09/11/2024
Friends Of The BBC Radio Daily Service
Saturday 9th of November 2024
Welcome to ‘Friends of the BBC’s Daily Service Page’ on Facebook. This page is dedicated to bring the many friends of the Christian Daily worship ’ programme that is now broadcast on BBC Radio 4 Extra (via DAB and BBC Sounds), on the Freeview Radio Channel, and on-line.
Rob Mannion who lives in Bournemouth on the South West Coast of England provides an up-date on his enjoyment of the Daily Service together with some feedback. However, first Rob looks back at the last few weeks…and it seems he’s been rather busy!
Good afternoon my dear friends! As I sit here in my combined bedroom and study …just 800 yards or so back from the cliff tops overlooking the sea…I’m reflecting back on what an amazing month it’s been for myself and my family. Friday October 11th was rather a sombre day for me because exactly 49 years ago at 1430 hours my dear late wife Carol (who died aged 82 just short of her 83rd birthday) on August 22nd 2023 from Uterine Cancer) and I were married at All Saints Church in Eastleigh in Hampshire. Octkber 11th was also the 60th Birthday of my twin Sisters Margaret and Rosemary who acted as Carol’s Bridesmaids on their 11th birthday.
I wished them both warm greetings for their special day. I’m not in regular contact with Rosemany ….but I understand that she sees Facebook. Margaret on the other hand is a busy coach driver for the Luckett’s Coach Company based in Fareham in Hampshire, and pops up literally everywhere on Facebook sharing her adventures driving her very large coach all over the UK and into Europe!
The Autumn is a busy time for birthdays and memories in this branch of the Mannion family! Carol’s birthday was September 23rd, my birthday was on October 2nd and Alex our youngest daughter who lives in London (right next door to the Oval Cricket Ground) with her family…was 46 years old on October 7th. Then came our Wedding anniversary on the 11th. A month of memories!
A week Of Special Programmes
The Daily Service production team have excelled themselves in the past week with the five Daily Services programmes presenting well-known Hymns and…most unusually….the living writers of those Hymns. I thoroughly enjoyed the whole week of Services and listening to the voices of the Hymn writers. In fact I found it humbling to be privileged to hear the composers of some of my favourite Hymns speaking. Several of them were new voices to me….. but it was deeply moving to hear them discussing what inspired them to write their Hymns and what (and how) they were trying to achieve. Indeed…I found the whole week’s programmes to be really uplifting and encouraging! My grateful thanks go to the production team responsible for the truly remarkable programmes.
The weather here in Dorset has been quite miserable…heavily overcast, damp and cold. I kept on thinking of my late wife Carol (she had an encyclopaedic memory for poetry, Rhymes, stories and Hymns) because whenever ‘sombre November’ shows up through the Autumn mist she would recite the poem with those memorable lines in full without a pause! My own abilities are very poor in this respect because I can only every remember the first and second (with luck!) lines of my favourite Hymns, poems and Rhymes!
In thanking Our dear Lord for Carol’s wonderful life I also thank all the Hymn writers, Poets and Story Writers who created the enormously huge store of memories she had. Thank you one and all…. and may God bless and keep you all as Sombre November drifts into crisp December and we welcome the winders of Advent.
I look forward to chatting with you all again soon.
Rob
Saturday November 9th 2024.
