Our Chrismas Message
Listed on December 23, 2014 in Blogs!Well, Christmas is almost upon us and it feels like the lull before the storm. All the work is done and we’re prepared to welcome a house-full of guests tomorrow and even more for lunch on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. The presents have been wrapped and I am ready for doing my Father Christmas bit – not really but overseeing proceedings nevertheless. The new programme is at the printers and we are ready to take delivery of the first batch which will be posted out to Patrons and Friends on Monday 5th January – first class. I’ve already started making my list of Near Year’s resolutions and, as well as losing some weight (that’s always on a list somewhere), I’ve already decided to do more research and writing.
In support of the adage that one should practice what you preach, I’m also going to immerse myself in some serious learning. For some strange reason I’ve really got into the history of London begging the question as to whether what happened there was in any way mirrored in the development of other cities and, if so, on what timeframe or scale.
As avid readers of this blog will know, during the course of the year I’ve written about the importance of learning throughout life. This isn’t a platitude but an important issue and one which we must take seriously as a society. It’s crucial too that our learning has some ambition about it and not simply characterised as something which reinforces our existing knowledge or prejudices. And age should not be a drag on what we do either. Indeed, the older we get the more effort we need to make. New technology is both a challenge and a great opportunity to connect and engage in things we haven’t even imagined! As Dame Judy Dench recently said “It’s not to do with age; it’s to do with the engine. As long as you keep it going, you won’t fall over.” Now there’s a good Christmas and New Year message. Have an excellent one yourself.
