A Year at the Cathedral

A bit self indulgent, this post, but Rebecca, Pip and I have had a great year being part of the Cathedral in Rochester.

We have developed more friendships, more thoughts about the bigger picture and had more fun together being part of a fantastic church that there are just too many special people who share in our lives with God. You know who you are, and so does He !

We have been involved with some great things, Rebecca helping with Annie and the Interpretation, Darren and Pip helping Sugina and Phil with The Sunday Club, the Nativity DVD, the Interpretation Launch, Peter Lock's leaving do and all those Forum meetings with the rest of the congregation and the Dean and being part of such a strong fellowship.

One of the things I never expected was to become friends with the three Priests who have appeared on GMTV, and whose concert we went to see in Hammersmith I suprised them by giving them DVDs I had edited of Beautiful shots of the Cathedral put to their music.

I have to say I really enjoy on so many levels the Taize prayer on the first Sunday of the month, And did I mention hanging out with Rob....?

here from the last year is a picture of the interpretation play which I filmed, I'm at the bottom right....

Darren :-)

What's behind the doors ?

Inspired by Rob's Picture of his fine Christmas Tree

( http://www.theshinyheadedprophet.blogspot.com/ )

I thought you might like to see my Advent Calendar :-)

A Great Week in Breakfast Telly

Had a good week this week.

The show was extremely busy and we had all 7 cameras out and about the studio or behind the scenes for most of it.

We were advised to stay in town on thursday because of the prospect of deep snow at home ( and they were right, as I sit here posting this there's a good foot of snow outside the door !)

But that meant I was free to attend a retirement party for Peter McHugh our top man at GMTV, and I was surrounded by former and present colleagues from 17 years...It was the best do I have been to for a long time, simply just to catch up with all those super people was great.....

Then on Friday after 3 hours sleep we had a mad morning with Westlife and a prerecord for Fluffy Club before embarking on the Camera Dept Christmas Curry and Drinks.

Once again a good time was had by all and we managed to get together and enjoy good food and company.

However all the trains were delayed out of town and I got two very slow ones back, and then upon arrival at Gillingham decided to walk back home 4 1/2 miles in the snow...Up and down Hills I did it in 50 mins ( I think the booze kept me going !)

Now off for a week to prepare or Christmas !

Time to Give...of Yourself?

I was waiting in Reception at work the other evening before going into the Rain to record a story for the telly. There is a lovely old lady who has been there years and who used to sell the London Evening Paper just inside our reception,but now that it is free I asked her what she would do, and she replied she probably wouldnt be around after Christmas.
I then asked what her plans were for Christmas Itself and she said she had a neighbour she might visit, but that she didnt want to impose on anyone....
Well, I bought a few extra bits when shopping with Rebecca and we made her up a little food hamper of goodies, I hope that goes a little way to showing her there are those who think of her and who want her to feel included in some way at this special time of the year.
There are going to be those who are with large family gatherings at Christmas, but let us not forget those who will be alone or sad and perhaps we can all find 10 minutes to give ...of ourselves.
As I left her at work today I was walking on air feeling so positive in the spirit of the season.
And she knew that there are others thinking of her........

Suprise !

Do you like Suprises ?

I think Most of us do...

Flowers by post , Choccie and Wine...Thats run of the mill, and yes I enjoy doing that but,

I specialise in Unusual Suprises, the sort that people arent expecting at all......

Like When my Wife Rebecca was working away, in the past I have managed to redecorate the bedroom and because she is so tired when she flies back, on that occaision she got into bed without noticing, and woke up in what she knew was our bedroom, but it looked strangely different....

The earliest suprise was when she came home from hospital with Philippa who was just days old, and I had gone a bit mad with the balloons, banners and signs outside the house for when she came back.

I think my favourite has to be this year on our Wedding anniversary when she came home from two days abroad and with Harry's help I had managed to rip up all the old broken concrete on our drive , take it to the dump and lay 5 tonnes of Gravel for a lovely Gravel drive, something she had always wanted but not neccesarily for an anniversary pressie.....

Shes due back tomorrow from 4 days in Tenerife, and this time I've wallpapered the Bathroom...Now I'm off to get a new mirrored cabinet...

Its good fun being unpredictable :-)

Fin !

6 weeks on and we have done it !
There were those who said it couldnt be done.....

There were those who said we were mad to try it...

But More importantly there was a small band of us who had faith, and who

believed we could do it by pulling together and remaining focussed........

Yes Its True the Frogensian Christmas Tale DVD is finished for a premiere showing to the whole team on the 19th Dec.

We have Written it, Brainstormed it, Planned it, Shot it, Edited it, Re-Edited it and even Cleared the Music Copyright.......

Its looking pretty good and there aren't that many outtakes ;-)

Well Done All, I hope you have had as much fun doing it as I have....

Darren