It was the writer Ralph Hodgson who, I believe, spoke for all of us who feel the mad pace of modern living when he wrote,“ Time you old travelling man, will you not stay, and put up your caravan just for one day?”
In the last edition of this magazine we were reminded that being the 100th edition, it was 25 years ago that Mary Hantke in September 1982 produced the four double sides of A4 paper that was proudly headed ‘Issue No1’.
When recently reading that first copy of Marchwood Village News, I was impressed that despite the passage of time there are still a large number of the same people who continue to serve our community in various ways today, just as they did 25 years ago. However, we must also be grateful to those public spirited people who guided our village community through those early days of expansion but have since moved on, and also for all the new talents that now run so many more organisations in the village, the number of which far exceeds those listed in that history making edition of MVN from 1982.
Of course the format of this magazine has also improved out of all recognition, and yet some things remain the same, and the battle for a decent quality of life for the residents of Marchwood continues. Familiar phrases from the magazine of 25 years ago such as, ‘ heavy traffic on village roads’, ‘dangers to children’, ‘ noise levels’, ‘ health hazards’, ‘ disfiguration of the landscape’ & ‘ at the expense of Marchwood’ still find their echo today.
But we’ve survived, and that’s how life has always been.
With the recent floods in mind, many people have made references to one of the great survivors of all time, that man in the Bible called Noah, who safely emerged from the greatest deluge ever recorded in human history. His permanent memorial is the rainbow, God’s sign of his promise ‘ never to flood the earth again’, but in a church or a school near all of us during the coming months, he will be remembered at Harvest Thanksgiving Services when these familiar words that accompany the first rainbow will again be recalled,“ As long as the earth remains, seedtime & harvest, cold & heat, summer & winter, day & night will never cease.”
The passage of time has certainly proved the basic truth of that promise, and it presents us all with the challenge to say “ Thank You” once in while. I know of no better setting to offer such thanks than in a building beautifully decorated with harvest produce with its lovely aroma as its echoes to the sound of good old harvest hymns.
COME YOU THANKFUL PEOPLE COME
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