Messy Church started its Spring term on January 14th at Orsett School.

The theme this time was looking at Passover and how every year Jesus would go from Nazareth to Jerusalem with his parents for Passover.

When Jesus was 12 years old, the family, which would have been the whole family and neighbours, went as usual. When Joseph and Mary finished their worship in the temple, they left Jerusalem, but Jesus had stayed behind, but they didn’t know Jesus wasn’t with them!. When they couldn’t find him, after a day of travelling, Mary and Joseph started looking for Jesus.  When they couldn’t find him in the travelling party they went back to Jerusalem to look for him and after 3 days of searching they found Jesus in the temple! He was sitting with the teachers and was asking questions and listening to their answers. When they asked Jesus why he had done this, Jesus answered them saying ‘Why are you looking for Me? Don’t you know that I would be doing My Father’s business? They didn’t really understand the answer, but as Jesus grew up, Mary remembered it.

During Messy Church the children looked at the food eaten during Passover and how special plates with 6 ‘holes’ are used. They also looked at places and things that are special to them, in the same way the Temple was special to Jesus. The children had a map and put the places that are important to them and made heraldic shields with the things they had picked as important to them.

The session finished with a shared meal.

Sunday 13th January saw the Benefice’s youth HUB take charge of Bulphan’s Family Service, for a Young Enthusiastic Service – YES.

The theme of their service was Paul’s 1st letter to the Corinthians.

The service was led by sisters Ella and Evie, two young members of Bulphan Church.

Paul was a prolific writer of letters to several communities which are found in The New Testament, however what isn’t recorded is the thoughts and reactions of the communities to these letters. This is what the Youth HUB explored and delivered the service reading on, taking the parts of Corinthians discussing why this man was sending them letters which were effectively instructions on how to live their lives, what it meant to them as a community and why or should they take any notice of his him. Many of the congregation praised them for their thought provoking service and the obvious effort they had put in, as they had written their parts as Corinthians and the prayers.

After the service they enjoyed the breakfast that is a feature of Bulphan’s Family Service.

Once they had sampled Bulphan’s breakfast, the group went bowling, followed by pizza for lunch and watching a Harry Potter film in the home of one of the group leaders’.

The next YES will be at an Orsett Family Service on Sunday 13th October

We have now held an afterschool Messy Church in each of the three primary schools this term, which have been a real success, with the children exploring a religious theme and making something to help them understand it and a shared meal.

The most recent was on Monday 12th November in Horndon where the children were looking at  ‘Christ is The Light’ as the theme and made decorated jam jar lanterns and candle images.

The evening of Saturday 24th November was a treat for those with love of choir singing when Thurrock & Havering Male Voice Choir held a concert in Horndon Church, who were joined by Sonia Ward adding her vocal talents to the proceedings.

The evening was an enjoyable and resounding success raising about £700 for Horndon Church.

On Sunday 26th September 1943 inhabitants of Bulphan and West Horndon witnessed the tragic accident of two USAF B17 “Flying Fortress’ bombers the “Dorsal Queen” and  “Raunchy Wolf”, colliding in mid-air and crashing near Dillingham Hall Farm and Notti’s Farm resulting in the deaths of all but one of the crews.  The sole survivor was the Dorsal Queen’s tail gunner, Sgt John Adams.

On Saturday 22nd September a service of commemoration, thanksgiving and remembrance was held at St Mary’s, Bulphan to mark the 75th Anniversary of this accident.  Present were Lieutenant Colonel Jim Gringras (assistant Air Attaché US Embassy) and family, Lieutenant Colonel Ian Slazinik (Officer Commanding 100th Air Refuelling Wing, RAF Mildenhall) and family, Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Essex Mr Stephen Bennett and his wife, Councillor Barbara Rice (Mayor of Thurrock) and Councillor Sheila Murphy (Mayor of Brentwood).  Also present was the Chairman of Thurrock Branch Royal Air Forces Association (RAFA) Mr Jim Gooding who himself served as a tail gunner on Lancaster’s in WW2, flying from RAF Mildenhall, as well as members of RAFA, RBL and other interested groups.  The Base Honour Guard from RAF Mildenhall also attended.  The service was conducted by Reverend Sue Mann Rector of the Benefice of Orsett, Bulphan and Horndon on the Hill, with the address and blessing made by the Venerable Mike Lodge, Archdeacon of Southend, Mr Stephen Bennett DL read the lesson and Lt Col Gringras and Lt Col Slazinik read the names of the crews.

Janet McCheynne relayed her mother’s memories of the incident and how Sgt Adams came to their door, although injured and somewhat shaken was largely OK after his ordeal.  It was mentioned that Sgt Adams never flew again after this.

Wreaths were laid by Lt Col Gringras and Lt Col Slazinik on behalf of the United States Air Force and Mr Jim Gooding on behalf of RAFA, during the Act of Remembrance.

Jane Bennett (of Bennett funeral services) presented framed a framed Roll of Honour Lt Col Gringras, Lt Col Slazinik, Cllr Rice and Cllr Murphy.

The ladies of Bulphan WI provided refreshments after the service.