St. Luke's, Ramsgate
  • Home
  • About
    • Gallery
    • Comments on St. Luke's
    • Mission Statement
    • Annual Report
    • History of St. Luke's
    • Who's Who
    • World Mission
    • Church Hall
    • Policies
    • Safeguarding
  • Activities
    • Sunday Services
    • Growth Communities
    • Cafe4All
    • Play and Praise
    • Local Food Help
    • Baptisms
    • Weddings
  • Coming Up
    • Wise Up! Study Groups
    • In-Person Church
    • Volunteering for September 2022
  • Latest News
    • Notice Sheet
    • St. Luke's Stories
    • Responding to Covid-19 >
      • My Pandemic Experience
  • Sermons
  • Contact
  • Find us
  • Connect
  • Donate

Peter Erlam - My Life Poem

11/3/2021

1 Comment

 
One idea on this page is to share mini-autobiographies of members of St. Luke's. This one from Peter Erlam comes as a poem!

​A Northern lad born of Cheshire farming stock,
My infant years amid lush dairy pastures.
Golden days, guided by His gracious hand,
So happy to be in this God-given land.
 
A childhood so carefree, how blessed was I
To roll in grass, run through head-high corn.
And, at harvest, to sit atop sweet bales of hay,
Then stack them in barns, somewhere else to play.
 
Always in a safe place but changes were coming,
Village primary followed by a big city grammar.
I biked to a station that escaped Beeching’s axe;
What joy! Still a steam train to Manchester ‘n’ back.
 
But my real love, long before girls, was kicking a ball
All times and anywhere, in garden, park or playground.
I’d dream of lining up with Charlton, Best and Law,
Though in a team of such stars, no chance I’d score!
 
Having swung through the Sixties into the Seventies
It was just the right time to leave home for uni.
The world was your oyster, just hitch a ride
In bell-bottom trousers and a T-shirt tie-dyed.
 
With a degree in the bag and no rush to find work
I headed to Canada to see the Great Outdoors.
Returned four months later with a big box of LPs
And a letter from Lynne, my university squeeze.
 
In it she suggested we should meet up at Christmas,
How about that pub near Granada TV studios?
Lo and behold, the relationship grew stronger,
No doubt in my mind I would marry this teacher.
 
Twenty pounds, my first pay as a trainee reporter.
Lousy money, great job. That’s why I did it for 40 years!
First step on the career ladder took me to Carlisle
Where, not long after, Lynne and I walked down the aisle.
 
In Cumbria we discovered the pleasure of walking,
Up hills and along valleys of the Lake District.
With daughters in tow we got to the top of Catbells,
But soon we had scaled Helvellyn and other loftier fells.
 
The wonder of Creation was everywhere to be seen,
Always revealing itself in Nature’s sublime beauty
Now, three decades later, there’s nowhere I feel
Closer to God than during a simple walk in the fields.
 
Work was the reason that brought us down to Kent,
A lovely county but lacking in mountains to climb.
‘If these are the Downs, where are the Ups?’ we asked.
Do not despair: less rain here and more sun in which to bask.
 
 I felt even better on seeing so many cricket grounds;
Too old for football, this would be the sport for me.
I signed up to play for a village near Maidstone
And thirty seasons on, I still turn out at Teston.
 
So much has happened in the last dozen years
The worst? Losing Lynne ‘n’ my mum in the space of a week
The best? Both daughters having children of their own.
Even better? I married Brenda and we love our new home.
 
Yes, blessings aplenty - good neighbours, caring church family,
Life in Ramsgate is certainly sweet; but is there a downside?
Well, who would have thought it when we tied the knot
That we’d spend more time in lockdown than not!
 
1 Comment

Audrey Tucker - One Day in Lockdown

8/3/2021

0 Comments

 
​A poem by Audrey Tucker, one of our members, reflecting on how praising God makes a day in lockdown a great day.
This will be a good day.
No! This IS a great day!

Love has been drawing us forward,
But we foolishly went our own way.

But now Love's Spirit is upon us
Bringing us the TRUTH.

We kneel in adoration;
Oh, worthy is the Lord,
How worthy is the Lord!

AMEN.
0 Comments

Sue Hawkes

5/3/2021

0 Comments

 
Sue lives in Spain and she recorded this video about her journey with God for the church she attends out there. However, when she is in the UK, her and her husband attend St. Luke's as does her mum Pam Mercer and her identical twin sister Chris Kirk. Below the video is a picture of Sue and Chris at St. Luke's back in the 1970s!
Picture
0 Comments

Pam Elmes

1/3/2021

1 Comment

 
Something the Holy Spirit gave me a few years ago. At the time it took few minutes to write, but it's as fresh for me today as it was then. And these words are for everyone to give a special focus on God.

He is Beautiful

In everything He is beautiful and through everything He is beautiful.
God never
changes because His Word is forever settled in Heaven.
IT IS SETTLED.


All He created was beautiful and while His creation is ravaged,
He remains
constant through it all.

His beauty remains – deep down in my heart and it is the air I breathe.
His
beauty is my life it is what I feed upon, it sustains me.

Such beauty is rare indeed and can never be replicated
because it is unique
from Him and through Him,
and is daily being lavished upon me.


But I am just one child of the Father
and His beauty extends graciously to all 
His children.
​All who have eyes to see Him.
1 Comment
Forward>>

    Author

    Reflections, stories, mini-autobiographies and photos of the church and church life from members of St. Luke's

    Archives

    January 2022
    October 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021

    Categories

    All
    Life Story
    Photos
    Poetry

    RSS Feed

About Us

​Mission Statement
Annual Report
​History of St. Luke's
Who's Who
​World Mission Links
​Church Hall

Activities

Sunday Services
​Baptisms
​Weddings
​Play and Praise
​Coming Up

Notices and Sermons

Notice Sheet
Sermon Blog
Picture