The Good Ship Irene

This week in All Saints Church, Brixham, they are celebrating the Festival of the Sea. The Parish Church of 'Fishtown' is decorated with trawler burgees and nets and there are displays relating to fishing and fishermen. The burgees were made when boats were launched, never used when sailing, and were kept in a drawer somewhere by the families of the boat owners. As a result they have survived to this day. Often the trawlers were given names of members of the family, and the burgees were the same design with the union flag in the corner. Irene was probably BM260, built in 1906 and broken up in 1931. This church, perched just above the town is famously known as the "Abide with Me" church. Henry Francis Lyte, the writer of "Abide with Me" was the first vicar here from 1824 to 1847. The carillon of bells in the tower is programmed to play ""Abide with Me" at eight o'clock each evening, "When at thy footstool , Lord, we bend" in the morning, and at noon "Praise, my soul the King of Heaven". The volunteers from the church were lovely and asked me to join them when they had a cup of tea. There were no other visitors there at the time and I was practically press ganged on to the church committee. On the bus home in driving rain two ladies were blaming our summer on "all them rockets in space."