July 2025 (taken from The Link Magazine)

Time to ramble…………

I am never quite sure when I start to ramble of what direction my fingers will take me to but I guess its not called a ramble for no reason!

Reflecting on the past month, I guess one highlight was going to see our Junior church in Joseph. Little Eliza in the very front joining in all the actions and songs, the joy of the singing, the great atmosphere and a near perfect performance. It had a real wow factor that lifted the spirits and everyone came away with a real buzz. It doesn’t just happen overnight I know and is the result of so much hard work but what came over most was the joy the actors all had taking part. Thank you Uckfield Theatre Guild for your dedication.

There was also great joy at the Licensing of our Martha in Scaynes Hill. For those of us who went it was a lovely service with great bun fight afterwards. Always nice to visit another church, crib some ideas from their Parish Mag and touch base with other Churchwardens and Church community. We wish Martha and Constantine every happiness in their new start there.

You know I am a fan of finding the little things in life that give joy. My current pleasure is opening up an app on the phone called Merlin. I set the record and listen button and of an evening sit near an open window listening to all the bird song in the trees around. It identifies all the bird song that it can and I think the main joy is that it makes you sit down and just listen. In our mad dash world we are losing the ability to just do that – to sit quietly, to reflect, to breathe quietly, to a stiller world, to give thanks. (I am also known to get out of bed at 4 am to the dawn chorus to see what is chirping in the trees around). If you can try it and see, please let me know.

And on that note of simpler things, I have splurged out on a little motorhome. Nothing fancy – tiny e.g. Muff and me space, wind down windows, locked by key in lock where the project is to refurnish with new covers and curtains. But it is amazing how sailing along in this little old lady of a vehicle at the grand speed of 50 miles per hour, without a working radio at the mo has appealed to that need in me for a more simple environment. Dora is responding to my challenge of tidying her up, Muffin adores jumping in her to come along for the ride so watch this space of where we will go!! ( A mad idea has just jumped into my head of organizing a Parish Picnic Lunch – your thoughts……….) Do you remember the Afternoon Tea and evensong we had in Lancing College? That was fun and another trip out to see Father David at Langley and given afternoon tea down there…….

2025 is looking positive on the achievements side. We have achieved new carpets in church, the choir vestry window is being mended and replaced, the ramp and electronic access to church has been given the go ahead, the lighting is replaced in the Belmont Centre, our numbers at evensong and 8 am are increasing, and our website is on the move with new ideas. Now we need to concentrate on the foyer walls and what to do because presenting our beautiful church forward – we need to make sure that it looks loved and looked after and the first image of those peeling walls is not a good one. We are warned that the stone work probably wont look very pretty underneath all the paint but personally I would rather a bare wall with its own story to tell is better than grubby peeling paint image. The church has been painted what once or twice in my lifetime and every time those foyers are the first to go. There must be an answer…..

The Organ Fund is again gaining momentum which is great so please support Cantando when they play in Church on the 11th July at 7.30 pm. See you there…….

That’s it for now.

All my love

Dee