Easter Day

 EASTER SUNDAY…It was on Easter Sunday that Jesus rose from the dead.. Jesus told his disciples before he was arrested that he would be crucified and on the third day he would rise again from the dead .Sunday was the third day from Good Friday. 

                                                    

Whilst still at the Tudors I decided to apply to be a manager at a sheltered accommodation for the elderly, I was accepted, after the usual applications and interview procedure was gone through .I was given a bungalow on site, and quickly settled into my new home and job, I started to attend the local church St Matthews, and soon met The local vicar ,yet another lovely man .The Reverend Alan Baines ,and his wife Jean ,it was strange going to this church at first ,being a small community ,everyone knew who I was !...You know ‘who’s she ?’,’oh that’s the new warden ‘(as we were then called ),being a small community everyone knew everyone else, and I was warned to be careful ,as everyone seemed to be related to someone !In the beginning I worked every other weekend, so didn’t get to church every week Many of the residents went to St Matthews ,so when I could I would accompany them .Which we all enjoyed .

Next door to me lived a delightful couple Bill and Aggy, Bill was ninety two when I arrived and Aggy was eighty nine, they were very frail, and Alan would come once a month to their bungalow to give them Holy Communion. I don’t quite know how it came about but they decided it would be nice if them I joined them, and it was woe betide me if I had a meeting at HQ or some such!

I struck up a good working relation ship with Alan; if a resident fell ill I would ring him up, and he would visit them either at home or hospital, he often came to my bungalow to discuss various aspects that concerned us both regarding my residents and his parishioners .

Sadly,Aggy died and Bill went to live with his Daughter ,And as a number of the residents were finding it harder to make it to church ,(it’s a steady up hill walk ) I asked Alan if he could bring a service to us , he agreed it was a good idea so once a month  I would make a poster advertising the service to be held Sunday next ,I often spelled Alan’s name with two lls and he would always correct me !We had the service in the communal hall, So at two thirty on the appointed Sunday afternoons I would put a pretty table cloth on a table at the front of the room for Alan, along with our carved crucifix and he would come along with a

Lady from the church who kindly played our piano. We would have hymns and prayers Alan did a shortened version of his sermon that  morning ,and he gave us communion ,this was such a comfort to those residents unable to walk far from their homes and we all enjoyed a chat and a cuppa afterwards .Alan’s wife Jean was a very talented lady veryartistic ,and when we discovered she made really lovely home made cards ,(even before it became popular)I was able to persuade her to come along on a Friday afternoon to show our Ladies how it was done .They loved it and made the loveliest cards imaginable .When I retired Alan made a very complimentary speech, so much so I wondered who was this paragon of virtue ,he was talking about .He left the Parish shortly after I left to go to somewhere in Northampton, and for all the help he gave me I am so grateful and wish him and Jean well ,what a hard working couple ,much loved and missed from our little community .Yes this is another Gentlman of the cloth Iwill never forget      Iwould like to wish you al a Happy and Blessed Easter Day........

                                                With Grateful Thanks to Donna  for my lovely signature