First Retirement Anniversary

Having just gone past the first anniversary of retiring (30^th June 2019) here is a bit of an update.

Early in the year Jane and I spent a week in Gran Canaria. It was great fun but now seems like a distant memory belonging to another time altogether. Because of the time of the year we stayed in the south in a place called, Porta Morgan, known as Little Venice. 

Of course, for all of us these past few months has probably been the strangest we have lived through and are ever likely to live through.

In part as a response to this, I applied for and was granted a Permission to Officiate from Bishop Christopher of Coventry Diocese.

This was generally so that I could ‘officiate’ in our ‘home church’ St Matthew and St Oswald’s with Overslade.

As we went into lock down our Vicar, Alan and Jane Hulme (wife and Associate Minister) had to shield as Alan was vulnerable.  It has not come to pass but there was a concern about funeral cover.

I have done a recorded sermon by Zoom, which was a challenge as I tend to be animated when preaching!  

I was also engaging with Jane H on using puppets for school assemblies. Having a PTO brings me into line for safeguarding and other types of cover.

However, lock-down put paid to school’s work and so ‘James and Grandad’ have taken to having Zoom chats every week!  These are recorded and feature in our recorded Act of Worship on Sunday mornings.   This is one of the earlier ‘chats’ when they are talking about Covid-19…

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBBmfSJ6Moo

‘Grandad’ relaxing after chatting to James!  

The other thing lined up that did not happen was my volunteering with a local Riding for the Disabled Group.  Unlike the Stafford group the one nearest to me only have access to an outside exercise ring and therefore only meet from March – October. (Stafford met at Ingestre and meet year-round) So we are waiting to see when that might pick up again. My guess is it will be next year now. 

As the year turned around, I re-engaged with the Farming Community Network.  The work of this charity has become of vital importance.  Our Warwickshire Group meetings have gone on-line with Zoom.  We have also gone on-line with ‘Chewing the Cud’ – which in some ways has been good as it has brought more people ‘around the table.’  I get such a buzz seeing people chatting and sharing life stories and exchanging ideas and resources.

The other charity I am heavily involved with is Rural Mission Solutions. (Chair of Trustee's)

www.ruralmissionsolutions.org.uk

When lock-down began to take hold Barry Osborne and I discussed the idea of offering some sort of on-line worship on Sunday morning.  For several years now we have been offering webinars on Rural Mission and Evangelism.  These worship services have been a steep learning curve, but we now have a ‘settled’ pattern of a 9am live Service going out through Zoom each Sunday.  Currently we are working through a series entitled - ‘God’s Unlikely Choice.’  We have looked at Abraham as an unlikely father, Gideon as an unlikely leader and Paul as an unlikely apostle.

With the RMS Service going out live and weekly it has been demanding and ‘someone’ reminded me recently that I am retired!  I needed that reminder as one of things I have said is that while in ‘work’ I generally put that first and fitted family and domestic life around those demands. But now in retirement I want to flip that around and be available for family and friends and of course myself. 

This shift in my mental furniture is an ongoing piece of work. I have always had a strong work ethic and do not like letting people down or causing them more work or not helping if I am able.  I am always keen to share what I have discovered but now find that sometimes I need to shut up and sit on my hands because it is not my call to make. 

However, just down the road 10 minutes away live our grandsons, James and William, now 15 months old. They are all the distraction you might need!  Thankfully, we are now back meeting up with them once again as these early months see such changes in them.

We also had a holiday in France scheduled for us all, but that is another postponement until next year.

 Also postponed was a big birthday bash with a 60’s theme to celebrate Jane’s 60^th birthday and the boy’s 1^st birthday.  This may ‘return’ next year and link in with my 70^th! 

Of course, you will be aware that we have three other lovely grandchildren in Cornwall. Kerryn, Lowenna and Isla. We had a lovely time down there in March, staying in our caravan at Par Sands and celebrating Lowenna’s 5^th birthday.  

What none of us expected was that on the 29^th April, Lowenna was to have a massive brain trauma that was to leave her fighting for her life. The long journey continues with Daniel and Tracey ‘camped’ in the Bristol Children’s Hospital.  Kerryn and Isla are being looked after by Gran who lives in Cornwall. Daniel and Tracey have made trips back home leaving one of them behind in Bristol to be with Lowenna.  A five-year-old girl being struck down like this does make you question God’s providence and raises questions and even doubts in your mind. What is without question however is the level of love, prayer and support from God’s people across the world.  (Not to say that only God’s people are supporting them, they have some very dear and loyal friends helping in all sorts of practical ways) It was suggested to me that I set up a WhatsApp Prayer Group and that quickly grew to 60 people, many of whom cascade prayer request and updates to their own churches and contacts. Lowenna and her family and the medical team are being upheld by people from across the world.  In addition, an Uncle has set up a ‘go fund me page’ that has raised funds to help Daniel and Tracey with Lowenna’ s care.  

www.gofundme.com/f/support-for-lowenna.

Like everybody all our ideas and plans were thrown awry by this pandemic and we have not been able to explore much of the surrounding area. The ‘Midlands’ is enormously rich in history and many places played a key role in the life of this nation so we are looking forward to exploring more when we can do so safely. 

Before the lockdown we did manage a visit to Leicester where our youngest son Joe is now living. We paid a visit together to the Richard 111 exhibition which was fascinating. More recently we met up at Abbey Park, where Cardinal Wolsey is buried. 

And I have been discovering more of the local area while out running, walking and cycling. Rugby has the river Avon running through it and the Oxford Coventry canal. Plus, it was once a railway hub, so there are numerous tracks and pathways that form a network around the town and just outside. 

 

Life is still full on and fun even if we are currently feeling very frustrated. Like everyone we are looking forward to whatever the ‘new normal’ might bring – and a trip to Costa!