Two Tamworths

I spent time at Tamworth, New South Wales this week. As well as some association with the name of Sir Robert Peel which it shares with its Staffordshire namesake, it also has another notable common cause: both are their respective nation’s fattest towns. Aussie Tamworth’s population is 61% obese (Daily Mail, 2020) whereas Staffy Tamworth has 30% (ITV, 2013). The latter figures are clearly a bit old, and Copeland in Cumbria may well have wrested the crown from Tamworth’s podgy head. Definitions of obesity may also differ between the countries, so the curiously shared accolade is remarkable but not likely significant.

Fatness is an interesting study in scripture, for it describes the goodness of creation’s bounty as well as pride and indulgence. For millennia, people died of being too thin; now, we are told, it is for being too fat. Whatever our physical state, whatever our girth, may we use our bodies on earth for His glory. The Tamworth Pig, above, is an endangered breed, just like some of the folk in the Tamworth towns. Whether we are large or skinny, tall or short, our days are numbered and we are bound to die of something. Let us therefore live for Him, whatever our shape or span.

I shall offer to You burnt offerings of fat beasts,

With the smoke of rams;

I shall make an offering of bulls with male goats. Selah. Psalm 66:15

Image by Petefromstaffs from Pixabay