Word from Wormingford: a Parish year

by Ronald Blythe

In Wormingford, the seasons and the liturgy continue in their dual cycle, from harvest to harvest, from year to year. First published in 1997 and illustrated throughout by John Nash, this is a personal, autobiographical view of the changing year, in the hedgerows and fields and in the life of the parish.

Genres: Essays, Nonfiction, Nature, Memoir, British Literature, Christianity

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 29, 2007

About the author

Ronald Blythe CBE was one of the UK's greatest living writers. His work, which won countless awards, includes Akenfield (a Penguin 20th-Century Classic and a feature film), Private Words, Field Work, Outsiders: A Book of Garden Friends and numerous other titles. He was a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and was awarded their prestigious Benson Medal in 2006. In 2017, he was appointed CBE for services to literature

Reviews

[Mervyn Whyte · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before reading Ian Collins' biography of Ronald Blythe, I'd never read or knew anything about the Bard of Bottengoms. A collection of Blythe's weekly column for the Church Times, Word from Wormingford is a gentle enough introduction. It helps if you have a working knowledge of the Bible and the Anglican liturgy. Otherwise some of the writing becomes a little opaque. But it's escapism at its very best. And has provided me with welcome relief from the carnage of the Genghis Khan biography I'm halfway through.

[Leaflet · Rating 5 out of 5]

“Between services we picnic at Arger Fen. It is the annual bluebell party where we drink wine under tall freshly leaved trees and listen to the nightingales. These have never deserted Arger Fen, as they have my woodland. So here we are, friends from childhood and their children, Cambridge botanists, lads from the pub, gallant old women who brave the spring winds and the kind of damps bluebells love, and strangers who stroll from one group to the next explaining who they are. This bluebell gathering is a hallowed rite, come rain or shine. To cry off because of the weather is thought feeble. The flowers themselves bloom in their millions and create an undulating cerulean forest carpet, it’s blue light ‘beating up’ as Gerard Manley Hopkins, poet of the bluebell, puts it.”

[Sophy H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was quite a quaint book detailing the comings and goings of humans, flora and fauna in the Wormingford parish and surrounding areas.

There are some astute and philosophical observations on life, the changing of the seasons, the passing on of people.

I enjoyed the read but by the end of the book I was finding the biblical referencing a little tedious.

A nice read nevertheless.

[Fazackerly Toast · Rating 4 out of 5]

finished. I read that much too quickly, but it was bliss. luckily, there are plenty more and one can always go back and dip. especially now I have reorganised my books, so the best ones are readily to hand.

[Caleb · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Fortunate the writer or artist whose parish is his universe.”

A wonderful collection of observations that track the “everlasting circle” of a sacred year in one parish. The nature of the entries makes this better to dip into occasionally than to read straight through.

[Tony · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was reminded of this lovely book by the Slightly Foxed Podcast (highly recommended!) where one of the editors mentioned it as her current read, and I decided it was just the time I needed to read it again.

Ronald Blythe is a poet and writer who has lived for most of his life on the edges of Essex and Suffolk, a man with a deep knowledge and love of the English countryside, "a Reader (in the Church of England) who is also a writer". The short pieces that make up this book are a collection of his regular columns written for the Church Times. They're exquisitely written, full of wit and wisdom drawn from his Christian faith, his countryside experience, and the many writers and artists he has known and worked with.

A great read.

[Richard Thomas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating read about the survival of the Church of England in rural Essex NOT SUFFOLK as idle comments have it. The interest of the book is enough but Blythe writes perfectly. The trouble with it is that it's a must read and far too short.

[Andy · Rating 5 out of 5]

The cream of the crop of Ronnie Blyth's journals of liturgical life in rural Suffolk. Superb.

[Jody Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have this marked as "Read" but I am also currently "Reading" it yet, again. I found this book at a "jumble Sale" at an Episcopalian Church in Kansas that had a publication date of 1997. It is by Ronald Blythe with absolutely wonderful illustration by John Nash (1893 ~ 1977). It is a diary of the Parish Year in the church at Little Horkesley at Mount Bures between to rivers famous in English art, Gainsborough's Sudbury and Constable's East Bergholt. Three of my favorite artists. I read it as the church year unfolds. Like the changing of the paraments, it adds something beautiful and poignant.

[Christina · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Blythe's style. He is a writer I turn to for "comfort reading."

[Catie]

Recommended on The Slightly Foxed Podcast Episode 3 - 1/15/2019

[Kate · Rating 3 out of 5]

"This book is a little masterpiece. It comprises a collection of Blythe's writings (originally published in the Church Times about the parish year at his Suffolk village of Wormingford ... his integrity, unwavering Christian faith, wisdom, sense of wonder and absolute love of nature and her seasonal rhythms blaze from every page."
~~back cover

This is a gentle, delightful, slyly humorous, deeply faithful selection of essays. A loose calendar, written in 1993 through 1996, it records the seasons with their blessings and curses, and gives a glimpse of the neighbors, parishoners who keep the rhythm of the church year. I especially appreciated that the author's Christianity was based on the love of God for mankind, and the love mankind should be returning, and the old history of Christianity -- rather than the stark Old Testament demanding, punishing God.

It's a book that takes to sampling, an essay here and there, rather than an out-and-out forced march read.

[Kay · Rating 5 out of 5]

A lovely, gentle book about faith and nature, perfectly captured in prose of piercing beauty. It's about time, friendship, the eternity found only in the interconnectedness of nature and village life and the solace of the recurrent cycle of the liturgical year. A book to dip into again and again like water from a refreshing well.

[Neil · Rating 4 out of 5]

He seems to know so much,

[Katharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of the author’s contributions to the Church Times in the 1990s. Beautiful observations about the natural world and the changing liturgical year make this a pleasure to read.

[Evangeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always love getting a sense of well-read people and their thoughts; and I derive great satisfaction from reading authors quote authors.

[Daniel Klawitter · Rating 4 out of 5]

"There is nothing to compare with lavish simplicity."