A Proud Moment

We got a phone call one day. "I've finally finished my dissertation" Richard said.

"My tutors have marked it too", he continued. "I got a distinction!"

He had been doing a theology masters for some time and it was his responsibility to write up his thesis to get his final mark, now he had completed it. He had been marked with a merit overall and so was eligible for graduation.

Richard invited us to the graduation ceremony so we went for the weekend to Manchester. Richard wanted to make it a real celebration. We were able to get a reasonable priced train ticket, and the train journey was only two hours. This was very quick!

Later that afternoon there was a communion service in the college chapel and although it was not compulsory to go, Richard had the task of the first reading. We were panicking because we thought we were late. Richard dived out the car into the service leaving Fiona to lock the car up. It turned out the he had arrived just in time and that the leader of the service had not noticed he had been late.

That evening the college had put on a graduation meal. Andrea and I had made sure we bought our best outfits to wear. Sarah-Jane had really helped Andrea to choose the appropriate clothes; she has been a real blessing.

The meal was quite nice and was laid out really well. Previously I would have felt intimidated by events like this, but God has been working in me to know who I am in Christ. After the meal a talk was given, I was expecting a stuffy posh talk but it was friendly and full of laughter.

I was so impressed by the tutors and professors of Richard's college; they all seemed very friendly and approachable. This was a theology college and all seemed to have a real passion for Jesus.

The following day there was the graduation proper so in the morning Richard felt he needed a haircut. He suggested we go look at an antique emporium about 20 metres up the road. It was in an old local town hall.

We went in and it was a real adventure of discovery. Every room or wall was choc full of stuff; different rooms had different traders, some with furniture, some with knick-knacks and jewellery and some with ex-army or war memorabilia. We wanted to spend ages in there. Andrea caught sight of some lovely ceramic tiles and I was interested in the Second World War uniforms that were on display.

We were mindful of Richard wondering where we were if he had finished his haircut. But as we returned to the barbers he was still in the barbers chair receiving finishing touches to quite a short hair cut. We joked with him and the barber joined in. He told us he knew London fairly well as he visited his brother quite often. It always surprises me how many people know of have visited Bermondsey. When we talk to people it's nice to have something in common with them have experienced where we live.

When we returned to the house Fiona's parents had arrived and were being shown round. They had not seen the new house before so this was a real treat for them. They didn’t have a lot of time because the ceremony was later that afternoon. We all hurriedly got changed and rushed to the university. We were in good time when we arrived.

As I entered the main hall where the ceremony was held I looked up and saw the very ornate wooden ceiling. The hall was large with many my people milling around looking for their seat.

After hymns and a few prayers it was time for the ceremony. Names where read out and people mounted the stage to much applause. Richards turn came and he looked so chuffed to get this. I was trying frantically to take a photo but when I looked afterwards it was all blurry.

After the ceremony we were able to take photos of him in his gown and met all his tutors. They complimented him for his "good head on his shoulders" I felt honoured.

In the evening we booked a family meal for all of us. It was most enjoyable.

View over London

At the beginning of October I wasn't feeling that great with my blood sugars being all over the place, so I phoned in sick from work. I stayed in bed and slept for a while. I got up about 10:30 still bleary eyed.

Sarah-Jane came round and on coming in burst into tears on Andreas shoulder. She had been experiencing some work place bullying recently and just felt the need to cry.

After calming down a little she suggested we visit Hampstead Heath. I wasn't sure I was up to it; I felt washed out. Still, the idea sounded quite good.

When we arrived at the West Hampsted tube station I was interested to see they hadn't really changed its decor and lay out. It still has the old ticket offices and tiling edges it had always had.

Those who know me, know that I am a bit of a gadget freak and I always want to take my gadgets with me. The trouble is, when I am feeling unwell I get a bit impatient with them. So this day was not a good day for my personal little computer to start messing about. I wanted to download some maps and be able to see where we were going, using it to make sure we wouldn't get lost. At first it did not work! I fiddled, pushed, shoved, shouted and cajoled it to work and eventually it did get working.

As we reached the top of the hill we saw a kite flier. I didn’t think there was much wind but it was a huge kite and he seemed to be struggling with it. It was one of those 2 handed stunt kites that you might see on the BBC mini films between programmes.

The view across London was spectacular. Many times I had seen on TV different people using the benches at the top of the hill to sit at and show a view of London. Now I have seen and used that very same bench.

So we headed down the hill on the other side toward the lake. SJ and Andrea described to me how they had been here before but had got lost. There were two sets of lakes and got confused which one they were at. I could see what they meant. The heath seemed daunting with so much to explore.

We got to the lakes and saw for the first time how large they were. While we were at the top of the hill their true size were obscured by trees. There were pathways around each lake and as we walked between two of the lakes we were surprised to see someone swimming. This gentleman was swimming amongst ducks and swans! It turned out it was permitted, for we saw across the lake, huts for changing and steps into the water. Back and forth he went. His friend was looking on from the side. The weather wasn’t cold but I am not sure if I would have taken the plunge myself.

We walked around the lakes and tried to return where we had entered the heath. I chose what I thought was the right path only to find we in completely the wrong place. We had to re-check and eventually. There was a short walk through streets back to the station.

Along the way there were some girls in pink outfits walking home with their mothers. We thought they might have been been at a party but as walked on further we saw they were from a dance class. the pink looked lovely against the grey of the streets.

Landlubbers

Landlubbers Club

Each year in the East End of London two churches get together to do a holiday club for mainly Bangladeshi kids. My church- Church for The City and an Anglican church called Christchurch Spitalfields chooses a different theme each year and chose this year to have a pirate theme after the recent release of “Pirates of the Caribbean” third film.

We have had themes in the past that have included Grand Prix Winners, Seaside Rock, and an Egyptian Pyramid theme.

I have developed into “Mr Fixit” over the years I’ve been doing the club. I find out what theme the club is and seek to get equipment and props to enhance the week.

This year was a bit of a challenge. I scoured the Internet, particularly EBay and found several sellers offering Piratie stuff. I could have gone overboard (forgive the pun) and ordered quite a lot. But we limited ourselves to just a few items in the expectation of people coming up with their own things.

Each year I buy t-shirts and place iron on logos on them. This year I was able to get long-sleeved t-shirts for only a pound each.-Bargain eh?

Last year the theme was Grand Prix Winners. I found another church had done it the previous year. They still had some F1 papier-mâché cars we could use. This year’s theme, however, was new so no one had done it before. The equipment and props I was able to get I was able to pass on to another church, from Sussex, who was doing the club the following week. They were most grateful for what we were able to pass on.

The leader of the whole event is Alice. She has a real vision for doing this kind of thing.

Christ Church has some land near a park on which they had erected a marquee. In the past, and certainly this year, there had been a problem with security. For the first time the youths had sought to set the marquee alight! When I arrived on the first day ready to get started there were several burn marks where they had used a lighter to scorch the canvas. This was a worrying development. Some of the team were crying, worried we would not have tent to do the club in. The best thing to do was to pray. Praise God, we had no further problems of that kind after that!

Each day was started with setup. we all turned up about 11 and set up the wooden tables. These would be used for each team to gather round.

As it was a pirate theme we decided to name the teams after jewels, Red Rubies, Blue Sapphires and Green Emeralds are just a few examples. My team was the black Jets. Jet, if you were wondering, is a semi precious stone from fossilised wood.

We first made sure the kids were registered and had permission from their parents. And the put them into teams. The had coloured material based on their team colour. The boys tended the make them into ninja bands around their heads. The girls wore them like sashes. I wore my black material like a pirate bandanna.

Each day we did craft with the kids. Making badges or creating a poster or a making a treasure chest with jewels to stick on. For one day we were going to get the kids to make a model lighthouse. The more we thought about it though, we decided it was a bit too ambitious. They seemed to really enjoy each craft we set them to do. They got really stuck in (another bad pun!).

"On the beach!" was the cry from the Captain. So everyone sat on the mats in the middle of the of the tent. The captain was local rector Andy. He is normally not that exuberant but really got into the part. He made silly comments that children always seem to enjoy, especially about the stuffed toy parrot I was able to get hold of.

Songs were sung. We learned the Pirate Song.

It went like this.

We’re pirates from the open sea, landed on the shore.
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!

Trying to reclaim the treasure that’s in store
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!

Chorus
And we’re keeping going, on towards the prize.
And we’re keeping going, never take our eyes
Off the treasure, ah-oooh! The treasure, ah-oooh!
We’re pirates from the open sea, Jesus is our guide.
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!
Means more to us than anything, he came to earth and died.
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!
We’re pirates from the open sea, here we go, wahey!
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!
Jesus is our everything, we’ll listen and obey.
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!
We’re pirates from the open sea, we have learnt to pray.
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!
Talking about everything, to Jesus every day.
Ah-oooh! Ah-oooh!

The Landlubbers Song
Words and music: Ruth Wills © Scripture Union 2004

Then came the games, We thank God that each day the rain held off enough for us to play games outside of the tent. Games like coca cola challenge, skittle ball and many others. Inside we had a game to learn a memory verse. Bursting a balloon to retrieve a word was one of their favourite.

After refreshments and a couple of songs there came the Bible story.

The highlight story from the week was the delivery from demons of a slave girl that the apostle Paul helped. All the adult helpers volunteered to mime it out while Alison told the story. Alison tells a very good story and everyone got well into their various parts. The evil slave master was booed enthusiastically and a guy called Will really played the apostle Paul well by showing his frustration at this slave girl following him about shouting out whilst being demon possessed. Although it was funny and everyone was laughing very hard the power of the story and how Jesus delivers us from evil really came across. You can read the story in Acts 16.

After the story we sat the Kids down and had a discussion with them. The kids tended to be a bit shy. I am not sure they were used to one to one conversation. Some of them did ask for prayer though. We were thrilled to oblige.

On the last night we were able to give all that we had used to another church in Sussex as they were going to have the same club the following week. It sound like the too had a great time being pirates.

A camping trip to hear the voice of God.

Each year New Frontiers Family of churches, of which our church is part of, have a leadership conference in the city of Brighton. About 5000 delegates come to hear inspirational speakers like Terry Virgo, Dave Devanish, Rob Rufus, and Steve Van Rin. Normally I would not have gone, but this year I felt I should go as God said he wanted to speak to me.

Accommodation was a problem. I could have stayed in an hotel as many others had, but I'm a hardy sort and thought I could save money and sleep in a tent.

I have accumulated several tents over the years, but by now they are getting a bit old. Decathlon (my local sports superstore) was having a sale and had on offer a 2 man "through up" tent. This saves a lot of time when it comes to erecting the tent as all the poles are part of the tent and just springs into shape when thrown into the air. The makers advertise it to only take 2 seconds.

Using the Internet I found a nice little camp site near a village about 12 kilometres from Brighton. There was a railway station and it had lovely views of the South Down hills.

Because there was a railway station, I was going to catch the train and walk from the station to the camp site. However, this became a less practical option with the amount of equipment that I wanted to take. So, packing the car with the new tent and the cooker, the gas and all the other equipment, I headed off to Hassocks.

After a very slow and frustrating journey I eventually got to the camp site about two and a half hours later. This should have only taken one and a half hours according to my GPS but took nearly double that.

Unfortunately there was no one on the reception to tell me where to pitch so I picked a spot that I thought was suitable - a place that was flat and not to close to anyone else (I did not want to afflict them with my snoring!). Later I was to find out that I had been allocated a pitch, and the plan of where I should have gone was on the office door all along.

Although I had seen a display model of my nice new tent in the shop, I was not quite sure how it would go. I peeled the off the cover and the retaining strap and through it in the air. Ping! There it was, a fully erected tent before my eyes! I had to peg it down and peg out the guys but essentially it was up immediately. Two girls where watching from across the field with great interest.

There was another tent not far away. It seemed they were going the same conference I was. When I passed by whilst carrying my stuff from the car I overheard their conversation and so I introduced myself. They were most welcoming and invited me to sit down. I had quite a lot to finish off with my tent so I said I would be back in a moment.

When I finally got things sorted with my stuff and pumped up the air bed I went over to see them. There were four young lads:,Niku, Andy, Simon and Chris. They told me they and intended to catch a train each day.

"That was just what I want to do", I said.

"You can come in our car to the station when we go in the morning" Chris said. This, I felt was a real answer to prayer.

Although the village had a station, it was still quite a way from the camp site. I was not looking forward to the 20 minute walk. I could have done it but it would have meant I would have had to get up extra early to walk to the station to get the train into Brighton.

The scenery of the camp site was spectacular. The South down hills dominated. I had a good view and sat eating my tea admiring the view.

After tea I took a long walk across the fields and prayed. I felt I really had connected to God and that we were enjoying one anther's company. I was grateful, it was only the work of Christ on the cross and Him opening a way that aloud me to commune with God in the first place.

The next morning I was up and at 'em, bright and early. I didn't want to be accused of holding the guys back as they had kindly offered me a lift. Having had my breakfast I got ready to go and sat with them while they made sandwiches. Oh to be young again and be able to eat salty crisps and have strange fillings in sandwiches! I watched with amusement but said nothing.

We caught the train to Brighton wanting to be in good time for registration. It had been quite a long time since I had been to Brighton so the walk from the station to the conference centre was interesting.

I used to live in Brighton when I was 10 years old, so this was like a trip back in time. Forty years is an awful long time though, and as is the nature of things, everything had changed. I did not recognize anything. I was doing my best to remember but nothing seemed familiar. Presumably all the shops had changed and as I was only a 10 year old boy then, I didn't take a lot of notice of my surroundings. Later on I visited where I had lived and the school I had gone to.

Coming closer to the conference centre I was surprised at the number of people that had gathered to queue to get in to register. We were all heading for the same place so there was air of excitement.

There were quite a few faces I recognized from over the years of going to various Christian events; I nodded and said hello.

I had lost my camping companions; they had gone off and done their youth thing, so I was left alone. That was OK, I was excited at the prospect of getting into a meeting and hearing what God wanted to say to me. Normally I would gravitate to being with people but, certainly for the start of the week, it was best I was alone with God amongst a big crowd.

It was going to be a busy time with only small gaps between main sessions or seminars. I had to be wise with my time and using the breaks effectively.

The meetings started with worship. The main meeting hall was able to accommodate four and a half thousand people! That number of people certainly generates a lot of volume. It was great and I really felt carried away by the singing.

Then came the preaching; this was given by various speakers. One was a guy called Rob Rufus who spoke on God's Holy Spirit.

It reminded of the time back in 1974 when God met me in a very special way.

I had been visiting my then landlady's son just down the road. It was getting late so I left the house and made my way in the direction of home.

Almost immediately I heard an audible voice saying "turn around".

I chatted back my agreement. "Right oh LORD", I said. "It would be nice to take the long way round on to country roads"

So off I headed for a nice pleasant walk on a lovely crisp clear night on to country roads.

Leaving the town and entering the countryside I rounded a bend. Suddenly I felt something amazing. I felt a love from God I'd never felt before. The full moon seemed to be on fire. In response I cried out. "I love you Lord!"

I didn't know what to do. I started to laugh. I wanted to cry. My legs started to buckle from under me so I fell in a ditch. I got out still laughing and crying. I fell on my knees. I was so grateful.

And so it went on. I had lost all track of time, but I think it lasted about an hour. I was dishevelled but full of joy. God had changed me; I had gained a new love for Jesus and wanted to have Him number one in my life.

Having Jesus number one in my life and having Him use me was what most of the speakers were saying. I felt challenged again that I should tap into His power that he had supplied all those years ago.

Rob Rufus went on to say how God is committed to seeing Jesus made known to everyone, and that He wanted to use us and has given us the power to get the job done. After all Jesus healed, the disciples healed and He has promised to use us in healing and miracles to bring glory to the Name of Jesus.

I had gone expecting for God to speak to me, and that is what He did.

A trip to the past.

As I said earlier I used to live in Brighton when I was about 10 years old. I wanted to go and see the houses I had lived at some 40 years earlier. It was such a long time ago that I wasn't sure where in Brighton they would be. Fortunately the houses where in one street and were quite easy to find. I got to the first one and thought to take a photo. I am always worried what people think when you hang around a house, so I knocked on the door. The person who answered was very welcoming and invited me in to see what might have changed.

The second house the person said I could take a photo but did not invite me in.

I remembered that I had gone to school just around the corner and how I had bought sweets from the shop opposite the school. I took a short walk and there the school was, just as I remember. And so was the shop on the corner. It is a TV aerial shop now, but it still looked basically the same.

The conference only had a couple of days left and I was able to join my friends sitting with them in the meetings and having meals with them. One of the times we were discussing the meetings and what they meant to each of us. I got to tell of how God had challenged me. Suddenly I found myself crying for the people who did not know Jesus back in East London. I knew God loved these people and I seemed to feel God's heart for them. I was a bit embarrassed but my friends seemed to understand.

And so it was the end of the conference, time to get back to London and put in to practice what God was saying.

After the last morning session, I had lunch with my friends, Nat and Cynth at Brighton Station. I took the train back to the camp site and packed up; and so to home.

A Trip to France

Each year we like to visit France for our main holiday in June. Here is what happened this year.

We got up on the Saturday morning nice and early; we had a flight to catch. The flight wasn't too early but it was our first time flying for a holiday and we were unsure of the procedure and so wanted to be there in good time for check in and security.

Come Fly with me

We had several different ways of getting to the airport like going by train or taxi. But, in the end, I decided to drive. This gave us a bit of independence. And as I was able to get a reasonable priced parking space for the week it was the best option.

We were limited with our baggage so had to be really careful not to go over the weight limit specified. The airline, although offering cheap flights, had a very strict policy and if you went over the weight limit they would charge you extra for each kilo excess. This was a worry but, as ever, we need not have worried; all was fine when we checked in.

When we parked there was a bus from the car park to the terminal. This seemed a long way from where we parked. The bus - a long Bendy Bus went all around going to all the different areas where people had parked.

Andrea was anxious. It was not helped by a lot of waiting around. But, after we had got through to "flight side", we made the best of it by buying breakfast of coffee and croissants.

We went through to another area where we could see the planes, there was still more waiting. While we where waiting there where quite a lot of people milling around with the same outfits on. Different groups with different outfits on. These, I found out, were cheerleaders going to a European competition in Denmark.

We had a call to go on board and were glad to have got some reasonable seats. People say in the budget airlines that there is not much leg room, but as far as we were concerned it was OK.

The flight was mostly uneventful. The stewards gave the usual safety talk. From time to time they would try and get you to buy things like duty free or food and drink. I, in the end, went for a little bit of pizza. It took ages to arrive but when it did it was piping hot.

I hadn't noticed that my hearing seemed to have diminished. This, I found out, is due to the pressure change in the aircraft. It helped if you swallowed but not completely. Andrea and Sarah-Jane had it worse though, they felt their ears hurting. It was especially bad, she told me, when we were descending. I am glad to say I didn't feel that but I did notice my nasal passages hurting a bit. As we hadn't experienced this kind of thing before so I tried to ask a steward. She surprisingly said "Sorry, what did you say? I can't hear you!" She was experiencing the same thing! I knew then there was nothing to be done but to put up with it.

We landed with a slight bump and slowly came to a stop. Everyone was clamouring to leave the aircraft, but I couldn't see the point of that. We were on holiday after all, so I took my time.

Perpignan airport wasn't very big with only a small terminal building. This was very different from the bustling airport of Stansted that we had left only two hours before. Two hours! It was a quick journey all things considered. When I was booking the holiday I was investigating the idea of going by train, this was expensive and we would have had to be on the train for over thirteen hours; flying was definitely the best option.

After retrieving our bags I went to the point where I was to sign for and collect the hire car. I was a bit nervous about driving on the right side of the road. Sarah-Jane was keen to help and do some driving herself, but, unfortunately, they would not allow her as she was under twenty five. So it was left to me. As a contingency plan Andrea signed as well but she said she was not going to drive unless there was a genuine emergency. So there it was a nice, fairly new and not too badly sized French car. I set up my navigation system and off we went. I was glad of it. When we were in France before, a couple of years ago, I got completely lost without it.

The trouble with driving on a different side of the road to the one you are used to, is you don't know where to look. The mirror is in the wrong place! The gear stick is in the wrong place! I took things slowly at first. Eventually, after a couple of days, I got used to it a bit more.

We arrived at the campsite. We had booked a caravan to stay in for the week and the rep cycled to show us where it was. I am glad to say it was very good, very clean, so much so, I actually thought it was new to us. I expressed this later to the reps and they were flattered I had thought they had done such a good job in preparation of our arrival.

Mediterranean dreaming

We couldn't wait to see the sea! So we left our bags half unpacked and headed off. As the campsite was next to the sea it was only a short walk across the site to the beach. The weather was pleasantly warm. There it was, the sea, lovely and blue. Although we could tell this would be a busy site in the height of summer, at his time of year there was hardly anyone about. Mostly what we saw that evening was two horses being ridden along the beach, a helicopter doing what looked like rescue practice, and two micro light aircraft fliers.

The sand was golden and Sarah-Jane was the first to run and dip her toe in to the sea. Andrea was busying herself taking lots of photographs. "Imagine", I said, "This sand may have come from volcanic eruptions like Vesuvius" (this is the volcano that had destroyed Pompeii). I think that was a bit lost on Sarah-Jane who really was only interested in enjoying the moment. The mountains, which were a backdrop to the beach, looked lovely in the late afternoon light. The air was still, and by now the helicopter had flown off having done what it had sort to do; all you could hear was the waves lapping the shore.

"Time to get back to the caravan and unpack", I said. The afternoon light was fading and we had jobs to do.

After unpacking we had a meal in the local campsite restaurant. This was quite a posh restaurant we discovered; on the menu were mussels and other specialty things like that.

Our main reason for going to this part of France was the hope in seeing some birds we had never seen before. The local or normal birds were very different to what we were used to. Nightingales sang, spotless starlings rummaged in the grass, and Hoopoes loafed about. We went to a few different places to see other birds and were not disappointed with what we saw. We felt very privileged to be able to catch a glimpse of them all.

The highlight of the week, for me anyway, was our visit too Spain. The border was very near to where we had camped and we wanted to visit the artist Salvador Dali's house. He very much adopted the town of Cadaques that was just across the border. We set off early and took a winding route along the coast past the now dilapidated border point and into Spain. We got to the house after a bit of a trudge through the town. We had parked in a car park in the edge of town and did not realise we had to up and over a hill to reach a little harbour that the artist had settled in. On the way we spoke to workmen laying new paving slabs. They were very friendly and jabbered their answer in French. With much patience and many gestures from them I finally gathered the direction I should take. Going down a steep hill that I found difficult to believe any vehicle could ever use; we found a tranquil bay with many fishing boats gently bobbing on the water.

The house seemed to be the only house there. We found out it hadn’t started that way. Over time Salvador Dali had bought up the various houses in the bay as he got richer and more and more eccentric.

We were taken round to the various rooms all filled with amazing things. One had a ceramic snail and in another a life sized stuffed bear. In his studio there was even an original piece of half completed art still there. I have always been a fan of his and have always enjoyed his work. He belonged to the Surrealist art movement and so some found his paintings and sculptures strange and difficult. This was not so for me. I am an emotional sort of guy and suppose that because he painted emotionally his art spoke to me.

We returned home via the same wiggly winding route. This was unintentional but it did give us a chance to see the fantastic coastal scenery again.

Normally, Andrea and I are not what you would call “Beach Bums”, but we decided as we had such a lovely beach and lovely sea we would spend Thursday on the beach. We walked from the campsite and found a nice spot. The sun was strong but it wasn’t too hot. I had brought a sun parasol that was supplied buy the holiday company. It turned out to be a prudent idea as the beach offered no protection from the sun. After swimming in the sea with Sarah-Jane I settled down to have a bit of a sleep. I started with the shadow of the parasol protecting me, but I had not allowed for the fact that the sun would move and so after a while I was well asleep in the full glare of the sun. I woke up feeling quite hot and unfortunately, quite badly sun burned. It took two days for the sunburn to diminish; I was very red and very sore.

On one evening we found in the local resort had a fantastic market of crafts and gifts. Andrea and I were surprised to find out we had plenty of time to look around as it would not close until 12 midnight.

By now the holiday was fast coming to an end. We had had such a great time and, as always seems to be the way, the week definitely seemed never to be long enough. We cleaned the caravan on Friday evening and got ready for our trip home the next day.

All was packed and so off we went to catch the flight.

The return flight seemed better than the one coming. Andrea did experience so much the problems with her ears. I was able to get a window seat and spent a lot of the time watch the clouds.

Nearing the end of the flight and when we started to descend, I was delighted to see some of the recognisable parts of London. The first thing I recognised was Wimbledon. Not long after there was Tower Bridge! The shape of the River Thames could clearly be seen as well. This showed we were not far from landing.

Having landed we caught the bus that took us to the place we had parked a week before. I had not realised how far the car was.

I had done all the driving whilst in France so I asked Andrea to drive home. I sat in the back and read the paper. Because of this I did not notice how Andrea was having to deal with very heavy rain and thunder and lightning. She told me later that she was compelled to drive at a crawl some of the time. God is always faithful and all was well and we all got home safely.

So there we were our holiday to France.

Ten years Party

On Sunday 3^rd June we had a 10 year celebration of Kids Club. Alison had the idea and wanted to invite everyone who had ever come to Kids Club whether leaders or child. It was a lot of hard work, but well worthwhile.

We had a bouncy castle and various stalls. We had free Ice Cream and gave everyone free curry!

Nearly 180 came along! It was great to see all the old faces.

About every half hour someone was nominated to be splatted. This involved a leader standing and waiting for a water-filled sponge to be thrown at them. Alison made sure she had a black bag around her to protect her, but I and everyone else were “macho” and did not use any protection at all.

Mike (our pastor) spoke and shared about how life only finds an answer when we have Jesus.

We ended around 4:30 and everyone eventually drifted away by 5pm.

I was not looking forward to packing the bouncy castle away. It had been difficult enough to get it there in the first place. I had been told by my daughter of an opportunity to get a less expensive bouncy castle. We'd always planned to have one but we were getting very expensive quotes. When we picked it up I was told it needed at least four people to move it. I got to the place to get it and Kieren was waiting for me. I had asked my friend Dez to help me to come along to get it in the van I had borrowed. It didn't look that big and after all the scare stories I was surprised to see Kieren waiting there a all on his own. So having pushed and shoved we eventually got it in the van.

Dropping it off at the school was a bit easier, though it was only Dez and I that was left to do it; Kieren had to go elsewhere.

So, packing it up was not a welcome prospect. One of the main difficulties was getting all the air out. I rolled on it and it bulged in all the wrong places. Eventually with help we got it rolled up.

We had the use of a trolley, but, even with that the job was difficult. I had to ask more friends to help. I did not have a van so a roofer friend from church offered his and an ex soldier was willing to help as well. They pushed and shoved. They were working so hard it left for a time with nothing to do.

We took it to where we had got it from and dropped it off. Phew what hard work that was.

2006 An Eventful Year

It all started last November 2005 when I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I had been experiencing all the symptoms associated with diabetes – thirstiness, going to the toilet a lot and even some weight loss. I chose to ignore these symptoms for a while not willing for it to interfere with my then lifestyle. I started to get some back pain, which I had put down to bad posture at my work. My work, at the Tower Hamlet’s Town Hall, involves long periods of sitting in a, not always comfortable, chair answering calls talking about Council Tax.

Anyway, where was I? Ah yes back pain! So I went to the doctor who gave me some painkillers. After a while I returned to the doctor still in pain so she gave me a urine test. When she saw the results she nearly hit the roof and told me I was in quite a bit of trouble and promptly gave me an emergency blood test at the hospital. This confirmed her fears: My blood sugar levels and cholesterol were very high and if I had left them unchecked I was in serious danger of dying. Things had to change and the doctor put me straight on to medication that would bring some of these levels down. The doctor told me I had to do some hard work as well. Change my diet, lose some weight, and start exercising. It all sounded horrific. You know me; I am not good at any of these things. I managed to make a good start and surprisingly my levels did come down. The reduction figures were significant enough for the doctor to call me her star patient and not just for the doctor but also the whole surgery. I was chuffed.

That’s not the whole story, over the years I had noticed my eyesight changing and I had got a pair of vary-focal glasses. As well as being diagnosed with diabetes, I was also concerned my vision had getting worse. My original prescription seemed not to be as effective and I was having trouble seeing clearly whilst driving. As a result, I went to the optician, who found some retinal bleeding in the eyes. She explained that this condition changes the focal length of the eye and can lead to blindness. So she sent me straight to eye casualty at St Thomas Hospital. She told me not to drive until it was sorted.

This situation caused a lot of pressure for Andrea who hated the idea of driving for me. Understandably she finds driving in London a bit scary but took on the challenge of driving me around admirably. After two consultations at the hospital they where happy the panic was over and discharged me. My GP told me Diabetes is quite a complex condition and because I had been so good this had caused the problems with my eyes.

I have to work so hard to keep the place that I had reached before. Unfortunately the last time I went to the Lipid Clinic, I was told I had put on five kilograms! Back to more hard work.

Christmas was fun, we all spent Christmas day where Sarah-Jane lives. This is an old vicarage in the heart of Bermondsey. She lives there because she does two sessions a week with The Salmon Youth Centre. The house, though a little run down, had a nice charm that enhanced the mood of Christmas, especially as we were able to have an open fire in the lounge. We used quite a lot of the wood that had been accumulating in Sarah-Jane’s garden.

2006 saw both of us reach half a century. In January Andrea was the first to reach 50 and she thought she would like to celebrate it by going to Center Parcs in Suffolk/Norfolk border. All the family came from various parts of the country. We were able to get two chalets next to each other. It was quite an active few days. The centre of attention was, of course, Andrea. We went to a restaurant in the complex and when they found out it was Andrea’s birthday gave her a lot of helium filled balloons. During the meal Kieren (ever the joker of the family) started tying them to Andrea's arms and legs. Not just one or two, but eight! Andrea is normally not one for things like that, but she was very sporting and walked through the shopping area bedecked with them attracting many a stare.
We had been married 27 years by April. We wanted to find a place to celebrate near one of our favourite places: Minsmere RSPB reserve. The guesthouse we stayed at was lovely, it had a real Oldie-Worldy charm; full of creaky doors and prominent oak beams. We visited Minsmere and had a great time seeing a lot of birds and other wildlife that are not found in good old London Town. Things like hearing a Bittern “boom” (it sounds like someone blowing across a milk bottle), or seeing Sand Martens skim and dance across the water to catch insects. We thank God for His wonderful creation!

For the last few years we have gone to France for our holiday and we decided, in May, we would try South Brittany. It was further away than first thought and took nearly thirteen hours to get there. We stayed at a campsite that was considered to be one of the best in Europe. Getting there quite late we were welcomed and showed to our pitch. It was dark by the time we had finished pitching the tents so did not know what the site was really like.

When I awoke I couldn’t believe my ears! The noise of the dawn chorus was amazing! And each morning was the same. It's great visiting France, there are lots of things that we don't normally get in England, and there were lots of sounds I did not recognise. One of the sounds was a kind of screeching-croaking sound. We had no idea what it was it turned out to be otters! Andrea saw them when during an evening walk around the lake that was very close to where we had pitched.
One morning we heard a strong buzzing sound. A swarm of bees liked the look of the tree and took up residence there in the next pitch along from us. We asked what would happen to them at the reception desk and they confidently predicted they would be gone in two days, surprise, surprise they were; maybe they were trained bees!

I was fifty in July and wanted to have a major celebration. I had been thinking about the party for a long time. I was keen for the theme to be God's faithfulness. I wanted to express how grateful I was how much my Heavenly Father had looked after me.

Sending out the invitations I had no clue how many people would come. To my genuine astonishment loads of people came; it was great. They were rewarded by a fiendishly difficult quiz and puzzles. Kieren was Master of Ceremonies for the evening and kept things moving. He planned several surprises. One was a series of Kid’s Club games. He picked “volunteers” to come and compete against me and of course it was always my competitors who seemed to win!

Dave Nunn gave a “This is your life” talk with embarrassing stories and photos.
The food and drink was admirably organised by my friend Angela. She got people to bring contributions of food making sure all types of food were covered. Many people helped and all I can say is a big thank-you to everyone who helped.
We had a disco and I got really stuck in doing the “Staying Alive” strut with Sarah-Jane and her friend Clare.

It has been nearly ten years since I began to go to the East End church plant. We have now become a fully-fledged church with full time leaders leading the church. It is such a great church and God is doing big things amongst the membership, getting us ready for the day when we see things really change for the people of East London.

My First Blog

This is all new to me, so I don't know what to do. But, I'm going to give it a shot.