I’m back home after my annual trip to Cheltenham Racecourse – not for the horses but for the Greenbelt Festival. It seems there are festivals all over the place nowadays but this one has been around for a long time – around 36 years! Greenbelt is a feast of music, poetry, worship, workshops, theology, comedy, film, queues, bumping into old friends, politics, crazy clothes and sometimes mud! For me this year was funny – I laughed at the wonderful poet Jude Simpson, Milton Jones and Roger McGough to name a few.

But I was also inspired by the commitment and care shown by Clare Short as she talked to us about the Israel/ Palestinian question; I felt humbled by the number of years Clare Short has lived  a life serving others and by the way  she was so attentive to those who asked questions both during and after her address. Richard Rohr, a Franciscan priest, helped us look at things sideways – at Christ, the Church and the Bible – in a way that was soaked with a love of St Francis and all he had taught.
There were others and it was magical. It was great to meet old and new friends and just look around at strange and wonderful things – like very large angels on wheels! There were seven of us from Stantonbury – let’s make it a crowd next year!