Day by day
It has been a busy year. On Mondays Dylys is working in the back office
at the Hope Centre in the morning and at the East Cheshire Hospice shop in the
afternoon. On Wednesdays she works for Macclesfield Hospital. On Thursdays she
takes part in “Open the Book” – a team taking assemblies in schools. These are
all voluntary positions. In contrast, Graham has a straightforward life – he
works in the Waters office Monday to Friday, and he gets paid a bit more than
Dylys.
Getting around
Graham has appreciated this year as one in which he has had more
exercise than most – he cycled to work 66 times, ten miles each way. He is a
fair-weather cyclist, so he only does it during the better months of the year.
However, he did get caught out in a terrific thunderstorm on the way home one
evening in September – and he got somewhat more wet than he does when he goes
swimming on a Monday evening.
Church
Graham continues his service as an Elder at Bethel Baptist Church –
life has been a bit easier this year, as we appointed a new pastor in January.
He looks after the church website and sermon podcasts. We run the
Conversational English class on Thursday evenings together. Dylys looks after
communion at church, does some of the cleaning duties, and manages the rentals
– the other groups that use the church building on a regular or one-off basis.
We both helped out with the week-long Children’s Holiday Club in August, and
took part in the first meeting of a new “Messy Church” venture in November.
Music to your ears
If it is raining when you read this letter, Dylys is probably
practising her singing. She is part of the choir at the Roger Jones “Christian
Music Ministries” productions. This included a performance of “Barnabas” in
July, and she will soon be practising for the “Jailbreak” production next February
and March (Graham got quite disconcerted earlier this year when he looked over
her shoulder to glance at her mobile phone and saw the word “Jailbreak” on the
screen).
Seeing the best of the UK
With the normal weeks being so busy, we really look forward to our
holidays – the opportunity to take a complete break. In June we had a week in a
caravan in Great Langdale (Lake District) – it is a great place to stay, as
there are lots of walks starting either straight from the caravan or just a
short drive away. In September we booked an apartment in Settle, visiting the
Yorkshire Dales for the first time – it turned out to be one of the wetter
weeks that we have spent away, so we had some decent walks but did not see as
much of the area as we had hoped.
We visited family in Cornwall in October, and on this occasion we took
Graham’s mother with us, so that she could stay with his brother’s family in
Bude for a few days.
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| Dylys at Loughrigg Tarn, Lake District |
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| Graham at Stainforth Falls, Yorkshire Dales |
