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Feather’s Miscellany – the very first! And whatever prompted me to launch this self-indulgent in-house magazine? Two well respected annuals gave me the idea of floating a magazine filled with my own writing, for what it’s worth. The first was written and edited by a namesake and distant American relative, William Feather, who published his own magazine, The William Feather Magazine, for many years. So put down this family magazine business to genes. It’s something we Feathers can’t help doing. The second magazine which influenced me was The Clock Almanac, taken over by fellow Yorkshireman John Hartley in 1866 and edited by him till his death in 1915. William Feather launched his magazine in 1916 the year after Hartley died and continued writing it till his own death in 1981. As an Anglican priest and prison chaplain, I’ve never been one for preaching long sermons, neither am I going to write a long editorial. Long sermons have little impact in prison, and would have none on myself were I forced to listen to them. When I’ve a point to make, I make it face to face in a man’s cell where any enlightenment is a two-way process. My writing is my pulpit. Enjoy it – or go to sleep!
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It is through Christ’s teachings and through our sensible and critical reading of the bible and other religious works that we attain to being like Christ, the perfect human being. Only by striving to reach the ideals Christ set before us can we hope to be like him. Without them we wouldn’t reach outside ourselves. By contrast, Steven Weiberg believes we can make ourselves and the human condition perfect without any outside help. So did Hitler and Stalin. He thinks we can live without wishful thinking; and by facing up to a God-less world we can live with honour and without despair. Science will ultimately tell us everything about ourselves, he says, and solve the world’s problems. The conclusion to be drawn from that is that by careful breeding we will make the world more tolerable and find some purpose in an otherwise purposeless life. He believes religion has less purpose in life and will ultimately disappear.
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Whatever the area I grew up in may have lacked in material wealth or social status, it certainly made up for in the rich mosaic of characters and speech of those living in it. Events took place there when I was growing up in Keighley, West Yorkshire, in the 1940s and 1950s which will last me a lifetime in the telling. "The Keighworth Chronicles" record the doings of many of the loveable – and not so loveable – citizens of the town, and the long lane, Lawkholme Lane, which ran from its centre. I fictionalise its name "Garlic Lane" just as I fictionalise the people living down it; though in truth many were larger than any life I can give them from my imagination; from the vicar at Trinity Church to the road-sweeper and milk man; from the owner of the scrap-iron yard across from where I lived (and it’s still there) to the colourful men who worked in it. So you see, "The Keighworth Chronicles" aren’t that far from reality. At some point in the future they deserve publishing in their own right; but I’ll leave that to others. In addition to the "Chronicles", many of which have appeared almost weekly in "Open Writing" and "OhMyNews", two international internet newspapers, there are samples of my essays and verse written over the past few years in this edition of "Feather’s Miscellany". The reader will also find at the end some hymns composed by David Grundy, with whom I’ve collaborated for many years now; and we’re currently working on an innovative series of pieces for soloists, choir and narrator, based on the main festivals of the Church: 1. Advent/Christmas. 2. Epiphany/Passiontide 3. Easter. 4. Pentecost/Trinity. The Epiphany/Passiontide sequence of hymns and narratives, "Judas", was launched at Ben Rhydding Methodist Church, Ilkley, under the expert direction of Tony Reavill and was published earlier this year. The next publication "Isaiah" will appear in October and all the works will be published by Feather Books, whose address is on the fly-leaf. price £9.99 |