Catch-Up - Friday 24th May until Sunday 2nd June 2013

 

I am sorry that I have posted on this blog site for over a week but life has been really hectic with my involvement with so many responsibilities – more than I can really ever remembering I had when working full time for Friends.

This post, then is a resume of what I have been up to between Friday 24^th May and Sunday 2^nd June inclusive.  The photos above are a mere "snatch" of where I've been and what I've done

Friday 24 May 2013 : I attended the Annual Open Public Meeting at Winterslow Village Hall this evening when members of the public are invited to question their parish councillors.  We had set aside a full two hours but the meeting lasted only half an hour when only one member of the public came  - and that was the spouse of one of the councillors! 

Saturday 25 May 2013 : Up early this morning to visit Salisbury Market and purchase a crab, cheese and fruit to take up to Grimsby. Left home at around 11 a.m. and drove up to Lincolnshire via Oxford, Bicester, Northampton, Stamford and Boston.  Longer journey time than usual but heavy bank holiday traffic on the motorway would have had me driving a longer distance and for a longer period of time. When I arrived at Mum’s, my sister Heather was also there having spent the day with Mum – so it was quite an exciting day for Mum.  Heather left after about half an hour and Mum and I enjoyed a crab salad before watching TV.  Weather really quite pleasant after a miserable start.

 

Sunday 26 May 2013 : Today started with a bump – literally.  I woke up quite early and decided to go downstairs to make cups of tea for Mum and myself.  I slipped on the top stair and fell the full length (eleven steps) smashing into a cabinet at the bottom.  I remember tumbling over and over to fortunately landed on my bottom and not my head.  Was quite dazed by the event but fortunately no bones broken – bruising on my bottom and cuts and bruising on my back with a slight pain in my right wrist.  Stars are very steep indeed and Mum admitted that Heather has fallen down them also from the top to the bottom.  Felt well enough to walk to church this morning and arrived 30 minutes late (in the middle of the sermon) because it was a joint service with Christ Church and they begin these at 10.15 am, not 11 am as had been advertised on the website.  Had coffee and biscuits in the church hall afterwards.  Mum cooked roast chicken for lunch after which I took her by car over the Humber Bridge to Beverley (where we looked around the Minster and had tea in a tea/coffee shop) and also drove around Hull finding familiar haunts from childhood days.  Light supper tonight.

Monday 27 May 2013 : Bank Holiday Monday.  Decided to go for a walk to Cleethorpes this morning and watched people enjoying playing cricket on the beach.  It was a pleasant stroll down Clee Road and then along the High Street and promenade.  Back to Mum’s for a light lunch and then this afternoon I drove Mum to Tesco’s to buy flowers to place in memory of Dad at the Grimsby Crematorium.  Very peaceful and pleasant in the sunshine. Afterwards we went into Weelsby Woods and enjoyed an Appleby’s ice cream each and then went for a drive along Cleethorpes seafront.  This evening I bought excellent fish and chips from Cleethorpes.  Another quiet evening in.

Tuesday 28 May 2013 : Took Mum the quick way to Immingham to see her optician to adjust her new glasses.  What a dump Immingham town centre is now.  The shopping centre is almost deserted but does have an excellent bakers where I bought a Yorkshire curd tart.  On the way back to Mum’s we stopped off in the Grimsby Town Centre and I bought 10lbs of excellent Lincolnshire sausages from the long established butchers.  After a snack lunch I set off for Wiltshire via Derbyshire and Crich Tramway Museum. I took the old road via Gainsborough, Retford and Worksop arriving at Crich at 2.30 p.m.  I spent an enjoyable 3 hours there – admittedly in the pouring rain at times, but had rides on Blackpool 630 and Glasgow 812 and a good look around the new Exhibition Centre.  I drove back through rain for a good part of the journey. I eventually arrived back home at around 8.30 p.m. unloading the sausages and other goodies. 

Wednesday 29 May 2013 : I decided to miss the Staff Team Meeting today, especially as at least three of the clergy are away on holiday.  Instead I helped Sara make sandwiches for the Morning Star Banquet Run. This afternoon I attended a meeting at Debbie’s to discuss the Mission Giving Project and Sudan Link.  Tonight I drove over to Seend for the seventh session of my LLM training module on pastoral care.  Tonight we continued our discussions on grief and bereavement in the context of when somebody finds it difficult to overcome their grief.

Thursday 30 May 2013 : I am beginning to worry about my assignment for “Being an LLM” which requires me a write and present a podcast.  Yesterday I spent some time writing the script and sent this and some images across to Adrian at Church House to help me put together the podcast.  This afternoon I spent three hours with Adrian at the end of which I felt reassured that I would have something to take to the LLM Residential weekend. This evening we had a good House Group meeting with almost a full house, discussing more texts from St. Mark’s Gospel.

Friday 31 May 2013 : I had a lunchtime meeting with the Rev. Peter Ostli-East today in the Lord Nelson pub when we discussed outreach and mission within the Deanery and, in particular, our respective work in the area of pub theology.  This evening I attended a meeting of Wiltshire Master’s Lodge at Ludgershall which was followed by an interesting talk by an audiologist from Swindon about hearing loss.  An excellent dinner followed of roast lamb and vegetables with profiteroles and cheese and biscuits to follow.

Saturday 1 June 2013 :  The first of two days at Sarum College on the annual Licensed Lay Ministers’ Formation Residential weekend which this year concentrated on the role of the laity in the formation and life of the English church.  We spent the morning thinking about all the lay people in history who have had a major influence on the church and in the afternoon talks by the bishop of Sherborne (the role and influences of LLMs in his life and the diocese) and by Ron Hart on the Sudan Link (between the Episcopal Church in the Sudan and Salisbury Diocese). This was followed by attending Evensong at the Cathedral. This evening, after dinner, we watched the first half of the podcasts we had each been asked to prepare on the role of an LLM. This was followed by a couple of hours in the bar drinking wine and swapping stories and experiences within our differing benefices.

Sunday 2 June 2013 : The second of the two days at Sarum College.  This morning we viewed the remaining video/podcasts including my own (this can be seen at : http://youtu.be/VDPK-vGkrx8). These were followed by a talk by Jane Charman emphasising the availability of Continuing Ministerial Development and we were each given a booklet containing details of courses and events for the rest of 2013. After an excellent lunch of roast pork and saying our fond farewells we each made our way home.  This afternoon I mowed all the lawns to get them looking nice for the visit of Sara’s Dad in ten days’ time.  With the rain and now the sun, the grass and weeds are growing up rapidly and if I can keep the grass down by regular mowing it won’t be such a big job.  The new lawn mowers really help.  Down the pub this evening with Richard for a catch-up as we’ve not seen each other for several days.