A brief History of Isle of Dogs

The isle of dogs is very close to Canary Wharf - London's new financial centre, the London residence of Citi Bank, HSBC, Lloyds etc... The docks used to be inhabited by dock workers, ship builders and passing slaves. Some of the people living on the Isle of Dogs actually worked here when it was a functioning dock, in the not too distant past. With the development of containerised shipping and improvement of sea-ports ships stopped venturing up the Thames into the area and now all that remains of the past life are mostly decorative. I took a walk around the area yesterday to distribute some marketing materials. In the harbour was a 'Tall Ship' from the US coast guard which can be seen in the distance in the image. There are3 cranes that seem to be marching up the docks to give a message to the banks - 'hard work will do it!' - they I think are mere decoration. A lot of the visitors to Cafe Forever are ex-dock workers. One old guy, Danny, grew up on the estate. He remembers jumping over the fence to bunk school and go hunting rabbits with his dog. He said that this street used to be lined with trees, and there were no apartments, it was all houses with gardens. He comes along to chat quite often but he is quite unmoved by the good news of Jesus salvation. At the end of the road, next to the last remaining tree - which Danny says he remembers as a tiny sapling is Cafe Forever and I think it looks quite attractive now; we are trying really hard to get people to visit us - putting out many signs and green umbrella's hoping to give people an idea that we are open and worth a look. Please pray for our business too.