Beth Rowley

Over the summer Anita brought my attention to a singer she'd seen on TV called Beth Rowley. She is a Blues/gospel style, not something I'd really listened to before. She had just released her first CD called 'Little Dreamer' which we bought and I haven't stopped listening to it since.

In August I visited Beth's website and noticed that she had just announced her autumn tour dates, one of which was at the Royal Northern Collage of Music in Manchester in October. Without hesitation I booked two tickets for Anita & me. This was quite an unusual event as I have never been to a concert before, although come to think of it I did go to see Don Francisco once at the Southport Theatre many years ago.

Well, the concert was fantastic and I really enjoyed it. We were just 3 rows from the front and next to the drums!

Check out her web site at www.bethrowley.com

The Rugby Season so far..........

Well not a bad start for Sale Sharks. The season tends to divide itself up into small groups of games for different competitions starting with the Guinness Premiership - after 5 games we are in 3rd position. A top 4 place is the main aim for the season as the top 4 play off for the Premiership Final held at Twickenham in May, a top 2 place would be even better as that would ensure a home tie.

In the EDF cup (a bit like the old football league cup) we were bottom of our group and did not qualify for the semi-final, all was not lost as may top players were rested and many young hopefuls from the academy where given first team game time.

The Heineken Cup (like the Champions league in football) has only just started and so far we have played 2 games - won one & lost one - so it's all still to play for.

Next weekend sees the start of the autumn internationals so we will have several top players away on international duty for England, Wales & Scotland. With several injuries as well, we will almost certainly need to call upon the services of some of the young players in the squad. Hopefully their experience in the EDF cup will hold them in good stead.

Why not visit Sale Sharks website by clicking here

Universities

September saw us visit various Universities with Hannah. We went to Lancaster, Liverpool & Manchester on 3 consecutive Saturdays. It was hard work & we were there nearly all day on each occasion. One of the problems we have is that Hannah is undecided which subject she wants to take, so we were visiting Biology, Chemistry, Geology & Geography departments. So far Hannah has ruled out Chemistry. Lancaster, which is a campus university, is currently top of the list. We will have another look around next spring.

Hannah is going to take a year out. Hopefully she will earn some money and also do some kind of missionary work.

The Credit Crunch

Well, first week back to work in August after our holidays and I had to review the staffing in my Department. My Director asked me to make some cuts as the level of work through the business had slowed down significantly due to the down turn in the housing market. I had to assess the current & future work load & then decide how many staff I could let go. I had already had a couple of staff leave earlier in the year which I had decided not to replace, so I only needed to let one person go. For the next stage I had to conduct a review for each member of staff to be able to come to a fair decsion on who would be made redundant. I was a hard few days. The total number of staff who were made redundant was significant. But it was absolutly necesssery if the business is to survive the credit crunch.

Olympics, Rugby, Christianity & Eric Liddell

This is an extract from the worlds best selling rugby magazine Rugby World (Sept 2008 page 88).

"Immortalised in the Oscar winning film Chariots of Fire, Liddell is best known as a devout Christian who won the 400m gold medal in the 1924 Paris Olympics in a world record time of 47.6 seconds. Ironically, the 100m had been considered Liddell's strongest event but, with the final scheduled for a Sunday, he withdrew at the start of the Games because he considered the sabbath as a day of rest.

One aspect of the Scot's life omitted in the film was his rugby career, which was brief but brilliant. First capped against France in 1922, Liddell scored 4 tries in 7 Tests, including 3 in the 1923 five nations when, but for an 8-6 defeat to England would have won their 1st Grand Slam. Two years later the Scots achieved that distinction, but Liddell was no longer part of the team having settled in China as a missionary. He was still there in the early 1940s when the Japanese invaded the country during World War 2; Liddell was interned in the Shantung Compound and died of a brain tumor in 1945 aged 43.

A fellow internee wrote later that throughout his incarceration Liddell was 'overflowing with good humour and love for life...it is rare indeed a person has the good fortune to meet a saint, but he came as close to it as anyone I have ever known'."

Eric Liddell is also the subject of a new book by Gordon Keddie called "Running The Race" (published by Evangelical Press). I am currently half way through and thoroughly enjoying it. I hope to finish it before New Year.