Roebuck School Harvest Service @ St. David's

Tuesday, September 28th @ 10 a.m., 186 students from the Roebuck School, walked from the school to St. David's. In England, instead of having Thanksgiving on one day, they have a Harvest Service. Not everyone has it one the same day. In October, St. David's will be having a Harvest Service.Steve played the guitar and I played keyboard singing songs with hand motions. Pray for these children, as many of them don't have a church home and live in the neighborhood of St. David's.
The children love to sing, so we are anticipating to learn some more kids songs for the monthly children's services and also when the Roebuck School children come to St. David's. The lady standing next to Steve in the photo, is a grandmother to some of the children in the school. She is excited to see something like this happen in the neighborhood, in connection with the school.

The Pickerings

Last Sunday Steve took me out to the Pickerings. It is just down the road from our house and we've never been in together to eat. It is a hotel also. We met the owner and the hotel/restaurant has been her family for generations. In the back they have a play area for the children and just a nice area to walk around.


It looks like a mansion on the outside and this was the entry way. I totally drooled over the grand piano, but it had a sign on the keyboard, "DO NOT TOUCH!"

Our meal was good and loved the ambience.

St. David's Church

St. David's Sanctuary, looking from the front to the back. The white slats hovering from the ceiling are heaters. Now that the weather is cooling down, they are put on more often.

St. David's Church is 96 years old. It has alot of memories for many of our members. Some of the elderly, their parents were the founders of the church over 100 years ago. The building on the left is the sanctuary and the other part of the building on the right is called the Sunday school rooms. It has a stage for performances and a large kitchen, with a "teeny" stove and no refrigerator. The big room is big enough for the Boys Brigade football (soccer) games, on Thursdays, and the Girls Guides playing tag on Mondays. Both groups have their badge work to do. Helping them, we get to know them and they are all a joy.

On the Road to St. David's

The St. David's Church sign hasn't been changed yet. I'm letting you see the old sign, before we have the new one installed.

When I took these photos, I thought, well you'll get a good idea what it's like to drive on the left side of the road. They were taken on our way to church. It used to be hard to be in the car and think to yourself, this isn't right!! I had my feet pressed on the floor board many a times, but now I have been able to get my brain to redirect to the left side. I'm not sure what I'm going to do, when coming back to the United States :|

Thursday Garstang Farmer's Market

Do you see the handsome looking dude, with the Arizona jacket on? I picked him up, about 34 1/2 years ago and have kept him ever since:) We, or I should say me, check out the stalls and walk slowly, browsing. This day, I was fortunate to get him to come with me, but many times I get to look on my own!!
Steve and I are in Garstang at the Farmer's Market. Every Thursday, since 1314 Garstang has been having Market Day. In 2001 Garstang
became famous as the world's first Fairtrade Town. There are about 5,000 people who live in Garstang. The historic buildings and passage ways have little blue signs, giving you some detail on how long the building has been up, or when it has been restored. The green posts you see in the two bottom photos, is where they used to tie the horses. That was "donkey's years ago." Now, its so the cars won't park on the walking lane (side walk).

Garstang

Garstang is quite a unique town. It sits on the River Wyre and close to the Forest of Bowland. It was also a stopping ground for those going to London from Scotland. Many folk would stop for the night and let their horses rest or change horses and proceed down to London for business or pleasure.
Walking back from Garstang, you get the mile marker letting us know how far it is to Preston. The main thoroughfare, A6 runs parallel with the road pictured. It was the first by-pass built
in 1926 to connect the north and the south.

The Times are "A Changin'"

The photo to the left (taken from our upstairs window) shows the newest addition to our community. This wind turbine is supposed to help with the electricity in the area. It's owned by the "Dewlay" Cheese Company. Some of the community residents were not in favor of it, because it can be seen from all over. Also the leaves are falling, so autumn is on its way!!

Garstang

Garstang, as you can see, is the first fair trade town. This is the map that gets you around the area.
The steeple in the background is the St. Mary's & St. Michael's Catholic Church in Garstang. Walking over the Wyre Bridge into Garstang, you get a sense of pride and beauty in the whole town.

Catterall to Garstang

Walking to Garstang from Catterall is quite picturesque. The photo with the cattle, show the Penines (English Mountains) in the background. In between the trees and the Penines, there's a train that connects Northern England to the South.
This is our mile-marker to let us know we are half way to Garstang from
Catterall. The river is flowing quite heavy now, as we had some heavy rain the last 2 days. "Barnacre" is even a smaller town than Catterall, on the way to Garstang. It doesn't have any stores or conveniences. So we all go to Garstang.

Life and Times of Steve and Sue

Since I've been blogging, I haven't shown you where we live and what type of scenery we are privileged to see on a daily basis. So periodically, I would like to let you see what we see.

We live on Duckworth Drive. The red and white "T" lets everyone know we are on a dead end street. To your left is our house. Steve's office is directly above the front door. The day this photo was taken, it was beautiful and no rain. We have wonderful neighbors and I'm thankful to the Lord that Steve found this house for us, while living here in England.

Cross Links Church Planting Conference

Pastor Tim Davies, standing next to Steve welcomed us. His associate, Pete, standing next to Tim (not Lucas in green shirt) is his associate. Pete and his wife Clare, are prayerfully considering a church plant somewhere in another part of Sheffield. Hugh Palmer, the conference speaker, stands behind Pete. The church pictured below, is St. Mary's Gate in the center of the city, a few blocks from Christ Church Central. Church photo was taken from our 9th floor hotel room.

As you can see by the photo below, Steve and Rev. Hugh Palmer are in good discussion. As I've said before, Steve was in his element.

On the Road to Sheffield

Christ Church Central in Sheffield is most definitely in the center of the city. Trying to make sense of Map Quest and the map on Steve's "mobile" phone, made our travels most confusing. Steve was willing to stop and ask for directions, which I most willingly obliged to.
But as you can see we did make it to our destination. PTL!! Now, looking at these two photos, it looks dreary, but in actual fact, we could see the beauty of God's creation, while traveling on the A57. It was delightful to go through the small towns, in all their uniqueness, going to the next and see something all together different.
By the time we arrived in Sheffield, the sun was shining and was able to get out of the car without getting wet. But, not more then an hour later, it started pouring down. Being inside, we just watched the rain jump on the tar and concrete, blessing Sheffield with the water to grow the beautiful flowers.

Lancaster

I loved looking at the sheep and the cows, while on our walk. They don't have a care in the world. They just eat to their hearts content and look at you :)

The stone fences have been growing vines on them, probably for centuries. Just think of what this will all look like in a few weeks when the leaves start falling.

Lancaster University Campus

Steve took me for the first time on a nature hike around the Lancaster University Campus. It's a campus that has much construction going on, but as you can see, the campus does facilitate for exercise.

With the new school year about to begin, we took the opportunity to go on some of the trails and take in the beautiful nature God has given around us. Steve's office at the school has been on the third floor of the Bowland building, but this year, he'll be moving down (hopefully to the first floor). He'll be finding that out in the next few weeks.

My Plum Preserves!!

Just a few days ago, the 3 1/2 pounds of plums given to me by my neighbor, were washed, depitted, and cut up. I put 3 cups of sugar with the plums and let it sit for 1 hour. Then, the recipe said, boil for 8 minutes and put in 5 half pint jars. Here are 3 of them. I gave my neighbor and a friend of mine in Garstang one to try. I told them to be completely honest with me on what they thought. So far I haven't heard anything. Hopefully, it's not that bad :(

We'll see! Can you see in the background, Ms. Emily is still producing tomatoes. Little Keith's tomatoes are even tinier than Ms. Emily's, but redder and juicier.

Clergy Conference - Stafford

Meet the Bishops and some of the clergy investing their time and energies into the Free Church of England. Renewed strength and confidence for the future came from the few days together. Even though I was the only woman in a few (not all) of the meetings, the structural changes that will come in the months and years to come are encouraging. Oh! before I forget, these other photos are the back yard at Shallowford Retreat House.