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Continue reading →: Starting the Finchale Camino
During Lent this year I am walking the Finchale Camino beginning at Finchale Abbey on the banks of the River Wear near Durham. My plan is to walk the route that is within County Durham, about 25 miles. It’s a splendid walk through a favourite part of England for me…
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Continue reading →: Fast
In 1609 Bishop James Montagu asked the churchwardens of his diocese of Bath and Wells to report to him the names who traded in meat, or who ate meat in Lent. (The visitation article is reproduced above.) A bishop who asked this in 2026 would need to be prepared to…
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Continue reading →: A is for Apple, B is for Bell
Today I am saying thank you for Mrs Betty Brewer and Miss Blackett, two ladies who contributed greatly to my life. They were my first teachers in the two County Durham primary schools I attended from the age of four. They, along with my parents, taught me the alphabet and…
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Continue reading →: Let’s open church doors
A special claim of the Church of England is that ot serves all the people of England regardless of the faith, or lack of faith they profess. Each person has a claim on the care and services of their parish priest and parish church. The parish system of the Church…
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Continue reading →: Just William and his creator
The final few months of 2025 brough many downs, and a few ups, and so I decided in January to read some books for comfort. Together with this I also decided to nominate for myself an author of the month for the months of 2026. January’s choice was RICHMAL CROMPTON,…
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Continue reading →: About four o’clock in the afternoon
Thank you to my dear friend Fr Kenson Li, for providing this text of the sermon he gave at Manchester Cathedral on Sunday 18th January. Kenson ‘calls out’ the ‘grave injustice‘ and ‘baseless rejection’ by bishops of the Church of England of people in same sex marriages called to be…
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Continue reading →: Asses and Bishops
Drama, colour, pantomime and subversion could be found in several of the ceremonies and liturgies of the medieval church. Processions, in particular, attracted these elements. Good examples are Corpus Christi processions or, in some places at the Feast of the Flight to Egypt, which became known as the Feast of…
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Continue reading →: A school of love, a place of peace
Love, welcome and acceptance help nourish hope and faith for us all. In my personal experience communities, among them some churches, which have enriched my life, and in which I have been able to give, are those in which I have felt valued and appreciated. For me these have often…
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Continue reading →: Becoming an Armiger
Ever since school days I’ve had a passing interest in heraldry. Indeed I was a founder member of the Barnard Castle School Heraldry Club (a very short lived organisation!) A while ago I made application to the College of Arms, the heraldic authority for England, to be granted permission for…
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Continue reading →: Seeing stars
Every Christmas I remember the Christmases I experienced as a prison chaplain. I smile when I think of the carol services at wich prisoners would insist Jingle Bells be enthusiastically sung, the simple hand made gifts some prisoners would give to chaplains, the brave faces of prisoners who had no…
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A Retired Rector's Reflections 