Project 365 day 360: Remembering

I've been adding a few more old favourites to the hastily decorated tree. These little clay decorations are the last of a set of eight I think, made for me around twenty-five years ago by a little boy in my form group and his mum. It was an unusual gesture in that inner city, football obsessed all-boys' comprehensive, and every Christmas, when I decorate the tree, I remember him and his classmates, who remained my form group for five years, and wonder what he's doing now. 

I've also thought back to my small personal memory of Archbishop Desmond Tutu. A quick search has told me that it was in 1987 that he visited Durham, where he was granted the freedom of the city and preached in the cathedral. I was in the crowd that rainy afternoon when he arrived in the market place and was ushered with his entourage towards the Town Hall steps to meet the mayor and local dignitaries. A small choir of children from the Woodcraft Folk, including the young daughter of a friend of ours, had learned to sing Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika, and stood singing unaccompanied in their waterproofs as the group crossed the square. The Archbishop turned to them, then walked over to the crash barrier and listened until their song ended before thanking and greeting them. H was thrilled that he had asked her name. That evening, I squeezed into a corner of the cathedral, peering round one of the huge pillars to see a distant splash of his vivid purple cassock, and heard his wonderful, resonant voice fill the vast space below the shadowy Norman arches. I don't really remember what he said, but I remember that I was moved by the eloquence and power of his message of justice without violence. It was a privilege to see and hear him, someone whose goodness and courage indisputably made the world better.