The other side of the Olympics

Deal, Kent

We have returned to London having managed to evade most of the Olympic mayhem and associated traffic congestion. It seem's as if most East-enders ran to the hills for the school holidays in preparation. We found on the few occasions that we did venture out that the transport was very calm and free moving. We we're on holiday in one of the mission's holiday homes, in Walmer - and what a provision it was! Lots of space for the girls and sunny days. We found a great paddling pool for the children in Deal and regular use of our English Heritage membership in Walmer Castle to be wonderful breaks.

In my last post I mentioned the funday that was being put on by a gathering of churches - well it was phenomenal! The attendance was estimated at 3000, and I am sure for the burger chefs it felt like it! They started at about 11am and did not stop until 5pm - this is one of the hazards of offering FREE BURGERS! Hazard it may have been but it certainly kept the crowds coming; many attended the service the following day and heard Stephanie Reid give her testimony. Stephanie was a very active ballet dancer and sprinter who lost her leg in a boating accident, she is one of the 100m medal hopefuls. It was a very encouraging story and I think she gained a number of supporters.

3 good friends

We have also said goodbye to our friend Maxime and her mum Virginia who have moved back to Leipzig, soon to be joined by Lars, Virginia's husband. They became very precious to us and God providing, we will be going to visit them in October. Virginia organised free entrance to the Olympic park for so many of our friends, it was unreal - we went in one day and managed to get tickets to watch hockey - some for just £5!

Ruth drawing a fish

We are still sharing our house with friends - since May we have been full up! It is nice to be able to be a refuge for people, we hope that they have found some sort of peace and comfort staying with us. This kind of service does bring about a certain disquiet among neighbours, hopefully they will see a light at the end of the tunnel soon. As for us all we are all back at work. Next weekend is Ruth's wedding! Ruth started working with me at Café Forever during a gap year in 2007 and has since been returning to join us and City of Peace church on many occasions. It is going to be a great wedding!

All the help of others.

This year we have been fortunate to have so many volunteers working with us. Most who come bear their own financial burden! We had a team out from City Life Presbyterian Church, Emily from Mississippi (I tried about 8 times to spell that), Izzy McCollum - a returning volunteer from 2010 (she is now studying Film production in York), Amanda McPhail, also returning from Miami, and now we have a team from the Netherlands, 'Athletes in Action' who are providing assistance in St John's park. These volunteers are so necessary to enable us to carry out the work we do on the Isle of Dogs.  They are young and fit and give the kids a great run around. They do not seem to stop despite the hot weather. We are grateful for all their help.

We also had a team of office workers come and help us through the Royal Bank of Scotland to put on a funday in St John's park! They all seemed to really enjoy giving a hand and were also very useful to us. I created a video of the day in the hope that they pass it back to their boss so that we might get more exposure. The video, I hope, shows a little of the effort that goes into setting the whole thing up.


It has been a really busy time. Natalie (my wife) has been helping out everyday with our friends daughter Maxime, she is a sweet little thing and gets on so well with Hannah and Lisa. Her mum and dad are working with the Olympic events and so they are busy all day everyday for the duration of the games. But 3 kids in the afternoon when you are tired is stretching. I too have been swapping roles this past week, Andrew was on leave in Italy and so I stepped into the Chef's shoes for a couple of days. They are BIG shoes and require a lot of energy. But we have managed to turn around a fair amount of income for the first week of the school holidays.
Next up is the Isle of Dogs BIG WEEKEND. It is an inter-church event primarily carried by Quaystone Baptist Church. Many from City of Peace will be involved too. There will be a climbing wall, bungee run, sumo wrestling, and mini-olympics to name a few of the planned events - and all for FREE.