TALENT  At the time of writing, at the end of August, Ginni was off on her summer holidays. Well-deserved of course following a busy period culminating in successfully achieving her challenge of taking the Horse Blessing Service sitting on a horse. Well done to horse and rider as well as the other 22 horses that attended. Indeed, following this success, it was rumoured that she went off on a fortnights pony trekking holiday. Ok, maybe that bit is fake news! As I write this what is sadly not in dispute in the news is the endless revelations of child abuse that are again coming to the fore with the Pope’s visit to Ireland. Such terrible historic disclosures are not restricted to the Catholic Church as the Anglican Church also has an awful burden of guilt. Clearly, we all share a responsibility to rebuild trust in our church and as an important part of that many of us have been undertaking our safeguarding training on line and through attending courses. The training has been put together very thoughtfully and is well-presented given the sensitivity of the subject matter and the challenging role the church has in helping both the abused and the abusers. We are all better prepared to fulfil our roles in rebuilding trust by making our churches safer places in the future. We must give particular thanks to our safeguarding officers and pray that they are given the guidance they need in such important roles. Time to move to a more upbeat subject. As we work on our church in Great Wymondley and move to the next stages in our master plan, at each point that we hit a tricky situation I have been very grateful for the ideas, practical support and initiatives that come forward from within our community. This makes me realise what a wonderful breadth and depth of talent we are blessed with within our benefice. I am reminded of the parable of the talents, indeed talent which means our natural ability is derived from the parable, where Jesus teaches us that we must use our gifts wisely. If we all heed the lesson of the parable that we must use our talents and abilities, as well as our wealth, in God's service, with the enormous talent we have we can look forward very positively to the ways in which we can enrich our churches and communities. In my role as Churchwarden in a church under renovation I would not surprisingly highlight a quote from Exodus “Let every skilful craftsman among you come and make all that the Lord has commanded.” We must also of course compliment Reverend Ginni on her many talents, including now horse riding and the one that I am very aware of as I write this PAX preface, that of delegation! Looking back to what I said in May my hopes have only partially been fulfilled. Certainly, the rain stopped and the sunshine came out but with such enthusiasm that I fear the crops have suffered. However, as we hold our Harvest Festivals throughout the benefice I am sure that we will be able to give thanks to the talented farmers and growers who have made the best of our Mediterranean summer to grow and harvest our crops. Best wishes for the autumn season - Paul Harding