"Those Long and Golden Days of August Holidays" - or Marking Time?

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Created on Sunday, 01 August 2010 01:00

Written by Richard Chidlaw

Our hairdresser was not happy. She was not looking forward to the School Holidays at all. She was going to have to balance her work with entertaining two demanding young daughters for those "long and golden days of August." "Teachers' rest: Mother's pest," I murmured, perhaps unwisely, from under the comb and very sharp scissors. Having seen it from the teacher's point-of-view for so many years, I now had to rethink a little about the problems of school holidays, from the point of view of the parents -a useful perspective.

The department I worked in was the English Department and those teachers, alive to all the possibilites and power of poetry, were prone to parodying well-known verses. This one went to the tune of Linden Lea, by Vaughan Williams. "And there for me, is 5G3, I wave them off, so thankfullee". 5G3, as you can imagine, was not a popular class and at the end of their school life, when they were very ready for life beyond school, they were well-beyond teaching. We were all ready to part company -but teachers are realists too, and the last verse of the parody ended, "But there for me, is 4G3, they wait for me, expectant-lee." Oh yes, life goes on and the next lot are ready and waiting in the wings!

In Berkeley Church is the tomb of Thomas III, Lord Berkeley and his second wife, Katharine, the foundress of the school in Wotton in 1384. She specified so much in her foundation document, even to the holidays the school could take. Mr Hornsby, in his history of the school, remarks: .... "it was the first school known, not only to define its holidays so precisely, but to introduce almost exactly the modern pattern." So the long and golden days of Summer Holidays began, for 14th century school boys, from the feast of St Peter to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross -all of August and half of September. We see how it has been pared down in more recent times so that almost none of September is now included. Perhaps, like the 18th century people in England, at the change of the Calendar in 1752, pupils, if they knew it, would be rioting and calling, "Give us back our 14 days!"

So we move, ecclesiastically, into those Sundays after Trinity which, in the Book of Common Prayer, ran on for a possible 25 Sundays. The rubric, allowing for the possibility of even more, stated, "If there be any more Sundays before Advent Sunday, the Service of some of those Sundays that were omitted after The Epiphany shall be taken in to supply so many as are here wanting.1I The modern Church Year has spared us this and offered "Sundays before Advent". It almost feels as though all the business of the Church Year, the events in the life of Jesus, has been done by the time we get to Trinity and we can mark time.

Selah -"Pause and Consider."

Our parishes are now at a time when we must take stock of our resources. We have said goodbye to Christine and Matthew and we have a great deal to be grateful for in terms of innovation and ministry here. I know that Christine's ministry has been valued in our three communities in a variety of ways. Was it something that only she could do (and so finished with her leaving), or could anyone take on any part of what she was doing? John Wesley remarked that "Hurry" was not "of the Devil, but it was the Devil." To be kept so busy that one cannot have time for reflection prevents one from seeing patterns and making sense of one's life. To be able to reflect is to be able to pray about matters and then to see, perhaps a little more clearly, what needs to be done and how it may be done (-and by whom?).

Katharine knew that her school at Wotton needed a long holiday in the Summer. The parents would not have thanked her if their sons were so busy that they could not help with the harvest. This was how life had to be lived. Academic work was exchanged for physical toil in the fields of Vale and Hill. The natural changes of the Seasons support our need for a variety, which enriches our life.

Teachers are not just "resting from their labours" during the Golden Days of August. Sadly, for them, they are kept busy planning the next lot of courses, reading texts and sorting out lessons. Soon it will be, "Mother's rest and Teacher's pest". Perhaps things do have their mirror-image.

Where does that leave us? As you take your holiday and have time to consider and pray, reflect on what is happening in our three parishes and what might be happening. Visiting other places gives us new experiences and a new perspective from which to view things at home.

Enjoy your time!

Richard Chidlaw.