Billericay's very own henge?

Is this Billericay's very own henge?  On Laindon common on the other side of the path near Woodcock Pond there is a ring of old logs, with an 'entrance'  clearly marked by the double height ones.  I wonder what it's purpose is?  I have not checked the alignment so I can't tell if its aligned for a solstice.  May be it's a meeting place of some sort?  Perhaps the Town Council would like to try it out during the summer?  Perhaps we could hold PCC meetings there?

Easter Saturday Easter Pick 'n' Mix #EasterPnM

Five short sketches in Billericay town centre, repeated on the hour and half hour from 10am until 5pm make up Easter Pick 'n' Mix telling the story of Easter.

We started with 'Dice Cubes', where Mr Waddington's world of games is being taken over by his characters, how will he sort that out? Well, if you know the Easter story, you can guess that his son ends up being nailed to a cross.

Then in to Waitrose for some supplies and a coffee before moving to the graveyard, where Holmes and Watson are investigating a missing body -  problem solved: it got up and walked away!

 In the Mayflower hall, Peter is drowning his sorrows and chatting to Mary Magdalene.  This is a serious and moving piece of drama.  There is also free tea and coffee, but as I had just finished a Waitrose coffee, we just sat and watched.

Off to Greggs for a sandwich, and into St. Mary's to eat it and listen to three girls inviting another member into their gang.  The new member is not what she seems, and we soon start to see how nasty girls can be.  This sketch has a clever twist and portrays the gospel message of forgiveness.

The final sketch took place in the coldest part of town, in the yard between the High Street and the Waitrose loading bay, off Alma Link, Here a Roman soldier gives us his wisdom on the day he has had, with an extra crucifixion thrown in at the last minute.  A very long, interesting monologue.

Well done to all who took any part in the day, the sketches were very good, entertaining, informative and thought-provoking.  I don't know how long this link will be active, but right now it has some videos of the day: https://www.facebook.com/EASTER.PiCnMiX/

Civic Service

We gathered at 3pm, or in our case 5 minutes late, we had not allowed time to park in the overflow car park.  The recently formed community choir were singing.  We heard about all the event that the town council and churches together have been running, from Street Pastors to litter picks, and very briefly from the youth town council.  We were reminded that we were 'the salt of the earth' and that it is our generosity with our time that allows others to experience God's love and that makes Billericay a very nice place to live.
We took a vow to keep it that way, and even to make it better:
"We pledge for the future before us;
to respect the fragile earth and defend all who are weak;
to promote the ways of peace and heal the wound of conflict;
to make the sacrifice of service and honour all that is good; to build a safer and securer future for our children and show reverence for the gift of life.
This we pledge in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen."
We sang some great hymns, which when led by the choir were even better, and verses 1 and three of the national anthem (I was hoping for verse 6).
It was very different, I have never been to anything like it before.  It was good to hear all that is going on in the town, and to realise that there is a close community beginning to develop. If there is another one next year I will definitely attend.

New Play Area on Sun Corner

Sun Corner is the local name for the green space at the junction of the A129 London Road and the B1007, the High Street.  It is directly opposite the 'Rising Sun', so that may be the reason for its name, or it may pre-date that.  It is on the hillside, but only just, and is flooded with sun light and dawn and dusk.  Sun Corner is owned by Essex County Council and has been reduced in size when Quilters school was built - a number of years ago.  There is still a large field that the school have never used fenced off from public access.  Over the years the fence has degraded and it is now a regular haunt of dog walkers and bored children.  Recently the school put 'keep out' notices up, but they soon disappeared.  Nothing was done about the fence.  I have long suspected that our Essex County Councillors would like to turn it into a car park - one of them has said as much to me.  The Sun Corner site became a Diamond Jubilee park (Fields in Trust Queen Elizabeth II Field to use the correct title) in 2012, and I have high hopes that it will be better maintained.

The old play area on Sun Corner had been deteriorating ever sine my children were at Quilters School, starting in 1989.  A short while ago the roundabout broke, the pole holding it in the ground sheared off it was so old!  The old roundabout was quickly removed and the hole made good.  That left a slide and some swings.  There were almost never any young children there, only the teenagers who congregate in the late evening and the early part of the night used it.

Very recently the area was cordoned off (it didn't stop the teenagers, they just broke the fence down), and work began on upgrading the area. It is now fenced off, with a low fence and gates, and there is new equipment.

From the Laindon road, looking west

Two pictures from the London Road, looking South:

Now there are families in the park enjoying the new equipment.  I had to take these pictures in the early morning to get a scene without people - so that you can see what there is.

So thank you, and well done to whichever council provided this upgrade.  Whether it was Billericay Town council, Basildon District Council or Essex County Council, we are very pleased with the result.

Home at last

Although the title may sound negative, it simply reflects the long journey we have undertaken, but first I must talk about the Atlanta Aquarium. Our day began late, Jo and I overslept by about an hour, then we had to pack and drive to Atlanta. Time was moving on, we finally entered the Aquarium about 3pm. It is an amazing place, with separate Aquaria for different types of habitat. They have dolphins, Beluga whales, mantra rays, and various sharks. Those are just the large creatures, there are also lots of different types of small fish, frogs, and American alligators. We went to Gunbeaux for food, before heading to the airport. Atlanta airport has a new international terminal, it is about 10 minutes drive from the existing terminal. We arrived at the gate about an hour before boarding. The flight left on time and arrived in Amsterdam early, so we had an easy transfer to the little BAe 146 for the 40 minute hop to London City. After a short wait for our bags, which we began to think were still in Amsterdam, we passed through customs. Going through customs is an experience I hate, I'm always expecting to be stopped and detained for no better reason than they can. Then we took the DLR, the Jubilee line and the main line to Billericay. The total time in transit was about 13 hours, I slept for barely 2 of those.

Diversion

and it is of course, because I have lots to do apart from blogging - which isn't essential, but we do what we do. At the bottom of our road we used to only be able to turn right. Now we can only turn left:

There used to be a barrier in the road where the traffic sign is on the right. Behind the signs on the left you may just be able to see that the road is wider. There is no adjustment just an abrupt change. As you enter the newer more expensive estate the roads are better. The barrier was there to keep the riff-raff out of the new estate, I'm sure, and has nothing to do with another piece of failed planning. Anyway to stop me qualifying as a grumpy old man, here is the view to the right. (btw, I seem to remember that it was the narrow road that was important!)

Here the road is blocked (the road is no more) it is being repaired. Parts of this road have suffered subsidence over a number of years, and recent road works have made the problem much worse - time for something new.

Friday, April 6th@ 10:00am at Christ Church and later - Good Friday

"Why do we have eggs at Easter?"
"It reminds us of the birth of Jesus"

Eh?

Its one of those school children answers, that is designed to show us how little children 'these days' know.

If you had been in Billericay this morning - out shopping in the spring sunshine - complaining about the traffic jam perhaps, or wondering why all the police are about, you might have come across a different question and a different answer. If you were in the town at the right time you'd certainly know that some people believe something different about Easter, because you would have seen the now traditional walk of witness. This has been happening now for a number of years - certainly all the time that I've been a Christian. Crosses are carried through the town, banners explain whats going on, people walk in silence.

Today we remember the crucifixion - the day that Jesus was killed. Before the walk we had a short service at church at which Tony Campolo's famous sermon was mentioned "Its Friday - - but Sunday's coming". After the walk, another mention of the same sermon in Emmanuel at the CTB service. The anticipation of Sunday - something to keep us going through the long dark Friday.

Why is it called Good Friday? Why would the day on which the created attempt to eliminate the creator be called Good? Well language has a long and torturous heritage. Like 'Goodbye' its an evolved phrase. Goodbye was 'God be with you'. Good Friday was God Friday (follow the link to the Wiki article). The Chinese call it "Jesus' crucifixion day" - can't get clearer than that.

So Liz, there you have it!

While digging around, I came across this "Son of God". Always good to remember the C.S.Lewis quote.

I was just going to write the words to 'Hallelujah, my Father', because we sang them last night at the Maundy Thursday service, after the Agape Meal, and then again this morning, and they are very appropriate, but there's always more to say ....

Its Friday, but Sundays's coming. (TRUE. but it doesn't stop me blogging on Saturday)

The Billericay Fire

The talk of the last few days has been the Billericay fire. Follow the link for the details. I've copied the picture from the BBC site, as I'm not sure how long the link will continue to work. In summary, a workshop caught fire, and because of the things stored in it an exclusion zone of 200 metres was created. This meant a number of people (60 - 200 depending on your source) spent the night in the local Secondary School. The main road from Billericay to Wickford was closed, so there would have been major traffic disruption. So far as we can tell, only one person was taken to hospital, but not with very serious injuries. That's the only good news - it could have been so much worse. Unless of course you happen to attend Billericay school. The school was shut for two days this week. The first for snow - we think. So I expect the pupils thought it was good news too.
A friend was describing seeing the smoke from Basildon (5 to 6 miles away). We couldn't see anything from our house - this is probably because we are just over the crest of the hill, and the wind was blowing towards Basildon and away from us. Karen called to ask us what we knew, as she'd seen more information on her local news than we had on ours!