El Dorado 2018

El-Dorado 2018   

Magazine of the Guyana Diocesan Association supporting the work of the Anglican Church in Guyana including Suriname & Cayenne.   Registered Charity No. 1040102

Bishop of Guyana

The Right Revd Charles Davidson, The Church House, 49 Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana, South America

Bishop’s UK Commissary

Canon Ivelaw Bowman, 16 Horsford Road, Brixton Hill, London SW2 5BN

Tel 020 7733 2309 E mail: ivelawbowman@hotmail.co.uk

GDA Council

Mr Philip Harris (Chairperson pro tem), 13 Evelyn Cottages, Abinger Common, Dorking

RH5 6JE  Tel 01306 730123 Email gillandphil@aol.com

Canon John Twisleton (Secretary), 13 Marylands, Haywards Heath RH16 3JZ

Tel 01444 617323 & 07912 693936 Email john@twisleton.co.uk

Canon Roxanne Hunte (Treasurer), 192A Selhurst Road, London SE5 6XX

Tel 07747 896779 Email mtrroxanne@gmail.com

Mr Jerome Chee-A-Tow, 13e Courtleet Drive, Erith, Kent DA8 3NB

Tel 01322 342897

Mr Errol Ganpatsingh, 23 Harrington Road, Brighton BN1 6RE

Email errolgps@yahoo.co.uk

Habib Nader, USPG, 45-47 Great Suffolk Street, London SE1 0BS

Tel 020 7921 215 Email habibn@wearus.org.uk

Mr William Raghu, 96 Bishopscote Road, Luton, Bedfordshire LU3 1BP

Tel 01582 585 092 Email w.raghu@ntlworld.com

The Rt Revd Peter Wheatley, 47 Sedlescombe Road South, St Leonards on Sea,

East Sussex TN38 0TB Email peter.wheatley@outlook.com

Mr Ivor Ying, 10 Harewood Road, South Croydon, Surrey CR2 7AL

Tel 020 8680 3918 ivor.ying@yahoo.co.uk

Bishop’s letter

Greetings from our beloved Diocese of Guyana including Suriname and Cayenne.

We thank God for his continued guidance as we discern our participation in His mission but involving ourselves in ministries relevant to God’s mission in our Diocese.
We thank the Guyana Diocesan Association (UK) for their continued ministry.

God is our help and strength. One of our visions is to make our Diocese sustainable by using our assets and investing wisely. Our former Diocesan Office is now leased and the income will be invested and used to help our parishes do much needed repairs to our buildings; we will soon set up a fund similar to the former Festina loan fund.

Our vestry training has begun. Part of that training includes helping vestry to maximize the use of their properties and to use them as alternative sources of income.

We now have a Diocesan Convention Center in Beterverwagting, East Coast Demerara. We converted an old school building. This project continues to happen.

Our thanks to the New England Company for their generous donations to our ministries in the Hinterland and to the SACF for their generosity in funding various projects.

We go to Jawalla to ordain Deacon Rita Hunter to the priesthood (frontispiece) and dedicate a new St John’s Church on Low Sunday weekend.

USPG has sent us Rev Judith Ware, at no cost to us, who is involved in our training ministry and is assigned to Christ Church and the Cathedral.  We give thanks for this partnership.

God is working out his purposes here in our beloved Diocese and we give thanks.

I look forward to my visit to London.  I will do the pilgrimage in the Diocese of St. Alban’s and preach at the Cathedral’s Patronal Festival.

Bless you all.

+ Charles Guyana.

Chairperson’s letter

Dear Friends,

The loss during the last two years of so much talent from Council has been a blow from which we are still recovering.

Jane Garner served on Council for twenty five years, first as our St Albans Caribbean Links representative, and then as secretary as well. She also bore the major burden of the editing of El Dorado. Her quiet efficiency and dedication have underpinned the Association through difficult as well as easy times. Our debt to her is incalculable. We wish her every blessing, as she is now released to spend more time with her expanding family.

And who would want to be a Treasurer in the mad world where every bank concludes that money laundering is the sole purpose of any institution with a South American connection? But going back many years, David Maudlin and his wife gave hospitality to the oppressed when it was needed, and that we won't forget. Finally, we are thankful to Marlene Edwards, who, albeit Chairperson for a short time, answered the call, and ensured continuity when it was needed. I am profoundly grateful to Roxanne Hunte's and John Twisleton's willingness and diligence in their new roles of Treasurer and Secretary.

We are delighted to welcome Peter Wheatley to Council (do re-read his article in last year's El-Dorado on his visit to the interior), but we must continue to cast around for new talent. In particular, we need a new Chairperson, the suffix 'pro tem,' to my name, meaning what it says.

Our membership is diminishing through natural wastage. If we are to survive, we need to re-think our role, and play into our strengths. Size does not matter, where there is ability and enthusiasm.  Our corporate knowledge of the Diocese and the people of Guyana is unique in this country, and can and should be put to good use to the mutual benefit of our Anglican communities. "The GDA is the handmaid of the Church in Guyana!" Bishop Randolph used to say to me when I was Chairman in the 1990s. It used to infuriate me. Yet, within the suggestion, is an intimation of a closeness, even respect, without which the GDA cannot flourish. We need that closeness, and that respect now. We need some clarity as to what our role might be in a changing diocesan and world scenario.

Please come to the Festival. Meet and talk to the Bishop. I want him to know us better, as well as we him.

Yours ever,    Philip Harris (GDA Chairperson)

PS El Dorado’s printers since time immemorial disappeared during the year with our database so the new editors have had to start from scratch - we crave your indulgence!

News from the Diocese of Guyana 2017-8

Here are some highlights from the monthly Diocesan Bulletin and GDA Facebook group news over the last year:

Mrs Rita Hunter of Jawalla was ordained deacon in June at Christ Church in Georgetown. She is the first indigenous woman to be ordained in the Diocese.

The Bishop visited the UK 23 June - 4 July attending St Alban’s Cathedral Pilgrimage, meeting GDA Council, celebrating GDA Festival at St Stephen, Norbury and attending  Canon John Twisleton’s 40th Anniversary of Ordination celebration at St Giles, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex.

In July two Evangelistic Missions were led in the Hinterland, one at Jawalla and the other at Micobie, on the theme ‘Christian Marriage and Family Life’.

The 175th Anniversary of the Diocese of Guyana was occasion for a Youth Festival in August. Revd. Dr. William Guthrie preached at the Diocesan Patronal Festival later that month. Bishop Charles began a tour of the Diocese to mark the significant Anniversary.

In October the Bishop appointed Father Abel Ngandwe as Canon for Stewardship which is the Diocesan theme for 2018. Two new boat engines for clergy in the Pomeroon and Issano arrived that month, gift of the New England Company.

A Diocesan Fun and Family day was held in November. In the same month Diocesan Council proposed consecration of three suffragan Bishops to serve the interior to be subject to wider consideration. The 175th Anniversary celebration of the Diocese ended that month with a Pontifical High Mass at Wismar.

In December the Diocese mourned Canon Geoffrey Dolphin who grew up in Buxton and began his ministry in the Church as a server in Saint Augustine's Church where his funeral eucharist was celebrated. Fr Andy Carto announced he was stepping down as Dean whilst continuing to oversee the Cathedral’s restoration moving on to its south and west walls. The Bishop became Dean and Rector of the Cathedral. Earlier in the year Fr Oswald Barnes resigned as priest and treasurer after many years of dedicated service to the Diocese.

In January The Revd Judith Ware arrived in Guyana as a USPG sponsored volunteer joining the training team with Canon Winston Spencer and Father Clarence Naraine with an eye initially to helping train vestry persons across the Diocese.

The Bishop celebrated his 40th Anniversary of being a Priest at New Amsterdam in February. That month The Archbishop of the Province, The Most Revd John Holder retired and Fr Monsell Alves was appointed Chaplain to Diocesan Organisations with an eye to coordinating their activities and helping them with spiritual and membership development.

To receive a free monthly Diocesan News update via membership of GDA Facebook group send a request by e mail to Canon John Twisleton john@twisleton.co.uk

Congratulating Canon Roxanne Hunte

El Dorado congratulates Guyana born GDA Treasurer The Revd Roxanne Hunte on her appointment as Canon of Southwark Cathedral.  Licensed as Priest-in-Charge of South Norwood, Holy Innocents (2013) and of South Norwood, St Mark (2015) Mother Roxanne, her work for GDA apart, is a Diocesan Vocations Adviser, sits on the Editorial Board of Southwark Diocesan newspaper and is the Diocesan Black & Asian Minority Ethnic (BAME) Vocations Champion.

Fortieth Anniversary of Priesthood

Friends from GDA led by Bishop Charles supported Canon Twisleton on the occasion of his Fortieth Anniversary of Priesthood at his old parish of St Giles, Horsted Keynes, West Sussex in July 2017. The collection raised just short of £400 for the work of GDA.

Brye Blackhall in the peace of the Lord

Lawrence Barnabas Brye Blackhall who was a Civil Engineer in British Guiana in the 1950s and 1960s was born in the parish of St. Barnabas ,Walthamstow, East London in January 1931 to Lawrence and Agnes Blackhall. All his life he was known as Brye, the family name, that his two sisters share. His father was an assistant curate there and later Vicar of West Wittering near Chichester for 31 years. It was here Brye learnt and developed his many skills of 'making things work’, the love of working with wood and sailing. He married Margaret in 1957 and they moved to B.G. he as a Drainage and Irrigation engineer on a big project in Warimia (by speed boat up the East Coast Essequibo from Parika, into the Bonasika river and Warimia creek). They worshipped at St. Stephen's Parika where Brye was made and served as Lay Reader and Hilary  their first daughter was baptised. Like Hilary, her sisters, Kathryn and Alison were born in Mercy Hospital, Georgetown. (The year that I, Brye's sister, was with them for Christmass, the Mass was at 0500hr as Fr. Hilton Carty had all the West Coast to serve that day. Travelling in the dark plus baby, and the compulsory hats rolled up in our pockets!) In Brye's last tour to BG he produced plans for a new church building at East La Penitence. With the congregation and hand-operated brick making machine that he made, he helped build the Church of the Transfiguration. Once at a GDA festival, when he was processing, Archbishop John Knight whispered to Brye's father 'it is still standing'! After further travelling including time in Essex where their son Stephen was born Brye and family settled in New Zealand, in Ngunguru a village in Northland. Here his engineering and problem solving skills were well used for the solution of land slips and how to prevent  them, solutions still used widely in NZ . Also his skills in 'making things work' were used to keep the old equipment of the local fire service functional and moving buildings! Brye wrote Signposts for many years, a commentary on the week's Bible readings for the local Pew Sheet. When unable to continue a small group took over, published a book of Brye's writings and wrote recently 'as Brye always said, we are not Biblical scholars just curious people.' Of the numerous items Brye made from wood for household use and fittings for the seven boats that he built ,two, fashioned from driftwood stand out. A copy of a 16th century chair still in use in West Wittering parish church in memory of an old influential friend, and a full sized Communion Table for Ngunguru with inscription carved underneath, in memory of his father who celebrated the Holy Mysteries there on several occasions. Brye died peacefully on 23 February 2018 with Margaret, Hilary and Stephen reading the psalms to him from the Bible that was his constant companion.  Elizabeth Trellis

Elizabeth Trellis is the wife of Ossie Trellis, who was Dean of St George's Cathedral for a few years from 1994. They met when Elizabeth went to Guyana as a midwife, first to assist with the birth of her brother Brye's and Margaret's first child, and then to work in the Mackenzie Hospital.

GDA Financial Report for year ending 31 December 2017

Cash Account (figures rounded to the nearest £) Total Income = £10,695. 00
This includes £1,500 received (and banked) twice from the Companion of Jesus the Good Shepherd.  Said extra donation of £1,500 was refunded on 4th January 2018, which means
the real Total Income for 2017 was £9,195.

Income highlights included donations from:

Parishes and organisations:
    St. Jude-on-the-hill, Hampstead ​​                         293
    Companion of the Good Shepherd.                     ​​1,500
    St John and St James​​​​                                            200
    Liverpool Charity and VA Services​​                         250
    St Giles Horsted Keynes​​​                                         981
    St Barnabas Chapel Dormansland​​                        150
                                                                            ​​​​​​3,374
    Individuals:
    Mr and Mrs Haile​​​​                                              1,000

Fundraising Activities:
    Valentine Tea Party​​​                                                630
    GDA Festival​​​​                      1,168
    Summer Garden Party​​                         705 ​2,503
                             £​​​​​​6,877
The remainder represented Annual subscriptions and smaller individual donations.

Total Expenditure = £2,919.00
    Represented by:
    Design, printing and distribution of El Dorado ​   1,124
    2016 Accounts preparation and Auditing ​​              654
    GDA Festival Costs (church & hall rental, lunch)  902
    Travel expenses for Council members​​                  139
    Leaving gifts for outgoing Secretary & Treasurer  100

Surplus of Income over Expenditure for 2017 (9,195-2,919)= £6,276

which is a slight reduction on last year’s surplus of £6,523.

Balance brought forward from Dec 2016.          7,710.30
    Total income​​​​​​                   10,695.00
    Total Expenditure​​​​​                                               2,919.00
    Balance at December 2017​​​                           £15,486.00

Bank Statement balance at Dec 31, 2017 is £15,929 which I would have reconciled before all papers are sent to the auditors at the end of the month. We need to account for annual bank charges £60 (12 x£5 per month) and the receipts made in 2016 accounted for in 2017.

Deposit Accounts at 31st December 2017:
    Ordination Candidates Fund            £20,119
    General Fund​​​                   £4,174
Fixed Interest Securities Fund Income Shares £18,350 at September 2017 (haven’t received Dec 2017 statement). Suffice to say at end of March 2018, the total is £18,716. Roxanne Hunte

Bishop’s GDA Itinerary

Sunday 1 July         10am St Mark, South Norwood parish eucharist SE25 4JE

Tuesday 3 July         11.30am GDA Council at High Commission

Thursday 5 July        7.30pm  Holy Innocents, Norwood meeting with Guyana

diaspora (Contact Fr Bowman 020 7733 2309) SE25 6XX

Saturday 7 July        AGM, Festival and lunch (PTO)

Sunday 8 July        1030am St Jude, Hampstead Garden Suburb parish

eucharist NW11 7AH

Guyana Diocesan Association

Registered Charity No. 104102

2018 Festival

Saturday, 7 July 2018

St Stephen’s Norbury

9 Warwick Road, Thornton Heath CR7 7NH

Lunch:

£15 per person

To book your tickets in advance please call

Canon Roxanne Hunte on 07747 896779

11am Annual General Meeting

in the Parish Hall

12.15pm Festival Eucharist of the Holy Spirit

in St Stephen’s Church, where the Bishop of Guyana will celebrate and preach. Priests invited to robe: red stole

Lunch in the Parish Hall (after the Eucharist)

Buses: 109 and 60 Galpins Road stop  Train station: Norbury

On-street parking: Warwick Road