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I have to tell you about an Art exhibition because it is fantastic! (and i’m not just saying that because the artist is my Sister In-Law, it really will be fantastic, so much so i am going to be taking a day off to go to it.)
If you want a preview of Marion’s work then visit TouchingColours.com her web site to see some examples if the kind of stuff she does, but if you are in the area and fancy a day out go along and check out the exhibition.
Vcashpiont are offering grants of up to £2500 for people aged between 16 & 25 to start a volunteer project in their local communities. The projects need to be run by young people and for young people, applications are from individuals but for projects that will involve both that person and at least three other young volunteers in helping their community, interested or no anybody that might be?
Check out www.vinspired.com to find out more.
Well maybe that is stretching the point a little but hey. I think many of us that work with children and young people and perhaps more specifically those of us that are parents of young children have felt that the whole healthy eating thing was going too far the other way. Yes it is important that we all eat healthily no mater what our age, but part of healthy has to mean balanced and for many children balanced also means a certain amount of fat etc, well a recent report by East Sussex Trading Standards have finally done some research and shown that many Child Care centres due to a lack of help and information are underfeeding children and giving them too much fruit. Read the full report here.
Now next (in my opinion) is the obsession with cleanliness, I’m sure that we now insist on everything being so clean that our (and more specifically our children) are not building up the immune systems we used to have but that’s another argument.
Xobni is this rather cool new tool for helping to organise your emails through outlook in a better way, linking all emails from an individual, giving stats and other useful information, in order to try it you have to express an interest and wait for an approval code, click on the link below to find out more and sign up to have a look yourself.
This year I did my tax return ages ago, about May time, one of the advantages of this I discovered is that you can chose to pay your bill through your tax code which I thought would be good. Shortly afterwards I received a new tax code which has since been used. It was therefore a surprise when last week I got a bill through telling me I had to pay by today! I phoned the tax office who didn’t really seam to know what was going on but assured me I didn’t need to pay the bill as the money had been collected through my tax code. I’m now thinking I should have asked for this in writing, there is this little voice at the back of my head that is saying if they told me wrong I am going to be fined for late payment, although I don’t owe them any money, it should be fine, stop worrying! Â
Where do you go, and who do you talk to when you are thinking about your future, your career or ministry etc, the big decisions?
As most of you have probably worked out by now these are the kind of questions going round in my mind at the moment.
The other evening we were round at some friends, sitting around chatting, eating while the kids were playing upstairs (we had fed them as well!) and we had a Wii going with a brain quiz kind of thing on. One of the things you could do on this game was a series of personal tests and it would give you some interpretations as to your strengths and weaknesses etc and then give you an ideal career. All a bit of fun and those that had done it some of the results were quite funny. So I had a go and the conclusion was I should be a photographer, now I have to admit there have been times when this idea has crossed my mind recently so it seemed rather bizarre that this is what the Wii also suggested. However I’m not sure this is where God is calling and as tempting a proposition as it may be in some respects I believe the calling from above should probably take a higher priority than a Wii but it did make me laugh.
Well I know it’s already here but hey better late than never. It’s looking like a busy year in may respects. One thing I am looking forward to would have to primarily include getting back into photography, before heading off to Bible collage in 95 I worked in the photo trade (and ran my own very small part time photography business along side my work in labs) I have finally got on the digital bandwagon and now have a digital SLR (for those interested a Nikon D40x with 18-55 + 55-200VR) already used it a bit but looking forward to getting out a lot more and hopefully getting more active on my flickr account!
Also this year there is going to be a lot of thinking, praying, talking and exploring possibilities for the future and where God might be leading me.
Other ideas, expand this site/blog a bit, try and be a bit more regular in posting (but don’t hold your breath) and also get some more stuff available.
I’m sure there is plenty of other stuff coming up as well but for now I shall leave you by saying I hope Christmas was a good and meaningful time for you and that this new year proves to be a positive step forward with God as your guide to all that it may hold.
God bless.
Thanks to those of you that made the call, I have just heard that Project Inspire won it’s bid , although the info I gave before was not quite correct, they have won a grant of £90,000 and this will enable them to get going with the project and will make a huge difference to both the village community and those around the area, well done to Fernaham and Project Inspire, I look forward to visiting St John’s and seeing what it’s like after the work has been done.
Project inspire (click to find out more) is a project in a local Village of Fernham to help convert the church into a dual purpose building, both church and community centre, it is a village with very few facilities and a church that needed much work doing on it and it was felt that it would be good to make it a building that could be used for the whole community, it will be a place of Christian worship but also a place where young can have a youth club, the elderly can do what they do? This is a very important project and is really about putting the church back at the centre of the community, it being a place that can be used as it would have been when it was first built hundreds of years ago. Of course a project like this costs thousands of pounds, but you can help make a significant difference for just 10p! Today on the Peoples Millions Project Inspire is up for a grant of around £80,000 but they only get it if people vote for it. The phone lines are open this evening although specific times won’t be announced until the 6 o’clock local ITV news. Please, please, please would you call
Many thanks,
As seems to be tradition on these occasions (well hobnob (youthblog) and The Good DR have done anyway) I thought I should do a list of facts about myself, one for each year of my life so far, so here goes for my 21:-
1. Although thinking of myself as a Norfolk Boy I was actually born in Bristol.
2. My first car was a blue Austin Maestro.
3. I had a pony tail almost down to my waist for 10 years.
4. Gill and I spent our first Christmas on Honeymoon (having got married 20th December).
5. This year will be our 10th Anniversary.
6. When growing up we used to have a cat called pusca.
7. Before being called to ministry (and yes Christian Youth work is a REAL ministry) I worked in the photographic trade, ran my own part time business and wanted to become a full time photographer.
8. I have 1 younger brother.
9. Of my generation for both my parents I am the oldest of all the cousins.
10. I collect Red Telephone boxes.
11. Gill is going to take me out to Saddlers (the best coffee shop in town) for lunch.
12. The first time I went abroad was to Guatemala.
13. I used to cycle around 100 miles a week (I now do about 10 a year).
14. I got my ear pierced as a thank you gift from a friend 13 or so years ago.
15. I have two children’s books I am trying to write (and several more ideas).
16. My nickname at school was squaksy (I still don’t know why nor am I sure it was a good name).
17. When I was a toddler I had really curly blond hair.
18. I was on the first year to do the PIA course (no longer running but the foundation for a couple of courses now run) at Moorlands Collage.
19. Moorlands is where Gill and I met.
20. I want to go back to Zambia and take the family.
21. I’m not really 21
22. I have both of Dave walkers Calendars hanging up by my desk.
23. I am the only stilt walker I know that is afraid of heights.
24. I spent Monday on a balloon twisting day (and learnt several new models).
25. I am a member of the Fellowship of Christian Magicians.
26. I own 6 different domain names (although one is for sale if anybody in interested in www.thejuggler.org.uk please email me with an offer!)
27. I started doing youth work as a volunteer when still a teenage myself aged 15.
28. Yesterday I broke the blog trying to update to wordpress 2.2 and have had to resort to the older version (I might try again some stage so may well break it again!)
29. One of my dream cars would be Land Rover Defender 110.
30. I had a Stomach Ulcer 10 years ago which means I have to be careful what I eat and drink or else it still causes me problems.
31. I have the original ‘Now That’s What I Call Music’ on Vinyl
32. I have been the singer in 4 bands in the past and really miss the whole gigging experience.
33. I am a would be gadget addict (but I can’t afford to feed it)
34. This is my real age!
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