We were fortunate to have tickets to an open-air performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream staged in Framlingham Castle this week. Doors opened at 6pm for a 7.30 performance to allow time to picnic. I looked at the set for Shakespeare’s well-known play, performed over so many years in all sorts of places. I contemplated…

Way back in 1975 when I first started working, I was employed by a textiles wholesaler working in their haberdashery department. I was the only lad at sixteen working in a department with six ladies all old enough to be my mother, or maybe even my grandmother.  They were quite an entertaining little gang and…

Of the many remarkable stories to come out of the Second World War, one of the most ingenious improvisations in a situation of extreme danger and difficulty must surely be the story of the tanker Ohio, recounted in detail by Sir Max Hastings in his book ‘Operation Pedestal’. The island of Malta was isolated and…

 Isaiah 40 v 31. but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary; they will walk and not be faint. Astronaut Michael Collins described the problem of trying to link two orbiting space vehicles. When two airplanes’ rendezvous for an in-flight…

Thought for the day on 2 wheels! (This series of Thoughts for the Day were inspired whilst taking a week’s break in Eastbourne with my friend Rev Rach Ward, a Minister in the Leeds South and West Circuit, previously a Local Preacher in the Ipswich Circuit) On day 2 of our cycling break in Eastbourne,…

Last summer this rose put on so much growth and the blooms were so heavy that several the vine wires that support it were broken. In the winter I was determined to get the better of it; the renewed wires are stronger and from the outset the necessary support was in place so the flowers…

If you are fortunate to have a garden, however large or small, during these times of pandemic, you have probably spent more time in it than usual. You may have noticed the creatures that share your garden with you, who either have made it their home, or are passing visitors. Observing these creatures, their habits…