HOLY CROSS DAY

Today I went to our local SSC Chapter where we celebrated Holy Cross Day with a Concelebrated Mass followed by a wonderful lunch cooked by the ladies of St. Luke’s Prittlewell. We missed our brother clergy who have gone to the ordinariate.

 

CBS MEETING FOR CHELMSFORD AREA

After the meeting, members of CBS came together to arrange a meeting which will be held at 2.30 p.m. at St. Augustine’s Church. Rush Green, Romford on Saturday 12th November. All members of CBS, Clerical and Lay, are invited to this important meeting.

9/11

 

 

I was really very upset by the appalling behaviour of the Islamist Fundamentalists who protested at the Memorial Service for the victims of 9/11 at Grosvenor Square. Equally disgusting was the behaviour of the English Defence League.

Roald Dahl

Roald Dahl wrote his books in what has been described as a “shed” at the bottom of his garden. Untouched since his death, the family want to preserve it and put it in the Roald Dahl Museum at a cost of £500,000.

The family have contributed significantly and are now hoping that grants will be available from charitable trusts. Despite rumours to the contrary, they are not appealing to the public for money for this project

COMPUTER UPDATE!

When the Compute Engineer diagnosed my problem with my old computer it was, as I had thought, kaput! So late Friday afternoon it was down to PC World and the result is that I am now writing this on my brand new computer. Of course, when you bring them out of the shop, it’s the start of getting the thing up and running. I was amused when the salesman tried hard to persuade me that I needed to have their software engineers put Microsoft Office on the computer. It come preinstalled and all I had to do was purchase the “Product Key Card” and then type it into the programme which took all of a couple of minutes. PC World very generously offered to do it for me for £20. They also wanted to sell me ‘computer maintenance insurance’ at £8.50 a month which amounts to £102 per annum. My now defunct computer has cost me around £150 in maintenance, including parts, over the last 5 years so why would I want to pay what would have amounted to £510. In any case, it is fully guaranteed for the first year by the manufacturers and I have a whiz kid of a computer engineer Paul of Havering Computers who looks after me.

REMEMBERING 9/11

Today I celebrated and preached at St. Augustine’s Church, Rush Green and details of the service and my sermon can be found click here. We had another full church despite the fact that several people were away. During the Mass we remembered those who are still suffering as a result of 9/11 and all those whose lives were lost.

COMPUTERS - BLESS 'EM!

I’m feeling frustrated; my main computer has decided to give up the ghost and I’m waiting for the computer engineer to come to tell me the situation although I think I already know. (Fortunately I have a MacBook on which I’m writing this) It appears that computers have something of a limited life and as I’ve had the main one for around five years I suppose I shouldn’t be surprised but I am and annoyed too. But I suspect I will be visiting PC World in the not too distant future and then I will have the have the pleasure (?) of setting a new one up.

Whilst I don’t think computers have built in obsolescence, other domestic items do. A few years ago our daughter gave us a dishwasher for Christmas and very useful it has been although we have never used it that much. The other day, after having some friends for dinner Ann used it, it made a strange sound and that was the end of the dishwasher. When we phoned a local service centre, the cost of repair was more than purchasing a new one, which seems ridiculous to me. So, I’m afraid, we don’t have a dishwasher at the moment – washing up I’m sure is good for the soul – an extra penance!

PATRONAL FESTIVAL at ST. MARY THE VIRGIN, GREAT ILFORD

Today Ann and I went to St Mary’s Church in Ilford for a Solemn Pontifical Mass to celebrate 180 years of the consecration of the church in 1831 and their Patronal Festival. The Principal Celebrant was the Rt. Revd. Robert Ladds SSC the Superior General of the Society of Mary.

The service commenced with the Angelus led by the Vicar Father Gareth Jones and this was followed by the Choir beatuifully singing the anthem Locus Iste by Bruckner. During the Introit a procession was made to the Statue of Our Lady at which we made a station. During the Communion the Choir sang Panis Angelicus by Casar Franck.

After Mass we gathered in the Church Hall for refreshments and this was followed by a Festival Grill at St. Mary’s Vicarage. It was  lovely service with an excellent homily by Bishop Ladds. It was good to see Mike Gapes MP amongst the guests. It was really nice to go back to St. Mary’s and see so many people we met and got to know when I helped there out during the interregnum.

THE RIOTS AND AFTERMATH

I have refrained from making many comments about the riots as I wanted time to reflect and consider the situation. One thing which has become very clear is that they weren’t restricted to Hackney, Tottenham, Croydon or Birmingham, Liverpool, Nottingham and Bristol. Other areas, which received little or no publicity, were also subject to rioters with looting and other criminal activities. They included Romford, Dagenham, Barkingside, Ilford and Hainault and I expect other communities outside London. There were even some problems in the small shopping centre near to where we live: Hilldene.

Perhaps we should be considering the causes for our young people to do such wanton damage. We need to ask questions: is it bad parenting; the lack of suitable employment; life on the sink estates; the feeling of total hopelessness when teenagers watch bankers and politicians with their hands in the till facing little or no punishment when they are found guilty.

Various judges, politicians, magistrates and other commentators have said that exemplary sentences must be given to all the guilty parties. This has led to some of the most ludicrous sentences being passed in the courts: to quote one example 20 months in prison for a first offence despite a guilty plea with the offender handing himself in to the police. Very soon all the prisons will be full.

It costs around £45,000 to keep a person in prison for twelve months and just on the pure economics it makes little sense to fill our prisons with people who have committed fairly trivial crimes. Of course, those who have used violence, those who have done thousands of pounds of damage, those who have destroyed businesses with fire bombs or who have used violence against the police must warrant a custodial sentence. But for the rest, surely it would be better if any sentence included the provision for restitution and for clearing up the mess that has been created or for some other form of community service.

Perhaps the money we spend on keeping inadequate people locked up would be better spent in providing better facilities, better education and providing hope to the hopeless and socially inadequate.

A LOVELY DAY OUT!

Yesterday we went to Kensington Palace followed by Afternoon Tea at Fortnum and Mason in Piccadilly which was a Christmas Present from our daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren. We were very disappointed in Kensington Palace which had virtually closed for multi-million pound renovations and the small part that was open had been turned into an exhibition called “The Enchanted Palace”. Much of this was in semi-darkness so that those items from the Palace which hadn’t been removed were very difficult to see. They had some actors/actresses wandering around but what the point of that was is anybody’s guess. It appears that the Palace will fully reopen in 2012. We both felt that it would have been better if they had closed the Palace completely. Our daughter was not aware that the Palace was virtually closed when they purchased this special “day out” and I think this was most unfair of those marketing it. We did however enjoy the gardens which I’ve pictured.

Tea at Fortnum and Mason was excellent with a variety of different teas to choose from, a lovely selection of canapés, sandwiches, scones and cakes and the most attentive service from the waiters. Afternoon tea has made a comeback in recent years and is rightly considered one of the best of English meals. All in all we had a lovely time.