About thirty years ago, when our girls were very little, the Church in Bradford that we used to attend held a Christingle service at 4pm on Christmas Eve.  Over the years, the Christingle service became a part of our Christmas tradition and we would attend every year, then spend the rest of Christmas Eve with…

I mentioned a few weeks ago my love for the James Herriott books and over the years I have enjoyed reading the books and watching the films and two television series based on his stories.  Alf Wight, the author is reputed to have been a very entertaining story teller, recounting his early experiences as a…

Advent this year is completely different to any Advent I have ever known in the past, the statement I keep hearing all the time at the moment relates to “the true meaning of Christmas” and I hear a variety of views on what Christmas is all about “It is about families being together!” some people…

One of the delights of the last few weeks has been Friday evenings on the One Show on BBC1 when the show goes to a street in Leeds where the residents bring their garden chairs out onto the pavement and they chat about topical issues, I love it and it is well worth five minutes…

This picture appeared on Facebook earlier this week and appeared to attract quite a bit of attention, my first reaction was one of amazement that in the knarled roots of an old tree, new life is sprouting forth and at face value, the picture is quite amazing and a wonder to behold.  Next week we…

The BBC marked the Children in Need Appeal 2020 on Friday 13th November and I hope that once again we will see a record amount of money being raised for this wonderful cause.  Normally I would watch the One Show’s Rickshaw Challenge every day during the week and I normally find the experience both moving…

Over the last few months, we’ve applauded the NHS and Key workers, remembered those who have been affected by the Covid 19 virus and those who have lost their lives, yet I am reminded that the cost of what has happened over the last ten months of this year run far, far deeper.  My brother…

The picture above is of Yockenthwaite a small hamlet in upper Wharfedale.  We drove through Yockenthwaite on the Monday of our holiday last week and the river was little more than a trickle, forming rock pools among the large pebbles, worn smoothe by the flowing water over hundreds of years.  By Thursday afternoon on a…

The cartoon above made me laugh when I first saw it, it is of course a gross overexageration, but as Karen and I have travelled around Yorkshire over that past few days, we have felt to be in an alien land, having to comply with strict Covid rules, hand sanitising every time we have got…

Mother Julian of Norwich has fascinated me for several years, I chose to write a reflection about her during my first year at college and her book Revelations of Divine Love was an inspiration to me as I set out on a new journey of faith myself.  Little did I know, as I studied that…