A few days in Thrupp

Fri 29th Sep  Thrupp / Hemel Hempstead

We had arranged to be collected by Enterprise at 1100 by Annie’s Cafe in Thrupp.  They were a few minutes late but they kept us informed, which was helpful. We were taken to their depot at Kidlington Airport, where the paperwork was well explained, and quite familiar as we do this once or twice most years. The car was a Toyota Aygo, the smallest group they offer, but quite adequate for us as we weren’t going very far.

Our hire car

We drove back to Thrupp, and over the lift bridge to the TCCC (Thrupp Canal Cruising Club) car park. We packed and had lunch, finishing most of the rest of the food that Tracey had given us when they left to be with her dad. Then it was off via Aylesbury to Hemel Hempstead. 

We called in at ACS and found all our post there, including the invoices, summons, and Court papers from the local council who had taken us to court because we had not paid the council tax invoice that we had never seen because they sent it here instead of to our agent as requested.  They never attempted to phone or email us to ask why we hadn’t paid, and instead just took it to court. We only found out after the case had been heard. What a waste of money, effort and time!  Thankfully they realised the error of their ways and sent us a sensible bill eventually, but never explained why they had acted in this way.

Then we continued with our journey to Felden Lodge in Hemel Hempstead, where we had booked in for a church weekend with Broughton Church, our spiritual home in Aylesbury.  Almost all the church were there, and it was great to catch up with people again, most of whom we hadn’t seen since March.

Felden Lodge

We had an evening meal, followed by the first session with Mark Melluish, our speaker for the weekend.  There was also a worship band from St Aldates, ably led by Tom White, brought in so that the worship leaders of Broughton Church could participate fully, and were not under pressure to provide the music.

Mark Mellhuish

 The worship band

Then some of us had some time in the grounds in the dark, round a small fire pit, toasting marshmallows. It was a fine evening. Others chatted in the lounge over hot drinks.

The fire pit

Sat 30th Sep  Thrupp / Hemel Hempstead

The church weekend continued with two sessions in the morning and another in the evening.  The main theme seemed to be getting closer to Jesus, breathing Him in, so that we could be equipped to reach out by His Spirit to others.  We are not just getting more input for our own benefit, but so that others will recognise that we have a relationship with Jesus.

There were introductions for some people who had recently joined the church.

Our new Pioneer Minister James and family

In the afternoon there were several free time options, including badminton, football, board games, and a walk.  The weather was good, so we joined the walk in the countryside.

Getting ready for the walk

 Across the fields

No boating today

Sun 1st Oct  Thrupp / Hemel Hempstead

There was more free time this morning, plus a communion service.  The speaker was Dan Hames, the keyboard player, who is a curate at St Aldates.

Dan

A growing team

 James received a lot of prayer for his medical condition, and in particular for the appointment with doctors on Tuesday, with an ultrasound scan on his head.

We said our farewells after lunch and drove back to Thrupp, pausing at Sainsbury’s in Kidlington for some petrol. Hugo was pleased to see us, and had not abandoned the boat this time.  We lit a fire and soon had a warm and cosy boat.

No boating today

Mon 2nd Oct  Thrupp / Cobham

We kept the car for another day for a memorial service in Cobham for Robin Webb, who we used to know well about 40 years ago. We were in two pantomimes with him, and he was part of the folk group The Taverners. 

We had lunch at the Old Bear in Cobham, where we found several of our friends doing the same thing, as it was walking distance to the church. There were lots of people we knew and despite the sadness there was a light hearted atmosphere, as Robin had a great sense of humour.  The remaining members of the Taverners sang two songs during the service. 

There is a link to one of the songs here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tChW-vIzvbQ&feature=youtu.be

We had planned to go to a folk session at the Bell in Adderbury afterwards, but James had a bad throat, and it was getting late, so we visited Sainsbury’s in Cobham to stock up while we had a car, and while the rush hour was happening.  When we got on the M25 and M40 it had all subsided, and we returned directly to Thrupp and the boat.

No boating today

Tue 3rd Oct  Thrupp / Oxford

Early sunshine in Thrupp

We needed to return the car, and we called in first at Anne Clarke’s house, and transferred our musical instruments to her car.  James drove to the airport, and Hazel followed soon after with Anne in her car.  Thankfully we had judged  the fuel OK and the tank was half full, the same as when we collected it. The car hire formalities were minimal, and we were soon going with Anne to visit David Clarke in his care home.

Dear David has Alzheimer’s. He used to be full of jokes and fun, and a hard working member of the BCF committee. He was the magazine editor and publicity man, and created DVDs of the missions. We have had some good times with them both over the twenty years we have known them.  It was sad to see David now being led about as he can’t remember where things are, or what he is meant to be doing.  We sang some songs, and it was great to see him joining in with Amazing Grace, and the Battle of Jericho. Just for that moment, we were able to communicate in some way with him. It was a very worthwhile visit.

Our visit to David

We went to find a pub for lunch afterwards, and ended up in Islip at the Red lion where we had some good homemade pies.

Anne then drove us to the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital in Oxford for James’s appointment at 2.30pm.  Everyone had been given the same appointment time, and there was a process of weighing and blood pressure readings, followed by a consultation, then an ultrasound scan, and then a final consultation with the results. In passing we met Tom White, the worship leader from our church weekend away, which was a great encouragement.  We were there for four hours altogether.  The verdict was that it was neuralgia, and not big cell arteritis.  That was good news as it is nowhere near as serious. James now needs to gradually reduce the steroids he has been taking, which will be a ten day process.  We thank everyone for their prayers.

Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital

We caught a bus back to Kidlington through rush hour traffic, and Anne met us at the Park and Ride.  After a cuppa at her house, she walked her dog Angus back to the boat with us, as we carried our instruments back.

No boating today

Next: Heading north along the Oxford Canal to Banbury for next weekend.