Blog

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

A vision evening and school harvest festival

Tonight in Swanage Methodist Church PCC representatives of the four churches of the Swanage and Studland Team Ministry to prayerfully consider the team vision, and that of each individual church, as we look into the future. This meeting ha…
Saturday, October 19, 2019

Remembering three remarkable lives

A visiting choir sang for Choral Evensong tonight, after visiting ringers had pealed the bells for three-quarters of an hour. With Byrd and Palestrina and "Angel voices ever singing" darkness fell and so closed a week that has had two fune…
Wednesday, October 16, 2019

An early drive to Wareham Station

After some days of rain, the beauty of the Isle of Purbeck emerged from the early morning mist yesterday, as if freshly minted in the filtered rays of glorious sunshine through a cloud-streaked dawn. I drove, entranced, to Wareham, to drop …
Saturday, October 12, 2019

Saturday Children's Explore Session on Animals

The first special Explore session for children and young families in St Mary's on 12th October brought 40 children to undertake craft work, make bird feeders, watch some "Animal Magic" by Kevin Burke, and learn a little about our relationsh…
Wednesday, October 9, 2019

Choral Evensong discussion on BBC Radio Solent

Last Sunday morning Simon Lole was interviewed on BBC Radio Solent as part of a broader discussion on the popularity of Choral Evensong. Simon mentions the "Come and Sing" service in St Mary's once a month. The programme is worth listenin…
Saturday, October 5, 2019

A musical weekend!

Having just come back from Salisbury to witness Simon Lole be made an Associate of the Royal School of Church Music, with members of the choir and congregation of St Mary's Swanage, we will tomorrow move from the excitement of that event to…
Wednesday, October 2, 2019

Autumn is here

After some days of rain and cloud, today has been glorious, but (as quite a number of people have said, meeting in the streets of Swanage) it is so cold. Cool is probably nearer the mark, or, as my mother-in-law would have said it’s fresh.…
Friday, September 27, 2019

The language of Parliament

Some strident words being used in Parliament this week have brought a great deal of attention to particular aspects of vocabulary, primarily the use of words that may in some people’s ears be little more than strong language, but in others …
Wednesday, September 25, 2019

Greta Thunberg’s speech at the UN Climate Action Summit

With the eyes of the country on Westminster it may have distracted us from the UN New York Climate Action Summit and its fearful message of the need to redouble efforts to counter the effects of humanity’s run-away acceleration towards dest…
Friday, September 20, 2019

The Harvest season approaches

An important focus on the environment this September is going to continue through the harvest services, which begin this Sunday with the St Mark’s harvest festival, and its harvest supper tonight. The other churches will be following suit …
Wednesday, September 18, 2019

An evening walk on Swanage beach

This morning at 6.30 a.m. the glow of early sunshine through the contrastingly dark branches of the trees behind the rectory, spoke of another new and glorious day ahead. The good weather looks to be continuing, and (note to self) watering…
Saturday, September 14, 2019

Two years on

Helen and I arrived in Swanage two years ago at this time, and how those months have flown! Looking back at my diary covering the settling-in days, I recorded the comings and goings, meals and chats, walks and (rather randomly) the finding…
Wednesday, September 11, 2019

The garden is ready for an autumn blitz

It has reached that time of the year when everything is crying out for a tidy-up in the garden. Last Saturday we had an apple-picking afternoon, using a very handy contraption that consists of a toothed ring attached to a little canvas bag…
Friday, September 6, 2019

Psalm 88

This morning we read Psalm 88 at Morning Prayer. This psalm is one that takes me to one place whenever i hear it or read it. In Jerusalem there is a church built on the site of the High Priest's house where Jesus was held on the night bef…
Wednesday, September 4, 2019

Last night at Westminster

Prayers for the political leaders of this country are being said in churches up and down the country and yesterday was, no doubt, no exception.
Saturday, August 31, 2019

Focus on the Environment

Living in a most beautiful part of the country it is hard to imagine not being totally aware of the natural world and the need to preserve it, but the decisions required by both individuals and organisations as to how this preservation can …
Tuesday, August 27, 2019

Joseph Edmonds - Memorial Plaque in St Mary's

One of the more unusual memorial plaques in our churches is one to Joseph Edmonds and his family. He served in the navy in the 18th century, as did two sons, James and John both of whom died in service, the elder in Jamaica,
Friday, August 23, 2019

Morning Prayer and the Healing of the Paralysed Man

This week at Morning Prayer in St Mary’s, following the Common Worship lectionary, we have started St Mark’s Gospel, and we will be reading it almost to the end of October. That is for the second reading each day, but for the Old Testament…
Wednesday, August 21, 2019

Visitors Reflect on Finding St Mary's

All of our churches receive visitors and leave comments in the visitors’ books. I had a glance at the July entries for St Mary’s and picked out these lovely messages:
Friday, August 16, 2019

The 'Second Degree of Grace'

In an essay by Holly Peston, poet and lecturer at the University of Essex in this Summer’s issue of The Poetry Review the author quotes an interesting couple of lines from Simone Weil:
Tuesday, August 13, 2019

Swifts Away

It has reached that point of the Summer when the swifts are disappearing, in fact they have been much more scarce over the past ten or twelve days, but before that were here in some numbers -
Friday, August 9, 2019

Mary Sumner

The founder of the Mothers’ Union is commemorated this day. Mary Sumner, who died on 9th August 1921 began in a small way with mothers from the parish of which her husband was rector.
Tuesday, August 6, 2019

The Transfiguration

The Feast of the Transfiguration of Our Lord appears in the Christian Calendar at a strange time.
Friday, August 2, 2019

Another wonderful organ recital

Dr David Hill played a magnificent organ recital last night, and gave value for money, as it lasted for over an hour and a half. Beginning in some style with a Toccata by Georgi Mushel, the mood changed dramatically for the beautiful Frank…
Wednesday, July 31, 2019

Wildlife in the rectory garden

Yesterday walking from the garden door, a large and bright orange-winged butterfly floated gently from tomato plant to red geranium. Looking closer where it settled, the black and cream markings of the wood tiger moth corrected my assumpti…
Friday, July 26, 2019

The desert in the city

The Gospel for this coming Sunday is concerned with the disciples and prayer (Luke 11: 1-13). Jesus, at their request, teaches them how to pray. For two thousand years this pattern of prayer has been followed, and groups and individuals h…
Tuesday, July 23, 2019

Swanage Parish Fête 2019

Rounding up everything after the Fete last Saturday has made us realise just how fortunate we were with the weather - and thankful for all the people who came, and were clearly enjoying themselves. As I write I know the figure for the amou…
Friday, July 19, 2019

Simon Lole's Organ Recital

Simon Lole gave us a wonderful organ recital last night, and it was very well attended too. He introduced the programme in two halves, giving us both personal reflection and some technical and factual information about the pieces and their…
Tuesday, July 16, 2019

A wasps' nest and other signs of Summer

Walking past the Church early this morning, a scarlet and black flash of a tiger moth rose from one bush high into another, and added to our tally of interesting insects about St Mary’s these days. Less welcome was the discovery of a very …
Saturday, July 13, 2019

Walking from Swanage to Studland

With a number of parish things on today, Helen and I chose to take much of yesterday away, and walked to Studland over Ballard Down. It is a stunning walk through meadowland, along clifftop paths with the flowers and butterflies of high su…
Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Reflecting on the Ordination Service

Yesterday in St Mark’s School, Solveig was greeted with ‘bonjour’ in assembly, and we spoke to quite a few staff and children afterwards - moving swiftly into English! There have been some initial meetings and services. Solveig preached f…
Saturday, July 6, 2019

Silver on the Wing

We were reading Psalm 68 at morning prayer and my attention was caught with the words of verse 12: “Though you stayed among the sheepfolds, see now a dove’s wings covered with silver and its feathers with green gold.” This psalm has been d…
Tuesday, July 2, 2019

The beauty of Swanage gardens - and meadows and coastal paths at Durlston Country Park

The sweet peas are flowering profusely in the rectory garden now, and Helen is cutting them every day. The countryside is full of flowers too, as we saw taking an early walk up Townsend Road and out towards the coastal path at the Durlston…
Saturday, June 29, 2019

Solveig and seven others to be ordained deacon in Salisbury Cathedral tomorrow

Our prayers are requested for all those to be ordained deacon tomorrow, for the parishes in which they are to serve and for their training incumbents: Joy Albone: Canalside Benefice Fiona Beale: Beaminster Area Lorna Johnson: Bridpor…
Wednesday, June 26, 2019

Activity, Sunshine and the Summer ahead

We are entering a period of the year when there appears to be something of importance occurring in the church or community virtually every day. Last Saturday the Dorset County Orchestra were playing in St Mary’s Church, this coming Saturda…
Saturday, June 22, 2019

Summer is here!

What a beautiful Dorset morning we have today, with weddings in several churches and involving choirs and bellringers, organists and clergy, all wishing the couples getting married, and their families and friends, a very happy day, and for …
Wednesday, June 19, 2019

Sundar Singh

At morning prayer today we read of Sundar Singh of India, commemorated this day. He was born into a wealthy Sikh family and after experiencing a vision as a young man was converted to Christianity. He travelled widely as an evangelist, an…
Friday, June 14, 2019

Surprised by Grace

There are some small things that one notices and some small things that it is easy to overlook, and such is the state of things in the garden at the moment, it could be said that quite a number of things are best overlooked - such as the w…
Tuesday, June 11, 2019

Kite-flying for Pentecost

Last Saturday there was kite-making at St Mary’s at an Explore session. Why kites, one may ask? It was all designed to link into thoughts of the symbols of the Holy Spirit in preparation for Whitsunday, the Day of Pentecost, which we cele…
Friday, June 7, 2019

Two hidden windows in St Mary’s - Part 2 - John the Baptist

The window hidden by the ladies’ choir vestry in St Mary’s is a partner to that in the men’s vestry, and they are connected in another way too, ...
Tuesday, June 4, 2019

Two hidden windows in St Mary’s - Part 1 - Elijah

Obscured by the men’s choir vestry is one of two hidden windows in St Mary’s Church in Swanage. The picture depicts Elijah being fed by the ravens.
Friday, May 31, 2019

The Bishop Edward King Chapel

My visit to Ripon College, Cuddesdon, last week, mentioned in my blog earlier this week, included daily worship in the college chapel.
Tuesday, May 28, 2019

A Visit to Cuddesdon

I visited Cuddesdon last week as part of the stages of preparation for Solveig, our soon-to-be-curate, to be ordained deacon less than five weeks from now.
Friday, May 24, 2019

Studland Flower Festival reaches its 50th year

The 50th Flower Festival at St Nicholas’ is an occasion to celebrate, with this beautiful gem of a church decorated so expertly once again, as well as the opportunity to mingle with the visitors, drink tea and eat cake, and marvel at the va…
Tuesday, May 21, 2019

He's up! He's out! He's still about!

The eye-catching cleverness of some wayside pulpit posters, that some churches excel in producing, is worth handing on, and, by way of a good example, a Church in Guildford has the following on a board outside: He’s up! He’s out! He’s still…
Friday, May 17, 2019

The Desert Fathers and Mothers

Today I spent in Salisbury. To be exact, I spent it at Sarum College. All serving clergy are obliged to attend a number of courses each year, and we are given considerable freedom to choose days and subjects that suit us. The list appear…
Wednesday, May 15, 2019

Mid May and the Easter Season

Mid May and the Hawthorn blossom is perfect in the Dorset hedgerows. White is the predominant colour during this month as the elder opens and the cow parsley lines the lanes of the countryside and the crab apple flowers begin to fade. W…
Friday, May 10, 2019

A great catch of fish

Last Sunday, the Gospel for the day included the catch of 153 fish in one cast of the net by the fishermen disciples, having returned from Jerusalem to Galilee and decided to go out fishing. We know the story. They fished and the caught n…
Tuesday, May 7, 2019

Julian of Norwich and an early May walk

The day of St Julian of Norwich and thoughts of her divine showings; the visions that she held and revealed, that remain ours to ponder so many centuries later. Her commemoration falls as the pattern of late spring brings the renewal of li…
Saturday, May 4, 2019

Pimms, Hymns and Songs of Praise

Singing is one of the constant themes of most Christian worship, and takes different forms, which often come with a story attached. We like to hear where a hymn arose from in the author’s life; what a song means to someone who has sung it …
Tuesday, April 30, 2019

transferred saints' days

Transferred saints’ days have brought us St George yesterday and St Mark today. I recall a few years ago St Patrick’s day falling in Holy Week - it may even have been Palm Sunday, I can’t remember exactly - and many an Irish Church celebra…
Friday, April 26, 2019

Joined-up thinking

The exasperation of young people at the chronically broken politics of our time is as understandable as it is frustrating for them. Fr Martin Magill, in St Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast, drew everyone to their feet in solidarity as he forthr…
Tuesday, April 23, 2019

From Easter Day

The Easter weekend was so sunny and warm it was hardly surprising that the town and sea-front were buzzing with visitors until about lunchtime yesterday, when, between sea-mist cooling the air and filtering the sun’s rays, and holiday-maker…
Friday, April 19, 2019

Good Friday in Swanage

It has been a fine day with Spring weather and the trees and bushes opening in pale green. Ann Wroe, in her recent book 'Six Facets of Light', remarks that Dante used the colour of young beech leaves for angels’ wings in heaven. But, it i…
Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Seeing what is similar but not quite the same

Sometimes quite random but rather amazing coincidences happen, as did one such last Saturday. Helen and I were starting reading a new book together, and we opted for The Confession of Brother Haluin by Ellis Peters - the 15th Chronicle of …
Friday, April 12, 2019

Preparing for Holy Week

The fact that Easter is so late this year does not seem to have made me any better prepared for Holy Week than any other time. I have, for the first time in 40 years experienced the annual parish meetings before Easter rather than after, w…
Tuesday, April 9, 2019

Durlston Pleasure Ground Project

The Durlston Pleasure Grounds Project is one that is involving a great number of volunteers and has been proceeding for some weeks already, but Helen and I have only just taken the opportunity to look at what is being done with a brief visi…
Thursday, April 4, 2019

Signs of the times

The heavy rain this week has brought relief to the garden, at the same time as dampening spirits and tempting everyday walkers into their cars. There is so much to be seen and enjoyed in the daily changes in the immediate world around us, …
Tuesday, April 2, 2019

Exciting Musical Initiatives

Exciting new initiatives with music at St Mary’s Swanage Tomorrow (Wednesday 3rd April) we are trying something new in St Mary’s with children from two of the primary schools in Swanage. St Mark’s (C of E) Primary School and St Mary’s (…
Tuesday, March 26, 2019

The Annunciation of Our Lord to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Yesterday was the Feast of the Annunciation and I am reminded of some lines by the Scottish poet John Burnside, who was born just about twenty-four hours before me in March 1955.
Friday, March 22, 2019

The Voice of Jeremiah

At Morning Prayer today we listened to Jeremiah at his most scathing as he tore into those who worshipped idols:
Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Let there be Light

Thick walls, a stone-clad roof and double-glazing, even with a small bedroom window open, are inclined to dampen the sound of the dawn chorus, but this morning it seemed to begin in earnest at about 5.00 a.m. We are well into Lent now, bu…
Friday, March 15, 2019

Thoughts of Spring

There is always a danger of putting things in too early in the garden, and I am fully aware of it, but still do it, risking the very obvious dangers of frost and any effects of a return to winter. The current windy weather is beating again…
Tuesday, March 12, 2019

Praying Together - Lent 2019

The little Lent booklets Praying Together - Lent 2019 - have disappeared in large numbers from the churches and have also been distributed to those who are house-bound, which is all good news. The picture on the cover could have been taken…
Saturday, March 9, 2019

St Mark's SIAMS inspection result

On 1st March St Mark’s CE Primary School received its Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools - know to those who understand these things as a SIAMS. The school was given just a few days to prepare, and the inspection was as…
Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Children exploring what is enough...

Last Saturday twenty-five children and their parents had another really good Explore session in St Mary’s. They were looking at the things that we need and the things that we would like to have and the difference between them as we approac…
Friday, March 1, 2019

St David's Day

A few days ago Helen and I received a postcard from Ashprington in Devon. In fact it is a picture of the parish church which is dedicated to Saint David. Very helpfully, the blurb on the back gives the information: “The 13th century churc…
Tuesday, February 26, 2019

The sound of water

The early spring weather has delighted everyone, with birds singing, and clear skies giving us warm and sunny spots where the flowers are well-on for the date on the calendar. But it is the scent that wafts across the rectory garden on the…
Saturday, February 23, 2019

If my people ...

Reading through the Books of Chronicles at Morning Prayer recently has brought us this past week to the dedication of the first Temple, built in the time of King Solomon. We have been left in awe and wonder, not so much at the detailed des…
Tuesday, February 19, 2019

Snowdrops at Kingston Lacy

The snowdrops at Kingston Lacy are understandably noteworthy, for the sheer quantity is impressive. But the place is also important. A few raising their heads in a flower bed beside St Mary’s Church, or those thinned and spreading on a ba…
Friday, February 15, 2019

Skylarks above Durdle Door

One of the joys of walking is falling into conversation with complete strangers. Helen and I were walking from Lulworth Cove to Durdle Door, with, even in mid February, scores of others. We took the main path out, but came back along the …
Wednesday, February 13, 2019

The Silence of the Girls

The enduring lessons of Homer, and especially the events surrounding the siege of Troy, have ever provided inspiration for later writers. In fact, I have heard it said that poets, reaching back into the past for models and examples to buil…
Friday, February 8, 2019

John Ruskin anniversary

The postmark on a letter arriving at the rectory yesterday reads, “Victorian art critic John Ruskin Born 200 years ago 9 February 2019”. This franking stamp on an envelope run through a machine, no doubt at great speed, in Royal Mail’s Swi…
Tuesday, February 5, 2019

From Rock Cake to Agglestone Rock!

Last Saturday, and a day off, began with coffee in the Java Coffee Shop in Swanage and the temptations that come with that indulgence, as I succumbed to a very fine rock cake, full of spice and fruit. This set me up for a walk. Helen and …
Friday, February 1, 2019

St Brigid's Day

St Brigid’s Day and the Sir John Lavery triptych The Madonna of the Lakes comes to my mind. Well protected now behind glass in St Patrick’s Church Donegall Street, Belfast, it was first exhibited one hundred years ago at the Royal Academy …
Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Seagulls

Walking along the seafront a few days ago, close to the sign near the museum asking people not to feed the seagulls, were a mother and daughter attracting a great flock of black-headed gulls, and so, by way of illustration, the argument as …
Saturday, January 26, 2019

The Consecration of Bishop Andrew

This is the 100th blog I have created on this website, so I am glad that it can record a significant occasion, which is the consecration of a bishop! Helen and I were in Southwark Cathedral yesterday, with many from Salisbury Diocese, to e…
Tuesday, January 22, 2019

From wet Saturday to reflective prayers

Helen and I were at Wareham market last Saturday buying Seville oranges for the latest batch of marmalade. The smell in the rectory on the days that it is made is comforting, and a reassurance that January is not passing by without this an…
Friday, January 18, 2019

Oberammergau 2020

The party which is forming to go to see the Passion Play at Oberammergau next year is now up to 24, and there are - I am aware - more people interested in going, so I have applied for a few additional tickets, and so today, I know that at l…
Tuesday, January 15, 2019

Charles Alan Smythies

Last Sunday morning I was sitting in the small clergy stall at the back of the choir of St Nicholas’ Church, Studland, which is a very comfortable seat, albeit somewhat hidden from most of the congregation. That’s why, when conducting wors…
Friday, January 11, 2019

Winter, but showing a few signs of Spring

The appearance of snowdrops in numbers, as opposed to the odd one or two that can appear even before Christmas, is one of the exciting moments of winter, because it is such a reminder of Spring - the reason why many people will be making a …
Tuesday, January 8, 2019

"On this Island"

In November 1935, W. H. Auden wrote the lines of a poem “On this Island”; these words forming the title of a collection of poems, later published under the opening two words of the first stanza: Look Stranger. The first part of the poem I …
Saturday, January 5, 2019

A visit to the Isle of Wight

48 hours on the Isle of Wight have been a lovely break and were discovering things all the way, as neither Helen nor I had been to the island before. First stop had to be at the Needles to view Swanage from afar, as we, like everyone else …
Tuesday, January 1, 2019

The dawn of 2019

Ten years ago today I began a three-month sabbatical in which I wrote a book on Anglican priesthood, that was not published; practised the violin daily; and began to write a diary. The legacy, ten-years on, is that one day, perhaps, I may …
Friday, December 28, 2018

Embers of yesterday

Walking around Peveril Point at the end of the afternoon yesterday, as were many other people in Swanage, the light was stunning in all directions. The sun was going down, and, looking from this headland towards where one could imagine som…
Tuesday, December 25, 2018

Christmas Night

Last evening from the 4.00 p.m. Crib Service through the Candlelit Carols at 6.30 p.m. to the Midnight Eucharist, there were very nearly a thousand attendances (including two hundred children) at St Mary’s Church alone; this level of attend…
Friday, December 21, 2018

Approaching Christmas

The appeal of the animals at the crib service in St Mary’s is a great draw for the children, and we are grateful to Nick Viney and others who help to bring them and look after them there. We are also deeply appreciative of the team that o…
Tuesday, December 18, 2018

A tale of four Christmas Carol Services

In the past week there has been a Christmas Carol Service in each of the four churches. All have been quite different, and all wonderful in their own way. We started last Tuesday evening in St Nicholas’, with the Christmas tree by the pul…
Friday, December 14, 2018

Does more time help?

Walking into St Nicholas’ Church last Tuesday evening for the Carol Service I heard one woman say to another, “What I could do with is an extra week between now and Christmas.” That is the kind of comment that will resound with others as t…
Tuesday, December 11, 2018

Handel's Messiah

The performance of Handel’s Messiah last Saturday evening in St Mary’s Church is undoubtably going to remain memorable for many of the people there, if the reaction over the days since is anything to go by. The Purbeck Arts Choir and Orche…
Friday, December 7, 2018

A Very Special Christingle Service

Yesterday (Thursday) twenty-five children, from St Mark’s Church of England Primary School in Swanage, travelled with staff and parents to Salisbury Cathedral for a very special Christingle service. They were with pupils from church school…
Tuesday, December 4, 2018

An Advent Session of Children's Activity

Last Saturday, in preparation for the beginning of Advent, children and their parents descended on St Mary’s Church for a special session of Explore. They made Advent Calendars, cunningly designed from egg-boxes, made cards and bit by bit …
Friday, November 30, 2018

Advent Calendars

St Andrew’s Day and almost Advent; the Studland Churchyard shed, demolished by a fallen tree in a recent storm, is to be replaced today, and it is the calm before a storm of a different kind, as clogged diaries herald a busy few weeks ahead…
Tuesday, November 27, 2018

Marking time.

There is a decidedly damp feel to today, and it seems to have been almost dark from early afternoon, but we are in late November….. Just a few days now until the beginning of Advent, and the time draws on to Advent calendars, candles and…
Friday, November 23, 2018

Lucy Menzies 1882-1954

At morning prayer in St Mary’s we are in the habit of reading a little of the person being commemorated that day. Everyone there always seems to enjoy this delve into the Church’s past, and a reminder of the saints and martyrs through hist…
Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Feeling "through-other"

There is a commonly used Ulster expression or, better, I suppose, compound word, which is spoken across the community, as someone is described as ‘through-other’. It means looking a bit disheveled in physical appearance, and/or a little di…
Friday, November 16, 2018

The rectory garden turns towards winter

The garden is starting to look a little sorry for itself with most of the leaves down and the now limp summer growth hanging onto the herbaceous plants like a sodden blanket. There is work to do and, if the weather is kind, over the next f…
Tuesday, November 13, 2018

A tree falls

The high winds last week brought a change over just a few days to the look of the countryside, as millions of leaves were blown off the trees and have settled in corners and gutters, drifted in through our front doors and the entrances to t…
Friday, November 9, 2018

Young People of Swanage Remember

Today the children and young people of the schools of Swanage made their particular Act of Remembrance and walked from St Mary’s Church to the War Memorial. In the church, three year nine pupils from The Swanage School read poetry that the…
Tuesday, November 6, 2018

War, Faith and Reconciliation

Tomorrow there is to be an important 6th Form Conference to be held in Salisbury Cathedral. It is linked by date to these days of Remembrance leading up to Sunday’s commemoration of those who lost their lives in conflict, and the centenary…
Friday, November 2, 2018

99 Poppies

99 Metal Poppies Yesterday morning 99 metal poppies were installed in the grounds of St Mary’s Church. They have been made individually, from donated steel, at the Veterans’ Forge at Knitson, and then painted. The installation has take…
Tuesday, October 30, 2018

Home, Memory and Remembrance

In the autumn issue of The Poetry Review, the Journal of the Poetry Society, the editorial lays out the theme, which is the concept of ‘home’. This is not just a complex thought to which poets often return, but a matter of great importance…
Saturday, October 27, 2018

Gridlock

One of the joys of living in Swanage is that most things are in walking distance from St Mary’s Church, beside which we live. But having just driven back from London, I am reminded that most people are faced with some form of transport - c…
Tuesday, October 23, 2018

A lovely autumn day

This morning, walking over to All Saints’ Church for Morning Prayer, I passed a number of people with cameras looking out to sea, enjoying the sight of the light on the water. The sun was rising behind thin layers of distant cloud, but all…
Friday, October 19, 2018

Judith

Tomorrow, at Morning Prayer, we conclude our reading of the Second Book of Kings that has been on the daily lectionary menu for the past three weeks. It has many difficult names for readers to trip over at 8.00 a.m. and some wonderful mome…
Tuesday, October 16, 2018

Preparing for Remembrance

Helen is still picking runner beans and the brambly apples are continuing to fall, whether the wind blows or not, though they are nearly all down now. I weighed one a couple of days ago and it was 1lb 2oz - which I think is the record for …
Friday, October 12, 2018

Fanny Alexander

It was on this day in 1895 that Cecil Frances (Fanny) Alexander died, writer of “All things bright and beautiful” and other popular hymns including “There is a green hill far away” and “Once in royal David’s city”. She wrote “All things br…
Wednesday, October 10, 2018

Remembering Thomas Traherne

The weather has been beautiful in Swanage and the garden is crying out for attention, but much of it will have to wait, though we are enjoying the last few tomatoes, runner beans, courgettes and roses as well as the cyclamen and dahlias. T…
Friday, October 5, 2018

Remembering a famous climb

Two hundred years ago on Sunday, 7th October 1818, the diarist and poet Dorothy Wordsworth, sister to fellow poet William Wordsworth, with a friend, Mary Barker climbed England's highest peak Scafell Pike. Dorothy was 46 at the time and Ma…
Tuesday, October 2, 2018

“Another thought on Harvest Thanksgiving”

I am excited about the thought that the “Come and Sing” Choral Evensong in St Mary’s for October is on Harvest Festival Sunday, and we have the prospect of a large number of singers for all the wonderful and popular harvest music.
Friday, September 28, 2018

Approaching Harvest Festival

Approaching Harvest Festival brings a warm kind of feeling, doesn’t it? Is it the mellowness, or the colours changing, or the readiness to see completion and achievement?
Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Random Acts of Kindness...

I missed last Tuesday’s All Things Bright and Beautiful because I was unwell, and, suffering from a tummy bug, I was not going to go near a gathering in Church. I have to say I was feeling neither bright nor beautiful! Thank you Anthony f…
Friday, September 21, 2018

Canon Peter Burtwell's 60th Anniversary...

Thinking about Peter Burtwell’s 60th anniversary of his ordination to the priesthood today made me do a little research as to where his priesting happened:
Tuesday, September 18, 2018

The autumn rectory garden

The rectory garden is in one of its transitional phases as the tomatoes are gathered - most of them green now - for ripening on shelves in the utility room - though, as Helen says, there is always green tomato chutney to be made. As for th…
Friday, September 14, 2018

School class assemblies at St Mark’s Church

Yesterday began what we hope will be a regular Thursday morning assembly from St Mark’s School in the Church. Year 3 arrived at 11.00 a.m. and had their opening act of worship, thinking of generosity and how it is expressed or withheld. T…
Tuesday, September 11, 2018

'Ride and Stride' and the Swanage Folk Festival

Saturday morning, last weekend and Helen and I were leaving the rectory to see how many churches we could visit in the day, supporting the Dorset Historic Churches Trust. We began with St Mary’s and Swanage Methodist, both of which were ta…
Friday, September 7, 2018

Early Autumn at Anvil Point

A book that I was given on leaving Belfast a year ago is Portrait of Dorset by Ralph Wightman. The author died almost fifty years ago and had been well-known as a broadcaster with the BBC from the late 1930s and as a writer on the countrys…
Wednesday, September 5, 2018

Anniversaries

Anniversaries have a deep hold on many of us. Memories both sad and happy flood back when a date appears on the calendar that is of significance. One way or another we mark them publicly, or silently remember, quietly alone. In the past w…
Friday, August 31, 2018

A day of music and sunshine

The Purbeck International Chamber Music Festival 2018 is well underway and two events have taken place in the churches of the Swanage and Studland Team today. This morning, in St Nicholas’ Studland, there was a most interesting concert, de…
Tuesday, August 28, 2018

One memory to another....

A few spikes of Autumn Lady’s-tresses orchids have appeared in the grass in St Mary’s churchyard, not for the first time, I gather. It is mysterious isn’t is how after such a long dry spell earlier in the summer, through mowing, and the gr…
Friday, August 24, 2018

Time, contrasts, life.

A gorgeous autumn-feeling dawn this morning belies the fact that there is light rain spreading from the north-west today, “by lunchtime” if one is to believe the voice of Radio 4. There are quite a few visitors in Swanage gathering for the…
Tuesday, August 21, 2018

Lifeboat Week

The twenty-first of August - and eleven months in post now - I am still experiencing annual events for the first time. Last week it was Lifeboat Week, concluding, as it does, with the Lifeboat service, this year held at the Lifeboat statio…
Friday, August 17, 2018

Newly hatched!

The Mill Pond is only a few yards from the Rectory front door and at one time it could have been seen from the gate, but the weeping willow, enjoying having its roots firmly placed where it has them, at the upper end of the pond, is very la…
Tuesday, August 14, 2018

Only a bus-ride away...

Last Saturday, taking a day off, Helen and I took the number 50 bus, the Purbeck Breezer, said by some to be the finest bus-route in England, via the Sandbanks ferry to touch the edge of Poole and onwards to central Bournemouth. It is an h…
Friday, August 10, 2018

The Spreading Flame

The Epistle to the Hebrews popped up twice for me yesterday. Not amidst the lectionary readings but from two books that I was dipping into. The first was by way of a throwback to the 1970s when, as I was studying for a primary degree in div…
Tuesday, August 7, 2018

Goings and Comings

This the fiftieth blog on this website comes with a thought or two of how the summer is unfolding here in Swanage. Carnival week is over; in fact it ended with fireworks on Saturday evening, which, this time, we watched from the rectory ga…
Friday, August 3, 2018

Beholding and Reflecting

Carnival Week in Swanage, we had been told by everyone, was like no other few days of the year in the town, and so it is proving to be. On Wednesday evening just past, Helen and I were invited, very kindly indeed, to view the midweek firew…
Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Swanage Carnival

Last Sunday the weather caused the Carnival Praise Churches Together service to be moved from the open air into All Saints’ Church, but the forecast was that the rain would ease in the afternoon, which it did. So the Swanage Carnival Proce…
Thursday, July 26, 2018

Beans climb high as the drought persists

The on-going lack of rain is starting to have that habitual sense of security that comes with never needing to think of taking a waterproof on a walk. And, so, a few rumbles of thunder late afternoon yesterday, an arc of rainbow over the s…
Wednesday, July 25, 2018

Pimms and Hymns

Helen and I eschewed Choral Evensong at St Mary’s last Sunday and walked over Ballard Down to Studland for Pimms and Hymns, the once a month mix of hymn favourites, elements of Evensong, a thought for the week and, afterwards, a retiring to…
Saturday, July 21, 2018

The calm before the storm

A heavy shower late yesterday evening has freshened the air considerably this morning, but the weather is fine as I write this at 7.30 a.m. It is going to be sunny for the Fete, I think. Preparation is to start at 8.30 a.m. and the openi…
Wednesday, July 18, 2018

Seeds and stony ground

Between a school assembly and a meeting yesterday I nipped into the Holme Garden Centre, having been diverted at Corfe Castle through Church Knowle, Steeple and Creech because the police had closed the road on the Norden side of Corfe. Win…
Friday, July 13, 2018

David Poulter's Organ Recital

David Poulter, successively organist at Coventry, Chester and Liverpool Cathedrals played a superb recital on the organ of St Mary's Church last night.....
Tuesday, July 10, 2018

All Things Bright and Beautiful

All Things Bright and Beautiful, our Tuesday afternoon service for those with dementia and memory loss, was well attended again today, and we thought a little (from last Sunday’s Gospel) of the disciples being sent out in pairs, because tha…
Friday, July 6, 2018

Dry ground, blue skies!

Picking something up from the Post Office in Swanage this morning was not without incident, as the swifts were flying in close formation low over the houses, shops and road. At times they were screeching just a few feet - it felt like inc…
Tuesday, July 3, 2018

Looking down

Flying over to Belfast yesterday was quite a joy, once we escaped the clutches of Gatwick Airport and the disorientating effects of thousands of people milling “relaxing and shopping” - except it was lunchtime and everyone was looking for f…
Saturday, June 30, 2018

Remembering Achill Island

Two reminders of one of my favourite poets came to mind today as I heard a message from Achill Island, way over in the west of Ireland, the birthplace of John F. Deane, a wonderful Irish writer who has produced many fine books, including a …
Tuesday, June 26, 2018

Nine months can seem longer or shorter!

Nine months can seem longer or shorter! A few days ago Helen and I passed our nine-month mark in Swanage. That is a bit of a staging point, as it is nearly the whole of an academic year and has taken in all the major Church festivals. …
Tuesday, June 19, 2018

A Few More Discoveries...

A few more discoveries…. Inheriting a new garden is a bit like a lucky dip, you never know what is going to appear. The Rec-tory garden is full of interesting plants - some are less so, especially the masses of ivy - but I think that th…
Tuesday, June 19, 2018

All Things Bright & Beautiful

All Things Bright and Beautiful All Things Bright and Beautiful, the service designed especially to be easily accessible to people with memory loss or dementia, which takes place on a Tuesday afternoon every week in St Mary’s at 2.30 p.m…
Friday, June 15, 2018

We Meet You, O Christ...

We Meet You, O Christ - An Anthem by Simon Lole to the words of Fred Kaan Last Sunday in St Mary’s we heard sung by the choir a new anthem for sopranos, altos and men by Simon Lole. He speaks of it in his musical musings on the St Mary…
Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Flowers of the Field

Standing by a grave at Godlingston cemetery yesterday morning, we laid to rest Grace Ellis, 92 years of age; 92 years resident in Swanage. Twelve days ago I conducted the funeral of Irene Dimarco, 92 years of age; 92 years (except about fo…
Friday, June 8, 2018

Prayer for Swanage and Studland

About every six months Swanage and Studland comes up on the Diocesan Cycle of Prayer. We are the subject of everyone’s prayer this month again, on Thursday 28th June. I am contacted by the Diocese of Salisbury about eight or ten weeks bef…
Tuesday, June 5, 2018

A little gentle gardening

The men’s gardening group, organised by Andrew Fleming (its reputation goes before it!) met earlier today to undertake a the clearing of some undergrowth in what had been a “gardener’s garden” some years ago, but due to frailty was now badl…
Friday, June 1, 2018

Time to wait and watch

There are ten ducklings in the river below St Mary’s Church; ten very fluffy young creatures that are going to take some keeping together over the next few weeks. I wonder whether or not they will all survive. We shall be counting them da…
Tuesday, May 29, 2018

Reading the Psalms

Yesterday, in the daily lectionary, we began the Psalter afresh, with Psalm 1, and will once again read them all through day by day before reaching Psalm 150 on 14th July. There are blips where some are taken slightly out of order and chan…
Friday, May 25, 2018

The healing nature of gardens

The highlights of the Chelsea Flower Show last night included quite a bit on the healing nature of gardening, and of being in gardens generally. Rachel De Thame spoke movingly of her experience of living with breast cancer and how, whilst …
Tuesday, May 22, 2018

The Countryside in May

Longer days give more opportunity for walking our lovely Dorset countryside, even with the busyness of parish life. From Swanage there are many and varied footpaths and, one by one, Helen and I are discovering them. Last week we walked up …
Friday, May 18, 2018

Pentecost and a Royal Wedding!

I have landed myself with a bit of a conundrum for tomorrow. There is a session of “Explore” in St Mary’s Church, just before the Royal Wedding. Hatty and the team have been working very hard, and I think that we are likely to get quite a…
Tuesday, May 15, 2018

St Mary's icon, part two

Sunday week ago, when the children were looking at the St Mary’s icon, they were asked (by me) to look at Mary’s eyes and describe how they thought she was feeling. They came up with a few thoughts around sadness, and yet tenderness too. …
Friday, May 11, 2018

The lost will be found!

I was heading over to Studland to meet Tony Higgins last Tuesday and couldn’t find the car keys. This doesn’t happen very often as they nearly always go back in the same place, but, having searched everywhere I was staring to think that ma…
Tuesday, May 8, 2018

The St Mary's icon (part one)

The icon the is on the wall of the vestry in St Mary’s Church and is brought out into the Church for festivals of the Blessed Virgin Mary and at Christmas, was looked at by us all last Sunday during the Family Communion. It is twelve years…
Friday, May 4, 2018

"It's good to be back!"

“It’s good to be back”, we often say as we arrive in Swanage from being away for while. Having needed to be in Stratford-upon-Avon for a night it was once more our reaction. In just twenty-four hours there were changes in the garden too:…
Tuesday, May 1, 2018

The Dream of Gerontius

The experience of listening to Edward Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius last Saturday evening in Poole’s Lighthouse is one that will remain with many of us for a long time. The sheer work involved for the choirs will assure that for each memb…
Friday, April 27, 2018

Swanage from a new angle

We hadn’t meant to go so far, but on Wednesday morning early Helen and I walked northwards through Swanage and onto the shore path, past the beach huts, the sun shining brightly on the sea, slightly behind us to our right. It was, perhaps …
Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Personality reflected

It’s not often that we are celebrating the birth of a new prince or princess, so it is special, though I wasn’t quite ready for the drip feeding of information during the course of yesterday. Such is the interest of much of the nation that…
Friday, April 20, 2018

Getting things in order....

We are working towards some new things at the moment and my mind is flitting from one to another, so, let me sort them into order for myself and then, perhaps, they will make some sense to everyone......
Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Comings and goings

A few days have made such a difference to the countryside. Walking Washpond Lane yesterday, all the signs of nature catching up after such a cold start to Spring are there, simply bursting out with what reads as a collective and expressive…
Sunday, April 15, 2018

A damp retreat!

A few days in an Irish monastery have been my retreat this year, and I got back last night. The Holy Cross Monastery in the foothills of the Mourne Mountains is a place of peace and reconciliation - and silence! No conversation in corrido…
Monday, April 9, 2018

A visit to Lambeth Palace

For someone born in London, I have a great reluctance to go into the centre of this great city. I feel energy draining from me from the very moment of stepping off the train, and being swept along by the tide of humanity that swirls around …
Friday, April 6, 2018

What's in a memory?

I am reading an anthology based on “Memory” - which is such a powerful part of our lives, and something that we often reflect on, probably without realising it. Recently there was a meeting in St Mary’s to discuss the formation of a weekda…
Tuesday, April 3, 2018

Tuesday of Easter Week

A damp and cool Easter with some dry weather, but the picture of Swanage visitors with hats and gloves on and coats done up to their necks is the abiding memory. That, and the sadness over the accident on the seafront, and the death of a m…
Friday, March 30, 2018

Good Friday

Last night we left St Mary’s Church having experienced about two minutes of complete darkness after the Maundy Thursday Eucharist and the stripping of the altars to the plainsong of Psalm 22.
Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Holy Week and Easter in Five Objects

A single school assembly in Holy Week presents us with a problem of choice. There is so much to tell; there is every opportunity to confuse - especially young children. I imagine that clergy and others leading collective worship in school…
Friday, March 23, 2018

Journeying into Holy Week

The weeks of Lent seem to disappear so quickly and here we are on the verge of Holy Week. It is at the point of tiptoeing into the Palm Sunday weekend that fills me with the thought of needing to take things a day at a time.....
Tuesday, March 20, 2018

Paul and Corinth, and our Holy Communion in the open air.

Unlike our day in Athens, the hours we spent in Corinth were quiet, and we were largely on our own. We found a beautiful spot to celebrate Holy Communion in the open air, and read from Acts 18 of Paul’s ministry with Priscilla and Aquila, …
Sunday, March 18, 2018

St Paul and the Areopagus

The day that we spent in Athens yesterday relocated our pilgrimage to Paul’s second missionary journey. He had needed to leave Beroea and he travelled to Athens by ship, before moving on to Corinth. Most people think primarily of Paul’s p…
Saturday, March 17, 2018

En route to Athens

Yesterday was a day of travelling through Greece from the town of Kalambaka just below the Meteora rocks all the way to Athens. St Paul moved from Beroea to Athens by sea; we drove for six and a half hours by luxury air-conditioned coach, …
Thursday, March 15, 2018

The wonderful Meteora

Rising above the town of Kalambaka the majestic rock formations of the Meteora have been the home of many Greek Orthodox Monasteries since the fourteenth century. Six remain, and all can be visited, some by many steps, others more easily..…
Thursday, March 15, 2018

St Paul at Beroea and an Orthodox Monastery

A short way from the hotel is the place where Paul preached at the synagogue in Beroea to those “more noble than those in Thessalonica” and including “not a few women of high standing as well as men”. They are pictured at the spot today in…
Wednesday, March 14, 2018

With St Paul at Philippi

We travelled yesterday from Kavala (Neapolis) following the route that St Paul would have take from the coast to Philippi along the Egnatian Way. We visited the beautiful area of the stream where Paul met Lydia on the Sabbath day and spoke…
Tuesday, March 13, 2018

St Paul's call to Macedonia

Travelling to Greece in the footsteps of St Paul is an interesting pilgrimage taking in both the early missionary journey of the Apostle into Europe and spending time learning something of the Greek Orthodox Church and the history of this r…
Friday, March 9, 2018

What a difference a week makes!

What a difference a week makes! Last Friday morning it took me twenty minutes to reach St Mary’s Church as I, and others, inched their way with shovel and salt down the few yards of Church Hill and encountered a sheet of ice. Today Spring…
Wednesday, March 7, 2018

A lovely clear sky

A lovely clear sky this morning heralding what is bound to be a beautiful day. The new team web-site should be going live on this day too, thanks to the work of Andy Mutter and the representatives of the four churches making their essential…
Monday, March 5, 2018

What a morning for ice

What a morning for ice! I couldn’t reach the Church for Morning Prayer until I had cleared a path-way across the road with salt and spade to hand, inching a safe route. But people always come together in adversity and, in the snow and ice, …
Thursday, February 22, 2018

New website, new blog

For three and a half years I wrote a twice-weekly blog for the St Anne’s Cathedral website. In it I reflected on things that were happening in the cathedral, and anything else that took my fancy from a few lines of poetry to some amazing si…