In the summer of 2007 a scheme between wildlife organisations in Norway and Ireland saw the re-introduction of White-tailed Sea Eagles to Ireland.
15 eaglets were reared in Norway and flown by plane to Ireland where they were released into Killarney National Park. These Eagles were prominent in Ireland but became extinct over the last 100 years or so due to trapping and shooting in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
Now, a year later, they have been spotted in my neck of the woods at Clea Lake, County Down in the North of Ireland!
I’ve just been to see the second Narnia film, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.
If you haven’t seen it I’d recommend you do go and see it. Don’t wait for the DVD. Go and enjoy the full effects of surround sound at high volume to get all the gut wrenching booms and echoing blasts of horns. If, like me, you’ve never read the book you’ll probably wonder what the heck the first scene is all about. Without any warning the movie starts with the very loud screams of a woman giving birth! The characters all look and sound Spanish from a Renaissance period and for one minute I really thought someone had switched the video reels.
The story line is good and has a lot of intrigue and twists in it that I liked. My daughter (who has read all the books) tells me that some stuff has been added, such as the White Witch making a brief appearance, but all in all it’s really good stuff with some very nice computer generated images and very good acting. Some bits were so Lord of the rings it’s unreal. (But then Tolkien and CS Lewis were good mates, but that was way before CGI and modern film tech). For instance, the bit where the trees waken up and start defending Narnia.
Oh, and it’s 2 hours and 24 minutes so it’s good value for money considering the price of the ticket. As one local newspaper described it, it’s a ‘bum numbing 2 hours and 24 minutes long”.
Went to an Indian Restaurant in London recently. (Can’t remember for the life of me what it was called, but it was excellent food). However, I thought I would pass on the Devil Chicken……
On Sunday 11th May millions of Christians spanning 176 nations prayed for the needs of the world on Pentecost Sunday as part of one of the largest global prayer events to ever take place. On that day I was part of the Psalm Drummers team that took part in the London Global Day of Prayer. Around 20,000 people gathered to pray for London, the UK and the World on a very hot day in Millwall Football Club’s ground.
What really made the day special was that I looked at the people gathered together as part of the Psalm Drummers team and thought to myself “what an ordinary bunch of people”. Also that there were both young and old. No superstars here. I was so amazed at the grace of God in choosing a bunch of people to make a sound that was dynamic, raw and aggressive as an expression of worship.
The day was a little disappointing from a ‘performance’ point of view as we were supposed to be doing 2 pieces - 15 minutes at the start and 10 minutes towards the end, plus a piece with a gospel choir. But in the end we only did 6 minutes and 6 minutes later. But that’s the way it is with live events. Not everything goes smoothly and you get chopped! But there was a real sense that we were contributing to the surge of prayer and worship that was rising, so job done!!!
I’m always really keen to see how we look and sound as when you are playing you are locked in to a groove. If anyone has any video or audio footage from the day please let me know. I find it useful for seeing how things can be improved.
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