by Graham Gendall Norton Bismarck is hardly known in our islands for his wicked political wit. A pity: tongue in cheek, he proposed a solution to the thorny Irish Question in the 19th century. “Move all the Dutch to Ireland, and the Irish to Holland. The industrious Dutch will make Ireland one of the richest [...]
By Graham Gendall Norton Last week, we toured Toulouse, the capital city of the French Region of Midi-Pyrénées. It is quite centrally situated amidst the eight regional departments. There is a huge variety in the scenery, in architecture and in religious sites in those I visited. Many of the principal culturally interesting cities and towns [...]
By Matt Cresswell EARLIER THIS year both the Archbishops of Canterbury and Westminster hosted a two-day conference on the fate of Christians in the Holy Land. The main premise of the conference was to discuss the apparent haemorrhaging of Christians from the Middle East and how the West could help this situation. One of the [...]
By Matt Cresswell IF TRAVELLING hundreds of miles to the Middle East is not in your schedule or budget, you can always consider a retreat to one of the Church of England diocesan retreat centres. Some of these centres have been the focus of attention in recent years, owing to worries over maintaining them. However, [...]
Visitors to the Old City of Jerusalem this September will be able to enjoy a celebration in the style of the Middle Ages – Jerusalem Knights. Tens of musicians, dancers, magicians, jugglers, knights, princesses, troubadours, royal court jesters and peddlers from the Middle Ages will return to the alleyways of the Old City and the [...]
Some clergy do not consider the Authorised Version their favoured translation of the Bible, so their congregations are not allowed to hear it, even on the 400th anniversary year, announced by HM the Queen in her Christmas message. But such was the interest in the sell-out King James Bible exhibition in the Lambeth Palace Library [...]
Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre in London will commemorate the 400th anniversary of the first publication of the King James Bible by staging a recital of the Bible in its entirety this spring. The recitation of the Bible will take place between Palm Sunday, 17 April, and Easter Monday, 25 April, a total of 69 hours spread [...]
Jane Austen’s novels have been celebrated worldwide as literary masterpieces since the publishing of her first novel, Sense and Sensibility, in 1811. Austen has garnered legions of fans over the years, many of whom have flocked to the places where Jane lived and worked. The Jane Austen Trail in Winchester offers fans the [...]
A retreat can be a great way to recharge our spiritual batteries. Time away from the normal routine helps us to focus and get a wider perspective on our lives, but a key element in the success of the retreat is the preparation. Whether you are planning on going on retreat for a day, a [...]
The writer of this informative account of Holy Island, Kate Tristram, is an historian and island resident, who is also a canon of Newcastle Cathedral. She has previously studied history both in Oxford and Edinburgh and was formerly warden of Marygate House, an ecumenical retreat house on Holy Island. Covering many changes, we are told [...]
