The Chalet sits about 1800 m above sea level on Le Prarion with Mont Blanc looming across the valley.
I loved visiting here on New College reading parties. This is my photo.
The rest are from Benjamin Hall benjaminhallphotography.com
I loved living by the river in London with first Nick and then Sanna, Ben and Lindsay. Sanna and I used to go for the odd run along the towpath to Hammersmith and back and I bought a sculling boat from lightweight champion Peter Haining which I kept in Thames rowing club that was literally at the bottom of Bendemeer Road (view from my bedroom window). I was not very good at sculling and had a few hairy moments at high tide when the Thames can get rather choppy! But I also remember beautiful evening outings after work when it was like a mill pond between Putney Bridge and Richmond Lock. Later when I bought my first place in Mortlake, I kept the boat under the arches of Chiswick bridge (view from outside The Ship pub in Mortlake). I took the boat to Durham on the roof of a hire car but sold it to an undergrad at St John’s college because I figured (rightly) that I would have no time for sculling in my curacy.
The New College ball was an amazing event. I didn’t have a girlfriend to invite along, which didn’t make it a great evening as it was a quite a coupley event. But this is a lovely photo of my good friend Jo looking stunning as always.
I went to Amman with Arthur D Little. I took a taxi to Petra (a crazy idea but I did that sort of thing!) and loved the view over the desert from the top. I thought of Moses looking over the Promised Land.
My happiest holidays since childhood have been those spent in the company of Nat and Olly and their lovely family. They have a way of making you feel so welcome, so relaxed and so loved just by being themselves. They have a joy and sense of fun and genuine love of hospitality that my holidays with them were such a huge blessing. The simple yet best pleasures of going for a walk with the dogs, chatting about big life things or work or just nonsense with a mug of tea, or just watching the world go by with a book or newspaper on one’s lap, are so lovely with the Griffiths family because you feel like one of the family. Holidays in Rhosneigr had the added joy of looking out on the stunning beach and sea, especially if Ol was racing a sailing boat with Em and Luke, along with his parents, who made us all so welcome in their beautiful seaside house.
I arrived in London in 1997 and had the blessing of finding a church called Holy Trinity Brompton and going on a course called Alpha. HTB was led by Sandy and Annette Millar and the Alpha course was being run by Nicky and Pippa Gumbel (who took on the leadership of HTB when Sandy and Annette moved to St Mark’s Tollington Park).
What God has done in the church here (and all around the world) through these two couples and the core team around them is hard to overstate. They have brought the hope of Jesus Christ to millions of men and women, boys and girls, from every walk of life, every race , every educational background. In prisons, hospitals, schools and campuses, villages and cities, housing estates and country estates, people have been touched by the love of God through them. I am one of those people and I am forever grateful.
And if you would like to hear about the Alpha course, which is now on YouTube, take a look at this video below.
My best holidays growing up were spent on this beautifully simple and scenic campsite overlooking the Chessil Beach and the English Channel beyond. I loved the food Mum would make in the tent, getting Dad his paper at the camp shop and whilst there browsing through the Aladdin’s cave of toys like polystyrene aeroplanes and kites and frisbees and world war two animated story books. I could literally lay on my back for hours watching my single string kite against the blue sky.
My favourite pastime growing up (when not playing tennis against the wall or golf with air balls on the island of grass in the middle of our cul de sac!) was Lego by some margin. My best friend Jez was so much more patient and artistic than me. He would build amazing trucks that actually looked like trucks, whereas the mathematician/scientist in me like cubic and symmetrical designs so all my trucks looked like bricks with wheels! Good and strong but not very life like. My best birthday or Christmas present ever was when I got the Lego technics car. I needed a lot of help from Jez to put it together but it was so awesome to play with. The steering wheel turned the front wheels and there was a drive shat to the rear wheels with a differential and suspension. It was the pinnacle of Lego technology in the 80’s.
When I moved back to Sussex to work at Brighton college one of my greatest joys was being able to spend lovely weekend afternoons with the Helps family. They made me feel like part of the family and Tom and Ed reintroduced me to the joys of Lego as well as football in the garden and walks in the lovely Sussex countryside. That first year in Sussex was not easy for me and times with the Helps family were like a beautiful break from all that I was finding so hard.
I loved visiting the Lewis’ in Easter holidays 2014. It was the last time that I was able to run and so I love this photo with Imogen in the park behind their house, and reading stories with Imogen on the sofa.
