Newsletter for January 12, 2025

Dear Friends, How are you all holding up in the cold weather? I hope you are all well and warm. Dineke and I managed to pick just this week for a holiday. However, it isn’t warm here either. I’m writing…

Dear Friends, How are you all holding up in the cold weather? I hope you are all well and warm. Dineke and I managed to pick just this week for a holiday. However, it isn’t warm here either. I’m writing…

Dear friends, Last Friday I spent a glorious couple of hours on the coast. The sea air and sunshine were very welcome after the dull weather in December. It is quite wonderful how a different environment can conjure up a…

Dear friends, Last week we had a small fire to dry the chimney before sweeping it. We hardly ever light a fire these days because we are all too aware that as a means of heating it’s very inefficient: 80%…

Dear friends, Today is the shortest day of the year and a star shining in the darkness seemed a good way to mark the hope of Advent. On this last Sunday before Christmas I would like to take the opportunity…

Dear friends, It’s the third Sunday of Advent already. I decided to give you a picture of one of the rooms in the hotel/museum we stayed in when we were in Paris last month. The building is Banksy themed and…

Dear friends, This year is the first I have used an Advent calendar (see picture). It has come as a bit of a surprise to me how it focusses the mind on the anticipation of the real Christmas. It serves…

Dear friends, The season of Advent starts today: the dark days before the Light of the World is revealed. We count the days (with of without advent calendar) and wait. Last weekend we were in Paris and the picture today…

Dear Friends, Apologies for not being able to send out last week’s notices. A two day broadband band outage played havoc with our weekend. This week is different in another way. I’m writing this on my iPad from a hotel…

Dear friends, Last Friday I had the privilege of attending the Arts Alive Festival finale in Pippbrook House in Dorking. It was a lovely event, organised by a team chaired by our very own Mary Huggins. It was great to…

Dear friends, This week I give you a picture of the advent calendars I am offering for sale this year. They are a great opportunity to talk to relatives about the Christmas message. The blue Divine calendar has Fair Trade…