April Ramble – Cinderbarrow / Leighton Hall
The start of this month’s walk was the Cinderbarrow Picnic Site, which is also the home of a model railway club and coinciding with our visit, they had an open day and offered rides behind their splendid locomotives. Additionally, a catering van arrived which created much excitement from some members of our party. We started the walk by crossing the busy A6 and walking up a narrow lane before entering a series of fields that took us to a quiet lane and on to the small hamlet of Yealand Manor. From here we left the road and started the steep climb up Summerhouse hill, eventually climbing the final escarpment and reaching the summit. The view from here is regarded as one of the best in the whole of the country and we couldn’t argue with that. Below us was the Read more
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March Ramble – Rivington
This month, our Bolton division told us that they could organize a scenic, (fairly), mud free walk, so we decided to take them up on their generous offer. The walk was centred on what is locally known as the Lancashire Lake District, in the area between Bolton, Horwich and Chorley. The lakes concerned are the three reservoirs, Lower and Upper Rivington and Anglezarke. Our meeting place was the Lower Rivington Barn. From here, our group, (A good turnout of ten), started walking northwards. The weather was bitterly cold with slight rain. In a short time, we arrived at the road across the dam that separates the two Rivington reservoirs, which we crossed and then entered a path that followed the western shore of the lake. The views were excellent, looking across to Rivington Pike and the paths were good until Read more
Musings From The Manse: Spring 2013
From ‘Priest-town’ to ‘God’s port’ Dear Friends, It is with some sadness that I write what will be my final pastoral letter to you all – in just a few short weeks; Colin and I will face the upheaval of moving house once more, as I leave to take up the position of Minister to two churches in Gosport, Hampshire. In my life, I have moved no less than eleven times – so you’d think I’d be getting used to it by now! It certainly helps to keep down the clutter, and prevents you from ‘storing’ things in the loft – but it never becomes something that is easy to do. Each time, a little bit of me gets left behind – but each time I also take memories of that place with me. When we leave Preston, I hope Read more
February Ramble – Around Heysham
Unfortunately, the countryside is still very waterlogged, so this month we selected a somewhat urban walk around the village of Heysham. Our meeting point was the Half Moon Bay Café, a welcoming shack overlooking the sea and featuring a log burning stove. After coffee, it was time to start the walk, but it must be said that there was some reluctance to leave the comfort of the café and face the freezing wind. However, we made a start up the hill and onto a grassy area that led to a large housing estate which took us some time to negotiate. Eventually, we arrived at the Old Hall Inn, crossed the Morecambe road and again passed more houses, along a quiet road that became a track over the railway and at long last into the countryside. This area is known as Read more
January Ramble – The Gormley Men
There is now a tradition for the first walk of the year to be a promenade stroll and this year we decided to walk along the Merseyside coast from Hightown to Crosby and have a look at the now famous Gormley statues. Antony Gormley produced one hundred of these metal reproductions of himself and have been exhibited in Germany, Norway and Belgium, before being sited in the sands at Crosby over an area of 3 Kilometers along the beach and 1 Kilometer out to sea. We parked our cars at the end of a housing estate and started walking along a good path that later joined the Sefton Coastal Pathway a paved route between the sand dunes and the sea. Later, at Blundellsands, this pathway gave way to a proper promenade and a leisurely stroll down to Crosby, enjoying the Read more
World Church News
Having just watched the television programme ‘Four Born Every Second’, which compared giving birth in Britain, Cambodia, the USA and Sierra Leone, I was drawn to think about how difficult it would have been giving birth in Bethlehem 2000 plus years ago. Of course God had a plan for that birth in Bethlehem – as he does with every birth. The infant mortality in Sierra Leone is among the worst in the world with 83 out of 1,000 babies dying during their first year and 495 out of every 100,000 mothers not surviving child birth. This is where I will be going in January along with nine others from Methodist churches around the Lancashire District. Some of the members of the Mission Team have a medical background and will be working for part of the time at a Methodist Hospital Read more
December Ramble – Savick Brook
Longridge, unlike many other parts of the country, doesn’t suffer from serious flooding simply because it isn’t associated with a river. However, we do have a brook that starts in Longridge and flows through the North of Preston and down to the River Ribble. This walk, devised by Jim some time ago, follows this watercourse from Longridge to Haslam Park in Preston. The walk started from Grange Towers at the bottom of Hacking Drive and should have followed the brook, through the fields to Grimsargh. However, some of the fields are in a poor state due to the wet weather, so we started by walking along the railway to Suddels Farm and then continuing by road. Once through Grimsargh, we turned into the long straight lane of Cow Hill and down to Londonderry Bridge. Here we joined a narrow path Read more