Tuesday 23rd August is designated by UNESCO as International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. John Wesley was ahead of his time in his abhorrence of slavery. In fact, his last letter was to William Wilberforce MP on 24th February 1791, just six days before he died.  At that time,…

I’ve just found my diary entry for exactly a year ago. Must have been a bad day… There’s a quote from Psalm 90: 9-10 “All our days pass away under your wrath; we finish our years with a moan.  Our days may come to seventy years, or eighty, if our strength endures; yet the best…

My mother tells this story about growing up after the war with her two older brothers.  They never usually wanted her to include her in their games, especially when they were pretending to be soldiers – marching round the garden with sticks for guns!  However, on this particular day, they invited her to join in.…

At a recent Local Arrangement, we used the Action For Children service that promotes their current campaign ‘A star in every child’.  It is raising money to ensure that each child reaches their potential. It emphasises the uniqueness of each individual alongside the essentials that everyone  needs to survive and thrive. It reminded me of…

I’ve started to enjoy watching sport quite late in life.  As a child, Dad always had sport on the TV, so I wouldn’t watch it on principle! Well, I enjoy watching some sports ……. I still think pulling my fingernails out one by one would be preferable to watching golf! However, this week watching the…

While in London recently, I went to see the musical ‘Hamilton’. At the beginning of his career, Aaron Burr offers Alexander Hamilton some advice.  He tells him to ‘Talk less, smile more.’  It reminded me of a written comment a year 7 student made, when asked to define a Christian, ‘Christians eat bread and whine,’…

We recently spent a few days in London. Although we used the trains and underground to get from place to place, we walked miles. It’s easy to tot up the steps walking through the tunnels to exits and from train line to train line! Since the weather was so good, we choose to walk to…

Last week, for the first time ever I went to Wimbledon. We didn’t have tickets for the top courts, but we got a grounds pass enabling us to queue to go into the other courts as and when seats became available. Before and after we managed to get a seat on court, we sat and…

Having just finished a knitting contract that had consumed most evenings for the best part of the last four months, I rewarded myself with a new jigsaw.  Forty two different teapots segmented into 1000 pieces, with little written captions – my favourite sort of challenge. The pieces were uniquely cut into odd and original shapes.…

Have you ever seen an obese ant?  Nor have I.  But why not? Attracted as they are to every sugary spill in my kitchen and impossible to deter with every lotion, potion and spray on the market. Where’s the justice in that, God? My blood level sores at the very mention of cake.  My waist…