Village Coffee Morning!
A couple of years ago, I was persuaded by one of the members at Chapel to go along to said group. I think it was originally set up for the more elderly of the village but it constantly needs new and younger blood.
We pay a small annual subscription and pay £1 each week for a cup of coffee and biscuits. And then at the end of each term we go out to the local hotel for a very nice meal. For many of the ladies and gentlemen, this is the only time that they go out for a meal. Usually we all pay £5.00 with the club paying for the rest of the bill but sometimes when the bank account is nicely flush, we all get a free meal.
A few weeks ago the three ladies who had been running the club for many years had had enough and all stepped down at the Annual General Meeting, leaving us all in a bit of a fix as no-one felt that they could commit to being there every Wednesday.
However, one lady in her eighties (a Chapel member) volunteered to be the treasurer and another younger lady volunteered to be the secretary, leaving the post of chairperson vacant.
But it had to be filled, especially for signing cheques which needed at least two signatures.
Well, if all they need is someone to sign their name, I said OK!
And for my first week in post I had a prior engagement but since then I have been there on the other side of the counter.
Fortunately, I have been able to take on this extra responsibility without it incurring too much extra work.
If the Chapel isn't suitable to run coffee mornings for the village then the Chapel will just have to go to the Village Hall!
Wednesday, 31 October 2012
Friday, 26 October 2012
Autumn
There has been a rather long pause in my blogging over the summer due to my 'get up and go' disappearing for a few months but recently some of it has come back!
I don't usually listen to Radio 3, preferring Radio 4 or BBC1, but one evening recently I heard a piece of music and it seemed very familiar so with the aid of the internet was able to find its title. The music turned out to be 'Automne', a piece I knew very well as a young teen as it was my solo piece when the dancing school I attended put on shows. However hearing it many decades later it didn't sound quite right but then I was not dancing to a record but to a lovely lady playing the piano and it is only recently that I have been made aware that different performers can play the same piece of music in very different ways! Why does Eric Morecambe come to mind?!
I get my dressmaking skills from my Mum and she made all my dresses for the shows including several tutus. The one to dance the part of Autumn had a brown satin bodice and a skirt of many layers of green, brown and orange net and it is rather disappointing that the one photo I have is in black and white and as tights were not as stretchy as today, although I don't have Nora Batty ankles, the knees are rather baggy, so no-way will it get scanned and put on-line!
I spent many hours painting and cutting paper leaves that I held in my hands and then wafted over the stage during the dance and I'm always reminded of the dance at this time of year, especially when the leaves are as colourful as they are this Autumn.
And then I saw this which explains everything!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20083813
I don't usually listen to Radio 3, preferring Radio 4 or BBC1, but one evening recently I heard a piece of music and it seemed very familiar so with the aid of the internet was able to find its title. The music turned out to be 'Automne', a piece I knew very well as a young teen as it was my solo piece when the dancing school I attended put on shows. However hearing it many decades later it didn't sound quite right but then I was not dancing to a record but to a lovely lady playing the piano and it is only recently that I have been made aware that different performers can play the same piece of music in very different ways! Why does Eric Morecambe come to mind?!
I get my dressmaking skills from my Mum and she made all my dresses for the shows including several tutus. The one to dance the part of Autumn had a brown satin bodice and a skirt of many layers of green, brown and orange net and it is rather disappointing that the one photo I have is in black and white and as tights were not as stretchy as today, although I don't have Nora Batty ankles, the knees are rather baggy, so no-way will it get scanned and put on-line!
I spent many hours painting and cutting paper leaves that I held in my hands and then wafted over the stage during the dance and I'm always reminded of the dance at this time of year, especially when the leaves are as colourful as they are this Autumn.
And then I saw this which explains everything!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-20083813
Friday, 1 June 2012
more study
I'm writing this sitting in my room at college having just finished the last day of a three year course to help my development in my ministry, having become a local minister 14 years after leaving college!
It has been a good course learning as much from fellow students as from the tutors and I have made some good friends, some of whom I will be able to keep in touch with the aid of facebook!
Coming to London every month gives me a good opportunity to visit friends and family, and several have asked if this is the end of my visits. But no, I will continue to study and have been officially given permission to continue coming to college each month to spend time in the library and archives to study the life of Mrs Spurgeon.
She was an amazing woman - 'behind every great man there is an even greater woman'!
It has been a good course learning as much from fellow students as from the tutors and I have made some good friends, some of whom I will be able to keep in touch with the aid of facebook!
Coming to London every month gives me a good opportunity to visit friends and family, and several have asked if this is the end of my visits. But no, I will continue to study and have been officially given permission to continue coming to college each month to spend time in the library and archives to study the life of Mrs Spurgeon.
Monday, 28 May 2012
animal!
I'm now back home after a flying visit to London yesterday to help my eldest celebrate his 40th birthday.
When we were all much younger a Saturday tea-time treat was to watch The Muppets and we all had our favourites. Mark's was Kermit but as he grew older and took up drumming his favourite switched to Animal.
Mark and Katie live near the lady who won the 'Bake off' competition and Katie was given the opportunity of having some lessons and this is what she made for Mark! and it tasted wonderful!
When we were all much younger a Saturday tea-time treat was to watch The Muppets and we all had our favourites. Mark's was Kermit but as he grew older and took up drumming his favourite switched to Animal.
Mark and Katie live near the lady who won the 'Bake off' competition and Katie was given the opportunity of having some lessons and this is what she made for Mark! and it tasted wonderful!
Saturday, 5 May 2012
for one night only
I have not missed many Baptist Assemblies in recent years, especially when for a few years I was on the committee that discussed the arrangements. When I lived in suburbia I thought it was great when the Assembly was held in London, but now I am in Wales I'm not so sure! Although I have two children who live within a short commute of London they both have cats and I am allergic to them so I can't stay there! and I have never liked traveling home from London in the late evening anyway. The other option is a B&B in London but the cost of that is way out of my league!
So I asked my daughter if she would like to come with me for the Friday evening so that I would feel safe on my journey out of London to a cheaper hotel! Mandie has recently moved but has not, as yet, got the courage to go to the local Baptist church on her own especially as she does not know anyone there. But last summer I met Pete who was leaving college to take up the post of minister at her local church.
Are you still with me...?
As we walked into Westminster Central Hall, immediately in front of us was Pete and his wife! Mandie was duly introduced and she now feels far more comfortable about taking that brave step!
It was lovely to catch up with a couple of friends, albeit very briefly, but I was disappointed not to see C from Glasgow, I know she was there but our paths did not cross.
The evening was superb, from saying thank you to Pat Took for being last year's President to welcoming Chris Duffett as President for this year. I have enjoyed reading about his street evangelism but to hear him talk about it and encourage us was very special. And although what he does seems a million miles away from my ministry, the way it has impacted me, I am sure there will be something that I can take from the inner city and bring to rural Wales!
So I asked my daughter if she would like to come with me for the Friday evening so that I would feel safe on my journey out of London to a cheaper hotel! Mandie has recently moved but has not, as yet, got the courage to go to the local Baptist church on her own especially as she does not know anyone there. But last summer I met Pete who was leaving college to take up the post of minister at her local church.
Are you still with me...?
As we walked into Westminster Central Hall, immediately in front of us was Pete and his wife! Mandie was duly introduced and she now feels far more comfortable about taking that brave step!
It was lovely to catch up with a couple of friends, albeit very briefly, but I was disappointed not to see C from Glasgow, I know she was there but our paths did not cross.
The evening was superb, from saying thank you to Pat Took for being last year's President to welcoming Chris Duffett as President for this year. I have enjoyed reading about his street evangelism but to hear him talk about it and encourage us was very special. And although what he does seems a million miles away from my ministry, the way it has impacted me, I am sure there will be something that I can take from the inner city and bring to rural Wales!
Tuesday, 1 May 2012
I survived
Was it the walk up Cadair Idris or the cycle ride along the Mawddach Trail? No it was being without the internet for ten days! I did have my computer with me so that I could download the day's photos but I did miss keeping in touch with my facebook and blogging friends.
We spent the first five days camped - in our camper-van (plugged into electricity! = fan heater!) at the bottom of Cadair Idris in mid-Wales. On one of the days we planned to walk up to what we termed as base camp! It had been raining hard but it turned to drizzle and there had been some very heavy hail the day before. We had a good walk which included some scrambling up some rocks - really good fun in good weather! But as we had only planned a morning walk, when we reached the snow-line we thought it wise to turn round and re-trace our steps.
Bob took all the photos because my shakes mean blurred photos but I wasn't quite sure if the camera was working properly - hence my quizzical look!
For our second five days we moved camp to just north of Barmouth so that we were near to Cycle Route 8, part of which is the Mawddach Trail which runs along side the Afon Mawddach. But first one has to cross the mouth of the estuary along side the railway on a wooden bridge.
We cycled for nearly two hours reaching a good pub for an excellent meal before returning! My bike has front suspension, for which I was very grateful but cycling over the wooden bridge on a full stomach was not very pleasant!
As you can see from the photos we had very mixed weather. We (he) took lots of photos, including this rather 'arty' one as a friend has a painting just like this!
Last year we had a holiday across the bay and it was fun trying to work out the various coastal towns below the mountains.
Having come home I dread the mountains of washing and although it is all done now, I could do with another holiday!
We spent the first five days camped - in our camper-van (plugged into electricity! = fan heater!) at the bottom of Cadair Idris in mid-Wales. On one of the days we planned to walk up to what we termed as base camp! It had been raining hard but it turned to drizzle and there had been some very heavy hail the day before. We had a good walk which included some scrambling up some rocks - really good fun in good weather! But as we had only planned a morning walk, when we reached the snow-line we thought it wise to turn round and re-trace our steps.
Bob took all the photos because my shakes mean blurred photos but I wasn't quite sure if the camera was working properly - hence my quizzical look!
As you can see from the photos we had very mixed weather. We (he) took lots of photos, including this rather 'arty' one as a friend has a painting just like this!
Having come home I dread the mountains of washing and although it is all done now, I could do with another holiday!
Friday, 13 April 2012
at long last
I went to a technical school - I don't think they exist anymore. They were for the ones who weren't quite bright enough to get through to a grammar school - they had a secretarial stream and nursing stream and usually took 'O'levels in the lower sixth and 'A'levels in one year in the upper sixth.
We all had a general education for the first three years and specialised in the fourth and fifth years. I took both Maths and English 'O'levels in the fifth year - but failed English. So took it again at Christmas along with cookery. Having got three exams out of the way the rest of my sixth form was more manageable for me. But my most difficult 'O'level was embroidery - it consisted of three exams - one where we had to make a design, another on the history (which meant visits to the London museums) and the theory, and the third to test our actual skills of doing it!
I still love it! but it is so time consuming! I find I am attracted to books of it and pre-packaged packs of it - and have a chest full, some I inherited from my Mum who had the same compulsion!
Thirty one years ago, having been widowed a few years before, she met up again with my Dad's best friend from their teenage years, they fell in love and married. And I decided that I would make them a cushion cover that I had seen in one of my many books. The wedding came and went and I had only completed a fraction of the embroidery. The following year we adopted Mandie and the little spare time I had vanished. So the embroidery was taken off the frame and put in the chest.
Thirty years later, Mandie having married and after many, many moves of house, I decided to see if I could complete the cushion cover. Then there was the problem of which would happen first - finish the cover or run out of wool! It was the latter - I think some wool got lost in one of the moves. Unfortunately - they don't make that embroidery wool any longer, so I had to buy a different make to get the right colour, and that wool was very slightly thicker, but fortunately unless you know you can't see the join! Unfortunately neither Mum or my step-Dad are a round to see the finished article.
My favourite part of the embroidery is what they call velvet stitch, a cross stitch with a loop in the middle which is then cut, giving a carpet like effect.
We all had a general education for the first three years and specialised in the fourth and fifth years. I took both Maths and English 'O'levels in the fifth year - but failed English. So took it again at Christmas along with cookery. Having got three exams out of the way the rest of my sixth form was more manageable for me. But my most difficult 'O'level was embroidery - it consisted of three exams - one where we had to make a design, another on the history (which meant visits to the London museums) and the theory, and the third to test our actual skills of doing it!
I still love it! but it is so time consuming! I find I am attracted to books of it and pre-packaged packs of it - and have a chest full, some I inherited from my Mum who had the same compulsion!
Thirty one years ago, having been widowed a few years before, she met up again with my Dad's best friend from their teenage years, they fell in love and married. And I decided that I would make them a cushion cover that I had seen in one of my many books. The wedding came and went and I had only completed a fraction of the embroidery. The following year we adopted Mandie and the little spare time I had vanished. So the embroidery was taken off the frame and put in the chest.
Thirty years later, Mandie having married and after many, many moves of house, I decided to see if I could complete the cushion cover. Then there was the problem of which would happen first - finish the cover or run out of wool! It was the latter - I think some wool got lost in one of the moves. Unfortunately - they don't make that embroidery wool any longer, so I had to buy a different make to get the right colour, and that wool was very slightly thicker, but fortunately unless you know you can't see the join! Unfortunately neither Mum or my step-Dad are a round to see the finished article.
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