Scout Hut

This morning's Creekmouth Preservation Society's meeting was held in the 1st Barking & Dagenham Scout hut - just look at that blue sky!!!

The purpose of this morning's meeting was to help Amy, Catherine and Tom (Make:Good) to collect stories about Creekmouth Village and to help identify landmarks on the map.  Make:Good have made a large map of Thames Ward and are now collecting stories and memories from various groups/societies and residents of the Ward.  In this picture - Mike, Avril and Maria are helping Amy with the location of the village and some of the landmarks around it..

Amy brought with her an old Adana Printing Press and some of the members of the Creekmouth Preservation Society had fun in printing up stencils for the Thames Ward map.  This is Joyce having a go :))

For me, though, the highlight was to wander around the grounds - look at these beautiful lilies in the pond.

and these delightful tyres, which are going to be used to grow vegetables in :))

I just so love these Everlasting Pea which grows wild everywhere.

I have spent the evening, in between writing application proposal for funding etc, swatting mosquitoes and I am now very tired - so time for a final cuppa and then bed ..zzzzzzz

A Day of Memories

Like many other Salvation Army Officers I was involved in pastoral care at various locations after the 7/7 bombings - at the mortuary as families came to view their loved ones, at the Family Centre as people came in looking for information and Russell Square Tube Station as various teams searched and recovered people from the wreckage and train station.  I was also very privileged to attend a funeral for a young man who came from my area. A few months later I was also Chaplain to the survivors (served teas and coffees etc and was available if anyone wanted assistance) who came to the inquest and enquiry held at The City Hall, London.

So today it is good to 'stop' for a few minutes and remember those who lost their lives, their families and friends and also those who survived and now have to live with their injuries and memories.

This morning I attended The Creekmouth Preservation Society - the photo shows two of the members (Charlie and Iris).  The Society is endeavouring to keep alive the memories of a village that once stood at Creekmouth but which was destroyed in the 1953 floods. The Society (other than me) is currently made up of members who either lived in the village as children or had a relative who lived there. 

This is the first meeting I have attended for long time but I am interested in local history, the industries, how people lived, worked and died in such areas.. Also it is fascinating to listen to people's memories -take Charlie for example - he can remember as a young boy sitting on the wall along the River Thames at Creekmouth and watching London being bombed during the 2nd WW.

Today is the Commissioning and Ordination of New Salvation Army Officers and my mind ventures back to my own Commissioning and Ordination (alongside Nigel) in May, 1985 and all that has taken place since then to now - 27 years later...

Lisburn, Northern 1985-90
Jessore, Bangladesh 1990-93
Chalk Farm, London 1993-95
Paignton, Devon 1995-1998
Accra, Ghana 1998-2001
Leigh on Sea, Essex 2001-2004
Barking, Essex 2004 - and we are still here :))

To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it the more fit for its prime function of looking forward. ~Margaret Fairless Barber, The Roadmender

An Interesting Day

Holiday what Holiday?  ha-ha seems ages ago already :))  It has been another varied but enjoyable day.

(prayer space outside of the Reception Classes)

I started my day at school by attending the assembly organized by Penguin Class - it was very apt as it was all about Noah and the ark..the children did so well :))  Then Coffee & Chat outside in the foyer of the Rivergate Centre - not many attended today but Janine (Church of England Pioneer Missioner) and I had an interesting conversations with the mums who were present. The other week it was all about contraception! this week it was about not being able to have children and the affect it has on women and their relationships.

I received an invitation from The Creekmouth Preservation Society to attend a presentation by The Frederick Handley-Page Association. It was certainly a very interesting talk, especially as Frederick Handley-Page, world-renowed aeronautical engineer, had his aircraft factory and hangars at Creekmouth.  I like to attend these events as I learn more about the area, the people who have lived, worked and raised their families - also it gives me a chance to network and meet new people as well as catching up with folk I have met over the eight years that I have been on the scene.

As the presentation had been organized by the members of The Creekmouth Preservation Society - it was a chance to meet up folk I have met over the years.  This is a photo of me with Iris and behind us the River Thames.  It was a beautiful day and I could have spent all afternoon sitting on the deck area outside the Barking Riverside Office looking out down the Thames; however, after the presentation I decided to go have my lunch by the Barking Flood Barrier before my next engagement at 2pm.

I love this area - it is where the Creekmouth Village once stood; however, the village was destroyed in the 1953 floods - now it is home to the Barking Flood Barrier and The Creekmouth Preservation Society have worked hard to have benches, information points, as well as planting many flowers and shrubs. I come and sit here, when I have time in between engagements, mainly because I am normally the only person and have the whole place to myself - just to sit and enjoy some quiet time in the middle of, what is now, an Industrial Estate.

Today, however, Charlie, Iris and Joyce joined me and, for a brief while, we enjoyed the sunshine, chatted about the presentation and Iris and I took photos of the wild flowers and enjoyed the view towards London. Charlie told me that as a young boy he used to sit on the wall and watch London being bombed during the war.

After I had made my arranged visit at 2pm to Thames View Lodge - I took Janine to Valence House to show her where Linda Rhodes work and, hopefully, find her there for a guide around the archive department.  We met Linda this morning, although I have met her before, a very interesting lady who has written three novels based on true crimes that have happened in Barking & Dagenham. Yep Linda was there and we had a very interesting time looking at old maps of Barking and Dagenham and being shown around the archives. Janine and I finished off our day together with an ice-cream in Valence Park..

To conclude my blog - some favourite photos of the day..

Charlie and Iris (they are cousins) who are members of The Creekmouth Preservation Society

A tug boat with his cargo coming down the Thames

and favourite sweet pea called everlasting pea, which grows wild on Creekmouth.