Around My Patch, Any time you're Lambeth way

Any evening, any day
You'll find us all
Doin' the Lambeth Walk

I'm not much of a dancer ( two left feet ) 

Every day though I walk down lambeth walk.  Lambeth walk was made famous by the 1930's show Me and my Girl and this one song doin the lambeth walk 

A simple little tale about a male equivalent of Pygmalion's Eliza Doolittle, Me and My Girl became one of Britain's most successful musicals in its original run, and surpassed its success when it was revived and rewritten 50 years later. A favourite on the amateur dramatics and operatics scene, it is rarely off the stage, and several of its songs are, for good or ill, part of Britain's national psyche

The song is known world wide some friend were telling me not to long ago that when the checkpoint were still in place in spain they were pulled over in the car. when they were asked by the guard where they were from and said london he asked them do do the lambeth walk so they did over the border. 

The walk has changed over the years theres a great site that shows old lambeth walk and some of the history of the place. (see here )


I have to admit when I realised where I was living I rang my dad to tell him. Our family has a link to London through his side of the family. My great grand dad was a fishmonger on the old roman road.

 

 flats at the top of lambeth walk 

                                                              

Lambeth walk day nursery 

I'm gradually learning the rich history of my new patch there's something really important about knowing a place 

Around my Patch, Home

Over the next few days I want to give you a little tour of My Patch.. 

Where better to start than where I am living. 

This is a far cry from what the block of flats looked like last year when I moved in. This was taken by a friend about two weeks after the scaffolding came down. I mentioned in a earlier post that there had been a big difference in the feel of the place since then. All the work has finally been finished those last little bits that needed touching up.. 

I don't know what it was like to live here before the work started.. but in my flat having the new windows and doors has made a huge difference. 

The internal corridors are lighter and brighter as are the stairwells. 

What has been great to see is the new families who moved in during the last few weeks and the other children on our floor playing in the corridor in the afternoons. 

Durring what I think was a Birthday party recently a envelope with a card and sweets was pushed through the door. A thank you from them, they had been very messy and noisy all afternoon but had clean up. It was a nice touch from these younger neighbours.

Fits like a Glove!!!!

Looking back at some of the things from camp....

Somerset Rural Life Museum 

I mentioned in a earlier post about the visit to the museum one of the temporary exhibits was based on gloves. 

Glove Affair!

Glove-related art, including garments, hangings, sculptures, animatronics and writings, all on the theme of gloves and their symbolism in history, art, literature and romance. South West Textiles Group Touring Exhibition. Textile demonstrations.

I really liked this, gloves are not my thing I'd rather have cold hands than put them on. This drove my friend mad in january when I visited Turku Finland, most of the time outside was spent by her telling me "to put you gloves back on" it was well below minus 20!!!

The artist wrote about the work that she liked words and finding words from different places. Glove works well.. So I took a close up of two...

 

Finnish and swedish as that is what many of my friends speak

while taking this one of the younger Cubs came to talk to me and the glove picture came into the topic. This cub is from Poland so we looked through to see if the polish for glove was there. and found it.

What was wonderful about this time was just talking and listening to the Cub To learn from each other he became the teacher for that short moment age no a barrier. As he explained how to pronounce the word, it took a few attempts for me to get it. His no it this not what I was saying made us laugh what also was good was that I didn't know that actually as with other words they were spelt slightly wrong. He did give me the right spelling but that was a week ago.

Looking at this just reminds me of my patch, there are many different cultural backgrounds that come to form the patch work that is my patch here in north lambeth in the community and the Churches. So much so that talking to a lady from a church in the next Circuit they have 40 different languages and nationalities present in fellowship there... Wow..

What a rich tapestry that that is 

how does the Wesley Hymn go 

O for a thousand tongues to sing

My great Redeemer’s praise,

The glories of my God and King,

The triumphs of His grace

In many schools and libraries here in the uk there is a poster that says welcome in several different languages.The idea of this has given me a idea for our church here in North Lambeth Parish and Circuit to do the same for us  using a word or phrase that we can show just this unity and joy in fellowship from the many languages that we have. 

Disappointment,Frustration and Looking back

Ok so yesterday didn't turn out quiet how I had expected.... Disappointment and frustration for the last day of my house-elfs visit before scotland and then home , oyster cards went crazy ( and have just got back from trying to explain that there WAS something wrong with the card and getting my deposit back after it played up AGAIN today) , unhelpful sales assistants, un-customer service, mad swimmers (who thought they owned the pool). 

but it was redeemed, we ended up at the Victoria and Albert Museum, but still things were not going to quite smooth as we had hoped...

My friend had read an article that there was a Greta Garbo exhibition taking place. we got there and asked at the desk only it turned out to be of Grace Kelly – and it was sold out. 

There is always something at the V&A to refresh and soak in and we looked round one of my favourite rooms which had had some new bits added to since I was there last.  Through the Large stall at the back leads to a alter and a great presentation about the piece. 

And wandered through other rooms that were new. and out into the garden and fountains. there is at the moment a free exhibition called 

1:1 - Architects Build Small Spaces15 June - 30 August 2010

and part of this is out in the garden this building really caught my attention along with the video presentation that went with it. 

 

to see more about the tree here

On the way home we caught the tube and had to laugh at a scare-gaurd opposite where we had boarded the train.  

It would have been and is very easy to see yesterday as a waisted day, plans gone astray. We can fix our hopes on many different things and get let down by them, yeah my hands went in my pockets and I was miffed. It would have been very easy to spend the day like that.  

But you  know I had lunch with good friends, and got to see their gorgeous twins who are about 3months old now and was the first time I seen them. Had supper with the house-elf :) and talked. ( you can read my friends thoughts on the day here) so many little things made yesterday a great day. 


What we chose to focus on matters it guides where our thought actions and feelings go. Thinking through yesterday yeah there were disappointments, frustrations looking back there were so many positives so many things to be thankful for and to thank God for.

Save life - Recycle

While on Camp I posted about the Burnham HoverCraft Search and Rescue.

While there I picked up a couple of envelopes for recycling. 

If you're anything like me by my printer is a box of old cartridges.... I try to where possible recycle (though it is confusing as somethings that were recyclable in one place aren't recyclable in others Grrr) so these envelopes were right up my street ... And more so that they were for the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI)

The RNLI is an independent charity, funded by voluntary donations. We could not save lives at sea without the public’s support.

I've always had a fascination with the work of the RNLI after staying in Caister just outside Great yarmouth on the East Coast of England. And the story of the brave crew of the Beauchamp in 1901.  a responce at the inquest to the disastor has 

became part of lifeboat folklore. He stated: “They would never give up the ship. If they had to keep at it ‘til now, they would have sailed about until daylight to help her, Going back is against the rules when we see distress signals like that.” These words, translated by journalists, were to become famous throughout the length and breadth of the land -

CAISTER MEN NEVER TURN BACK.

In 1988 I was able to go out on one of the Caister lifeboats after going to the open day and my Gran winning a trip out in the raffle. It was a truly amazing experience.

We think more often that recycling is "doing our bit to save the planet" but there is more to it than that...

With these little envelopes the printer caridge is worth up to £3 for the RNLI

so if you're not into getting them refilled, then get a envelope. The number to do is free 

0800 091 0696

And for those living in or a round burnham ... Got a old mobile phone? drop that into boathouse......

So save a life- Recycle 

The Day after the camp before

Finally crawled out of bed at at around 9:30 am. I hadn't felt really all that tried ubtil walking through the front door. 

Some of the camp posts have been updated with photo's all taken on my Nokia X3 so I'm fairly happy with the out come though one or two are a little shaky.

Some of the events of camp I'll return to over the next few days and talk a little more about.

Thank you to the house-elf for making sense of the text messages and writing the posts :)

Tales from cubs' camp in /near Glastonbury day 6

Day 6 (Friday) homeward bound

We arrived home at 5.30ish today - more or less on schedule :) after travelling back via Stonehenge.

The last episode of Dr Who was filmed at Stonehenge. This was the second site this week that has had a connection to Dr Who  Wookey Hole Cave was where the doctor (David Tennent) found out he was going to die.  Since many of the cubs are Dr Who fans (like me) it was pretty exciting!

I've always wanted to go to Stonehenge and now I have! It was busy - too many people to be honest- and I'm a bit sad that I never got to go there when I was the age of most of cubs, because nowadays when it's a site of national heritage you can't get up close to the stones and touch or climb on them. That would have been great!

Hearing the commentaries through the hand-held device about Stongehenge, its history and its people was very interesting. Though the original reason for Stonehenge has long been lost, some of the myths and legends surrounding it (alien theories, the devil and /or Merlin in the time of King Arthur) were fun to listen to.  It was interesting to be there at this time as it's only recently been announced that another henge has been discovered nearby. (link to BBC site on new discovery )

We were all shattered when we got back ... the leaders probably even more than the cubs (who were still hyper!) 

Posted by the resident house-elf. Just because :)*

* My Patch's author is semi-comatose on the sofa in spite of having been revived by numerous cups of tea. Must be time for bed!

Tales from cubs' camp in /near Glastonbury day 5

day 5 ?

How quickly time passes! It doesn't seem a week since I was packing to go to to camp. Tomorrow (Friday) we leave, and head for the 3hr-ish journey back home to London. We're going via Stonehenge - a place I've always wanted to visit :)

Today was the beach and swimming. Yay!

The cubs made their own Tor and St Michael's tower

We travelled over to Burnham-on-sea. The cubs made a bee-line for a hovercraft sat outside its house, and fired questions at the man standing by it. They were Burnham HoverCraft Search and Rescue , and the cubs got to sit in the larger rescue craft!

 

What was really interesting to me was the brass plaque on the hovercraft house. 

It had been build in a mere 72 hours during a programme called Challenge Anneka- a programme that I often used to watch! To see that house - sixteen years on  - still standing, still in great condition, and providing valuable lifeguard cover on the coast - was fantastic. You don't always get to find out what happens to these sort of things, and today this really touched me.

(Posted by the resident house elf, who is heading to bed after a fabulous day in the west end with Godson and family)

Tales from cubs' camp in /near Glastonbury day 4

day 4: Wednesday

30 mins after Akala (cub leader) went to get the cubs up this morning, I went down to fetch them for breakfast ... They were almost ALL still in bed. Their reason? "Akala didn't tell us to get dressed!"...

We left to visit the Somerset rural farm museum. This is a free museum which takes you through farming in the local area. Having played old fashioned "pennyhands"yesterday what caught my eye at the farm museum was the measure of a pennyworth of milk.

To top the visit off there was the chance to make a willow fence, called willow wanging! There was also an exhibition of gloves (inspired by 25 pairs found in a box!) More on this later ...

(posted by see-though faith, resident house elf, who has enjoyed cooler weather this evening here in London - though it was hot, hot, hot earlier in the day!)

Tales from cubs' camp in /near Glastonbury day 3

day 3 (Tues) Wookey Hole


Wookey hole is a cave system that has a strange tale of a witch and a priest. A woman (who the villagers were afraid of) lived in the cave. She was deemed a witch, and so the villagers sent for the priest (to exorcise her) ... the story tells that he followed her into a deeper part of the cave until he found some water. He took some, blessed it, and started to sprinkle it around when he heard a scream. Later a stone figure was found in the cave.


What struck me was that hundreds of years on, we still act like that. We have the same sort of attitude to people who don't seem to fit in. All too often they (the misfit) are seen as the reason that things are wrong, and they are made the scapegoat.


I found myself challenged today and want to challenge you too ... Ask yourself whether your actions (and your heart attitude) are more like those of the villagers than the hand and heart of Jesus.


(posted by the resident house-elf who was glad of a heavy shower tonight here in London - it's so much cooler now!)

Tales from cubs' camp in /near Glastonbury day 2

day 2 (Monday) Glastonbury Tor

after feeding the cubs - off they went to feed the animals!It's easy to forget some of them (city boys!) haven't had this type of close contact with animals  when it's second nature for me. They had great fun being close up to hens, pigs and piglets (and this evening they were asking to help with this again!)

This afternoon we hiked past the famous old trees, gog and magog 

Situated near the foot of Glastonbury Tor Hill, stand two ancient oak trees which popular folklore hold to be over 2,000 years old. The two immense and beautifully gnarled trees (named Gog and Magog) were once part of an avenue of oaks that led up to Glastonbury Tor (and, according to some sources, beyond to King Arthur’s castle in South Cadbury).

 

what is sad is that one of these magnificent trees was recently pronounced dead.. and there are signs that the 2nd tree in part is dying too. coming from nottingham I know how much is valued in the tales of our old tree The Major Oak and the conservation that has been undertaken around it.

.......and on up to Glastonbury Tor. 

St Michael's Tower 

It was busy but great at the top inside the tower, showing the history of the place. Part of the plague states

Richard whiting, last abbot, was hanged on the tor in 1539, when the dissolation of the monasteries was taking  place. 

The beautiful view from the top of the Tor across the counties gives a far different tale to some of its sad past!

(posted by the resident house-elf who is still in hot and sticky London!)

Tales from cubs' camp in /near Glastonbury day 1

Camp day 1 / arrival

After a 3h journey and a cool start to the day we arrived at Paddington Farm and a sign which said

 :)

First job was moving the very friendly goats out of our field.

Samson and Benny

After lunch it was the supermarket run, supper and time for the camp fire.

We watched an amazing sunset - the oranges reflecting off the old Abbey at the Tor.

 

They say there is something about this part of England and finding a quiet spot .. it does feel as if you're closer to God here.

(Posted by my friend see-through faith -resident house-elf -who I abandoned back in hot, sticky London!)

Putney And Plums

It seems a little strange taking your day off when most of the week has been spent doing very little due to a  virus. Feeling much more like myself I really just needed to get out of the flat. So with a friend we headed by train to Putney about 10-15 mins away.

What I love about Putney is that they have some great charity shops and we spent a hour or so just wandering through them. Then headed down to sally's @ St. Mary's for coffee and cake which is always good :)..

Then over Putney bridge and through the Bishops gardens and along the river to Craven Cottage home of Fulham FC.

The walk took a little longer than it should of when we spotted plums/damsons in the trees just ready for picking.. 

and not for the first time this summer picking wild fruit became a distraction. Where I'm living there are scattered around  apricot trees and cherry trees...

They all tasted very very nice.. We joked that stolen fruit tasted so much better than from the supermarket. We joked that even Eve understood this....

There being so many berries and fruit still on the trees, or on the ground going to waste makes me ask many questions.

In many countries today (and for me when growing up in the midlands) the summer tradition of going to pick the wild fruit, then washing and baking them, with memories the kitchen smelling of warm sugars, glass jars ready for the wonderful sweet liquid to go in) is still part of the culture. 

We are told that we are in a time when we have less disposible income that people are not spending... yet at this time that there are still vast amounts of fruit going to waste in a small area leads to a thought that we may have tighter pockets right now but even in this.... in the unpicked fruits and berries ... well it  shows me how well off we really are.  In days gone by these would have been picked as soon as they were ripe!

Down on the Farm

Living in South London just a stone's throw from the Houses of Parliament there's a sound that would be more at home in the sweeping english countryside... a city farm. I love this quote from their website 

Vauxhall City Farm is a happy, noisy and vibrant part of Vauxhall that welcomes everybody from all walks of life a chance to escape the city grind and enjoy a little slower pace of rural peace before hopping back on the train or bus.

There are the usual suspects down on the farm, ducks hens, sheep, cows 

watching these little chicks running round was so funny they have feathery feet and were tripping over very sweet...

 

And the more unusual suspects 

You gotta love the Hair !!!!

I started getting to know the staff, volunteers and regular visitors to the farm in November last year through the riding for the disabled. To be part of this has been a real blessing to me, to see the wonderful group of kids every other thursday and how they have grown in confidence over this time and the hugh smiles they have. 

Going down for the very first time was way beyond anything I knew and 4 yrs. at bible college don't equip you for!!!!!  Though I had worked on a city farm at the secondary school I was at in Nottingham  horses were a very different "animal" altogether. Learning about the different horses ( they all have their own characters and one or two are naughty I've lost the string from my hoodies thanks to one and a couple of zippers) how to groom, clean a saddle, how to walk at the side and lead a horse for the lessons.. 

At palm sunday the Shetland pony from the farm played a big role in the procession as we all followed the cross between two of the parish churches...

There have been great times of fun and Chat over a wheelbarrow full of horse manure it's time to reflect too. Strange but true, that mucking out is a humbling experience, it doesn't matter who you are outside the stable if your part of the yard team if muck needs shifting, you do it.

wonder how many of us in leadership are willing to do that, or is it a job for the cleaners, would we be willing to kneel and clean the toilets at church !!!! or clean muck on the car park.... to talk the humble roles as a servant as Jesus did ? 

In the cool of the stable there is that feeling, how you react how you are about yourself how you are with the horses. they hear many confession through the day and just listen, and at times come close almost as if to say I hear you. 

How much can we learn from the horses in this way, as we walk along side people as they share there life stories with us. 

bedknobs, broomsticks and house elves!!!

That's pretty much how the it's been since sunday afternoon...

I came down with some sort of summer flu over the weekend :(... waking sunday morning with a very hot and sore throat not helpful when your preaching and it being a assessed service for my local preachers corse reaching sunday I was so thankful that my voice held out. ( me with no voice for some would be a answer to prayer before anyone thinks of commenting)

Unusually for me I spent the yesterday in bed mainly due to my house elf ( a friend who's visiting for the summer), and watching in between sleeping Harry Potter.

I'm not one for taking time off and had a sign in my last office that read

Don't Phone in sick Crawl in Dead

 and another that read 

if I can breathe I can work

one thing that made me smile was when one of the professors gave Harry Chocolate when he felt weak after coming into contact with dementors ( prison guards from Azkaban) at the beginning of the third film and something he does throughout the film, 

Jokingly I asked my house elf  if I could have that when I felt weak and tired too I got a smile and a dark chocolate biscuit.

Sometimes as with the chocolate we don't always realise what it is we need, being told to eat chocolate that first time harry was confused, 

being told to go lie down, to be woken up with fruit or a drink, a meal made,  having the bedclothes washed and changed when suffer with fever by a friend was so very much not how I would normally have tried to cope with a fever

That the little things have been done for me and I'm not the best patient , Thats been so good but yet so hard, to accept. none of it was asked for, non of it was implied but out of love it was given. 

Time to go back upstairs again

Mary and Martha

Luke 10:38-42 Mary and Martha,

This is the gospel reading for tomorrow in the revised common lectionary.... I know this as I'm preaching... and using the following story to open with...

There is an ancient Scottish legend that tells the story of a shepherd boy tending a few straggling sheep on the side of a mountain. One day as he cared for his sheep he saw at his feet a beautiful flower -- one that was more beautiful than any he had ever seen in his life. 

He knelt down on his knees and scooped the flower in his hands and held it close to his eyes, drinking in its beauty.

As he held the flower close to his face, he suddenly heard a noise and looked up before him. There he saw a great stone mountain opening up right before his eyes.

 And as the sun began to shine on the inside of the mountain, he saw the sprinkling of the beautiful gems and precious metals that it contained. With the flower in his hands, he walked inside. Laying the flower down, he began to gather all the gold and silver and precious gems in his arms.

 Finally with all that his arms could carry, he turned and began to walk out of that great cavern. Suddenly a voice said to him, "Don't forget the best."

 Thinking that perhaps he had overlooked some choice piece of treasure, he turned around again and picked up additional pieces of priceless treasure. And with his arms literally overflowing with wealth, he turned to walk back out of the great mountainous vault. And again the voice said, "Don't forget the best."

 But by this time his arms were completely filled and he walked on outside. All of a sudden, the precious metals and stones turned to dust. And he looked around in time to see the great Stone Mountain closing its doors again.

 For a third time he heard the voice… This time the voice said, "You forgot the best. For the beautiful flower is the key to the vault of the mountain."

 Don’t forget the best. We can never be able to truly grasp any precious thing in this lifetime, unless we can grasp the unsurpassing beauty of the MOST precious thing in this lifetime.

Don’t forget the best be maybe that is the message of today’s Gospel story.  The gospel is all about Mary and Martha … or should I say Martha and Mary? 

Like martha it is very easy for us to get so caught up in the day to day, like the Shepard boy it can take a short time to loose sight of the gift that opened up all that God has in store for us. 

Don't forget the best... Don't forget that in the story of mary and martha that there is a third person there. 

we can loose focus in the story making the importance that we are to be more like mary, that she is the role model for us.. yeah there is that... but it's not about being mary or martha but about being both... having a balance between spending time with Jesus and Working for (with Him)

That garfield feeling

When it comes to mornings I tend to find myself in the same mould as Garfield.. I HATE them. I have a mug that was brought for me a few years ago with just that sentiment.

I dont have to say the the mug is well used. 

I've tried many different things to get up and why in part I decided to go to the parish prayers. It is something I have to get up for a starting point for the day ( and being honest I don't always manage it.. what is great depending on how you look at it is that there is more often than not a question the next time I'm there about where I was.

This evening I checked my email and found this 

Morning is God's way of saying: 

"One more time Live Life... 

Make a difference... 

Touch one Heart... 

Encourage One Mind.. 

And inspire one Soul."

A few years ago I did a bible study over about 6 months looking at Mornings tracing through from the Old Testament through to the New. One passage still stands out to me from exodus 16 about manna and quail. though it is speaking about the grumblings of Israel in the desert against the Lord its this one passage from verses 6-7 

“At evening you shall know that the LORD has brought you out of the land of Egypt. ⁷ And in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD; 

The passage that set off my thoughts the first time round, Many of the great hero's of faith have spent time in the early hours of the day spending time with God. Mark records in his gospel that 

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed

is this a gentle reminder to change my day around, not having the just 5 more minutes then diving out of bed and round to the Church building just in time for 9am. even on the days when I'm not swimming. 

Swimming and Showers

Not sure really which way round to put that heading though the shower in the locker room was so much warmer than the one on my way home. Coming out of swimming today I got a few feet down the road when the heavens opened big time... 

View down the road toward Vauxhall Bridge on my way home 

It would be the day when I had left by waterproof top at home... getting soggy wasn't the worse thing nor was it that the washing was on the line doh!!!!!!! 

Sat on the coffee table is my cell phone hopefully drying out.. Maybe now is the perfect excuse to get the iphone at last.

Now the suns out gain 

When I moved to Lambeth one of the things that I decided to challenge myself to do was to make morning parish prayers at 9am and midweek Eucharist at 10am, and to get fit physically. 


Over the summer this time last year I got a job working in a cardboard factory which was a fantastic time and worked with some of the best guys you can meet. 


To get to work meant either catching the bus at silly o'clock am and getting in late, the other option was to cycle from Leigh-on-sea to Benfleet doing this July to October started as real hard work ( not to mention being back in a factory after 10 years of working for the church and being in college)and to begin with pain. 


yet as time went by the ride became easier an a time to pray, for the day, the guys, the company.. and much quicker it started by taking 45-60min and pushing the bike up something called bread and cheese hill by the time I left to come to Lambeth I could cycle all the way up the hill and was home in 20-30 mins 

The hill rises on a 10% incline(about 1.5km in road distance) That’s a long hill!!  and  yeah it seems much further an way steeper than that :( !!!. though going down it when your hot from the cycle in was always worth it on sunny days, agin not so good on wet one's. Why bread and cheese well as with many place name in England it was a practical name, coming about in the Edwardian era when motorcars on the way to Southend-on-Sea would boil over by the time they reached the brow of the hill.  Chauffeurs would eat their bread and cheese lunch while the engines cooled. It was not long before a public house (there is still a pub there with the same name  ) was opened to take advantage of the trade.


I missed the ride, the prayer time when I moved,   there is for me a link between spiritual health and physical health. When one starts to go off track it isn’t all that long before the other wanders too.

Swimming twice or three times a week has been a great start to the day, (though its been afternoons recently, and going with a friend) then prayers, then into the rest of the day. Cycling the mile each way..