Feeling the loss of old friends

  “You must expect it when you get beyond 70,” said my wife the other day. She was not referring to minor ailments but to the fact that increasingly as one gets older one finds one’s friends departing this life with increasing regularity. This past year has been particularly hard from that point of view. The latest blow came when I heard of the death of my long time friend Beryl Bainbridge. Beryl of course was one of the remarkable troupe of characters who hailed from Liverpool.

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Just where did it all go wrong?

 By the time this article appears we shall know the worst about the cuts to be made by the Government. There is little doubt that the situation facing the country is serious and that we are all going to have to take a share in getting the country out of the mess that we have been landed in.

Dealing with pain from the past

  Most people will experience at least one traumatic experience during the course of their life and not all such experiences will lead to Stress Disorder.

Why I would gladly live in a community

 This month as I write to you I am also gazing out at the most lovely countryside. The first signs of Spring are here with all the promise of new life and warmer days to come.  I am staying with friends in Northern Ireland preparing to speak at an event designed to raise money for a new Children’s Hospice.  We shall do well as there is a very caring community in Northern Ireland.

Rights come with responsibilities

 'The head of a large travel company told me of an individual who booked a holiday with is firm each year and at the end of the holiday always sent a letter complaining and demanding compensation. “I have my rights,” becomes the clarion call, “and I’m going to make sure I get them.”'

 

‘And ice, mast-high, came floating by...’

 I write this, not from my Suffolk home but sitting at my desk on board ship -the Regent Mariner – and we are currently approaching what is often described as the world’s southernmost city.  At 55 degrees south, Ushuaia in Argentina makes this claim although, for many years, the Chilean town of Puerto Williams has disputed this.

Staying in touch with the world

 As you pick up your copy of Mature Times this month I expect to be somewhere off the coast of South America en route to the South Atlantic. It’s several years since I was last in this remote part of the world and I must say that I am looking forward to seeing the Falkland Islands once again as well as venturing into colder waters to the South. On my last visit to the Falklands my wife and I had an opportunity to call on many local families and friendships we made then and which continue until today.

How youngsters are playing their part in a troubled world

 Terry Waite tells of his latest trip with the charity Ycare -working with young people towards a better life.

I long for a simpler, giving Christmas

 What are your plans for Christmas? asks Terry Waite

A trip down memory lane with Romany & Raq

  If you are of a certain vintage, you may well remember the BBC tales of Romany & Raq - not forgetting Muriel and Doris...

 

By the time you pick up your copy of Mature Times I shall have been in Cumbria for the annual gathering of the Romany Society. First, I had better clarify matters. This is not a meeting of Travellers and their kin.

 

It is a gathering of friends who many years ago tuned into the BBC Home Service at five in the afternoon and were captivated by the stories told by Romany of the BBC. 

Life is such a curious mix of joy and sadness

 One never knows what is round the corner and when we were in the middle of our trip we received serious news. My wife’s elder sister was out with a walking party in a National Park when the branch of a tree fell on the group giving minor injuries to all of them except Ann who had to be airlifted to hospital with serious head injuries. 

Will winter fuel payments and bus passes be one of the "cuts"?

  "Some of the benefits now provided look ripe for cutting. Pensioners, for example, get free bus travel and also receive tax-free winter fuel payments on top of their state pension..." Terry Waite takes issue with this statement from The Economist and asks MT readers to challenge their MPs on where they would stand if the axe was hovering over pensions and benefits.

Terry Waite: why I cannot support a change in the law on assisted suicide

  The question still remains. Who can be sure that the decision to end life is the right decision?  Assisted suicide is wide open to abuse.

 

Terry Waite tackles one of the key debates of our time. 

Bluebell Girls, Desmond Tutu and a Rainbow Choir in Lewisham

  One day the vicar confided in me. He was worried as his daughter had set her heart on becoming a Bluebell girl... By Terry Waite

Tell me: are we losing the sense of public service in this country of ours?

  As the ship of state ploughs its uncertain way through some of the most turbulent political waters experienced in recent years the crew remain restless. I hold no particular brief for Captain Brown but the behaviour of some of his senior officers in recent days frankly amazed me.