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…
I spotted this car parked outside our local supermarket just in time before I walked straight into the ladders which extended across one of the main walkways into the entrance. I’m not particularly tall but could have sustained a nasty injury had I walked into them, fortunately the greatest inconvenience was having to duck to…
There are many great joys in working as a Minister and whilst there are times when I feel tired and maybe on occasions fed up, on the whole, I am thankful that God called me into this work. One of the big negatives is that as ministers we move on from time to time to…
All I seem to hear at the moment is how the entire nation is delighted to see Strictly back on our screens, personally, I have never been a dancer and never enjoyed events like the Chapel watchnight socials, particularly when one of the older ladies from the Church would drag me up and force me…