It’s the final weekend of this huge extravaganza, Taiwan’s annual Lantern Festival with lanterns, light shows and huge crowds of people everywhere ~ and in the midst of them all there’s a few lanterns dedicated to Covid-19, made by the Taiwan Prisons Department ~ they’ve certainly attracted a lot of attention! This is the best one…
Since I’ve been back in Taiwan, life has revolved around the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrations – and now the Lantern Festival for the Year of the Rabbit. The main Taiwan Lantern Festival this year is hosted by Taipei City ~ thousands and thousands of people descend every evening on the lantern festival sites at Sun Yat-Sen Memorial Hall, Songshan Cultural Park (the old tobacco factory), City Hall and Taipei 101. There’s plenty to see and do and take photos of, with rabbits galore, and lanterns made by different groups of people, including many by children. The centrepiece is a huge rabbit lantern that revolves every half an hour…
There’s a huge variety ~ these are a few of my favourites…
There’s also new street art associated with the Lantern Festival…
And we did an evening trip up Xiangshan (Elephant Mountain) to see the view – you can even see and hear the Lantern Festival from up there too…
There’s so much to see! The Taiwan Blue Magpie Lantern is one of the most beautiful, and the bird on the top revolves round in a circle…
All worth seeing if you’re in Taipei this weekend!
And finally, just published this week by the Church Mission Society, my latest link letter, including my new postal address – click on the link below…
With the end of the Lantern Festival, so it is the start of the new term and new semester for many of Taiwan’s colleges and universities this coming week. In a few days, facemask restrictions will be lifted for those indoors including children, students and teachers at schools and colleges, all that is except in care homes, medical facilities and public transport – although it’s expected that many people will continue to wear them as a matter of course. Lent is coming too, with Ash Wednesday this coming week. For once, Lent has not overlapped with the celebrations of Chinese New Year or Lantern Festival. It feels like life has been one long celebration since the start of Advent – perhaps it’s time for a bit of reflection, contemplation and penitence! If you’re in Taipei City, then come along to St. John’s Cathedral for our Ash Wednesday Service at 7:30 pm, or to our regular Sunday services, 9:00 am in English, 10:30 am in Chinese and a combined Chinese / English service on the last Sunday of each month at 10:30am. Welcome ~ and see you there!
Visitors like me who come to South Hartismere Benefice, not far from the town of Eye in rural Suffolk, are awed by all the quaint pink buildings. I just love walking round these lovely Suffolk villages looking at them all ~ can’t get enough of ’em!
Pink ones, and white ones too…
And quirky telephone boxes..
And arty village signs…
And most beautiful of all, the thatched church of St. Mary’s, Thornham Parva, one of 8 churches in the benefice. Isn’t it gorgeous?!
Rev. Julia Lall, assisted by Lauren, NSM priest, and Debbie, brand new pioneer curate – who did her pioneer training with CMS, are blessed with a large and very talented lay leadership team and all are doing a great job of leading the benefice. Their 8 churches cover 11 communities, and all of the communities are small, but hey, small is beautiful, and they are all places humming with life and energy. The streets are filled with people jogging or walking their dogs, even in the rain and the fog. I was there this past weekend for my CMS (Church Mission Society) Link Church visit, warmly welcomed by everyone, and was very reluctant to leave the area on Monday morning! These are the 3 benefice clergy – selfies with Julia, Lauren and Debbie…
My link with S. Hartismere goes back to 1987-1996 when my father was rector of 4 of the parishes that now make up South Hartismere ~ Gislingham, Mellis, Thornham Magna and Thornham Parva. I made sure I visited each village in turn, including checking in at Mellis with another highly-esteemed member of the clergy…
Gislingham, a long winding village of pink and white cottages, lots of modern houses, a shop, primary school, a silver band, a variety club, and an interesting church with box pews, and which is definitely lop-sided when viewed from inside – which adds to its quirkiness…
Mellis, a large wide village built around a huge common (the largest area of unfenced common land in England) which stretches so far into the distance on both sides that you can hardly see the houses, with the main railway line to London passing through, marked with a level crossing, plus a primary school, care home, a lovely small church with beautifully displayed kneelers, and possibly a whole lot more – it certainly looks like a place with lots of secret buildings, hidden in the deepest areas of the common…
Thornham Magna village is mainly one road, ‘The Street’, and pink is the colour!
Thornham Magna is also home to the Thornham Estate, where Lord Henniker (1916-2004) did so much to open up the Thornham walks to the public and showed his support for the local community by converting his estate buildings to workspaces for small businesses. The estate also has a field centre, a campsite for disadvantaged children, a charity for those with learning disabilities running the walled garden, a cafe, and plenty more. He was such a great man, and his wife Lady Julia Henniker continued the work after his death. I was able to visit her, and it was wonderful to catch up. The car parks for the Thornham walks were packed out all weekend, it’s very popular!
Thornham Parva is also part of the Thornham estate, with its delightful thatched church, ancient wall paintings, a famous retable behind the altar, and Basil Spence’s grave in the churchyard, plus a new seat made for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee…
I stayed for the weekend in Gislingham with Ann, Gislingham churchwarden, her husband Peter and Daisy the cat, who all gave me such a warm welcome, and Ann also hosted a magnificent Sunday lunch for a whole group of us – Rita, Jean and Christine, all friends for years, it was so good to catch up. Christine is the benefice administrator and helped organise my visit, while Ann also keeps bees and gave me a jar of her honey, ah so delicious! Thank you!
Rev. Julia Lall, her black labrador and black cat also welcomed me to a yummy meal on my arrival on Saturday, and she also organized the benefice service on Sunday, in honour of Advent Sunday. We all gathered for the one service of the day, at 10:30 am at Thorndon Church…..
The Advent wreaths from the different churches were all brought along, and lit during the service, to be returned to their respective churches.
I preached the sermon and they kindly had a collection in my honour, and the service was followed by coffee when I also showed my powerpoint of Taiwan. It was great to see all my old friends again, and to meet new ones – including some visitors from the USA. Check out all these smiling people!
A few weeks ago on All Saints Day at St. Andrew’s Church, Tudhoe Grange, Spennymoor, Co. Durham, I had met Fr. Michael Thompson, who had recently retired to that area but had originally been rector in Suffolk, in the next-door North Hartismere benefice. On All Saints Day, he had said we must take a photo together to send to Betty Wells in South Hartismere, who he had known through Deanery Synod – so now, in return, this is me and Betty taking a photo for Fr. Michael!
And so to Monday, and the final event of the weekend was a school assembly at Mellis Primary School on Monday morning. The head had prepared a map, photos of Taiwan and a YouTube video to introduce Taiwan ~ and we had such a great time together. Check out the special welcome sign posted outside the school!
What a great weekend! A big thank you to Julia, Ann and everyone in South Hartismere for your amazing welcome and hospitality, it was all so lovely. Leaving with oh so many happy memories!
Charming, quaint, quirky, peaceful and popular are all words you find on tourist websites used to describe the lovely Suffolk town of Beccles ~ all true of course, it’s a really great place! According to Trip Advisor, the top No. 1 attraction of ‘THE 10 BEST Things to Do in Beccles – 2022‘ is, guess what, the most unlikely sport of parachuting ~ not the first thing that came to mind when I arrived in Beccles on Saturday for my CMS Link Church Visit over the weekend – I wouldn’t like to try, even off the bell tower, the highest building in the town…
When I ask my London friends if they’ve heard of Beccles – yes they have – and what comes to mind, they mention ‘cakes’, though the cakes turn out to be Eccles Cakes, which are actually from Lancashire. Beccles and Eccles sound just a bit too similar, I guess! Of course, Beccles does have plenty of delicious cakes, biscuits and flans, and we enjoyed some of them on Saturday night at our Bring and Share evening. Check out this delicious and very beautiful cherry flan, yum yum!
My first challenge on Saturday though was just finding the town! The satnav took me on the scenic route across Suffolk which wound on and on, while signposts along the way all gave distances to Norwich, Ipswich, Lowestoft and then Diss ~ Beccles hardly gets a mention until you’re nearly there. Apparently only one of the main roads into the town has a large ‘Welcome to Beccles’ sign ~ though there’s another smaller one for those arriving by boat…
Yes, my conclusion is that Beccles is a very modest town, almost shy in fact, and happy to sit quietly on the River Waveney, marking the border between Suffolk and Norfolk, and the people who have chosen to live there seem to enjoy that quietness too. Saturday afternoon was certainly quiet (I hardly saw anyone!) but it was also sunny and bright and I could wander around taking photos of the streets and quayside…
I had the honour of staying with Barry and Faith Darch, long-time members of St. Michael’s Church, Beccles, where Faith is a lay reader and also in the bell-ringing team. Barry is serving as Mayor of Beccles this year, so I was delighted to have a tour of the town hall on Sunday morning, including a visit to the chamber, where the Beccles Town Council meets, and also to see the chains that the mayor and mayoress wear on special occasions. Despite all the grandeur, they are very down-to-earth, humble, kind people and such wonderful hosts!
On Saturday night, we met at St. Luke’s Church, Beccles for food – and sharing about Taiwan. It was freezing outside, their first frost of the winter, but inside it was lovely and warm. I was very warmly welcomed by the rector, Rev. Rich Henderson, in charge of Beccles Parish, which now has 5 churches; fortunately he is helped by a wonderful team. Keith is the chair of the mission committee, and on Saturday, he and Rich kindly presented me with a new and very large Chinese – English Bible, a gift from Beccles Parish. Thank you!
We had a fun evening – and check out all the amazing food….
And so to Sunday, which was St. Edmund’s Day, November 20. St. Edmund, who died on November 20, 869, was King of East Anglia, and is also the patron saint of plagues and pandemics. The tradition is that the St. Edmund’s flag is flown from all towers in Suffolk on St. Edmund’s Day, and so I accompanied Barry the Mayor to the town hall to meet Tom, the official flag-raiser – and to find the St. Edmund’s flag….
And as the flag went up, we went up to see Faith and the bellringers in the tower, where they ring every Sunday morning. Very impressive…
And so to St. Michael’s Church for the 11:00 service, where we had coffee before and after the service ~ it was great to see so many of those who had come the night before, and who I have known for many years. That includes Bishop Gavin Reid and his wife, who retired to Beccles many years ago – they had come straight from taking a service in a nearby village, and also Rev. Peter Langford, famous for cycling from Lands End to John O’Groats to mark his 75th birthday, then again for his 80th, then again for his 85th – and next year he’s 90, and thinks he may try again! Such energy! I see I mentioned them in my blog post after my previous visit to Beccles in October 2018 (see here). Also, Rachel, retired from CMS after serving many years in Asia, and now living in the area, lovely to see her again. Anyway, I did the sermon – and took a lot of selfies with lovely people…
As we came out of the church, there was this horse and cart driving around Beccles, what a great sight…
Faith and Barry kindly cooked us a splendid Sunday lunch, and then we went off to Bungay to visit an elderly church member in a care home there. Afterwards we walked around Bungay Town – it has lots of old houses painted in beautiful colours, and the ruins of an old castle…
And finally back to Beccles, where the St. Edmund’s flag was still flying, another great sight!
So a big thank you to Rich, Keith, Barry, Faith, Rachel and everyone in Beccles Parish for such a fantastic weekend, and such a warm welcome. It was great, and your ongoing support is so much appreciated. Thank you, and thanks be to God for all His many blessings! ❤️
The great city of Oxford, once romantically described as the ‘city of dreaming spires’ 🤨 is now more accurately a city of 650 fast-moving electric scooters, that zoom in and out around all the streets ~ trying hard to avoid people furiously peddling along on ordinary bikes or struggling to push themselves on ordinary scooters, all trying to keep up. They go so fast, I have yet to get one in a photo – only the ordinary bikes stay in focus! Such is Oxford’s morning rush hour as students head for lectures and others head for work. It’s busily bustling out there!
Last time I was in Oxford, in October 2018, I wrote this in my blog post, “I admit, I’m not an Oxford person. I can’t recognise any college or building or landmark, haven’t got a clue what the colleges are, nor why they’re famous, other than just being part of Oxford University. So all I can tell you is that the buildings and colleges are beautiful, and spires are many. Spires and steeples and towers and gargoyles and churches and chapels everywhere.” That much is still true.
And so today I ambled around Oxford looking at lots of old buildings, wandering here and there, trying to stay outside in the beautiful sunshine as much as possible and mostly avoiding anything that required me to pay to enter. So don’t ask me what any of these places are, just look at the photos!
