On our first day back from holiday we drove to Nottingham for a meeting of the East Midlands Prayer Team. While we were there we had opportunity to walk to the birthplace of William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army. Unfortunately the museum was closed, but we’ll have a chance to visit it another time.
Posted in Daily Photo, Journal, Salvation Army, Work | Tags: birth, birthplace, dhq, divisional, east-midlands, holiday, museum, nottingham, nottinghamshire, opportunities, opportunity, prayer, statue, william-booth
The weekdays of our holiday were spent at home with my parents and we had some day trips out to nearby places to have a look around. We took them back home to Northampton on Wednesday and, on the way home, stopped off at Market Harborough and Foxton Locks. On the Thursday we had a walk round Leicester and visited various places, and on Friday visited the National Space Centre (photo).
Posted in Daily Photo, Family, Journal, Science & Nature, Travel & Leisure | Tags: astronomy, canals, day-trips, foxton-locks, holiday, leicester, market-harborough, northampton, parents, space, space-centre
I’m writing this on Monday 26 October at home on a ’staycation’ (holiday at home) – a chance to catch up with my journal for last week. My parents (who I picked up from Northampton yesterday) are staying with us for a few days. A week ago we had an excellent Vision Day and Fellowship Sunday at Leicester Central Salvation Army. It was also great to be able to watch the F1 Brazilian GP when Jenson Button won the driver’s championship and Brawn GP won the constructor’s championship. Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday were normal working days. The rest of the week was spent at The Hayes in Swanwick at Officer’s Councils, with the theme of the conference being Kingdom Ambition.
Posted in Daily Photo, Family, Journal, Motorsport, Salvation Army, Travel & Leisure, Work | Tags: holiday, leicester, grand-prix, fellowship, conference-centre, brazil, brazilian, northampton, parents, derbyshire, jenson-button, ross-brawn, brawngp, staycation, vacation, vision, swanwick, conference
Today has ended up being a working day because we’ve been so busy in the week and we have a special day at Leicester Central Salvation Army tomorrow. However we did start the day with a cooked breakfast at Tesco, followed by a haircut and shopping. Not forgetting fresh coffee when we got home with the Saturday Daily Telegraph. The breakfast kept us going all day, so it was sausages and mash for tea while we watched F1 qualifying from Brazil in what turned out to be a very extended session because of rain. Oh, and I cut the grass!
Posted in Daily Photo, Journal, Motorsport, Salvation Army, Work | Tags: brazil, brazilian, breakfast, coffee, cooked-breakfast, daily-telegraph, day-off, f1, grand-prix, grass, haircut, home, leicester, mash, newspaper, newspapers, qualifying, rain, sausages, shopping, supermarket, supermarkets, tesco, weather
Today Marta and I have been doing some more networking in the city, as well as meeting friends. First of all a lunchtime meeting at the University of Leicester to find out about becoming members of the Chaplaincy Team, and secondly a visit to St Philip’s Centre which is involved in study and engagement in a multi-faith society. In the evening (as a break from working in the office) we went out for a coffee with Dan and Carol-Anne Rous and their two daughters who are passing through the area and spending a few days.
Posted in Daily Photo, Journal, Salvation Army, Travel & Leisure, Work | Tags: chaplaincy, chaplains, city-centre, coffee, coffee-break, diversity, ecumenical, friends, leicester, leicester-university, lunch, lunchtime, multi-faith, multicultural, multiculturalism, networking, office, religions, sa-hall, working-lunch
My ministry as a Salvation Army Officer in Leicester city centre is never dull! This week an egg has been thrown at me and I’ve helped a very disturbed person. Marta and I have spent time in prayer this week, in groups and with individuals. We took part in a Harvest Service at a Mental Health Unit, from which a number of people help us in our luncheon club. We’ve also been involved in various meetings, and on Wednesday evening Graham and Hazel Smith (of Leicester Central Corps) were commissioned as Divisional Envoys by Major David Howarth at an Inter-Corps Fellowship. Today we made a pastoral visit in Thurcaston, hence the picture of its village church.
Posted in Daily Photo, Journal, Salvation Army, Work | Tags: churches, city, city-centre, commissioning, david-howarth, divisional, eggs, envoys, fellowship, groups, harvest, harvest-celebration, individuals, leicester, luncheon-club, mental-health, ministry, pastoral, prayer, thurcaston, village, visiting, worship
The weekend was a busy one at Leicester Central Salvation Army. On Saturday there was a special memorial service and meal organised by our Zimbabwean Salvationists. On Sunday the band was out early in the city centre to play for the runners in the Leicester Marathon. Our Harvest worship was led by Majors Jonathan and Jayne Roberts, our East Midlands divisional leaders.
Posted in Daily Photo, Journal, Salvation Army, Work | Tags: band, city-centre, dhq, divisional, divisional-leaders, east-midlands, harvest, harvest-celebration, jayne-roberts, jonathan-roberts, leicester, marathon, runners, running, sa-band, zimbabwe, zimbabwean
I woke up to rain this morning, and so here’s an early morning shot of the side of the hall in the wet! Marta is away on a course, and so I was grateful for my luncheon club dinner at the hall – all I needed to do for tea was warm up a tin of soup! Just for the record, I can cook! I’m looking forward to Marta coming home on Thursday afternoon, and our son Philip coming on Friday for the weekend.
Posted in Daily Photo, Journal, Salvation Army, Work | Tags: cooking, course, dinner, early-morning, leicester, lunch, luncheon-club, morning, philip, rain, sa-hall, soup, weather, weekend, wet
Marta is away this week on a course at Wycliffe Centre near High Wycombe. I’ve already been on this course, and we will both be attending a follow-up course next year. It covers mental health issues in the context of pastoral ministry. Some of the subjects covered are suicide, substance abuse, depression, self-harm, and personality, life cycle and mood disorders. I was working from home today, although I dropped into the office and did some jobs in town after dropping Marta at Leicester Forest East motorway services for a lift to the course. I also had something to eat out to save having to cook, the next three days I will eat at the luncheon club!
Posted in Daily Photo, Health, Journal, Salvation Army, Travel & Leisure, Work | Tags: city-centre, cooking, course, depression, high-wycombe, highcross, home, leicester, luncheon-club, mental-health, ministry, mood-disorders, motorway, motorway-services, office, pastoral, personality-disorders, self-harm, shopping, shopping-centre, substance-abuse, suicide, wycliffe-centre
Today started at 5.00 am when the alarm went to wake me for the F1 Japanese GP. After the race and a shower, Marta cooked me a wonderful breakfast before we headed out to Sunday morning worship at Leicester Central Salvation Army. We made a couple of visits in the afternoon before the open-air witness in the city centre and prayer meeting at the hall. Our evening meeting was led by two of our Zimbabwean Salvationists, Vava and Golden, and was an excellent time of worship and praise. Before heading home we went for a walk amongst the thousands of people celebrating the start of the Diwali festival.
Posted in Daily Photo, Journal, Motorsport, Salvation Army, Work | Tags: africa, alarm, breakfast, celebration, city-centre, cooked-breakfast, crowds, diwali, f1, golden, gp, grand-prix, japan, japanese, leicester, lights, open-air, praise, prayer, sa-hall, shower, sunday, vava, witness, worship, zimbabwe, zimbabwean
