Songs of Praise

It is my parents 37th wedding anniversary today. They married on a cold and dull, but dry day at St Helen's Church, Laithes Lane, Athersley, on Saturday, 9th December, 1972. They have known each other since September 1959, have been together since 1964 and were engaged in 1967. They only chose December to get married because my dad had been working in Coventry as a welder, and earned a lot of money. My dad proposed in October, on my mum's birthday. So that year, my dad was sent to Coventry! They didn't have their honeymoon in Cyprus, or Lanzarote or Greece. No, they had a few days in York, which, by coincidence, is one of my favourite places in the UK.

Talking of churches, when Songs of Praise turn up and the TV cameras are there, have you ever noticed how churches are always full, and everybody is singing with full gusto? Yet, the following week, when the cameras aren't there, the same church will probably have 3 old people and a dog in it. The churches never seem that full on an average Sunday. I am convinced that even the Atheists turn up when the cameras are there, just to get on TV. If I ever go to church, it is for a wedding, or a funeral. I don't sing hymns though. It would be hypocritical if I did.