I am Troisnyx, LLB (Hons).

The graduation ceremony for my LLB took place two days ago (22 November 2012) at St Albans, the same city we used to frequent for our lectures up till mid-2011.

It was a very bittersweet day, with none of my family able to make it. I only had one witness for the day — my close friend and bandmate from Kingdom of Herts, Christo Tracey. 22 November was also the feast day of St Cecilia, patron saint of music and musicians, and I was unable to attend Mass on the day because it coincided with the graduation ceremony. To top it all up, Mark Tanner's birthday was on the 22nd, and we really missed him a lot!

I decided to wear my favourite dress: one that my mother got for me several years ago. Many people bought or rented new dresses, suits and whatnot... but I decided to go with the one that I cherished the most.

Pictures and visuals



My walk to the main building at College Lane Campus — the Prince Edward Hall. I was told that there were shuttles from the area, so I walked. I later discovered that there were no shuttles going from that place, and that we had to take the 602 (or 655) to St Albans and pay the standard student fare! Not to mention, I wasted about half an hour at the Prince Edward Hall looking for leads on how to get to the place.



The Alban Arena, the place where we were to get our robes. It was windy, and I dropped my confirmation e-mail that I had to bring for the day, and it got stained, and there was a slug stuck on it. Botherment.

So when I came to the Alban Arena, the first thing I had to do was head downstairs, where they had two stalls for ticket collection and robe rental. The people who were at Alban Arena by the time I came there... they were all preparing for their graduation ceremony which was at 2:00 p.m. (they were the Nursing and Midwifery students). Surprisingly enough, I got my tickets and my robe early!

The Ceremonies booklet and tix. In the envelope were my own ticket and two guest tickets, which I had paid for.

The robe rental stall. The people from J Wippell & Co, robemakers for (among others) Uni Hertfordshire. We queued up to get them. Now technically they didn't give robes to people whose ceremonies were much later — mine was at 7:00 p.m. — but since I already had the tickets, they presented the robe to me. So I'm the only person in the entire law school to have worn the robe for long hours! :D

Troisnyx, fully vested!



And I just repeated everything I wrote earlier.

The sea of people at the Alban Arena. It was insane to walk in and out.

Professional photographs were taken in the auditorium. But I passed them altogether. I was to go through a poor man's graduation. What's a poor man's graduation, you ask? I'll explain shortly. ;-)



Happy feelings and disdain get into the mix here. Blue prison bars!

I got back into the auditorium, it was full of people... A lot of whom were faces I had never frequently seen.

You think you got the best pictures, eh, photographers? Beat this! This was taken at the auditorium, and honestly, I prefer being natural to just posing for the backgrounds like a statue. And you get to see a little more of my cape, mortarboard and whatnot.

The helpers and ushers for the day were dressed in purple. Some of them were staff at the law school, while some came from other departments. Still university colours. Can't complain. :D

The one next to me is Nina. We knew each other from our A-Level years, but she was a direct entrant to Uni Hertfordshire in Year 3. We were especially close through these years.

It kinda felt bittersweet to see that people were bringing guests in droves... and by that time I was still alone.

The sands of time, gold and silver, they fall, and soon I shall be at my last breath.

There was a Students' Union stall set up selling Uni Hertfordshire merch. Much of it was particular to the graduation.

And here's the UH Alumni stall. I'll be joining the Alumni Association shortly. Technically, I'm still a UH student, but we're automatically entitled to be part of the Alumni as soon as we finish our first course. Case in point, the e-mail informing us about the Alumni Association came to all of us who had finished the LLB in May, although we were on the Legal Practice Course and/or Masters in Law.

There was a video being shot, "The Alumni Diaries", and it documented the thoughts of students graduating during this week. P.S. I am also part of this video!


This video should provide just a little bit more explanation about said film.

This is Clara. She and I have also been close throughout Years 2 and 3.

This is Collins. He and I are doing the Legal Practice Course together. We are part of a cohort of only 57. It's funny... doing the LPC and then revisiting one's steps during the LLB.

This is Lilian and her two sons. She is also one of my friends from the LPC cohort. I'd promised I would take the family picture for her... to disprove the idea that family pictures needed to be taken in a studio. I will admit, I love the second one.

The last picture makes it look as though we were frozen in time while the others moved around us.

The main entrance to Alban Arena. The UH light was on just for the week!

Down the High Street through to the road leading to St Albans Abbey. It was almost 6:00, and it was time for us to proceed.



The walk to St Albans Abbey. I was singing my favourite hymn of all time, Lead, Kindly Light, the words to which were penned by Blessed John Henry Newman. As you might tell, the weather was horrible. It was cold and windy, and not many of us could wear our graduation robes over our coats. Our capes and mortarboards were being blown all over the place, it was awful to hold the camera and keep my robes still.

At the Abbey, we were set out like this: the students were seated at the side aisles, by and large blocked by pillars, while the guests were seated at the centre aisles. Because some of us couldn't see much of what was going on from the side aisles (pillars!), there were screens nearby. The footage from the graduation was shown live.

The picture was taken by one of the Law School helpers. I forget the person's name (is it Asif??), but at any rate, I had met him on and off during my Years 2 and 3. Oh also, it's not that I have a downgraded cape. The white section of the cape got blown over by the wind!

I can only fix my eyes to you, Lord, even for a brief moment, when nobody else wants to think that you and all of Heaven are celebrating with us.

At around 6:30, Christo came, and I ran into his arms. I was overjoyed to see him! I passed him my camera so that he might be able to get one or two pictures in during the actual ceremony. Since only one ticket could be used, my other ticket was given up so that another person's family member could come and join in the celebration.

Right before the start of the ceremony. The Chancellor and Vice Chancellors, the Dean of the School of Law and the Law School lecturers were to process in academic dress.

I know this is kinda blurry, but I managed to point out a few familiar faces from the front. (Alliteration for the win.)

Another blurry picture, but one I decided to put up anyway. Essentially when Christo was taking this, I made a little salute to the camera before making my way up to the front. And yes, I was wearing heels.

Receiving my certificate. There were two phases: shaking the Chancellor's (?) hand, and receiving the certificate (apparently not from the same person). But at any rate, I was walking down from the sanctuary, a proud LLB graduate. And all that, without tripping on the sanctuary even once. Success!

It was a haze as the staff and students marched out in procession. Still, at least we can make out one face. : )

Back at Alban Arena...

I did the blessing gesture, yay! This was to be the last photo I would ever take in graduation robes for the day.  Between 9:00 and 10:00 p.m. we were to return our robes, if we rented them. Christo and I settled for cups of juice and snacks, and then after that, it was time for me to return the robes. I wanted to avoid the crowd, so I slipped out early.

The two of us then went to Nando's for dinner.

Our little happy birthday note to Mark Tanner, ex-member of Kingdom of Herts and still a very dear friend of ours.

Dare you point that finger at me again, Christo... He was holding my certificate, by the way, but it had a little casing, and the casing was reflecting the light...

We both had a great meal, spoke about Kingdom of Herts stuff, school and matters of faith. (Oh, by the way: his normal spice level was Medium and my normal spice level was Extra Hot, so today we settled for a fair compromise: Hot. And he actually enjoyed it!) It was great company, and I especially enjoyed that time.

By the time we got out of Nando's it had begun to rain. Heavily. No surprise there, considering the strong winds we had earlier. We walked back to the bus stop and waited until I caught the 602 back home.

So there it was. Our humble graduation ceremony.

The poor man's graduation

There's a simple reason as to why we call it the "poor man's graduation". Note, a lot of my working friends also took this. Now: robe rental and guest tickets come up to a pretty hefty sum. And as if that's not enough, there are the studio pictures.

We decided to forgo the student pictures, because of how expensive they were. The pictures that really mattered to us were the presentation pictures on the sanctuary, but those cost us a good £30, and postage, online download and even the slightest edits were charged. Good heavens. We all thought, hang on a second: we have Photoshop, we have RealPlayer if we were to convert videos, we have a good camera and two SDs, we might as well use them to our advantage! And we did! :D

Well, that's it for now. See you at a later point.

Tuning an instrument of worship: an analogy

There is a hymn I used to ponder upon when I was a child, and my mother and I often sang it. The lyrics go like this:

Lord, make me an instrument
An instrument of worship
I lift up my hands in Your name (x2)

Lord, tune me, your instrument
Your instrument of worship
I lift up my hands in Your name (x2)

Lord, play now, a love song
A love song of worship
I lift up my hands in Your name (x2)

Over the last few months I returned to the significance of that hymn. I cherish the fact that the passage through life, the desire to serve the Lord, is analogous to finding a good instrument, tuning it and finally playing it. And so I thought (as far as the analogy is concerned, of course) -- if our Lord were walking into an instrument shop looking for something that would match me, He would pick a drum -- a deep-toned one. A floor tom would probably qualify for the analogy I'm trying to make, but He knows better.

In order for the lay reader to understand the analogy: video explanation to how drum tuning works. This is one of quite a few ways to tune the instrument, but you may get a general idea.

If you've watched the video, let's recapitulate what happened -- the drummer gets a new batter head (or he may use his old one if he so desires). He unscrews the lugs -- those little screw things on the rim of the drum -- carefully and slowly, and he takes the rim off. The head is fixed in, and the rim is placed back in and secured. Then comes the beating. First, the centre of the head is struck to see whether the head has any unpleasant-sounding undertones. If the drum sounds like a bass line from dubstep music where it slides from a higher note to a lower note, that's bad. The rim is then made tighter. Once the centre of the head gives out one single note when struck, the drummer proceeds to the sides of the skin.

At each lug, the skin is struck a few times. This is to see if all sides of the skin produce the same sound. If they don't, the lugs are tightened or loosened accordingly. Finally, after the painstaking process of tightening, loosening and pitch-checking, the drum is ready to be played once more.

End of factual background.

The analogy I am at least trying to make is this -- the way the Lord prepares a person for his vocation, a mission that is specific to him and him alone, is somewhat like tuning an instrument. It is not a perfect analogy, because many instruments these days are mass-produced. There are some which are custom-made, and they fit the analogy somewhat better, I guess? I imagine the best visual picture would be an instrument maker from, say, two centuries ago (or more), where every single instrument was hand-made. Back then, no two instruments were 100% similar -- at every age, no two people are 100% similar.

When I am given an instrument which I take to readily -- a drum, for instance -- I want to use it to make people's hearts race, to give them a sense of being alive. So the Lord calls me. He takes delight in me, and wants to let beautiful things come into the world through me. I take readily to Him, but because of my imperfections, and because He wants to be sure that I am tough enough for this mission, He tunes me. A number of challenges just pop up -- spiritual darkness, bad things which happen beyond my control, anger issues, to name a few. These things are not His doing, but He lets me fall and suffer the battering, so that at the end of it all, I can rise as a person who is truly strong in faith and virtue. It is very much like the necessary battering a drum head goes through when tuned.

And finally, with all the battering finished -- perhaps even during the necessary battering -- our Lord draws me to the place where I can play His love song for all the world to hear.

P.S. A little bit about the context of this post:

There was Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament earlier today and I attended it as usual. If I missed Saturday morning Mass, I still made sure I made it to Adoration. It was a time of complete silence, adoration and contemplation of the Real Presence of Christ, it was a time of prayer and in some cases, discernment. Confessions were also heard during this time.

Now I always delight in the thought of going for Adoration, even though sometimes, I am not in the best of humours to kneel (or sit) and pray. Sometimes, it has proven to be difficult for me to remain still, especially when I have the heart of a drummer and rhythms and music enter my mind. At the recent Faith Summer Conference, I was encouraged by a dear friend of mine to try to ask little from God, and to let Him do the talking. And ever since then, I did my best to contemplate and pray. Where I felt I needed to, I would dialogue with Him. Otherwise, I would stare into the Blessed Sacrament and imagine Him lovingly staring me in the eye and smiling.

I had been getting a few messages -- very strong ones -- during the last few Adorations, but I still need to pray about those. However, the message I received today was essentially the content of this post. I soon realised: how beautiful this is! How beautiful it is that we, in our vast imperfection, can be sent forth to tell the world what true beauty is, what true love and joy are. I made sure to write this post and share it.

Reflexions (especially on the Faith Summer Conference 2012)

Before reading this post, please be sure to see the visuals from the Faith Summer Conference 2012.

Today, I've been given a place in the University of Hertfordshire's Legal Practice Course.
But that's all by the way, because the even deeper reflexion I want to make is about the Faith Summer Conference that took place not too long ago.

I do not know what has actually gotten into me -- before, I used to be so eager to make friends, I used to be so eager to jump around and act all exuberant. This time, my exuberance was there, no doubt -- in my dressing, in the way I acted, in the way I let my hair loose, in the way I cheered for Hatfield Heretics... to name a few. But even I noticed this change -- I was remarkably subdued and quiet, and I usually spent my days in the Faith Summer Conference alone or with close friends. I did get to know one or two new friends, which was awesome, but otherwise, I stayed with the people I held dear to me.

During free time, I would either hang out with close friends, or go to the chapel.

Charlotte took me to the chapel on Tuesday after I had told her that I found it difficult to pray during Adoration. I found it difficult to concentrate, I found it difficult to stay still, and I needed the grace to be still. When I said there was nothing particularly uplifting about my prayer life, I really meant it. I wanted to get everything out to the good Lord, but found it really hard to do so -- it happened to me before, and it's happening to me again.

Well, that Tuesday, there was Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. Charlotte encouraged me to ask nothing from the Lord, but to hear and cherish everything that He would say. So in front of His presence, I went. I knelt, sometimes sat. I do not know what to say about my attention span, but it seemed that He was able to bypass all that I was going through.

I heard three things during that afternoon..... three things that would stay with me, even though I am yet to figure out what they mean in full:

• Do not be afraid.
• The little things that you do, they delight Me very much. Even your being here. You have no idea how much you make Me joyful.
• Do not turn back. Stay on here. I have a mission that I will reveal to you in due time.

I am struggling with all three of these things as I speak, and I know that I will constantly struggle with these.

I spent the next few days wallowing deep in thought, wondering what it was that I needed to do, where it was that I needed to do. It was very much unlike me. Thursday night was also quite silent for me: I only took part in the opening céilidh dances, and then after that, I spent the rest of the night chatting with close friends, having a heart-to-heart session with them.

It's funny....... the way I behaved was off maybe? But I perhaps need to take the next few months after the Faith Summer Conference to pray about this, to think about what these words I've heard could mean, and to act upon them in faith, hope and love. It's going to be difficult. It's been an uphill task for some holy men and women, I'm sure it's going to be an uphill task for me, what with my smallish attention span. But still, God help me.

This probably doesn't sound like a reflexion, it sounds more like a string of garbled words. I don't know what beauty may be found in them. But if they manage to speak to somebody, I give glory to God for this.

The Return to Woldingham: Faith Summer Conference 2012 in visuals

Click here to read about last year's Faith Summer Conference.

I am writing to tell you that last year, and indeed during all previous Faith Conferences, I was upbeat, particularly barmy and outspoken, and did not hesitate to make new friends...... but this time, I was largely reserved, sticking mainly to my close friends. I stuck with Charlotte and the Hatfield bunch: Fr Mark Vickers, Peter Murphy, Jamie Macdonald and a few others. I do not know what led to this change of phase... all I do know is that I wanted to know for sure what I was being called to.

Here is my story in visuals. I'm scratching the surface with these, because putting a reflexion into this post will be overkill. I will be crediting the images where they do not come from me. The reflexion will come in another post.

Monday, 30 July 2012.

I know that we were hoping to get our Catholic Society tees done for the Faith Summer Conference, but we didn't manage to. Commitments came up for all of us. So to keep the spirits up, I drew this on my left hand. Sharpie markers and metallic pens. Right below my hand was my red notebook/spiritual journal: I decided to take it with me and make notes of the talks.

We arrived about two hours after we left: Damian, Jamie, Sylvia and I were in one car. And Damian, the rascal he was....... we had no idea what music to play in the car because Jamie had a collection of CDs, so we trusted Damian's better judgement. And Damian picked a CD full of cheesy driving songs, which we had to suffer listening to for the next two hours! (It's all in good fun.)

We came to Woldingham School once again, put our stuff aside and went down to the Millenium Centre - the place where the talks would be held.

Social time outside the hall where the talks were to be held.

The first talk went on, and it was followed by Mass at the chapel afterwards. Then, it was lunchtime. The cafeteria had changed location this time, so we had trouble finding it.... but finally, we did. It was a walk outside what would be considered the main complex, and to one of the buildings closer to the entrance/exit!

In all fairness, I guess it was a welcome change: more people would be willing to walk... at least I would! :D

Thought I'd take a few before the talks, just to give you an idea of what the venue's like, and what the turnout was like. There were 200-odd young people, to say nothing about the clergy and helpers. And I wonder if that figure includes day visitors... The majority of people came from Westminster (including those of us from Hertfordshire), whilst right behind us were a strong group of Scotsmen, who have been faithfully attending the Faith Conferences for years.

There'd be a second talk in the evening, dinner, Compline (the night prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours), and after that, social time.

All of us would hang around the Main Building.

The next day...

Lauds/Terce (morning prayer from the Liturgy of the Hours), breakfast, talks, Mass, lunch, social time, and today would also be the day for Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament and confessions. Pictured above are the Hatfield bunch.

That afternoon, I went with Charlotte to the chapel. On her encouragement, I went in, asking little from God -- I only wanted to have my ears and my heart tuned to what God wanted of me. I will talk about this in a separate post..... it's been one of the most profound prayers I've had. It was a struggle. Not necessarily a feel-good moment (a lot of my profound prayers have not been feel-good moments), and I can draw quite a lot from it.

During the confession period (and it was almost sundown when this happened)....... the fire alarm rang.

 
All of us had to go to the tennis court and assemble.

The Men in Black were no exception.

Ann McCallion and helpers gave out the roll call: everyone's name was called from the roster. There were some missing people...

After Compline that night, we hung out at the main building as always. That day was Joseph Treloar's birthday, and we celebrated with cake!

Social time, taken from outside the Main Building. I made a similar shot last year... but I always find that this is one of the homelier pictures I've managed to take. In films and cartoons that give you this homely, fuzzy feeling, they usually start by zooming in outside a lit window with people in it. Then, they take a look at the people inside. The same rule applies here.

I would usually go to bed around midnight or a few minutes after. I must mention that at the Faith Conferences, curfew is at the reasonable time of 1:00 a.m. Understandable: there are people under 18 and over the age of 18 who attend these conferences, and order has to be maintained at any time.

Evening came and morning came, the third day:

A shot from the room before going out and beginning the day. Never mind that my dressing style was slightly eccentric and highly reminiscent of anime characters - I loved the room I was in.

I woke up at just after 7:00 that morning. And when I was about to go to the cafeteria for an early breakfast....... I heard the fire alarm ring. AGAIN.

As you can judge from this picture, the Men in Black finally began to arrive. I was the first to arrive at the tennis court because of how close I was to it when the alarm rang. Apparently, there was an actual fire alarm trigger that morning.

And, because it was early in the morning........

....yeah.

Another roll call was to be made that morning.

Finally, after that, we were able to have our breakfast in peace.

This is Jamie, our Catholic Society president. It's funny, but the fact that we're all able to hold deep conversations at table and at any point in time....... it's just wonderful.

There were talks and question time. Not very many people were willing to ask their questions with a microphone in hand (understandable), but the people giving the talks were very helpful, very spot-on and very articulate. We've got Sister Andrea Fraile in the middle and Canon Luiz Ruscillo at the right.

After Terce, talks, Mass and lunch......

I did a hand marker drawing AGAIN, and another one in support of the CathSoc.

Jamie, Sylvia, Max, and I went to the play park. Fr Mark joined us later..... There was this cable slider thingymabobber which all of us were fascinated with.

That evening, Compline was held early because there was a Quiz Night in the main building, just like last year.

Seven out of eight members of the Hull-based team Baby Monkey.

This picture was taken by Fr Stephen Brown. I look unnaturally dark and ambiguously brown in that picture, but oh well. I'm glad he took it nonetheless.

And now with all facets of the hall captured on camera...

...I present to you, minus myself, the Hatfield Heretics! In the picture are Jamie, Max, Damian, Fr Mark, James (Kelliher), Peter (Johnson) and Fr Andrew (Gallagher). My Vic Firth sigs (I am talking about the drumsticks) are there..... as noisemakers.

The name was suggested by Fr Mark himself. We all agreed with the name - it was pure classiness, right there. Oooooh, and there were among the members of the floor, people who said we'd be damned for our name. *waves fingers*

Question time?

Counting scores.

Proof of how barmy I can get when I'm rallying with my friends. Practically all of us (with the possible exception of Fr Andrew Gallagher) hail from Hertfordshire. The picture right above this block of text is essentially the Japanisation of "Hatfield Heretics", and would read ハットフィールド ヘルチック Hattofiirudo Herechikku. Technically "chi" does not always make a proper Japanisation for "ti", but I had no space on my arm to continue.

And the marker drawing took me a good week to wash off!

The final scores were being counted.

The winners were announced and the top-placed winners went on to take their prizes. The Hatfield Heretics placed fourth, which was a drastic improvement from last year. Admittedly, Fr Mark helped us with a major portion of the quiz....... one would have never thought how extensive his knowledge on pop culture was, considering how prim and proper he was. It was just hilarious to hear him humming "Yellow Submarine" or do things to that effect! We had contributed to other parts of the quiz, but I won't deny this: Fr Mark was a genius that night.

We effectively smashed the groups who said we'd be damned for being "heretics"! XD

The next day was our last full day in the Faith Summer Conference, and before the first talk, each group had photo sessions. And here we go......

The images taken from the front were taken by Fr Tim Finigan, the images from the side are mine.

A token of appreciation was given to Ann McCallion and team for the smooth running of the Faith Conference. We love you! <3 br="br">

Westminster! The largest group to attend this Faith Summer Conference. You may be able to tell where I am, especially with my eccentric colour and dress sense.

Northeast, including Merseyside and Lancashire. You are wondering why Peter Murphy is in these pictures (far left) although he's in the Hertfordshire Chaplaincy: he came to the conference from his hometown in Liverpool.

The Men in Black! Admittedly, I'm quite pleased with these pictures. Also, Fr Mark is standing in the middle row.

The Sisters.

Team Scotland. The Scotsmen were the second largest group after Westminster to turn up to this Faith Conference. The Faith Conferences have always had a strong following of Scots.

Team Seminarians. They come all across Britain (one or two even from outside Britain!), and are all preparing for the priesthood. When we think of how all of them are going to be collared at the end of their period of study, training and prayer, we can't think of happier thoughts!

P.S. Love that smile, Damian. (Damian's standing in the middle row, second from left.)

Team Southwest.

Team Rest-of-Europe. Otherwise known as Team France, Spain and Elsewhere. Pascal (Hebditch) decided to join the team because "he was a little French".

Team West Midlands.

Team Yorkshire/Northeast. Otherwise known as the Scarborough/Hull side. I like to think they are the third largest group to attend the Faith Conference this time.

And finally, photos to remember, taken by Fr Tim Finigan --

In the backdrop were all of us, and in front, the "elder statesmen of the Faith Conference" -- Dan Cooper and Fr Roger Nesbitt. The two of them were there during the very first Faith Conference forty years ago.

The stately picture.

And by tradition, the silly picture. Fr Tim Finigan actually said himself that we young whippersnappers don't know how to be silly anymore! Just look at how blank some people's faces were!..... in contrast to last year's picture... By tradition, Troisnyx must have drumsticks ready for use.

After talks, Mass and lunch, a few of us Hatfielders decided to go to the school playground and let loose. There was this cable slider thing, and we all decided to play on it.

Pictures of me were taken by Sylvia Beka, pictures of her and everyone else were taken by yours truly. Still shows that we know how to let our hair down...

There's something I like about the picture that can't be put into words.

Okay, admittedly, I put too much contrast on the picture, it's not even funny.

Oh, you never thought you'd see this, would you? Cable slider thingymabobber, now with obstacles to hinder your path... one of those obstacles being a parish priest!

This was a very rare shot, but I am thankful that I've managed to take it. Fr Mark joined us in letting loose at the playground, it was awesome.


San, ni, ichi -- ready when you are! I cried. This was a sight nobody thought he'd see. Apparently Fr Mark knew he was going to be recorded (that's what Jamie said!).


Another video we all thought we'd never see. XD Max and Jamie turned the playground into an assault course, with a time trial run.... Max scored 57 seconds (placing him first), Jamie scored about a little more than 1:00, Fr Mark scored 2:20, I scored 2:57......

The astounding fact is that Fr Mark is really that physically fit -- he did far better than me! ^_^

Later that evening, to celebrate 40 years of the Faith Conferences, there was a fireworks display on the fields leading to the entrance/exit of Woldingham School.

Four torches marked the boundary where we were to stand.


Horseplay. This was taken unintentionally: all I wanted to do was say that there was going to be a fireworks display. Then I heard Jamie laughing, and I saw Fr Mark and Max plonk on the floor!

Apparently this is what happened: Fr Mark is said to have seen something interesting on the ground, and so he went on all fours. Then Jamie pushed Max on Fr Mark's back and it didn't work well for both of them! XD

The beginning of the fireworks display.


The fireworks, IN FULL! I'm proud to have been part of this event. <3 br="br">

After that was the customary céilidh, but this time, I only took part in one or two dances, and passed the rest.

That's me with Halina Gawor and Natalie Page. The first picture is mine, the second is Halina's. Admittedly, hers is far better. ^_^

This picture was requested by Charlotte. I took this in the middle of my conversations with Fr Mark and friends!

Friday 3 August 2012 was the day of the last talk, and we all had to pack up and prepare to go home. We were sent off with a Mass, which was beyond awesome. ^_^ The journey home was quieter than the journey down to Woldingham. Part of the reason was because Damian couldn't go with us -- he was going to visit his family in Oxfordshire. So it was only Jamie, Sylvia and myself in the ride back. And lots of sleep, and coach-watching, and braving congestion on the motorways.

Other uncategorised pictures, taken by Fr Tim Finigan --

Apparently now Jamie is going to be well-known. ;-)

Apparently this was taken long before one of the talks began, judging from how empty the hall was.

Day visitors? Can't say I know what the pic's actually about.

Some young people walking in with Sr Roseann. *happy sigh* You know her, you love her, you can't live without her! ^_^ Wonder if they're walking to the lunch table...

I take it this is also about people walking to the lunch table.... I practically know everyone in this picture: Fr Stephen Brown and Canon Luiz Ruscillo (front), Sarah and Ellen Craddock (middle), Sylvia and Fr Michael John Galbraith (back)...

That reminds me, I've been largely picture-shy during this conference, that I never got under Fr Tim's radar this time.

That priest has phone reception because he's on Vodafone! (Did I hear some jealous whispers? Thankfully they aren't coming from me, because I am on that network too. ^_-)

Well, that's all the pictorial evidence from me. I'm glad to have been a part of that event, and I do certainly look forward to the next one.

Also see:
Reflexions on the Faith Summer Conference 2012