At this time of year many newspapers adopt charities and invite their readers to contribute. I never have but it has led me to reflect on how I allocate my charity budget. It comes down to this.
I had supposed that the Church of England is busy selling off vicarages and closing churches. Now I have found a new church, opened on St Anne’s Day in July 1991 and it has a link to a mountainous Mediterranean island.
Every Sunday at my Dublin prep school (Castle Park) we had to write a letter to our parents. These were strictly censored to eliminate any off-message remarks about the CP regime. My sister’s first school did not have such a restriction.
The post was delivered six days a week at Barmeath by a postman on a bicycle. He pedalled up the drive and sometimes got a nip on the ankle from an elderly, testy Labrador for his trouble.
Yesterday (Letters) Rupert Hart-Davis took his son, Adam, to Eton for his first half (Eton slang for term). I forgot to expand on what became of George Lyttelton’s nephew, Charles, mentioned in the letter.
Robin Oakley, for many years BBC Political Editor and then, until 2008, European Political Editor for CNN writes a column, The Turf, in The Spectator. He recommends twelve to follow twice a year; twelve jumpers and twelve on the flat.
I was given The Invention of Memory for Christmas three years ago by Alan Higgs. It is by Simon Loftus and traces the story of his family from their arrival in Ireland in 1560 until Mount Loftus burned down in 1934.