CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT ELSTOW ABBEY

On Monday 30 November the Friends of Elstow Abbey are organising a Christmas Concert. Our main performers will be the famous Luton Male Voice Choir, who sang so beautifully in Elstow Abbey earlier this year.

To launch the concert we have a joint Choir of 50 children from Elstow Lower School and Abbey Middle School singing for 30 minutes. Everyone is welcome and tickets are only £7.50 (£5 for pensioners) and children are free. Come along and enjoy some splendid music and start the Christmas celebrations early.

I am Chairman of the Friends of Elstow Abbey and we have raised £42,000 in 14 years to refurbish and restore our lovely Abbey Church, founded as a Benedictine Nunnery in 1078 by Countess Judith, neice of William the Conqueror. Last year we paid for the organ to be repaired - costing over £2,000.

A FAMILY SEASIDE HOLIDAY ON THE ISLE OF WIGHT

SANDOWN BEACH, ISLE OF WIGHT

Last week I took my two granddaughters, Emma, 7 and Jessica, 6 on a traditional seaside holiday with a church group from Elstow Abbey. We lived on Sandown's sandy beach, paddling, building sandcastles, eating icecreams and getting sand everywhere! We stayed at The Carlton, a traditional seaside hotel - dinner at 6pm and lots of pensioners in residence - but the staff were helpful and friendly.

I grew up in Southsea, Portsmouth,and the Isle of Wight was our favourite family holiday destination - all England in miniature with wonderful sandy beaches, yachts, castles, and lots of interesting places to visit in a small geographical area.

One day we visited Carisbrooke Castle and watched a donkey walking on the wheel connnected to an old well. The children ran round the castle walls with my daughter Helen who joined us for the last 2 days with Oliver, aged 4. I allowed the children one gift from the souvenir shop, so predictably the girls chose a donkey while Oliver chose a toy axe - boys will be boys! We also visited the Godshill Model Village, but car parking was tricky and walking 3 young children along a main road (no pavements) dodging heavy traffic was a nightmare.

Today most families prefer to take their children overseas for more exotic holidays, although the economic recession has created a new breed of "staycationers". My own belief is that most young children are happier sitting on any sandy beach with a bucket and spade. It does not matter if the weather is windy or cool and is safer in England as they do not get fair skins sunburnt as easily as in hotter countries.

At least if it rains there are always lots of indoor activites. There is nothing worse than being stuck overseas in wet and windy weather, with nothing else to do - that has happened to be in Greece, Florida and Majorca. My children loved our holidays 25 years ago in Bridlington, Yorkshire, staying with Grannie and spent many happy hours on a shingle beach, bundled up in anoraks against the East winds. We even had one rare sunny Easter weekend in Great Yarmouth on a deserted 5 mile sandy beach.

Every cloud has a silver lining, and the economic recession has given a new lease of life top the British seaside resort as more families rediscover the pleasures of an English holiday, avoiding the traumas of dragging their children half way across the world and spending hours waiting for delayed planes at crowded airports.

Money cannot buy happiness and many British children are now rediscovering the simple pleasures of sandy beaches, walking, climbing and simple creative outdoor play.

NORMANDY D DAY INVASION 65TH ANNIVERSARY

President Barack Obama & Prince Charles at the D Day Ceremony


Normandy D Day Invasion 65th Anniversary events in Portsmouth and Normandy, France

Today marks the first day of my new life after nearly 20 years public service as a Councillor in Bedfordshire and North Hertfordshire.

This morning I went to Elstow Abbey Church, read the Epistle and the Gospel and listened to the beautiful singing of the Amity Singers from Jersey. They are part of the Bedford-Jersey Arts Festival, celebrating a 60 year link between Bedford and Jersey children who were evacuated to Bedford during the Second World War.

Yesterday marked the 65th Anniversary of the Normandy D Day Invasion by the British, American and Canadian fleets, which led to the Allies winning and ending the Second World War in 1945. Ceremonies were attended by the Heads of State of France, USA and Canada, plus Prince Charles and Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister. The Queen should have been invited but was not due to errors by both the French and British Governments, and Prince Charles was only invited at the last minute after protests.

Britain was Germany's chief opponent at the beginning of the War, and thousands of Britons died during the Normandy Invasion to save France from the Nazis. This was a gross discourtesy and yet another example of the incompetence of Gordon Brown and his tired Labour Government. It 's time for a General Election and change!

President Sarkozy. the French President is only interested in hitching his waning star to the glamorous President Obama, the most poopular world leader, which is perhaps unsurprising as he hopes that some of the stardust will rub off on him.

My late father was decorated by the French Government with the Croix de Guerre for his role in the 1944 Normandy Invasion. He was a navigator in HMS Frobisher, the leading frigate in the British fleet, one of the first ships to arrive in Normandy.

The photographs above are a sample of the various events taking place in Portsmouth, where I grew up as the child of a naval family, and Normandy, including the beach at Arromanches. All the remaining veterans are in their 80's and 90's and very frail.

ELSTOW ABBEY CONCERT TOMORROW

On Saturday evening the Flitwick Singers will perform at Elstow Abbey. The concert is organised by the Friends of Elstow Abbey, which I chair and all profits go towards refurbishing the 11th Century Abbey Church and organ repairs All are welcome to join us at 7.00pm for a drink before the 7.30pm Concert.

This Concert is a welcome break from a punishing election campaign schedule. So far I have knocked on 1,000 doors, mainly on my own and delivered 2,000+ manifestos with a tiny team of helpers. Early this week I hurt my leg and have aggravated an old injury to my Achilles tendon. Now I am limping round my Ward like Long John Silver! I am getting some hostile responses on the doorstep from people who, like me, are fed up with listening to mealy mouthed MPs making feeble excuses for their dishonest conduct.

Elliot Morley, Labour MP for Scunthorpe, claimed not to know that he had paid off his mortgage and was still receiving £800 per month! For most normal people paying off a mortgage is a major event in our lives, and it beggars belief that he did not know that he was receiving an extra £800 per month in income - more than some people earn in their jobs! My own daughter, a university graduate and single parent with 2 small children, receives less than this for a part time time job as PA in Adult Social Care in Staffordshire.

I have already written about Margaret Moran, her 4 homes, and her £22k claim to cure dry rot in her Southampton home, 100 miles from her Luton South constituency. Richard Stay, a Central Bedfordshire Councillor has now reported Moran to the Police for fraud and she has already been forced to repay the fraudulently claimed money.

The repercussions of this national scandal have affected ordinary Councillors like me who do not receive large allowances or paid help to do our jobs. We have to earn a living elsewhere and my part time job and pensions subsidise my Council work.

SAMUEL WHITBREAD & SOUTHILL HOUSE

Samuel Whitbread 1720-1796

Today I took a short break from my Election Campaign to enjoy a Charity Visit and Tea in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support at Southill House, home of the Whitbread family since 1795. Our host was Charles Whitbread, Patron of Elstow Abbey, who lives at Southill House with his wife and 4 children and has now taken over the management of the Southill Estate from his father Sam Whitbread.

Samuel Whitbread I was born in Cardington in 1720, grandson of William Whitbread, who bought land there in 1653 and was a contemporary of John Bunyan. In 1736 Samuel was apprenticed to a brewer by his widowed mother and created the huge Whitbread brewing empire, while investing in Bedfordshire land and becoming a local Member of Parliament. He campaigned vigorously for the aboliton of slavery with his cousin John Howard, famous prison reformer. There have been seven Samuel Whitbreads in all including the present Sam Whitbread, Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire.

The Whitbread family created one of the largest estates in the country, including the villages of Southill, Cardington and Elstow and have been great benefactors to the local community, eg building Bedford Hospital. The Whitbread family donated the 15th Century Moot Hall to Bedfordshire County Council in 1959 and and the Whitbreads have also renovated several local churches including Elstow Abbey in 1880-82.

Southill House has beautiful wooded grounds and some lovely historic paintings, all by English painters such as Sir Joshua Reynolds and Gainsborough, favoured by Sam Whitbread 1. We had a delicious tea and I bought a bottle of Warden Special Reserve wine, one of five varieties produced by their Warden Abbey Vineyard.

This evening it was back to earth with a bang with an Elstow Parish Council meeting and tomorrow I am back on the campaign trail. I have canvassed over 400 houses in three days and organised the delivery of 50% of my manifestos, my third leaflet this year. An election campaign involves a lot of leg work and organisation with only a few helpers and this is my 8th personal election campaign.

ELSTOW GREEN FIELD PETITION

Moot Hall and Elstow Abbey

Elstow is Bedfordshire's most historic village with its Abbey Church, built in 1078 by William the Conqueror's niece Countess Judith and our 15th Century Moot Hall. John Bunyan was born nearby and was baptised and married in Elstow Abbey. Elstow is a unique piece of our heritage which must be preserved for present and future generations to enjoy, including many visitors from the USA and other countries.

At present Elstow is under threat of disappearing into urban Bedford and losing its separate identity as a village, because the narrow green strip of land dividing Elstow from Bedford is included in Bedford Borough Council's Bedford Development Framework, listing 300 sites with housing development potential.

Since August 2008 I have been campaigning for this Council owned strip of land to be removed from the list of sites and have had meetings with the Mayor of Bedford and Planners, without success. Therefore I started a petition and so far 220 residents in Elstow and elsewhere have supported my campaign and signed the petition.

On 1 April after the demise of Bedfordshire County Council ownership of Moot Hall and Elstow Village Green transferred to Bedford Borough Council so I hoped that the Mayor and officers might have a change of heart as the new landowners - no such luck!

All Parish Councils were asked in February to invite the Mayor to visit them. Therefore in March Elstow Parish Council invited him to the Annual Elstow Parish Open Meeting on 16 April, requesting him to address resident concerns on the Elstow green field issue and to bring a planning officer with him. The Mayor turned up one hour late, dressed casually, without a planning officer or briefing notes and gave bland and inadequate responses to questions from the public. The residents present were underwhelmed by his apparent indifference to their concerns.

The Campaign will continue and I will not rest until this site is removed from the site list in Bedford Development Framework. We also hope to persuade the Borough Council to allow us to create a proper park with trees, benches, landscaping and play equipment for use of local residents, including all the elderly people in the Bunyans Mead sheltered complex which backs on to this small green field.

If you support my campaign please sign my petition in Elstow Post Office or respond to this Blog.

Tomorrow the Bedford Unitary Election Campaign starts so I may be blogging and tweeting less often until after Thursday 4 June.

EASTER AT ELSTOW ABBEY

Happy Easter to you all! Today I went to the Easter Sunday Family Service at Elstow Abbey and sang some rousing Easter hymns. I have sung in church choirs for many years in Southern England - Portsmouth Cathedral, London University, Surrey, Hertfordshire, Cople, Bedfordshire and St. Andrew's Church, Bedford. Elstow Abbey is undoubtedly the oldest, most historic and loveliest church I have sung in, with a friendly modern Vicar, Jeremy Crocker.

Elstow Abbey was founded in 1078 as a Benedictine Nunnery by Countess Judith, niece of William the Conqueror and became a church after the Dissolution of the Monsteries in 1539 by King Henry VIII, whose crest is on the back wall of Elstow Abbey. John Bunyan, author of the Pilgrim's Progress, was baptised and married in Elstow Abbey and his baptismal font is still used today for christenings. I am also Chairman of the Friends and we raise money for refurbishing Elstow Abbey and its organ.

On Thursday we had a solemn Maundy Thursday service, remembering the Last Supper attended by Jesus and his Disciples. The Abbey was then prepared for Good Friday. Today was a happier day, celebrating Jesus' Resurrection. After the service I rushed home to finish cooking Sunday lunch for 8 as my two daughters and 4 small grandchildren came over for the day. After an excellent lunch of Spring lamb and turkey, the children had an Easter Egg Hunt in the garden and then walked across the fields to Elstow Playing Field to the children's playground. We had a special Easter cake to celebrate the birthday of my elder daughter Sarah, with all the children singing Happy Birthday to her and enjoying their Easter eggs.

Tonight my younger daughter Helen and two grandchildren - Jessica, 6 and Oliver, 4 - are staying here and tomorrow they head south for a short camping holiday in the New Forest so my house will be quiet, peaceful and tidy again!

They say with children that for 20 years you cannot stand the noise and for the next 20 years you cannot stand the silence. Certainly it is all or nothing with small children and very noisy until they are tucked up in bed. Having brought up two daughters, I enjoy the pleasures of being a grandmother and not having to cope with the intensity of 24/7 childcare which can be very exhausting, especially for Helen, who is now divorced and a single working mother.

MOOT HALL AND SEALED KNOT LIVING HISTORY

Sealed Knot Living History Event and Moot Hall Key Handover Ceremony




On Sunday Elstow Village Green was the setting for a Sealed Knot Living History event with people in 17th century dress and Cromwellian solders marching across the Green. In the afternoon the ownership of Elstow's 15th Century Moot Hall was formerly handed over by me, as Elstow's former County Councillor, to my Borough colleague Councillor Barry Huckle who accepted the key to Moot Hall on behalf of Bedford Borough Council. In the photograph above you can see me with Clive Arnold, the Curator of Moot Hall and Barry just before the official key handover. The Sealed Knot soldiers paraded in front of us while the ceremony took place.

Moot Hall was originally a market hall and now houses a museum dedicated to John Bunyan a fine collection of 17th Century furniture. John Bunyan lived in Elstow most of his life and was baptised and married in Elstow Abbey. In 1644 he joined Cromwell's Roundhead Army at 16 years old to fight the King so it is appropriate that the Sealed Knot held their Living History event in Elstow.

Elstow is North Bedfordshire's most historic village with its 11th Century Abbey Church, founded by William the Conqueror's niece Countess Judith, Moot Hall and the 16th Century timbered houses in the High Street. In 1950 Moot Hall was given by Sam Whitbread to Bedfordshire County Council and was restored for the 1951 Festival Britain. Also in 1951 a special stone was placed in Harrowden near Elstow, to mark the birthplace of John Bunyan in 1628.

ENGLAND'S HERITAGE - THE SOUTH COAST

West Wittering


Last week I took 3 days off to visit a friend in Lymington in the New Forest and my widowed brother in Chichester. On Thursday the weather was dull but the sun soon came out and I enjoyed some lovely coastal and country walks in the Spring sunshine. Lymington Town Quay is full of small boats which now face a serious hazard from the huge new Isle of Wight ferries sailing very close to them. I was very fortunate to visit the New Forest before its Easter invasion of tourists.

As the child of a naval family I grew up in Portsmouth and overseas and I love to return to the south coast to enjoy the sea air. Bedford is about as far inland as you can get and at least 80 miles from the coast so we are starved of sea views.

My brother took me round beautiful Chichester Cathedral, probably the only cathedral in England which has a separate tower, like Elstow Abbey. We also walked along the East Head on West Wittering Beach, owned by the National Trust. We walked around the edge of Goodwood Park, had a look at the racecourse and then had 'a flutter' on the Grand National. We backed 8 horses between us including My Will which came third but our winnings were only 50% of our stake. The bookies had a profitable day as the winner Mon Mome was a 100-1 outsider and many horses fell.

On the way home I drove through wooded West Sussex and the South Downs, which have now been declared a National Park, and stopped in Watford to help put two of my grandchildren to bed and filled up with petrol, as Watford is the cheapest town I know for petrol and always less expensive than Bedford.

KEMPSTON PERFORMING ARTS EVENING

Last week I was invited as Vice Chairman of Bedfordshire County Council to attend Kempston Schools Performing Arts Evening in aid of MacMillan Cancer Support. Pupils from 5 Kempston schools sang, danced and played music, including some pupils from St. Johns Special School who performed a A Taste of Africa, dressed in African costume. Camestone Lower School sang some lovely songs including My Fantasy Football Team, followed by a superb dance performance - Jellicle Cats by Balliol Lower School and some amazing Breakdancers from Daubeney Middle School.

The evening ended with a rousing performance of Everybody needs Somebody by the Blues Brothers by Hastingsbury Upper School Brass Band who were enthusiastically received by the large audience and gave us an encore. There is a wealth of talent in the Kempston schools and the concert raised much needed funds for MacMillan Cancer Support, a very worthy national charity which supports cancer patients and their families.

Kempston is a historic town, dating back to AD 885 before the neighbouring town of Bedford and is mentioned in the Domesday Book as "Camestone" situated in Wessex. After the Norman Conquest King William gave Kempston to his niece the Countess Judith de Balliol. In 1078 Judith founded a Benedictine Convent for Nuns in nearby Elstow village - Elstow Abbey which became a church in 1539 after the Dissolution of the Monasteries by King Henry VIII.

THE CYCLE OF LIFE and QUEEN VICTORIA

These two photographs epitomise the Cycle of Life from 0 to 110 years.


Last weekend I attended two christenings - the first of Eleanor Milligan, the 3rd chld of Philip and Katherine in the Roman Catholic church in Flitwick. On Sunday I sang in Elstow Abbey choir at the Anglican christening of Isabella Rose Sanderson. Both events were joyous family occasions attended by many relatives and children.

Elstow Abbey is a popular venue for christenings because it is a beautiful and historic church, where John Bunyan was baptised in 1628. Also we have a charismatic Vicar Jeremy Crocker and in the next 2 weeks we will have the baptisms of Natalie, granddaughter of our organist Steve McDonald and Alice, Martha and James Matthews, the triplet grandchildren of my fellow chorister Teresa.

The 2nd photo is of Margaret Fish, the oldest person in Bedfordshire who lives in Wilstead and celebrated her 110th Birthday on Friday 6 March. Sam Whitbread, the Lord Lieutenant of Bedfordshire, personally presented Margaret with her 7th telegram from the Queen. There are only 30 people aged 110 years in whole of the UK.

Margaret was born in London in 1899, the year the paper clip was invented and Coca Cola was first bottled in America. The population of Britain was only 29 million. Mrs Fish was a dressmaker, married in 1928 and moved to Bedfordshire with her husband during the 2nd World War bombings. She visited her daughter in Australia at the age of 90, lived independently in Cople until she was 104 and was still digging her garden at the age of 100! And her favourite TV programme is "Dancing on Ice".

Margaret was born during the reign of Queen Victoria and on Saturday evening I went to see the new film "The Young Victoria". Victoria became Queen when she was just 18years old and faced a daunting task, surrounded by a dominant mother and power hungry politicians and courtiers. Fortunately Victoria found the ideal husband in Prince Albert, who was intelligent and had a strong social conscience and inspired the 1951 Great Exhibiton at Crystal Palace. It was a true love match which resulted in 9 children and many grandchildren who married into most of the royal houses of Europe - Germany, Spain, Greece, Norway, Italy, Denmark,Russia, Sweden.

Victoria ruled for 64 years, the longest reign in British history and ruled an Empire which covered 25% of the world in the 19th Century. Her great granddaughter Queen Elizabeth II has followed in Victoria's footsteps, having become Queen at the age of 26 and she has reigned for 57 years.

ELSTOW MUSIC FESTIVAL

Happy St. David's Day!



Last night we had a wonderful Concert performed by the Luton Male Voice Choir at Elstow Abbey, concluding our first ever Elstow Music Festival which raised a total of £1,000 towards refurbishing our 11th Century Abbey and repairing the organ.

The 31 strong choir included several Welshmen, very appropriate just before St. David's Day and they sang two Welsh hymns including my favourite Cwm Rhondda. The varied programme included the South African National Anthem sung in Swahili, Frank Sinatra and Perry Como music, a Russian soprano and some lovely piano solos including a haunting Italian piece - Giorni Dispari by Ludovico Einaudi - played by Stewart, one of the two accompanists. The choir sang superbly without a note of music in front of them and almost raised the roof with their robust singing of the football anthem "Walk On" and the Battle Hymn of the Republic.

Such a pity that we did not have a larger audience but we will invite them back next year so more people can enjoy their wonderful music.

I have a special fondness for Wales as my younger daughter Helen studied Stage Management at the Welsh College of Music and Drama in Cardiff and we had Cwm Rhondda as one of her wedding hymns. Cardiff is a cosmopolitan city and I used to enjoy shopping in Morgans, Cardiff's answer to Harrods, which alas is no longer there.

Helen's student flat was a stone's throw from Cardiff Castle and within earshot of Cardiff Arms Park. On a Saturday afternoon conversation would suddenly stop when we heard a huge roar - the home rugby team had scored a try!

SLEEPING CATS and BABIES

Last Monday I had to have my elderly female tabby cat, Spice aged 17+ years, put to sleep as she had developed kidney disease. In my sadness I was cheered up by some comical photographs of cats sleeping in strange places sent to me by a friend. Cats have an amazing ability to find cosy if eccentric places to sleep.

On Thursday we had our penultimate County Council meeting, duly reported in Beds on Sunday - I got a mention this time! Then I headed north in a flurry of snow to Staffordshire to look after 2 lively small grandchildren, Jessica, 6 and Oliver, 4 for three days, while their recently divorced mother Helen had a well earned Valentine's weekend off with her lovely new man. I was once a divorced working mother with sole responsibility for 2 young daughters after my husband went off with a younger single woman and it is hard coping 24/7 alone with two young children.

We had a flurry of nursery, swimming lessons, ballet, a visit to a Wacky Warehouse for indoor soft play, visits to the shops, walks, roller skating, Play doh, reading stories, pancake making etc. By Sunday evening I was totally exhausted. Thank goodness I am only a grandmother and not a young Mum as bringing up young children demands total commmitment, unselfishness and lots of energy.

That American single mother who chose to have 6 IVF children without a father in sight and has now produced IVF octuplets is totally selfish and irresponsible. As for the 13 year old English boy who has fathered a baby and those women who want to have babies at 60 years plus - words fail me!

Today after an early morning swim I have been sitting on a complex 3 day race discrimination employment tribunal case in Bedford - very taxing mentally but in a different way from childminding. Tonight I put up posters in Elstow village for my Advice Surgery next Saturday morning and for the Concert we are having at Elstow Abbey on the evening on Saturday 28 February at 7pm - the Luton Male Voice Choir which should be fantastic.

Finally, tonight I had to deal with all my emails and write the Foreword to the 2008/9 Annual Report of the Borough Council Corporate & Resource Committee which I chair.

Goodnight..........

SURVIVING SNOW AND THE CREDIT CRUNCH !

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!
Today it is snowing and in 21st Century Britain 50% of the population will get up and soldier into work somehow while 50% turn over in bed and go back to sleep. Bedford has not had heavy snow but one school closed instantly, while Elstow Lower School has stayed open - our Head Teacher is made of sterner stuff. The post has just arrived and I drove home in snow last night - but I remember living in Scotland as a child. We regularly had heavy snowfalls and were never allowed to stay off school - it was par for the course. We are fast becoming a nation of risk averse wimps, doomed to live safe, bland and boring lives with no excitement at all.

My late father survived 6 terrible years at sea during World War II on minesweepers and minelayers, including Arctic convoys to protect merchant shipping. One of his ships was sunk and half the ship's company including the captain were drowned, but never a word of complaint about his suffering crossed his lips after the War. He was also the navigator in HMS Frobisher, the leading frigate in the British Fleet during the 1944 D-Day Normandy Invasion and 33 years later he was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the French Government - their highest military honour.

SURVIVING THE CREDIT CRUNCH
Last Saturday, the Friends of Elstow Abbey did their bit for the Credit Crunch by providing a wonderful Organ Recital and a generous Ploughman's Lunch with a free drink, all for £5 for the older music lovers. This was our 3rd Concert in our 1st Elstow Music Festival and the cannier souls bought season tickets for £15 for 4 concerts, so the Saturday concert and food only cost them £3.75 each. Where else in Bedford could you be entertained, fed and watered for that money in 2009?

Our 4th and final Concert will be a rousing performance from the Luton Male Voice Choir on Saturday 28 February at 7.30pm and we are well on the way to raising our target £1,000 for the 4 concerts to continue refurbishing our historic church and its organ. Not bad when we have offered such bargain prices for the 4 excellent concerts.

After a recent expensive weekend dining out, this weekend I enjoyed gourmet home cooked food at a fraction of restaurant prices. My fellow Councillor Andrew McConnell had a Jamie Oliver moment on Saturday and cooked 2 superb fillet steaks and I cooked a deilvcious lamb shank on Sunday before trampingout in the snow to deliver election leaflets for the forhcoming Unitary Elections. We are indeed fortunate to live in a country where food is plentiful and cheap, unlike the poor souls living at starvation level in Zimbabwe.

WEEK OF PRAYER FOR CHRISTIAN UNITY

WILSTEAD PARISH CHURCH and ELSTOW ABBEY

Last week was exceptionally busy and included a 3 day Employment Tribunal, a Speed Reading course, a Finance Briefing for the new Unitary Council, a BBC 3 Counties Breakfast interview, a Community Safety Forum with the Police and representatives from 6 villages and a meeting to launch Wilstead Parish Plan. I also visited a local farming family to advise them on a peculiar situation whereby their home is cut in half by the boundary between Haynes and Wilstead and will be located in 2 different Unitary Councils, Central Beds and Bedford Borough Councils in April.

Today I went to Wilstead Parish Church to present gifts purchased with a grant from my Community Leader's Fund - 2 lovely English Ash wooden collecting bowls, made by Ray Terry a Wilstead resident, and a CD Player and CDs of hymns for use when an organist is not available to play. In the congregation were 16 week old triplets, Alex, Jessica and Oliver with their proud parents and a pair of identical boy twins. There must be something in the water in Wilstead....

This evening I attended a Joint Ecumenical Service at Elstow Abbey to celebrate the 100th Week of Prayer for Christian Unity organised by Churches Together in Britain and Ireland, with representatives from many different Bedford churches. I was invited to attend both as Vice Chairman of Bedfordshire County Council and Elstow's local Councillor. Also I sang the anthem - A Clare Benediction by John Rutter - with the choir and we had some rousing hymns including Cwm Rhondda and an interesting Sermon from David Cornick, General Secretary of Churches Together in England.

Next Saturday 31 January Elstow Abbey Friends are holding the 3rd Concert in our 1st ever Elstow Music Fesitval - an Organ Recital by Bedfordshire Organists Association at 12 noon. Tickets are only £7.50 (£5 for pensioners) including a Ploughman's Lunch - a real bargain for those who are watching the pennies in the Credit Crunch. Tickets can be bought on the door and all are welcome.

Never a dull moment for this local Councillor - and I even found time to watch the Inauguration of Barack Obama as the 44th US President!

CHRISTMAS MUSIC ON MONDAY 1 DECEMBER

CHRISTMAS CONCERT AT ELSTOW ABBEY

Tomorrow Hitchin Concert Band Brass Ensemble and the Kingshott School Chamber Choir perform a Christmas Concert at Elstow Abbey in the 2nd Concert of our 1st Elstow Music Festival.

All are welcome at 6.30pm on Monday 1 December Tickets can be bought on the door for a modest price - £7.50 each, £5 for pensioners and children are free. Come and sing Christmas carols in our historic church to get into the mood for Christmas. Proceeds go towards refurbishing our 11th Century Abbey Church.

Last Wednesday I was privileged to hear a fine performance of 'The Apostles' by Edward Elgar performed by the 100 strong Parliament Choir in Westminster Cathedral.

On Friday I also watched the Thursford Christmas Spectacular Show in Norfolk, performed on the widest stage in England by a superb international troup of colourful dancers and singers.

REMEMBRANCE DAY - TUESDAY 11 NOVEMBER

Yesterday I attended the Remembrance Sunday Service in Elstow Abbey and the wreath laying ceremony at the Elstow Bunyan Christian Fellowship, followed by a lunch with members of the Wilstead Branch of the Royal British Legion.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Day and the 90th Anniversary of the 1918 Armistice. At 11am there will be a 2 minute silence in the County Council and offices across the UK. A special service will take place at the National Memorial Arboretum, 150 acres of trees and memorials devoted to the concept of Remembrance in the heart of England.

The Arboretum is in the National Forest of Staffordshire at Alrewas, where my younger daughter Helen lives with her 2 small children. Jessica, aged 6, was thrilled to be chosen to take part in the Alrewas Remembrance Sunday Service.
The Arboretum is the home of the Armed Forces Memorial, opened in October 2007. It is a striking and emotive Memorial giving recognition and thanks for those who have died whilst on duty or as a result of terrorist action since the Second World War and acknowledges the enduring sacrifice of those who mourn the loss.

A few years ago I visited Ypres in Flanders, Belgium to view the notorious trenches where thousands of Britons and Europeans died during the First World War. Sadly many died of disease and on one day alone 23,000 men died - a terrible waste of young life. Red poppies grow profusely in Flanders as in the photograph above and the poppy was chosen as our annual Remembrance symbol.

In May 2006 I visited Washington DC during their Veterans' Weekend and was struck by the large numbers of young families who came from all over America to remember the sacrifices of thousands of Americans who have died in several wars.

A few years ago, Remembrance Sunday had little appeal for the young in the UK, but in recent years it has enjoyed a revival, mainly because of the sad deaths of so many young servicemen and women in the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and in Northern Ireland.

ELSTOW ABBEY FIREWORK DISPLAY

Tonight Elstow families enjoyed our traditional Annual Bonfire and Firework Display It was our 2nd bonfire because the first one, built 2 weeks ago, was set alight by vandals, so another one had to be built this week.

Last Saturday we launched out first ever Elstow Music Festival with an excellent concert from the Flitwick Singers. Unfortunately, it was a wet night and the audience was small, but we expect a much larger attendance at our Christmas Concert on Monday 1 December at 6.30pm when Hitchin Concert Band Brass Ensemble and Kingshott School Chamber Choir will perform. Tickets are £7.50 each (£5for concessions) This is a golden opportunity to enjoy a top quality Christmas Concert in a beautiful and historic church for a bargain price. Tickets can be purchased on the door.

Tomorrow is Remembrance Sunday, so I shall be attending the Remembrance Sunday Service at Elstow Abbey in my official capacity as Vice Chairman of Bedfordshire County Council. Then I shall attend a British Legion lunch in Wilstead.

My late father was a naval war hero, decorated by the French Government with the Croix de Guerre for his role in the D-Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944, and my grandfather fought at the Battle of Jutland during the First World War.