Harvest Supper with Rt.Hon Lord Carey of Clifton

Lord Carey is of course the Former Archbishop of Canterbury

Apologies for grainy photos (taken on my phone in low lighting)

A very caring and friendly man, seen here with myself and Andrew Rosindell our local Member of Parliament

He was the speaker at the Harvest Supper of our local Conservative  Christian Fellowship

His after dinner speech was inspiring and informative and he is not afraid to speak out the truth - I will have a copy of his speech eventually but suffice to say that he ended with saying we can make a difference because God is Able.

Here I am with our Lady Mayoress who is also a caring and friendly lady

The supper was hosted at our church and we can thank Julie next door for a great meal

Only got to photo the starter and dessert

Dessert was a trio of Iced Meringue Roulade, Caramel and Chocolate Cheescake and Profiteroles with a Raspberry Sauce

For a starter we had rings of Salmon Mousse, Couscous and Beetroot Cake and a Flaked Salmon Salad

the main course being Rustic Chicken and Vegetables

It just happens to be that we have my blogging friend Joyce and her husband Don staying with us for 6 days and we began our day by taking them to Pilgrims Hall for lunch

Quite a busy day with the Harvest Supper in the evening

Quite a lot going on while they are here which is good as Joyce was keen to experience life as we know it

Got the shopping and market experience over in the first 2 days

When they came last year they were able to experience house church with us but this year it is the first of the month so it will be 'house churches altogether for worship' so a slightly different experience for them

Tonight will be the BURN but more on that in another post and the guys and girls will be splitting up on Monday doing different things

Late September Musings on Life

Late September has been a particularly busy time with a variety of happenings (is this unusual I ask myself!) Here we have one of particular interest

Great to have guests who passionately believe in helping others. Having had approximately 600 guests stay with us over the years we always believe it is a two-way thing. We may offer the hospitality but we gain so much in return through the sometimes amazing people that stay with us. Here dinner is over and Alan is chatting with Harry, Tom's support driver who stayed with us over night.

We also had the pleasure of meeting Tom Benyon OBE and his wife Jane at their host's home during the evening.

Tom & Jane

Tom is 70 and he and Jane are walking 18 miles a day covering the distance between York Minster and Canterbury Cathedral (350 miles)

Not a mean feat in our current weather, gales, torrential rain and flooding.

Tom is a retired member of Parliament who founded a charity called ZANE which helps support the people of Zimbabwe who have lost their homes, land, businesses and everything. They are often elderly people who went out to South Africa when they were  young.

Tom does one of these sponsored walks every year and in 2010 walked 450 miles from Edinburgh to London.

Apart from all the information he writes a very interesting blog which can be found on the above link.

The walk finishes today and we were kindly invited to attend a Black Tie £120 charity dinner cruise and auction on The Thames as his guests but unfortunately we have a prior engagement (see below)

Quite a number of birthdays too this week and having little time to make cards I found a quick way round it. I used some of my photo collages. We will be attending the 40th birthday party tomorrow evening which is a change from the 60th birthday parties we have attended recently!

Sunday we are off to spend a day with Jane and the Grand children which brings us to the end of the month and as the beginning of October is set to be an interesting and busy time I will leave that for another post. 

Thought I'd leave you with one of my favourite teatime treats
Ginger Iced Oatie

12 oz rolled oats      3 lev. Tspns ground ginger           6 oz marg.

6 oz dark brown sugar        3 lev. tblspns golden syrup

For icing      2 oz butter    3 lev. tbspns syrup             6 oz icing sugar

1 ½ lev. Tspns ground ginger

Mix oats, ginger and sugar together.  Melt marg. And syrup and stir it into dry ingredients.  Spread mixture evenly in tin.  Bake Gas 4/ 180C 20 – 30 min

Set aside to cool.          7” x 11” tin.

Melt butter and syrup and stir in icing sugar and ginger.  Cool mixture to allow it to become firm, then combine the ingredients.  Spoon icing over cool oatie base.  Mark topping with a fork and cut when cold.

Lavenham Part 8

My last post on Lavenham  - begins with the village sign - I bet you are glad that I did not post all 500 photos! Don't panic I still have many photos from the places around that we visited.

I'll finish this visit to Lavenham by visiting the Parish church. Built around 1485 it is an example of a splendid late Medieval wool church, boasting a wealth of beautiful carvings in oak and stone, two rare and historic parcloses, and fine Victorian stained glass windows. It records the wealth of the 15th century local wool cloth industry and thanksgiving for a Tudor victory at the battle of Bosworth.

John de Vere, Lord of the Manor at Lavenham, was a commander in the Duke of Richmond's winning army against Richard III at the battle of Bosworth in 1485. Richmond became King Henry VII and de Vere (13th Earl of Oxford) came back to Lavenham, deciding to build a new church helped by Thomas Spring II.

The trimmed Box hedges are quite impressive

The exterior showing much of the history in the architecture

Thomas Spring's parclosure which surrounds his tomb

We visited the church a second time on the day that the tower was open to the public.

I have never seen such a tight and narrow spiral staircase. Someone has to stand at the bottom and be in touch by 'walky-talky' with someone standing not only at the top but at every stopping off level as it is not possible for anyone to ascend the steps if someone is coming down. 

I found it quite claustrophobic but here we are watching the bells being rung up the first 70 steps 

The view of the village from the top of the tower another 120 steps further up

Finishing with the Swan Hotel built in the 15th century

The front

The side

The interior gardens

The interior was quiet when I took these photos as a wedding party was about to arrive

So goodbye to Lavenham

What a Tearoom! Lavenham Part 7

Of all the tearooms in Lavenham this one for me was the best

It was just a couple of doors down from our cottage and we popped in for tea late one afternoon and were so welcomed even though it was winding down

Apologies all round  because the scones were all finished but there was the delicious aroma of the next batch baking in the oven

No problem though as Alan ordered an Almond slice which came with strawberries and cream and I ordered a Lemon cream sponge with strawberries

It was a fascinating place and it was hard to tell just what was for sale and what was 'part of the furniture!'

The kitchen was in view behind the curtain

and I was told I was free to wander through to the back

The owner telling some local boys that it was time to leave

I think one would say it was a place where a home, shop and tearoom meet, the margins being very blurred

Very relaxing and enjoyable

I did mention in an earlier post that there were many tearooms in this one village and even the wool shop and butchers combined a teashop and/or tea garden.

This one was right next door to our cottage, a book and card shop with a tea area at the back of the shop

and a small tea garden outside

Our cottage garden was on the other side of the wall on the left

Two more

and another situated in a kitchen gadget shop

Never come across so many (including the ones in previous posts) in such a small area in my life!