Kabuki UK: a lifeline for families

When Sally and Paul Trewartha were expecting their little boy Harry six years ago, they learned that he would be born with serious heart problems. Friends at St Luke’s prayed urgently for Harry as he went through open heart surgery at just four days old, and anxiously waited for news. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief when he was finally released from intensive care and was on the road to recovery.

It wasn’t until 18 months later that Paul and Sally discovered the source of Harry’s heart problem was a rare genetic condition called Kabuki syndrome, which can also cause cleft palate, learning difficulties, hearing loss, hypotonia (low muscle tone) and a wide range of other complications.

Kabuki syndrome affects only one in 32,000 births, and most people have never heard of it – even those in the medical profession. The families of children with Kabuki are often left feeling isolated, afraid and without the information they need. So last year, after connecting on Facebook, Sally and five other parents set up Kabuki UK. It’s the first UK organisation for people with Kabuki and their families, and it aims to raise awareness, provide information to families of newly diagnosed children, and fundraise – for example, to provide essential equipment for children that isn’t funded by the NHS.

Just as importantly, Kabuki UK is building up a community of families who can meet and support each other. The charity recently ran its first family day and, for many people there, it was the first time they’d met anyone else who shares their experience. You can see a short film about the family day here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf-2bCiX3mg. If you know the Trewartha family, look out for Harry in the film. He’s now nearly six – a gorgeous, bouncing boy who’s enjoying his first year of school, and is a proud older brother to Toby.

To learn more about Kabuki syndrome and Kabuki UK, visit www.kabukiuk.org.uk. The charity is keen to hear from anyone who can offer individual or corporate sponsorship, to help with its vital work.

Lyrical

Another night of lo-fi poets and hi-fi singer-songwriters coming up at St Luke's on Friday 21st March.Beth Rowley, Katherine Venn, Anthony Wilson and Iain Archer are on the latest LYRICAL bill - with maybe the odd late surprise. Opening around 7.30 and running till tennish - with a break to buy CDs/books and replenish your glass - we'll be raising some funds for Women At The Well, a drop-in centre for vulnerable women in Kings Cross. Tickets £8 (£4 concessions on the door).

PUBLIC HOUSE

Lent in a bar! It's kinda 'Holy Joes' Mk II - bit of input, lots of open debate, chance to explore, no pre-packed answers. Anyone welcome - ideal for non-churchgoers. Come and join in - or just listen.

The villain’s vicar?

Here at St Luke’s, we celebrate the value of every individual, and we’re not too impressed by ‘celebrity’. However, it’s quite exciting when your vicar hits the news!

Dave Tomlinson, vicar of St Luke’s, is already known outside the parish for his bestselling books, including How To Be A Bad Christian. But lately, he’s been in the news for another reason – taking the funeral of the notorious ‘Great Train Robber’, Ronnie Biggs. Suddenly, our beloved priest was popping up all over the websites of tabloid and broadsheet newspapers, where we were amused to see him variously described as ‘the villain’s priest’, ‘unrepentant reverend’ and even ‘trendy vicar’! (Not bad for a cheeky Scouser in a frock.)

Not all the responses were positive and Dave was later invited to write a piece about the whole furore for the Church Times, and was interviewed for the Salvation Army magazine War Cry (plus he continues his regular spots on Pause For Thought on BBC Radio 2).

To be honest, we’re slightly baffled by all the fuss. After all, every person in the country is entitled to a Christian funeral if they request one, regardless of their history – so quite what Dave was meant to apologise for is a mystery to us. However, if you’d like to check out a few of his appearances in the press, you can visit the links below.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/ronnie-biggs-was-an-extraordinary-man-says-the-unrepentant-reverend-who-took-train-robbers-funeral-9052382.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2533283/Hells-Angels-rogues-gallery-ageing-criminals-turn-send-Great-Train-Robber-Ronnie-Biggs.html

http://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2014/jan/03/ronnie-biggs-train-robber-funeral-golders-green http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-25594688 http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2542456/RICHARD-KAY-Widow-Battle-Britain-air-ace-Sir-Douglas-Bader-neglected-nursing-staff-says-daughter.html (scan down halfway).

And here’s the piece Dave wrote for the Church Times: http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2014/17-january/comment/opinion/was-ronnie-biggs-repentant

Well done for flying the flag, Dave. We hope your new-found fame doesn’t mean we’ll soon be fighting our way through paparazzi to get into church on a Sunday morning, and catching reporters rifling through the vicarage bins!

Young St Luker writes about the Nightshelter

Here at St Luke’s, we’re extremely proud of our young people. They’re such a bright, outward-looking and motivated bunch, they sometimes put us grown-ups to shame! (We like to think, though, that growing up at St Luke’s – and especially the input of Susie Holland and her team, who run the children’s and youth work – might have quite a bit to do with it.)

One of our younger members, 14-year-old Joe Mayo, helps out with our winter Nightshelter for homeless people, which is now in full swing (you can read more about that here).

Joe recently interviewed Mark Brennan, who oversees the Islington Churches Cold Weather Shelter, of which St Luke’s Nightshelter is a part. His article about the project appears on the Resistance & Renewal website.

Bravo, Joe! And thank you to all our young people for the wonderful contributions you make to the life and work of St Luke’s.

Justin Butcher back with his acclaimed one-man play

At St Luke’s, we’re blessed to have many creative and artistic members in our community. Justin Butcher, our choirmaster and musical director, is a man of many talents – actor, musician, playwright, author, organiser of the recent Bethlehem Unwrapped festival, and much more. If you’d like to see Justin wearing one (or two) of this other hats, you have an opportunity this weekend. He’s taking his acclaimed one-man play Scaramouche Jones to the Pleasance Theatre, just around the corner from St Luke’s, on 25-26 January.

Justin wrote and stars in the play, which has been a big hit when previously performed by Justin and, on other occasions, by the late, great Pete Postlethwaite.

It’s a stunning piece of theatre – but don’t take our word for it. The Times called it, ‘A fascinating, poignant, funny play’; The Guardian described it as, ‘A mesmerizing piece of storytelling theatre’; and the British Theatre Guide declared it, ‘A masterpiece of solo magic realism, impeccably written, perfectly performed’.

Click on the flier (above) to see more details of the play and the performances at the Pleasance. To book tickets, visit www.pleasance.co.uk or call 020 7609 1800.

A little Christmas light for prisoners’ children

There are currently around 200,000 children in England and Wales who have a parent in prison. Special times of the year, such as Christmas and birthdays, can be especially hard, both for the parent and the child.

Here at St Luke’s, we have two prisons practically on our doorstep. So this Christmas, we took part in the Angel Tree project, run by the Prison Fellowship. The scheme arranges for the children of offenders to receive a Christmas gift from their parent (as long as the parent is allowed contact with their child). The gifts and connection bring joy to youngsters who may be missing mum or dad during the festive season, and helps to support family relationships, which often break down when someone is incarcerated. As well as benefiting the child’s wellbeing and development, family contact has been shown to significantly reduce re-offending rates.

Different members of St Luke’s each signed up to buy a gift for a particular child. These were wrapped and sent to the child with a card written by their parent (confidentiality is essential, so personal details aren’t revealed to volunteers). A Christian story book was also included, if the parent wished. A card was then forwarded to the parent, telling them what their child had received on their behalf, and sending good wishes for the festive season.

We think Angel Tree is a great initiative, and we’re delighted to have been involved. Many thanks to Ruth Skinner for organising our part in the project this year.

Angel Tree is currently running in over 80 prisons in England and Wales. You can find out more and get involved at http://www.prisonfellowship.org.uk/what-we-do/angel-tree/

Comedy gold at St Luke’s to raise money for Nightshelter

If you love comedy, you’re in luck. Juliette Burton’s show When I Grow Up was one of the big hits on the Edinburgh Fringe this year – and on Friday 3 January, she’s bringing the show to St Luke’s! Juliette – acclaimed comedy actress, writer and performer – will be taking When I Grow Up on tour across Britain and Australia in 2014. However, she’s very kindly agreed to give the people of West Holloway an advanced preview of the show, in aid of the St Luke’s Nightshelter (you can read more about that here: http://www.saintlukeschurch.org.uk/2013/12/22/st-lukes-nightshelter-prepares-to-open-its-doors/ ).

Does growing up mean letting go? As a child Juliette wanted to be many things. The world was full of possibilities – it was an exciting place to live, a place where dreams came true. But then life got in the way… Did Juliette have it right when she was a kid? Did she know what she was born to be before she grew up?

In this multi-media docu-comedy, Juliette (of award-winning duo Mace & Burton) realises her childhood ambitions. Artist, farmer, ballerina, baker, princess, pop star, cartoon, Muppet… she’s living the dream – every dream she ever had! In doing so, she explores the question: is what we do who we are? And does growing up mean letting go of your dreams?

All the money raised from this entertaining and heartwarming show will go to our Nightshelter appeal, so round up your friends for a great evening of comedy on Friday 3 January, at 7pm. Tickets cost £10 (£5 concessions). The show is suitable for children aged eight and over (there are a handful of swear words).

To read some of the rave reviews of When I Grow Up, click on the flier above. You can also visit www.julietteburton.co.uk to learn more about Juliette’s work.

St Luke’s nightshelter prepares to open its doors

One of our most important projects at St Luke’s is our annual cold weather shelter. Each January to March (the coldest three months of the year), we join forces with six other local churches to offer dinner, bed and breakfast to a number of homeless people – each church taking one day a week. This year’s shelter starts in a couple of weeks’ time, and we’re running various fundraising activities to cover the costs of the project, and to install extra facilities to make our guests’ stay more comfortable. Meanwhile, Dan Northam Jones, who oversees St Luke’s part of the project, is busy drawing up rotas and making sure everything’s in place to ensure this year’s nightshelter runs as smoothly as possible.

The nightshelter is a project that involves many members and friends of the church, and we’d love you to get involved. Here’s how you can help…

*St Luke’s is currently trying to raise £10,000 to install a shower for our nightshelter guests, a washing machine and dryer for laundry, and an industrial dishwasher to help with catering. So far, we’ve raised over £7,000. If you’re able to make a donation, please visit https://mydonate.bt.com/charities/stlukeswestholloway

*Dan and a number of other St Lukers did a sponsored 5k run a couple of weeks ago. It’s not too late to sponsor them. Please visit https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/danrunsfornightshelter to make a donation – and to see a photo of Dan in his shorts!

*If you have any other fundraising or sponsorship ideas, please contact Dan on daniel.northamjones@googlemail.com

*Dan is now planning the rota for volunteers for evening, overnight and morning shifts every Saturday (into Sunday), plus laundry and other behind-the-scenes tasks. If you’d like to help, or want to find out what’s involved, please speak to him.

STOP PRESS! *Acclaimed stand-up comic Juliette Burton will be performing her Edinburgh show here at St Luke’s on 3 January at 7pm, to raise money for the nightshelter. Book the date now.

Christmas at St Luke’s

Christmas is one of the most important festivals in the Christian calendar, and here at St Luke’s, we’re looking forward to some wonderful services and social events over the festive period.

We kick off on 15 December with our church Christmas lunch after morning worship – good food surrounded by good friends. There’ll be vegetarian and meat options with all the trimmings, festive puddings and other treats. The church members creating this wonderful spread need to know how many they’re catering for, so please sign up by emailing churchchristmaslunch@gmail.com by 11 December.

That same morning is the final week when we’ll have stalls selling church members’ handmade and fairtrade gifts, from books to jewellery, and crafts to Palestinian olive oil products. So if you’ve got last minute presents to buy, bring your wallet. (Don’t forget our regular Traidcraft stall for Christmas goodies, too.)

That evening, at 8pm on 15 December, we have our annual carol service. The St Luke’s choir will lead us in singing favourite hymns and carols, and wow us with a few of their own stirring performances too. Afterwards, there’ll be mulled wine and mince pies (it’s the congregation’s responsibility to provide the mince pies, so please buy or make some extras to bring along).

The 11am service on 22 December will be given over to the children’s nativity play. The kids have been rehearsing hard for weeks, and we’ve been promised a fun and creative rendition of the Christmas story. Based on previous years’ efforts, this is not to be missed!

On 24 December at 11.30pm, we gather at St Luke’s for midnight mass. We’ll see in Christmas day with a beautiful candle-lit service, and more evocative performances from the choir. There’ll be an opportunity to remember and pray for absent friends, who we often miss more than ever at this time of year.

Finally, on Christmas morning, there’ll be a family service at 10.30am (earlier than usual, so you can get home to put the dinner on). It’s a joyous all-age gathering to kick off the big day with a celebration of the true meaning of Christmas.

Whether you’re a regular at St Luke’s, an occasional visitor or you’ve never joined us before, you’ll find a warm welcome at all our services over the festive period. Season’s greetings to everyone in the parish of St Luke’s, West Holloway – and beyond.