Tikhtak

Llangollen break

  Irfana and I have just got back from a week in Shropshire visiting my Mum . We decided to take a drive to Llangollen in Wales and stumbled across Thomas the tank enging at the railway station. We knew this would be a real treat for our Nephew Michael in Canada so I took a few pictures. The weather was of course wet, but that didn't stop us from driving up onto horseshoe pass for a cuppa. You can view the photos by clicking here.

Newbury races

This weekend I joined the red letter day meeting of Dan ( my brother) and his house mates from when they used to live together at Denbeigh road in Hounslow. In fact we all go back to the late 80's early 90's where we attended St Mary's College in Twickenham together. We had a great weekend! One of the highlights was winning our second race of the day, which paid for our evening trip for an Indian meal. (John Magee's irish blood helped - pictured above without binoculars) We had a flutter on Trafalgar bay ridden by Frankie Dettori. Apart from our entrance fee we all put 10 pounds into a pot and put 10 pounds on a horse for each race. If one won we all won and if one lost we all lost. Saturday evening was rounded off by looking back over the year and recollecting highs and lows. We also had some very intelligent conversation about natyional identity (Thanks Phil - with the binoculars) We were told to list our top 5 things that signified our identity. We then analysed where and if some one included their nationality. Check out some of the images from the weekend by clicking here or in the Newbury races picture gallery in the right hand column at the bottom.

Donkey power in Pakistan

Emerging from this crisis are some very Unlikely heroes in the form of army donkeys. They are able to reach the parts no one else can get to and have proved invaluable, inspite of many of them being wiped out by the initial earthquake. They undergo a rigorous selection process and are able to carry loads at altitude where humans would struggle just to breathe. They can find their way around the mountain terrain without any compasses and are fleet of foot to pass on narrow mountain paths. To read more about these incredible mountaineers look on the BBC website . The human effort goes on too. Youth from the diocese of Peshawar have been sending teams out to the northern regions of Pakistan to take warm clothes and blankets to survivors there. This is especially critical as the winter draws in and aftershocks continue to create fear and anxiety. 

Pakistan update

“I found myself sitting on my lawn, which was moving like a raft on water, and thinking that if my house collapsed, at least I would have the clothes on the washing line.”  This is an extract Jeremy Woodham's  most recent eshort. Also check out CMS's response to the situation on the CMS website as well as an opportunity to give to the relief effort in Pakistan.

Birthday weekend

Here is a picture of my birthday cake, which I enjoyed with friends after a tasty biryani at the Clapham Tandoori. During the day Irfana and I went to see Les Miserables, which was as good as I remembered it from some 20 years ago when I first saw it!!! On Sunday we took a trip to Trafalgar square to see the Diwali celebrations. It was a spectacular affair, especially when darkness fell. We saw lots of Indian dance and a  reenactment of the Diwali story, which we had used of course for Greenbelt this summer. The evening finished with Jackie Dee and Veronica on ther main stage. Check out our photos at My Birthday and Diwali in Trafalgar sqaure.

38 years on the planet

Today I am celebrating my birthday and Irfana has surprised me with a Fifa football PS2 game 2006. It doesn't get much better! This afternoon we are off to see Les Miserables and then out for an Indian meal in Clapham tonight with friends.

Earthquake update

At CMS we are being kept up to date with the situation by Insar Gohar from the Peshawar diocese. In a recent email he tells of how Christian young people are responding from the diocese:

The youth of the Diocese of Peshawar is busy in collecting warm cloths and medicines for the affected people, as we are planning to visit to affected areas to participate in the relief work. For this purpose, we need your prayer support. The Diocese of Peshawar (the affected area of NWFP comes under the jurisdiction of Peshawar Diocese) is active to support the relief work.

Pakistan earthquake

It seems that our thoughts were meant to be on this part of the world for a reason yesterday when I linked to Sam Leaches pictures in Peshawar. We have heard from Irfana's family in Lahore that everyone is fine even though they did feel the effects of the earthquake. I am sure that a number of people who attended the spring conference will have been in some way affected by the quake. Check out the BBC website for the latest.

Pakistan Youth conference, Peshawar

Sam Leach has just uploaded his pictures from the Pakistani Youth conference on globalisation back in the Spring on to blahonline. The picture here shows an army  display, which opened the conference.

Youth and Children team on the road

   WE have had a productive few days on the road around the country firming up our Youth and Childrens team strategy for CMS. We met on Wednesday in south Yorks for a day of strategy and started to tease out the things we are wanting to focus on. The general nub was that we could no longer be the ones who deliver, rather our focus is to equip, resource and facilitate others to do so. This we will bring out more eloquently in a vision paper in the next few weeks. I was blown away by the quality of Mike and Tonya's house and it makes me wonder why don't we just emigrate to Yorkshire!! On Thursday we then visited Patrick and Helen Mukholi, Mission partners from Kenya in Oxford, where they are living on the Blackbird lees estate doing youth work. They are a real witness and example to churches in Britain who fail to connect with their local community by living in the community and as the community they serve. In the evening we joined up with a "JOY" youth meeting run by Oxford Youth works and it was good to connect with other youth workers and hear their experience.