements. C.Speak, properties, J.Loynd’s, publicity and H.Sutcliffe, house manager.

Posted in Clitheroe, Dunsop Bridge, Sabden, Weekly View.