Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

Heartfelt congratulations to our beloved Queen Elizabeth on becoming, last week, the longest ever serving Sovereign of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, surpassing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria who reigned for 63 years and 226 days.

A remarkable achievement and one served with outstanding loyalty and dedication to all of her subjects both at home and throughout the Commonwealth of Nations.

Long may she continue to reign over us and may God bless her with good health and wise counsel.

Since the age of 8 Her Majesty has been my Queen. I still proudly possess the silver Coronation spoon presented to me at our local Coronation sports day. Many years later I was on uniformed police duty when she visited Plymouth during her Silver Jubilee celebrations in 1977.

I also thank God for the whole Royal Family and HRH Prince Philip in particular for his constant love and support of Her Majesty throughout her extremely long reign.

True friends are priceless

TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING THROUGH THE DESERT . DURING SOME POINT OF THE JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN ARGUMENT; AND ONE FRIEND SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE IN THE FACE. THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT SAYING ANYTHING, WROTE IN THE SAND , 'TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE'. THEY KEPT ON WALKING, UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS, WHERE THEY DECIDED TO TAKE A BATH. THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING, BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.

AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM THE NEAR DROWNING, HE WROTE ON A STONE: 'TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE'. THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND ASKED HIM WHY? HE REPLIED, 'WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.. BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING GOOD FOR US, WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE WHERE NO WIND CAN EVER ERASE IT'

LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE. THEY SAY IT TAKES A MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL PERSON, AN HOUR TO APPRECIATE THEM, A DAY TO LOVE THEM, BUT THEN , AN ENTIRE LIFE TO FORGET THEM !

Be kinder than necessary, for everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

Lose with dignity. Win with humility

Car with toy Llama strapped to roof stopped by Police

The interestingly decorated hatchback has been driving around Sussex with music blaring and the boot open !

Courtesy of Scott Docherty - www.policeoracle.com Picture credit: Sussex West RPU/Twitter

Spotted on the beach !

Two priests went off to Ibiza on holiday and decided that they would make this a real vacation by not wearing anything that would identify them as members of the clergy.

As soon as the plane landed, they headed straight to a clothes shop and bought some really outrageous shorts and shirts, sandals and sunglasses,etc.

The next morning, they went to the beach, dressed in their "tourist garb" and were sitting on beach beds, enjoying a drink, the sunshine and the scenery when a beautiful blonde in a tiny bikini came walking straight towards them. They could not help but stare and when she passed them she turned to them, smiled and said, "Good morning Father, good morning Father," nodding and addressing each of them individually, then passed on by.They were both stunned - how in the world did she recognize them as priests ?

The next day they went back to the clothes store, bought even more outrageous outfits - these were so loud, you could hear them before you even saw them ! And again they settled on the beach in their sunbeds to enjoy the sunshine, etc.

After a while the same gorgeous blonde, wearing a string bikini this time, came walking towards them again. (They were glad they had their sunglasses on because their eyes were about to pop out of their heads).

Again, she approached them and greeted them individually: "Good morning Father, good morning Father," and started to walk away.

One of the priests could not stand it any longer and said, "Just a minute young lady. Yes, we are priests, and proud of it, but I have to know, how in the world did YOU know?"

She replied, "Oh Father, don't you recognize me,..............I'm Sister Immaculata !"

Postscript: Lord, Give me a sense of humour. Give me the ability to appreciate a clean joke.

St. George Patron Saint of England

Thursday, 23rd April, 2015

St. George was an extremely fine Roman soldier who, apart from the myth of slaying the dragon; was, according to many academic scholars, tortured and executed by beheading in 303.AD by Emperor Diocletian for refusing to relinquish his Christian faith. He did however, bequeath his wealth to the poor before paying the ultimate sacrifice, hence his subsequent elevation to Sainthood.

The Plantagenet King Edward III of England (1327 - 1377) adopted St. George as his hero and took the red cross of St. George as his military banner into several victorious battles. Following the battle of Agincourt in 1415 the former King decreed that St. George would become a national feast day and it has remained so ever since.

In the present day when we are seeing so many Christians being persecuted and executed by extreme religious fundamentalists in Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East, it is more important than ever that we commemorate our Patron Saint. We must stand together and be proud to be patriotic to our beloved country.

"God for Elizabeth, England and St George"!

Happy St. George's Day to all English folk everywhere

Better than a flu' jab !

Miss Beatrice, the church organist,was in her eighties and had never been married. She was admired for her sweetness and kindness to all.

One afternoon the pastor came to call on her and she showed him into her quaint sitting room. She invited him to have a seat while she prepared tea...

As he sat facing her old Hammond organ, the young minister noticed a cut glass bowl sitting on top of it. The bowl was filled with water, and in the water floated of all things, a condom!

When she returned with tea and scones, they began to chat. The pastor tried to stifle his curiosity about the bowl of water and its strange floater, but soon it got the better of him and he could no longer resist.

'Miss Beatrice', he said, 'I wonder if you would tell me about this? pointing to the bowl. 'Oh, yes,' she replied, "Isn't it wonderful?

I was walking through the park a few months ago and I found this little package on the ground. The directions said to place it on the organ, keep it wet and that it would prevent the spread of disease. Do you know I haven't had the flu all winter."

Police Officer buys food for shoplifter's baby son

US officer shows the 'human behind the badge" as he pays for milk that a hard-up father was accused of stealing.

An alleged shoplifter has been released without charge after an officer bought the powdered milk he was accused of stealing for his young son.

Officer Justin Roby (pictured), from Kentucky refused to detain the man on the grounds that it wouldn't "have done any good for him".

The London Police Department officer is also a father himself and said that the incident illustrated some of the ethical decisions police are faced with in their duty to uphold the law.

He said: "I think when [people] look at us, they see the uniform and the car, the tools we have on our belt.

"But behind the uniform, I'm a human being and I'm a person out in this community just like any of them. I have a little boy. I'm a father just like that gentleman was.

"We're not robots, there's a human behind the badge."

When called to the supermarket to deal with the incident on January 17, he was faced with the single dad and decided to pay for the item he was accused of stealing for his six-month-old son.

He then referred the man, who had fallen upon hard times, to social welfare organisations, including his own police force to try and give him a helping hand.

Officer Roby told WKYT: "He's already short on money, can't afford formula, so me making him appear in court he's still not going to have any food for that baby.

"As a police officer, it's not black and white for us, there's a lot of grey and you have to cipher through everything and you really need to figure out the whole story."

Article courtesy of Scott Docherty - www.policeoracle.com