On Test Dear friends, It is exam season. Students up and down the country are sitting papers of all kinds. Written papers, practical assessments, sometimes even the dreaded “viva voce”. GCSE’s, A levels, Degree finals, Dissertations, Master’s, Bar exams, Professional examinations. Qualification, accreditation, authorisation, refreshers, life is full of tests, as necessary rehearsals for the stresses that will come, and (one hopes)…

Angels in ordinary. Dear friends, I’ve not met an angel. Or, at least, not met one in such a way that I can look back and say “that was an angel.” I do however, know someone who believes that they did, with complete conviction. This is a very sensible person, a lawyer, even, not in the least prone to “wackiness”. I don’t…

The Green Dear friends, The English village has a number of features which form the traditional “glue” for its society. There are suppliers of food or drink, such as a shop, cafe, pub, bakery and so on, around which people congregate according to their means or their leisure, whether in time or money. There are the businesses, nurseries and schools, all of…

Have no anxiety Dear friends, Back in the late 1970’s, when a serious international oil crisis had sent inflation spiralling, and the resultant wage demands from many different sectors threw Britain into a carnage of industrial actions, pitting successive governments against one trade union after another, when the Soviet moles inside our security services had not all been exposed, and when the…

Dirty Church Dear friends, However you care to describe it (Scruffy Church, Grubby Church, Messy Church?) Checkendon Church needs some tender loving care right now in the sprucing-up department. Please join me this coming Saturday from 10am-12noon for a spot of hoovering, mopping, polishing, dusting, tidying, pruning, sweeping, weeding and edging. All ages and stages are very welcome! Please bring your choice…

Simple Gifts Dear friends “Simplicity is the only thing that can sufficiently reorient our lives so that possessions can genuinely be enjoyed without destroying us.” So wrote Richard Foster in the 1970’s. Outside my window the blue tits come close and flutter noisily, sometimes bashing the pane with their wings. They want me to notice that the fat balls have all gone,…