The Times They were Achanging

On May 11, 1966, Photograph Barry Feinstein, May 11 1966. Dylan at the Aust Ferry terminal, Gloucestershire.

I was reading a book yesterday that referred to a famous picture of Bob Dylan at the old Aust Ferry terminal in 1966. I don't remember seeing the picture but it is of interest as if you look, in the distance you can see the almost complete first Severn Bridge (it's just above the car). Before that, of course, the ancient ferry was the only way to avoid making a long roundabout journey to get from Somerset to South Wales.

Gordon Banks

Gordon Banks of 1966 fame, the third to go now (after Bobby Moore, Ray Wilson and Alan Ball) was a minor boyhood hero of mine. He played for unfashionable clubs (Leicester and Stoke) and was a very sober and unflashy player, the sort that Alf Ramsey went for that fooled me a bit so that I was more impressed by Peter Shilton. I remember a comic including a series of pics showing that amazing save against Pele in 1970. I was on a train once and Gordon Banks happened to be on it too for some reason as we pulled into Paddington. Today the media are saying that he would have been knighted but for an admin error. I wonder how often that happens. It's odd the way we treat our heroes.

Anniversary of Lloyd-Jones and 1966

An article on this matter appears here.
And another here

Grace Baptist Assembly 2016 Final Sessions

On the Tuesday evening Alun McNabb gave his second and final message. In what was no doubt not the first outing for this material he gave us six or seven reasons why Jeremiah would probably find it difficult to secure a pastorate these days. He instanced his God-centredness, his failure to be "seeker friendly", his seriousness, the way he exposed sin, the fact he was emotional and too repetitive and finally his lack of "musicalness". This was good old fashioned stuff.

On our final day we had a fascinating session first on the document "We believe" one of the two standards of the assembly, the other being the Confession of 1689. It being 40 years since the publication of the Affirmation it was good to hear Peter Day recount the origins of the document. Stephen Rees then compared the 1689 and 1966 documents showing how the latter is a shorter more relevant document in modern language. I have never looked seriously at the 1966 Affirmation as it includes a strict view of communion, not my position. However, that is a mistake on my part as there are many good things in it clearly.

That fist session ran over slightly but we were able to get back on track for the final session when Jonathan Chell of Ramsey preached very helpfully from Psalm 23 to close the conference and bringing us back eventually to where we started off.

Assembly plans to gather again in the same place (Hayes Centre, Swanwick) next year, May 9-11. More here.