The Rectory
Broadheath
Tenbury WR15 8QW
Christmas 2012
Dear
If you’re
someone who dislikes round robin Christmas letters please accept our best
wishes for Christmas and the new year and feel free to ignore the rest of
this.
However even
though we keep in touch with some people with facebook, we still enjoy hearing
about other’s news & people have told us they like to receive ours, so here
it is.
February saw
the birth of our third grandchild, Geoffrey, Daniel and Annabelle’s first
child. As a first born often does, he
kept us waiting and didn’t seem in a hurry to come into the world and he needed
a little extra encouragement before he made his appearance.
We had a
week away on the Lizard peninsula, Cornwall, during February half term. We stayed in a former lighthouse keeper’s
cottage right at the southern end of the Lizard. We walked the coastal paths
looking to see if we could see seals (we couldn’t), looked for geocaches (we
found them) and walked the lanes where there were fields of daffodils in bloom.
The summer
marked our 30th wedding anniversary. Looking back it seems like a
long time ago. We were out of the country on the actual anniversary. We were in
northern Portugal staying for ten days near the river that marks the boundary
with Spain. We had a very pleasant time
unwinding. We spent our actual anniversary canoeing, not something that many
people would have predicted 30 years ago!
The run up
to Portugal had been busy, not just with all the usual preparation for going
away but because Madge (Margaret, my first wife’s mother) had after a long
illness died. Because of everybody
else’s travel commitments the funeral could only take place on the Friday four
days before we went to Portugal. Also
because it had to be that day, the priest from her local church wasn’t
available, so I was asked to take the service. Not many people have the chance
to say the last word about their mother in law! It all went as well as could be
expected.
After
Portugal was busy too. We arrived back
on a Friday. The next day was Edward (my nephew) and Kate’s wedding. It was
good to see family on a cheerful occasion.
October saw
us back in Cornwall for a few days break staying at Talland Bay, with walks to
Polperro and Fowey and visits to the Eden project and the lost gardens of Helligan.
Another
family gathering was in November when it was Geoffrey’s christening, again good
to meet up with folk that we don’t see as often as we might like.
The churches continue to develop. Three years after the
decision was originally taken, Stanford was added to this group on the 1st
of November. That means I’m up to seven
churches. It also means a change in the structures of the other six churches
and that will take a little working through. This year has seen the first
people from these villages being confirmed in several years, two adults in May
and four teenagers in November. The Pastoral Team is starting to find its feet.
We have funding for a project with someone spending two days a week developing
geocaches in the churches, walks from the churches and stories of the local
area. That project finishes next March.
There is more life about the churches.
I reflect on what I am doing with the Centre for Studies in Rural
Ministry and am at the early stages of a dissertation with a working title of
“How provision of church services affects church life: an inquiry in Teme
Valley South”
