Saturday, December 12, 2015

The Blessing of the Eastbourne Pier/All Together Now

500 people watch Bishop of Lewes bless Eastbourne Pier today

The beautiful Victorian pier in Eastbourne...I have a photo of it as my header photo just now.  It caught fire in July of 2014 and part of it was totally destroyed.  It has now been repaired (although the huge enclosed dome is now gone) and it was sold to another owner, Sheik-Abid Gulzar. This past Sunday on the sixth of December, the owner invited the Bishop of Lewes to bless the pier and invited the public to join in the celebration.  I liked what he had to say about this and I have it here...
“I am a Muslim, my operations manager Manas is a Sikkh, and other members of staff are Christians - I want to emphasise the importance of diversity and accepting each other’s culture.
“We must all respect each other and we should all have the freedom to follow whatever religion one may wish to. But that doesn’t mean we cannot all come to together as one and join together.
“I would like the pier to be blessed with a clear message - to live together and act together. 
“I want to spread the message of love, of working together, of prosperity and the fact that we all live in a democracy. We are all human beings and I want the blessing for the people of Sussex.
I think a blessing is very apt and relevant for the town and indeed the wider community."

If you would like to read an article about the blessing, you may read it just here.
This month I have enjoyed hearing "All Together Now" in a TV ad for Kohl's Department Store.  It is a Beatles song, of course! It was  written by Paul McCartney.  (Yes, I know that legally the music is listed as Lennon/McCartney, but most Beatles fans know that most of the songs were either written by one or the other, NOT always, but usually.  And of course, you really must know that George Harrison wrote some great songs too!)
Now, the clip of the song I have here for you is from the very last part of the film of "Yellow Submarine", the animated film which unfortunately did not use their lovely voices but at least, you do get to see them at at the very end singing this song! (The songs in the film are sung by the Beatles, but NOT the voices...the actors did a good job of it though!)  Watch it through to the end and you will be rewarded by seeing "All Together Now" in several different languages.  

It's a good song and a good message to remember.







Richard posing in front of Eastbourne Pier.

Christopher admiring the pier from 2010.



16 comments:

  1. This is so beautiful, Kay. There are too many people who are forgetting how to be understanding and loving to all people.

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  2. Imagine... All Together Now. Good messages.

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  3. A very good and important message indeed.

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  4. Good message, think we can get The Donald to listen to it?

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  5. Kay, I hate that part of the building is no longer there. Blessings, xoxo,Susie

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  6. The world needs more multicultural tolerance and respect!

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  7. Oh to be there now - in the rain!

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  8. It's a beautiful pier and message, Kay.

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  9. A wonderful message from the Bishop and the new owner of the Pier, if we had more people leading such great examples just imagine how wonderful the world could be! It is good though that at least some are spreading this message! xx

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  10. I've wondered in the past if the south coast piers sprang up to compete with towns that had traditional sandy beaches. Unfortunately, they have a history of burning down so I hope this one survives for a long time to come.

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  11. What a wonderful message. It is so silly that some seem unable to respect the beliefs of others.

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  12. Something that puts a song in my heart as well as in my ears!

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  13. I wish we could all get along and bring peace to the world.

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  14. Loved the Muslim message, Kay. Very appropriate for these difficult times we are living in!

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