I spend a lot of time these days ordering train tickets. There is a real art to getting best value and to keeping track of all the tickets for my many journeys. These are February’s!
Tomorrow I shall head up to Alfreton to make practical arrangements with The Hayes Conference Centre at Swanwick for our MWiB weekend there in April. I shall be driven on to Cliff College for a 24-hour conference, entitled intriguingly ‘Being female in the Methodist Church’. Next week I shall travel from Devon to Walsall to speak at the Wolverhampton and Shrewsbury District Day there.
The following weekend sees 40 Methodist women converging on Leeds, as we meet at Hinsley Hall for the MWiB Spring Connexional Forum. After a couple of days back at home I shall board the train again, this time heading to Beverley to join the York and Hull District at Cober Hill.
I am especially grateful to those who offer lifts to and from stations and also overnight hospitality, as it is often necessary for me to travel the day before events, in order to guarantee being at venues on time.
Parliament has been debating railway links and services recently. The railway provides a lifeline for those of us here in the Southwest who need for all sorts of reasons to travel out of the Westcountry to other places. I am very blessed to live within sight of Tiverton Parkway station, making travel relatively straightforward. Spare a thought for those whose journeys to their local station is far less easy, especially for Forum reps from across the Connexion as they prepare for the journey to Leeds later this month.
