Cakes for Mothering Sunday

Thursday 27th March 2014

Some of the cakes we made at Bellingham First School this afternoon to serve after the Mothering Sunday service on Sunday morning  --  if people get there after the night when the clocks go forward  --  oh dear!

A new round of PCC meetings

Tuesday 18th March 2014

Another fascinating cloud formation

Today was a morning of driving around visiting various people, an afternoon of discussions with people who came to the Rectory,  evening at Otterburn with the PCC (Parochial Church Council).

Catching up

Saturday 15th March 2014

People say that visiting the Upper North Tyne is like going back in time; but surely even we don't have bullock carts?

It turned out that the farmer was moving a few cattle by herding them from his quad bike.  I was on my way from Falstone to Bellingham where I spent a lot of time answering e-mails and at my desk.

A Quiet Friday in Lent

Friday 14th March 2014

The view from the chapel at the diocesan Retreat House

Schools day

Thursday 13th March 2014

Bellingham First School visit St Cuthbert's church
for an hour's exploration  --  for which I arrived just in time after an assembly on the parable of the Sower at Greenhaugh.

Enjoying the sun

Wednesday 12th March 2014

Meanwhile I'm out and about visiting.  The evening is taken up with a PCC meeting at Falstone.

Now one of the few frosts of this winter!

Tuesday 11th March 2014

Finished writing my contribution for the April parish magazine a minute before the midnight deadline, a long time after taking this mildly frosty picture in the early morning sun.

Spring on the way?

Saturday 8th March 2014


Sheep involved in collie-dog training

Bellingham funeral

Thursday 6th March 2014

Not a squirrel's funeral, but the funeral of a man who loved and knew everything about the local countryside.

A poor start to Lent

Ash Wednesday 5th March 2014

On the way home from a meeting of Area Deans

Today I woke up to find that I had completely lost my voice and couldn't say Morning Prayer in church with the others.  Nor could I visit the wife of the person whose funeral is tomorrow or telephone the daughter of the person whose funeral is on Saturday.  There were many complicated phone calls during the day which had to be answered by my (hard-of-hearing) husband.  I conveyed my messages to him (for forward transmission) by a mixture of writing and acting.

     Meanwhile, I went to post an important document which had been entrusted to me by a parishioner's family.  Just before I dropped it through the pillar-box slit, I suspected that it was inadequately stamped.  So I tied the dog round the corner of the Post Office and went in, only to realise that I hadn't brought any money.  The person serving me kindly lent me 30 pence from her own purse and I set off home.  Halfway home now empty handed, I wondered if I had left something behind.   Oh dear: I had forgotten the dog.

     I retrieved him just in time to arrive at the Rectory before the Churchwardens who had come for my signature on an application form for a Faculty to give permission for certain work at the ancient church.  We then worked out how they could lead certain parts of this evening's Parish Communion, leaving me to whisper the absolution, the Eucharistic Prayer and the blessing  --  all of which must be done by a priest.

     As it turned out, I was able to find a retired priest who lives nearby (fourteen miles away) to come and stand in for me at very short notice.

     Let's hope Lent becomes more orderly before the week is out.

Shrove Tuesday

Tuesday 4th March 2014

Bellingham First School make pancakes

[See Events page.]