Labels, and names, are definitely useful, we couldn’t live without them, but how easy to misunderstand them—or misuse them. Down the road we have a water meter on the pipe that serves the trough in our field—it says ‘one trough’ on the bill. The meter is a challenge to read,…
Out of Bounds ‘Out of Bounds!’ A tiresome school rubric which, loosely translated, meant: ‘If you are planning to go to that area, keep your head down’. I’ve been thinking about boundaries—a subject that could fly off unbounded in many directions, nearly all leading to philosophy and deep water. What…
It’s forty years this summer since my community moved from Cockfosters to Turvey Abbey. We didn’t all move on the same day, but by September 1981 we were all resident at the Abbey. I was with the community at the time, having become a novice in May that year. Here…
There are many possibilities for circular walks along the footpaths and bridleways around Turvey, and I have been enjoying trying them out. I like to see how the current paths compare with those shown on the old maps of Turvey Parish. Sometime last year I had walked to Picts Hill…
Actually, it’s not summer, but mid February. On the footpaths it is mud, glorious mud, the snowdrops at the bottom of our garden need little life jackets, lesser celandine is coming up all over the place, the days are lengthening . . . spring is creeping into our strange lockdown…
They’re after money again! Latest bright idea?—Tax the whole world. How? Conduct a census, order everyone back to their own town. It couldn’t have happened at a worse time, and you’ll get more than a fine if you ignore the Romans. Mary is expecting her first child at any time,…
4th December 1939 – 23rd August 2020 Sr Lucy was in the 63rd year of her religious profession, and in her 30th year as a member of the community at Turvey Abbey. Tributes to Sr Lucy In Memoriam, Sr Lucy Brydon OSBarticle by William Skudlarek, monk of Saint John’s Abbey…
Some years ago I took a photo of my teenage nephew Jess in our garden with the Abbey in the background. He subsequently posted the photo on Facebook with the caption ‘At Auntie Thelma’s house’. We at the Abbey rather enjoyed that, I’d finally made it to the ranks of…
Welcome! Websites are probably never quite finished, this one is now ‘good enough’ to replace the old one. I had expected the launch of the new website to be during Advent, I had the ‘Christmas Service Times’ page ready, but that was not to be. Most of the pages are…
It was a Sunday afternoon in January. Having done this that and the other, I headed for Abbey Park before the sun set. On the way down Jack’s Lane I met a certain Andy Vaughn Jones. ‘Have you written your article for the Turvey News yet?’ ‘No way’ I answered,…