As I sit here typing these words I gaze over the trees to the top of the tower of St Mary’s Church Warwick. The decorated parapet at the top of this tower is the highest place you can be in Warwick (which is this year celebrating its 1100th anniversary). I’ve climbed to that platform and gazed downContinue reading “Inspiration From the Parapet at the Top of the Tower of St Mary’s Church Warwick”
Category Archives: thoughts
Do Novelists Have an Agenda or a Moral Purpose?
This morning on BBC Radio 4’s Start the Week programme I listened to a fascinating panel discussion from the Charleston Festival. Tom Sutcliffe questioned four novelists: Tim Winton, Nicola Barker, Michael Schmidt and Karl Knausgaard. Two of the questions Tom Sutcliffe asked were: Do novelists have an agenda or a moral purpose? Do you as a novelistContinue reading “Do Novelists Have an Agenda or a Moral Purpose?”
Hope That Eurovision Might Value Performers for Their Own Sake and Not for Their Country’s Politics
I was pleased to see Austria’s win in the Eurovision Song contest 2014. Not only was there the pleasure in seeing a country win that had not seen success at Eurovision for 49 years, but also I thought it a genuinely good song, performed beautifully by Conchita Wurst who has a wonderful voice. The standardContinue reading “Hope That Eurovision Might Value Performers for Their Own Sake and Not for Their Country’s Politics”
Kairos Moments in Life – Broken Priests and More Insights from BBC TV sitcom ‘Rev’
As I think again about the BBC TV sitcom Rev the word wrecked comes to my mind. Probably my favourite character in Rev is Colin the local vagrant, brilliantly played by Steve Evets. I described him as a philosopher tramp in my previous post on Rev. But there is a much darker side to Colin,Continue reading “Kairos Moments in Life – Broken Priests and More Insights from BBC TV sitcom ‘Rev’”
Holywell Retreat, A Place of Spiritual Inspiration on the Sussex Coast
I’ve written before in this blog about those sacred spaces which are known in Ancient Celtic terms as thin places. These are places where you are led to believe that the veil between the visible and the invisible worlds is thin. They don’t have to be obviously religious places. In fact once I read ofContinue reading “Holywell Retreat, A Place of Spiritual Inspiration on the Sussex Coast”
The Last Anglo-Saxon King and A Successful Invasion: Brutality, Beauty, and The Workings of Fate in Our Lives – in 1066
A Review of 1066 – What Fates Impose by G.K. Holloway I love to read a lively account of English history, and often draw principles from it that are relevant to our own lives. So when author G.K. Holloway contacted me recently to ask if I’d agree to read and review his book 1066 – What Fates Impose, IContinue reading “The Last Anglo-Saxon King and A Successful Invasion: Brutality, Beauty, and The Workings of Fate in Our Lives – in 1066”
Rocky Hillsides, Dark Valleys and the One Voice You Can Trust
In our lives we can often find that there seems to be one poem or a prayer which has been most helpful, most meaningful to us. For me this has been the 23rd Psalm: The Lord Is My Shepherd. In times of strong negative emotion, the words though I walk through the valley of the shadow ofContinue reading “Rocky Hillsides, Dark Valleys and the One Voice You Can Trust”
The RADA Student Who Felt Like Packing Her Bags and Going Back North
The BBC Radio 4 Today programme is often a source of inspiration to me. And today at 8.20am I heard an item about the party for former RADA students that the Queen will be holding in Buckingham Palace this evening (Monday 17 February 2014) I’m very interested in the life of an actor, partly because the acting world doesContinue reading “The RADA Student Who Felt Like Packing Her Bags and Going Back North”
Loyalty, Hope and Keeping Faith, in the Greatest Film I’ve Ever Seen: The Shawshank Redemption
We love listing “The 50 Top … Films, Books, Magic Tricks, Comedians”, etc. etc. And a list of the top films will always change from year to year. But to my mind, The Shawshank Redemption makes the top of the list. And I saw it again very recently on TV. I watched it for the first timeContinue reading “Loyalty, Hope and Keeping Faith, in the Greatest Film I’ve Ever Seen: The Shawshank Redemption”
A Vision of Healing Through The Power of Prayer in Leamington Spa
Over the last few weeks I’ve been taking a few hours of time out from revising my novel, to do voluntary work for our local Christian Healing Centre, The Well. I help to update the website, assist the Director of The Well, Rev. Anne Hibbert, with her blog, proofread publicity material and prepare leaflets advertising forthcoming events.Continue reading “A Vision of Healing Through The Power of Prayer in Leamington Spa”
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