Sunday 30th June – Awake before my alarm! Off to Church – St. Paul’s Ossy - for choir practice at 9 a.m. At 10 a.m. was the morning service, taking the form of Morning Prayer as it was the 5th Sunday of the month. Carole Garner, our Associate Priest, was leading the service and I was the preacher. I’d managed to devote Friday afternoon to preparing my sermon. I spoke on the Epistle (New Testament) reading from Galatians 5 about the Fruits of the Spirit, i.e. the behaviour characteristics we should be showing if we are claiming to be followers of Christ. Carole presided at a short Communion service afterwards – in the Church of England I notice that people feel “deprived” if they’ve come to Church but not had the chance to take Communion. I personally can’t identify with this sentiment as I was brought up in an Evangelical Church where the emphasis was on the Preaching of the Word, i.e. what God has to say to us through the Bible. After the service it was Carole’s turn to dash off as she had to drive her daughter somewhere and then had to be at someone’s ordination at Lancaster at 3 p.m. For once I didn’t have to dash off to a mayoral engagement so I was able to stay and chat to people. In the afternoon I helped out a family I know from Church by counter-signing one of the daughter’s passport and agreeing to be a referee in their application for social housing. I was glad to see their son, now a young man of 22. I have helped him with French and German conversation in the past. Now, after some practical experience, he has decided to study for a degree in Mental Health Studies at UCLAN, starting in the autumn. Like me at his age, he has decided that a career in languages isn’t for him but he will be keen to keep up his languages as a spare time interest. I always think that no skill learned is ever lost and that very often we get the chance to take up something again later in life that we learned as a young person. At tea-time our Attendant picked up the Mayoress and me to take us to a Kabbadi at Bullough Park, Accrington. We had been invited by friends Mohammed Younis and Allah Dad, former County Council and Borough Council colleagues. The weather wasn’t very good by then so we had to dress warmly for the outdoor event. When we arrived at 5 p.m. they’d already had a cricket session and were moving on to weight-lifting. The champion, an Accrington man, managed to lift a weight of 90 kg – a remarkable feat. Some business sponsors were present as it was a high-profile event in our Asian community. There were quite a lot of children there but no women. I queried this with Younis and he said that women didn’t attend events of this nature at present but that things were changing. The main Kabbadi event was a team event where pairs of athletes from each team compete to stop each other crossing a line. Some of the players were professionals who had come over from India for the season, whilst others were local lads. The athletes went barefoot and had to wrestle or slap each other to stop their opponent crossing the line. A lot of money seemed to be changing hands – I assume betting – but it was difficult to know as proceedings were conducted in Asian languages. It was rather cold sitting there although it was supposed to be a summer’s evening! I was sorry that no white people were present, other than the Mayoress and I, as I don’t like to see segregated activities. I felt that the event would have been good entertainment for the wider community. At the end of the event I thanked the spectators for inviting us and said how much we’d enjoyed ourselves. I presented some trophies and then we left for home. As Mayor and Mayoress we certainly get invited to all kinds of events and have the opportunity to see varied aspects of community life in Hyndburn!
Posted on: Sun, 30 Jun 2013 23:10:49 +0000
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