Dear Friends

It was wonderful to welcome Francis Ames-Lewis as a guest at last Sundays ‘In Conversation’ evensong. For those of us who were able to attend the evening it was a truly memorable occasion. A huge thank you to Francis for agreeing to participate.

I’m afraid Mother Eileen and I will not be around in the parish this week and are bidden to attend an Area Clergy Conference at the Hayes Conference Centre, in Swanwick, Derbyshire. The conference begins later today and ends on Friday. We should be home for 5pm – London traffic permitting. This is something like the fifth conference I have had the pleasure of attending, always at Swanwick. I remember my first conference, it was in 1988 and our key note speaker was the brilliant German theologian Jurgen Moltmann. He began his first lecture by explaining that this was the second time he had had the pleasure of staying at Swanwick. The first time was when he was a prisoner of war!  I rest my case.

Simon