DERELICT SUNDAY

Mr. HCB and I led worship at Church today and it went well - Mr. HCB led the prayers and I chose the hymns - and they were all hymns - and not modern songs - with the theme “Praise” - all the hymns mentioned the word “praise” or “praising” and counting up, we sang the word 62 times but that doesn’t include the number of times we spoke about praise – you can probably guess some of the hymns we sang.
 
I asked the congregation how they praised God - some people do it by writing poetry, I told them that I did it by taking photographs and showed them my abstract canvas, Mr. HCB took a trug full of vegetables and James, the youngest member of our congregation sang “Shine Jesus, Shine” to us.  James loves to speak into the microphone after the service, so I thought this would be a good opportunity for him to sing into it.  He sang beautifully - and of course, he got a round of applause. 
 
One thing that I love about blipping is that Mr. HCB is as interested in the concept as much as I am.  For instance, a couple of weeks ago, we were out in the beautiful Wiltshire countryside and as we approached this old barn, he casually said “That would make a good Blip for Derelict Sunday.”  I had actually done my Blip for that day, so he said that we could come back one Sunday after Church, so that is what we did today.
 
I was keen to find out more about the derelict building, so when I heard someone strimming in a nearby house, I went to ask about it.  It’s obvious from the digger just behind the building and the pile of rubble that work is in progress there and the man we spoke to said that there would be two houses built on what was a farmyard, with the redundant agricultural buildings being converted into car barns.  He did say that I could find out more by looking at the Planning for Whittonditch Crossroads.  Mr. HCB said he was pleased that the barn would be retained, as he had travelled this road for about the last 50 years, and many times in his youth, and it was a landmark for him.  
 
It was interesting to see, when we got up close, that most of the roof trusses were riddled with dry rot and some of the struts had been replaced with thick tree branches, but even in its derelict state, it was still a beautiful building, as you can see. 
 
Whittonditch is a small hamlet to the north east of Ramsbury on the Aldbourne to Chilton Foliat road about halfway between the two villages and according to the Planning Permission the site is marked as “AONB” - an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, so it will be interesting to see the building works progress, and I have no doubt we will go back out there at sometime in the future - so watch this space!
 
“Architecture is the very mirror of life.
You only have to cast your eyes on buildings
     to feel the presence of the past,
          the spirit of a place;
               they are the reflection of society.”   
I. M. Pei


P.S.  Apologies for not commenting yesterday, but thank you for the stars for my Street Challenge, which I really appreciate.