Oh I do like to be beside the seaside...

  But now we are back home from Blackpool and the Annual Baptist Assembly.A good time was had by all - but if you want deep spiritual insight, you had better check out blogs of more eminent Baptist Worthies than myself [ eg Bob, Tim and Catriona]

We did get to sing 'These are the Days of Elijah' - but they issued an apology first, as John Weaver, the President, had also made a comment about it!

Our accommodation was good, thanks to Sue and George at The Brincliffe, who really could not do enough to make their guests comfortable. It was a fair walk to the Norbreck Castle Hotel for meetings, though, so I usually arrived a little out of breath, just after sessions had started!

One of the best parts for me was meeting up with old friends - especially other minister's spouses, and chatting at the Connexion Stand. Full marks to Christina, our brilliant Promotions Officer, for the work she has done to get the website up and running.

It was lovely to have Richard and Rachel [and the boys] from Kirby Muxloe with us - and great to see Rachel's brother Tim [see above] getting his Official Handshake.

I am still digesting the words of the various speakers I heard [and also digesting the amazingly stodgy Blackpool Food - although Maddisons of Bispham was a good place to eat] and will comment further on that later, when I have got my notes in order!

We came back via Stoke and stopped briefly at the Wedgwood Visitor Centre for a coffee and quick look round. We did not do the whole £8 tour! I did  get to see the Arnold Machin Head though, which was great.

Arnold Machin (1911-1999) is renowned for the creation of the British postage stamp portrait of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, reputed to have been reproduced more times than any other image in history, with 150 billion copies having been printed to date. Apparently he was quite concerned to make an accurate image of Her Majesty, because this was the way that millions of people around the world would know what the Queen looked like, through its reproduction on stamps and coinage. It has certainly become an iconic image.

I must use this as a Children's Talk sometime - if every stamp bears the image of the Queen, so every Christian should bear the image of the King, and people should know what Jesus looks like because they see Him in us. This one needs a bit more work before I'm ready to use it...

Back to Leicester, we checked out to see if Sound Control had any audio bargains - but they were shut, so Bob missed out there. BUT there was a place by St Margaret's Bus Station advertising a Catering Sale, and I managed to pick up a few bits and pieces for Holiday Bible Club Refreshments at good prices.

But now we are home, and I can catch up with the goings-on in Ambridge whilst dealing with emails and typing this. Bob is downstairs on his PC - probably typing an even longer blog post than this!

We must both be careful not to spend so long in the blogosphere that we lose touch with reality!