Such an unexpected afternoonof delights part one

You need to have read today’sprevious installment tounderstand the context. …Weobtained a leaflet inviting usto tour round some old churches– average ‘age’- 600 years. Whatcould be more boring than that.

Little did we know who we would bump in to.

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Martin Buber (1878-1965) was aJewish philosopher, theologian,story-teller, and teacher whosaid ‘all real living ismeeting’. We could also say“Openness to life is at thecentre of true development”.

There is no true development without this openness to life.This was from a brief speech by Holy Father Francis which isworth a read. The implication of this message is all the morestark if you consider its opposite.

As readers will know I find no inhibition when it comes tomeeting ‘strangers’ i.e. friends that you did not know youhad. So off we go with our trusty GPS. First port of call isStoke St. Michael. It contains an excellent pub, theKnatchbull Arms (BA3 5JJ), where all sorts of secret meetingstook place in the second World War. For some reason itchanges owners quite regularly possibly due to an excellentgastro pub about 3 miles away. You don’t make money on beersales from half a dozen locals propping up the bar on aTuesday lunch time.

the nave

However, enough of this gay banter. The focus this time is theAnglican Church of St Michael, a Grade 2 listed building, andwe entered expecting to find flower displays. Instead therewere two jolly people, husband and wife, and a table of tea,coffee, cakes and rolls no doubt provided at personal expense.The lady had lived in the area all her life, the husband had

been born in Frome and whilst away in the RAF his wifedeveloped formidable qualities of independence. We had somegood humoured banter including gossip about the local pub(above). We talked only briefly about the architecturesurrounding us. I am not a ‘history’ person and failed myhistory ‘O’ levels at school mainly because I returned anempty exam paper, having spent the time revising for mychemistry exam. I do sometimes buy a guide book but I mustadmit it is an uphill task to fix it in my mind.

This sign reallymeans it

We also had a joke about the areas most infamous lane, onethat takes naive GPS owners to the car repair shop. I wascaught myself when coming from giving a quote for a gardenjob. The bend went on and on. My wife had to get out andminutely direct me inch by inch backward and forward. Iwondered why a local man stopped to watch, grinning the while.Obviously not the first time this had happened. Mind you,Volvo estates are not the shortest cars in the world so I must

not complain.

St Bartholomew ChurchCranmore

With threatening clouds scudding over the sky, on to Cranmore.One of the best indicators of a lively village is its web siteand this one is no exception but alas not all pages have beenkept up to date. This is normally because the volunteerwebmaster has become overloaded with work. We dashed from thecar due to a rain shower. As we approached the church door weheard the sound of the organ, always guaranteed to warm thecockles (ventricles) of my heart. This old fashioned phrasemeans to ‘warm and gratify ones deepest feelings’. Of allinstruments my personal gratifiers are the organ as number 1closely followed by the piano ‘coming in at number 2’ as theysay. On a good day, the violin is number 3.

I have never been able to photograph stained glass toshow its full features.

We met a lady who was obviously an academic and anintellectual who showed us around. This church was full offlower displays in preparation for the Harvest Service whichwas due to happen the following day. First she directed me tothe end of the nave and the famous stained glass in remarkablygood condition. I guess this is partly due to the lack of

chemicals from cars and industry.

Evidently an attempt was made to break the record. In order todo so there must be no mistakes but alas after 2h 30m oneunfortunate soul made an error. Result – everyone went off tothe pub to drown their sorrows. As you will see below thedisplays reflected the Harvest.

a festival basket

utilitarian approach

all from the garden

the altar

a transcendent piece of art. Brilliant.

We left with the sound of the toccata from Widor’s fifth organsymphony being rehearsed enthusiastically. This work doesrequire resonance in the building in which it is played and iswell nigh impossible to do justice to on a small threekeyboard organ with zero echo but hey its the spirit thatcounts.

Just watching a vid. where an organ is used with a 128′ stop.Someone writes “When people win the lottery they’re all like

“I’ll pay my debts, buy a house and an Aston Martin!” Screwthat. If I win the lottery I’m having a full range organ builtinto my house and I’ll only ever play it with ALL the stopsopen. I will level cities with my music!” Nice one, bro