Going Up in the World

Just got back from our annual trip to Sandown Racecourse - for this...

CRE is the place to find out what's going on in the Christian World, in terms of resources, mission, youth stuff, etc etc. I would have liked to have gone on Friday, when our mate Steve Price is doing his thing, as a Christian Illusionist.

Steve's brilliant, and I missed seeing him perform at the Baptist assembly last week too.

I'm sure he will be very entertaining. Do see his act if you ever have the opportunity.

[He married our former Youth Worker, Alice,  but I think he has stopped sawing her in half now !]

We'd received complementary tickets from Musicademy - a brilliant crowd who produce some excellent stuff. Last year I bought one of their splendid teeshirts as a gift for Bob [ we went and thanked them for the tickets and Bob purchased some of their materials!]

The Christian Resources is always good fun - and this year was no exception. Saw a few familiar faces among the exhibitors - glad that Indigo Valley Coffee continues to do well.

Ecclesiastical Insurance were there again [but no cute tins of peppermints this year - just free ballpoint pens]

Picked up some bits for Holiday Club from the Scripture Union stand. Then bumped into my best friend Chris from Norfolk, along with Ruth - that was an unexpected delight.

 

Many stands were giving away free sweets and one had a chocolate fountain. The winner had to be the Love Russia stand though - they were giving away samples of caviar!!!

It was pleasant to sample - but I'm definitely not going to develop a taste for such an expensive snack. I did read somewhere that you can make passable ersatz caviar for half the price using semolina and octopus ink, but why would anyone bother?

Outside there were a couple of fun modes of transport

 

The plane was from Mission Aviation Fellowship and the car from Kingdom Bank plus Fair Trade Clergy Shirts. There was nobody around to ask - was it the clergy who were Fairly Traded, or their shirts?

Further round the corner we came across a Climbing Wall sponsored by the Barnabas Adventure Centres, and an enthusiastic young man invited us to try it out.According to their website...

 "Barnabas Adventure Centres have a superb mobile climbing tower available with instructors for hire. The tower is for children from age 5 up to and including adults. The tower can be transported by mini bus to many parts of the UK on a 30ft long trailer and used as part of your event"

Well you never know when you might need to hire this, so I thought I should try it out.

First of all the safety equipment was explained to me

Yes, my bum does look big in this!!

And I climbed...

And I climbed ...

And I climbed, almost to the top!  Felt utterly terrified - but quite proud of myself for overcoming my fear of heights. Bob stayed firmly on the ground, taking photographs.

So this year's CRE provided me with not one but two new experiences- caviar and climbing towers.

Back to earth again - and getting ready now for Sewing Club. As Wallace would say to Gromit - "It was a Grand Day Out"