Harvest Thanksgiving

Friday 30th September 2016

An exciting few minutes outside gathering fresh fruit and feeling ready to celebrate with a Harvest Thanksgiving service.  (The next one will be 9.30 at St Cuthbert's Bellingham this Sunday.  A week later comes the Soup Swap evening service at St Aidan's Thorneyburn!)

Falstone Harvest celebration

Sunday 25th September 2016

Falstone celebrated Harvest with hymns, prayers and a shared lunch in the village hall, where parishioners brought non-perishable contributions to donate to the Food Bank.

Preparations

Tuesday 27th September 2016

As ever, there is a great deal more work behind the scenes than anyone sees in public.  Not much mileage today (just over 21 miles according to the car's milometer)  for calls at Corsenside churchyard to check details for an imminent burial of ashes, at Bellingham First school to borrow a CD of hymns suitable for the Brownies' visit to church, at Otterburn in connection with a  printing invoice for the Team magazine, at the pre-school Sure Start Centre to make some harvest arrangements.  Otherwise it was a day at the Rectory for telephone calls, admin and a two-hour planning meeting with the Deanery development officer.

Upper Redesdale Show

Saturday 24th September 2016

These pictures from past years represent the Upper Redesdale Show, which I was unable to photograph effectively today owing to Zebedee, the unruly dog, who doesn't seem to have changed much since the top pictures were taken in 2011.

New sheep

Tuesday 20th September 2016

The new sheep on a farm are still sporting their fetching sale yellow wool-wash.  We don't treat new members of the Rector's flock like that.

Vicar's view

Friday 16th September 2016

The bride and groom with grandpa after the wedding  --  and just before I set off for hospital visiting

The sun breaks through

Monday 12th September 2016

After a dull start to the morning the clouds began to break up at about 9 o'clock  --  when I also had the first break in activities for several days!
     Sunday 4th was St Cuthbert's Day when we not only celebrated Cuthbert at St Cuthbert's church, Corsenside in the morning, but also remembered St Aidan (whose feast day is 31st August) at St Aidan's Thorneyburn with a baptism at 1.30 and then went on to a full church at St Cuthbert's Bellingham for Choral Evensong at 6 o'clock with Antiphon as the choir and the Dean Emeritus of Durham, the Very Revd Michael Sadgrove, as the preacher.
     65 people were at that service and  270 at Simonburn on Tuesday evening for the welcome and licensing by the Bishop of a new parish priest (with my having had to conduct a rehearsal the day before).  
   What else?   An AGM for the Friends of St Cuthbert's Bellingham, an ecumenical planning meeting, a PCC at Falstone, school assembly at Greenhaugh, Team ministers meeting over lunch at the Rectory, where we also had a meeting with the Archdeacon and a Deanery Development Committee, a baptism visit at Kielder, the end of residency artist's exhibition at High Green, Bellingham Leek Show...and it was Sunday again, with services at Woodburn and Thorneyburn  and Messy Church (attended by 18 children and 14 adults) at Falstone in between.

St Cuthbert's Festival Walk

Saturday 3rd September 2016

Listening to a story of St Cuthbert and the animals.  [More pictures on Events page]