Thought for the day
Sir Walter Raleigh's (attributed) As you came from the holy land read by Richard Wallace
As You Came from the Holy Land (attributed)
BY SIR WALTER RALEGH
As you came from the holy land
Of Walsingham,
Met you not with my true love
By the way as you came?
“How shall I know your true love,
That have met many one,
I went to the holy land,
That have come, that have gone?”
She is neither white, nor brown,
But as the heavens fair;
There is none hath a form so divine
In the earth, or the air.
“Such a one did I meet, good sir,
Such an angelic face,
Who like a queen, like a nymph, did appear
By her gait, by her grace.”
She hath left me here all alone,
All alone, as unknown,
Who sometimes did me lead with herself,
And me loved as her own.
“What’s the cause that she leaves you alone,
And a new way doth take,
Who loved you once as her own,
And her joy did you make?”
I have lov’d her all my youth;
But now old, as you see,
Love likes not the falling fruit
From the withered tree.
Know that Love is a careless child,
And forgets promise past;
He is blind, he is deaf when he list,
And in faith never fast.
His desire is a dureless content,
And a trustless joy:
He is won with a world of despair,
And is lost with a toy.
Of womenkind such indeed is the love,
Or the word love abus’d,
Under which many childish desires
And conceits are excus’d.
But true love is a durable fire,
In the mind ever burning,
Never sick, never old, never dead,
From itself never turning.
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We've seen lots of amazing work in the visitor services department so far this year. SMR stewards have generated over £4,500 donations between January and April 2026 and welcomed over 5000 visitors to the Church. We are welcoming new tour guides to the front of house team with the eventual goal to expand the number of tours we are able to offer to the public. Janet and Reuben have both done their first tours and have received wonderful reviews from visitors. If you are interested in volunteering on the front of house team please contact me on lucy.marshall@stmaryredcliffe.co.uk . We have had some amazing feedback from our outreach events as we aim to welcome not only those familiar with SMR but also those that have never been before. These have included film screenings, talks and most recently the Redcliffe Sessions which raised just under £150 for our Lent charity partner, CALM. Thank you to all those who have supported these. The next Redcliffe Session will be in support of SMR and will feature Bristol band Dogsbody on guitar, cello and violin, and songwriter, Alex Pester on 13th June. I am very excited looking into the rest of 2026 for our future events run both in house and by external hirers, more information of which can be found on our website. If you are interested in volunteering at any future SMR events please let me know! Lucy Marshall Visitor Services Coordinator 06.05.2026
