Author Archives: PeterAdmin

Human beings tend to like certainty.  We like things to be predictable.  But predictable may exclude possibilities. In writing a booklet on mental skills for young footballers (I started out life as a PE teacher) I wrote: “Football is a … Continue reading →

A friend of mine forwarded me a picture of his 5 year old grandson.  He was dressed as a cowboy and pointing a revolver at a security guard outside a Star Wars Convention.  The security guard had his hands up … Continue reading →

It’s understandable that we human beings like to define things and we do so largely in words.  To speak, to record things, to communicate is a major part of being human.  It helps us to understand our world and each … Continue reading →

A member of the Amazonian tribe the Kuhama Kushameria, was paddling some white visitors down the river.  He gently brought the boat to a stop.  “The fish are singing”, he said.  “Can you hear them?”  No they couldn’t. They gave … Continue reading →

How open am I to possibilities or, as Elaine put it in her sermon last Sunday, to expecting the unexpected?  And, having experienced it, to travelling in a different direction? Courtney Gore became a member of her local school board … Continue reading →

When you have won a gold medal what do you do next?  Go for the next one.  Set a goal.  Make a resolution.  Keep going, even in retirement.  Like a retired teacher friend of mine, who, having just finished a … Continue reading →

What unites us and what divides us?  Questions that have come to me from several directions over the past week.  Last Thursday’s elections started things off, followed by a visit to the North East, a couple of Radio programmes and … Continue reading →

One of my recent pleasures has been listening to a radio dramatisation of Arnold Bennett’s novels.  Born in Hanley in 1865, the background to his novels are the five towns that make up Stoke-on-Trent.  He weaves beautifully together the lives … Continue reading →

Canonisation isn’t something that happens to ordinary folk like you and me.  To become an official saint you have to go through lots of steps.  Firstly you have to be dead and other steps include having a miracle attributed to … Continue reading →

I listened to a programme about the singer song-writer Joni Mitchell.  Joni was a folk singer, who came from Canada to America to find success.  The folk scene was very much alive in America, as it was here, during the … Continue reading →