This has now become our main presence on the web.www.worldfriends.org.uk has now closed down. We will be posting any news on this site from January 2012.
I have just heard that daffodils are in bloom on the West coast of Scotland!
At this time of the year the cold and damp weather can be depressing and the days seem long and dark. However most of us will have already noticed how the days are getting lighter. Only a month ago it was dark soon after 4pm but now it is well after 5pm.
In my garden the snowdrops have been out some time and the crocuses are now also out.
If you have a bit of garden perhaps now is the time to plan if you are going to grow anything this year. We have already sown some tomato seeds and are “chitting” the potatoes ready to plant about the end of March. Even the rhubarb is showing some signs of life.
The Spring will soon be with us.
Another year has gone by and we enter 2011. I hope the first few months are not as cold as December was. If you felt cold so did the rest of us.
Our first meeting of 2011 is on Sunday January 9th at 2.30pm.
It will be a musical afternoon to celebrate the New Year. if you have a portable musical instrument that you can play, please bring it and any songs from your country to sing. The ‘give and take’ stall will be open. Come and enjoy the fun. 
We do not often think about what would happen if a fire stated in our homes. Perhaps we should!
Last Sunday Worldfriends went to the local Fire Station and were clearly shown some of the hazards of home fires.
Particular things we learnt were:
Never put water on a chip pan that has caught fire.
Have a smoke alarm fitted in your house.
Plan how you would get out of the house if you did have a fire.
The Fire Brigade will come and fit the smoke alarm free and help you plan how to escape. Why not give them a ring. If you click here it will tell you how to get a free check and fire alarm. Do it today.
Many of Worldfriends members will know that Pat Hall’s funeral was last week. She had supported our group since it was formed in 2000.
Pat was active whereever she felt that there was issues about justice. She not only supported helping asylum seekers and refugees but other organisations including, Christian Aid, Stop the War coalition, Jubilee Debt Campaign, and many others.
On many occasions she attended rallies, marches, and demonstrations not only in Birmingham but also London, Cologne and even Milan.
Pat was somebody who could be called on to help on all kinds of tasks but was particularly happy when she could meet the public and trying to persuade them about whatever it was she was campaigning for. She was often seen handing out leaflets and helping people to sign petitions.
Pat was a remarkable lady who will be greatly missed.
At the beginning of the last century one of the pleasures that the people of Birmingham took was to ride down the Bristol Road on a tram to Rednal and then walk up on the Lickey Hills. The trams used to run down the central reservation where the trees are now. In fact the tram shelter is still at Rednal. In those days the atmosphere in Birmingham was not as clean as it is now so it was a relief to breath the fresh air on the hills. This pleasure was not just for the few but thousands of people used to do it.
The hills are obviously still there and so are the paths up them. Now there is a Visitors Centre on one part and a large stone viewing point on another. The view over Birmingham is a lot clearer than it used to be and many of the features of the City can be identified. The clock tower at Birmingham University and the Telecoms Tower being just two of the obvious ones.
Worldfriends Group is planning to go to the Hills next Sunday afternoon. If you havn’t been it will be a treat. If you have been before it is always different. Perhaps we will see some bluebells. The trams are no longer there but the Number 62 bus runs on the tram route right to Rednal.
The areas around where we live do not seem to change very quickly. They change so slowly that we do not notice it. However they are changing. The map above shows Selly Oak in 1926. If you look closely Selly Oak Methodist Church is not there nor are many of the houses around it. Other things have come and gone. Trams used to run along the Bristol Road. That is the reason that there are now trees in the centre as that is where the trams ran.
Next Sunday Tom Hill who is an expert on old Selly Oak is going to show Worldfriends pictures showing the history of the area. Come to Selly Oak Methodist Church at 2.30 on April 8th.
Mothering Sunday has become very commercial. Shops are full of cards and gifts for Mothers. However the origin of the day are not directly associated with ones own Mother.
Mothering Sunday is the fourth Sunday of Lent. Although it’s often called Mothers’ Day it has no connection with the American festival of that name.
History of Mothering Sunday
Most Sundays in the year churchgoers in England worship at their nearest parish or ‘daughter church’.
Centuries ago it was considered important for people to return to their home or ‘mother’ church once a year. So each year in the middle of Lent, everyone would visit their ‘mother’ church – the main church or Cathedral of the area.
Inevitably the return to the ‘mother’ church became an occasion for family reunions when children who were working away returned home. (It was quite common in those days for children to leave home for work once they were ten years old.)
And most historians think that it was the return to the ‘Mother’ church which led to the tradition of children, particularly those working as domestic servants, or as apprentices, being given the day off to visit their mother and family.
As they walked along the country lanes, children would pick wild flowers or violets to take to church or give to their mother as a small gift.
Mothering Sunday was also known as ‘Refreshment Sunday’, Pudding Pie Sunday (in Surrey, England) or ‘Mid-Lent Sunday’. It was a day in Lent when the fasting rules were relaxed, in honour of the ‘Feeding of the Five Thousand’, a story in the Christian Bible.
In England we have a number of customs which have survived for many years. They change a bit as the years go by and sometimes vary a bit throughout the country.
The next one of these is next Sunday (always February 14th) which is Valentines Day. Saint Valentine could have been a priest at Rome, another as a Bishop of Interamna (now Terni in Italy) and the other lived and died in Africa but nobody now really knows.
Each year in Britain, we send lots of cards, flowers, chocolates and other gifts for Valentine’s Day. Traditionally these were sent to people we love anonymously, but nowadays we often make it clear who is sending each ‘Valentine’.
Traditionally, spring begins on St Valentine’s Day (February 14th), the day on which birds chose their mates. In parts of Sussex Valentines Day was called ‘the Birds’ Wedding Day’.
There are many other traditions and superstitions associated with romance activities on Valentine’s day including:
· the first man an unmarried woman saw on 14th February would be her future husband;
· if the names of all a girl’s suitors were written on paper and wrapped in clay and the clay put into water, the piece that rose to the surface first would contain the name of her husband-to-be.
· if a woman saw a robin flying overhead on Valentine’s Day, it meant she would marry a sailor. If she saw a sparrow, she would marry a poor man and be very happy. If she saw a goldfinch, she would marry a rich person.
· In the Middle Ages, young men and women drew names from a bowl to see who their valentines would be. They would wear these names on their sleeves for one week.
· In Wales wooden love spoons were carved and given as gifts on February 14th. Hearts, keys and keyholes were favourite decorations on the spoons. The decoration meant, “You unlock my heart!”
If you are coming to our meeting on February 14th you will be able to make a Valentine card.
Some of us connected to the Worldfriends group are getting less able to do some daily tasks so it is with gratitude we accept the help of some of our friends from overseas. This winter seems to have particularly shown up some of weaknesses but you have been able to step in and provide essential help. We thank you for that.
