Being wintertime, it may have escaped your notice that we have seen very little rain for several months. We are in a drought and may have to face hosepipe bans and other water restrictions in a few weeks time. Not only might his mean placing a brick in your w.c. cistern, avoiding baths and only showering once a week with a friend, but also with the Olympics heading this way, the world’s top oarsmen might have to re-train for the rowing competitions at Dorney Lake. The prospect of this venue becoming a dry gravel bed by July could well lead to the retro-fitting of pram and pushchair wheels to all those hi-tech sculls and shells. It could lead to the formation of a whole new sport - soap box sculling, as a rival to sand yachting. Since all the spectator tickets allegedly seem to have been reserved for members and friends of the International Olympics Committee, VIP entertainment packages and corporate sponsors, it may well be that television is the only way you will be able to watch the coming antics. The innocent days of amateur sports are long gone.

For those who lament the commercialisation of the Olympics and the consequential corruption of some participants, this edition of The Lych Gate offers a new first - a whole sermon - free of charge - on the topic of the excesses of capitalist behaviour and the uncertain responses of the clerical classes. Such is life in the twentyteenies - the age-old story of man and mammon. Time will tell if a resurgent US, nuclear armed Middle East clerics, a weak Europe and a strengthening Chinese military will become the prominent themes of the later part of this decade. We do live in interesting and cheerful times.

For those who wish to escape the sportsfest, it looks entirely possible that digging through those old drawers to unearth the piles of Drachmas salted away after those long gone jolly package holidays in Greece, home of the Olympics, might yield fresh opportunities to enjoy the Aegean sun once again at rock bottom prices in July and August.

However, with spring just around the corner, there are plenty of alternative forms of parish entertainment lining up to distract you, as can be seen in this edition. Concerts, Horse Racing, a Treasure Hunt and Diamond Jubilee fun are all in the works as we emerge blinking from hibernation.

The editor wishes to make it clear that there have been no police dawn raids at his home or those of his loyal staff searching for evidence of illegal payments for information to fill these pages. Church service schedulers, Pew News red-top journalists, parish council news contributors and local event organisers can all sleep peacefully at night. Any phone tapping of the Editor’s telephone line will merely provide recordings of dodgy ‘out-of-area’ incoming callers offering to fix his perfectly healthy computer or insure his Sky box if he has one.

Nick Kendal