The View from my Sitting Room

The pampas grass in full bloom on this fine sunny day at the end of October.

Barney Life No. 20

Last Sunday, October 24th, (I know that I have been a bit slow in writing this!), the Trustees of the Bowes Memorial Church met together for their annual meeting.
I have mentioned before that this is the only parish church in the diocese which is not owned by the diocesan trustees but by a group of trustees originally set up by Josephine Bowes herself.  It was intended that the church would be built beside the museum which John was building, so that Josephine would have a personal church when she was living in the rooms to be built for her in the museum (John expected her to outlive him, since she was younger than him).  As it happened, Josephine died before the church was even begun, and John out of loyalty to her memory started to build the church.  Before he could finish, he ran out of money, and the church stood as a roofless folly for about fifty years, until the trustees of the church could raise enough money to finish the build on the new site at the corner of the museum park.
There are twelve trustees: six notable Catholics from the north-east, and six parishioners; all must be practising Catholics.  The chairman of the trustees is a member of the old Catholic family, the Salvins, while the treasurer is a direct descendant of one of the trustees appointed by Josephine Bowes.  As parish priest, I am not a trustee, but I liaise with the trustees on matters of the upkeep of the church, house and grounds.
I may have something further to add on this subject in a few days.

The Sheep on the Desmesnes - at last

Barney Life No. 19

Sheep on The Mains

The Romans made a road right through what we now call Barnard Castle.  But it was the Baliol Family who arrived with the Norman conquerors in 1066 and who began to develop the castle and then the town.  In the Middle Ages, the Baliols, who owned the whole area, set out a number of 'desmesnes' on all sides of the town, large open areas, which the locals could use for strip-farming, and of course paying a rent to the lord of the manor.  In time, all of the desmesnes were fenced in and became farms.  All, except for one, to the south-east of Barney: this one was donated by Lord Barnard to the people of the town in perpetuity as an open space for their enjoyment.
The Desmesnes, or Mains, as the locals call the area, is comprised of two areas - the Upper Mains and, of course, the Lower Mains, with a steep climb in between. Walkers of all kinds use the area, some hikers follow the path through the Mains along the river Tees to the ruins of Eggleston Abbey, mostly the dog-walkers like me wander all over the area excercising our dogs - some days there are regular processions of dogs and owners.  The area is managed by the local Town Council, or rather, not managed for most of the time I have been here.  However, recently, one of our councillors put forward a plan to turn the Upper Mains into a wild flower moorland field: in the summer the thick unruly grass has been cut for sileage and removed, and the hope was that a second cut could be made before the winter sets in.  The local farmer decided that the grass was not long enough, and so a flock of about 100 sheep has been brought in to do the job instead.  They will be here for about another week or so, before being returned to their own fields.  As far as I can see, the sheep are doing a good job - the grass is getting a good cut!
(I was hoping to publish a couple of photos, but for some reason the photo-link isn't working)

Barney Life No. 18 (posted 11/09/2010)

Every Monday and Tuesday I celebrate Mass at 7.30 in the evening.  Normally the Mass on 

Monday evening is a Novus Ordo Mass ad orientem (facing east, back to the people); but 

this Monday just gone, with the Novus Ordo and the Latin Mass calendars both registering a 

ferial day, I celebrated what we used to call a 'black Mass', a Daily Mass for the Dead.  I 

thought that it would be good for me (and for my servers) to become very familiar with the 

slight changes required for a Mass for the Dead.

The Mass on Tuesday evening is normally a Mass in the Extraordinary Form, as it is now 

called, the first Tuesday of each month being a Missa Cantata.  Our Sung Mass this past 

Tuesday had an extra singer just to help out both for my parts and the choir parts.  Every 

time I began to sing something, I was aware of a little voice joining in.  I eventually realised 

who it was - little Martha, just one year old and only, I think, the second time at a Latin 

Mass, trying to join in as best she knew how!

After Mass, we repaired to the presbytery for coffee and tea and chat, and this is her with 

her Mam and Grandma.

Barney Life No. 17 (posted 10/09/2010)

Summer in Teesdale

Barney Life No. 16 (posted 23/08/2010)

As usual, my Sunday Masses yesterday began with a Traditional Latin Mass at 9 o'clock, and, yesterday, as usual the Beards Family were in church for the Mass.  However, yesterday was not quite as usual.

Also present were a BBC cameraman and his producer/director who are making a documentary about one of the Beards Family, Clara, who intends to enter an enclosed Benedictine Convent on the Isle of Wight in September.  This team of director and cameraman have already spent a couple of hours in an empty St Mary's Church filming Clara and the church, no doubt for background shots whilst a commentator introduces the topic of the documentary.  Yesterday they filmed the whole of the Mass with of course a live congregation and concentrating on Clara and her family, showing, I imagine, the effect of the TLM on her and the others in church. 

Many in the congregation were alarmed before Mass when they saw a film crew in church, until just before Mass I explained that this was not the Benefit Fraud Squad or Big Brother State but the making of a documentary.  I suggested that they ignored the camera and tried not to look 'holier than thou' for the camera because they are holy enough already.

Needless to say, the Mass was celebrated without a hitch and without any stops for second takes.  I think the congregation was amused by the whole event and supportive of Clara in what she proposes to do.  We pray that she may receive the grace of God to try her vocation in this way.  When the film is eventually completed and broadcast, I hope that it will show a very positive side of the Catholic Faith today.