Mae'r diwrnod mawr wedi cyrraedd / the big day has arrived...

Helo eto,

Wel, ma na lot wedi digwydd mewn byr amser a da ni ein dau - Wyn a fi yn dechra setlo lawr yn Y Drenewydd.

I am back at Macdonalds having a cappuccino… and sending some important documents to various people. Telephone line being installed at the Rectory tomorrow… hooray!!! I will be connected to the world from the comfort of my study!

Much has happened in a week!! Wyn and I are settling to life in Newtown.

Since my last blogg I have had a busy time. Work has begun in the Parishes and in the Mission Area!
I have had my first phone call from the local undertaker and have a burial of ashes this Saturday at Llanllwchaiarn and a funeral a week Tuesday.

I've met some of my colleagues and had a most pleasant couple of hours with Michael yesterday, a retired priest who's been very busy helping and ministering during the interregnum. We will get on! I received a file with all the booked weddings for the Churches… Quite a few more than I have in Bala! I am eager now to contact the couples to discuss their weddings and to help them plan ahead. And the baptisms will keep me very busy!!!

I also met with Wendy, a dedicated Reader who is very active in the Parish. She has so much information to share and is totally dedicated to ministering in the Parish. She is and will continue to be a great asset.

I met another colleague and his wife this morning… I received a warm welcome and enjoyed my morning with them both. I will get on with them!

Yesterday it was all hands on deck at all Saint's Church preparing for this evening's service. There is great excitement and this has carried me along… and so I am ready for the service - as ready as can be. I am praying that I will manage to keep it together - that i'll not stumble over my words… and I have a lot of legal stuff to read!!! And I sincerely hope that i'll not become emotional and tearful… I know that i will have a lump in my throat when I see the Bala family! And if my brother comes… I'll have a bigger lump…!
Seeing good friends that I haven't seen for many years will be lovely but I know that it will all be emotional. Friends from my days working at the Heath Hospital in Cardiff, Ruth the Director of Loyola Hall, Close friends from here, there and everywhere, and Gordon Lloyd who has lived in Barmouth for many years - but who is originally from Newtown… and was a chorister at All Saint's Church some 70+ years ago! People who have been an integral part of my journey.

This journey has been a long one… for me and for the Parishes. It is now 6 months since the Bishop and I had the first conversation re this group of Parishes… Why the delay? Well, I was struggling to make a decision. Leaving a Parish to begin in a new is really difficult… leaving the familiar and encountering a new and unfamiliar territory! I had to know that this was the right decision for me… and for Wyn, that the position offered to me was God's will. Was the Bishop's, the Warden's and my discernment right? How do I know/ how will I know?

Having trusted in the Bishop's discernment and the discernment of the four Wardens - Chris, Shirley, Barbara and Mike… and of course trusting that god is the ultimate guide and planner of all, I do feel that this move is God's will for me at this junction in my life. I have one spurt of energy left in me for a major project and now I know where I am to exert that energy… working with the family of God in the Parishes I will be Inducted and Collated to this evening and also in the Mission Area of Cedewain.

This evening… am I looking forwards… yes and no!

When the evening will be over I am guessing that i will reflect on the evening having enjoyed it thoroughly. But i am really nervous… as I sit here thinking about the service my stomach is somersaulting!!! In an email I received this morning from Bishop Gregory he said, "I can feel your nervous energy from here [Esgobty, St Asaph]…"! Wait until this evening bishop Gregory…! I'll be ten times worse!!!

The Parishioners here are excited at many levels. this will be the first ever induction Service to take place at All Saint's Church. All the previous Inductions were held at St David's Church… which was closed 6 years or so ago. Also… I will be the first female priest to be Rector in the group of Parishes.

We've had interesting discussions about all sorts and I am becoming more familiar with everything and everyone. They are friendly and keen to help and support.

Wyn has found his Daily Post, bread and milk shops… he will soon adopt a routine. he reassures me that he is happy here… but he has warned me that he'll not become my curate all over again in Newtown… we'll see! I can't see him resisting the temptation to get involved!

Well, friends… home beckons!

Next time I blogg I will officially be the Rector of Llanllwchaiarn with Newtown and Aberhafesp and the Area Mission Leader of Cedewain… and this new adventure will have well and truly begun!

Tan toc… bydd mwy o hanes yn fuan.

Llwyddiant… Success… at long last!

Gyda help then Sanant dwi'n meddwl bod fi yn gwbod be dwi'n ei neud rwan…

With the help of young Sanant I think that I know what I am about now. The Bishop will be worried now as regards this new appointment to Newtown... and the people of the parishes and the mission Area well… they may fear the worst!

Just received a message from Sanant who advised my over the phone.i have to share it with you… and I think she is completely right:

"Gret! Gweithio yn berffaith!!! Bobl angen bod yn simple minded i beidio dallt be i neud! Haha x"

Translated: "Great! Wirked perfectly!!! People need to be really simple minded if they don't know what to do! Haha x"

Haha Sanant… nai dy sortio di allan pan welai di yn y drenewydd… ella dim Nos Iau ond watch out pan ddoi draw Sadwrn wedyn!!!

Whatch out Sanant… I will sort you out when I see you… perhaps not on thursday evening… I'll be too nervous… but wait till I see you at the rectory on Saturday - by the way thank you huge!!!

So now I know what I am doing and how to send a blogg. A message for Phil Topham - Diocesan Communication Officer… don't tell me that something is easy when it is clearly not!!!

I'll end this chapter here and will be back soon.

We have after all been here in Macdonalds for the last 2 hours. Off home now to the smell of new carpets and the comfort of our new home.

tan toc… So long...

The beginning of the journey

Greetings / Cyfarchion…

21^st January 2014

Let me introduce myself. I am currently the Rector of Bala and as I write this, the removals team are busy packing away all my personal belongings and storing them in 2 wagons. I am on my way to pastures new!

(John Pugh, Christ Church’s architect captured the day well from the top of the scaffolding which currently reaches to the very top of the spire).

I have been asked by the Church in Wales to record my story… the experience of the new adventure that is about to begin. I have never blogged before… and so here goes with my first ever blogg…

For the last 10 years I have been ministering in the Parish of Bala in the Diocese of St Asaph in North Wales – a very beautiful part of the world. With a committed team we have worked hard and achieved much. Following the closure of 3 Churches the main Church – Christ Church – underwent a major reordering project in 2007. It is an amazingly beautiful building which offers itself to worship and community events. The congregation has increased and has a good cross-section of ages including children and youth. Yes, I am sad to leave and I have shed more than plenty of tears… and I am still shedding them! But God I know, is calling on me to move on… and so moving on is what I am about to do…

I am soon to join a new Church family. On the 30^th January I shall be Inducted and Collated as the Rector of the Parishes of Llanllwchaiarn and Newtown with Aberhafesp (in the Diocese of St Asaph), by Bishop Gregory and Archdeacon Peter, and Commissioned as Mission Area Leader of the Cedewain Mission Area. The service will take place at All Saint’s Church, Newtown at 7-00pm. You are all welcome to attend this service and if you can make it I will be pleased to see you. However, Newtown will be quite a distance for some of you and so I will understand if you decide not to come.

This move will be a new beginning and adventure for both Wyn and I. Wyn, my husband and best friend ever, has always lived in the Bala area and so this will be a major move for him. Close contact will be maintained with Bala for this reason and also due to the fact that his elderly brother, Jack, lives in Bala.

And for me… well, a new ministry in a new Parish and new a Mission Area (Deanery), a new challenge and hopefully another new exciting adventure. And the adventure has already begun… with an email informing me that a major leak has occurred at All Saint’s Church creating some havoc! With the intervention of Brian, the Clerk of Works, the leak has been fixed and all is in order for Sunday’s service and for the Induction.

It is also a new beginning and adventure in the life of many of the Parishes in the Mission Area. My predecessor, his curate and a colleague all left in the last 6 months… thus leaving a huge gap and a period of interregnum.  I shall be joining Terry (house for duty cleric) and a committed team of retired clerics, Worship Leaders, Pastoral Assistants and many other hard workers… and we shall soon be joined by Alex, who will be Inducted to the Kerry group of Parishes on 27^th February. She is very excited and looking forwards to starting in her new role. This is to be her first incumbency and so I ask you to keep her in your prayers.

Ok… the removals team are now asking… please can they clear the study… I am about to be disconnected from the world!!! Off goes my internet connection…

22^nd January 2014

… back with you. I am now writing in the car on my journey to the Rectory in Newtown. All my personal belongings having been stored in the Wirral overnight will hopefully join me at 9-30am. If not….!

Wyn and I stayed with Jack, his brother, last night. The farewell wasn’t easy…

25^th January 2014

Cyfarchion… Dwi yn ôl… / Greetings, I am back…

Mae hi wedi bod yn andros o brysur arna ni ein dau ond bellach mae’r tŷ mewn trefn a phopeth yn ei le. Allai ddim goddef llanast felly rhaid gwagio pob bocs a chal trefn gynted ag y bo modd.

No blogging for a few days… Yes, you guessed correctly, there hasn’t been a free moment until now. Four days of unpacking and sorting out all our belongings has been a task and a half but as I sit here in the lounge I am pleased to say that every box has been emptied and everything is in it’s place. Even the garage is neat and tidy. Wyn and I find ourselves searching for things, not quite remembering where we kept certain items. I have to have things in order – at home and at work. The Parishioners of Bala knew this very well and my new Church family are soon to find this out.

The Rectory is larger than our previous home in Bala… it provides good exercise to walk from one end to the other.

Over the last few days cards have arrived with good wishes, meals and cakes have arrived by kind parishioners – I wonder if they have learnt that I am no cook!

Today I met many of the PCC members at All Saint’s to plan for the Induction and Commissioning service next Thursday. It was good to meet more members of our new Church family. It was also good to learn more about the Parishes and to begin to get a grasp as to how things work here i.e. funerals, baptisms, weddings… and what goes on during the week. It is strange to leave a Parish where everything was at the tip of my fingers and to begin in a new Parish where I know very little about anything. Hopefully, I will soon learn. And I have much to learn… not only about the Parishes where I shall serve as the Rector, but also I need to learn about the other Parishes of the Mission Area.

We had a good meeting and we are all set for our rehearsal for the Induction Service. Many have been working hard with all the arrangements. They are all out to offer a warm welcome to all who will attend the service.

The Bishop has asked Archdeacon Peter and myself to give thought to ensuring that the service reflects the fact that I am being inducted to a group of Parishes and also being Commissioned to be a Mission Area Leader. And so attention was given to this at the meeting as there will be some amendments to the Diocesan order of service for Inducting a new Parish Priest. The Bishop is keen for the Mission Area to be profiled in the service as his hope is that I will work to develop the Mission Area in new and innovative ways. Parishes in the Diocese are no longer to be parochial, they are to be encouraged to be interdependent, to work closely with the other Churches in the Mission Area – for clerics and all assistants and indeed all parishioners to work together, to worship together and to be supportive of each other. For the last 10 years I have been working in a Parish and Deanery where there was not a great deal of working collaboratively. Clergy supported one another but the group of Parishes tended to work independently, although there were some wonderful occasions of sharing and unity.

Helping and encouraging the development of the Mission Area will be a new experience for me and I will need the guidance, support and encouragement of colleagues, Archdeacon Peter, Bishop Gregory, staff at the Diocesan Office… and of course the Parishioners. And I am never afraid of asking for help… I think I will be continually asking for help!

Time to say goodbye for today. Tomorrow is Sunday. I shall miss very much not being at Christ Church, Bala!

26^th January 2014

Mae hi yn Ddydd Sul a tydw I ddim yn yr Eglwys dwi wedi arfer bod ynddi pob Sul bron ers 10 mlynedd. Di yn llawn hiraeth!

Wyn and I didn’t make it to a Church service today. Our plan was to attend the service at Berriew. But Wyn has developed a cold and I felt too tender to attend a Church that I wasn’t familiar with. And so Wyn is dozing himself with lemsip so that he will be 100% for Thursday and I intend to have some quiet room in a prayer room I have prepared at the Rectory.

Christ Church is very much in my mind today!

I am hoping to send this blogg out today at long last… if I make it for coffee and free wi-fi at McDonalds. I am without internet connection until Friday. Once up and running you will receive regular updates. Well... this is the plan. I hope that I won’t be too busy to spend time reflecting upon the day and sharing some of the news and developments with you on a regular basis.