Christmas with our grand-children


More Christmas pictures were uploaded to flickr on 30 Dec 2008 at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

Christmas Morning at churchMore pictures of this event at

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

(see pictures uploaded on 26 December 2008)

Nepal First Christmas

News from The Bible Society: For the first time Christmas 2008 will be a public holiday in Nepal. And the churches there are seizing the moment.
The Church has grown from around 30,000 people 15 years ago to 700,000 believers today. This means over 95 per cent of Christians in Nepal are recent converts – and the Bible is essential to them.
Fifteen years ago, Christians in Nepal risked imprisonment. Today the Church in Nepal has official freedom, and the government has even given official recognition to the Nepal Bible Society.
The Nepalese government has announced that this year Christmas Day will be celebrated as a national holiday for the first time.

We shared in celebrating this event, at Priory Street Baptist Church, on 21 December. For more pictures, click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/sets/72157611527693468/

and then click on 'slideshow'

Pumpkins

Our friend Rachel Hall said how much she liked this picture of pumpkins, so I thought I would put it on the blog again for my readers' delectation. It was taken at Tyntesfield in the kitchen garden in 2006. I didn't arrange the layout, I merely photographed it!

Corsham Carols 2008

The annual outdoor Carol Service in Corsham attracts large crowds. It starts in the High Street; and the congregation, accompanied by a brass band, progresses to the Square outside St Bart's Church.

Santa's little helper

Santa's little helper (on left) distributed presents to the Corsham Disabled Club on 15th December.

Rosie

Our youngest grandchild Rosie Prior was dedicated at St Paul' Church, Stonehouse, Plymouth, on 14th December 2008. More photos of this are on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ dated 15 December 2008

Christmas Lunch

Here are the cooks, about to serve up the Christmas lunch for the TLC lunch (Tuesday Lunch Club) for our seniors at church. More pictures of this are on flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ uploaded on December 11 2008

A contribution by Leila

Leila is busy making models out of Fimo, of which these are a few examples.

Church Weekend away, Lox Lane Shaftesbury, November 2008

This picture is a memento of the conquest of Mount Duncliffe, (aka Duncliffe Hill) taken in the rarified atmosphere and dizzying heights of 210,000 mm above sea level. Other pictures of our weekend away are on Flickr at http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/sets/72157610033779567/

or

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ (pictures downloaded on 25th November 2008

With grandchildren at Box

Frances, Isaac and Lubin visited us recently. We went to Box playing fields. More pictures uploaded on 12 November 2008 onto
http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

Special Birthdays

We went to two parties on 8th November. Somehow the order of the pictures has got reversed here, but at lunchtime we were with Andrew Sims at Alveley in Shropshire for his 70th birthday celebration, and in the evening we were with the other side of our family for Richard Snelling's belated 40th birthday celebration in Radstock. More pictures of both are on http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ - look for photos uploaded on 12th November 2008

David Lockett's exhibition

My cousin David Lockett (pictured here with Eve outside the Saxon Church in Bradford-on-Avon) is holding an art exhibition at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. The artist and photographer Martin Beek has made an excellent set of photos at the exhibtion, which can be viewed by clicking on the following link, and then clicking on the 'slideshow' option:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/oxfordshire_church_photos/sets/72157605443388216/

Hugh Lockett's funeral

My uncle was the last of his generation in the family. My father Jack and his two sisters Norah and Grace all married between 1936 and 1939, and Hugh was Grace's husband. His funeral was at the parish church in Cley-next-the Sea on the North Norfolk coast where he had lived for many years after retirement, a keen birdwatcher, golfer and active Christian. Afterwards the mourners went to the Blakeney Hotel (shown in the bottom picture) for a lunch.

You can see more pictures of family and scenery by clicking on

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

and looking at the pictures uploaded on September 30th 2008

Scotland

Some pictures from a short break in Scotland: Above - Glencoe; Below - Ellenabeich, a former slate-quarrying village on the Island of Seil.

Below: view from our hotel - the Loch Awe Hotel, with the ruins of Kilchurn Castle in the distance.

Click on pictures to enlarge

Pennywell Farm, Devon

Isaac and Rosie with some miniature pigs at Pennywell Farm, Devon.

Sunday School with a difference.

Well, not Sunday School actually: it was a midweek holiday club called 'Starship Discovery' which our church is holding at the moment for over 60 children. A few of the intrepid explorers are at the controls of the spaceship here. (Click on picture to enlarge it)

Some thoughts about Sunday Schools

We watched recently a TV programme about the history of the rise and decline of Sunday Schools. The Sunday School movement was founded by Robert Raikes, editor of the Gloucester Journal, in the late 18th Century. In those days (as today) there were young hooligans on the streets, though the difference then was that the troublemakers were mostly young impoverished children on their day off from work, namely Sunday. He determined to do all he could to better their lot and started a Sunday-school to teach them Christianity, morals, and also how to read and write. Before long, Sunday Schools were opening all over the country. This was greatly opposed by many wealthy people who were afraid that it would raise the poor above their station in life, and they feared it might lead to the horrors which were happening across the Channel in the French Revolution. The Prime Minister, William Pitt, even hoped to pass a law to ban Sunday-schools, though he was overtaken by other events and the law was never passed. Sunday Schools thrived, and at their peak something like 50% of the children in Britain were attending Sunday Schools voluntarily. They peaked in the 1930s, but the real decline in attendance dates from the 1950s onwards, and today only 5% of children go to Sunday Schools.

We meet and talk to many of the older generation who often find it difficult to remember recent events, but can remember with great pleasure their Sunday-School days. They remember the stories they learnt, the anniversaries, the outings, and can often remember the hymns and choruses which they can still sing.

Most of today’s generation of children know nothing of this and will never acquire the knowledge and understanding of the stories, the moral values and the message of the Bible. As street violence, drug and alcohol problems and knife crime flourish in ‘empty soil’, I cannot help feeling that we are in the process of losing something of immeasurable value. The Sunday School (or Junior Church, as it is called), flourishes in our own church as well as Crusaders (now rebranded ‘Urban Saints.) Would that there were many more such drops in the ocean.!

Weston-super-Mare

We visited Weston-super-Mare just a week before the tragic fire which destroyed the pier. The first picture was taken by our friend Barry Blanchard. The second picture was taken one week later, and I got this off the internet. However, there are other attractions at Weston. First, an amazing display of sand sculptures, and then a picture of Wendy with Barry and Pat studying a model of the development at Knightstone Pier, where the old buildings are being converted into luxury apartments.

TLC Garden Party

Our church put on a garden party for Tuesday Lunch Club (TLC), which caters for the older members of the congregation and friends. As last year, we also invited the Corsham Disabled Club to join us. The cream tea was accompanied by a puppet show and music.

Shaftesbury

Wendy with her mum, Joan, at the top of Gold Hill, Shaftesbury, whilst an elderly resident in the background makes the laborious ascent. Joan knew Shaftesbury well in her younger days, when she lived at Gillingham, Dorset. Gold Hill became especially famous as the location of the TV ads for Hovis bread some years ago, though they misleadingly caused people to believe that the location was somewhere in Yorkshire!

At the Pump Room

Wendy enjoys tea and music at the Pump Room in Bath

On our recent visit to Exeter we visited Eva's ballet class to see the progress she and her friends have made since they started.

Junior Church Outing

Our Junior Church outing this year was held at Neston Recreation Ground. Here the children are watching a puppet show.

Hayling Island

We had a brief holiday at Lakeside, on Hayling Island.

Not a lot remains of Warblington Castle, near Havant. It was finally knocked to pieces in the Civil War. (click on picture to enlarge it)

Roses at Southsea

We had a short break with cousin Mary Thurlow at Southsea, which boasts an excellent rose garden situated on the site of the former second world war training base of the 'cockleshell heroes' - the commandoes who broke behind enemy lines in France by canoe. (Click on picture to enlarge it)

Family visit to Alveley

We went to stay with David, Frances and the boys at Alveley with Andrew and Ruth Sims. Our time there included a trip on the nearby Severn Valley Railway, hauled by 7812 'Erlestoke Manor'. For more pictures of our visit, click on http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/ and look for pictures dated 12th June 2008

Brecon Mountain Railway

This train ride takes you through some very beautiful countryside. Despite its name it is nearer to Merthyr Tydfil than to Brecon.

David's 65th

Brother-in-law David Beales celebrated his 65th birthday recently. For more pictures of this event, click on this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/80674038@N00/

where there is an option to click on 'slideshow'.