By Ricky, on April 13th, 2012
My pottery paten and chalice that I use for celebrating the Eucharist in Brno © Ricky Yates
When I was Rector of the Shelswell Group of Parishes in North Oxfordshire, quite frequently on Sundays, I would officiate at three services during the day – and occasionally at four. Certainly on Easter Day, I would always celebrate the Eucharist three times during the morning, in three different Churches, at 08.00, 09.15 and 10.45.
One of the joys of being the Anglican Chaplain in Prague, is normally only having one service to take each Sunday. And because our Ceskobratrské Církve Evangelické host congregation meets for worship at 09.30 each Sunday, our Sung Eucharist cannot begin until 11.00.
However, having held the first ever English-language service of Lessons and Carols in Brno last December, since the New Year, I am now travelling there to officiate . . . → Read More: Easter Day worship in Prague and Brno
By Ricky, on April 4th, 2012
My sister June & brother-in-law Garry on their wedding day 31st March 1962
I am the youngest of three children. My eldest sister June, is nearly nine years my senior. On Saturday 31st March 1962, at the tender age of eighteen, June married my brother-in-law Garry, the wedding taking place at Warwick Road Congregational (now United Reformed) Church in Coventry. The picture on the left is of the happy couple outside the Church following their marriage and the boyish face behind Garry’s shoulder is none other than Yours Truly, aged ten!
Exactly fifty years later, on Saturday 31st March 2012, June and Garry celebrated their Golden Wedding anniversary. They marked the occasion by holding a most enjoyable buffet lunch in the Branksome Dene Community Rooms, Poole which overlook the beach near their home for the past twenty years in Westbourne, Bournemouth. The Prague Church . . . → Read More: Golden Wedding celebration
By Ricky, on March 25th, 2012
St. Clement’s Church spire from Letna © Ricky Yates
From time-to-time I get emails, or comments here on my blog, each of which make wholly inaccurate assumptions about the Prague Anglican congregation that I serve as Chaplain. So this post is intended to explode a few myths and instead, try to paint a more accurate picture.
We are the Brits abroad – Wrong!
Many people are surprised to discover that only about a third of our regular congregation are citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, to give my home country its correct full name. The other two-thirds come from a variety of English-speaking nations from around the world. Or, they are second or even third language English-speakers, happy to worship using the medium of English. Every Sunday, you can almost guarantee that there will be double-figure nationalities making up the congregation.
. . . → Read More: Inaccurate assumptions about the Prague Anglican Congregation
By Ricky, on March 11th, 2012
Myself with Kristin & Petr following their wedding service © Sybille Yates
On Saturday 3rd March, I conducted my first wedding of 2012 when Petr, a Czech, married Kristin, an American. The wedding took place at St. Clement’s Church with a congregation made up of Petr’s Czech relatives, a small number of Kristin’s American relatives, together with numerous mutual friends.
This wedding presented all the usual problems that arise when I conduct a Czech to English-speaker marriage. Petr’s parents and older relatives do not understand or speak English. None of Kristin’s family speaks Czech except for Kristin herself who has lived in Prague for twenty years and has her own business here. How was I to conduct a service that would be understood and appreciated by everyone present?
As with previous Czech to English-speaker weddings, I got Petr and Kristin to produce a completely bilingual order of . . . → Read More: My first wedding of 2012
By Ricky, on March 4th, 2012
Dreams are comming soon????? © Ricky Yates
Spelling corrected! © Ricky Yates
Last Wednesday, 29th February, I was walking past a newly renovated building at the western end of Klimentská, the street in which St. Clement’s Church is located, when I spotted the graphic design work illustrated in the photograph on the left above, with the blatant misspelling of the word ‘coming’. Later that evening, I posted the photo on Facebook, asking what it cost to create the artwork and why those who commissioned it were not willing to spend a few more Czech crowns by asking a native English-speaker to check their text.
My posting on Facebook has since attracted 14 comments, many of them humorous. But one of the most telling was that of Karen who remarked, ‘When a luxury place can’t spell, they look cheap!’ That was my immediate reaction . . . → Read More: Czenglish corrected!
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