Church events, social events, pictures and other items of interest to do with St John the Baptist Church, Hey, Oldham. We are at the junction of St John Street and Stamford Road OL4 3DS
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We all have our childhood memories and earlier this week my daughter told me about one of her younger sister’s childhood memories. The memory was brought back by the hearing the jingle-jangle music of the ice cream van which happened to stop outside her front door. It was the first time she had seen an ice cream van on her street and of course, it was the first time for my grandson, Archie too. So, we had a cone with all the trappings: flake, hundreds and thousands and raspberry sauce. The ice cream was the soft Mr Whippy type which was a particular favourite of Charlotte’s my youngest daughter. The only problem was it was very close to Archie’s teatime. Nana did the unthinkable and persuaded his mummy to let him have the ice cream before his tea, after all, what are nana’s for! Then came the familiar comment that parents often hear from their children “ you never let us do that, we always had to put the ice cream in the freezer to have after our tea” Apparently this was one of Charlotte’s bug-bears as she said once the ice cream came out of the freezer it was no longer soft like Mr Whippy. Now I understand why Charlotte always wanted hers before her tea.
I wonder what the bug-bears of your childhood were, perhaps you would like to share them.
And now for something beautiful and lovely
Archie and I saw this hanging from a tree on one of our walks. It is difficult to tell from the picture but is made from pipe cleaners, Such a simple but effective idea.
And finally, I think this one goes under the heading of improvisation. After finishing his ice cream, Archie decided to wash his hands in the watering can!
his reminded me we need to thank God each and every day for our water supply and pray for those who don't have that luxury.
As your Spirit moved
over the face of the water, bringing light and life to your creation,
pour out your Spirit
on us today that we may walk as children of light and by your grace reveal your
presence.Blessed be God, Father, Son
and Holy Spirit.
All Blessed be God for ever.
Hymn: Be still for the presence of the Lord
1 Bless the Lord,
O my soul, ♦
and all that is within
me bless his holy name.
2 Bless the Lord,
O my soul, ♦
and forget not all his
benefits;
3 Who forgives
all your sins ♦
and heals all your
infirmities;
4 Who redeems
your life from the Pit ♦
and crowns you with
faithful love and compassion;
5 Who satisfies
you with good things, ♦
so that your youth is
renewed like an eagle’s.
6 The Lord
executes righteousness ♦
and judgement for all
who are oppressed.
7 He made his
ways known to Moses ♦
and his works to the
children of Israel.
8 The Lord has
established his throne in heaven, ♦ and his kingdom has dominion over all.
When I first started this blog, I spoke about the beautiful and lovely walks I was having with my grandson Archie. The morning walks are continuing and this week it was a great pleasure to take Archie to feed the ducks both in Queens Park, Heywood and Hollingworth Lake. His little face lit up when I told him we were going to do this. This is something which Archie has really missed doing these last few months
A few days ago, a friend said to me “I have told you of all that I am going to do after lockdown but I never heard you say what you are going to do. My friend is an avid fan of a particular designer outlet store. When lockdown is over and it opens, to the public again, I know she will be the first in the queue. So, I have two questions for you this week, “What have you missed most during this lockdown and what is the first thing you are going to do when it is ended? As for myself, there is so much that I have missed, including seeing my two granddaughters, seeing them and spending time with them will be my highest priority.
Continuing with the theme of something beautiful and lovely, Edna has very kindly shared some pictures of the birds visiting their garden
Bullfinch eating forget-me-not seeds
A chaffinch eating at our bird feeder- one of lots of birds that eat outside our window and keep us entertained
A dunnock that likes to pick up all the dropped seed from under the feeders.
A blackbird enjoying his daily apple
Lilac weighed down with flowers and with a wonderful scent.
Edna goes on to say " the crow's eggs have hatched and we can occasionally see young stretching up to be fed"
Edna and David both realise how lucky they are that they have the garden with all the wildlife visiting. Edna has also heard the first swallows and swifts of the year flying over.
