My own mother

I love these three women!
They are....(centre)...my Mother Lil Clark  and on left  my Aunt Annie Kermeen...  Mum's younger sister
I always thought of her as a great stately lady ..... which she certainly was
And then (on the right) there was Aunty Mil  (Mildred Woodend) she was bold and brazen and  a totally lovely woman.
When I went back to England in 1975 she took one look at my hair ( several inches below collar length...as it was in the 70s) and promptly cropped it!!!
Five years later she and Uncle Jim, a great Trade Unionist, visited us when we had young children. They were vaguely embarrassed when I referred to them in my sermon. When I suggested they were faithful....as they were most certainly

I was really saying ....life  goes on and it is robust!

Some years earlier Annie had been flummoxed about how I, as a priest, seemed intent  on being a "sinner"...or as we might call it a 'drunk' (had a bit of a problem with DUI in the 80s)

All of my mother's sister, and she herself retained a deep commitment to overseas mission of the church, as mission secretaries, and enthusiasts for The Missions to the Blind, the Jerusalem Mission, CMS and ABM.
I am fortunate to be surrounded by such a cloud of witnesses