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September 4, 2015

Newbiggin by the Sea, Northumberland – St Bartholomew

A few months ago Alison White, now Bishop Alison of Hull, suggested I went to see Peter Sinclair, Vicar of Newbiggin by the Sea as a Spiritual Director. We have become good friends, and – as the day we met (Tuesday 25 August) was a gorgeous day – decided to have a walk down to have a look at his church. It stands on the promontory, parking next door, grid reference NZ317880. This website  has not been updated since 2012, but this one looks a little more current. On the front, in front of the church, is Newbiggin Maritime...
Categories Northumberland/Personal/World War 1 Comments: 4
September 2, 2015

Clare College, Cambridge

Clare College, Cambridge – website – another gorgeous college, though with slightly less visitors. It also has a longer history – Trinity is a baby in comparison. Clare is the second oldest of the colleges, founded in 1326, and generously endowed a few years later by Lady Elizabeth de Clare (Lady de Burgh – was she the original “Lady in Red”? (Peter making a joke about popular music)), a granddaughter of King Edward I. It became known as Clare Hall as early as 1339 (the present simplified title, ‘Clare’, dates from 1856).  Hugh Lambert and Nicholas Ferrar were members...
Categories Cambridgeshire/Personal/World War 1 Comments: 0
September 1, 2015

Trinity College, Cambridge

While my wife spent time in Heffer’s (a bookshop for those of you who don’t know – website) I walked across to Trinity and visited the Chapel. I have a soft spot for Trinity. I remember grandad taking me into the college – pointing out Henry VIII’s chair leg on the gate and Tennyson’s pipe in the chapel. That has whetted your appetite to read on. The College website has plenty to read. Indeed, you can take a virtual tour of the College, so why bother to visit (or to read this blog!). You can read about the chapel at...
Categories Cambridgeshire/Personal Comments: 0
August 22, 2015

And it’s from the old I travel to the new

With help from Harry, who sent me to his friend Andy Kinsey (see his website here), we are back up and running. A huge thank you – and Harry will buy him a pint (or four). All the posts have transferred from wordpress.com to northernvicar.co.uk with the exception of 1, 2 and 3. We are now trying to find out where Whitley Chapel, Stannington and Wylam have gone … we’re blaming wordpress themselves. You will now get a steady stream of beautiful churches, and I have my own website. This gives me an opportunity to include a John Wilson...
Categories Personal/Railway History Comments: 0
August 10, 2015

To be continued (we hope)

I tried to add a final photo to the Ironbridge blog, only to be told my storage space (all 13 Gb of it) was full. Not that I had had any prior warning of this … . It seems as if I can only add more storage space by upgrading to a site which costs me about £15 a month (as opposed to £10 a year). Alternatively we have to do something clever by changing server, but that will change the web address, or start a new blog (northernvicar2 perhaps) which will also change the web address. Whatever I...
Categories Personal Comments: 0
March 13, 2015

London – St Lawrence Jewry

Just down the road is the church of St Lawrence Jewry – just beside the Guildhall. In my days in London – I worked as Librarian for the solicitors firm of Bischoff and Co from 1985-88 – I used to go here sometimes for a midweek service. Their website doesn’t work as well as St Mary le Bow’s, but it has more Bible quotes. They have regular weekday services, welcoming notices, and a nice fishpond. The first church here was built on the western edge of the Jewish trading area. It was built in 1136. The Jews were expelled in 1290,...
Categories Outside Northumberland/Personal Comments: 0
February 26, 2015

Sugley – Holy Saviour

The day after we had been to Carlisle, I went to Sugley for an evening Deanery Chapter meeting. I went back on Friday 30 to get outside pictures in daylight. Holy Saviour, Scotswood Road, Sugley, serves the community of Lemington. Website at http://holysaviour.co.uk/. The church is on the north side of the road at NZ187646, with a car park on the north west side of the church – the church is actually aligned north-south. Although in our Deanery I had not been in until last autumn – the previous Vicar wasn’t in favour of women priests so had little...
Categories Newcastle upon Tyne/Personal/World War 1 Comments: 5
January 24, 2015

Sheffield Cathedral

If my maths is right this will be blog 200 – so 200 can celebrate son Harry getting his MA and Sarah getting her MSc from Sheffield University. We will also celebrate that Sheffield Cathedral has its own tram stop. It is amusing that Julie’s disabled pass from Northumberland gets her on a Sheffield tram free, but she has to pay for a ride on a Newcastle metro. Harry has been in Sheffield for over 4 years and we had not been in the Cathedral – this morning, Friday 16 January 2015 (his graduation is in the afternoon), we finally...
Categories Cathedrals/Outside Northumberland/Personal/World War 1 Comments: 2
October 28, 2014

Risby, Suffolk – St Giles

Just one trip into Suffolk this holiday – for an evening meal (getting a bit too dark for decent photos). Risby – a small village off the A14 – is a village that is special to us. The youngsters went to school here, Hannah did Brownies here, we enjoyed the antiques centre and cafe there, and Chris the Vicar supported me through my Curacy. St Giles church is in the middle of the village at TL802664 and is a Grade 1 listed building. Being in Suffolk we can use Simon’s wonderful site – http://www.suffolkchurches.co.uk/risby.htm. We can also read http://www.roundtowers.org.uk/...
Categories Outside Northumberland/Personal/Suffolk Comments: 0
October 28, 2014

Saffron Walden, Essex – St Mary the Virgin

We are back in Essex for the wedding of Siân and Adam. We first got to know her as an RSCM Southern Cathedral Singer with Hannah – any young singers, we highly recommend the RSCM choirs – http://www.rscm.com/ukIreland/choirs.php. Lots of lovely music in this wedding, and I had the privilege of reading a lesson. We had been told “no photos during the service”, but we had a view of signing the registers (legally not part of the service!). I then had time to photo the church while we waited for things to happen. I also asked Rob (Siân’s dad)...
Categories Outside Northumberland/Personal Comment: 1