A few days early

Sunday 23rd February 2014

The first daffodil of the year at the Rectory.
(Six days early for St David's day!)
The first sign of spring, along with birds thinking about nesting: one sparrow was bang on time as it struggled to fly off with a long piece of hay from the stable on St Valentine's Day (14th).

Funeral at Thorneyburn

Thursday 20th February 2014

Snow showers

Wednesday 12th February 2014

Mary, Joseph and the donkey with the crib find themselves waiting in the snow for their lift home now that Christmas and the Epiphany season are over.  (Nobody else was waiting for Mattins this morning: for once I was the first of the four of us to arrive for Morning Prayer.)

On the road

Thursday 6th February 2014

The day seems to be brightening up in mid afternoon

as I drive back to Bellingham following an assembly at Otterburn First School.  That was my third assembly of the day: Bellingham at 10.20 (after a Communion Service in church), Greenhaugh at 1.00 p.m. and Otterburn at 2.45, before a meeting with other clergy in Bellingham.  A careful itinerary and buying lunch in Otterburn to avoid unnecessary driving kept the mileage down to 39 miles.  The evening was taken up with the Deanery Committee.

Where does the time go?

Wednesday 5th February 2014

Looking over the snowdrops on the Rectory Glebe to the river North Tyne

There were only two appointments in my diary for the day, one a visit to another parish in the Deanery and one an evening PCC meeting.  But somehow, there was scarcely a spare moment between 7.00 a.m. and 11.30 p.m. as I dealt with a vast array of e-mails concerning pilgrimage, World War One commemorations in several parishes, schools and I can't remember what else.

Willing to give a lift to anyone

Tuesday 4th February 2014

Not much time for anything during a very busy week.  The horsebox battery was flat.  So I collected as much hay as possible in the car.

The Baker's Wall

Monday 3rd February 2014

A Spring view of Bellingham: looking forward as we plan for future events.  

 This planning entails visiting the Baker's to look on the wall at the village calendar and claiming the afternoon of Sunday 7th September when we intend to mount some tableaux of scenes photographed by W.P. Collier in 1914.  Later in the day I discussed some of the events with the local paper.  In between a Deanery steering group met to forward plans for hosting pilgrims to Bellingham Deanery.