Rikipedia Links

The Maqsood will shortly be moving to a this new address. This move is expected to take place around about the end of 2009.

The Brampton Pie Company

Day 1 - Rice and Spice

Foods of Italy

Schools in Bedford

Due largely to the legacy of Sir William Harpur and his wife Dame Alice Harpur. There are no less that four private schools in Bedford, which are all of some renown. These four schools are listed below. Now the owner of this website is not a parent. Neither did I go to school in Bedford. Consequently, I have no first hand knowledge of the teaching in these schools. However, I have been a visitor to a couple of events hosted at Bedford Modern School and I have been impressed with the qualities of the building and its facilities. I am also a frequent visitor to the Tuesday lunchtime, music concerts at St. Paul's Church in Bedford. I have often been entertained by the musical abilities of the children from Dame Alice Harpur School, Bedord School and Bedford Modern School. I have been extremely impressed by the musicianship and professionalism of these young people. Even some of the junior school pupils show an amazing musical talent.

The schools listed are all run by The Harpur Trust, an endowment, set-up by Sir William Harpur and active to this day.

Bedford Public Library

The Bedford, Monday Morning Health Walk

The Bedford Monday Morning Health Walk sets off every Monday morning, excepting Bank Holidays, from the Butterfly Bridge, over the River Great Ouse at the South East corner of Russell Park, Bedford. If you are one of Bedford' Bon Viveurs, you might better recognise this as the bridge next to the Eat Fish Restaurant.

The walks are between 2.5 and 3 miles in length. The route is varied every week. There is a shorter walk available, if you do not feel up to walking the full distance covered by the main walk.

The Bedford Monday Morning Health Walk was organised in association with the Lansdowne Road Doctor's Surgery. The idea is to provide a little gentle exercise in order to encourage a healthy heart. You will need to fill in a brief medical history before you are allowed to join the walking group. This is to ensure that you do not have any health problems which would be aggravated by this level of exercise.

Following the walk, we usually end up having coffee and toast together at the Embankment Hotel. Because there is usually a large group of us, this is layed on specially, by the Embankment Hotel staff, for the reduced price of £1.50p.

For further details please e-mail Mike Wilcox at: mikefwilcox@btinternet.com.

Return To: Index to Bedford

Return To: Table of Contents

Return To: Home Page

Bedford's Local Newspapers

Sport in Bedford

The Arts in Bedford

Graphic Art

Performance Art and Cinema

The Rex Cinema - Berkhamstead

Dear Sheila

I would never call such a glorious place as The Rex Cinema, "a throwback". The term sounds far too perjorative! The Rex cinema is a beautiful Art Deco Building (or Art Neuvo, I have never been able to understand the difference). It is owned and managed by a man named James. James really cares about movies. The Rex Cinema is, in effect, a heaven on earth for movie buffs!

The Rex Cinema even has a bar in the auditorium. The Bar is placed about 30 feet from the screen, with the main cinema seating behind it. Between the bar and the screen, the seating has been torn up and replaced with tables and chairs. One can sit in normal cinema seats to watch the movie, if one wants. At the same time, however, if one wishes, one can take a chair at a table, with a glass of wine and a plate of nibbles in front of one, and one can enjoy the movie as if one was watching a cabaret.

The Rex is much more than a cinema. It is more one of those life enhancing places, which everyone should visit at least once in their lifetime. A visit to The Rex Cinema in Berkhamstead is well worth inclusion on every single one of those silly lists one sees from time to time, lists with names such as: "100 things you must do before you die". I don't know if you have ever seen the sort of lists I am referring to. They include actions such as: "Seeing Rome", "Seeing Naples", "Singing in a Karaoke Bar", that sort of thing. For me, one of my things I most definitely had to do before I died, was to attend a Rolling Stones concert. This is something, which I was able to tick off of my list in 1998, when I took my friend Erika to Wembley, to see "The Stones" performing on their "Bridges of Babylon Tour"

If you would like to know more about this amazing cinema, please click here to view their website:

The Rex Cinema

Best Wishes

Richard
uk.geocities.com/Rikipedia321

Bedford's Religious Communities

The Sikh Community in Bedford

Bedford's Pagan Community

Bedford's Pagan community are a shy and retiring group of people. It is not hard to see why. For four hundred years pagans were persecuted in Western Europe. Indeed, many of them were burnt alive. Religious freedom is a very recent concept within the British Isles. However, even with legal recognition, many pagans still feel afraid of prejudice and persecution from the community at large. Consequently, it can be difficult to make contact with them, should one find one has an interest in the pagan religion and the pagan Gods and Goddesses.

However, as luck would have it, the owner of this website is rather interested in pagan matters. Therefore, if you would like to know more, you could always e-mail me. Alternatively. you could give "Spell Bound Sue" a try. You can find her at the following web address: www.spellboundsue.co.uk. If you're very, very good, she might even be able to introduce you to a coven!

In case you should wish to contact me, I think it is only fair to state my credentials in pagan matters, so here goes:

A baptised Roman Catholic, I have nevertheless always felt a certain sympathy towards pagan matters. I have been secretly attracted to the pagan Goddess for as long as I can remember, particularly in her manifestation as The Goddess Isis. Indeed, I think that the section of Lucius Apuleius's book, The Golden Ass, in which The Goddess Isis introduces hereself to Lucius is pure magic. This is particularly the case for me, because I was lucky enough to read the Robert Graves translation of this book. A pagan himself, there could be no better man to translate this wonderful story, this hymn to The Goddess Isis, that the author of The White Goddess.

However, it is really the Roman Catholic attitude to human sexuality that brought me to paganism. The Roman Catholic attitude to human sexuality is extremely sick and perverted. I am not even going to attempt to justify that assertion. A Roman Catholic Theologian has written an entire book on the matter. She says it all so much better than I ever could, so, if you are interested to know what is wrong with the Roman Catholic attitude to sex, please read: Eunuchs for the Kingdom of Heaven, by Uta Ranke-Heinmann.

For myself, although I was baptised as a Roman Catholic, religion did not impinge on my life a great deal for my first nine years on the planet. I had a state education until I was nine years old and then, for reasons best known to my parents, I was sent to a Roman Catholic School. At nine years of age I was already interested in sexual matters. However, before I could even place a foot on this path, here was The Roman Catholic Church telling me it was all dreadfully, dreadfully wrong. I can remember, for example, when I was a young man of 14 or so, when my mind was as obsessed with sexual matters as any pubescent young man's mind would be, a young lady of my acquaintance offered to introduce me to her friend, who went by the delightful nickname of "Fingers The Third". As you may possibly be able to imagine, I would dearly have loved to indulge myself in a romp in the hay with Fingers The Third, but I was literally terrified to do so for fear of going to Hell. Since I did not think that I could bring myself to subsequently discuss such matters with a Priest, in the Confessional, my "Get out of jail free" card, I declined that wonderful invitation. I remained a virgin until I was 20. This was not a state that suited me. I was not happy that way.

So imagine how I felt, dear reader, when at the age of 18 or 19, I first saw the movie Legend of The Witches. This movie told of a religion of nature worshipers, who, instead of reviling human sexuality together with the creative principle in nature, actually worshiped it. Instead of talking about sin, whenever the subject of sex reared its head, here was a group of people who danced naked under the moon. From my then 18 year old perspective, the religion of the witches seemed to be a wonderful, magical affair. Furthermore, I was told that, contrary to what I had been previously been given to believe, the witches did not worship the devil. They worshiped a nature Goddess. I took one look at the goings on on that screen and I thought: "That's the religion for me!"

For at least two years after seeing that movie, I read everything I could get my hands on about witchcraft, much to the consternation of my poor dear father, who seemed to fear I wished for magic powers in order to murder someone at a distance, or something equally dangerous and bizarre!

Even today, many Christians seem antagonistic to paganism. I have sometimes heard them quoting the bible as saying: "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live". Well here's a thing: I've actually read the bible. I have not read it from cover to cover. Who has? However, I have read a fair bit of it. You know what? I have absolutely no idea where that passage came from. Indeed, cynical little soul that I am, I rather fancy someone invented it. Stick the words "Thou shalt not" in front of any phrase or saying and it is almost certain to sound biblical. For example: "Thou shalt not go down to the woods today", which could perhaps be finished off with "For verily I say unto thee, thou shalt be sure of a big surprise!" I am not saying that I have not come across references to witchcraft in the Bible. I have. It's just that the references I have come across have not been accompanied by incitement to commit murder. Indeed, I am often perplexed at the readiness of Christians to engage in acts of murder, mayhem and violence. It seems an odd way to affirm oneself as a follower of that gentle preacher from Nazareth; a man so against any form of violence that, when his own life was in mortal danger, so we are told, he berated one of his followers for attempting to defend him with his sword. But please, do not take my word for this. Consult the relevant passages of scripture. N.B. Regrettably the good people at BibleGateway.com have not included HTML anchors against each verse. Consequently, although I have provided you with a link to Matthew, Chapter 26, you will need to navigate to verses 47 to 53 without any assistance from me.

I stated that there are references to witchcraft in the Bible. Here are two of them:

The Story of The Witch of Endor

The story of The Witch of Endor, told in Samuel Book 1, Chapter 28, tells how King Saul contacted a medium, who in turn contacted the recently deceased prophet Samuel on his behalf. It is true that, when the ghost of Samuel appeared on the scene he berated Saul for contacting a medium. However, this is not because of a pejorative attitude to witchcraft per se. This is because Saul had attempted to access information, which had been forbidden to him. I am not going to attempt to paraphrase what Samuel said to Saul on the matter. I have already supplied you with a link to Samuel Book 1, Chapter 28. You can read verses 16 to 19 for yourself.

The Story of The Wise Woman of Tekoa

In this story, a wise woman helps to reunite King David with his estranged son Absalom. I am not even going to attempt to paraphrase this story. You can read Samuel Book 2, Chapter 14 for yourself.

Return To: Bedford's Religious Communities

Return To: Index to Bedford

Return To: Table of Contents

Return To: Home Page

Takeaway Restaurants in Bedford

Le Raj Indian Take Away

Please note: Le Raj is slightly off of the beaten track. I would therefore recommend that you lookup the postcode, i.e. MK41 7SG on Google Maps.

Bedford's Pubs, Restaurants and Hotels

Indiya - Indian Restaurant

Brunetti's, fully licenced, Italian Restaurant

The Castle Public House and Guest House

The Bedford Arms

La Casa Del Tequila

Traditional Mexican Restaurant

87-91 Tavistock Street
Bedford
MK40 2RR

Telephone: 01234 364 905

Open: Monday - Thursday 6:00 PM - 12:00 AM, Friday and Saturday 6:00 PM - 1:30 AM
Sunday 5:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Marlice Van Der Merwe

Wild Life Links

The Big Cats - and the people who work with them

Kevin Richardson - Lion Man

George and Joy Adamson

Videos of Lions:

Nature, red in tooth and claw

We have seen the gentle side of lions. These videos show the other side of the equation, the battle for survival, a battle to the death with buffalo, hyenas and even Elephants.

When I followed in the way of the Lord, I lived in Highgate

That's Highgate London N6 (5PE) or Ellowen Deeowen, to use the mantra Salman Rushdie used, to lovingly describe my favourite city, in his book The Satanic Verses.

An Excerpt from Chapter 17 of The Golden Ass, By Lucius Apuleius

All the perfumes of Arabia drifted into my nostrils as the Goddess deigned to address me: 'You see me here Lucius in answer to your prayer I am Nature, the universal Mother, mistress of all the elements, primordial child of time, sovereign of all things spiritual, queen of the dead, queen also of the immortals, the single manifestation of all gods and goddesses that are My nod governs the shining heights of heaven, the wholesome sea-breezes, the lamentable silences of the world below Though I am worshiped in many aspects, known by countless names, and propitiated with all manner of different rites, yet the whole round earth venerates me The primeval Phrygians call me Pessinuntica, Mother of the gods; the Athenians, sprung from their own soil, call me Cecropian Artemis; for the islanders of Cyprus I am Pathian Aphrodite; for the Archers of Crete I am Dictynna; for the trilingual Sicilians, Stygian Proserpine; and for the Eleusinians their ancient Mother of the Corn.

'Some know me as Juno, some as Bellona of the battles; others as Hecate, others again as Rhamnubia, but both races of Aethiopians, whose lands the morning sun first shines upon, and the Egyptians who excel in ancients learning and worship me with ceremonies proper to my Godhead, call me by my true name, namely, Queen Isis I have come in pity of your plight, I have come to favour and aid you Weep no more, lament no longer; the hour of deliverance, shone over by my watchful light, is at hand.