PERIODIC PHOTOGRAPH  
I will display different photographs here at fairly regular intervals.

Here is a view of the inside of Kilmyshall church, taken from the choir gallery (not my usual place in the church, I hasten to add) The gallery is no longer used and the choir now sit at the right-hand front of the church. If you look closely they -along with the organist- can be seen near the crib.

I have always attended this church every Sunday and most holy-days. Sadly, I have watched the congregation shrink to about 60/70 percent of what it used to be. I am not sad out of any strong sense of spirituality, but rather a sense of the loss of a valued tradition. Sunday was always a day when we got into our best clothes and we only had to do essential chores. As a family we used to arrive in Kilmyshall about 30 minutes before mass. My father would get out and smoke a few cigarettes with other men from the area and discuss the affairs of the world and the price of livestock. We children would hang around the Hand-ball alley and try to sneak a few puffs on a cigarette, if we were lucky enough to have one amongst our gang.

After mass and lunch (we always called it dinner) we were free to do as we liked and usually there would be a game of football going on somewhere close by. My father would retire to the relative quite of the car to listen on the radio (the one inside the house was called a "wireless") to the chief match of that particular Sunday. My mother would browse through magazines or knit while listening to the wireless.

On most Sundays there would be visits from some of the "millions" of relations and we children would only hang around long enough to see if they had brought anything worthwhile. On some occasions there would be the hectic bustle of preparation for a picnic or a visit to the seaside. Neither of my parents (like most of their generation) could swim and and were always at their wits end any time we went further than knee deep in the water. It was at the beach that I (incorrectly) concluded why our food was called sandwiches.

I have allowed my mind to wander and completely digressed from my Christmas photos. In the picture you can see the Crib on the right, the priest and altar-boys in the center and the Christmas Tree on the left. Over the altar can be seen the Crucifix and on the left and right walls are the images representing the stations of the cross. I only now realise that I did not take a photo of these images as they are made of plaster and painted beautifully.

Above is the only stained glass window that we have in our church. It is high up in the back of the church, overlooking the Gallery. On the right is a image of the what all the other windows looks like. These windows are about 12 feet high.

Here we have the children singing the Christmas carols that the learned especially for Christmas Day. They had been up at the altar previously to have their toys blessed and to show the priest and congregation what Santa had brought.

This photo is take with my back to the rear wall of the church and shows a part of the Gallery with a Christmas tree on the right.