Cathedral Square, Leicester

Leicester's new Cathedral Square project now has an updated website.

The project as a whole consists of the creation of a new public square, the internal re-ordering of Leicester Cathedral, and the refurbishment of the St Nicholas Building, formerly part of Leicester grammar school.

New venue for Oadby's General Election Hustings - 20 April 2010

Update at 12:30 on 20 April 2010 - It looks like the event at Manor School tonight may be cancelled. We'll update with further information when available.

Update at 13:30 - We can confirm that the meeting has been cancelled.

Update 27 April 2010 - We understand that the Hustings is now being arranged to take place on Monday 3 May at 7.30pm at Kibworth School Hall, School Hall, Kibworth.

Original post: With a General Election just weeks away, arrangements have been made for local voters to meet with candidates standing in the Harborough Constituency. A Hustings event has been planned for Tuesday 20 April, at 7:30pm at Manor School on Severn Road, Oadby.

The prospective candidates who have announced that they will be coming are :

• Dave Ball (English Democrat)
• Geoff Dickens (BNP)
• Edward Garnier (Conservative)
• Zuffar Haq (Liberal Democrat)
• Marietta King (UKIP)
• Kevin McKeever (Labour)
• Jeff Stephenson (Independent)

In a separate development, the Make the Cross Count campaign has been launched to help Christians in particular explore the issues which are being debated.

Update 14 April 2010: Evangelical Alliance have extensive General Election coverage on their website and the Church of England has published a set of prayers for the campaign.

Were you there?
Our Easter Morning Communion service was a sell out, nearly every chair was taken and the Children’s groups were well subscribed. The singing was rousing and the air of celebration a constant reminder that people had come with the expectation of receiving something special. Simon spoke about believing the resurrection and explained that it was hard for those such as Peter who were there, so today one should still expect it to be hard, but if you take the time to study the evidence you will probably come to the same conclusions that the disciples did. That Jesus, having been crucified and died, was resurrected and is alive today. I took some pictures at the end of the service and thought this selection might just remind those who were there what a great occasion it was.

The shock of resurrection

Easter Day begins not with joy, but with shock.

Luke describes how the women who went to the tomb of Jesus were anguished to find it empty and terrified by the presence of angels.

As the message of resurrection sank in, the women rushed to tell the disciples who were hiding. But their message seemed to the men like an idle tale and they were dismissed.

Only when Peter saw the empty tomb for himself did he realise the astounding truth - Jesus had been raised to life. Luke records that he was amazed. No wonder, resurrection takes some believing. The dead, in the normal course of events, stay dead. There is nothing more certain.

Yet within hours, rumours of Christ's resurrection were confirmed by his appearance in person. And since that first Easter, millions of men and women have encountered him in their own lives.

A cheery "Happy Easter!" hardly does justice to the shock of resurrection. Feel the shock of it. Then let your astonishment give way to awe and joy.

Photo reproduced under Creative Commons attribution licence, credit: FranUlloa