December Ramble – The Preston Guild Wheel

The Guild Wheel was a project to commemorate the 2012 Preston Guild and the object of the exercise was to join together a collection of pathways to provide a twenty one mile circular route of a good standard, for walkers and cyclists around Preston. For our walk, we decided to concentrate on the best part of the route, taking in a length of the River Ribble. We started by catching the ‘bus from Longridge to the Crematorium from where we started the walk, along the pretty driveway from which a path led off into Red Scar Woods , followed by a steep descent into the river valley. From here, we entered the Lancashire Wildlife Reserve at Brockholes where squirrels were running around and a solitary buzzard soared overhead. The path now wandered through a series of small lakes, popular with Read more…

Musings From The Manse – Winter 2013

One of the peculiarities of ordained ministry is the notion that a minister is parachuted into a church and hits the ground running. That running takes on a momentum of its own and before we know it, the minister has been in post for a couple of months and few people seem to know much about him or his family. So in this issue I’m going to tell you something about myself. I live in the manse in Cottam which is on the outskirts of Preston, some 30 minutes’ drive from Longridge. I am married to my wife Chrissy and we have just celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary. We have two children; Jonny who is 20 years old and Sarah who is 18. Both our children live at home with us and both are a delight to be and live Read more…

November Ramble – Stonyhurst And The Ribble Way

For the walk this month, we decided to explore the countryside at our own back door and venture into the beautiful landscape of the Ribble Valley. The day didn’t start at all well, as we awoke to a black sky, thunder and lightning, torrential rain and hail. However, six hardy souls met at the car park at Hurst Green and headed out on a good path that took us along the pleasant Dean Brook and through Mill Wood to the camping barn at Greengore. Here we left the main path and climbed up through a field to a high point that gave excellent views down to the River Ribble. Now it was all downhill, through a very muddy farmyard and down a paved farm track to the Clitheroe road. After a short stretch of this road, we entered a field Read more…

October Ramble – Pendle Hill

Some weeks ago, we enjoyed a pleasant, but very hot day out climbing Parlick, during which we discussed the possibilities of an ascent of Pendle later in the year. Bill mentioned that he was going to have a walk in this area soon and kindly offered to lead us on the October walk. Starting from the delightful village of Barley, set in the most beautiful Lancashire countryside, we left the car park to enter the village, first taking advantage of the public toilets which this little village manages to keep open seven days a week for the benefit of its visitors. From the centre of the village we entered a good footpath, steadily climbing through fields, over streams and heading towards the impressive Pendle House From here, we started the climb proper to the summit, along an excellent engineered path Read more…

Music In The Afternoon – September 2013

ChristChurch was once again the place to be if you wanted to hear quality music performed by talented young people. This was the sixth concert in a series which has brought young singers and instrumentalists to perform both serious and popular music. On this occasion, the programme featured, as its main performer, Louisa Stirland – a young soprano fast making a name for herself both here in Lancashire and further a field. In October 2012, Louise won the prestigious title of ‘BBC Young Chorister of the Year’, since which she has featured in concerts and events in different parts of the country as well as in numerous broadcasts. Louisa is a student at Runshaw College and a chorister at Blackburn Cathedral. Louisa presented an ambitious and varied programme of vocal music. Solos by Bach and Handel and songs from the Read more…

September Ramble – Ashurst Beacon

The valley of the River Douglas lies between Manchester and Liverpool but the area is surprisingly rural and provides a number of good walks, of which this is probably the best. Our starting point was the car park provided for visitors to the beacon and was the highest point of the walk. From here we headed east, along quiet lanes until we turned off through the grounds of the local cricket club and followed a good, steadily descending path which provided splendid views towards the Pennines, with the huge Heinz factory dominating the foreground. This section of the walk was quite pleasant, with fields that used to be part of a golf course, but now overgrown. Finally, we came out on to the main road and passed St. Josephs College, once a seminary for training Catholic priests and later a Read more…

August Ramble – Turton And Entwistle

This month we were in the reliable hands of the Bolton group and their choice of walk was another expedition into the Lancashire Lake District. The day turned out to be warm but dull and we had an excellent turnout of eleven hardy souls. The well thought out walk consisted of a figure of eight, embracing the Turton and Entwistle Reservoir in the morning and Wayoh Reservoir after lunch. We started from the United Utilities car park and as we returned here half way for lunch, we were spared the effort of carrying our food around with us. The first part of the walk was along the southern bank of the Turton & Entwistle Reservoir; enjoying pleasant walking conditions and passing many dog walkers, with three dogs being the norm. We now left the water behind us and started a Read more…