We wish you a Merry Christmas..............
        Yes, it’s that time of year and the Tim’n’Chris newsletter is upon you once again. As you can see, this year we’re getting a bit more adventurous with the production - we hope you enjoy the photos. And what a year it’s been - so do read on................

........................... and a Happy New Year

My job this year has been extremely challenging. In April, nine months after the previous reorganisation, there was yet another one which had even bigger repercussions. The unit that I had moved to BT to join four years before was disbanded, even though we had achieved outstanding results in the previous 12 months. My team was scattered (seemingly randomly) around the BT Sales organisation and I ended up in a broadly similar role to that I had been doing, but this time with nine staff only one of whom was from the old team. The rest are based in London, Hemel Hempstead or Bracknell. The Sales unit that I am now part of is based at Bracknell and sells into BT’s largest ‘hi-tech’ customers such as Microsoft, IBM and ICL.

It is only in the last month that my feet have touched the ground - before then it was little but driving for miles, stress, deadlines and tiredness. I can’t say that I’ve enjoyed much of it, although I seem to have got things under control now. I am usually away from Birmingham three days a week, working a full day as well as travelling. It all means that I am having to put more effort into my job than I really want to, and so for the last couple of months I’ve been looking in the Appointments supplements to see what there is around. I’m not desparate to leave BT, but if a job "came up" which we felt was more suitable then I am prepared to jump ship. We don’t really want to move from Solihull though. There’s been a couple of articles about "downshifting" in some magazines recently, meaning the trend for people to opt out the jobs they’re in and moving to less stressful jobs with less pay. It’s all a question of balance between effort demanded by a job, its rewards, and quality of life. I can certainly see the attractions in doing this!

I’m now our church’s administrator (part-time and paid) and I am really enjoying it. I’m responsible for all the admin, church leaflets, monthly newsletter etc etc. Sue, who is also paid part-time, handles the money side - the books, taxman and covenant claims. I’m probably making myself a little indispensable but I shall try not to carry too much information in my head so that others can step in if necessary.

Because of the pressures of work it hasn’t been that easy to take much time off for holidays. Our trailer tent hasn’t moved from the garage all year. So the times we have had away have been all the more precious. For our main holiday we went to Kefalos, a quiet resort on the Greek island of Kos, spending our two weeks there in the customary sunbathing and sightseeing. Kos is very close to Turkey and so there are several army bases scattered around. This explained why the main road across the island was so good (much better than most UK roads). One night we were having a meal in a taverna when the ground started to vibrate and then to shake. It wasn’t an earthquake - just a column of tanks driving past! All in all we had a brilliant time in Kos, and as usual after a Greek holiday did NOT want to come home!

We also spent a long weekend in Ross-On-Wye in August, using it as a base for exploring the Forest of Dean. We stayed in an excellent B&B near to the parish church and really enjoyed the town with its character as well as the full English breakfast every morning (and no washing up). We did several walks as well as visiting attractions such as a maze and butterfly farm.
 

One thing we have really enjoyed this year has been our music group at church. Just after last Christmas Chris, Becky and Sarah joined us, adding bass guitar, flute and keyboard to what had previously been just Tim with guitar and drum machine and both of us singing . We get on really well as a group, and the church has even bought some new PA equipment so that we can sound as good as possible.

It’s been very difficult sometimes to summon up the energy required to go out to a weekday practice after a long day at work, but it’s worth it when it all goes well on a Sunday. The drum machine isn’t as flexible or varied as a real drummer, but it fits into a much smaller space and doesn’t speed up during a song. All we want now is a saxophone virtuoso and we’ll give up our day jobs! Seriously though, the church is excellent in all sorts of ways and we would be sorry if we ever had to leave.

Chris writes : I love singing in the group at church, and also I recently helped out singing at a small conference. I had to sing contemporary Christian songs as examples for church leaders who want to break out of using just old hymns. It was a new experience for me which I may get a chance to repeat. Also next year the church is putting on a three day presentation at Solihull theatre which will mean a lot of work for us as musicians as well as me as a singer.

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