Dear Everyone, When I was a little girl and living in a village with many thatched cottages, we were fortunate that none received a lightening strike. Now, we were told, and believed, that if you opened the front and back doors of the cottage, the lightening would go in one door, through the hall and out the other door, and we and the thatched roof would be safe. Mirrors were also covered, and cutlery put away. Ladies removed their hair pins and everyone knew all would be well. We ...

“Do not be afraid for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name,” (Isaiah, Chapter 43. Verse 1) Dear Everyone, What are you called? There is an old joke that says “Call me anything you like so long as you don’t call me too late for my dinner.” My husband had five Christian names, but was called something entirely different by his family. I have one name and apparently at my birth my parents had no idea which name to give me. I was told that my father was on a bus and heard...

Dear Everyone, ARE WE SWITCHED ON “Are you switched on?” I whispered to the priest who was taking the Wednesday morning 9.30 am communion service. I was sitting next to her and could see that those in the congregation with hearing aids were looking bemused as nothing was coming through to them…..and no, she was not switched on. In no time at all everyone was hearing the service as the loop system sprang into action. This was only a small problem which could easily be fixed. ARE ...

Dear Everyone, WE WILL REMEMBER THEM How far back does your memory go? Mine goes to about eighteen months old when I was sitting in my pram to watch a procession along our main road. I was talking about this some years ago and my mother was surprised, but remembered that we had gone to watch a member of the royal family on their way to unveil a statue of King Edward V11 at Tooting Broadway. I remember during part of the second world war that, for their safety, King Peter 2 of Yugoslav...