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Sunday 15 November 2009

Race Night

Last night was the race night held in the Church Hall. The event was sponsored by Ampwire, T. Collins and Son, Ampfab, Lawrence Perrins and Sons, Slender World, and McDermott's Memorials. The event was attended by nearly one hundred people and raised the magnificent sum of £1,000 towards Church funds.

The Bookmakers tables
One of the jockeys was lame



Exitement mounts

Some people were very involved




The race reaches its climax

The winning jockey.
Eddie reacts to comments about his riding style


Collecting the winnings

A natural
environment for some well known faces







A jockey receives her medal







Another winning jockey

The owners enclosure; nice hats








More nice hats

The catering corps, pie supplied and sponsored by Carole
After too many wins, Paul is given a handycap

The owners get fully into the swing of things, Laura is obviously a major owner of race horses

Monday 2 November 2009

All Souls - Remembrance


This weekend there was a wealth of death related activity, most of it the ghoulish scare fest type.
But beyond giggling witches begging tricks or treats Autumn also brings another centuries old tradition - the festival of All Souls.
Unlike Halloween, All Souls doesn't portray death as unreal or scary but rather an inevitable part of life's cycle that will affect us all sooner or later.
Our own simple moving act of remembrance at St John the Baptist, focused on the expression of continuing life - the love that helps life go on after our world comes crashing down around our ears when someone we love dies .
I saw awkward gestures from men facing the need to express love physically to a parent - the reaching of a hand, or just a shared look; and I saw children instinctively understanding the rightness of offering simple comfort - a girl of seven or eight trying to stretch her small arms wide enough to reach around her weeping Grandma.
What I took away from the service most of all though was the simple realisation that this final element of life, hard though it is to bear, is a shared one.
In our own packed church I was surprised how many families I knew as neighbours or nodding acquaintances, but who I hadn't realised had been touched by loss. This is a cultural tradition to do with death that reflects its natural place in life - though tough to deal with - rather than the unreal and horrific depictions of Halloween.

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