Wizz Air

The wedding of Adam and Claire

The happy couple in Fringford Churchyard following their wedding © Ricky Yates

Just a week after conducting my first wedding of 2015, on Saturday 6^th June I conducted my second of the year. But for the first time in nearly seven years, this wedding was conducted under laws governing marriage in England and Wales.

It was in July last year that my son Phillip’s best friend, Adam, wrote to me, saying that he and his long-standing girlfriend Claire, were planning to be married in late May/early June 2015 and that they would like me to officiate, and asking whether I was willing and able to do so. As I normally travel to the UK for a week, once a year, I replied agreeing to their request, planning for the wedding to be at the centre of my annual UK visit. Adam did also tell me that he had already asked Phillip to be his best man, so I did fully understand from the start, what I was letting myself in for 🙂

I flew from Prague to Luton by Wizzair on the evening of Tuesday 2^nd June, picked up my hire car, and set off to drive to Phillip’s current home in Nottingham. Unfortunately, whoever is in charge of Britain’s motorway network was clearly conspiring against me.

First of all, the spur road from Luton Airport to the M1, was ‘closed for overnight resurfacing work’, resulting in a tour of parts of Luton I had no desire to see! Then a very long stretch of the M1 through Northamptonshire, had a 50 mph speed limit because of road works. Finally, just as I was getting near to Nottingham, I found another stretch of the M1 completely closed overnight, sending me on a long detour, deep into the Leicestershire countryside.

I spent the Wednesday recovering, then on Thursday, headed back down to Oxfordshire. I enjoyed lunch at Ripon College, Cuddesdon, followed by meetings and a tour of the college and grounds. The reason for this visit will be revealed in a future blogpost, probably in a month or so’s time. Then it was on to the wedding rehearsal in the evening.

Adam and Claire’s wedding was arranged to take place in the Parish Church of St. Michael and All Angels in the North Oxfordshire village of Fringford, one of the Churches I was Rector of until moving to Prague in September 2008. It is the village where Adam grew up and where his parents still live. It did seem strange being back in Church where I hadn’t taken a service for nearly seven years. It took me some time, remembering where all the light switches were located!

At the rehearsal, we went through the service together, got Adam and Claire to practice making their vows and the words used at the exchange of rings, as well as answering various questions that the couple & other participants had. I also picked up the two marriage registers, blank quarterly return for the Oxfordshire Registrar and the marriage certificate book, to enable me to fill them all out correctly, ready for the big day.

The best man with Lisa, his best lady © Ricky Yates

Saturday 6^th June dawned fine and sunny, though somewhat windy. Fortunately, whilst both the mother of the bride and mother of the groom wore fascinators, there were no ladies wearing hats that would get blown across the churchyard. Quite honestly, it would be difficult to ask for better weather for a wedding day.

One of the privileges of ordained ministry is that you get to share in peoples ‘major life events’, as sociologists would describe them. When conducting a marriage service, there always needs to be a balance kept between the solemnity and joy of the occasion. As I said in my address, after the couple had given their consent, (said ‘I will’ and not ‘I do’), but before they made their vows to each other and exchanged rings, they were about to make very important promises; with God, and those who know them best of all – their family and friends – as witnesses. But I was also able to crack a joke at Phillip’s expense, well aware there would be at least one at mine in his best man’s speech later in the day. And when speaking about the third reason that ‘marriage is given’ – as ‘the foundation of family life in which children may be born and nurtured’ – according to the preface of the marriage service, I did speak of ‘little Garners’ being produced, much to the amusement of the congregation and bringing smiles of pleasure from the prospective grandparents.

Whilst I didn’t have to cope with using a bilingual liturgy as I had the previous weekend, I did have to ensure the correct completion and signing of the marriage registers, quarterly return and marriage certificate, something I hadn’t done for nearly seven years. And I couldn’t just sign as ‘Rector’, as I had previously for over fifteen years, but instead as ‘Priest-in-Charge of St. Clement’s, Prague, Czech Republic – Officiating Minister’. A bit of a mouthful I’m sure you’ll agree 🙂

The wedding was followed by a most enjoyable reception, held in a splendid marquee, erected in the grounds of the home of Claire’s parents on the outskirts of the nearby village of Middleton Stoney. Both the bride’s father and the groom, apologised for not being used to public speaking, but both made excellent speeches, rightly sticking to their previously well-prepared text.

The best man was inevitably, somewhat longer, with some additional ad-libbing. But he did keep us all amused. In thanking his Dad for conducting the marriage service, he described it as ‘a cracking gig’, which caused much laughter. It really was a great wedding and a privilege to be part of it.

The best man and the Officiating Minister © Ricky Yates

July 2013 visit to the UK

Phillip outside the 'Trip to Jerusalem' © Ricky Yates — Phillip outside the ‘Trip to Jerusalem’ © Ricky Yates

On Tuesday 2nd July, Sybille and I returned to Prague from our eight day holiday in the Orlické hory. The next afternoon, having managed to wash, dry and iron all our dirty clothes, I was off on my travels again, heading for Václav Havel Airport, as Prague Airport is now officially known, in order to spend the next five days in the UK – only my fourth visit there since moving to Prague nearly five years ago.

As on my previous visit just under a year ago, I flew with the budget Hungarian airline Wizz Air, from Prague to Luton Airport. Having landed at Luton on time at 15.30, collected my bag, got through passport control, remembering to say ‘Good afternoon’ and not ‘Dobrý den‘, I set foot outside the airport terminal, to once more experience a country in which I feel less comfortable, the longer I am away from it.

Before I fell asleep that evening, I had three ‘I know I’m in the UK’ experiences. The first came once I stepped aboard the shuttle bus to take me from the airport, to the car park at Slip End where I was to pick up my hire car. I had to listen to a long announcement all about what to do, should the bus be involved in an accident or catch on fire. All this for a five minute bus journey! Sadly this is health and safety gone mad, coupled with lawyers who offer to sue anyone you can think of to blame, for anything that might ever happen to you.

The second experience occurred that evening, after I had driven from Slip End, up the M1 to Nottingham, and met up with my son Phillip and his girlfriend Lisa. Whilst we were sitting in a pub restaurant around the corner from where Phillip lives, I overheard a bit of the conversation taking place on the table next to us. “They’re talking in English”, I thought to myself. It took a few seconds before it registered with me that this should not be surprising as I was actually in England 🙂

The third experience was a very positive one. Having finally worked out how to log on to the wifi network at Phillip’s current home, I accessed the BBC News website, to catch up with the day’s news events. It was a great pleasure for once, not to have any advertising anywhere on the site, because I was accessing it in the the UK, rather than in the Czech Republic.

Me sitting alongside Castle Lock on the Nottingham Canal © Ricky Yates — Me, sitting alongside Castle Lock on the Nottingham Canal © Ricky Yates

Phillip kindly took Friday 5th July as a day of his annual leave, and spent it taking me on a walking tour of Nottingham. In many respects, it might be better described as a pub-crawl of Nottingham, though it was a very warm day so we did have a good excuse 🙂 We visited the ‘Trip to Jerusalem’ which claims to be the oldest inn in England. And we had lunch in a most pleasant location, sitting alongside Castle Lock on the Nottingham Canal, outside ‘The Navigation’, where Phillip took this picture of me.

A heron looking expectantly for his lunch! © Ricky Yates

After lunch, we walked along the canal towpath to where the canal rejoins the River Trent. On our walk, we passed this heron, sitting on the base of a bridge parapet, no doubt on the lookout for his lunch!

We then walked across the main bridge over the River Trent to the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground and the neighbouring world-famous Trent Bridge Inn. Banners were already out on nearby lamp posts, advertising the commencement of the Ashes Test Match series against Australia which was due to begin here on the following Wednesday. But as we enjoyed a pint sitting in the TBI, the sport on the TV screen was tennis, as we watched Novak Djokovic win his Wimbledon semi final match against Juan Martín del Potro.

Later, we joined Lisa and some of hers and Phillip’s work colleagues, for another cool beer/glass of wine outside in the Friday evening Nottingham sunshine. My thanks to Natasha, (I hope I remembered the name correctly), for taking this photo of the three of us.

Myself, with Ian's mother & step-father © Ian Margieson — Myself, with Ian’s mother & step-father © Ian Margieson

I spent the weekend of 6th -7th July, staying with my daughter Christa and son-in-law Ian, at their home in Daventry, Northamptonshire. Christa did ask me not to post a photograph of her here on my blog, so instead, here is a photograph taken by Ian, of me and his mother Eileen and step-father Barry, sitting on the decking at the rear of Christa and Ian’s home. The reason for the computer on my lap was to show some photographs – I wasn’t working, honest!

Having said that, I did have somewhat of a ‘busman’s holiday’ on Sunday morning. I preached at two services – in St. Mary the Virgin, Wilby and St. Nicholas, Great Doddington, on behalf of the Intercontinental Church Society (ICS), who have financially and prayerfully supported the Prague Chaplaincy since 2000. These two parishes on the outskirts of Wellingborough, in turn, support the work of ICS. It was wonderful to meet people who faithfully pray for us in Prague. In turn, they enjoyed meeting and hearing me in person, rather than just knowing of me through a photograph in the ICS magazine.

The Cathedral & Abbey Church of St. Alban © Ricky Yates

With a few hours to kill before my flight back to Prague on the evening of Monday 8th July, I revisited somewhere that has a special place in my own spiritual journey – the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St. Alban, to give what is commonly known as St. Albans Cathedral, its correct, full name. Here, just over twenty-four years ago on 2nd July 1989, I was ordained deacon, and a year later on 1st July 1990, ordained priest.

The original Abbey Church was built on the site of where Alban, the first English Christian martyr, was put to death for his faith. It is quite a number of years since I was last here and it was wonderful to be able to both pray privately in the Cathedral, as well as to attend Evensong, before heading back to Slip End to return the car, and then to Luton Airport to fly home.

A visit to the UK

UK visit 1 — The Wortley Arms in South Yorkshire with the Church directly across the road © Ricky Yates

At the end of August, I spent a busy but most enjoyable four days in the UK – only my third visit back to my home country in nearly four years since moving to Prague.

The trip started early, in fact very early, on the morning of Monday 27th August. My flight with the Hungarian low-cost airline Wizz Air from Prague to Luton Airport, (officially ‘London Luton Airport’, but as far as I am concerned, ‘Luton Airport’ as it is located adjacent to Luton and not London ), was scheduled to depart at 06.00 CEST that morning. Whilst I am a great believer in using public transport and two night buses would have got me to the airport, I eventually chose the easier option and booked a taxi which was waiting for me outside our apartment block at 04.30. The flight was uneventful and we landed at Luton on time, just before 07.00 BST.

Just over an hour later, having collected my bag, got through passport control remembering to say “Good morning” rather than “Dobrý den”, found the free bus service to take me to Slip End and collected my pre-booked hire car, I was heading up the relatively quiet M1 motorway, bound for Derby. The motorway was quiet, partly due to the relatively early hour, but also because it was the August Bank Holiday Monday (public holiday for all non-Brits reading this) meaning very few trucks were on the move.

The main purpose of my trip was to spend time with each of my two adult children, my son Phillip and my daughter Christa. Phillip has recently moved to a flat right in the centre of Derby, very convenient for the shops but with no free parking facilities nearby. Thus he suggested that I park at a location about ten minutes walk from where he lives, where he met me and helped carry my bag back to the flat he now shares with his friend Sam.

Monday 27th August was a typical British bank/public holiday – it was cold and it rained most of the afternoon and evening 🙁 But I enjoyed seeing Phillip play for his indoor five-a-side football team where they posted a convincing 4 – 1 victory. Afterwards, we enjoyed a fish and chips supper from a nearby takeaway.

UK visit 2 — Phillip in his 1986 retro Oxford United shirt at Elland Road Football Stadium, Leeds © Ricky Yates

Phillip had been able to take the next day off as part of his annual leave and in contrast to the previous day, Tuesday 28th August dawned fine and sunny. We spent a good part the day on a leisurely drive north up through the Derbyshire and South Yorkshire countryside, stopping off for lunch at this typical English village pub in Wortley, located directly opposite the village Church 🙂

We were headed for Leeds where that evening, Oxford United FC were playing Leeds United FC in the second round of the League Cup competition.

Back in 1986, Oxford United famously won the League Cup so, as you can see, Phillip wore his replica retro Oxford shirt dating from that occasion. Unfortunately, it didn’t bring any good fortune this time as the match ended in a 3 – 0 victory for Leeds United.

Despite the result, it was still an enjoyable day out together and allowed Phillip to add Elland Road to the list of football grounds he has been to. We also had a relatively quick return journey to Derby after the match, back down the M1 and the A38.

The next day, after a leisurely breakfast, I set off and drove south, initially to the outskirts of Coventry where I visited two large Tesco supermarkets in search of a small number of things Sybille had asked me to try and purchase whilst in the UK. With one exception, I was successful! I had intended to then spend a few hours exploring the centre of the city where I spent the first eighteen years of my life, but unfortunately it was once more pouring down with rain. So instead, I drove along a relatively newly-constructed road, (which follows the route of what I remember as being a railway line 🙂 ), out of Coventry and on to the village of Braunston, situated on the Warwickshire-Northamptonshire border, where I had booked to stay the night at ‘The Old Workshop‘, a canal-side Bed and Breakfast establishment.

UK visit 3 — Cast iron bridge over the entrance to Braunston Marina © Ricky Yates

Within an hour of my arrival, the weather decided to improve markedly. I was therefore able to enjoy a walk up the canal towpath alongside the Braunston flight of locks, first crossing this splendid cast iron bridge over the entrance to the adjacent marina.

That evening, I met up with my daughter Christa and my new son-in-law Ian, at the Boat House Pub and Restaurant in Braunston where we enjoyed a meal together. Then the next day, I visited them in their new home in nearby Daventry and met Emmylou and Harriet, Ian’s two children by his previous marriage.

The weather was kind enough to allow us all to spend the afternoon on a walk through Daventry Country Park which is based around one of the two reservoirs that feed the summit level of the Grand Union Canal. Emmylou rode her bicycle and found her own island at the edge of the reservoir.

Ian, Christa & Harriet — Ian, Harriet and Christa in Daventry Country Park © Ricky Yates

Harriet is quadriplegic and so travelled in her specially adapted outdoor wheelchair. Here she is, along with Christa and Ian.

UK visit 4 — Christa, Harriet and me at Daventry Country Park © Ian Margieson

And here she is with Christa and me.

All too soon it was time to leave and head back down the M1 to Luton, return the hire car, get the bus to the airport and catch my Wizz Air flight back to Prague. In typical low-cost airline fashion, my flight departure was delayed but, on this occasion, only by thirty minutes. I had wondered whether I was wise to fly with Wizz Air again following my experience just over two years previously when the equivalent flight was delayed by five and a half hours 🙁

The delay, together with gaining an hour by flying eastwards, meant it was after midnight before we touched down in Prague. However, another taxi ride eventually got me safely back to the Chaplaincy Flat by 01.00 on Friday 31st August.