A14 Naseby

Naseby was one of those pivotal battles in history.  I've only been able to gloss over it in this video.  If you would like to view something more substantial, then do take a look at Peter and Dan Snow's video on Battlefield Britain which will give details on the battle and how Naseby influenced British political history.

The English Civil War was very much bound up with the Christian religion.  There are those who would say that religion is bad because it causes wars.  But is that true?   If we look at both Charles I and Cromwell we see men who saw religion as legitimising their actions.  For example, with Charles it was his notion of the divine right of kings to rule that led to his brutal suppression of political activity and of any branch of religion that did not agree with his version.  Cromwell on the other hand waged a brutal war on the Irish because of their Catholicism which he considered a false religion.  Who was right?   They couldn't both be!

Or was it simply a case of political leaders using religion to legitimise wrongdoing even though the Bible would be firmly against the atrocities caused by either leader, or for that matter in the "civil" war which was anything but civil.   In the Bible in Zechariah 7:9 it says: This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another.  That's not an uncommon sentiment in the Bible and that is the true Christian position.  How different politics and religion would both be if just these few words were heeded.

As I said in the video, the nature of a God of love is to desire that men and women be at peace with him and through Jesus they can find that peace and relationship with God that's real, rather than something that if they twist does the opposite of everything God is and Jesus Christ stands for.

A14: Orwell Bridge

If you were affected by the subject of suicide in this video and need advice or support, then the following organisations and local groups may be able to help you.  

Feeling suicidal or having suicidal thoughts?  

The Samaritans

08457 90 90 90

Samaritans Website

Always there 24/7, when things are urgent.

NHS

If you are feeling suicidal and fear you may harm yourself, you may go to any A & E Department. NHS Direct is on 0845 4647.

Otherwise, do speak to your GP who can also arrange local support and counselling.  

Supportline

01708 765200

http://www.supportline.org.uk

Advice and links to local groups for support, help and counselling.  General helpline , not only suicide.

Calm

0800 585858

http://www.thecalmzone.net 

Help & support for young men aged 18-35 on various issues including depression and suicide. 

Hopeline UK 

0800 0684141

http://www.papyrus.org.uk 

Advice on preventing suicide amongst younger people.  

Premier Lifeline 

08456 52 52 52

http://www.premier.org.uk/lifeline 

Helpline providing a listening service, information and emotional and spiritual support from a Christian perspective.  General helpline, not only suicide.

Youth to Youth 

020 8896 3675 

http://www.youth2youth.co.uk 

Help and support for young people up to 19 years. General help, not only suicide.

Many of these sites have links and contact numbers for other organisations.

Suffered loss because of suicide?

Unless otherwise stated, most of these groups and organisations give general bereavement advice and help as well as suicide related matters.

The Samaritans are available 24/7 if you need to talk about your bereavement - details above.

NHS

Your GP will be able to help and advise you as you try to come to terms with your bereavement.

Cruse Bereavement Care  

0844 477 9040 or in Felixstowe 01394 670770

http://www.crusebereavementcare.org.uk/ 

A national organisation providing care for those bereaved through a network of trained volunteers.

Survivors of Bereavement by Suicide

0844 561 6855

http://www.uk-sobs.org.uk/

A self-help group for those bereaved through suicide.

Local Services in Felixstowe

Felixstowe Listening Service   07896 326459 and are available Friday mornings at Felixstowe Library.

Walton Parish Nursing  01394 276774 http://www.waltonpn.org.uk

Both of these services provide a listening ear, information, emotional and spiritual support.

Cruse has a local branch - details above

Prayer

If you would like someone to pray for you, please contact us by email .  You need not leave any personal details if you don't want to, but do leave a name.

If you would like someone to pray with you, then please give us some contact details and we will try to link you with someone locally who will arrange a confidential meeting with you.



Need to find out about living life to the full in Jesus?

There are various items on the MRBC website which can help you.  Otherwise, do email us.

A14: Seven Hills

This is the second video in a series of places on or near the A14.  This one is just off Junction 58 at Nacton, south of Ipswich.

They're not hills and there aren't just seven of them.   As we find out in this video, the "seven hills" are in fact bowl barrows: bronze age burial mounds.   The thirteen barrows present in the area are recognised as a bronze age cemetery and barrows seem to have stretched out from the seven hills site up to Levington Heath.    As you can see from the aerial photo, although there is evidence of at least 6 barrows, only one is easily visible on the ground and it's the bracken covered one next to the A14.  It is speculated that the barrows also marked a prehistoric boundary between territories.  Interestingly, the medieval boundaries between Nacton and Levington are thought to have been on the same axis.  

All the features mentioned in the video can be found if you want to do some exploring, but there are access restrictions in many places as most of the land is not open to the public.   There is a list of some of the sources of information I found on the web about these features below.

Barrows, like modern monuments were a memorial to those who had died, although we don't know much about them or their customs except what we dig up, usually as grave goods.    Barrows don't seem to have solely been the preserve of high status people, but they must have certainly been significant people.

The presence of grave goods, particularly "useful" items like pots seem to indicate a belief in the afterlife.   Most societies have some kind of belief in the afterlife.  Even in a modern society like Britain, belief in the afterlife is more common than not, although ideas are often very nebulous.   Many people hope there's something out there.  Others look to ideas about reincarnation from eastern religions.  It all seems difficult and mystical.

But surely if there is a God who is interested in people, wouldn't he try to make contact and make it clear what the afterlife, heaven or whatever is all about?  He has.   He became one of us and lived amongst us - Jesus.   And Jesus died to open a way by which we may know God, not just in an afterlife but this one now too.

Cemeteries, whether bronze age or modern, remind us of the frailty of life and the certainty of death.  Most people prefer not to think about that sort of stuff to hard, but the older you get the more you realise you can't avoid it!   Yet God has already thought that one through for us. In Jesus there is a promise of heaven brought about because Jesus died to deal with the things that keep all of us separated from God - the wrong things we do, which God calls sin.   IN Jesus we can find forgiveness and are given a hope of being in the place God is after we die - heaven.

Verse

More information about barrows:
 The National Heritage List for England (can search for local features)
Information on Prehistoric Sites
The Bronze Age in England
Wikipedia on Prehistoric Britain 

A14: Loved, Hated, Needed

It's the road we love and hate in almost equal measure.  But it's certainly needed as it's the major road artery from Suffolk and East Anglia to the Midlands and it's the way we escape the Colneis Peninsula without struggling through Ipswich.

The idea of an East Anglian highway was conceived during the 1960s.  With the advent of major development in Felixstowe, such a highway became a necessity, but rather than develop a whole new route such as a motorway, it was decided to improve the A45 east of Cambridge and the A604 to the west, with a new link to the M1 and M6.  This would allow traffic to move into East Anglia from the Midlands and North.    It was all built piecemeal, with dualling an bypasses.  Why?   I gather cost was the main consideration.  Improved A roads were also considered a more acceptable option than motorways in the 1970s because of increasing difficulty in getting them passed.   Even then the only completely new A14 section between Catthorpe and Kettering took 20 years to traverse the planning system.  We'll look at that in a later video.

In Suffolk, most of the A45 required a new alignment, but where the old one was left, such as at Haughley, the result was a road that was not up to standard as road use increased.   To the west of Cambridge it was even worse and the congestion problems are still not resolved.   In the desire to save money, some major junctions were not full interchanges but where at least one or more of the major roads faced a roundabout such as Catthorpe, Brampton Hut, Spittals, Copdock and Seven Hills.  All can be major catch points in peak hours.

The highway was not even given its A14 designation until 1994 when the road was completed.   Two number A roads are usually designated as major regional roads so it made sense to remove it from its original road and allocate it to the new one.

The road rapidly became congested in several places, underlining the short-sightedness of the scheme as planned and the A14 remains the only major dual carriageway road from the Midlands into East Anglia.

Sometimes journeys can be unpredictable, particularly during peak hours or if there is an accident. The whole journey experience of the A14 reminded me of life.  Sometimes it's smooth, sometimes it's rough.  We may have to detour off to avoid jams.  Whatever the nature of the journey, we get to a destination.  Start in the Midlands and keep driving and we arrive in Felixstowe, our destination; we can't get any further.    In life we all have a single destination and that's death.  I know that sounds morbid but it's the reality of life.   Are we ready for the destination of life?  We can be and that's through trusting and following Jesus Christ.

Mark Reid
24/6/12

Hit the Hut!

Yes I know it's the Pizza Hut slogan but as you guessed the video was nothing to do about pizzas.     It was about the humble beach hut - so prominent a feature on the Felixstowe shoreline.   Huts are very much a matter of taste.  For those who like unspoilt coastline, then there isn't really any truly unspoilt coastline between the Orwell and Deben estuaries.  

On the other hand, huts are part of the traditional British beach scene for older resorts like Felixstowe and they are much loved both by those who own them or who hire them.  The price of huts gives us an idea of demand.

As we discovered in the video, one of the earliest reasons for the development of resorts was health.  Doctors were convinced of the health benefits of sea bathing but it's clear that for the prosperous, time at the seaside changed from being a health thing and became part of the annual social scene.   Their love of the seaside became a national phenomena during the early part of the 20th century as the development of annual leave and paid holidays led to mass tourism and the railways soon became burgeoned with seaside travellers.

For the early Victorian bathers, modesty was essential, which is why bathing machines became part of beach life in even small resorts.   The picture in the video taken in 1880 shows a number of bathing machines on a as yet almost unspoilt beach.  By 1890 onwards bathing machines were being augmented by huts people used to change and shelter in.   By the 1920s, social trends had changes such that most people didn't want or need the privacy of a bathing machine - a hut did nicely as being seen with a bathing costume on by a member of the opposite sex was less of a taboo.

Why the annual holiday?  Or for that matter the day trip or long weekend to the sea?    For most people it's rest.   What's more peaceful than looking out to sea on a warm sunny day, enjoying the sound of the waves, experiencing sea breezes and just chilling?

As I said in the video, rest was invented by God.  It was for a simple and practical reason: we need it.  Physically and mentally we need it.  Spiritually we definitely do.   We need time to taker account of life and think of God.  To remind ourselves that He does think about human beings.  Yet so often we rush though life not giving Him a single thought.

In life God prescribed us some standards for rest - a day off a week, a regular pattern of holidays - and they have passed into our society: and psychologists tell us how important a work-rest balance is.

So what other things does the Bible teach us about rest?  Here's something Jesus said in Matthew's gospel:   

"Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won't lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you'll learn to live freely and lightly."  Matthew 11:28-30 The Message.

 This was a video with a Christian message.  But it wasn't to plug religion at you, but to emphasise as I do that the Christian faith is about a relationship with Jesus Christ.  That relationship isn't a drudge, but something that is exciting and fulfilling, even when life gets tough because He helps us with the weight of life's issues.     He compares it to rest - living freely and lightly.

There's more, because at the end of life God wants us to  be with Him eternally and that's described as rest too.    But for us as human beings it's an opt-in.   God doesn't make us choose that rest.  He just made sure that the offer is there to each man and woman.   That offer was made possible by the death of Jesus on the cross.  He's now risen and living and wants each of us to know Him.  

Starting right now.  

And He wants to know you today if you don't follow Him.   All you have to do is ask God's forgiveness for not following Him for so long, for doing things that have been wrong and following Jesus.   God always forgives all those who truly come asking for it and empowers us to follow Jesus day be day:  Come to me. Get away with me and you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to take a real rest.

Mark

24/5/12 

A Century Apart: a tale of two ships

This video came out of a visit to Germany we made in April 2012.  We took the Stena Line service across the North Sea from Harwich to Hoek van Holland.   April 2012 was a significant date as it was the centenary of the maiden voyage and sinking of the Titanic as a result of striking an iceberg.  Both ships are passenger ships, the Hollandica so 20,000 tonnes larger.   One is now at the bottom of the Atlantic - the other a regular traveller across the North Sea.  What can we learn from them?

Titanic was the largest passenger ship of her day.   The name Titanic was given to convey the sheer size of the vessel - preferred over the less grand name first suggested: Gigantic.   The ship reflected her age - one where human beings were gaining mastery over nature - in this case the construction of a ship so large no-one thought that there was anything that could cause it to sink; particularly as it contained the latest in ship safety technology.   There weren't even enough liferboats to carry all occupants of the ship to safety

The voyage turned out to be a catalogue of unexpected events, human error, poor seamanship, construction failings and just plain complacency.   1572 people died as a result.   The disaster laid the foundation for modern safety at sea,   As the video shows, this does not stop deaths or sinking of vessels.  It's not possible to factor out all human failing and unforseen environmental conditions.

The Stena Hollandica builds on previous tragedies to include the latest safety features, but no-one is stupid enough today to suggest that this vessel, larger than Titanic can never or will never sink.  But at least modern regulations make people more conscious of what can go wrong and make provision for it.   Deaths from passenger ship disasters are rare in comparison to motor accidents and even air disasters.    Taking any journey involves risk, but at least its possible to measure what that risk is in many cases.

Life is a journey.  It's a trip into the unknown: to a place we've never been before.   Travelling blind can be very dangerous - like driving or sailing into thick fog.    However, in life, there is someone who knows the way, who's been there before who can be our guide; and that's Jesus.   He's lived life as a human being, died a horrible death and was raised to life.   He knows about life, about death, about eternity.   He wants us to follow him.  He once said "I am the way, the truth and the life, no-one comes to the Father but by me."

So why continue to travel blind?   Why not ask Jesus to come into your life today?

We're getting there?

This is a video about railways, specifically about the Felixstowe Branch Line.  it wasn't intended to be a history as there are many good histories of the branch line out there as well as plenty of enthusiasts who regularly take much better pictures than mine of the rolling stock!

In the past few decades, the line has been transformed from  a struggling branch that had seen better days to a major gateway line for Britain's largest container port - and all on a single track!   The FBL is very much part of Felixstowe's future.   The volume of freight can only rise and putting it on to the railways should ease congestion on the A14, reduce pollution and reduce costs for long distance journeys for containers in the UK.  The only problem is that the FBL is a bottleneck.   The short term answer has been to increase train lengths.   

Controversially, the dock company is now suggesting that off-peak passenger volumes are so low that if the passenger services are transferred to road off-peak, then there could be a significant rise in the number of daily freight trains.  That's not popular in many circles as although off peak passengers are low in winter, in summer they rise significantly with day trippers.  The most practical long-term solution is to double track a portion of the FBL.  Plans exist to do this between Trimley and Levington(the cheapest section to do)  which will  increase capacity significantly if built and could leave passenger services untouched.   It's just a matter of getting on and doing it. 

If you have strong views on this, then contact your local councillors,the local MP or the Office of the Rail Regulator who reviews Greater Anglia rail services.

This video was all about journeys, with the railway being one method by which freight gets from one place to another.  Every container has a destination.   Life is like a journey and all journeys have an end.  There is nothing more pointless and frustrating than doing a journey and we're not sure of the route or how to get to the destination.   Where's our destinationin life  and how do we get to it?  

Jesus once gave us these words "I am the way, the truth and the life.  No-one comes to the Father except through me. " (John 14:6)   If we want answers to what life is about and where its destination is, then we find the way to those answers is in Jesus.

Mark