Dear Prime Time member,

As I sit at my desk and write this, I’m looking across the churchyard towards the church.  There’s blue sky and the sun is shining.  From the warmth of the Old Rectory, it looks almost spring-like outside; but I know that if I opened the front door, I would be greeted by a blast of arctic air that would make it feel anything but spring-like!  It has been a little chilly this week to say the least hasn’t it?  I for one have been pleased to not be living in Scotland this week when temperatures of -22.9 degrees Celsius were recorded in some areas!  It makes our -6  or -7 seem positively balmy!

I hope that you have managed to keep warm and snug in your homes and hopefully no Prime Timer was tempted out into the snow and put themselves at increased risk of falling over.  I was relieved to be able to stay inside and just look at the snowy views from inside my warm house!  I must admit, there haven’t been many advantages of the restricted lifestyle that’s been imposed on us because of the pandemic, but not having to worry about driving in the snow has definitely been a plus point for me.  Usually when snow is forecast, I’m tossing and turning at night wondering whether I’ll be able to get Harry to school in the morning, “will I even be able to get the car down the hill?” (And back up again!) and “what happens if we get stuck?”.  I have been able to sleep easy over the last couple of snowy weeks, safe in the knowledge that come what may, I won’t need to get in the car and drive about.  Every (snow) cloud has a silver lining…!

On the subject of sleeping easy (or not as the case may be…) are you one of the many people reporting greater trouble in sleeping since the start of the pandemic?  So many people are struggling to sleep at this worrying and unsettling time and sleep researchers are now calling this ‘Covid-somnia’!  Apparently, older adults seem to be disproportionately affected by this phenomenon; so in response, the Daily Hope telephone line that I’ve mentioned in my emails a couple of times previously has recently commenced a new service: ‘Sleep Well With Daily Hope’.  This option on the existing free phone service comprises of a series of gentle and relaxing reflections using wonderful Bible verses for callers to listen to on the phone while they're in bed.  Just dial 0800 804 8044 in the usual way and follow the instructions on the menu.  For ‘Sleep Well With Daily Hope’ you’ll be asked to press ‘#’. It is well documented how beneficial sleep is to improving mental, emotional and physical health, but research has also shown a strong correlation between a good night’s sleep and effective vaccination.  It would appear that while you are resting, your body is still hard at work producing anti-Covid antibodies in response to the vaccination you have received.  What greater incentive is needed at the present time to pick up the phone and listen to ‘Sleep Well With Daily Hope’?!

I know one of the things that impacts on my sleep is if I’ve been in front of a computer screen too late into the evening – my brain just seems to be buzzing when I do finally get to bed.  I seem to have spent a lot of time on Zoom again this week; as the expression goes, ‘like buses’, invitations to join Zoom meetings seem to have all come up at once in the last few days.  No need to feel too sorry for me though, many of these sessions on Zoom have been very enjoyable!  One such ‘virtual’ meeting that took place this week was a get-together of the Prime Time Team.  It was lovely to see Jane, Di and Olwen again, (if only on a screen) and as always there was plenty of laughter alongside the serious business of planning some Prime Time activities for you to enjoy.  So, open your diaries, grab a pen and make note of the following:

Tuesday 23rd March at 2.30pm – Prime Time Quiz (on Zoom).  I have handed back the Quiz Master’s baton to Di  after she briefly relinquished it to me for the Christmas Quiz.  Don’t worry, I won’t make a habit of picking up the baton – apparently I made it too hard…!) Zoom joining details to follow nearer the time.

New to Prime Time, commencing on Thursday 25th February – Coffee & Chat.  A regular weekly drop-in session for Prime Time members to catch up with the team and each other.  Members of the Prime Time Team will be on Zoom between 3.30 and 4pm each Thursday afternoon between 25th February and 1st April.  If there is ongoing demand, we will consider extending this beyond Easter too.  So pour yourself a cuppa, bring a biscuit or cake along to the Zoom room too (to make it really feel like a Prime Time event!) and chat away with old friends (and maybe make some new ones…)  The Zoom joining details will remain the same each week:

The direct link is: https://zoom.us/j/9463914833

Or the Personal Meeting ID (PMI) if you prefer to type it directly into the Zoom ‘Join a Meeting’ box is 946-391-4833

Password:  in both instances you will also need to enter the following password: 2021

We have an idea for a project that we could all jointly collaborate on, a project to ensure that our memories of the past year do not get forgotten.  These Coffee & Catch Up sessions will give us the ideal opportunity to discuss this project and to share ideas. So if you have been writing poetry in lock down, taking photographs or tried out a new recipe that you’d like to share, bring it along and tell us about it.  But if you would prefer to join the session and just chat about day to day life, or just sit and listen – that’s absolutely fine too.

You may have noticed that when I mentioned the Prime Time Team, there was a name missing from the usual line-up; my colleague Karen Franks.  Karen decided at the start of lock down last March that she would like the time to concentrate on her family and therefore she hasn’t been working alongside me for nearly a year now.  However, we have kept in regular contact and it was her hope that she would return once there was a greater need again for the administrative support she was able to provide.  However, over the past year, Karen’s parents have both had periods of ill health and she needs to have much more flexibility in her week in order to support them to the extent that she would wish to.  With no timescale available as to when we might be able to get face-to-face activities up and running again for Prime Time, we’ve mutually agreed that now seems a good time for Karen to be able to say that she is permanently available to support her Mum & Dad whenever they need it and so Karen will not be returning to her role with us.

This is absolutely the right decision for Karen.  Like myself, she has a very strong focus on family and I am not at all surprised that she feels her role now is to be there for her Mum & Dad.  Karen’s departure is a big loss for us but Karen leaves us having  gained a lot of knowledge and understanding regarding the challenges associated with advancing age and that will be of enormous benefit to both Karen and her parents as they face this new stage of their lives together.

Karen has been with us for about 5 years now.  Karen has definitely been my wing-woman and her help and presence has enabled us to grow Prime Time and the wider BHC Older Person’s Ministry into what it is today.  Karen has taken on so much more than what she originally thought she would be doing and she risen to every challenge.  It was Karen who has been the one producing all the beautiful invitations and flyers that you receive from Prime Time; until lock down she was the one sending out all the emails, she answered phone calls, wrote letters, prepared articles for both parish magazines and logged everything that we were doing so that we could keep track of our activities and report back on what had been achieved.  We even persuaded her to come out from behind her desk on occasions and come to some of the events she helped to organise – so I know that a number of you will have met her.

We would like to thank Karen for all that she has given to us and to let her leave with a gift that she can remember her time with us by.  There is a collection open here at the Old Rectory if anyone would like to contribute.  Cash or cheques (made payable to Busbridge PCC) can be left at the Old Rectory and it is also possible to use the ‘Giving’ page on our website:  https://www.bhcgodalming.org/giving  referencing your donation ‘Karen Franks’.

Saying goodbye is never easy and the inevitable changes that come with personnel movement take a while to get used to.  But I am reminded that ‘For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven’ (Ecclesiastes Chap 3, verse 1).  The season for Karen’s time with us has passed and there is a new season ahead for both Prime Time and Karen.  Further encouragement can be found in Isaiah Chapter 43, verses 18-19: ‘Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert’.  Perhaps you feel that you are being called to help ‘make a way in the wilderness’ or be ‘the river in the desert’ – if not you, then maybe someone you know?  We encourage all volunteers, not just people who are members of our church community who step forward.  So if you are someone, or know of someone who has a heart for supporting older people and they have a little spare time, whether they are church goers or not, please do feel free to give them my phone number or email address so that I can chat to them about the opportunities we can offer.

It is a time of continued uncertainty and change for us all. ‘The Times They Are A-Changin’ as Bob Dylan famously sang.  But may we all find comfort in the knowledge that ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’. (Hebrews: Chap 13, verse 8)  That’s a thought that certainly helps me to sleep at night.

And to send you off with a smile on your face, a funny quote regarding the Covid-era that popped up on my radar this week:  ‘The world has turned upside down.  Old folk are sneaking out of the house and their kids are yelling at them to stay indoors!’

Until next Friday (by which time hopefully we’ll be needing a few less layers!)

Penny x