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| The Three Kings |
My favourite way of emerging from the cosy nest of Christmas festivities is to take part in the Walk of the Kings, which raises money for the Rainbow Centre here in Folkestone. Not only does the event entail walking by the sea in January, which certainly wakes the mind and the body, but it also invites me to turn from my inner world to thinking about those who are more vulnerable in the town I live in than I am. It's a good way to start the year and this was my third time walking. It was the most beautiful sunny day and so I thought that I might share something of it with you.
We began our walk on the seafront at Hythe here on the Kent coast. This year our walking group was me, my friend Richard, and his grandchildren, Jack and Toby. A little later we were joined by Theresa and her lovely dog, Gibson.
The Rainbow Centre, which was founded in 1985 as the Folkestone Family Care Centre, changing its name to the Folkestone Rainbow Centre in 1992. The charity works to support and offer hope to individuals and families suffering deprivation in our local area. It does this through its homeless support service (including a winter shelter), the Shepway Foodbank, and FoodStop, a mobile soup and sandwich providing service that hopes to support those who are vulnerable but hard to reach with more traditional support, at least to begin with. The Rainbow Centre is a wonderful and heartening small charity and it feels important to support them.
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| Toby & Jack found 3 mermaid's purses! |
But, as we have the company of children, our Walk of the Kings rarely involves just walking. This year Jack and Toby both found mermaid's purses; Toby found two! Mermaid's purses are the empty egg cases of sharks, skates, and rays. They are made of collagen protein strands and most look and feel quite leathery. The majority contain a single embryo and are deposited in kelp forests or on rocky seashores until ready to hatch. This can take anything from a few months to over a year! They can be identified by their size and the shape of their 'horns'. I think that these are the egg-cases of the small-eyed ray. An exciting find!
At the tideline, Toby also found a crab shell!
And it was joyous to be outside, especially after far too many days of being indoors. We saw a cormorant sunning her wings, marvelled at the sparkle of granite rocks, and examined cuttlefish bones.
We walked past a beachfront house, all painted in seaside blue and white, whose wall was draped with Christmas holly and mistletoe. So lovely to see!
What a joyous sight! And I love too that this was on the wall at the end of their garden & far from the house itself. It felt like an offering of generosity and festive spirit to strangers; so much of what Christmastime is about.
And all the time the sea was beautifully blue. I feel blessed to live here. Even on this seemingly tame coast the sea is a wild being, ebbing and flowing, breathing out, breathing in.
Then we turned away from the sea and began to climb Folkestone's 'Zig Zag path', which means passing this quote from science fiction writer, H.G. Wells, who lived at Sandgate, very close to Folkestone, from 1901 to 1909; "It was one of those hot clear days that Folkestone sees so much of; every colour incredibly bright and every outline hard." This was certainly one of those days.
The Zig Zag path winds its way from the beach to the Leas, a Victorian-style promenade with a proper bandstand, managed flower beds, a giant chessboard, a concert hall, and a memorial to the victims of WWI which plays songs and poems from that era. The fence carries a tide of knitted poppies; red, white, and purple. It's very touching.
The Zig Zag path is formed from manmade rocks called 'Pulhamite', after the landscape gardeners, James Pulham & Sons, who built the path in the early 1920s. The work provided much needed employment for soldiers returning from the war. Pulhamite is basically rubble bound with special concrete that has glass and pottery mixed into it.
I love the Zig Zag path but I was very glad to reach the town beacon at the top!
Then it was off to the Rainbow Centre for bread & soup, plus a slice of traditional 'King Cake' ~ Galette des Rois (of which more in my next sharing), and a simple thanksgiving Epiphany service.
I want to end with a prayer from the Epiphany service which seems perfect for these times, no matter what our spiritual path.
The Pointed Epiphany Prayer
God of grace, thank you for every Epiphany that will happen today,
for every one who drops a weapon because there are no enemies,
for every one who breathes in the scent of cedar and is cleansed,
for every one who drops the heavy bundle of resentment,
for every one who is guided by generations as yet unborn,
for every one who is contented at the end of a journey,
for every one who falls on their knees before a baby,
for every one who senses the webs that connect us,
for every one who follows a sign from heaven,
for every one who remembers to give gifts,
for every one who is bowled over by love,
for every one who recognises the holy,
for every one who dances with joy,
for every one who says a prayer,
for every one with stars in their eyes.
Amen.
I am chuffed to say that I was able to raise £115+ for the Rainbow Centre, to be added to the amounts raised by my fellow walkers. Thank you so much to everyone who sponsored me. It really helped me to keep on walking on my wobbly way. And what a blessing it is, always, to turn for a while from our own worries and concerns and offer the hand of friendship and solidarity to another. I hope for many more opportunities to do so in the year ahead. And I hope too that it will be less and less needed as the seed of justice grows.
And I will just add an extra thank you to Jack and Toby who ensured, as ever, that I returned home with my rucksack filled with mermaids' purses, crab shells, damp gull feathers, and seashells. What could be lovelier? Life is full of treasure just waiting to be found.
To learn more about the Rainbow Centre visit https://www.rainbow-centre.org
how lovely!
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