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All the News back to January 2009

Sunset over Haddenham

Friday 1st January 2010-
The SageNew Year walk this year was possibly the first ever venture into Buckinghamshire! Admittedly we were only just over the border from Oxfordshire this time. Fourteen brave Sage walkers met at the new house of Martin and Margot Hodson in Haddenham. After coffee we set out through Haddenham village across the frozen countrside for Cuddington. We were very fortunate with the weather as although it was cold it was sunny all day. We had lunch in Cuddington, and then walked on to Gibraltar (yes it really does exist in Bucks!). Met three rather over-friendly horses on the way... We left three of our party there to sample the tea in the local pub. Thence all back to Haddenham. We sent out a rescue party to Gibraltar, and then all gathered for a really rather wonderful vegetarian meal.

Clare's contraption

Saturday 12th December 2009-
Back once more to the annual Green Fair at the Town Hall in Oxford. The Sage team this year had quite a few unexpected difficulties to deal with, but rose to the occasion! First difficulty was the slight problem over our booking. Then we got slotted into the quietest room in front of the old fire place. Richard Riggs set up our display on the Friday afternoon, but there was no table! Hence the famous "don't panic" email. We arrived there to find that the Green Party had discovered a table for us. Next problem was how to get all our stuff there without using a car. The traffic wardens were really hot on preventing people unloading and unloading outside the Town Hall this year. Enter Clare with her amazing bike powered contraption. She was able to shuffle our stuff around without any tickets from over-zealous wardens! Probably thought this was the quietest year for some time for the Sage team. Our rather out of the way location meant better conversations when people found us, but first they had to get there! Note to us all- book early for next year!


Outside Methodist Central Hall (Richard Riggs)Saturday 5th December 2009- Impressions of The Wave -  London
This was my first demo event and it was a good day. I went up on one of the 6 Coop coaches from Oxford; the transport and roads seemed very well organised; there was a good atmosphere; the rain just about held off and there was time for much needed tea at the end before coming home! I was disappointed to miss the service at Westminster Central Hall, and not even to hear it ‘piped’ outside, however it did mean I joined in with the singing and praying of the alternative service in the square, with pedal-power-amplification by the Cactus wagon, and I met with the A Rocha UK representatives and claimed a placard to carry. There was then a ‘pre-march’ march up to Grovesner Square to join the rest of the crowds, where, after a spot of face painting and lunch, I met up with 
Sage friends Karl and Felicity. It was a gentle amble over the 3 mile route; chat and laughter with waves of deafening whistles, drums & chants; conversations with friends & strangers with my A Rocha placard drawing interest & recognition; impressive levels of creativity all around - with body painting + blue wigs aplenty, over-sized pandas + polar bears, a huge rolling wave machine pushed by half a dozen people, and hundreds of both professional & home-made placards and signs; there were rumours of 20 or 40,000 people there – hard to imagine from our place on the streets. We were nearer the end of the march so missed the 3 o’clock moment as Parliament was encircled, but as we crossed the Lambeth and Victoria bridges it was moving still to see the crowds stretching around the seats of power. On reflection now it seemed indeed the fun and peaceful day intended –somehow curious in representing such serious purpose & issues -but it certainly was an encircling of our national and world leaders in passion and, judging by the Christian presence there, hopefully also in prayer, and we must continue to do this over this fortnight and beyond.
Clare Newgass (her collage of photos from the day is now on the Sage home page)


TTD Banner at the Wave (Martin Hodson)The Wave, Transition and people we know
Since we moved to Haddenham, Margot and I have been very involved in Transition Thame and District (TTD), a local group looking into living a more sustainable lifestyle. The Wave began for us on the previous Sunday afternoon, when we had a special banner making session with TTD in the Scout Hut. In the summer the Climate Rush visited us in Haddenham, and stayed on the village green. They gave us some tips on banner making, and these proved very useful. We all drew around our hands, and then stuck the images onto the banner. The completed product looked great!
Margot and I decided to go to The Wave on the bus organised by TTD. There were two buses, one from Thame and Long Crendon, and ours from Haddenham and Chinnor. A fair number from St Mary's, Haddenham were on the bus with us, as were people from both the Baptist and Methodist churches. Our coach got a bit stuck in the traffic getting into London, but we made it to the meeting place in Grosvenor Square by about 11.45a.m. The place was absolutely packed with people from all ages and backgrounds. Many were dressed in shades of blue, and there were lots of placards, banners etc. We had a long wait before we set out on the march, and were nowhere near the Houses of Parliament at 3.00pm when the aim was to surround the Houses of Parliament and carry out "The Wave".
On the way there I said to Margot that we would be bound to run into people that we knew. She said it would be a random collection of people and she was right! The first were newly weds Emma and Chris from London. Emma Morrice was the tour manager and compere for the Hope for Planet Earth tours, and had married Chris at the end of October. Then Anna Pickering popped up- so the Oxford group must have been somewhere near, but we didn't see Kaihsu! A bit further along the march three of the girls from Climate Rush who visited us in Haddenham came past- so they could see how we had got on with banner making! We needed the banner to avoid getting totally lost in the crowd! Next along came Anne Owen from Marlborough, a former student on CRES and now JRI associate. Then Margot had a chat with Tom Honey. Tom was former Vicar of Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry in Oxford, and is now Canon Paster at Exeter Cathedral. Some years ago Sage went to Holy Trinity for Environment Sunday when Tom was vicar there. Once we got back home and we looked at Facebook it was obvious that almost everyone we knew was there. But in a crowd of maybe 60,000 (estimates vary) there was no chance of seeing everyone!
It was tiring, but well worthwhile. Whether it will have any impact on events in Copenhagen we will never know.........
Martin Hodson

Wednesday 2nd December 2009- Bishop of Oxford calls on world’s leaders to take brave decisions at Copenhagen- see here.


Saturday 21st November 2009- This widget shows you the climate prayer feed from Brendan Bowles of Climate Stewards- very relevant in the coming weeks!




Saturday 7th November 2009-  The Big Climate Event. This event was organised for 150 people from Oxfordshire's Community Action Groups, as a time to network and learn from one another. However there is a Diocesan Environment Group (it was news to me!), who asked if they have a stand, and I finished up making a display. With some scratching around we collected enough examples from Oxfordshire churches for a simple one. But finding them was hard work. So no point in making extravagant claims for churches, I saw it as just showing the flag. The heading was “Churches... in your community!”
The event was good – well organised, stimulating, informative, with a lot packed in. There was not much time to talk to people on the stand, but everyone who stopped to talk seemed to be pleased that we were there. The aim was to remind people that churches are there on the ground, as ready-made communities. A few expressed frustration because they could see the potential, and wanted to know why it was not being realised. A man working in rural communities complained of finding church wardens and PCC members who were very positive, until they put on their church hats, then nothing happened! We also wanted to encourage any Christians present, and a few introduced themselves.
Low Carbon West Oxford is the trail-blazing CAG that emerged in 2007 after Botley Road was flooded. They have done a lot of face-to-face work with householders. They found many people who wanted to reduce their carbon footprint, but just needed someone to take a lead and help them understand what they could do. A survey of what motivated them put environmental reasons at the top, but close behind was the sense of belonging to a community. Surely lessons for churches there. Saving money on fuel was way down the list.
The plenary talk at the beginning was lively but hard-headed. The message was that among a big majority of people, we are losing the match. The opposition is well organised, knows how to communicate their message, and spends billions on it. His answer was that we have to raise our game: organise across a wider spectrum, learn from each other, be very creative, learn to communicate. From a human point of view he is right, which is why we have to look to God as our only real source of hope.
Richard Riggs

Tuesday 4th November 2009-
Sage is pleased to announce that the latest Sage Words October 2009 is now ready to download. Get ready for the Wave!

Monday 5th October 2009- Natural England are looking for assistants for their volunteer botanical surveyor, Angi Toller who is working at Aston Rowant National Nature Reserve every Monday Sage BBQ 200910am-4pm. It doesn’t need to be the same person every week. Please give Jenny Crook a call if you can do a certain date. Botanical knowledge is not an essential and you will learn lots during the day! Please bring warm, waterproof clothing and sturdy footwear. You will also need a packed lunch. Volunteers will need to register by completing a short form, then you will be insured and also be able to claim mileage rates. Contact: Jenny Crook, Community Liaison Advisor (South East) Tel: 01844 351833.

Thursday 3rd September 2009- Margaret Mary Hollingdale 12.11.1942 - 3.9.2009. We are sad to report the death of Margaret Hollingdale on 3rd September 2009, after a long illness. Alec and Margaret were amongst the eary Sage members in the 1990's, before they moved to Kent. However, this was not the end of their association with Sage, and we continued to meet them fairly frequently at our events. Our thoughts and prayers are with Alec and his family at this time.

Saturday 11th July 2009-  Sage gathered for a Summer Work party and annual BBQ at Boundary Brook Nature Park: Slightly damp, but a good time was had by all. Many thanks to Clare Newgass who organised it all.

Thursday 28th May 2009-
Sage is pleased to report that two of its members have letters in the Oxford Times on the same day. Kaihsu Tai was co-author on Natural Means about Oxford's flood defences, and Time to Pose Questions by Karl Wallendszus concerned questions we should ask those standing in the 4th June elections.

Sunday 24th May 2009- Sage is pleased to announce that the latest Sage Words June 2009 is now available to download. Lots of news and items for your diary!  This edition includes an obituary for Edith Clift, one of the founding members of Sage back in 1990.

Wednesday 13th May 2009- Sage members were in the congregation at Holy Trinity, Headington Quarry, Oxford , for the funeral of Edith Clift, one of our founding members.The funeral was a fitting tribute to Edith, who was a keen nature lover and environmentalist for much of her long life. It also had its humorous moments as we remembered Edith- "a character".

Investigating an ant hill
Saturday 28th March 2009-
  Walk with the Creator again took us to Sydlings Copse, a nature reserve owned by BBOWT with an impressive variety of habitats boasting over 400 plant species.  Caroline Steel led a party of about fifteen people around the short mile long walk. The weather was a bit chilly, and we did get a short shower, but otherwise it was fine. There were lots of violets and primroses, and the children enjoyed investigating the ant hills. We also had an expert on spiders with us, which added to the interest of the afternoon.


Sunday 22nd March 2009- In a Lent talk at Dorchester Abbey Sage member, Martin Hodson spoke on "Using the Bible to consider the environmental crisis of the 21st Century". There was a really rather wonderful short service of Evening Prayer beforehand followed by light refreshments and the talk. Then a very detailed question and answer session followed. Excellent evening!


Hope for Planet Earth DVD
March 2009-
HOPE FOR PLANET EARTH DVD RELEASED!!! Arising from the 2008 and 2009 nationwide tours the John Ray Initiative, Tearfund, A Rocha UK and SJI have now produced two DVD resource packs based on the tour materials. These feature Sir John Houghton, Martin Hodson, Dave Bookless, Alisha Sanvicens, Jo Herbert and Andy Frost. You can buy them from SJI for £10:
Hope for Planet Earth DVD for Churches This has the four presenters and Sir John Houghton talking about various aspects of climate change, the PowerPoints from the tour, Sir John's latest Climate Change briefing, Bible studies, sermon outlines and much more.....
Hope for Planet Earth DVD for Schools This has material specially selected for schools (age 15 and above), and has lesson plans and other materials for teachers.

Saturday 28th February 2009-  Faith and food: making the connections. This day conference took place in Wesley Memorial Church, and St Michael at the Northgate Church, Oxford. The speakers were:  Colin Tudge (Oxford, food writer); Rev Canon Tim Gorringe (Exeter, theologian); and Fr Edilberto Sena (Satarèm, Brazil, campaigner).  Revd. Caroline Pinchbeck has written a REPORT on the conference for the RuSource briefings.

Monday 23rd February to Friday 13th March 2009- HOPE FOR PLANET EARTH, the national Christian climate change tour visited 15 venues from Scotland to the south coast of England. Sage member, Martin Hodson was again the tour scientist. The tour was jointly run by JRI, A Rocha, Tearfund and SJI. It was exhausting but worthwhile!

Margot, Felicity, Karl and AndyThursday 12th February 2009- Sage member Martin Hodson was the guest preacher at Christ Church, Oxford for their termly corporate communion service. Martin spoke on  'The Environmental Crisis - A Christian Response'. There were about 80 members of the college and visitors present and it was a very pleasant evening.

Monday 9th February 2009-  Sage member Margot Hodson was licensed by the Bishop of Buckinghamshire as Priest-in Charge of Haddenham with Cuddington, Kingsey and Aston Sandford in Buckinghamshire, just north of Thame. St. Mary's, Haddenham, was totally packed despite pretty horrendous weather which kept a lot of people away. Sage was well represented in the congregation, and the service was excellent.

Friday 6th February 2009- The Agriculture & Theology Project (ATP) is a partnership between JRI, the Agricultural Christian Fellowship (ACF), and the Church Mission Society (CMS). Sage members Margot and Martin Hodson, spoke at the recent ACF AGM, and two summaries are now available at the ATP web site.


Black PoplarsWednesday 21st January 2009- PLOUGH WEDNESDAY 2009. This Annual event was organised by Canon Glyn Evans and his team, and took place in the Buckinghamshire village of Bledlow. The day was hosted by David Dewick, House for Duty Vicar of Holy Trinity, Bledlow.  The church was the venue for the event. In the morning there were three presentations:
Roy Lambourne has been an Agricultural consultant for 35 years, and brought us up to date with the latest on the agricultural scene. “Farmers have been experiencing the most volatile period of costs and prices that I can remember” said Roy. Frances Northrop from Bucks Community Action outlined the work of the Rural Community Council in Bucks focussing particularly on issues of deprivation. “Buckinghamshire is  wealthy county” said Frances ,” But there are also significant examples of rural deprivation.” Chris Rawson, from Bucks County Council gave an overview of the work of the Bucks Rural Action Group, and the recent strategy. The six key areas addressed by the rural strategy are Access to Services, Transport, Rural Housing, Countryside and Environment, Economy and Enterprise, and Community Self Confidence.
After a wonderful warming lunch at the Lions of Bledlow pub, we went on our farm visit. Neil Dyson, the farmer, showed us around Holly Green Farm, a dairy farm, that has been in his wife's family for three generations.  Like many farmers Neil and Jane are also involved in conservation schemes that help to protect the environment and promote wildlife.  Neil showed us his cows, but also pollarded Black Poplar trees.  95% of all the black poplars [Populus nigra subsp. betulifolia] in the UK grow in the southern part of the Vale of Aylesbury.
The Bishop of Oxford, John Pritchard, ended the day with a reflection in which he urged rural clergy to be earthed in their ministry. It was an excellent day- thanks to Glyn Evans and his team for organising it!

Green Faith DaySaturday 17th January 2009-  Green Faith Day. Exploring our responsibilities towards God’s creation. This day conference was held at Tilehurst Methodist Church, in Reading. Richard Riggs reports that, "There was a good lineup of speakers for the plenary session, who gave us an absorbing hour and a half covering a wide range of questions. Speakers included Revd Professor Ian James, Professor Sir John Marsh, Ruth Conway, Maggie Ross, and Paula Clifford.  The workshops covered many different topics, so it was difficult to choose just two. During the breaks the exhibition hall was busy, and there was a buzz about it that showed real interest in the subjects. I guess there were roughly 100 people there." Richard and Kaihsu Tai organised a stand for Sage and we are grateful to them for that and to the organisers for putting together what was evidently a successful day.


Sunday 11th January 2009- Sage is pleased to announce that the latest Sage Words January 2009 is now available to download. Lots of news and items for your diary! 


Kaihsu and Nativity SceneThursday 1st January 2009- Sage had a very pleasant New Year walk despite very chilly conditions. Ten of us met at Badbury Hill, west of Faringdon. The walk took us to Coleshill and Great Coxwell. Highlights were great views of Westmill Wind Farm, two wonderful old churches, and the amazing Tithe Barn at Great Coxwell. Inside the barn was a fantastic large scale nativity scene complete with Kings. After the walk we all decamped back to Karl and Felicity's place in Botley for tea and cakes. Much discussion about previous New Year walks, and what we want to do in the next programme.  Thanks to Karl and Felicity for masterminding the whole event!








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NEWS ARCHIVE
The Sage web site has been archived by the British Library's UK web archiving consortiumand you can see it at Sage archive! This is particularly useful for looking back at our old News items (back to 1st July 2004). So far they have archived the News page 11 times, and each time you can look at the whole previous year. Have a look at:
04 July 2005
07 January 2006
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06 October 2006
07 January 2007
06 April 2007
06 July 2007
06 Oct 2007
05 July 2008
06 Jan 2009