Chaplaincy News - March 2022

Hi Everyone, my name is Lynne Martin and I'm your Medway Campus Chaplain.  My kettle is often on, so feel free to stop by and say hello.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY

Celebrated on March 8^th each year, for over a century, International Women’s Day celebrates the social, economic, cultural, and political achievements of women and also seeks to highlight issues of gender bias.

Did you know …

1608 – Juliana Morell – first woman to earn a doctorate degree

1793 – Hannah Slater – first women to be granted a US patent (for a type of cotton thread)

1903 - Marie Curie - first woman to win a Nobel Prize

1926 – Gertrude Ederle – first woman to swim the English Channel

1932 – Amelia Earhart – first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean

1960 – Sirimavo Bandaranaike – world’s first female Prime Minister

1963 – Valentina Tereshkova – the first woman in space

1969 – Golda Meir – first female Prime Minister in the Middle East

1975 – Junko Tabei – first woman to reach the summit of Mount Everest

2001 – Halle Berry – first African American to win an Academy Award

Why not take time this month to express

your gratitude to a woman you admire …

maybe your mum, your sister, your tutor.

Love is … Tree

(UoG Student Centre)

Thursday, March 3^rd is

University Mental Health Day

Life can be stressful. University study can be stressful. Who do you talk to when life is tough? Do you know where to go to seek a helpful listening ear?  There are multiple layers of help available on campus, but unless we know what is troubling you, we’re unable to help.

IT’S GOOD TO TALK

TAKE TEN with LYNNE

 

For thousands of years story telling has been an integral part of many cultures. Sadly, it’s an art we are in danger of losing. I wonder if you have a favourite story? One that inspires you, makes you laugh or maybe cry? I’d really like to hear from you.

View video: 

Take Ten - The Art of Story Telling

HAPPY HOLI

HOLI is a Hindu Festival that celebrates love, spring and new life. It’s an ancient tradition, a way of saying goodbye to the winter and welcome the spring. The festival has several other names, including the ‘festival of colours’. It includes dancing, singing and the throwing of powdered paint and coloured water.

WHAT’S ON DIARY DATES

March 3^rd

TABLEtalk: Crime & Punishment (via Zoom)

March 17^th

Chaplaincy Pop-Up

Drill Hall Library  10am-2pm

March 19^th

Walk & Picnic @ Lesnes Abbey

(more details to follow)

All welcome at our weekly

World Café

Email the Campus Chaplain for further information or to sign up for any of these events. Follow Medway Campus Chaplaincy on Facebook to keep up with events and news.

Daring to set boundaries is about having the courage to love ourselves, even when we risk disappointing others.

Brene Brown

Thought for the week ...

Love is ... Tree

Throughout most of February the UoG Student Centre (Blake Building) displayed a 'Love is ...' tree.  

Students were invited to take a heart and complete the sentence 'Love is ...' as they saw fit.  On a not so positive note, some of what was written was wholly inappropriate and these were removed 😖  Other comments had such a negative slant, they simply depressed me 😥😥

I thank God, however, for those who wrote thought-provoking and encouraging sentences. 

You made me smile 😃😃😃😃

Here are just a few:

Love is kind 💖

Love is infinite caring 💖

Love is beautiful 💖

Love is the purest form of feeling 💖

Love gives purpose 💖

Love is understanding each other 💖

Love is a special feeling 💖

Love is looking out for others 💖

Love is deep affection for another 💖

Love is family 💖

Love is awesome 💖

Love is patient 💖

Love is giving away your last chocolate 💖

Love is a reason to live 💖

Love is medicine for a good life 💖

Love is meeting your soul mate 💖

Love is divine 💖

Take Ten - The Art of Story Telling

View video:

The Art of Story Telling

For thousands of years, story telling has been an integral part of many cultures. Sadly, it's an art we are in danger of losing. I wonder if you have a favourite story?  One that inspires you, makes you laugh or maybe cry? I'd really like to hear from you.

Thought for the week ...

Medway Light Nights

This was a fantastic free festival of light all around historic Rochester which took place on Feb 11th/12th.

Friday evening began with a Lantern Parade made up of children from 17 schools around Medway who carried lanterns created with the theme of 'Home and Belonging, Love and Respect'. The parade also included some great live music.  If you have a spare 7 minutes, why not take a look at our video:

                                        Lantern Parade

Throughout the evening there were several performances by Icon Theatre in Rochester Castle grounds, using the castle itself as the backdrop to several styles of dance. The performance was entitled 'If Not Now'; it took a journey through various points in history through which communities have joined together to bring about transformation.  It highlighted issues such as poverty, prejudice and climate change.  

It was soooooooooooooooooooo good!!!!!!

There was also a wonderful animation using the Six Poor Travellers' Houses as the backdrop, put together by students from the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Kent (Canterbury). 

This one image doesn't give credit
to the overall showing.

Eastgate Gardens housed a 4-metre high hourglass exhibit by Emergency Exit Arts, which was a story of migration.

One aspect of the evening that I sadly missed was the Dickensian Fire Laboratory in The Vines park.  Thanks Aiste for this photo. Can't help thinking that if I'd gone there I might have been able to get warm!!!

Thought for the week ...

Thought for the week ...

Our Queen's Platinum Jubilee

Today marks 70 years since Queen Elizabeth II's accession to the throne.  Following the death of her father, King George VI, at the age of just 27, Elizabeth became our queen.  

She has served this country faithfully for the past 70 years. Personally, I have great admiration for her and her unswerving faith through so many challenges.

The Archbishop of York penned this prayer for the Queen's 70th anniversary:

Almighty God, the fountain of all goodness. bless our Sovereign Lady, Queen Elizabeth, and all who are in authority under her; that they may order all things in wisdom and righteousness and peace, to the honour and glory of your name and the good of our church and people; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. AMEN