The Bremen Bod Blog

You may have seen the recent statement from a Church spokesperson urging Scottish Catholics to “examine their financial priorities,” noting our financial contributions to the church versus other expenditures, stating “If someone spends more on Netflix subscriptions each month than they donate to their community, then a financial reality check is probably in order”. Personally, I am not a huge fan of Netflix but I do enjoy Disney+ because it contains all the Star Wars movies and every single Star Wars TV series episode. Plus, I’ve always felt Star Wars has something interesting to say about faith and religion.   Don’t get me wrong, there’s absolutely nothing worse than all those endless lame attempts to make the Star Wars franchise about Catholicism, as a way to make the faith seem cool and appealing to the kids. You know the type of thing; ‘Oh the Jedi knights are just like Franciscans’ or ‘In a way The Force is just like the Holy Spirit’, and so on.   Having said al...

‘So wickedly, so devilishly false  is that common objection: They are only poor because they are that idle’ John Wesley   Way back in 2007 I climbed Ben Nevis with my wife’s cousin Chris and her Uncle Samuel (our youngest son is also named Samuel) from South Shields and a great bunch of lads from Newcastle, who were raising money for a local charity.  It was wonderful day out and we had a brilliant laugh. I still recall some of the banter as we were half way up the mountain, with some other lads wearing Sunderland shirts, who appeared out the mist, on their way back down. It was all quite surreal! If you look at the photographs below, you’ll notice I’m the only person wearing actual hiking gear, the Geordie boys just rocked up in the morning wearing t-shirts, Newcastle shirts, shorts and trainers, to climb Brtian’s highest mountain...which still had snow on the summit at that time of the year. Regardless, they all still made it to the top with ease, despite absolutely can...

  “Society is a partnership of the dead, the living and the unborn.” ―  Edmund Burke   Friends, I’m briefly breaking my Lent social media fast to share the news that my Father has decided not to seek re-election after 15 years as a councillor for Gourock, many thanks to everyone who supported him and voted for him over the years. It goes without saying that the whole family are immensely proud of everything Dad has achieved in that time and also during the many decades beforehand, establishing and running Gourock YAC alongside my Uncle Brian Woods. It’s been a life of service and while Dad will be enjoying his well earned retirement, I’m sure there’s still much to come. My Dad was born just after the war and raised on Shore Street in a part of the town we like to call ‘Old Gourock’ or ‘Gourock Bay’. His own father, grandfather and numerous uncles all worked in Adams Boat Yard just along the road at Adams Street, as did many of their neighbours on Shore Street...

  I was sadden to read about the recent passing of former Labour MP, journalist and television presenter Austin Mitchell who died last week at the age of 86. I really liked Mitchell, he was an old school Gaitskelite, and football fans of certain vintage might recall Mitchell’s now legendry Yorkshire Television interview with Brian Clough alongside his predecessor as Leeds manager and arch-nemesis Don Revie, immediately following Clough’s sacking in 1974. An amusing aside about Don Revie – Revie once arranged for the Catholic Bishop of Leeds secretary to visit the former Leeds midfielder Michael O’Grady house while he was still a young Huddersfield player. Revie found out O’Grady’s family were Catholics and sent the secretary round to tell O’Grady’s and his parents that ‘Don Revie is very interested in you and wants me to pass on his best wishes’. To some, this may seem like a very unorthodox abuse of the Bishop’s office but personally speaking, I’m all for our Bishops using the...

  ‘Will yo’ come o’ Sunday morning’, For a walk o’er Winter Hill. Ten thousand went last Sunday, But there’s room for thousands still!”   “O the moors are rare and bonny, And the heather’s sweet and fine, And the road across this hill top, Is the public’s – Yours and mine!”   Yesterday (21st of June) was the Summer Solstice and at this time of year on the longest day, I like to do two things – Read the enchanting ‘Piper at the Gates of Dawn’ chapter from ‘The Wind in the Willows’ by Kenneth Grahame which perfectly encapsulates the ethereal loveliness of midsummer and go off on a longish ramble in the far-off (or nearby) countryside. This year, rather than a midsummer hike, I decided to take the short ferry journey from my home in Gourock across the Firth of Clyde to Kilcreggan and cycle around Gare Loch to the bucolic village of Rhu near Helensburgh, where the great social reformer and Congregationalist minister Thomas Arthur Leonard established a ...

  One of the things I detest most about synthetic football pitches, or astroturf as its commonly known, is the fact that they've resulted in a kind of new Enclosure Act direct towards municipal parks all over the country.  Just as the Enclosure Act enclosed open fields and common land, making private land which was once previously common, so too are public playing fields which were formerly open to all, now increasingly fenced off and often inaccessible for children and families. The reasons given for keeping parks locked up are normally related to security, vandalism or (ridiculously) stopping the spread of covid.  Indeed, modernisation and changes which are touted as improvements to sport and leisure amenities, too often turn out to be a backwards step and 4G pitches are no different. They were introduced as low maintenance all weather facilities which would allow sporting fixtures to go ahead all year round, perhaps...

  My Gran and Papa, Robey and Agnes Ahlfeld I was interested to read about the recent leaked Labour Party strategy document which suggested that patriotism and ‘dressing smartly’ should be included as part of a rebranding exercise to win back disillusioned working class voters and disassociate the party from the Jeremy Corbyn era. There’s been much social media sneering and mockery directed towards this strategy but have you ever noticed all the well dressed, immaculately groomed young lads at family wedding and christenings? Indeed, Millennials are certainly better turned out than my own scruffy Generation X peers whose idea of a ‘spice boy’ owes more to the losing 1996 Liverpool FA Cup side who decided to turn up at Wembely wearing matching cream coloured Armani suits, than Brillcreemed Joey Essex types.       This Labour Party strategy also reminded me of my dear late Grandmother who used to come out with some brilliant put-downs, Nan was a tiny wee women bu...