I was in the supermarket just before Christmas and they were playing all those cheesy ‘Christmas Songs’ (that you either love or hate). Driving Home for Christmas by Chris Rea was the current single being aired and it set me thinking about our forthcoming return to Rodden in West Dorset where, prior to our recent […]

One of my favourite characters in Christian history is Billy Bray (1794-1868), the unconventional Cornish Evangelist. The story of his life and activity is well worth a read. It is both poignant and amusing, containing numerous humorous and moving anecdotes. Born in 1794 in the village of Twelveheads, Cornwall, Billy was the eldest of three children […]

There is a story told of a Chinese artist in the third century BC who, having spent many years in carving dragons, birds, and horses upon a cherry-stone, offered his finished work to a royal prince. The prince could see nothing in it at first except a mere stone, but the artist bade him ‘have […]

‘Stir-Up Sunday’ is an informal term, in many churches, for the last Sunday before the season of Advent. Originally the term ‘Stir-Up Sunday’ came about as a result of our love in the UK of Christmas pudding! The Christmas pudding is one of the essential British Christmas traditions and is said to have been introduced to […]

One of the benefits of not having been in pastoral charge of a church for the last five years is that, on Remembrance Sunday, Julia and I have been able to ‘play hooky’ from the church where we are now members, and attend the annual Remembrance Day Service on the seafront at Weymouth near to […]

I once knew a man who, for some reason or other, was never able to correctly pronounce the word ‘humility’? He always pronounced ‘humility’ as ‘humbility’! I have to confess that I rather liked this mispronunciation. It always seemed to me to convey a better understanding of the true meaning of ‘humility’. Humility was high […]

There is a story told of a young executive type from Surrey who came down here to rural West Dorset for a weekend break. Sitting in one of our quaint old country pubs he got chatting to Old Tom, one of the locals, who had never set foot outside of West Dorset in all of […]

An English ‘cream tea’ is a light afternoon snack consisting of tea taken with a combination of scones, clotted cream, and jam. Traditionally a speciality of Devon and Cornwall, cream teas are offered for sale in tea rooms in those two counties, as well as in other parts of England. There are regional variations as […]

It is Friday night, and Julia and I are on our way to church! No, we haven’t got our days mixed up, or gone silly in the head … we are off to join the audience for the popular BBC Radio Programme Any Questions which this week is going out ‘live’ from the Dorford Centre, […]

I am sitting in Café Blue in Weymouth having a ‘Full English’ breakfast – two eggs, bacon, sausages, beans, tomatoes, black pudding, fried bread, etc. As you have already guessed I have been let out on my own again, ostensibly to go to the bank and do some shopping for Julia (who is too busy […]