Kings Norton Parish
Part of the Church of England
The Parish Church of St Nicolas, Kings Norton, incorporating Hawkesley Church LEP
The Parish Magazine : Sep-Oct 2026
From The Editor
You can now, if you wish, buy a digital version of the Parish Magazine by clicking here. The printed edition is still available for £1.50 at the Parish Office and in St Nicolas' Church. We have no plans to phase it out. You can even have it delivered to your door. Click here to find out how.
If you cannot see the current edition here, refresh your browser and then select This Month from the menu above.
To whet your appetite, here are this month's Editorial and a glimpse of some of the articles which await you in the current issue. Older copies, published more than three months ago, are available free of charge here.
One of my most vivid memories of this summer will be boarding a French train halfway through its journey from Bordeaux to Paris and taking my seat in a carriage that smelled strongly of woodsmoke.
The extraordinary season we have just lived through has brought home, with great force, our vulnerability to heat and our total dependence on water for survival. At times, many of us have felt as though we were living in the 'dry and weary land where there is no water' of which the Psalmist wrote (Ps. 63:1).
There is now no doubt that this is a crisis of our own making. It is therefore entirely appropriate that the church should strengthen its call for us to reflect on our responsibility as stewards of God’s creation (p. 12), to repent, and to pray for wisdom for the future. What better time could there be for this than in the aftermath of a punishing heatwave?
On page 14, Thelma Mitchell leads us in a meditation on water’s importance, not only for our physical wellbeing but also as a metaphor for the abundant life Christ offers to those who trust in him. Jayne Crooks, meanwhile, invites us (p. 26) to plunge our roots more deeply into that living water by focusing more deliberately on the spiritual disciplines of prayer and Bible study.
You will also meet Winifred Hackett, a remarkable engineer from Kings Norton; Tubby Clayton, an inspiring military chaplain; and Dickie Booth, Scoutmaster of this parish. And you should probably get your diary out as you read. There is a lot going on here in the next few months.
