Summer At St Peter Mancroft

August in Norwich feels like a pressure test: the city is busy, the gardens are dusty, and everyone is trying to enjoy the school holidays without melting. We start with the small, real stuff, hosepipe bans, thirsty plants, and the familiar sight of children suddenly free to roam, then we follow that summer energy right through the doors of St Peter Mancroft.

We share one of our favourite parts of the season: families discovering the church as a place to pause and make something. Our Thursday and Friday arts and crafts activities (a follow-up to the Hidden exhibition) create proper off-screen time, and you can hear it in a mum’s relief as her children colour, search for words, and simply enjoy being present. It is a reminder that “community space” is not an abstract idea. It is tables, pencils, conversation, and a welcome that costs nothing.

From there, we shift into a bigger question: artificial intelligence and what it means for writing and creativity. Writer and thinker Justin Reynolds joins Edward to talk about his book AI and the Writer, and he draws a firm line between using AI for research and letting it generate the argument itself. When a machine writes the text, are we still authors, or have we become mere editors of something we did not truly think? We keep it grounded, with a few Terminator worries for good measure, and we also celebrate the rich church life of summer visitors, including an American choir singer exploring Norwich Cathedral and the tradition of bell ringing.

If you care about AI tools, content writing, creative work, Christian perspectives on technology, or simply how to stay human in a screen-heavy world, this conversation is for you. Subscribe, share it with a friend, and leave us a review, then tell us: what should never be handed over to a machine?

Transcript

Summer Heat And Thirsty Gardens

SPEAKER_04 0:04

Well, hello and welcome to the August 2026 issue of the Be More Mancroft Podcast. My name's Edward Carter. And I'm Judy Ball. Alice. Lovely you've joined us again. Well, Judy, August is sort of height of summer month, really, isn't it?

SPEAKER_02 0:19

It certainly is, and boy, it's hot.

SPEAKER_04 0:21

Yes, it's it's well we've had a lot of hot weather so far in the summer, but um yes, very hot. Um I don't know about your garden, but mine is looking very dusty and dry. The grass is not a hint of green left at all, really.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Not at all. Not at all. I I've lost one or two parts. And I've lost my Eucriphia tree, I think. It's looking very yes, it's a Eucriphia tree.

SPEAKER_04 0:42

Sounds intriguing.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

I I saw it when I was down in Chichester years ago. And I asked if I could I was I was interested in it and apparently it's yeah, I think it originates in Cornwall or somewhere. And I did decide to buy a small one.

SPEAKER_03 0:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:58

And I've had some lovely flowers over it. Flowers it looked like a white rose, really. Oh right, so three years. Isn't it? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Not a not a rose bush. Ten years now. Oh, okay, okay. But it's it's I think it's died. That's that's a shame. I've tried to water it, but it's difficult.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

No, no. Well we've got one or two vegetable y type plants as well, and they're all looking pretty pretty limp and lame, really. But um a little bit of water. No hose pipes, of course. Definitely no hose pipes.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

No, no.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

Um but the old watering can help.

SPEAKER_02 1:28

I know, and that's not easy either. No, no, that's true, no.

School Holidays And Church Visitors

SPEAKER_04 1:31

And of course, August as well as lovely hot weather or too hot weather is um well, classically it's that great school holiday. Do you have do you have fond memories of school holidays from years ago?

SPEAKER_02 1:40

I do actually. Yes. My friend and I used to cycle all over the place.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

Lovely, yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:46

Well, I've I've certainly seen um well, I've seen children in the city centre. You know what it the first week of school holidays you see, the youngsters, slightly older secondary school children, and they're roaming around, great excitement, you know, out out on their own. So that's lovely. And the younger ones with their with their parents, perhaps, or someone caring for them, yeah. And lots have been coming into church actually. Yeah, yeah. Lots of crosses have gone recently. Yes, yes. The children love. The pocket crosses, they do, they do. And we're running in the church on Thursdays and Fridays through the whole of the summer now. Um we're running some craft activities, Arsenal Craft activities.

SPEAKER_03 2:20

Oh, yes, of course you are.

SPEAKER_04 2:21

Yeah, it's a bit like um we did when the hidden um artwork was in last summer. It's a sort of um echo from that. And I met a lovely, lovely family the other day and uh had a little chat with them actually, and I recorded it. So we'll listen to that now.

Family Craft Time Away From Screens

SPEAKER_04 2:36

I'm here in the church and this summer we're doing some art activities. It's a follow-up from the hidden exhibition last year. Some art activities in the church, and uh met a lovely family here. So are you enjoying doing the arts here today? What are you drawing? Do tell me.

SPEAKER_03 2:52

Yeah. Um colouring.

SPEAKER_04 2:55

Yeah, doing some colouring, that's great, isn't it? You've got I think is that an orange an orange unicorn? I think it is, yay. Great. And now what uh you're doing a word search, amazing. Which words have you found so far? Stories, magic, and hide hidden. Hidden, that's right, yeah, hidden. It's a good word. Nice. Oh good. So um so what what you enjoy most about being here today, would you say as a family?

SPEAKER_06 3:21

Okay, I I feel like it is one of the good initiative because during summer holidays we are in the house digging to screen all the time. So this is like a bit different. We are exploring what this I mean, the kids are doing some art activity over here. They're happy exploring those colours, drawing, coloring. So yeah, some off-screen time and yeah, kids are enjoying.

SPEAKER_04 3:44

Brilliant. So please you're here. It's wonderful. And we're running these things, I think Thursdays and Fridays, right through the summer. So you're more than welcome to come back whenever you like.

SPEAKER_06 3:54

Sure, sure, sure. Definitely I will take this uh time to, you know, spend with kids and understand them as well as even even they are enjoying, and I'm myself I'm enjoying. I I'm helping them colouring things, so yeah, even I am enjoying, so definitely I'll take this uh time to come back again.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

Lovely. It's great to meet you. Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Thank you. Yes, it was good it's a good interview, and I I liked uh the bit about the mum saying, Oh, it's good to get the children away from the screens. Yeah. Because so many children spend so much time on the phones. I know. So it's lovely to think that they are being encouraged to do something else and they're obviously enjoying it.

SPEAKER_04 4:31

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Orange unicorn.

SPEAKER_02 4:32

Did you ever try to paint an orange unicorn before you didn't like unicorns though? I've never painted an orange one. No, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:39

Well, it's

Childhood Play Before Phones Existed

SPEAKER_04 4:40

interesting because I can remember as a child, obviously we didn't have computers or phones or anything like that. So some holidays would be, I don't know, scrabbling around out in the garden really, or or making things, playing games. And I can just remember even when with my two boys who are in their thirties now, even when they were young, you know, there wasn't really much in the way of computery distractions. It was just starting then.

SPEAKER_02 5:01

I tell you what had did come onto the market when my boys were young was Lego.

SPEAKER_04 5:04

Oh, Lego, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:06

Start of Lego.

SPEAKER_04 5:07

Well now that's a proper cloud, that is. Yeah, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 5:10

I loved it.

SPEAKER_04 5:11

I enjoyed that when I was young. Fantastic, yeah. Well actually thinking about all the the computers and the screen time and all of that, we've got a very interesting morning coming up this month, August. I think it's Saturday the 15th, and it's m just a sort of morning, conversation morning with Justin Reynolds, who's a member of the church. He's he's a thinker and a writer, and he's written a book, a small book recently about AI, artificial intelligence.

SPEAKER_02 5:37

Right.

SPEAKER_04 5:38

Yeah. What do you think of artificial intelligence, Judy?

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Not very keen on it. No, not well, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 5:43

Anyway, this morning with Justin is going to be interesting. And I I had a chance to meet up with him just to ask him about it. So let's listen to the the chat I had with him. Well, I'm

Justin Reynolds On AI And Writing

SPEAKER_04 5:54

actually here with a good friend of mine. I'm going to call you a good friend, Justin. It's great to be here with you. Justin Reynolds, who's um very much part of St. Peter Mancroft Church. But well, Justin, you're a great writer. You write and think about all sorts of things. And I've got here a book that you've written very quite recently, AI and the Writer. Was it was it this year?

SPEAKER_01 6:17

Yes, it was earlier this year. And it was it started off as reflections on the craft of writing after the sudden advent of uh artificial intelligence.

SPEAKER_03 6:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

It started off as uh my uh I started a a substack blog blog on it.

SPEAKER_04 6:38

Right. So so that's uh kind of uh interesting information uh on a blog, isn't it? I think substack on the Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 6:45

Yes, it's it's it's the it's the most fashionable means I suppose one could say of um creating small essays. Um and uh I work as um a writer. I I write content for businesses.

SPEAKER_04 7:04

Okay. So that's sort of comments and uh perhaps interesting articles about how business works?

SPEAKER_01 7:10

Yes. Basically I write uh if a client requires content for their website or blog posts or articles or reports, you know, writing is a laborious business.

SPEAKER_04 7:25

Yeah, yeah. But but hang on a minute, I thought I thought this is what AI can do. Do you still have a job writing? We obviously write about AI, but could AI not do everything?

SPEAKER_01 7:34

Well you know, Edward, it it's personal because now uh uh writers are no longer competing uh just with uh other business writers and content writers, but they artificial intelligence has revolutionized the way in which uh people who don't write can create content. You know, one can produce you can use something like ChatGPT or Gemini or Claude, not merely as a research tool. It does a wonderful job of researching material for you. But once one has done that research, it will prompt the user uh would you like me to write a one thousand-word article on the subject? And clearly for non-writers, the temptation to just click yes is overwhelming rather than seeking out a professional writer to write on their behalf.

SPEAKER_04 8:34

So hang on a minute. Supposing supposing there was a vicar at a church in Norwich who had to preach a sermon and um sort of asked one of these these artificial intelligence engines, Well, I've got to preach this Sunday, the Bible readings are this, and uh the congregation will be hundreds very engaged, intelligent people. You know, what suggestions do you have? And then it came back saying, Well, you could do a sermon featuring these ten things, and then there'll be a little button at the bottom saying, Would you like me to create your text for your sermon? And and if it said yes, I could just click on yes and then I'd be given a sermon.

SPEAKER_01 9:08

Yes, well, uh uh clearly that's a a fantastical scenario. Um but in in the unlikely event that such a possibility could arise the whole point of what I'm trying to argue in in in this book is that of course we can use artificial intelligence as a research tool. It is quite extraordinary what it can do. But when it comes to actually constructing an argument and writing the piece itself, I'm very insistent that the writer uh must craft the article themselves.

SPEAKER_03 9:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:45

Building it block by block, argument by argument, idea by idea, sentence by sentence, embellishing it with style. Because I think that writing is writing is a primary means by which we can clarify what it is that we want to say. And if we if we handle over that that aspect of writing to a machine, then we're no longer writers, we we're overseeing something. We're reduced to editors.

SPEAKER_04 10:15

Okay. Well, I think I understand, yeah. Anyway, there's gonna be a morning this month, August, on the fifth Saturday the fifteenth, I think it is, we're gonna have a conversation, the two of us, in the octagon at church. That's right. And remind me, what's what's what have we called that morning? Something about AI and the Christian faith, perhaps?

SPEAKER_01 10:33

Yes, I think uh I think it's just called uh uh AI and the writer, but it's it's my book is not I should say that my book is not a specifically Christian work. It's it's kind of defending uh I would describe it as a kind of a humanist defence of the art and the craft of writing. But we are going to be looking at uh uh setting the mainstreaming of artificial intelligence within a Christian context.

SPEAKER_04 11:02

Yeah, yeah. Well, sounds good because I think the new pope produced a document quite recently, didn't he? About all of this. So I we'll touch on that. But yeah I am. Wonderful. So Justin, have you been have you been a writer for a for a long time?

SPEAKER_01 11:18

Well, on and off for the last showing my age now for the last thirty years.

SPEAKER_03 11:23

Yeah, brilliant.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

When I I've always loved language and really at university I it was I really learnt how to attempt to think rigorously and use language in a clearly and that skill has been very useful for the various jobs I've had. I've returned to writing as my primary profession in the last five to ten years or so.

SPEAKER_04 11:51

Brilliant. Yeah. And 'cause you've been in Norwich now for a a few years, haven't you? I think you were in London before then, perhaps?

SPEAKER_01 11:57

Yes, that's right. I I I worked in London for a few years and moved to Norwich nearly three years ago now. Yeah, brilliant.

SPEAKER_04 12:06

Well, it's a good place, Norwich. I mean I I wasn't born and bred here, but um I've kind of adopted it as home and uh so it's a good place.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

So I'm coming home really is I'm from East Anglia, so this is uh a very late return home.

SPEAKER_04 12:20

Fantastic, fantastic. Good. Well, it's wonderful that when you did come to Norwich three years ago, with Julie of course, um you both came and joined St. Peter Mancroft Church, and it's always lovely to see you on a Sunday morning and you're you're involved in many ways. But I'm very excited about this discussion morning. Of course, I think it was last year you we did a similar thing with a book of some poems that you'd written.

SPEAKER_01 12:45

Yes, that's right. Yes, you very kindly asked me to when I mentioned it in passing, right? You very kindly asked uh if we could uh have a discussion morning. Um that was a a rather different Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 12:59

Yes, yes, but then that was actually some poems you'd written.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Yes, that was a collection of um poems really inspired by East Anglia, just the landscape here and the history and you know, the the ancient presence of of Christianity in in in in in Norfolk and Suffolk. So uh yes, so this book is uh th this this this this this new event is a success successor to that. Yeah, different subject.

SPEAKER_04 13:30

It's wonderful. Well, as I say, I'm very much looking forward to it, and thank you, Justin, for um agreeing to to do that morning. And it's been lovely to to chat now.

SPEAKER_01 13:40

Yes, sir.

SPEAKER_04 13:41

Thank you ever so much.

SPEAKER_01 13:42

Thank you very much, Edward. A pleasure.

SPEAKER_02 13:45

Oh, that

Tool Or Threat A Terminator Question

SPEAKER_02 13:46

was interesting. I thought I might perhaps go to that talk, although I might be welcoming that day, but if I'm not I might go along because I've had my doubts about uh AI, but that if you're talking about writing, well it was talking about writing at the time which is not too invasive and it's not affecting us and going to take over humanity. You see, the trouble is I've seen too many Terminator films. Oh wow, you're a fan of Terminator AET Fantastic, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

I'm trying to remember if I've seen those films, but I love um science fiction and you know futuristic stuff.

SPEAKER_02 14:17

Well, Skynet and AI taking over, you know, robots and oh it's frightening really.

SPEAKER_03 14:21

Yeah, well, yes, I suppose. Do you think it really is?

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Well, yes, the robot thing is getting stronger and stronger and they're doing all sorts of things with them.

SPEAKER_04 14:30

Have you got robots here in the house?

SPEAKER_02 14:32

No, I haven't.

SPEAKER_04 14:35

Yes. Well, I'm interested in AI. It's either, it seems to me, it's a very powerful tool. A bit like well, a bit like well, not not really like we used to scrabble around with our hands to plant potatoes, and then someone invented the plough and the you know the other agricultural machinery. Of course, people who used to weave in their houses were very felt very threatened by modern machinery, big big factories.

SPEAKER_05 14:58

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 14:59

So in that sense, maybe AI is just a a kind of new tool which will affect things, yeah, will affect people, um, and some jobs quite a lot, but nonetheless is just a handy tool that will help us help us do things better. Or your terminator scenario. Have someone to come and destroy Skynet.

SPEAKER_03 15:18

Ah, yeah, that's right, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 15:19

Um and they'll somehow, you know, this is something new and different and um AI will take over the world. Exactly. Exactly. And I don't really know. Perhaps perhaps we won't know.

SPEAKER_02 15:29

We shall say, well, it's it's a long time ahead, I think.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Yeah, probably. Well, things are changing quickly, aren't they?

SPEAKER_02 15:35

That's very true. Technology goes leaps and bounds.

SPEAKER_04 15:38

Exactly, yeah. I mean I can remember probably more than five years ago now, there was an interesting website where you could ask it to compose music for you.

SPEAKER_03 15:46

Oh.

SPEAKER_04 15:46

And it wasn't very good, but it made sort of background music. Yeah. And I thought, oh well that's a shame it's not better really. And then probably a year or two ago, someone pointed me in the direction of another music making website, and it was amazing. You could type in words and it would basically produce a song of someone singing those words and proper music. And and that was more than a year ago now, so I expect now it's even better. Yeah. Yeah, so you do worry particularly about the creative arts and design. And I know translators are particularly worried, and um and maybe writers. Yeah. Well, we'll have to see. But I I I promise I won't pre use AI to to um preach a sermon. Definitely not. I'm sure everyone would notice straight away. It'd be very it'd be very bland and boring, yeah. Yeah. Well, some people think that um in in August the church gets very quiet, you know, nothing much happening. But actually look well, in some ways it's quiet. The choirs on holiday, something's quiet and down, but but we have a huge number of visitors all through the summer. And I met a lovely American man actually the other day. So um I'm gonna play the clip that I made with him now. Well, I'm

An American Choir Visitor And Bells

SPEAKER_04 16:55

here at the church, a busy Saturday, noises in the city, and someone visiting, I think, from America. Lovely to see you today. What what's brought you to the church today?

SPEAKER_00 17:04

We come to the church, and I'm part of a group that is privileged to be singing at the cathedral this week in our choir. And as part of that that journey, wanting to explore the rich liturgical tradition around Norwich and seeing the church here.

SPEAKER_04 17:22

Fantastic. Well, the cathedral is a great place, lovely place to sing. I was ordained there as a priest, in fact, so it's a great place. But but what have you enjoyed about St. Peter Mancroft today?

SPEAKER_00 17:30

What I really enjoyed is being welcomed to listen to the ringers in the bell tower. Uh that's a tradition we really don't have much of in the US. It's much the less common. And to see that an active part of liturgy and part of the church's life here.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

Great to chat today.

SPEAKER_00 17:50

Thank you. Great to chat with you.

SPEAKER_02 17:53

I was actually at the church when you were talking to that American gentleman. I actually I spoke to him before. I didn't know what he was here for. I just sort of said hello and etc. Just the usual welcome. I didn't realise until you started talking about the choir.

SPEAKER_04 18:07

Yes, he's a lovely chap. Um that does happen. Um quiet people who are in choirs, church choirs in particular, um, if they're a good choir.

SPEAKER_03 18:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 18:15

Um they they go on a sort of summer holiday or a tour and go and sing, usually in a cathedral. Sometimes at Mancroft we do have visiting choirs in the summer.

SPEAKER_02 18:24

Oh, I know we do.

SPEAKER_04 18:25

That's right. I don't think there are any this year, this summer. But it's a lovely thing to do because you know it's a combined holiday and doing something you all love as a group.

SPEAKER_03 18:34

Of course.

SPEAKER_04 18:35

So yeah, I'm sure his choir was amazing and um had a good time at the cathedral. Yeah. Yeah, goodness

Patron Saint Of Robots And A Goodbye

SPEAKER_04 18:41

me. Well, have you had anyone ask you who was St. Peter Mancroft recently? No, I haven't. No, not recently. I I've had people say uh, you know, who wondering who who he was, and I I've just I'm afraid I just sort of say, well, there were lots of St. Peter churches in in Norwich.

SPEAKER_03 18:55

Oh yes, I believe I heard you say that. Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_04 18:57

And it's it was about knowing which one, the Mancroft one. But I do like the idea that there was a St. Peter Mancroft still, and being pe patron saint of something interesting. I wonder what what we could think of.

SPEAKER_03 19:08

I mean robots Well, yes.

SPEAKER_04 19:12

Do you think have robots got a patron saint? I doubt it. They should have one though, probably, shouldn't they?

SPEAKER_03 19:18

Of course.

SPEAKER_04 19:18

Well, I mean if they're going to be running the world, they'll obviously need a patron saint. That's a point. That is a point.

SPEAKER_03 19:22

Yes.

SPEAKER_04 19:23

Okay, well, St. Peter Mancroft is as good as any other saint, so uh what can we what can we think for him? St. Peter Mancroft, patron saint of robots or and uh maybe patron saint of artificial intelligence. Gosh. Maybe that might be rather unpopular with some people.

SPEAKER_03 19:39

Well, ah, that's true.

SPEAKER_04 19:40

Maybe is uh like Terminator films, do they have patron saints in them? You're an expert on these things.

SPEAKER_02 19:49

I love Earth.

SPEAKER_04 19:50

Yeah, yeah. Well, I think patron saint of robots. How about that? Yeah. He's collecting quite a few things, isn't he? St. Peter Mancroft. He'd be patron saint of almost anything you could think of. But I yeah, yeah. I think patron saint of robots. Yeah, definitely. Well tell tell all your house robots and they'll be delighted, I'm sure.

SPEAKER_02 20:11

We'll do.

SPEAKER_04 20:14

Well, Judy, as always, it's been lovely to catch up. Um it will be nice when um when it's not quite so hot and we get a bit of rain, but um anyway, August is a lovely month. Much to be enjoyed. Um thank you all for for joining us as well. And um, we hope we'll see you again in September when we chat again in September.