Dear friends, It really began in the spring of 2017 when my nephew brought his fiancé to meet the family at my sister’s home in Berkshire. They told us that they planned to marry in May 2019 in Bali and they ...

Dear Friends, There isn’t much room for me in this month’s packed magazine! I don’t mind – as the American Composer John Cage once said, ‘I have nothing to say and I am saying it’! To be serious, we ...

Dear friends, Happy Easter! You will know that we have been spending time and money on the organ, and while we had hoped it would be ready for Easter Day, it wasn’t quite ready, but it very soon will be. The w...

30, The Ridgeway Dear friends, We must congratulate the ladies on the choir, who have now been singing with us for a hundred years! In the Parish magazine of April 1919, our predecessors reported: “An innovati...

Dear Friends, It is the time of year again, but this time in a year that only comes around every six years, when we revise and reconstitute the Electoral Roll of the Parish. From what follows, dug up by Joy Heyw...

Dear Friends, As well as telling us how many days to next Sunday there are, or what date to write at the top of the page, our calendars remind us of which secular, religious or family festival is approaching. As...

30, The Ridgeway Dear friends, It has been another good Christmas, for which we welcomed congregations of our usual increased numbers for Crib and Carol Services, and had a wonderful orchestral carol concert wit...

Dear Friends, You may have seen Bishop Sarah launching the new app for Advent with Christian publisher SPCK: https://spckpublishing.co.uk/a_good_advent We all know how important it is for us to help our people ...

30, The Ridgeway Dear friends, Here are the words of a hymn written by Canon Rosalind Brown, who recently retired from Durham Cathedral: ©Rosalind Brown 20/10/2000 Four years ago we began a period of Remembranc...

30 The Ridgeway Here’s a little conundrum for you: The police are looking for a suspected murderer - they know his name is John, but they do not know what he looks like. But they do know where he lives. They r...

30, The Ridgeway It’s five years now since Archbishop Justin Welby declared what the press decided to call the ‘war on Wonga’. You probably remember – Wonga were in the habit of advertising short-term un...

30, The Ridgeway Dear friends, All this sweltering heat we are having reminds me of the places in the world where I have been, where such temperatures are normal. Usually hot weather is associated with holidays ...