PINKTOBER - DAY 2

We had to be up and out quite early this morning as we were going to Newton Aycliffe Methodist Church to meet up with some friends that I had met the last time I was in North Yorkshire - but it wasn’t my Blip friend, JohnRH, but some new friends we made on that day, Christine, and her lovely. Mum, Barbara and also Christine’s husband, Alan, who was a completely new friend we met today.

We thought we had plenty of time, but when we went out to our car, we found the biggest bird whoopsies we had ever seen all down the windscreen and on the other windows too - the car had been standing underneath several trees and it looks as if the roosting birds had had severe digestive problems overnight!  It took us half an hour to remove the said whoopsies and many trips back and forth to our lodge fetching water.

However, having put the postcode of the church into Mrs. Satnag’s machine, she told us that our ETA was 10.56 - 4 minutes before the service started, so off we went.  We made good time and arrived at 10.55 and were welcomed to the Church and not long afterwards the Baptismal service began - infant baptism that is, not the sort we have in our church of full immersion.

It was also their Harvest Festival - again not a traditional one, but all the sorts of food that would eventually go to the local Food Bank - I told you last week how things had changed.

I did ask Christine afterwards if it would be all right for me to take a photograph and to put Reeth, one of my Silly Saturday Gang, with the produce and she was quite happy for me to do that, so you can see him sitting between the Weetabix and Pasta.

Christine took us into their main Church, which sadly cannot be used at the moment because of water damage to the roof and ceiling, so I took a photograph of her and her husband, Alan and also Barbara.  I also rather liked one of the beautifully stitched banners in the Church, the verse on which was part of the Bible reading today and which does have some pink flowers on it.

It was a great service - again very different from ours last week and following that, we had been invited to go to Christine and Alan’s to join them and her mother, Barbara, for lunch - and what a lunch it was - we said we hadn’t had a roast beef dinner like that for ages, with all the trimmings, including horseradish sauce, and of course, plenty of home made Yorkshire Puddings!  This was followed by a summer fruits crumble with custard and there was plenty of chat, fun and laughter during our meal.  Thank you, Christine, Alan and Barbara - we had a wonderful time.

After that, we were due to go and visit another friend, Marjorie, who is also quite new, being a friend of my friend, Sue and who I only met again when I was up visiting Sue in April.  Mr. HCB hadn’t met her and as she and her late husband, were keen cricket fans, you can guess what they chatted about - before she provided a wonderful cream tea and some delicious spice cake - served with cheese - a Yorkshire custom apparently.  I don’t think we will be getting on the scales for a while when we get back!  

We didn’t stay too long with Marjorie, as it gets dark quite early and we don’t know the area well, but Mrs. Satnag brought us safely back - a different way - and slightly quicker too - so we are now ensconced in our lovely lodge, looking out over the fields.  I did persuade Mr. HCB to get into the hot tub last night, but thought we would give it a miss tonight, as we have eaten so much!

Thank you for all your kind comments and also for those who clicked on the link yesterday - please click HERE again, so that those who cannot afford to pay may have a free mammogram.

“I owe it to myself and my family 
     to live life to the fullest 
          and enjoy every moment.”
Lauren Kent - Breast Cancer Survivor