Christmas News Part I

Christmas greetings everyone! It seems strange to be composing this annual missive in early November but, as is my custom, I am away in California for Thanksgiving from 10 November to 2 December. So, I thought I would get started early. This is my first attempt at a blog and I hope to increasingly use it, especially for my research, about which I will say a little more later. 

St Cadoc's, Cowbridge

2014 has been a busy year, probably busier than I anticipated. One of the major features has been a return to part-time pastoral work. Since March I have been helping out most weekends on different parishes in the Cardiff diocese. It was an area of the British Isles I had visited infrequently but now I have acquainted myself with many of capital city's Catholic communities and a number of outlying parishes such as Llantwit Major, Cowbridge (see picture left), Penarth, Dinas Powys, Newport and Merthyr Tydfil. Many decades ago the English Benedictines, including Douai, had a strong presence in this part of the world. Now it is mainly confined to Herefordshire (which, although in England, is part of the Cardiff Diocese) where the Belmont community still have responsibility for a number of parishes including Hereford, Abergavenny and Leominster. My usual routine is to leave Thatcham late Saturday morning to arrive in time for the Saturday evening Mass. Then depart about noon on the Sunday after celebrating two morning Masses. It has been very rewarding to minister to the many different Catholic communities in Cardiff and Glamorgan. They have made me very welcome and offered me generous hospitality. I expect they will ask me to continue next year. I already have one request. As I do not have a car, the only negative side has been the train travel which sometimes takes up to five hours depending on weekend engineering works, diversions, faulty signalling and flooding. On a good day I can do 'door to door' in just over three hours.

My weekdays are divided among a number of activities including praying the daily office, or breviary as it is sometime called, which priests are obliged to recite five times a day.  Then reading, study, writing, walking, sketching, watercolour painting, travel and housekeeping. I always try and cook my evening meal using fresh items and make my own bread, yoghurt, marmalade and jams. There have been occasional visits to London, especially the Royal National Theatre, the Old Vic and Sadler’s Wells.  I continue to indulge my passion for films and go most weeks to our local cinema in Newbury. One of the innovations that modern technology has brought is ‘live broadcasts’ from different theatres in the UK and further afield. This means that I no longer have to travel up to London or Stratford to see a play. Instead a theatre broadcasts a live performance to cinemas throughout the UK (and the rest of the world for that matter). Not only is it more convenient but it is a fraction of the cost. With close-ups, different camera angles, amplification you see and hear a lot more too. I belong also to the local branch of the National Trust and the U3A (i.e. the University of the Third Age for over 60’s). Both organise one day coach trips to historic houses, parks and gardens. I am only now starting to appreciate the richness of our historic buildings and heritage.  

The bulk of my reading and writing is for my PhD at St Mary's University, Twickenham. During the year St Mary's status was raised from a 'university college' to a full 'research university' making it the largest Catholic university in the British Isles. It has a very attractive campus with excellent sports facilities some of which are used by Team Britain (e.g. Mo Farrah). Originally

Strawberry Hill House, Twickenham

St Mary's was a Catholic teacher training College fondly remembered by its alumni as 'Strawberry Hill', named after the area of Twickenham in which it is located. It is only five minutes’ walk from the River Thames and has in its grounds the recently renovated Strawberry Hill House ( see picture), the Gothic revival home of Horace Walpole built in 1749. Over the last 15 months I have had several meetings with my PhD supervisors and received positive feedback so I hope I am on target to finish towards the end of 2016. It is a slow process. I started this project in 2002 so I might go down in history as taking 14 years to complete, although a colleague of mine, who ended up in a senior position at the LSE, took 16 years.

On the matter of blogs early next year I want to start a dialogue going about the contemplative dimension of leisure which is the main topic of my thesis. I am not quite sure how to go about it yet. In December I will attend a research methodology course so that may give me some clues. I also belong to a group that promotes action research in a theological setting so that may be helpful too. So watch this space.One of my ideas is to start a specific blog on the contemplative dimension in peoples' leisure time. However, before I start that I need to clear my proposal with my university's ethics committee to ensure I am not infringing personal privacy or data.


Thanks to the hospitality of Anthony and Keri Grimley who run the Monos lay community I spent Easter in the grounds of Mount St Bernard, a Cistercian (Trappist) monastery just on the edge of the National forest in Leicestershire. The Easter liturgy was celebrated with simple dignity and solemnly. In between I managed several walks in the local area. Ant and Keri are great cooks and run a visitors centre and tea house as an adjunct. Needless to say Sunday lunch of Roast Lamb, shared with their extended family, was delicious.

Chesil Beach from St Catherine's Chapel

Getting ready for some cliff face climbing!

With the warmer weather and longer days May offered an opportunity to get out and about. I spent the first May Bank Holiday weekend with the Newbury and Thatcham Walkers staying in a B&B in Weymouth. Over the long weekend we completed three 8-9 mile walks which included

The Swannery at Abbotsbury

Abbotsbury and Chesil Beach, Portland and Kingsgate Bay. The following weekend was spent attending an ‘Implicit Religion’ conference at Denton Hall at which I presented a short paper. Denton in situated in the Yorkshire Moors just west of Ilkley. The following weekend was spent as guests of David and Mary McGinity who live in Butley near

Coastal Path looking towards Swanage

Woodbridge, Suffolk. While I was there I visited Thorpeness beach to assist at the naming ceremony of Willow, the daughter of Joc and Tessa Marchington. It was a stunning sunny day. We had some lovely readings and music followed by a picnic lunch. I officiated at Joc and Tessa wedding a few years ago so it was nice to meet all their family again.  

Deserted barns Tyneham Village

Fossilised tree stump Jurassic Coast

Chalk Man of Cerne Abbas

Durdle Door - Lulworth

Ruins of Cerne Abbas Abbey

Cerne Abbas Timbered Building

Look back at Corfe Castle

Ewe and her lambs sheltering from the hot sun

Studland Church

Weymouth Olympic Sailing Venue

The first four weekends of June were devoted to parish ministry. The last week was devoted to
 another walking holiday, this time seven days based around Lulworth Cove, Dorset not too far from Weymouth where I had been the previous month. I am glad to say that I managed to complete five days of walking around Cerne Abbas, coastal paths from Lulworth to Swanage and Lulworth to Weymouth, the Purbeck Hills and a fascinating trail though the Lulworth Army Ranges (which were fortunately shut for the day) including the abandoned village of Tyneham. 

Overlooking Heidelberg from the Philosopher's Way

Throughout July and August my travel has been confined to coach trips or weekends on parish supply. One of my godsons, Patrick Mullens, was married to his fiancée Hollie at Douai on Friday, 22 August. Patrick is the first of my four godsons to get married. Fortunately the reception was held close by so I was able to get back home in time to travel to South Wales the following day for my usual duties. The following August Bank Holiday Monday I  flew to Frankfurt and then an onward train journey to Heidelberg where I spent four very enjoyable days staying with Friedrich and Catharina Firnhaber who I had met through the BMW Foundation in India several years ago. They have four teenage children all of whom, like their parents, speak perfect English so there were no communication problems. Wonderful hospitality, food and

Heidelberg University Student Prison

wine. The city, which is on the Neckar river,  is centred around the ancient university which incidentally is twinned with Cambridge. It is very easy to walk everywhere, full of history with many attractive churches and buildings. The second part of the week took me again by train, this time  to Munich and then by car to Kitzbühel in Austria (just across the Bavarian border) where I officiated at the wedding of Natasha and Felix, again who I met through the BMW foundation. After the noon wedding on the Saturday followed by a champagne reception all the guests assembled back in Munich for the formal dinner, speeches and cake. Every aspect of the organisation was perfect and I felt very privileged to be part of the celebration. Apart from Ireland where you are continually popping across the border, this is the first time I have attended a wedding celebrated in two different European countries. 


Immediately following the wedding I flew directly to Dublin from Munich where I met up with my eldest sister Sheena and my Mother who had come over on the car ferry from Holyhead. Together we drove up to Lisnaskea in Co. Fermanagh where both my mother and I were born. We rented a fishermen’s cottage on the shores of Loch Erne just a mile from the McCaffrey homestead where my grandfather and his father were born. The farm is still in the family ownership with fabulous views of the lakes and hills. Most of the time was spent visiting relatives in the area and also the church where I was baptised, my parents married and my grandparents buried. While we were there we received the news that mother’s first great grandchild, Dylan Eric Stead,  had been born safely on 3^rd September to Cara and her partner James. Cara is my brothers daughter. So another generation of the Tredget family begins and hopefully all four generations spanning 93 years will be gathered together for our regular Boxing Day reunion at Chelmsford.

The last weekend of September was taken up by a five day tour of the Suffolk villages and coast organised by our local Thatcham U3A. On the way we stopped off at Saffron Walden in Essex and were able to explore the town, its ancient buildings, especially its famous market and church. The following days were devoted to visiting Bury St Edmund’s and Lavenham. The next  East Bergholt, Aldeburgh and Flatford Mill in the famous Constable Country. We ended with a couple of hours in historic Colchester and a visit to the Castle, a place I had never visited before in spite of working close by for six months back in the late 1960’s! On the way back to Thatcham we called in at Anglesea Abbey, formerly an Augustinian Priory, but now a National Trust property with extensive park and gardens, just North East of Cambridge. The coach ride back to Berkshire took us through the Great Gransden and Eltisley, former haunts of my youth when I lived in Bedfordshire.

Aldeburgh Beach

Snape Concert Hall

River Deben at Waldringfield

East Bergholt Church

Flatford Mill

Willy Lott's House

Timbered House Lavenham

Timbered House Lavenham

Guildhall of Corpus Christi Lavenham

Saffron Walden Church

October has been relatively quiet getting on with my PhD work and continuing my weekend pastoral visits to South Wales. In the next few days I shall start my preparations for my USA trip. First to san Clemente (south of Los Angeles), then San Diego. David and Lorraine, my cousins are taking me on a road trip to the Grand Canyon for a few days. That will be followed by a flight to San Francisco and Berkeley to revisit my college where I spent none months back in 1997-1998. Then on to Sonoma where another cousin has just bought a house in the wine country. I think the three weeks will pass quickly.

That's all for now. Off to get my packing done.