Home from Abroad: Return to the Vicarage

Home from Abroad is that lovely poem by Laurie Lee that I learnt by heart for O Level Eng Lit. And here I am, skin not so much ‘well oiled by wines of the Levant’ as lightly tanned by Brittany sun… and rain. I didn’t advertise my absence, though the more eagle eyed of you [...]

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Vicarage Taxi?

A short tale from a recent Sunday at the Vicarage: The Vicar was in the kitchen, talking to a weeping parishioner who was in some emotional turmoil. We were waiting for our pal Nerd to come and join us for lunch. I guess it was about 1.30pm. I had a text from my local friend [...]

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The Kapoors/Coopers Go To Church

Another Goodness Gracious Me clip to cheer your August holidays.

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A Very Short Sermon – the best type?

This lady’s summary of the gospel made me smile the other day – and only 1 minute 43 seconds! I wonder if there’s a British equivalent? She’s called Tamara Lowe, from Christ Fellowship, a church in Palm Beach. [HT Debbie Andrew via Facebook]

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Indian Christianity

One of our favourite tv programmes used to be Goodness Gracious Me. This clip is one I only came across fairly recently -  a very appropriate Vicarage theme.

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Why We Love Ventures

Last week we got back from the Edgehill Pathfinder venture. We’d stayed in  a boarding school in Devon with our kids, a brilliant bunch of leaders and 65 11-14 year olds. We had loads of fun (3 wonderful beach trips, fantastic crafts, excellent games and some lively humour, which included the consumption of delights such [...]

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Kids in Church – Poll Results

Sorry not to have posted these results before. Somehow it’s harder to find time to do things in the holidays… Anyway, here they are: Technique Votes Percentage Colouring/quizzes 23 21% Books 21 19% Other (see below) 15 14% Extensive pre-service briefing on loving ones neighbour by not distracting them 13 12% Breadsticks or other healthy [...]

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Gone Again

Oh dear. A loud ring on the doorbell at quarter to eight this morning. The Vicar went down to greet the postman. And alongside him, on the Vicarage doorstep, was Gone. Just like he was this time last year. If you’ve started reading since last summer, you’ll not know that Gone is homeless man, an [...]

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The Bling Bling Girls

One of the things I’ve loved about taking the Engineer to school this year is that in the Reception class you get to walk in with your child, help them locate their coathook and get their lunchbox in the trolley. And then you get to hang out with them and their friends for a bit. [...]

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Playground Rhymes 2: Ribena, sassatina

More than a year ago I blogged a video of the Queen and the Joker reciting one of their favourite playground rhymes. This has attracted a few comments both on the blog and on YouTube, so I thought I’d share another favourite Wolverhampton rhyme here. Here they are reciting Ribena, Sassatina (full lyrics below the [...]

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