Le Mans

You may or may not have caught the news over the weekend that there was a bit of a major race on in France.

Chris and I were there, our first experience of camping together but not of travelling a couple of 100 miles to get to our destination. I wasn't worried about travelling, Chris' driving is good and his awareness of what is going on, even in a foreign country, is impressive. we both found it a bit weird being on the 'wrong' side of the road, but you get used to that when you decide to travel through every town from Calais to Le Mans! We skipped the toll roads, thinking that it would be cheaper but it definitely wasn't quicker - as we found out when we travelled back on the toll roads.

After doing our shopping in Carrefour in Calais - which was a good idea - we made our way to the circuit. Along the way we saw some amazing buildings and towns. The countryside is really flat for the most part, there are some lovely scenes (French people have a thing about putting things in very straight lines - trees and wind turbines in particular)  but mostly we were so focused on following the sat nav that we may have missed some things. Still here are a few pictures.

Lovely buildings that caught my eye. I don't know the name of the town they were in but I would go back and shop there in a flash!

We got to Le Mans and then spent an hours sitting in traffic to get to La Sarthe, to the campsite. We were shown to our pitch and quickly realised we had quite a lot of space, because the people either side of us hadn't arrived yet. We set up camp, which is fairly easy when you have a pop up tent, blow up bed and a pop up gazebo. If there were more people involved I would show you some pictures of set up! Chris and I work really well as a team, we both know what needs to be done. One annoyance was that the gas cooker had become a little stiff, so we botched a solution for the first night and had a very good bolognese! We then headed to the circuit for night practice and a chance to look at the shops on the outside of the circuit.

It's a big site, but we happened to be quite close to the main entry point and so was our stand. It's better than I expected! Plenty of people, places to get food, and excellent radio service to tell you what is going on. we watched the end of night practice and walked back.

On Friday, we spent the whole day in Le Mans, waiting for the drivers parade - here's a picture of my favourite driver

Giancarlo Fisichella - on the left. We waited for the whole day! Travelling on the tram was fun, nice and smooth, easy to get around. We spent time eating good french food and drinking with Chris' friends. We walked back through the village, looking at all the car stalls and different sponsors.

Saturday was race day and a chance to see the start of the race. We hung around for a bit and saw the Alan McNish crash. I surprised myself by sitting for 4 hours watching what was going on. There were 20 hours left but dinner was calling. We went back to the track at about 9.30pm to see what was going on, only to witness another crash, from the same team. 2 Audi cars down, one to go, 18 hours to go.

The good news is, that when we woke up the following morning, the Audi was still running, and eventually, we watched it cross the finish line, only 13 seconds ahead of the Peugeot. Giancarlo Fisichella finished second in his class. It was an astonishing race, lots of drama and plenty of stories, that will hopefully turn into a classic! (We also saw Stirling Moss retire at the age of 81, though we didn't know it at the time!)

An amazing weekend, rounded off by a trip to the museum and a second BBQ!

We travelled home so quickly and watched the Canadian Grand Prix, so all in all it's been a pretty amazing weekend for the high end motor sport world!

Onwards and upwards...back to work today to mentoring and meeting with youth workers. Getting ready for a trip to Ely... going to have some Brie and pack my bag.

How time flies!

Almost exactly a year ago I was blogging about my first ever experience of a large school trip as a leader. This year, I am not a newbie any more and count myself among the experienced trip goers! This year I spent two days in Canterbury with year seven from Mayflower High School - the local secondary school, who work really hard to behave well when it comes to days out.

And they did, the groups that I looked after were exceptional at listening and taking notes as we were taken around the Cathedral and then as we headed to St Augustine's Abbey, they did really well not to mess around... much better than the french students who pounded and giggled their way up the Trinity Chapel steps on Friday! The students crawled on their knees like the pilgrims would have done to see Thomas Becket's tomb - it's not there any more, but there is a candle in its place.

As always a visit to the Great Cloister which is where this was taken


A picture of the tower above the entrance to the Quire.

I really enjoyed both days and the weekend held some well spent time with the Falcon Afloat team and the young people of Christ Church. I am very tired, but I know that half term is just around the corner and I have a chance to breathe!

Then summer is looking busy, with world cup and summer festivals. Excited about September already and hoping that cycling 400 miles in 40 days will help me to lose a bit of weight and raise a bit of money.

First though a meeting... and a chance to see Chris tomorrow. Happy days!

Impossible Elephants

After a long day out at the Christian Resources Exhibition, where I found out that there's a new generation of Veggie Tales called What's in the Bible? (English website soon) and that clergy can wear the most beautifully handmade stoles, I decided that I should take some time to relax and after my parents came home from my great uncle's funeral, we headed out for dinner at The Ship. Whilst we were eating some really scrummy food (duck and beetroot salad and rib of pork with a pint of Black Sheep Bitter for me), we had a discussion about elephants...

Elephants in London, to raise awareness for Asian Elephants - http://www.elephantparadelondon.org/- there are 258 parading around the streets of our capital city, and what can the world talk about? Politics!! There are elephants everywhere (download the map and have a look) and the most important thing on people's mind is the government... Anyway, they are bringing some colour and a serious message to a world that is full of serious messages and not a lot else.

To get to my point... I have my own elephant. Peter Smith is the artist who has painted the one that will be arriving on my doorstep soon, why not head on over to his blog to have a look at the amazing purchase I've made! I have seen a lot of Peter Smith's work in art shops across the country and have always wanted my own piece of art. So to combine the two, plus giving into my soft spot for elephants, I'm a happy bunny(!) as I go to bed tonight, and if you are struggling for a birthday present as I turn 26 this summer, know that elephants and pink are a safe bet!

The bad news, a little bit, is that my right ear hurts tonight after a couple of days of a cough and a sniffle, so I'm hoping it won't get any worse, otherwise I'll be on antibiotics before you can say 'Nelly the elephant'!

Time to hit that sack, back into the classroom tomorrow for a humanist view of evil and a veggie tales lunch club!

A day out

This week has been really unusual for me - it's been very long and it's not over yet.

The major event for this week was spending the day in Ely yesterday, with St John's school. A delightful bunch of year 8 students piled onto a coach and headed up north (yes I know it's not that far away...) with the Head of RE, the Deputy Head, a parent helper and me.

Ely is in Cambridgeshire and has a rather large cathedral off to one side. It's a very quiet village for a place that has such an amazing building... I can imagine that it's heaving in the summer... but on a mild spring day, there was only one other school there and we had the privilege of being shown the cathedral by the educational officer.

So here's a photo or two to whet your appetite and maybe get you to go to Ely...

Here's the sight that you're greeted with - to the left is the Lady Chapel (big clear windows) and the tall tower is the lantern. The rest is the main body of the church.


This is underneath the lantern - the Octagon, named because it has 8 sides (shocker). The higher structure is iron-clad wood and it rests on stone pillars. The head of RE said that I would get dizzy looking down, but when you're looking up 100 feet, it's not difficult to topple over backwards! This was built in the 1300's - it's impressive from the ground, but when you get to climb to see the angels, it becomes even more impressive.

It's hard to get the scale, but these angels were huge! I'm just over 5 foot tall - so these beautiful paintings must be 10 maybe 12 feet in height!


This is right at the very top of the Octagon and a picture of the West Tower and the countryside beyond... We were 100 foot up at this point, very cold and trying to imagine what it would be like to be 200 foot up at the top of the tower we were looking at.

If you want to visit Ely, have a look at their website for all the information. It is well worth the climb to get up to the top and have a look, especially if you've got a clear day!

Ely has an incredible history, not just at the cathedral, but in Oliver Cromwell's house too - which is a minutes walk from the front door of the cathedral and worth doing the tour.

I really enjoyed myself, getting to know the year 8 students, learning about a parish I hadn't been to before and acting like a tourist for a bit.

The week goes on though, I'm heading to Great Baddow tomorrow for some training and then to Chris' for a birthday celebration.

Time and space to gather myself together to head to youth group later on.

Into The Box

This is a picture of the space that we were in at the end of half term, during darkness to light. I love this window. I'd quite like a closer look at it on day. Being at work I didn't get a chance to buy a postcard with a better picture, but Andy and I did spend some time trying to figure out the Latin inscription around it, but neither of us being Latin speakers, we found it a little hard!!

My second picture is of shoeboxes. Rather more colourful and heavier than if they had shoes in them! If you haven't heard of Operation Christmas Child, where have you been? (living in a shoebox perhaps?) It's a brilliant scheme that gets presents to children who don't have very much and often live in war torn countries. I have loved doing this with the students from Mayflower High School, its a shame that it doesn't run for a little longer, but there's a lot to do, once we've done our bit, to get the shoeboxes to the people that deserve them the most.

I'm praying that there will be a lot of shoeboxes arriving at church on Sunday.

I'm looking forward to Shaken Up tonight (last week we had 18 young people) and then on to Saturday and the weekend! Firstly though I have to write prayers for Sunday!

If you click here it'll take you to a post with the opposite name!

What!?! Why!?!

I'm sensible about my driving, I do a lot more of it than I ever imagined, so I look after my car, because if I don't it will cost me a lot of money in the future. I hope that the price of petrol will continue to fall, though I don't know that we will ever go back to the 79.9ppl!

Of course, free is the best price so I was shocked when I realised that Tesco have started charging for air! It's 20p for 5 mins. I guess air only costs when it's being pumped through a pipe... It doesn't break the bank, but it is another cost that we really don't need, and that Tesco really shouldn't be doing.

So the plan is to change my pattern ever so slightly and foot pump my way to success! I get fitter and not nearly as much money is spent!

This week has been an interesting one, I've been into school 4 times, which is a great encouragement to me. I do love that part of my job.

Back to School

It's September. It's time for everyone to head back to the classroom. For some, it's today, for others they've got a little longer to wait. It means for me that things are now going quickly and before I know it, it will be a week on Friday and I'll be faced with Shaken Up restarting. We'll be back into school and thinking about how we can effectively minister to all of the schools in the town.

I'm at home now, back from a long weekend in Bristol, staying with Kay and her family for the last time, since Kay is moving in with her brother on the other side of the village. So hopefully when I go back at some point, I'll stay with Kay instead!

I really enjoyed going to Bristol, there are so many things to do, and we always find something new to do. I didn't get a chance to see some of the tourist attractions when I worked there, so I get to do some of that. This time we went to Cabot Circus, which was only opened this year and we went to Salsa lessons, which was a lot of fun!

I'm hoping that plans for the new term will slot into place soon!

Karen is coming to stay for a couple of days so we're going to do some catching up and have a look at some Africa pictures!

It's been a while...

A lot has happened recently, so forgive the lack of blogging!

A couple of main things that have been keeping me from my online writing, namely Torchwood, Take That, Solid and my social life! Obviously that is not in any order of importance, it's entirely random, so I'm going to talk about them in a random order too!!

Let's start with Take That. I was going to dedicate a whole blog entry to the day I spent in London, with Kay, but I feel that it would be a little of an over kill, and really my effort would be lost on many of you! The concert was astonishing, it was a show, a performance. We thought about it a bit while we were waiting for the boys to appear on stage, and realised that it's 15 years since I last saw Take That on stage. I was 10 and it was at Earls Court. I don't remember the whole thing, but the bits I do remember are really vivid and this time it was no different, my emotions however were hugely different. I was surrounded by people who have shared a lot with me and after a long day, I just couldn't wait any longer. I'd brought the tickets 8 months ago, I'd spent 9 nervous minutes waiting for the website, the phone, everything, and when we got the tickets, I lost my voice from screaming so much... all that waiting to hear them live again got the better of me, and I still don't think I've really recovered yet.

The two hours that they were on stage was just so amazing, you can see that they really love performing. It was better than Girls Aloud and Boyzone put together, and I think now, every time they tour again, I will be there. Every time I turned on the radio, someone was talking about how good the concerts were and the hour Radio One gave to it last week made me cry again. I just hope that I don't have to wait 15 years to see them again. The only thing that would top that show, would be to meet them. Words can not really describe it...

What's next - Torchwood! If you haven't seen it, I would ask that you get iPlayer up and have a look. I really enjoyed it, though we got to the middle of the week and I started to complain that they were drawing the storyline out a little. But I watched the final episodes yesterday and am now wondering if Captain Jack will ever return to our screens! Here's hoping that he will do in the future. Russell T. Davis is so good at creating iconic characters, it would be a shame to see Captain Jack disappear, but I know that everything has it's season.

Solid was good this year, for my first year in charge, I've learnt a lot of lessons, I understand how it works now, what to do, what not to do, how to deal with some people, better than others. I gratefully adopted some young people over the weekend too, and I think spending time with them, chatting about difficult issues and talking though some theology, has been really good for all of us. It's a shame that some of them are moving to college in September! Still the future is rosy and their are already plans in my head for next year as to how we can get everyone involved!

Finally, a brief word on my social life...this weekend sees me turn 25 and I feel immensely blessed that I get to spend a lot of time with my friends and family chatting, eating and generally being surrounded by wonderful people! 2 of my best friends took me out for drinks last week to celebrate being 25, and being a youth worker for a year!

Yes, I've been Christ Church's youth outreach worker for a year now... maybe over the summer I'll do a review for you!

Weekend activities

I wanted to use the word frivolities, but then I checked the definition and realised that the weekend holds more weight that I could every imagine, and I haven't spent the weekend being silly in the slightest. So activities it is, because before 9 on a Monday, there is little in my brain, other than, when's the next time I can eat/sleep?

These activities were certainly important for all involved, it seems I have spent the weekend helping, in some form, to raise money for various projects, doing things from just attending, to organising and shopping.

Firstly, was shopping for the food for the Summer Party, with Heather, who has been great at not letting me panic and always had a back up plan! It doesn't take much money to feed 100 people, really, we did a basic BBQ for £30 this year and quickly sold out (two hours!)...a full report of the party will appear further down this blog.

Secondly was a Viz-a-Viz Ministries fundraiser. Liz and Katey, who I have known since they were 10/11, decided that the best way to raise some money towards the £1000 that Liz needs before September for her year out, was to put on a concert. I wasn't quite sure what to expect from the publicity, but I did know that it was going to be loud and a lot of fun! The event was called Out of the Box.

So here's a quick band review for you...

First on were 'Adrenaline'



This is them, plus the girls who were leading us through the evening, they were singing living on a prayer. The lead singer is incredibly good, for such a young boy (I think they were all early secondary school children) he did amazingly well, firstly to get the crowd going and then vocally, they are all really talented and could go so far. They are on the Kings of Leon side of pop, they are covering songs and writing their own.

Time between the bands was filled with questions from 'The Box' for the audience to get to know the bands. Some of the answers were really funny, some were inappropriate for the audience.

Secondly was 'Was Broken', made up of slightly older people, these guys are lead by Katie, who I did my year out with and they are a Baptist Church members.



I love Katie's outfit! She looked and sounded so good, and their version of American Boy went down a storm! These guys are also writing their own songs, and they are very good, despite that it seems they are only doing it for fun.

Then we had a break, for tea and cake...a ploy to raise more money and a chance to catch up with some of the young people who had made it to the gig. Half an hour later and we were ushered back to our seats for the second half.

The third act for the night was 'Platform Location' - which is a band, but the other band members couldn't make it, so it was just a singer and his guitar... I didn't catch his name... but here he is anyway.



Again, he was brilliantly musically, I don't know where Katey and Liz found these people - but they found a couple of gems.

Fourthly was 'Name is Renown'

(just for real time effect - I have just pressed play and am now listening to La Roux's debut album for the second time - it's good!)

The were the 'heaviest' band of the night.



Again really good musically. All their own songs, which had a really good structure (I've heard some amature bands like this that have difficulties with this), but the balance on the sound wasn't quite right, so the voice was a little lost, shame really, because I would've loved to hear what they were singing about!

Finally, 'Showerhead', a mishmash of all the bands across the night and a really good way of ending the concert.

Here's their best shot (ANTM for you there - culturally relevant or what!?!)



They really enjoyed themselves. We had about 10 minutes of thank you from the girls, you never quite realise how much work goes into one of these events - you certainly can't do it on your own!

So that was Saturday....and now for Sunday (we're almost there folks - because I'm getting cramp in my left hand!)

Sunday started with a couple of hours in the office for me and then to Praise in The Park. I was volunteered to do a notice for the Summer party, and as I love a challenge I gave it the nod, and spoke to the relevant people before the service. I wasn't us on the trailer for very long, but came back shaking so much! I didn't sit down for another hour - I couldn't. I get such a kick from being in front of people, nervous energy has the same effect as an espresso! To see a better review - and a picture, head over to my Dad's blog for a look.

Then I headed back to church to wait for the Bouncy Castle to arrive. We started setting up at 2 and opened the doors at 3 for the party of the season. Two bouncy Castles, one big BBQ, face painting, cake, ice cream, cards and games. It was busy, and all in aid of Christ Church's link school in Kenya. We raised £100 after expenses. I am chuffed! We can help a school buy more books, or pay for their electricity! Thank you to everyone who help out, organised and worked really hard on the day!

We headed to the pub for a celebratory drink and then I went home. I thought it would be quite relaxing, but we managed to find ourselves watching last nights Top Gear. About 5/10 mins in - when the gang are talking about car insurance in the offices, you can see The Stig, behind Richard Hammond, photocopying his face, obviously he's got his racing helmet on, it was just something that made me laugh...The whole episode did, the adverts do, Top Gear has definitely got it's sense of humour back...they even 'killed' Richard Hammond at one point!

I have loved this weekend very much. It has been fulfilling, tiring and a lot of fun. I'm hoping that the summer will continue in a similar vain!

One some slightly more selfish notes...

I'm getting a NEW CAR! Saturday morning was spent talking to the lovely man at Essex Ford, so the monies are being sorted out and the car will be mine by the the time we head to SOLID, hopefully!

My best friend is back in the country after a week away, and I can tell you that I am grateful just knowing that I can call her again if I need to!

The end of this week will be another huge high - after 8 months and a week of waiting, Take That will be graced with our presence on Saturday evening... I am sooooo excited. We are right at the very back of Wembley Stadium...but I will still take photos!

Costing an arm and a leg!

I got my car back... after being told that it would only take an hour and cost a little over a hundred pounds, I was a little annoyed that at 6pm, I had to collect it and was charged nearer £150 for the privilege for not having a car for the whole day.

To be fair the garage have replaced a part that was split (I would be clever and try to tell you what they replaced, but fishing out the piece of paper is too much work!) so that I won't have problems with it for a while.

The next step is changing car now. I would like something a little bigger and better looking. And sturdier! So I'm going for a VW Polo.

Scool was good fun as well this week. It's been such a blessing to be allowed to go into St John's and then be invited to everything that is going on there. I got to sit in on a PHSE lesson for lower 5th. I haven't been in a PHSE lesson since lower 5th (year 10, 14 and 15 year olds) so it was fascinating to be an outsider. They are taught by the head of R.E. who has taken a very serious view that Christian teaching should come first. So the students attentively listen to the Bibles teaching on relationships and then teaching on STD's.

As always there are silly question and some serious, but the teacher dealt with it all really well.Then she asked me if I wanted to add something, and I did. My heart was thumping, but I know that when it's going like that, God wants me to say something, and will lead me, speak through me and help everyone to listen.

Young people get told most of the ways to avoid getting pregnant or std's but they aren't told (without being preachy about it) that the 100% proof way that you'll never get anything is by not having sex at all outside of marriage.

It's just something thats not taught, it's full proof though and it's what God's plan is! And if we ignore it, it costs us and arm and a leg emotionally.

Anyway, I've got to get ready to go to Viz-a-viz's fundraiser and then I'm saying goodbye to Stu, as well as seeing Heather!

Out and About

Yesterday I had the privilege of spending time with the year eights from St John's School. They were visiting different places of worship to compare and contrast for R.E. It was good to spend time with them and other members of staff.

We headed to St Mary's, Little Burstead, which I must confess that I've never been in, in my adult life. It's a wonderful church and I can see why many people want to get married in it. Margaret, the Church Warden, and I were discussing church history. I find it interesting that there have been churches or places of worship for hundreds of years... why that particular spot? How did it become a church? Questions that I can't possibly answer, but I'm grateful for the people who said yes all those years ago and continue to say yes today when it comes to keeping buildings and congregations going.

We travelled through Chelmsford to Chignal to the URC Chapel - which is again in the middle of nowhere but really a great place to go to for some quiet and being away from everything. That's only been there for 169 years in comparison to St Mary's which has records of vicars dating back to the 1700's.

Finally we visited a Greek Orthodox Monastery, which I didn’t even know existed, but it’s a great place, again, in the middle of nowhere, out towards Tiptree, I couldn’t take you there if I tried! It was amazing though, the orthodox part of Christianity focuses on icons, which are paintings of bible stories and saints. I sat in their main chapel with everyone else and just felt the presence of God, it was totally different to what I have felt before. It was a shock, but a good one, in awe of what was going on around me and having so many young people excited about being in church.
We headed home to the best and longest thunderstorm I’ve seen in a while, and news that both comprehensive secondary schools would be closed for a day due to flooding and no electricity.

That’s probably the most exciting thing I’ve done this week. I’m back into school later on this week and my car is being fixed so that it won’t back a horrible noise when I drive it at low speeds!

Getting the sniffles

As always, whenever there is something hugely important going on, I get ill. I get run down, panicked and generally a little ditsy through stress (so apologies if I don't spell check this entry). I can feel myself right now, heating up a little, but I've got cold feet and cold hands, perhaps time to take a couple of cold and flu tablets, to keep my temperature down.

The hugely important thing? I know I've already mentioned it, but I'll say it again, we're in school, doing lessons this week. I do love it, though I am hugely out of practice and know I can't do it without God's power and words. And you know how I know this....

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:9

I've been reading in my Bible notes that we're all given talents, we all have to work at them, but in the end God knows how He wants us to use them (and more importantly when), so we have to step back and say to God 'I can't do this, but I know you can'.

(I use Mettle Bible Reading Notes from YFC, which are aimed at 14-18 year olds, and you may think that is odd, but I haven't come across anything that is specifically written for 20 somethings, that isn't full of patronising stories, some times it works, other times it doesn't, but I still get a structured way of reading the Bible and by the time I'm at a point where I can write bible notes, I'll be patronising to everyone who is 20 something!)

I've stepped back a lot over this month and said 'God you do this, I can't', and I've seen some amazing, mind blowing results.

Last night, we had a full youth group, but only four staff members - that's 16 young people (and one dog), to four adults - normally, we wouldn't open with less than 5 people, but we did, and it was a brilliant night, there weren't any major incidents and despite the change of layout, everyone was fine. I definitely felt God's presence falling on the building. One of our staff members is ill at the moment and he told me that a mix up had occurred a couple of weeks ago and the doctor had told him that he's not as unwell as we first feared. I felt a huge sense of relief and thanks that his treatment could go ahead.

Now we're praying for leaders, we're in desperate need of people to help out on Thursday evenings.

This morning I was at an assembly for the school where my boss is chaplain. It was really good to see him speak and pray over a school that is so close to our church.

Keep praying with us, keep asking God to protect us, at school, at youth group, as full time and part time workers.

Celebrations

Yesterday evening we travelled to Quendon Hall (just outside Ugley - tee hee!) to celebrate the marriage of Laura and Kevin.


That's Me, Laura, Kevin, Mandy and Rob in the Drawing Room when we arrived. Laura was soon whisked away to say goodbye to people. It was a wonderful evening, we shared a dance floor and food (very good). So glad to be invited and although none of us were at the ceremony, we were happy to celebrate with drinks and smiles. I know that this is a good and strong relationship, and we're praying for them both as they start living together!

The other reason I'm celebrating is because we're (Schools Ministry Billericay) in Mayflower School for the next two weeks. So far (and I've only done three lessons) we've had a positive response from everyone and loads of questions from students and teachers. We know that our profile is going to be raised and we pray that what we teach sinks in!