Jane Chippindale

In recent weeks immigration, refugees and asylum seekers are dominating the headlines.

Do you find the news depressing?

I am awash with apples. I have a cooking apple tree and two eating apple trees and this year there has been a bumper crop.

Recently I have enjoyed watching the TV programme "Pilgrimage" where different celebrities have walked together following the journey of a local saint.

Of the many visitors to the vicarage the most controversial are the squirrels.

We used to be good at it. Scorn was poured on foreigners and their inability to do what the British did so well… queueing.

When I was a little boy at Windhill Church we adopted a retired priest… he was called Father Davidson.

I grew up around Gibbet Street, went to St Augustine’s Primary, Sowerby High, and Crossley Heath. Those streets and classrooms shaped me.

The first words that the Risen Christ says to his followers when they encounter him after the Resurrection are “Peace be with you”.

This has been an amazing year for Mothers’ Union. It has been in existence for 150 years. There are so many different celebrations taking place all over the world to mark this important milestone. We cannot attend every one of them, but I pray that non-members must be aware of something in their area.