A weekend in Weston

Years ago, I lived in Yatton which is a large village more or less midway between Bristol and Weston-super-Mare (or just 'Weston' if you're local, or Weston-super-Mud if you visit when the tide's out).

Birnbeck Pier, Weston-super-Mare

Donna's brother moved there not so long ago and they've just bought a ground floor flat in the town. They invited us to visit for a weekend and last weekend was it. I hadn't been to Weston for perhaps fifteen years and it was fascinating to see what has gone, what is new, and what remains but looks different.

Some thirty years ago my Mum came down to visit us and we took a trip on the old paddle steamer, Waverly from Birnbeck Pier to Penarth in South Wales. But look at Birnbeck Pier now! Nobody is travelling that way today; it's a bit dilapidated to say the least.

Weston has two piers. Birnbeck was the business pier, supporting transport by sea to and from the town and run as a thriving business. The other pier, the 'Grand Pier', is an amusement arcade on stilts.

Walking in Weston

While we were in the town last weekend we visited the town quarry, walked the streets, and explored the local area.
The quarry stopped working in the 1950s and is now a nature reserve, a cafe/restaurant, and a museum. Because Weston is built partly on hilly ground there are some great views across the Severn Estuary to distant Wales (you can see the Welsh coast in the Birnbeck photo).

I found visiting Weston great fun and it stimulated many memories for me too. I found the same thing when I visited nearby Clevedon a couple of years ago.

Don't forget to click the photos for larger versions, and follow the links in the text if you want to learn more.

An anniversary or two

I've been thinking about my personal history recently. I've been digging out old diaries and photos and reviewing the vast complexity of this thing called life. I have been to so many places, met so many people, and experienced such joys and disappointments; some things have been easy, some rather hard.

Appalachian clogging

We were in Poole today, visiting Donna's Mum and Dad, after a light lunch we all headed down to the quayside where there was some folk dancing going on.

Appalachian clog dancing in Poole

On a previous visit a few years ago, Donna had been impressed by a local group of Appalachian clog dancers. They were performing in Wimborne last time, and we were delighted to see them again in Poole.

There were only a few groups active at a time along the quay so we had no reason to expect to see the clogging, we didn't even know the group would be there.

However, they were, and we enjoyed watching them.

The cloggers were wearing a kind of tap shoe, presumably the dance style originated with wooden clogs that were the standard farming footwear in many parts of Europe in mediaeval times. No doubt leather shoes with steel taps are much more comfortable and controllable.

Donna is interested enough to wonder if there is a clog dance group anywhere near St Neots. I'm not sure she'd actually find the time to learn these dances, but it would certainly be fun to go and watch now and again.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)

The Marriage Course

Donna and I have been working through the Marriage Course, Open Door Church are taking it for a test run before opening it up more widely. Today we are running through the sixth out of seven sessions.

The Marriage Course Guest Manual

Having worked through most of the course now, I feel I'm in a good position to give a bit of feedback.

The way Open Door have run it has been very good. They've set out a coffee table for each couple with a flower in a small container. They ply us with tea or coffee at the start of each session and again with cake during one of the exercises.

The course itself is from the same stable as the Alpha Course. Visit the Relationship Central website for more information.

Each session involves watching a DVD presentation in multiple parts with short exercises between the parts. Most of these take the form of a series of questions or options to fill in separately and then to talk over with your partner. One of the exercises is longer and this is when the tea or coffee is served with cake - excellent!

Although there's a Christian element in the course it's not the main thing. Instead the course focusses on practical issues around communication, conflict resolution, the impact of family (parents, children etc), use of time, encouraging one another and more. The course is accessible and suitable for people of any religion and none. I think all couples would get something useful out of the course.

Kudos to Open Door for running the course and to the team for looking after us all so well.

(If you liked this you might also like Journeys of heart and mind and Quote me on this.)