I was inspired by a friend who wrote recently on a community social media page that when he and his wife go out for the day or when they are on holiday, rather than going to the expensive, trendy, branded coffee bars, that they would support small independent coffee shops, or better still, spy out…

One of my favourite television crime dramas is Death in Paradise, it is gentle, often funny, and whilst it deals with the horrific issue of a suspicious, almost unfathomable death.  There have now been four different reluctant British detectives who find themselves on the idyllic Caribbean Island of Saint Marie, the characters are brilliant and…

I recently became aware of the hymn “I watch the sunrise” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vm-A5NlkI8U I confess that I had never picked the hymn and was totally unaware of its existence, it a beautiful hymn and that is why I have taken the liberty of including the link to a YouTube file, it’s worth listening to, in my…

Many years ago, Prince Charles (as he was back then) was coming to Saltaire on the outskirts of Bradford, I think to formally open the David Hockney gallery at Salts Mill.  I was on holiday from work that day and so we decided to take the children along, thinking this would be an amazing experience…

As Easter approaches Karen and I are starting the process of packing up our home ready for our move to Dereham during the summer. I always find packing the most difficult of tasks, chiefly because no two houses are exactly the same size and shape, and apart from simply packing our entire life into boxes,…

Thankfully, my Mum was one of those people who wrote on the back of photographs, and the narrative on the reverse of this one reads “October 27th 1963, Derek’s birthday party” that means that I was five at the time and this is possibly the last time that my Dad sat me on knee, I…

It often saddens me that we seem to live in such an angry world today, I find myself being ticked off by other road users, when I have done nothing wrong, and it is I that should be complaining.  I watch the BBC’s Question Time and find myself getting quite upset by the appalling behaviour…

One of the great delights of a life in the ministry is the ecumenical Good Friday walk of witness. Over the years I have discovered that being a minister of multiple Churches causes me a bit of a problem and I have become the master of holding a service in one Methodist church and as…

Way back in the days before package holidays overseas, most people took their holidays in this country.  I remember a family friend, going to Nigeria and following the holiday, she showed her slides from her holiday at an event in the Church. I remember being enthralled by a picture she had taken out of the…

I could only have been seven or eight at the time, when my brother and I were dragged along to a Church meeting where the adults were talking about building a new Sunday School building.  I can’t remember how much the building was going to cost, but I can remember the amount being way outside…