A day in the countryside, walking by canals and rivers, in villages and fields, to celebrate Staffordshire

Walking by the banks of the Coventry Canal in Hopwas, behind the Tame Otter (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Today is Staffordshire Day 2026 (1 May 2026), with a packed programme of adventurous and fun events and activities to celebrate the county, its life and its history. This the tenth Anniversary of Staffordshire’s big party, celebrating so much from the anniversary of Josiah Wedgwood to the recognition of Staffordshire in the Magna Carta.

The tenth Staffordshire Day is about helping people to discover the places and stories that make the county different, welcoming and full of heart. This date (1 May) was chosen because it is the anniversary of Josiah Wedgwood setting up his pottery company in 1759, helping to transform Staffordshire into the centre of the world’s ceramics industry.

The events this year include ‘The Staffy Trail’, a new sculpture and heritage trail across the county connected by easy and accessible transport links. But Staffordshire Day is more than a day – it runs from today (1 May 2026) for 10 days. A map and mobile app have been developed to help visitors take self-guided walking tours around Stoke-on-Trent, Tamworth and Stafford, and to discover unique sculptures, new stories and businesses.

The printed map of Tamworth highlights the history and heritage of the capital of the ancient Kingdom of Mercia. It takes about 1-to-1½ hours to walk and is accessible for people with most abilities. Other ‘Staffy Trails’ include Stafford, Stoke, Lichfield and Uttoxeter.

Walking through the fields in Comberford, between Comberford Hall and Comberford village (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

In advance of this year’s celebrations of Staffordshire Day, I followed my own self-guided through the south-east corner of Staffordshire, starting my trek in Tamworth, walking along Lichfield Street to the Moat House, the Comberford family’s former Tudor and Jacobean house on Lichfield Street and by the banks of the River Anker and River Tame; then back into the town centre and walking two or three miles out to Wigginton, where I visited Saint Leonard’s Church.

From Wigginton, I walked two miles along Comberford Lane and Wigginton Lane to Comberford and Comberford Hall, and went in search of the site of the ‘Old Manor House’ in Comberford, with the help of a copy of a map of the Borough and Parish of Tamworth, printed in 1845.

In the mid-day sunshine that was like early summer, I then walked along the banks of the River Tame beside Comberford village.

From Comberford, I walked back towards Tamworth, and at Comberford Cross Roads, the junction of Comberford Road, Gillway Lane and Coton Lane, I went in search of the site of Comberford Windmill, marked on Coton Lane on that 1845 map of Tamworth.
Having found Windmill Lane, I continued on in the sunshine west along Coton Lane for two or three miles, reaching Hopwas village, where I enjoyed views of Hopwas Wood, walks by the banks of the Tame once again and by the Coventry Canal, and visited Saint Chad’s Church on a hill overlooking the village.

A view towards Hopwas Wood, close to the River Tame (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

In the late afternoon sunshine, my five-hour walk through beautiful Staffordshire landscape and countryside came to an end with a late – very late – lunch in the Tame Otter by the banks of the canal in Hopwas, a pub and restaurant run by the same team that runs both the Hedgehog in Lichfield and the Wolseley Arms at Wolseley Bridge between Rugeley and Stafford.

I caught the bus from Hopwas back into Tamworth, passing the Moat House on Tamworth Street once again, in time to catch the train back to Milton Keynes. I must have walked about 10 miles during the day. And it was a good way to celebrate all that is good about Staffordshire today.

Wigginton, Comberford and Hopwas are three villages in the civil parish of Wigginton and Hopwas within the area of Lichfield District Council, between Tamworth and Lichfield, and each of them has centuries-long connections. But more about these villages, these connections and the churches I visited in the days to come, hopefully.


Three minutes of sunshine by the River Tame in Comberford, Staffordshire, in yesterday’s sunshine (Patrick Comerford, 2026)

35 million metres from earth, 35 million workers in the Gulf, 35 million in Dublin Airport, and 35 million blog readers

Our planet seen from space 35,000 km (35 million metres) above the Earth (Credit: NASA/GSFC/Reto Stöckli, Nazmi El Saleous and Marit Jentoft-Nilsen)

Patrick Comerford

The viewing and reading figures for this blog has become overwhelming. These figures reached the 35 million mark shortly before mid-day today (1 May 2026). They passed the million mark four times last month, reaching 34 million shortly before mid-day on Wednesday (29 April 2026), 33 million last Saturday (25 April 2026), 32 million at the beginning of last week (19 April 2026) and 31 million earlier last month (8 April 2026).

This blog had already passed the million figure in readership numbers five times in March.

I have seen a phenomenal amount of traffic on this blog so far this year, and it continues to reach a volume of readers that I could never have expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. Half the total hits (17.5 million) have been within less than seven months, since 18 October 2025. The total hits in March 2026 were the highest monthly total ever (4,523,648), and the figure last month were close to that, with 4,365,464 hits in April 2026.

At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 15 million hits or visitors in 2026.

I first began blogging in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the 12 days of busiest traffic on this blog, one is today, three were last month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three were in March, three were in February, and two were in January 2025:

• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 465,843 (by 12 noon, 1 May 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2024)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)

• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
• 289,076 (11 January 2025)
• 285,366 (12 January 2025)
• 280,802 (26 February 2026)
• 273,022 (27 February 2026)

The number of readers continues to be overpowering and the daily averages have been about 145,000 or more hits a day last month. Ten years ago, in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000.

Early morning sunrise in Dublin Airport … 35 million passengers passed through Dublin Airport last year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

To put this figure of 35 million into perspective:

Donald Trump has claimed that he prevented a nuclear war between India and Pakistan and saved the lives of 35 millions of people. The nuclear-powered neighbours stepped back from the brink of an all-out war in May last year following their worst military escalation in decades which saw dozens of people killed in cross-border shelling as well as drone and missile attacks on both sides.

‘We’re proudly restoring safety for Americans at home and abroad. In my first 10 months, I ended eight wars,’ he boasted in his State of the Union address in February. ‘Pakistan and India would have had a nuclear war. Thirty-five million people, said the prime minister of Pakistan, would have died if it were not for my involvement.’

Saudi Arabia and Peru both have populations of about 35 million people.

Almost 35 million people – more than half of the 62 million people in the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries – are foreign workers, according to a report from Aljazeera. Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) collectively host nearly 35 million foreign workers from around the world, predominantly from South Asia.

Traditionally they have included labourers, building workers, household staff, security personnel, and cleaners. But they also include highly skilled workers in sectors such as banking, finance, technology, engineering, aviation, medicine and the media.

Starbucks recently agreed to pay over $35 million to New York City workers to resolve labour law violations, according to BBC reports.

Dublin Airport welcomed more than 35 million passengers last year (2025), with around 240,000 flights passing through the airport, according to the Dublin Airport Authority.

Ireland has launched a €35 million tender for a national cricket stadium in in Blanchardstown, Dublin, aiming to be match-ready for co-hosting the 2030 ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. The project includes a main oval, 4,240 permanent seats, a high performance centre, and player and operations facilities.

Construction must begin immediately upon contract award, with grass establishment alone taking up to three years to meet strict World Cup standards. A second tender covering the pavilion and further infrastructure is expected later.

35 million minutes is about 66 years, 6 months and 16 days. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take more than 66½ years, from mid-1959, to reach today’s latest figure of 35 million.

I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 120-140 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. A similar number have been reading my current series of postings on churches and local history in Staffordshire, and were reading my recent series of postings on the churches and chapels of Walsingham. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 800-1,000 or more people each week.

This afternoon, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 35 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 120-140 people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.

About 35 million foreign workers are living in the six Gulf Cooperation Council countries (Credit: Aljazeera)

Daily prayer in Easter 2026: 27, Friday 1 May 2026, Saint Philip and Saint James

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … colourful houses in the Cathedral Close in Lichfield (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

Our Easter celebrations continue in the Church Calendar, and this week began with the Second Sunday of Easter (Easter II). Easter is a 50-day season that continues until the Day of Pentecost (24 May 2026), or Whit Sunday.

The Church calendar today celebrates the feast of Saint Philip and Saint James, Apostles. This is also May Day (1 May) in many European countries, although the Bank Holiday in Britain and Ireland is on Monday next (4 May 2026). Today is also Staffordshire Day. Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, reading today’s Gospel reading;

2, a short reflection;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Saint Philip (left) and Saint James (right) in stained glass windows in Saint Editha’s Church, Tamworth (Photographs: Patrick Comerford)

John 14: 1-14 (NRSVA):

[Jesus said:] 1 ‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. 2 In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, so that where I am, there you may be also. 4 And you know the way to the place where I am going.’ 5 Thomas said to him, ‘Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?’ 6 Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you know me, you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.’

8 Philip said to him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied.’ 9 Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, “Show us the Father”? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own; but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; but if you do not, then believe me because of the works themselves. 12 Very truly, I tell you, the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it.’

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … colourful houses and shopfront on the Main Bazaar in Kuching (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Gospel reading (John 14: 1-14) is also the Gospel reading for net Sunday(John 14: 1-14, 3 May 2026, Easter V). This reading is set within the context of the Last Supper, Christ’s Passover meal with the Disciples, and introduces his ‘Farewell Discourse’ in Saint John’s Gospel, in which Christ responds to the disciples’ questions by telling them he is the way, the truth and the life.

Judas Iscariot has left the table and the upper room and has gone out into the dark (John 13: 30), about to betray Christ.

Christ then gives his disciples the new commandment, ‘that you love one another’ (John 13: 34). In response to questions from Peter, Thomas, Philip and Jude, Christ now prepares his disciples for his departure.

This Gospel reading includes some well-known sayings, including:

• ‘In my Father's house are many mansions’ (KJV), translated in the NRSV and NRSVA as ‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2)

• ‘I am the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6), the sixth of the seven ‘I AM’ (Ἐγώ εἰμι) sayings in Saint John’s Gospel

• ‘If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it’ (John 14: 14)

Saint Philip and Saint James have been associated since ancient times: an ancient inscription shows the Basilica of the Twelve Apostles in Rome had an earlier dedication to Philip and James.

In Shakespeare’s play Measure for Measure (III, ii, 204), a child’s age is given as ‘a year and a quarter old, come Philip and Jacob,’ meaning, ‘a year and a quarter old on the first of next May, the feast of Philip and James.’ This day has also given us the word ‘popinjay’ for a vain or conceited person or ‘fop.’

But, despite the cultural legacy they have left us, the Philip and James recalled on 1 May are, to a great degree, small-bit players – almost anonymous or forgotten – in the New Testament, and in the Church calendar.

The Western Church commemorates James the Greater on 25 July, and James the Brother of the Lord on 23 or 25 October. But James the Less has no day for himself, he shares it with Philip, on 1 May. Philip the Apostle who has to share that same commemoration is frequently confused with Philip the Deacon (Acts 6: 7; 8: 5-40; 21: 8 ff) – but Philip the Deacon has his own day on 6 June or 11 October.

The Saint James that the Church remembers on May Day is James, the Son of Alphaeus. We know nothing about this James, apart from the fact that Jesus called him to be one of the 12. He is not James, the Brother of the Lord, later Bishop of Jerusalem and the traditional author of the Letter of James. Nor is he James the son of Zebedee, also an apostle and known as James the Greater. He appears on lists of the 12 – usually in the ninth place – but is never mentioned otherwise.

Philip the Apostle, not Philip the Deacon, came from the same town as Peter and Andrew, Bethsaida in Galilee. When Jesus called him directly, he sought out Nathanael and told him about ‘him about whom Moses … wrote’ (John 1: 45).

Like the other apostles, Philip took a long time coming to realise who Jesus was. On one occasion, as we shall read tomorrow (John 6: 1-15), when Jesus sees the great multitude following him and wants to give them food, he asks Philip where they should buy bread for the people to eat. We are told Jesus says ‘this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do’ (John 6: 6). Philip answers unhelpfully, perhaps in a disbelieving way: ‘Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little [bit]’ (John 6: 7).

When Christ says in today’s reading, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life … If you know me, then you will know my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him’ (John 14: 6a, 7), Philip then says: ‘Lord, show us the Father, and we will be satisfied’ (John 14: 8).

Satisfied?

Enough?

Jesus answers: ‘Have I been with you all this time, Philip, and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father’ (John 14: 9a).

Yet, despite the near-anonymity of James and the weaknesses of Philip, these two became foundational pillars in the Church. They display total human helplessness, yet they become apostles who bring the Good News into the world. Indeed, from the very beginning, Philip has an oft-forgotten role in bringing people to Christ. Perhaps because he had a Greek name, some Gentile proselytes came and asked him to introduce them to Jesus.

We see in James and Philip ordinary, weak, every-day, human, men who, nevertheless, become pillars of the Church at its very foundation. They show us that grace, holiness and the call to follow Christ come to us not on our own merits, or as special prizes to be achieved. They are entirely the gift of God, not a matter of human achieving.

We need not worry about questions and doubts … there are many dwelling places in God’s house, and faith grows and develops and matures, just as a child learns, through questions.

Questioning is not a sign of weakness, it is a sign of willingness to learn.

It is OK not to have all the answers. It is OK not to have all the answers. For Christ is ‘the way, the truth and the life’ (John 14: 6).

In following Christ, we need not worry about our human weakness or that others may even forget us. God sees us as we are, and loves us just as we are. It is just as we are that we are called to follow Christ.

Christ is risen!
The Lord is risen indeed. Alleluia!

‘In my Father’s house there are many dwelling-places’ (John 14: 2) … street art seen in Iraklion at Easter last year (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Prayers (Friday 1 May 2026, Saint Philip and Saint James):

‘Prayer and Action in Pakistan’ provides the theme this week (26 April to 2 May 2026) in ‘Pray With the World Church’, the Prayer Diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), pp 50-51. This theme was introduced on Sunday with Reflections from the Revd Davidson Solanki, Senior Regional Manager for Asia and the Middle East.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 1 May 2026, Saint Philip and Saint James) invites us to pray:

Gracious God, we give thanks for the faithful witness of Philip and James. May we, inspired by this example, share your love through service, strengthen communities, and bear witness to your light in all we do.

The Collect:

Almighty Father,
whom truly to know is eternal life:
teach us to know your Son Jesus Christ
as the way, the truth, and the life;
that we may follow the steps
of your holy apostles Philip and James,
and walk steadfastly in the way that leads to your glory;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post Communion Prayer:

Almighty God,
who on the day of Pentecost
sent your Holy Spirit to the apostles
with the wind from heaven and in tongues of flame,
filling them with joy and boldness to preach the gospel:
by the power of the same Spirit
strengthen us to witness to your truth
and to draw everyone to the fire of your love;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Yesterday’s Reflections

Continued Tomorrow

A return visit to Comberford yesterday … today (1 May) is also Staffordshire Day (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org