Blogs from Hastings, Victoria, Australia, Oceania - page 3

On Thursday 14th November, a clear cold night, we headed by taxi from our cottage to the Wolverhampton coach station where we boarded the National Express to Birmingham. After a short wait it was then on to the National Express to Edinburgh where, after 12.00hrs of travel, we arrive at 7.30am on Friday 15th November. The next leg of our journey was via the East Coast Railway service to Berwick upon Tweed. This was the first part of our journey in daylight and the scenery was spectacular especial the parts that hugged the coast line of the North sea. Berwick is just 3 miles over the border from Scotland and situated where the river Tweed enters the North Sea. Over the centuries Berwick has been the subject of many battles between Scotland ... read more

Our participation with St Chads & St Marys has increased during the 9 weeks we have been here and we have now been given direct access to St Chads Church. Unlike Holy Trinity where Graeme Chant issues keys and keeps a key register with St Chads they tell you where to find the key, just as well given the size of the key!!!! we can just imagine Graeme having to get this one copied and for people keeping it on there key chain. Saturday 2nd November was a damp, windy and misty morning as members of the St Chads congregation gathered to start the annual Church yard clean up. At times it was a race between those raking up the many leaves and the wind which constantly deposited more leaves from the many trees. ... read more

Part of the annual UK Church calendar is the celebration of Harvest Festival. This occurs between the last week of September and the first week of October each year, this is the end of the harvest. Churches are decorated with all manner of local produce and thanks is given to God for what he has provided. Friday 4th October we attended the St Chad's Harvest Praise service at 6.30pm followed by a Harvest Supper in the Old School Room, The Old School Room had ceased to to be a school in 1935 and is now used as a hall for the church. The service was very special and started with the ringing of the Church bells. The bells are rung from the back of the Church and were rung by one person for 15 ... read more

Food discovered and rediscovered in the UK - Homemade hand Pork Pies, Pork Scratching’s, Chocolate Digestives, Bramley Cooking Apples, Branston Pickle, Galaxy chocolate & fresh Blackberries picked from the hedgerows along the country lanes. Friday 20th September we headed off from the manor house towards Tong a small village about a 90 a minute walk. The weather was mild and overcast but the promises of sunny spells early afternoon. The reason for going to Tong was to see St Bartholomew’s Church which is an impressive village church and is one of the top one thousand churches in the UK, it also celebrated being 600 years old in 2010. The church boasts a ‘Great Bell’, the largest bell in Shropshire and takes three people to toll it. It also has a font that ... read more