Our Visit to Churchill's Grave

Today is the anniversary of the state funeral and burial of Sir Winston Churchill.  I would have liked to have gone to the formal ceremony on the Thames in London.  However, we live only a few miles from the Churchill family cemetery at St. Martin's Church, in the small Cottswold village of Bladen, and, since we had not yet visited his grave, we decided to do that instead.  We didn't know whether there would only be a few people there or whether there would be a crowd.

What we found was delightful.  We managed to squeeze our little Honda up the narrow road to the church gate.  We were uncertain where to park, but a very friendly lady pointed us to the clergy parking space, which, of course, suited us just fine.  It turned out that she was one of the ladies in charge of the church today, with the expectation of greeting visitors to Churchill's grave.  As we walked into the church yard, there was only a handful of people at the grave, so we decided to have a look inside the church.

The interor of St. Martins, Bladen.

The church was quite lovely.  The lady explained to us that the interior of the church had been wholly redone during the Victorian period, so it was all of a piece - not a hodgepodge of bits from different centuries.  The layout reminded us very much of St. Luke's, Blue Ridge.  Inside the church, there were a few people visiting and being greeting by the locals.  On one side of the church, in the back, there is a display of Churchill memorabilia, pictures, CD's, etc. for sale to support the church.  It requires £150 a day to run the church building!

I knew going in that they were raising money to install a Churchill window in the building.  This is the church's website, where you can find pictures of this lovely window.  I decided, since we were there, to make a small contribution.  We also got to sign the guestbook for the church on this very momentous occasion.

One of the enjoyable things about the church, was the lady whom we had met and continued to speak with.  She explained that she and her friends at the church were Southern sympathizers.  She told us that Shelby Foote had visited their church, and how glad she was that he wrote in a balanced way about the War Between the States - obviously caring about the Southern side of the story.  You can imagine I was most pleased.  She said that, because of the Churchill family connection, the choir - of which she is a member - are often called upon to sing The Battle Hymn of the Republic.  She said she really hates to do that - and that they remember 4 July as Vicksburg Day as well!  Simply splendid!  :-)

After spending time in the church, we went to the graveside.  I had brought along a Union Jack flag to place at his grave.  Sheila did the honours.

Sheila places our flag at the Churchill grave.

After she placed it, a young man walked up to us and commented on how brilliant it was that we had done that.  He got to talking to us, asking us where we were from and why we were in Oxford.  We had noticed that someone from a radio station was interviewing people at the graveside, and it turned out that he was one of the team.  He asked if I wouldn't mind doing a little interview.

Before the interview, the BBC interviewer (I suspect it was the local BBC Oxford radio station) asked about me and when he found out we were wardens of the Kilns, he was definitely interested in the interview.  So, at the cue, I spent a few minutes answering his questions about who we were and why we were there today.  I told him how I remembered Churchill's death and it was like the passing of an age of security and good in the world.  It was also great to give a plug for The Kilns in answer to his queries; lots of people around here don't know about the house.  But now more do.

While waiting for the interview, I got to talk with a gentleman who was the constable at the church on the day of the funeral.  You may know that the Churchill family wanted the funeral to be private.  The locals in Bladen strictly complied with their wishes, but when the family departed, an enormous crowd of tens of thousands of people converged on the church.  This gentleman stood at the gate all that day to try to help control the flow.  He had a devil of a time getting home that night because of the people and the cars.  His wife thought she'd pop over and see the grave at midnight - they lived in the town - but she had to cue up even then.  People were coming to see the grave through the night, waiting for hours in the cold.  There were no lights in the area to help the people see.  Bladen is a small residential village.  So, the fire department from the neighbouring town of Woodstock set up generators and set up lights on the north and south sides of the graveyard for the people.  And it went on for days.

Here's a very short video I took of the scene.  You'll see the church and a small group of people standing about, with the BBC crew there (it was so funny; the young lady with them simply stood there holding a large clock to help them keep track of time!).  If you look carefully, you'll see our flag by the grave briefly wave before a man stands in front of it.  And then you'll see Sheila.

So!  Our trip to Bladen on this day had some surprising features to it.  We even got to be part of the commemoration in our own little way.  Thank the Lord.

When we were done at Bladen, we had an errand to run in Woodstock, so we went by Blenheim Palace to have lunch at their new cafe.  Here's a picture of an amazing cake they had for sale and of Sheila sitting at our table.

No, we did not get a piece! :-)

You can see the Blenheim Palace stencils on the glass.  Instead of the cake we shared a Greek salad and an egg salad with water cress sandwich, plus two coffees.  We were so good! 

So, on this the 50th anniversary of the burial of the greatest Englishman of history, we were able to visit both the place of his burial and the place of his birth.  Pretty amazing.  I'm so glad that I was feeling well enough today to go.

Visit from Lee University

I've posted this on my Facebook page, but I'll post it here as well.  This past week we had Dr. Matt Melton of Lee Univ. bring a class of students to visit The Kilns. Dr. Melton is the Dean of Lee University's College of Arts & Sciences.  He is teaching a class on C. S. Lewis at Lee this semester and part of the course is a trip over here to see the Lewis-related sites.  I was so pleased to see former CCS student Katie Kerr with them. Great to see a familiar face from back home. It was a good group and we were glad to be able to welcome them with some "home town" friendliness.

Me with Katie Kerr, former CCS student.  We hope to have some more CCS students visit us in March.

Our New Zealand visitor

I told you in a previous post that we had a fellow from New Zealand visit us.  He is David Crawley, a senior lecturer in the School of Theology, Mission and Ministry at Laidlaw College in New Zealand.  Here are a couple of pictures from the visit.

Dr.Crawley and Sheila in the "common room" of The Kilns. 

And here is a picture of the two of us which David took - thought you might like to see us in the house.  We're still here!  :-)

Decorating

One of the things Sheila likes to do is get flowers from the garden or the store and make arrangements to place around the house.  She likes unusual things, like the ladies over at Making Arrangements. :-)  She has just put these little things together; pretty, aren't they.

Trying to get well

We've not posted much lately because we've been trying to get well.  Some virus did its work and now we are dealing with the aftermath.

We were able to have a professor from a bible college in New Zealand over for a few days.  He said being able to stay at the Kilns was a dream come true.  He's a great guy.

The Foundation is working on organizing a summer seminar in July.  Thankfully they are scheduling it earlier in the month so we have room to pack up for our return on 30 July.  We'll pass on info about the seminar when it's available. 

Hopefully we'll have some more news when we perk up!

The news from Lake C. S. Lewis

A little snow on the path; a little ice on the water: Shelley lake on the Lewis' former property.

Well, we are finally getting a little bit of winter weather; a light snow today.  Some more snow is predicted for first of next week.  But temps will continue in the 30's and 40's for the most part.

My Garrison Keillor parody in the title of this post is based on the fact that there is a lake just a few yards from the house.  It was formed by men digging clay to use for brick and tile making.  The poet Shelley is supposed to have sailed model boats on it.  The folks here at the Kilns used to swim and punt around in it.  Or, they just relaxed on a brick bench built on the northwest corner of it and enjoyed the stillness and the various water fowl that either nest or frequent here.

We have a new scholar-in-residence coming in a few weeks.  She is a medical researcher from Italy.  She will be doing work at John Radcliffe hospital - the local (national) univ. hospital.  She's going to want to improve her Eng. but I'm going to want to learn a little Italian!  

We also have a gentleman coming in for a few weeks who is my age, but sadly lost his wife a little over a year ago to cancer.  We'll be looking to share with him the grace the Lord gives his children.

Plans are being made for one of my bishops (I won't say who right now) to come and stay for a week this spring.  I really hope that works out, for him and us as well.  It would be restful for him and good fellowship for us all.

I'm also glad to say that we've found someone among the Wycliffe Hall students who can help out here at the Kilns with tours and - if need be - watching over the house after we leave.  She is such a godly, talented young lady; I'm really "chuffed" about our working with her.  (btw, chuffed is an English word, introduced to me by my fellow-Anglophile friend, Art, which means very happy or pleased - :-))

With winter come our little viral friends.  I'm coming out of a sinus infection set on by a virus.  It kept me out of class at Wycliffe Hall last week.  Looks like Sheila's fighting the virus now.  Lord, have mercy.

Just read a really good article on church planting by Dan Alger, concerning how the sacraments should model our church planting methods.  You can find it here:  http://anglicanpastor.com/sacramental-church-planting/  He states things so very well; I'm raving about this article.  My only caveat is that, as important as the sacraments are, the primary means of building the Church is the preaching and on-going teaching of the Word (Col. 1:23, 2 Tim. 1:13; 3:16-17; Acts 2:42, I Peter 2:2).  Now, the sacraments are the Word made visible - we cannot do without them.  Again, I'm promoting Dan's article - I love it.  But, Scripture teaches that the importance of the sacraments is to be kept in tension or balance with the importance of the Word preached.  It's a "both-and" thing.  But when it comes to a sacramental view of God's truth (which I hold with Dan), what Dan says about the light they shine on church planting methods is very good indeed.

Fr. Brice and I plan to talk on Monday about ideas for college ministry at UTC.  Sheila and I are still waiting on the Lord for our next step.  This may or may not be it; we just need the Lord's mind on it and oneness of vision with all who are concerned.

Well, we now settle into what will hopefully be a quiet weekend as we try to get well.  We'll be praying for you.

A mild winter

Everyone says that we are having a very mild winter - which is OK with us!  The temps are staying in the 40-50 degree range for the most part, with some dips down into the 30's.  But boy does the wind blow!  Islands can be so much more windy than places like Tennessee, that are so far inland.  We used to have daily sea breezes on Cayman.  Here, you regularly get these gales that come blowing through - the farther north you are, the worse it is.  But it's fun.  I like weather with "character."

This past Saturday, we had a group of 30 South Koreans to come and see the house.  They could hardly speak English!  I and our friend, Myriam, who was helping with the tours, had to talk through interpreters.  Now, that's all right.  You have to make quick, simple summaries of things on the fly, using simple speech and leaving out details.  But our problem was that our "interpreters" themselves hardly knew English!  You'd say something, and they'd just keep looking at you, as if to say, "OK, but say something else so maybe I'll understand at least a little bit of it."  But a good time was had by all!  And, of course, these people love to take pictures.  They had Myriam and me sit in the wing-back chairs in the library and then, in groups of 6 or 8, they'd gather around us and have their picture taken with us.  So funny.  I'm hoping they will e-mail some of the pictures to us.  If they do, I'll post them.

Sheila's having some thyroid problems apparently.  She went to the doctor on Monday for some tests.  We await the results.  I've come down with a bad cold, but hopefully I'll be better tomorrow.

It seems the Lord may be raising up a young lady for us to train for tours and to act as a temporary warden.  If there's no one to replace us when we leave in July, she will be able to step in.  That's a good thing.

Once we get ourselves feeling better, we get back to some more local hospitality. 

A new development

One of the things I'm supposed to do while I'm here is to network in Oxford in order to find and train student tour guides and also to encourage people to recommend our Scholars-in-Residence program to grad students. One of the colleges most sympathetic with our goals at the Kilns is Wycliffe Hall.

I had the idea of taking some courses at Wycliffe Hall so I could become a part of the student body to see if the Lord would use that to help us build the ministry here. Everyone seems to like the idea, so I'm going to do it.

I'll be a non-degree, part-time student. It will be extremely inexpensive compared to being a regular Oxford degree-seeking student! We will use Foundation funds to pay the tuition and fees.

Next week, I'll be taking an intensive course on the sacraments with about 18 other students. The following week, Hilary term will begin and I'll be taking a course or two. Personally, I'm really looking forward to the classes, to making new friends, and to what the Lord may do with this new facet of our work over here. We would appreciate prayer about all of this.

A Trip to Thame

This morning after Morning Prayer at church, I took Sheila to a little town 20 minutes away called Thame.  That is pronounced like "name," viz., "tame," contrary to the Thames River, which is pronounced "tems."  Who knows.  It's been a market town forever and there is a weekly outdoor market I wanted her to see.  It's especially a livestock market town - we'll have to go back and see that.  It was a rainy day, but over here, if you let the rain get in your way, you never do anything.  As the schoolmaster character in the Muppet Christmas Carol said, "It's the British way."  What we found was a very lovely town with tons and tons of wonderful Edwardian (and older) architecture, lots of quaint shops, and places to eat.  We also found some things we've been looking for, so that was really good.  Of course, when we got home, the sun came out.  We'll have to time our trip better next time.
Sheila has a dentist appointment this afternoon - oh boy!

Sheila walking down one of the little alley ways.

A sight along the market street.

Remarkable buildings!

Intriguing public house.

A very nice Italian restaurant with reasonable prices.

Lovely flower shop.

Cooking something new

Sheila saw a Steve Dolby video on English style lamb shanks and decided to try it.  They were four hours in the oven yesterday!  They are to be served tonight. :)

The dust settles after the holidays....

Things are quiet at The Kilns.  Our last scholar for a time went back to the States this past week, but we do continue to get tours.  Just a couple of days ago, we had folks here from Australia and Texas.  In the Lord's providence, two other couples showed up unannounced, hoping for a tour.  They were from South Africa.  We had a pleasant time.

The next day, Sheila and I were driving in when we saw a couple of young gentlemen walking around the house.  Such a thing is far from unusual.  I spoke to them and found out that one of them is a college student while the other - his brand new brother-in-law - was an employee of Oxford University Press.  They were simply hoping to do a little sketching of the place.  I took them inside for a quick look through, which they really enjoyed.  I then invited them to find any place they liked on the grounds for their project.  They wound up sitting in the pear tree garden on the bench there for a couple of hours.  Sheila offered them some tea.  It was a really neat way to bless a couple of fellows.

Yesterday Sheila and I finished putting up the Christmas decorations.  I knew she was hoping to go to the Aga store in Woodstock to buy a few things for the kitchen stove, and, since it was sunny yesterday but rain was predicted for today, I told her to just "drop everything and let's go to Woodstock."  After about 15 minutes on the road, we found the store and then did a little exploring.  In an antique shop, there was a young lady managing the store named Ruby.  Her mother was from Morrocco and married a Frenchman in France.  They are both artists.  She is interested in drama.  I kept thinking I wanted to talk to her about the Lord, and then I saw she was wearing a pretty little cross on her necklace.  I asked her if she was a believer and she said she went to the Catholic church in town.  I wanted to encourage her,  so I expressed my delight that she was going there and went on to talk to her about faith in Christ.  What encouraged us to believe in her sincerity was how she spoke of how many young people in the country were not going to church.  She seemed concerned about that.  We plan to go back up to  Woodstock to pick up a back-ordered item at the Aga store and I hope to pass a good book along to Ruby.  Let's pray for her.

Speaking of buying things, this morning - in that rain I mentioned above - we went out to find a new microwave for the house.  The old one had had it.  The former Warden had told us about a near-by shopping centre we had not yet seen, and so we went there first.  We found some other things we had been looking for, thankfully, but not the microwave.  On the way home, we remembered that she had told us about Currys.  So we stopped there and - voila - we have a new microwave.  I know that doesn't seem like much, but when you are still getting used to living somewhere new, don't know where things are, and have a hard time finding places you are looking for in heavy traffic with confusing roundabouts, it's a cause for rejoicing when something like this goes smoothly.

Tomorrow morning we will attend St. Andrew's, Old Headington, and then in the evening we'll go to St. Ebbe's Headington.  Next week we have a lot of tourists coming through, plus a couple from the States who are friends of the Foundation.  People are so very pleased to be able to visit C. S. Lewis' home and to talk with us about him.  It's a good thing we are here for them.