David's House, Marske
The Men Make Merry at Marske
January 2008 saw the return of a party from St Faith's Men's Group to David's House, Marske in Yorkshire, their traditional place of retreat.
The long weekend featured, as usual, food, drink and friendship, and a visit to the village church of St Edmund's,
where Fr Charles Billington, one-time vicar of St Faith's and chaplain to the group, preached the sermon.
To fiund out more about the location and the church, CLICK HERE for Michael Holland's words and pictures from the 2007 retreat weekend.
The walk to church
Outside St Edmund's
The font with the distinctive circular adornment above
Translation: 'Wash my sins and not my face only'
Website searches reveal that this ancient Greek inscription is also found on the fountain in the courtyard of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople .
It was apparently common for Greeks to put this phrase on fountains.
The same wording appears on the C17 font at St Martin Ludgate in London,
and the churches at Knapton, Norfolk, Flitwick, St Albans.
Nearer home, it can be seen at St Mary's, Rufford, in Lancashire.
Box pews in St Edmund's
Fr Charkes Billington holds forth from St Edmund's pulpit
'And now for something completely different...!' On the previous night, three of the usual
suspects are seen preparing for their Christmas dinner (a month late or eleven months early?)
Grace before the meal ('Father, forgive us for our aprons...?')
Hunger and thirst after righteousness....