Dear Friends,

A couple of weeks ago, I took the tram from the port village where I was staying recently to the local town and had a charming view of many back gardens each with its orange and lemon trees full of fruit. I last made the same trip some fifty-plus years ago and it was a lovely memory relived. Here it is very much a case of you can have any drink you wish as long as it contains either oranges or lemons. So, if life is giving you gifts of oranges make marmalade and if the gifts are lemons, then make haste to buy the gin and enjoy. It reminds me of the time when I was working in the diocesan office when if the staff knew there was a chaplain coming in from Spain, then a gift of a lemon or two would be very acceptable not that anyone was drinking gin on duty of course! Good memories. 

I have had to search my memory and files quite a lot lately in that I have been writing to a few of you about lapsed donations/subscriptions. It is an on-going slow project but if you are aware or think that you may just have forgotten your annual donation, please get in touch with me as it will save me a letter. No embarrassment involved because everyone has good intentions but sometimes dealing with day-to-day life can derail them. 

At the February meeting of the Friends Committee, a grant for language tuition was approved for a new chaplain and spouse. There was also some discussion on the next Friends’ Reunion Service resulting in a committee member being tasked with researching a couple of possible venues. It is likely the service will be in the autumn, and hopefully, there will be some further news to report after the July meeting. 

I received the Prayer Diary on Maundy Thursday whilst I was still away from home, which means you are receiving it late. The delay is regrettable but not terminal as the editor always has the dilemma as to how long to wait to get any inaccuracies cleared up. 

May the joy of Easter stay with you in the weeks to come.

Friends of the Diocese in Europe, 14 Tufton Street, London SW1P 3QZ

Email: dioceseineuropefriends@gmail.com

Email: jeanne.french@churchofengland.org