One of my favourite Christmas songs is “O holy night” I remember a few years ago hearing a teenage girl singing the song and she was pitch perfect, (as far as I could tell) it was a thing of beauty, and I can still remember feeling shivers in my spin as she sung so beautifully. …
One of the great advantages of living where we do is that we get the full benefit of some amazing sun rises, particularly during the autumn and winter seasons. I am inspired often to take pictures like the one above as the sun starts to break through the clouds and paint some amazing pictures in…
One of the tasks for the modern minister is that from time to time I am asked to write a biopic for one website or another. This is a fairly new phenomenon for me and is always an interesting process. The other task that I need to accomplish around this time of the year is…
The great plan at the beginning of this year was that I would retire next summer when my appointment at Ipswich comes to an end. Having had a three-month sabbatical earlier this year, I came to the conclusion that I’m not ready to hang up my dog collar yet, so decided to offer for a…
One of the advantages of being a minister in the East Anglia Methodist District is that every other year we are gifted with a Minister’s Retreat. We go away together for about forty-eight hours, we learn together, we relax together, share fellowship, and eat together, and it is an opportunity to withdraw from our everyday…
While eating my breakfast this morning, I watched the Countryfile Ramble for Children in Need on BBC iPlayer. I have always felt inspired by the Children in Need appeal each year and this programme is no disappointment, so if you haven’t watched, I can commend it to you. The real stars of the show are…
We were on holiday last week and as we travelled around, we witnessed dozens of impressive displays marking the act of remembrance being marked around the country over this weekend. We saw hundreds of poppies cascading down the tower of one market town Church, we travelled through villages with large poppies fixed to every lamp…
Karen and I were married just over thirty-eight years ago, I often think back to our wedding day, I could cope with the ceremony and even the speeches, my greatest fear was our first dance. We took to the floor, neither Karen or I were dancers and as the music began, we kind of shuffled…
I was given a Lego kit for Christmas a few years ago and had a delightful Boxing Day, building a truck, some industrial shelving and a forklift truck helped by my grandson who seemed to be a natural Lego expert and we had a great time, and the result was very satisfying. The last three…
Way back in the 1960’s my mum invested her hard-earned money in a Kenwood Chefette food mixer and this amazing little piece of kit revolutionised our lives. Mum insisted that the margarine and sugar were properly creamed when mixing a sponge cake and prior to the arrival of the food mixer, that required effort and…