Arrival

ARRIVAL ARRIVAL

Christchurch Christchurch

By: Elaine Lutton

M

ichael assured me that although London maybe panicking, Down South, life continued as usual. It seemed he was right; we went on all the trips he and Jane had planned including visits to very crowded pubs where I ate my fill of scampi, chips and mushy peas, an English delicacy that you have to be a Pom to fully appreciate. Amongst our trips, we went to Christchurch and visited Annie’s Emporium, a large shed full of new and second-hand goods of excellent quality. Here I bought several gifts for folk back in Australia and also two small embroidered pictures, one for Jane and one for Harriet whose birthday was coming up soon. Michael, too, made a purchase, a striking picture of a young girl called Ginnie, in a lovely wooden frame, mahogany perhaps, which claimed to be by an up-andcoming artist from the Italian town of Vinci called Len or some such name. See the picture below. He should go far; we hope it is an original. From there we went on to Christchurch Priory, 900 Years old, where we admired the glorious architecture and the many objects of interest including the Chantry that was built for Margaret Pole, very beautiful but empty as she was executed as a traitor on King Henry VIII’s command, and the Miraculous Beam. The story goes like this; In Anglo-Saxon times Christchurch was known as Twynham which meant town between two rivers. A mysterious carpenter joined the workforce cutting timber for the Nave roof. One day the team cut a beam too short, but the next day this beam had miraculously lengthened and been placed into position but the mysterious carpenter was never seen again. It was assumed by the people that he was Jesus, and the town’s name changed to Christ’s Church. In the Great Quire are many carved Misericord seats, each one different from the others. The monks could perch on them during their very long services, but still appear to be standing up, but not so comfortable for them to fall asleep. Another day we visited a tide mill where they ground wheat into flour. Here Michael impressed us all by asking exceptionally intelligent questions, which encouraged the enthusiastic young man running the mill to give us a detailed explanation of how everything worked. No really, it was very interesting.

Finally, Jane persuaded us to attend Sung Compline at Romsey Abbey. There were only five of us in the congregation, but the full choir sang for us. It was indescribably beautiful! I will never forget the experience.

To be continued.