Things are winding down for Christmas in the London Office

As the Christmas feast approaches the "Tufton Street team" (the staff of the diocesan office and my own office) took a moment away from their labours on Wednesday to enjoy the traditional "Secret Santa" exchange, and to munch through a mince pie or two. The (demob?) happy gathering is pictured above. Left to right: Yours truly, Adrian Mumford, Deacon Frances Hiller, Sylvia Brantingham, Nick Wraight, Jeanne French and Bron Panter. What a splendid and jolly group of colleagues (and jolly hard-working too).

This year my Secret Santa gave me with an essential piece of kit for an ecumenical bishop: a Benedictaphone! According to the packet, this "pocket pontiff" voice recorder keyring will help me remember things and add a little inspiration to every day.

Earlier in the week, the Worth team from Bishop Geoffrey's office joined the London based team for our annual Christmas lunch. With the usual attention to detail, the party hats in the crackers were chosen  to be in the correct "canonical" colour for bishops. Bishop Geoffrey is sporting his below.