St. George's Church, Glascote, Tamworth

It's always a delight to walk down a street and to catch a glimpse of some church architecture which excites. I knew that St. George's Church, Glascote, Tamworth, was somewhere down Bamford Street but I had never ventured there to find it - that is, until today - a beautiful warm, sunny Tamworth summer's day.

I was so excited that when I saw a priest exit the Church I stopped him to ask if he was the Vicar. He wasn't but said: "The Vicar's inside - just knock on the door of the office and walk in." The Rev. Jim Trood welcomed me as did Anne Bassett who was working there with Jim.

Jim took me on a short tour and presented me with some literature about the church and allowed me to take some photographs of the interior.

On returning home Jim's literature told me that the church architect was Basil Champneys and was built at cost of £3,000. c1880. Champneys (1842-1935) also designed The John Rylands Memorial Library, Manchester.

If you like 19c Gothic architecture then you'll like St. George's. Visit between 9.15am and 1.00pm Mondays to Thursdays when visitors are welcome and you'll be able to enjoy the exterior and interior as I did.

Some alterations/additions to Champneys work have been made including to the interior but they are sympathetic to the style apart from a horrible monstrosity of a metal chimney at the back - you'll know the style - they usually adorn fish and chip or takeaway shops where they often catch and offend the eye immediately. Fortunately, the one here is only visible from the back but I would have preferred a "solution" other than this which is awful.

Personal Wellbeing

Last night on Newsnight on BBC 2 I found this Paxman interview with Professor Seligman fascinating. He talks about how to achieve personal wellbeing viz

1. help another person

2. every night write down 3 things that went well for you during the day. This is addictive and influences your continuing wellbeing

3. if you have grandchildren write your own obituary through their eyes - this will add meaning and purpose to your own life.

Public policy for wellbeing can be influenced. He gives an example of training teachers to learn/manage their own wellbeing with these tools and others. The teachers so trained in dealing with kids aged 10-12 years pass on this "learning" with the result over time that the kids' lives have more meaning; they suffer less from depression and their wellbeing is improved.

Anyway, see what you think about Prof Seligman yourself. The interview is the last item of this edition of Newsnight so you'll have to surf right to the end to find it. I guess there might be a quicker link to the actual interview but I lack the current "computer skill" to do it.

Here's the link - hope it works:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b012f4zy/Newsnight_06_07_2011/