Carole Sharpe lost her sight at the age of 58. But with the help of her dog, she's been able to carry on doing the things she loves. (Crista Cloutier guardian.co.uk, Sunday 11 April 2010 11.00 BST)
As the priest began the ceremony of admittance, two candidates stepped forward, their footsteps echoing off the cold stone-walls of the church of St Bartholomew the Great. Both Mike Tiley and Carole Sharpe wore the verger's ornate ceremonial robes, as did, I noticed, Carole's guide-dog Fran, though hers was more of a cape. She looked like a canine super-hero.
The priest prayed for Michael first. Then Fran. Fran? I was mortified, certain that he had just confused the dog with her owner. But there was no mistake. He gave Fran a warm pat on the head saying, "Believe it or not."
I had just witnessed the first dog being admitted to the Church of England Guild of Vergers. This was history in the making.
There was a hearty round of applause.
Curious about a dog who verges, I went to visit Carole and Fran a few days later. They live in Epsom's beautiful Swail House, a home for the visually-impaired.
Carole wore a smile and bare feet when I arrived and led me to her flat where Fran gave me a wet welcoming nuzzle. Their home was full of books, art, plants, and dog toys. A guitar sat next to an electric keyboard. There was a framed photograph of Carole's two-year old grandson. A favourite possession, she told me.
"But you can't see it."
"Ah," she admitted, "but it's lovely to hold."
"When I first arrived here, I had few possessions. I may have collected a thing or two along the way but I still travel light. Though I'm always sure to bring a guitar."
Carole was born sighted. She explains, "I look at the world in a different way now. I look at what I have seen with eyes, and without my eyes."
She had married a Royal Navy man and she herself worked in the Fleet Air Arm. After the children were born, they settled in Hampshire where she took a job in education with special-needs children.
But life changed and Carole was ready for something different. A lifelong Anglican, she became a verger for the church of St Mary the Boltons in South Kensington.
She loved verging, calling it the happiest period of her life. "You are in the church when it is full and when it's empty. It's the same sacred silence that I found in the African bush."
She felt her calling and joined an order. It was there, preparing to become a nun, that she suffered the accident that took away her sight after 58 years.
Now blind, she left the order. "I spent five months in darkness and silence." She went to Cornwall and stayed with friends, eventually finding a small church where she could find herself again. She learned to walk with a cane and to read Braille.
She cried. A lot. "Not for myself but in frustration. I expected to go back to life, to get a job and place of my own. But as soon as I arrived with my white cane, the response was, 'We would love to have you but … '"
She applied for more than 300 jobs and was turned down for each one.
Action for Blind People helped her and she moved to Swail House.
"There is light in darkness," Carole told me.
She took up tactile arts to train her hands, she paints on canvas using tack and pins to mold shapes and guide her brush. She weaves.
She sails singlehandedly by listening to the wind. "It's an incredible feeling, being so in touch with what is real."
She's learning how to sew. "Just for the fun of it," she blushes.
She and her friends started a gardening club at Swail House and now they compost and grow their own produce. They began a cooking class, and a Braille course, and arts and crafts.
With a cane she learned to understand the pavement's music, but it was limiting. When Fran came into her life two years ago Carole not only received a companion, but freedom, confidence, and safety. No longer did she find herself mistakenly asking directions from trees.
Guide dogs are paired to their owners with care and Fran is as sweet and adventuresome as Carole. She watches Carole's every move, even picking up things she might drop.
Fran is wonderfully calm but, Carole warns, "take her off her lead and she becomes a crazed puddle-dweller." And then there was the incident at Waitrose, where Fran is a known carrot-pilferer.
Many of the shop-owners of Epsom know and love Fran. Carole insists that they don't feed her while she's working – Fran disagrees – but she is allowed to accept a packet of reward treats at Christmastide.
"My faith has always gotten me through," Carole says. She misses working, particularly as a verger. "But you need your sight to be a verger."
Now she is jokingly called a "freelance verger," sometimes carrying-out ceremonial duties. And this is how Fran became a verger. Fran makes sure that they go the right way during the procession as Carole carries the virge. They practice several times beforehand so they know the way.
Carole sings in the church choir and Fran joins her, a silent-soprano, wearing a red collar with white ruffles.
"She is one of the most blessed dogs in the world," Carole notes, "because she is blessed most weeks by the priest".
Fran takes the accolades in stride. But what's next for the first canine verger?
At the recent Annual General Meeting of the London and Southwark branch vergers, there was a search to replace the retiring chairman. As they went through the names unsuccessfully, one verger timidly asked, "What about Fran?"
Wednesday, 25 August 2010
Thursday, 19 August 2010
The Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin.
On Sunday, 15 August, following our own observance of the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin at Saint Paul's Parish, Deacon Alicia and I made our pilgrimage to the (Anglican) Sisters of Saint Mary's convent at the Episcopal Diocese of Albany's Spiritual Life Center in Greenwich, New York.
About 40 gathered for a lovely afternoon tea reception was held in a garden followed by Evensong and the Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The evening ended with a true feast of barbecue and freshly harvested vegetables and fruits. The Sisters are kind and gracious hosts.
O God, you have taken to thyself the blessed Virgin Mary,
mother of thy incarnate Son: Grant that we, who have been redeemed by his blood,
may share with her the glory of thine eternal kingdom;
through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.
-At Saint Paul's-
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| A free-standing pedestal arrangement at the epistle side of the High Altar at Saint Paul's for the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin. |
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| Arrangements on the High Altar at Saint Paul's for the Feast of Saint Mary the Virgin. |
-At Saint Mary's Convent-
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| In the garden at Saint Mary's Convent at the Christ the King Spiritual Life Center, Greenwich, New York. |
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| From the garden at the Convent looking across the hills. |
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| Some of the assembled enjoying an afternoon tea garden reception. |
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| A statue of Saint Mary the Virgin at the entrance of the Convent Chapel. |
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| Detail of a needlepoint kneeler appropriate for the day. |
Sunday, 8 August 2010
In Review - The Church Ladies' Guide to Divine Flower Arranging
The Church Ladies' Guide to Divine Flower Arranging
Gay Estes
2008 - Bright Sky Press
I loved it!
My approach to floral arranging for the church has always been a bit personal. For me the act of arranging is the act of prayer, the end result is an offering to the glory of God. Prayer and offering aside there is always humor...who is, after all, more humorous than God!?
The book opens with the following, very appropriate prayer...
Oh Lord,
Please don't let my flowers wilt,
my lilies stain the vestments
or my vase leak.
May the Altar Guild not fight
over who gets to do the altar
and who must do the pews.
Let my arrangement neither fall,
nor catch fire from the candles.
Amen.
...so very appropriate that I am hoping to have a needlework rendering of it framed!
This is a delightfully well written book suited not only for the experienced arranger, but for anyone who is finding themselves in the Sacristy wondering why they are there with clippers in hand. A good deal of practical information is interspersed with personal anecdotes (we've all been there and done that!) and a refreshing humorous way of looking at things.
Without a doubt this is the most realistic and timely book for anyone arranging flowers in today's church.
Below are two tips that I found most fun and fascinating for suitable for use in arranging flowers at home, too:
"Here is arguably the the weirdest mechanic of all: You stick the stems into a small potato. No watering, no mess and woody stems handled this way will stay fresh a long time. Simply slit an insertion point into the potato with a knife and insert the stem. The moisture ans starch in the potato does the trick. This technique is especially useful for stems of ivy. Put some foil or plastic wrap under the potato to protect in the unlikely event of spoilage. Then simply conceal the potato with plant material or moss so it won't show."
"...Adding a splash of soft drink with sugar such as Sprite or 7Up will act as an antiseptic. (I have no idea why, but the carbonation is beneficial.) The solution also feeds the flowers. However, the use of raw sugar will harm the plants by clogging them and drawing unwanted drinkers to your bucket. A good solution to use to condition your flowers is 1/2 water, 1/2 regular Sprite, and 1 tablespoon Clorox bleach."
Finally, I wish to thank my good friend Claire Jenkins for gifting me with this book which is a must have for an arranger and guild!
Saturday, 7 August 2010
Altar Flowers at Saint Paul's.
This is a free-standing pedestal arrangement at the High Altar of Saint Paul's Church
in celebration of the twelfth wedding anniversary of Dis and Margaret Ann Maley
on 25 July 2010.
Meet the Sacristy Dog!
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