BRIDGE December 2020/ January 2021 Newsletter of the parish of Middleham with Coverdale, East Witton & Thornton Steward With thanks to Liz Sheehan for this beautiful photo of the bridge over the Cover, beyond Woodall Please cascade ‘Bridge’ to others. Please email
[email protected] if you would like to be added to the mailing list. THE GATE OF THE YEAR by Minnie Louise Haskins And I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year: “Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown.” And he replied: “Go out into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way.” So I went forth, and finding the Hand of God, trod gladly into the night. And He led me towards the hills and the breaking of day in the lone East. George VI read this as part of his Christmas address in 1939. Though World War II had started, no one knew what 1940 would bring. Among other things the Battle of Britain would rage in the skies, and rationing would be introduced. As we stood at the gate of 2020, few of us would have imagined the year we’ve had. As we stand at the gate of 2021, we are hopeful of a vaccine for Covid-19, but we don’t know what the year will bring, personally, nationally or internationally. The person in the poem who stands at the gate of the year, wants to know what is going to happen – they ask for a light so that they can see.