October 9th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity, Current Affairs, SPCK
For those readers who have been following a variety of posts of mine and others regarding the demise of the SPCK shops under the management of SSG there is exciting news!
The Norwich Christian bookshop is due to re-open…here is a link with more information (it’s from a SPCK/SSG blog I contribute to)
July 30th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity, Current Affairs, SPCK
So firstly I know the few interesting posts promised haven’t surfaced yet but they will do in the next few days.
Secondly my computer rebuild the other day established a dead motherboard, so I have since thrown some components up onto ebay and shoved others together to make a new machine which although I probably can’t sell makes a nice project!
Finally the SSG saga continues as ‘Brewer’ of SSG e-mails many bloggers reporting on the SSG news requesting that they remove content with threats of legal action, Dave Walker has had to remove his posts, however Reverened Norton is standing up for himself! - Link here
Although I don’t know if any SSG bookshops (formally SPCK) are still open can I urge you to boycott them (see link at the top of this blog) if you find them…and let SSG know how unhappy you are with their ethics as a company…in particular a Christian company and how they have treated their staff.
July 23rd, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Current Affairs, Just For Fun, SPCK
So I’ve just almost finished my first week at Haven, not a lots changed, job is still fun and therefore I have nothing more to add on the matter.
In other news St Andrew’s, Gorleston where I grew up (as a teenager) and where my parents go have just approved at their PCC looking into and investigating the possibility of a Refresh style/SOS Bus project for Great Yarmouth which is brilliant, hopefully lots of other churches can get onboard with the project, I know Steve (see his blog) is very excited by it!
I think that’s all I have to add other than in SPCK news the Brewers have threatened Dave Walker and therefore he has took all SSG posts off of Cartoon Church….which is ridiculous!
Serious blog coming soon, maybe tomorrow…I’m away at Stuart’s stagg do this weekend so if not I’ll post some stuff on sunday/monday
I have just become a contributer to this blog
The idea of the blog is to provide news on the SPCK/SSG situation and any developments…not sure I have masses to contribute but who knows…it’s fun being a contributer though (I should add that to date I haven’t actually contributed anything!)
http://spckssg.wordpress.com/
June 12th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Current Affairs, SPCK
The bancrupcy of SSG a couple of days ago (people who run SPCK) has took an interesting turn when it turned out that the company who will now operate the shops in their administration is also owned by the Brewers who own SSG….I smell a rat here…and also what will probably end up as the loss of all the formally SPCK bookshops accross the country.
What with trying to sell the shops (and not being able to because of contracts) and now this bancrupcy I can’t help but feel they’re trying to get out of the bookshop business.
For more information check out Dave Walker’s Blog
Also thanks to Phil who commented in my previous SSG post with this link. So if you’ve lost your Christian bookshop in the recent closures or if you’ve took up my boycott of SSG then head to the link and find yourself a Christian bookshop.
June 6th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in SPCK
This post from Dave Walker’s blog suggests that SSG (folk to ‘run’ SPCK shops) have filed for bankruptcy, I don’t know what the effect for the UK SPCK shops will be but I guess we’ll see how it pans out…
March 15th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Current Affairs, SPCK
If you’ve wondered what all the SPCK issues are that I keep touching on ‘The Times’ has an article giving a history of the problems - click here to read the article
March 12th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity, Current Affairs, SPCK
This statement is taken from the SPCK website:
‘SPCK would like to emphasize that they do not own, manage or otherwise run the Bookshops which transferred to SSG’s Charitable Trust in October 2006.
Saint Stephen the Great (SSG) was contacted by SPCK’s lawyers in October 2007 concerning its use of the SPCK name for what used to trade as the SPCK Bookshops group.
In October 2007, SSG put out a release clarifying that from 1 November the bookshops would be trading under the name Saint Stephen the Great. ‘
I find it quite interesting that despite this I haven’t seen a store with a large ‘SSG’ sign outside it…I also would like to urge readers if you have a SSG alongside another Christian bookshop where you live to use the other one…alternatively shop at Wesley Owen online
February 29th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity, Current Affairs, Just For Fun, SPCK
Despite claiming that the Sheffield SPCK would re-open 2 weeks ago and nothing happening it seems SSG (new trust running spck) are making yet another promise…they claim this time that SPCK will re-open from tomorrow (1st March) with new opening hours…I wonder how it’ll work with no staff…
And secondly having listened to a little bit of Delirious here are 2 comments on some lyrics…
‘I want to go deeper but I don’t know how to swim’ - firstly if you don’t know how to swim perhaps it’s easier to go deeper because when you drown…you’ll sink…if however dying is not your thing I advise staying on the surface buying some arm bands.
‘I could dance a thousand miles’ - I’m sure he could dance a thousand miles but I can’t help but feel it would make more sense to walk, catch a train or drive..
(If you don’t get the humour don’t worry because every other person reading this probably doesn’t either!)
February 22nd, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Just For Fun, SPCK
Despite very minor SPCK updates (Chester SPCK remains open btw) a week off has led to a lack of blogging, I have 2 sermons to write one for church, one for uni all ideally by wednesday (uni one definately by wednesday) I also have lots of things I want to blog on…not happening yet though…I think when this weeks done blogging will resume.
My week off was fun, some time in Sheffield, some in Chester, fun times in both…was good to see Jo (as always) and was also good to catch up with Hayley, Rachel and Shane in Chester…and spend until 5 in the morning talking to Hayley…ah late nights and catch ups are good.
Only other thing to say is that I might be becoming famous…my SPCK photos which also appeared on Dave Walker’s blog might appear in Premier Christian Magazine under an article on SPCK…get me!
This is Mark bringing the awesome to my blog….off, over and out!
February 18th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Just For Fun, SPCK
The SPCK in Sheffield remained closed this morning despite the sign on the door stating that it would re-open today…also SPCK norwich was on the news: link (link stole from cartoonchurch)
February 16th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Christianity, Current Affairs, SPCK
Although I appreciate none of you are interested I am and seem to have put a reporters hat today, between my last update blog and this blog I have wandered into Sheffield and had a look at the SPCK, and lo and behold…it’s closed (CLC wasn’t and they had a sale though!), however a sign on the door/window indicates that it will be opening again on the 18th feb, which is good because it shows hope for christian bookshops!
Photos (click for large versions)
February 14th, 2008 by Mark Tiddy Posted in Articles, Christianity, Current Affairs, SPCK
This last week has seen a few fairly big things within Christian circles and so I thought I’d produce a bit of a round up of events.
Rowan Williams - Of course the huge debate started by Rowan Williams is by far the biggest Christian news this week, however I haven’t read much on it, believe he has been took well out of context and therefore will brush over the topic!
SPCK Shops Closing - As a regular reader of Dave Walker’s Blog (Cartoon Church) alongside reading the Network Norwich website the closing of SPCK shops across the country saddens me, in particular the way it has been done. St Stephen The Great Charitable Trust took over SPCK after SPCK was in trouble, however within the last two weeks numerous SPCK’s including Norwich, Sheffield and Canterbury have been closing…the staff in Norwich and Sheffield were sacked by e-mail after disagreeing to signing a new contract sent by the trust.
I think although we can buy everything Christian online now whether it’s through Wesley Owen, Amazon, eBay or newly launched ‘Shop ZETO’ it’s sad to see Christian bookshops closing from our highstreets because their presence I’m sure has made it easier for searchers to find helpful books, bibles etc. I also think it’s very sad that a Christian trust can treat employees so badly (See this article). For more on the SPCK situation I advice reading ‘Dave Walker’s Blog’ as he has been following and covering this topic for months - link
Free Weddings
Once again something from Dave Walker’s blog interested me, when he reports that an Essex Church Offers free weddings.
It’s interesting because although in essence it sounds good, it’s actually an offer only open to regular worshippers.
Dave Walker contacted the churches vicar to find out the reasons behind this ‘free marriage offer’.
The reverened of the church states this as reasons for the free weddings.
- We want to say how important we think marriage is, best for couples, best for children, best for society.
- We want to express our faith in generous giving - we don’t want to say we will ‘do it for Free’ - but that we will ‘pay for it’ because we have to pay the fees to the diocese, to the organist and for the verger etc, - so it is not just a case of not collecting the fee payable to the PCC.
- We would like to highlight the fact that the Christian marriage service expresses a higher ideal of committed love than any other wedding service.
- We hope we might encourage couples who aren’t married to consider it, or even to do it.
- We want to put our money where our mouth is - in that sense it is sacrificial, we see it as an investment in the kind of society we would like to see as bearing the marks of the kingdom of God.
(Taken from cartoonchurch.com)
I think that these reasons for doing it are good, I believe that by promoting marriage and using it as a chance to express the churches opinion of marriage and share their faith positively is a good idea, however I wonder if opening it only to regular worshippers makes it a bit cliquey. Obviously doing it for all could provide a ridicuous amount of work for the church and also not be very do-able…however I wonder if there’s a way to open it a bit more.
Anyway…that’s the Christian news I’m sharing for this week, I’m still working on various updates for Stand for Christ including a new, packed youthwork resource section and restoring the CD Reviews section (it’s only took me almost a year!). I have a week off from this evening which’ll be nice, few days in Sheffield with Jo, few in Chester visiting Hayley and hopefully Shane and Rachel too. Hopefully a marriage blog will surface soon…the essex church thing is getting me thinking more about it so watch this space.
