2025 has been a difficult year. It's time to reset. It’s time to Ring in Hope
We need to cultivate new rhythms of hope if we are to navigate and build a better world
A mural by Banksy on Queen's Mews, Bayswater, London. Photo via BBC
‘A very small degree of hope is sufficient to cause the birth of love.’- Marie-Henri Beyle
“Where there's hope, there's life.”― Anne Frank
N.B. Hearing the bells ringing and me: Any time I hear the sound of the bells ringing it makes me feel nostalgic, reflective, joyful and hopeful...
I recall and remember so fondly the days and weeks after arriving in Oxford on 19 August 1972, when for the first time in my life I heard the sound of the church bells ringing:
'And yet, I recall the wonder and beauty of my daily walks from Headington, where I was living, to the centre of Oxford, going to the Oxford College of Further Education, where I was studying English as a foreign Language, reaching the Magdalen Bridge, looking down the river, seeing the beautiful grounds of the Botanical Garden and Arboretum, and continuing my walk to Carfax, seeing the sunrise on the Carfax Tower and hearing the sacred sound of bells ringing at a distance at the Christ Church College.'
NEW YEAR BELLS
Photo:Owlcation
Ring Out, Wild Bells
A poem by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, published in 1850, the year he was appointed Poet Laureate
‘For centuries, shortly before midnight on New Year's Eve campanologists have made their way towards many of England's parish churches where, on the stroke of midnight, they begin the ancient ritual of ringing out the old year and ringing in the new. The sentiments expressed in Tennyson's poem Ring Out, Wild Bells still resonate almost two hundred years after it was first published. The poem speaks of bringing relief from grief, about casting aside everything that was sad and bad about the year that has passed, and makes fervent wishes that the better aspects of human nature will emerge in the future. Isn't that what most people hope for when the New Year brings a symbolic opportunity for a new beginning?’
Photo:Via Owlcation
‘According to legend, the inspiration for the poem came when Tennyson, staying in the vicinity of Waltham Abbey, heard the Abbey Church bells clanging in the wind on a stormy night.
As a child in the large family of an impoverished country Church rector, Tennyson would have seen and perhaps experienced many of the features of society that he wrote about in Ring Out, Wild Bells.’*
Ring Out, Wild Bells
‘Ring out, wild bells, to the wild sky,
The flying cloud, the frosty light:
The year is dying in the night;
Ring out, wild bells, and let him die.
Ring out the old, ring in the new,
Ring, happy bells, across the snow:
The year is going, let him go;
Ring out the false, ring in the true...'
*Continue and read more about ‘Ring Out, Wild Bells’: "Ring Out, Wild Bells" by Alfred, Lord Tennyson
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Our New Year Message
2025 has been a difficult year. It's time to reset. It’s time to Ring in Hope
New Year calls us to hope beyond despair and light beyond darkness
Photo: Jan Von Holleben/Trunk Archive/Via The Guardian
So how do we as individuals, communities and as a society reset? How can we begin to reimagine the better days yet to come? How do we acknowledge the threats and work together to build a world of connection, collaboration, unity and hope?
To our mind, perhaps the best we can do is, to be more thankful, grateful, and hopeful more than ever before, where and when we will all continue our common good journey and share a common belief in the potential of each one of us to become self-directed, empowered, and active in defining this time in the world as an opportunity for positive change and healing and for the true formation of a culture of peace by giving thanks, spreading joy, sharing love, seeing miracles, discovering goodness, embracing kindness, practicing patience, teaching moderation, encouraging laughter, celebrating diversity, showing compassion, turning from hatred, practicing forgiveness, peacefully resolving conflicts, communicating non-violently, choosing happiness and enjoying life.
May you find joy in the simple pleasures of life and may the light of the holiday season fill your heart with
the hope for a better and healthier world
As a token of our love, we wish to share this video with you:
From left: Eliza Carthy, Nicola Benedetti, Chris Martin, Martin James Bartlett, Danielle de Niese, Jaz Dhami, Stevie Wonder, Florence Welch,
Kylie Minogue, Lauren Laverne, Brian Wilson, Jake Bugg, Katie Derham, Chrissie Hynde, Gareth Malone, Emeli Sande, Ethan mi oJohns,
Baaba Maal, One Direction, Elton John, Jools Holland, Jamie Cullum, Brian May. Photo: PA, via The Times
Watch the Video: God Only Knows - BBC Music - YouTube
Happy New Year,
Stay Safe,
Keep Well,
Love,
Kamran and Annie