Majestas

In this issue

• New Growth
• Prima Vox
• News
  • Holy Week and Easter at GSM
  • Thankoffering Appeal for Ethiopia
  • Cambridge Mental Welfare Association Celebrates 90 Years, at GSM
  • Great St Mary's Annual Parochial Meeting
  • Reading Job
  • Cambridge Views
• World Heritage
• Natural Theology
• Global Warning
• An Easter Sepulchre in GSM
• Living Ornithologically
• Diary
• Who's Who
• Publication
  • Submissions for the next editions of Majestas

New Growth

Plants contribute to our lives in many ways --- the food we eat, the air we breathe, medicine we use and so on. There are over 250,000 species of flowering plants in the world which have evolved over many millennia.

In Cambridge a physic garden was established by the University in 1762 for the cultivation of medicinal herbs. At the instigation of professor J.S. Henslow (who encouraged Charles Darwin in his early studies) the Botanic Garden moved from the Downing site in 1846 to enable more trees and shrubs to be grown. Dr Tim Upson, Superintendent of the Garden, said: ``We are officially a subdepartment of the Department of Plant Sciences. Our primary role is as a research and teaching facility which is provided through the collections of about 16,000 plants which are cultivated in the 40 acres here.'' The Botanic Garden includes a lake (fed by Hobson's Conduit from the Gog Magog Hills); national plant collections (such as tulips); glasshouses (including a tropical section); a chronological bed in order of plants' introduction into Britain; systematic beds arranged by botanical families; a colourful winter garden; and laboratories for research purposes.

Tim Upson and John Parker

The Director is Professor John Parker, who has responsibility for the development of the Garden, and he said: ``I'm looking for us to be a major centre in Cambridge for public education in science and for life-long learning. I want to use every means we can to get the plant message across. Some of that will be horticultural and concerned with gardening, but a lot of it will be concerned with plants as parts of natural ecosystems and as part of the economy. We have to reverse the trend, for example, of forest destruction and actually start planting trees again. The message I want to get over to everybody is the importance of plants spiritually, emotionally, psychologically, commercially and aesthetically.''

East Anglia is the driest part of the country, with 523mm of rain recorded at the Garden's met. station last year (30% of which fell in June). In conjunction with Cambridge Water Company, a dry garden was planted last autumn and Tim explained: ``It is really a garden to demonstrate a range of plants which we believe should survive in the dry Cambridgeshire climate without the need for any artificial irrigation once they have become established. It will also demonstrate some of the cultural methods you can use to encourage plants to survive drought, so we will be using mulches of pea-gravel and bark to try to keep the moisture in the soil. When the garden was prepared we didn't dig any extra fertiliser or manure into the soil so that we didn't encourage luxurious plant growth which is very susceptible to any kind of stress such as drought and winter cold. The plants are being grown quite hard to make them tolerant of stress and also to encourage strong root systems to go out and try to find water.''

It has been estimated that a quarter of the world's seed-bearing plants face extinction over the next 50 years. The Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew have set up a Millennium Seed Bank in Sussex, focussing initially on plants growing in arid areas such as Africa, India and South America on which a quarter of the world's human population exists. The seeds are stored at -20¡C and 20% humidity so that they can be studied and reintroduced into the wild at any time. The Cambridge Botanic Garden has carried out work on plants native to East Anglia and seed from the project has been sent for storage in the Seed Bank.

Research into genetics can often be applied by plant breeders, as Tim explained: ``An example of that is the work of Professor Parker, who is a geneticist and is interested in supernumerary sections on chromosomes. These are extra attachments to chromosomes but they seem to be associated with salt tolerance. Understanding if this is true and the mechanisms behind it could potentially lead to something which could be used in plant breeding for salinity tolerance. This is becoming more and more important with things like acidification and increased agriculture leading to a saline environment.'' He went on: ``We are in process of developing a genetic garden. We'll be able to show the effects of genetics on our everyday life. So, for example, we'll be growing beds of Antirrhinum (snapdragons) --- the normal type but also mutant types in which single changes in the chromosomes have led to slight differences in the flower morphology.'' Tim also said: ``On the food production side we are growing beds which show the origin of some crop plants. For example, how all the Brassicas which we eat (Brussels sprouts, cabbages, cauliflowers and broccoli) have actually evolved from a single wild ancestor and given rise to all these various vegetables.''

Professor Parker considers that the Garden provides re-creation --- in the nurture of plants and in the research programme, as well as a recreational amenity which refreshes 100,000 visitors each year. He also emphasises that stewardship applies to the natural world. We should not exploit resources: ``We must get across the message of sustainability for humans because ultimately the plants are our salvation or, conversely, our damnation if we don't take care of them.''

The Cambridge University Botanic Garden is open every day (except 25th and 26th December). Information is available on 01223 336265.

Prima Vox

Revd Jeremy Clark-King

One of my first visits as Chaplain to the University was to the Botanic Garden. I had a wonderful tour among those remarkable plants, trees and buildings. The only problem was that I went in March and most things were still dormant. However, I was taken through the Winter Garden, which is a collection of plants, shrubs and trees that provide colour or aroma, even on the bleakest day. The Superintendent who was with me was justly proud of the Garden and kept encouraging me to come back in May to see its full glory. Spring is a wonderful time to be in the Garden as the plants shrug off the winter and burst into life. And yet, that is not really what is happening. As the Winter Garden showed, life is there all the time. It may be deeply hidden behind thick woody stems or just visible in tiny, hardy, alpine flowers, but life is there.

In a story by Mary Fahy called The Tree that Survived the Winter we are given a way into the thoughts and feelings of a tree in early spring:

``The tree awakened earlier than usual one morning and stretched her arms toward the horizon as if to invite the early rays of dawn into her world. She shivered with delight, wiggling her roots in the muddy earth, which had only recently yielded its frozen hardness... She relaxed the tight fibers of her being which she had unwittingly held rigid during the cold gray months. `I have survived the winter!' she exulted. `I have survived and I have grown and the Sun shines.'

``Then she recalls the dark days of winter and feels the scars of the wounds in her bark and remembers the fear of brittle branches breaking. She angrily demands of the Sun, `Where were you when I needed you?' The Sun shines more intensely and replies, `You survived the winter because you are, and were, and always will be very much loved. For that small place deep within you that remained unfrozen and open to mystery, that is where I have made my dwelling. And long, long before you felt my warmth surrounding you, you were being freed and formed in ways so deep and profound that you could not possibly know what was happening.'''

Martin Luther King noted that ``Resurrection is not just written in the books but in every springtime leaf.'' Take a spring walk in the University Botanic Garden to celebrate the overcoming of death and the joy of new life.

News

Holy Week and Easter at GSM

Details of services and events at Great St Mary's for Holy Week and Easter are as follows.

On Palm Sunday (5th April) the Parish Communion will begin at 9.20am in St Michael's with the Procession, which will arrive at GSM at 9.30am. At 6.30pm there will be a Service of Music and Readings for Passiontide.

On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week, in addition to those at 8am, there will be Holy Communion services at 8pm (Rite A) in St Michael's. They will include a series of short addresses exploring Passiontide themes.

At 8pm on Maundy Thursday (9th April) the Eucharist of the Last Supper will take place, followed by the Watch in St Andrew's Chapel until midnight.

Good Friday (10th April) will begin with a Family Service at 9.30am. A service of Mattins with the Litany will take place at 10.30am. At 11.40am, in the Market Place, there will be an Ecumenical Act of Witness involving all City-centre churches. The Good Friday Addresses, given by the Rt Revd John Taylor (formerly Bishop of St Albans), start at 12noon and are followed by the Liturgy of the Cross at 1.30pm.

Services on Easter Day (12th April) begin at 5.30am with the Easter Day Vigil and Ceremonies. At 8am there will be a service of Holy Communion (Book of Common Prayer). At 9.30am the Parish Communion takes place, with Mattins at 11.15am. Choral Evensong begins at 6.30pm.

Thankoffering Appeal for Ethiopia

St Lukes, Gambella

Ethiopia has been chosen by the Wider Concerns Committee to be the focus of the 1998 Easter Thankoffering. The recipients of the Thankoffering will be the St Luke's Anglican Community in Gambella, which is situated three hundred miles from Addis Ababa. The community is a startling contrast to Great St Mary's, having only recently been established.

Many of the parishioners are refugees from the Sudan, who have fled in terror from the Civil War which has been raging there for much of the last thirty years. Medicines are particularly needed by the people of Gambella and each person needing help can be given the appropriate medicine for around 30 to 40 pence.

John Malesh and John Binns

John Binns visited St Luke's on his recent visit to Ethiopia and members of Great St Mary's who attended the recent GSM evening were able to see slides of the church and of the parishioners in the course of their worship. During his visit John was invited to preach at the Sunday service and join with them in celebrating the Eucharist.

The Wider Concerns Committee hope that you will respond equally to St Luke's Church in Gambella, where the first steps of friendship have been sown in a spirit of partnership.

Great St Mary's Annual Parochial Meeting

The Annual Parochial Church Meeting will take place on Tuesday, 28th April, at 7.45pm, in St Michael's. All members of GSM are welcome to come.

Cambridge Mental Welfare Association Celebrates 90 Years, at GSM

Cambridge Mental Welfare Association is celebrating its 90th birthday with a special service at Great St Mary's on Saturday, 4th April 1998, at 3pm. The preacher will be the Bishop of Ely, the Rt Revd Stephen Sykes (Patron of the Association), and the service will involve CMWA staff and clients. Refreshments will follow in the church. All are welcome to come. For further details please call CMWA, tel: (01223) 311230.

Reading Job

A dramatised reading of the Book of Job was presented in GSM on Sunday, 1st March. The readers were Jacqui Avery, David Girling, Penny Granger, Daniel Hilken, Peter Hilken, Susan Hilken, Margaret Ingram, Peter Naylor and Mavis Perkins. The text was edited by Peter Hilken.

Cambridge Views

Can you discover the location of this view in Cambridge? Bring or send the answer, and your name and address, to Majestas, Great St Mary's, Cambridge CB2 3PQ, by 30th April. The first correct answer drawn out will win a book token for £10 donated by Heffers Booksellers.

The milestone shown in the March issue is at the junction of Trumpington Road and Chaucer Road.

World Heritage

Martin Holdgate explores the meaning of conservation in today's world.

Bowermans Nose, Dartmoor

The world's Governments and most thinking people now accept a duty to `conserve the heritage'. The dictionary says `heritage' is whatever is inherited, handed down. Not just whatever we inherit personally, but the whole world of nature and past human creativity --- landscapes, forests, coral reefs, wild species, great buildings, works of art, books, poems. Tomorrow's children will even inherit the Teletubbies.

Even the natural world today has been influenced, and much of it shaped, by people. The bleak moors of the English Pennines or Dartmoor were densely forested until our Bronze Age ancestors began the work of clearance --- with similar dire environmental consequences to those we condemn in the tropics today. The `landscape plotted and pieced, fold and fallow and plough' of which Hopkins wrote has been pieced by human plotting. The best of that landscape still has room for wild species: has woods rich in plants and insects, and clear streams with a diversity of aquatic life. And it blends the natural, the human-shaped and the human made --- the churches and great houses, cottages and village greens, townscapes and canals --- in a rich tapestry.

There are two sides to `conservation'. One is preservation --- protecting both wild nature and the `built heritage' so that they are there for future generations. The other is ` sustainable use' --- a recognition that we can (indeed must) use nature but must not abuse our dominion.

The Buddhist Erdene Zuu Monastery near Kara Koram in Monglia (currently being rebuilt after destruction during Stalinist purges)

We must conserve the natural world because we cannot live without it. Green plants renew the oxygen that is our vital breath. We depend on other living things for our food, medicines, fibre, timber, and much else besides. Our advanced agriculture still goes back to nature to cull genes from the wild relatives of our crops. Even the `greenhouse effect' of which we hear so much today is natural: water vapour and carbon dioxide in the atmosphere retain radiation and make the planet some 30 degrees warmer than it would otherwise be, and therefore habitable. Our concerns today about emissions of carbon dioxide and other `greenhouse gases' come because they stoke up the natural greenhouse.

Conservation, therefore, is self-interest. But many of our problems come because it is not always self-interest in the narrow personal sense. It may seem very sensible to individuals to get rich by logging a tract of rain forest, or taking all the fish they can catch while there is yet time. Conservation has a strongly ethical dimension, and at its root is the belief that we have a moral duty to care for the rest of the creation even if we have to live off it and are allowed to use it. The World Charter for Nature, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in 1983, states that all forms of life warrant respect, regardless of their usefulness to man. The concept of sustainable development --- ``development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs'' --- is also an ethical statement. It implies that it is wrong for a part of the world community to use a disproportionate share of the resources of the planet, or for today's people to deplete the resources on which tomorrow's more numerous people will have to live.

In much the same way, we have a duty to pass on the great works of human creativity. When the temples of Agkor Wat are damaged by the wars of Indo-China, or Venice subsides into its lagoon, the whole world is impoverished. But the human artefacts are ours --- our works, to do with as we will. The world of nature is God's creation, of which we are a part and on which we depend. We should conserve it as an act of reverence as well as an act of common sense.

Sir Martin Holdgate, Kt PhD FIBiol (above) is a former Senior Biologist at the British Antarctic Survey. He was Director General of Research and then Chief Scientist at the Department of the Environment and the Department of Transport and is now President of The Zoological Society of London and a Trustee of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Natural Theology

John Ray

Philip Oswald recalls a trio of Cambridge academic clerics, all with a passionate interest in the natural world.

``WE URGE men of University standing to spare a brief interval from other pursuits for the study of nature and of the vast library of creation so that they can gain wisdom in it at first hand and learn to read the leaves of plants and to interpret the characters impressed on flowers and seeds. We know of no occupation more worthy and delightful for a liberal man than to contemplate the beautiful works of nature and so to honour the infinite wisdom and goodness of the Divine Creator.'' So wrote John Ray, Fellow of Trinity College, in the Latin preface to a small book published in Cambridge in 1660 (the year in which he was ordained). This Catalogus Plantarum was to be the first of a number of influential works on Natural History written over the next 45 years, mainly after he left Cambridge in 1662. It was to prove a landmark in botanical literature, being the first of a long line of British local Floras describing the wild plants of a county or other geographical district. Among the plants recorded in it is ``Butter-Burre, Pestilent-wort. By the river Cam, as a little on this side Grantcester meadows''. It is still there on the river bank in Paradise Nature Reserve, and on 5th March I saw butterbur's pale pink conical spikes in full flower and its broad leaves, formerly used for wrapping butter and (reputedly) curing the plague, just appearing.

In an age when we have inherited a view of Science and Religion as distinct and separate, if not in opposition to one another, Ray's assertion that the study of nature is a means to the worship of God may seem almost mediaeval. Yet Ray was not just repeating a traditional viewpoint but rather was the first in a line of Cambridge parson-naturalists who strove first to gain acceptance of the Natural Sciences in the University and later to bridge the gap that developed between them and Theology. Thirty-one years later Ray produced another small but highly influential book, The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation, of which his biographer, Charles Raven, wrote: ``it supplied the background for the thought of Gilbert White; it was imitated, and extensively plagiarised, by William Paley in his famous Natural Theology; and more than any other single book it initiated the true adventure of modern science, and is the ancestor of the Origin of Species.''

The first Professor of Botany at Cambridge was appointed in 1725. The fourth occupant of the Chair, the Revd John Stevens Henslow (1796---1861; see page 1), Fellow of St John's College, was a brilliant teacher who inspired not only Charles Darwin but many others among his students. As well as seeing the importance of a Botanic Garden, he organised field excursions and invented the practical class and its accompanying demonstration bench which are now fundamental elements in the Natural Sciences Tripos. Later he was instrumental in establishing Science, and particularly observational Natural History, in national educational curricula.

I have already mentioned my third Cambridge parson-naturalist: Canon Charles Raven (1885---1964) was Regius Professor of Divinity and later Master of Christ's College and Vice-Chancellor. As well as an influential theological lecturer, preacher and author and the biographer not only of John Ray but of Père Teilhard de Chardin (two men with whom he felt a close affinity), he was a leading pacifist and feminist and an outstanding field ornithologist and botanist, who, with his son John, painted almost the whole of the British flora.

All three men were passionately interested in the natural world and in demonstrating to others its relevance in a religious context. All might be described as Liberal Theologians, who rejected what they saw as ultraconservative and obscurantist views held by many of their contemporaries, arguing that human beings should use their God-given faculty of reason in the study of Science and Religion alike.

Many scientists do not accept that Christian theology and modern science can be reconciled. However, there certainly is today a wider recognition within Christianity of creation theology and of human responsibilities in environmental issues. On Sunday, 15 February, three environmental sermons were preached in Great St Mary's in services emphasising God's creative power. Ray, Henslow and Raven would certainly have approved.

Further information may be found in the following books: Charles E. Raven, John Ray: Naturalist (C.U.P., Cambridge, 1942; 2nd ed. 1950, 1986). Jean Russell-Gebbett, Henslow of Hitcham: Botanist, Educationalist and Clergyman (Terence Dalton, Lavenham, 1977). F.W. Dillistone, Charles Raven: Naturalist, Historian, Theologian (Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1975). S.M. Walters, The Shaping of Cambridge Botany (C.U.P., Cambridge, 1981).

Philip Oswald has long combined botanical and theological interest. His career was in Nature Conservation.

Global Warning

The Rt Revd Hugh Montefiore reminds us of the importance of protecting our future by using natural resources ecologically now.

Everyone by now is aware that the greatest environmental problem facing the world concerns global warming. It will affect weather worldwide, it will cause the melting of Arctic and Antarctic ice, it will cause wide-scale flooding of low-lying countries by the sea, it will result in food shortages and changes of crops, it will cause the alteration of ocean currents, and this may well result in the relocation of the Gulf Stream so that paradoxically Great Britain, far from warming up as it is now doing, will have the same climate as that of Greenland. It is already beginning to affect us a bit, but it is nothing to the effect it will have on our grandchildren. Furthermore, once these trends are set in motion, they are difficult to stop, and difficult to forecast. Jim Lovelock, the originator of the `Gaia hypothesis' fears that it will jolt the earth into an ice age, which is after all its favourite state.

Everyones know that last December there was a world conference on global warming at Kyoto in Japan. But what happened there? You can look at it in two ways. From one point of view, it was a tremendous success. For the first time in history nations of the world have acknowledged that there is a problem of global warming. They have agreed to reduce the emission of the most important gases which cause this --- by 2015 an overall cut of 5% from 1990 levels. At least that's a start, and, although we can (and must) improve on it later, it gives us hope for the future. It's not the first time that a world conference has agreed to cut certain emissions. It happened in the case of CFCs, which have resulted in the thinning of the ozone layer. And now there is a agreement too about `greenhouse gases'.

From another point of view, Kyoto was a dismal failure. The developing countries don't have to make any cuts at all, despite the fact that their rapid development is bound to increase their emission of the greenhouse gases, especially in China. The World Bank, never a very environmentally minded body, has actually made grants for grossly polluting coal-fired generators in India. As for the developed countries, Britain wanted a 15% cut all round. But what was agreed was a 5% overall drop on 1990 levels by 2015, applied differentially --- the European Union dropping by 8%, a 5% cut by US, Japan and Russia, and a 5% increase for Australia and Norway. Considering that the US went into the conference refusing any cuts at all, when tremendous pressure was put on their government by the energy lobby, even a 5% cut can be considered something of an achievement, meagre as it may seem.

On the other hand one wonders what will actually happen. The agreement has to be ratified by all the countries concerned, and no one imagines that the US Congress will be able to bring itself to do that. It was agreed that countries which have promised to reduce emissions could in principle buy permits from countries that were under-emitting, and the result of this may well be that some of them will not actually reduce their own emissions to reach their targets. For example, the US wants to teach Bolivian peasants to grow orchids and work as tour guides to discourage them from cutting down trees in a national park. Over 30 years this is said to prevent the release of 14.5 million tonnes of carbon into the atmosphere. It would then claim this as a `credit' against its own huge emissions. And there is no one to check the figures or to police such deals.

What about individuals? Can we save energy? Yes, we can. I have applied to my Council for a grant to insulate my house (it actually provides free grants to the elderly): why not do the same? In London, where I live, we can resolve not to use a car in London unless there is no other way. I realise that already many people in Cambridge use bicycles (incidentally the most calory-efficient means of transport, superior even to walking). We can use the washing machine only on full load: we can fill the electric kettle only half full. Trivial, you think? Then try wearing more clothes in the house this winter and you'll find you can turn down the central heating. (I'm sure that Cambridge colleges could review their central heating.) When I went to the Secretary of State for the Environment with a box of signatures from the Church's Global Warming Appeal, the first thing he said to us was: ``How many of you are wearing vests?'' We always used to keep warm in the past by wearing more clothes: we might consider doing the same today.

An Easter Sepulchre in GSM

Easter Sepulchre at Hawton

The north wall of the chancel contains an arch framing a recess. It was probably built as a monument to some local person, with the intention that it should also be used as an Easter Sepulchre. Monuments placed in similar positions have survived in better condition in some other churches. Many of these contain imagery of the resurrection of Christ or of Christ in Majesty. In the later Middle Ages all churches would have had some form of Easter Sepulchre, although many of these were not permanent parts of the building but collapsible wooden structures, erected for the ceremonies of Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday. During the liturgy of those days the story of the death and resurrection of Christ was dramatically re-enacted, as if each church was Jerusalem. On Good Friday, after the reading of the Gospel story of Jesus' death on the cross, the consecrated bread, normally kept on or above the high altar, was taken in procession through the church and then deposited in the Sepulchre to symbolise his burial. A watch of prayer was kept until the midnight vigil of Holy Saturday. The churchwardens' records retain references to this. For instance in 1539 John Capper was paid a small sum for watching the Sepulchre. During the liturgy of Holy Saturday clerics representing the three Maries approached the tomb where another, dressed all in white asked them: ``Whom do you seek?''. To their reply ``Jesus of Nazareth'' he answered, using the words of the angel [Mark 16:1-8] ``He is not here; he is risen.''

Some of the surviving Sepulchres have carved images making their purpose clear. The most complex of these is that in the church of Hawton in Nottinghamshire which has the sleeping soldiers at the bottom. In the middle section are the Maries, the angel and the resurrected Christ, together with an aumbry for the Sacrament. Above these is the Ascension. Great St Mary's probably never had carved imagery. For the ceremonies a small shrine-like cupboard would have been placed in the recess to represent the grave within the tomb. These dramatic ceremonies were abolished at the Reformation, but the empty recess in itself serves as a reminder of the empty tomb and of the everlasting Easter proclamation: ``Alleluia. Christ is risen! He is risen indeed. Alleluia!''

This article forms part of a series describing our Church building.

• Index to articles
• Previous article: The font
• Next article: Cambridge Milestones

Living Ornithologically

Heron at Cley

Thea Cockcroft reveals why birdwatching has become a spiritual activity for her.

My first really conscious thought about watching birds was as a Girl Guide, and I was doing a nature test, watching and listening to what was around me. Since then, it was, perhaps, the fascination of African birds that really set me going. I spent many hours in my sister's garden at Budo in Kampala, watching weaver birds making nests and hornbills with their amazing beaks. Then, during many visits to Australia, I learnt to identify parrots, cockatoos, birds of prey and myriads of others. Three particular National Park/Nature Reserves will always be remembered: Lawn Hill in the north of Queensland --- wonderful red gorges, tropical vegetation and fantastic birdlife; Kakadu with its millions of birds at dawn and dusk --- jacanas or lily trotters, with their huge feet to aid walking on lily pads, majestic grey and white sea eagles and much else; Tidbinbilla in the Australian Capital Territory --- full of lovely colourful parrots, sulphur crested cockatoos, galahs and emus who like to share your picnic! God is surely out there in these wonderful places.

Golden Plover at Rutland Water

Here at home it is fun to watch birds from my windows --- starlings bathing in puddles, sparrows on my bird table, occasionally a sparrowhawk. There are many interesting nature reserves to visit in East Anglia. Cley --- one of the first in the country --- recently devastated by floods, but recovering fast (nature is amazing). Titchwell, another wonderful spot --- lagoons, reed beds, marshes and the sea and beach, always plenty to see even on a freezing cold winter's day. Minsmere --- a reserve celebrating its fiftieth anniversary. Bitterns (big brown heron-like birds, rare now) are regularly seen here, though they are very hard to spot in the reeds, being well camouflaged. Around Cambridge there is Fowlmere, with disused watercress beds, reed beds and pools fed by springs, also woodland. I enjoy evening walks there in spring and summer. Evenings in May or June can be magical, with the air full of singing birds. One often sees kingfishers perching and fishing in pools. Another good spot is Milton Country Park --- lakes and trees and grassland. I have heard a nightingale there and the young geese in early summer are fascinating to watch.

Why do I enjoy watching birds so much? It gets me out into the fresh air and countryside, it has taught me to be observant. Also, to be patient; you can't hurry birds, when you are seeking what is calling! Above all, I find the peace and love of God out there, as much as in church and other places.

Diary

All events take place in Great St Mary's unless otherwise advertised.

Who's Who

Since this is the same from issue to issue, we have included a single copy of it on the site, as our Who's who at GSM page.

Publication

Majestas is edited by Robert Avery, Sheila Cameron, David Hollier, Philip Oswald (proofs) and John Sturdy (HTML) and published by: Great St Mary's The University Church, Cambridge CB2 3PQ, Tel (01223) 350914, Fax (01223) 426555.

Please contact the editors at the above address.

Submissions for the next editions of Majestas

The deadline for the May edition of Majestas is 6th April, and for the June edition, 4th May. Please submit copy to the Church Office.

The Parish

For further details of the parish, including the regular service times, please see the GSM home page.