The Silent Appeal #4
The church is beautiful at night; I’m not surprised you take some quiet time there every evening.
When was it built? This area has that late art deco feel of the 1930s.
I love the little stairway and the room beneath the choir gallery.
It’s quite a warren under there! Such a shame the bell tower is so run-down, but as you say, there are so few people who can repair specialist buildings, the cost is prohibitive.
My three friends are still under my wing at Fairways.
Ever since Georgia refused to be Gerda, I’ve been desperate that they don’t do anything else to disrupt the play.
Amelia and Lucas married spontaneously at a very turbulent time in their lives and I’m afraid they still have a lot of maturing to do.
Meanwhile, Georgia is lost and alone. It’s difficult to reach her as there’s an age gap (she’s only twenty) and she doesn’t open up to me the way many people do.
Do you find that as you get older, younger people relate to you less and vice versa?
Good news from the Fairway Players is that Sarah-Jane’s sister swept through the rehearsal like a whirlwind and transformed every scene for the better. Kevin was as in awe of her as we all were.
Did you mind that I sat with you in the church during tea break? Like I said, it’s a relief for me to speak with someone I’m not responsible for and who doesn’t want me to smile, reassure, and advise them. Same time next Monday? God bless, Fran
To: Fran Elroy-Jones
From: Rev. Joshua Harries
Date: February 11, 2025
Subject: Re: Last night
Dear Fran,
Last night was lovely! Thank you for bringing me a cup of tea and a biscuit. Most unexpected. I believe that “secret” door is the original door between church hall and vicarage. The backstage area was reconfigured years ago and the passageway turned into a cupboard for the scouts.
I agree, the church is beautiful and peaceful, which is why I stay for longer than strictly necessary to lock up.
I often sit in a pew and read or run through parish emails on the laptop.
Reverend Richard is meant to lock up three evenings a week, but he’d have to drive from the curatage in Upper Lockwood and the vicarage is practically next door, so I volunteer.
So sorry to hear your friends are going through tough times and using you as their crutch.
It’s a role we often find ourselves in—the listeners.
I’ve been in friendships where there is a talker (them) and a listener (me) and that never changes.
You, I’m delighted to say, are excellent at both talking and listening!
Unfortunately, we see very few young people at St. Barnabas these days as our congregation is aging.
Children of parishioners who attend Sunday school don’t become regular churchgoers, and besides weddings and funerals, many never set foot in a church again.
Even christenings are going out of fashion.
It is a great privilege, Fran, to be confided in by young people, they are the future.
What good news that Nicky-Rose is transforming the play.
I’m looking forward to seeing it in June.
Celia always reserves Elizabeth and me front-row seats on the second night, usually between the mayor and the ladies from the care home who struggle to hear if they sit farther back.
That reminds me, I should put June 6th on the kitchen calendar so we make sure to book a babysitter in good time.
Thank you for reminding me! I might see you next Monday?
Yours truly, Rev. Josh Harries
P.S. The church, church hall, vicarage, and scout hut were all built in the 1950s. They were supposed to have been built in the late 1930s after the houses, but war intervened.
Undated page from a decorative journal belonging to Isabel Beck:
TODAY
Well, I should have another go at using this bullet journal. Every page is labeled “today” and I’m guessing that’s because it’s about mindfulness. After all, there’s no past (it’s over and done with) or future (it hasn’t happened yet), so all we have is today.
It’s today now, obviously, but I’d like to write about yesterday and the Fairways’ rehearsal. Nicky-Rose leapt onto the stage and took over directing from Kevin. She was incredible. She even spoke to ME! She said that Gerda is an important character. Me! Important!
I love being Gerda! She’s the best part I’ve ever had.
The others were very small and didn’t really DO anything, but Gerda is a proper character with an arc, which means she changes as the story goes along.
But that’s not the best thing! I’ve just heard that Kevin wants Emma to make TWO sculptures of me!
Henrietta (the character) makes them to illustrate Gerda’s devotion to her husband, who she is in love with.
Emma has studied sculpture and John has given the go-ahead to buy some clay.
I’m sitting here eating my chia bar and wondering if Kevin’s right and that I’ll have to “sit” for Emma!
I’m torn between whether that might be exciting or dull.
I wonder what happens to the sculptures afterward? Does Emma keep them because she made them, or can I keep them, because they’re of me? I could find somewhere for the big one in my flat and display the small one at work so it’s a talking point with patients.
My eleven o’clock should be here soon, so I’d better put this journal away.
Who’d have thought going back to Lockwood and the Fairway Players would open up such a world of possibility?
It’s still today, of course, and I’m at work in Little Fowey, helping a stream of (mostly) elderly people see better, so nothing has changed in that respect.
It’s just that today I know something new: Fran is yesterday and Nicky-Rose is tomorrow.
To: Nicky-Rose Dearing
From: Stuart Kinsella
Date: February 11, 2025
Subject: Re: Hi
Hi from Jakarta. Saw a cruise ad at a bus stop and thought of you. Old couple with champagne watching dancing girls at a big show. All photoshopped. Funny how you know something isn’t real but it lifts your mood anyway. Stu x
Message exchange between Carol Dearing and Sarah-Jane MacDonald on February 11, 2025:
12:18 p.m. Carol wrote:
So Nicky-Rose went to Fairways last night.
12:22 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Correct. But seeing as we aren’t speaking you can ask her how it went.
12:24 p.m. Carol wrote:
Incorrect. I can’t. She’s out “for a run.” First exercise since she arrived. I gather her input was well received.
12:27 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Correct. She saw nuances no one else spotted. Spoke and everyone listened. Apparently entire group applauded her energy and vision. The set is being rebuilt to her specifications.
12:30 p.m. Carol wrote:
I might suggest she comes with me to Mendhams.
Message exchange between Sarah-Jane MacDonald and Nicky-Rose Dearing on February 11, 2025:
12:36 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Thanks for helping Kevin last night.
12:41 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Weird going to the hall. Last time was early 2000s, with James and Paige and a few others. Were we doing Two Weeks with the Queen? Something like that. The place hasn’t changed, not at ALL.
12:42 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
The place hasn’t.
12:42 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
You’ve got some good actors.
12:43 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Heads-up: Mum wants you to work your magic at Mendhams.
12:43 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
I’m already spoken for at Fairways.
12:57 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
You should tell her. Everything. You’re living in her house, after all.
1:09 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Nothing to tell. It’s over. I’m job hunting and now with the play, there’s something to fill my spare time too.
1:18 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
Been working my butt off forever. Just want some FUN, SJ. Goal is to find a basic job I can pick up at nine and forget at five.
1:19 p.m. Sarah-Jane wrote:
Kevin is in dire need of someone who can converse with his new accounting software.
1:20 p.m. Nicky-Rose wrote:
I’ll pop into his office this p.m.
To: Nicky-Rose Dearing
From: Stuart Kinsella
Date: February 12, 2025
Subject: Re: Hi
Apols re: yesterday’s email. Had one too many after work. Big changes at the bank. A night of the long knives cut our floor by 50 percent. Morale hit the deck. Stu x
To: Emma Crooks
From: Isabel Beck
Date: February 12, 2025
Subject: My sculpture
Hiya Emma,
Sorry to bother you, but it’s about the sculpture you’re going to make of me.
I’m so excited! Kevin says I may have to “sit” for you and I wonder if we could make an afternoon of it?
I work some Saturdays and then have the next Wednesday off, but am usually free on Sundays.
I can work around when you want me, put it that way.
We could have breakfast, brunch, lunch, coffee, afternoon tea, or dinner before, during, or after the “sitting.” The Carousel is now a Wetherspoons so we could eat there.
Now that Nicky-Rose is helping Kevin, I wonder if she should be there too? She has so many wonderful ideas, I’m sure her thoughts on the sculpture will be just as exciting and original. I’ve got all her contact details. Shall I get the three of us together? Love Issy xxx
To: Isabel Beck
From: Emma Crooks
Date: February 12, 2025
Subject: Re: My sculpture
My third eye can sense energies far beyond the visible.
John Cristow talks about how irritating his wife’s devotion to him is.
Gerda’s sheer draining dependence on him is what leads to catastrophe in the story.
Henrietta’s sculptures represent that toxic relationship.
I’ve already opened up my pineal gland to Melpomene and asked for her creative assistance.
I won’t need you to sit for the sculpture. Namaste, Emma x
To: Nicky-Rose Dearing
From: Isabel Beck
Date: February 12, 2025
Subject: My sculpture
Hiya Nicky-Rose,