Harry Christophers and The Sixteen

Saw Harry Christophers and The Sixteen tonight at Tewkesbury Abbey. They are on their choral pilgrimage around the country singing music of 16th century Tudor England. This is highly recommended, superb singing in superb surroundings - go and see them if you get the chance.

Severn Bridges

Took Dexter to the Severn Estuary at Aust this afternoon. This is a panoramic view between the two bridges. I am uploading more pictures on his blog.

Bluebells and cowslips

Found both this afternoon at Sheepcombe and Lower Hazel.

Mahler's Resurrection Symphony

Members of the Alveston Singers and Thornbury Choral Society are joining the Cardiff Philharmonic Chorus in a performance of Mahler's Symphony No 2 ("Resurrection") on 20 June. See Cardiff Philharmonic for details of the concert. This piece is 97th in this year's Classic FM Hall of Fame. It should be near the top - a truly inspirational work. Here is the fifth movement in which the choir will be singing, divided into 4 parts on YouTube. The choir starts to sing at 1 minute into the third part.

Euro-whiff

Did you smell the 'euro-whiff'? I did last night at about midnight and I live in South Gloucestershire! See the BBC and Telegraph websites.

Free compost bin

Whilst searching for the best price for a compost bin, I found this recyclenow website. You can get a free 220 litre compost bin here if you live in South Gloucestershire. Or you can find out what special offers there are in your area here.

Sayings

In church today, Dr Anne Spargo in her last sermon with us, reminded us of the fable of the chicken and the pig:
One day the chicken said to the pig, 'Hey, I've got a brilliant idea. The two of us should go into a business partnership.'
'Great,' said the pig, 'but what sort of business?'
'Oh, I don't know ... how about the bacon and egg business?'
'Well, that seems like a good idea, let me think about that,' said the pig. 'Wait a minute, though - it's okay for you to produce eggs, but for me to produce bacon I'd have to give up my life.'
'That's right,' said the chicken, coldly.
Well worth remembering the difference between contribution and commitment.

Yesterday, on Any Questions, Archbishop Sentamu reminded the Radio4 audience of Archbishop William Temple's saying: "Coincidences seem to occur much more frequently when I pray".

Gift Aid

It was expected that when the income tax rate was to reduce by 2% to 20% on 6 April this year that the tax reclaimed on Gift Aided contributions to charities would correspondingly be reduced. This is not the case. The welcome news for all charities is that they can continue to reclaim 22%. This came out in the 2008 budget: the additional 2% is called transitional relief.

Alveston Weather

Just found this cool website. Should be of interest to anyone in Alveston with an eye on the weather! I cannot find out who runs it though?!