Newbury Mission

Sat 3rd Jun  Newbury Mission

James was up early and ready by 0715 to go with John and Tony to Thatcham Baptist Church for a men’s breakfast.  Rob was giving the talk. It was good to see Graham there, whom James had met on a boat trip the previous week.

Rob speaking at the men’s breakfast

Very often, we put ourselves spiritually in the front line, we have distractions, holdups and obstacles put in our way.  This time it has been three things:

1)    our cat Hugo going missing for three days,

2)    the issue of the floor of our apartment, and

3)    our voting papers going astray.

Well, Hugo turned up after three nights away. (“Where did Hugo?”, I asked him)

We heard yesterday that the work in the apartment will start on Monday and be completed by Friday.

Today James was also able to collect our voting papers which had finally arrived on Friday, having been posted first class on the Thursday the previous week.  This was the third distraction out of the way.  God is in control.

On the way back from Thatcham to Newbury, John took us on a scenic route via Greenham Common.

The control tower at Greenham Common

Arriving back at the boat, a few people were heading for a coffee morning in the Methodist Church, so James joined them. Hazel also ended up there, having been out and about in Newbury looking for a shopping trolley.

After the coffee morning we went to more shops looking for shoes, unsuccessfully. Then we went to Robert Dyas and bought the shopping trolley. We had a lovely lunch in a Lebanese restaurant, and wandered back to the boats.

We found that David and Brenda Gooding on Shammah had joined the team.  It was a very sunny afternoon, and there were lots of people around enjoying the park. There were quite a few visitors to Kew.

Just after we had packed everything away we had a heavy downpour. The timing was good.

Raining in Newbury

No boating today

Sun 4th Jun  Newbury Mission

A number of us went along to the 10am service at St Nic's this morning.  We met our dear friends David and Frances Hawkey there.  We had a warm welcome and there were a lot of light blue “Boats of Hope” shirts in the congregation.

What a lovely surprise it was also to find Andy Cooper there.  He has been part of this church for about a year.  We used to be together in Pioneer People in Leatherhead nearly twenty years ago.

After the service we visited the Cornish Pasty shop to obtain our picnic lunch, before gathering with our chairs in the park with Christians from many churches in Newbury to celebrate Pentecost.

David and Frances

 Pentecost in the Park

Boats of Hope at Victoria Park

We obviously hadn’t had enough church, so we went to the 6pm evening service at St Nic’s hall, where Andy was playing drums.  It was a moving service with a powerful testimony from a lady who had been through a lot of trauma but who was transformed by the saving power of Jesus.

Worship team at St Nic’s

We then went to the Hatchet (Wetherspoons) with Jan and John, where we had a few problems.  Before we had found our seats we found ourselves buying drinks, and asked to put them on a tab, as often the drinks are included with a meal. No, we had to pay for them before we sat down. So when we came to order the food it was a challenge to get the bill right.  Then when we had ordered and sat down once again, we were told that there weren’t any lamb shanks left, so we had to re-order.  Meanwhile there was a meeting being called on the towpath, and we arrived late.

At the meeting we were given an outline of what was happening the following day.

No boating today

Mon 5th Jun  Newbury Mission

We all made our way across the canal to the Kennet and Avon Canal Trust Cafe, where we met in their upper room at 9am. The room was only just big enough to accommodate our team of about thirty, but it was ideal in many ways.  The staff kindly took coffee and tea orders, but then they were bringing the drinks to the meeting during the worship and prayer time, which was a little distracting.  When we had finished the meeting, we were the last to leave and discovered that three drinks had not been paid for, so we paid for them ourselves.

We spent much of the day sorting out songs, as John and Jan were now hoping to join us for our gig on Wednesday.  We established a running order, with the John and Jan songs together at the end of each half.

We had rain later, and high winds, so we took down our Boaters Christian Fellowship banner.

No boating today

Tue 6th Jun  Newbury Mission

There was heavy rain in the night, with puddles on the towpath in the morning.

Our mooring in Newbury

The meeting this morning was at 8.30am, and this was the pattern for the rest of the week. I made a joke about buying coffees for people that I didn’t know, and later it seemed that several people came and paid me for their drinks. I am sure I made a small profit!

We had a very nice breakfast in the cafe downstairs after the meeting.

John and Jan came aboard Gabriel for a practice, and we ended up with eight songs together, as well as the twelve songs just as a duo.

Boats of Hope on Victoria Park

Later we went for a curry and found that Tuesday night is banquet night in Newbury. We were looking for the India Lounge, but went down the wrong street and ended up instead at a restaurant called Jaipur. A starter, a main course, a side dish and rice or nan for less than £10.  The food was good as well as the price.

No boating today

Wed 7th Jun  Newbury Mission

Today, after the 8.30am meeting we had a bacon sandwich in the cafe. 

We were taking things easy today in preparation for this evening.  We didn’t want to eat later so we had lunch at the Slug and Lettuce and then visited David and Carole on the prayer boat.  We were just leaving after recounting the saga of the Aylesbury apartment and the flooring issue, when the phone rang.  It was Kier to say the flooring contractors had thrown away our carpet! It was only installed last year and should have been used again after the sound insulation was applied.

Fortunately there was a shop nearby where we could see samples of what was being suggested as a replacement, so the matter was quickly resolved. 

In the evening we were blessed by the services of Graham who acted as chauffeur, roadie and sound engineer.  We arrived at the Old London Apprentice soon after 7pm and set up ready for 8pm.  There was a good number from the team in support, plus several regular customers. We sang twenty songs in two sets and it was well received.  The staff were enthusiastic and were even talking about sponsoring a guide dog when they met Tracey and Oakley.

Old London Apprentice audience

The forthcoming events board - that's us on the top line

No boating today

Thu 8th Jun  Newbury Mission

8.30am meeting followed by coffee in cafe.  We were sorry to say farewell to John and Jan who had to go and attend to family issues.

We had lunch in Cote Brasserie with David and Frances Hawkey. It was good to spend some time with them. They are off to the Lake District for the remainder of the week.

Later in the afternoon we had their daughter Angela on board for tea, accompanied by Henry and Harriet, the two small children she looks after.

Angela, Henry and Harriet

Then we had a visit from Alison and Laura, who spent winter 2015/16 in Aylesbury on their boat Large Marge.  They are heading for Bath eventually, so we will probably see them later, further west.

Alison and Laura

We discovered later that guide dog Oakley had been attacked by a German Shepherd, and was traumatised.  Tracey was also very upset by the incident, which involved the Guide Dogs association and the police. Tracey is due to give a talk with her testimony at an event tomorrow evening.

No boating today

Fri 9th Jun  Newbury Mission

This morning our 8.30am meeting included communion as a team. Many of us had a coffee downstairs afterwards.

Hazel went to the shops, while James went back to the boat to get two cassettes ready, which Tim very kindly added to his two and trundled round to the marina for us.

There were lots of school kids visiting the boats, and when they had all departed, we had a 2.30pm briefing by the boats.  Peter and Fran Braybrook had arrived to help out on Saturday, and they came back to Gabriel for tea.  We mentioned that we were going to a folk evening at the Old London Apprentice this evening and they decided to come with us.

We ate at the pub, and they serve delicious pies with chicken , ham, mushroom and cheese.

The folk night takes place once a month (2^nd Friday) in the back room where they move the pool table out of the way. Chris was there, who helped us through Monkey Marsh Lock.  Peter and Fran sang a few songs although they hadn’t prepared.  There were two or three Christians from local churches there and it was a lovely atmosphere.

Folk night

Meanwhile Tracey was giving her talk, which went very well, and three people said they were coming back to Jesus as a result. New testaments were given out as well.

No boating today

Sat 10th Jun  Newbury Mission

This morning we had a prayer breakfast at 8.30am, with members of Christians Together in Newbury. It was meant to be a continental breakfast, but we cooked cocktail sausages which were very popular. There seemed to be a lot of food left over.

We sang three songs this morning instead of the usual two. David Brennand followed with a word.

To collect our PA system from the boat, we borrowed Tony’s trolley which was very useful. It folds up neatly, so we may try to find something like it, and keep it on the roof.

Today was our open day, and the biggest public event of the mission. There were free boat trips on Litania and Remus, a free barbecue, and there were stalls featuring Bus of Hope, Canal and River Trust, Waterway Chaplains, and Christians Together in Newbury.

Boat trips on Litania

Remus

We supplied some music. We played through most of Wednesday’s gig set as well as some of our worship songs instrumentally.  We were using our computer tablets for the first time outdoors, and they had to be at the correct angle to be seen clearly in the sunlight. The alternative was lots of bits of paper, and there was quite a breeze.  We are very pleased with the system.

We had some quiet worship CDs for when we were not playing. We met one of the performers from Friday’s folk evening. We also met the lady from Thatcham that we had met at the bus stop.

The event finished at 4pm and we took all our equipment back to the boat and collapsed in our chairs.  Later, when we woke up, we stowed all the equipment under the dinette and restored the boat to normal.  As we were going to bed we read a message on Whatsapp that people were informally gathering for wine and nibbles. We were too tired to get involved.

No boating today

Sun 11th Jun  Newbury Mission

It was a lovely morning, and there was no early meeting today! 

Bright morning

However, we decided to go to the 10am service at Newbury Baptist Church.  Peter was preaching and the welcome was good. The worship was led partly by a band and partly by a man on the organ.

After the service we visited Sainsbury’s to get properly stocked up before setting off tomorrow. We filled our new trolley as we bought cat food and wine as well as the usual groceries.

We had lunch on board and then had a message from Tim. “Please may we borrow your fold back speaker and a music stand?”

So the dinette was dismantled once again, and we made our way to the bandstand with the required items. Graham was busy assembling everything. We had to wait for a brass band to finish before he could set up properly.

It was meant to be Picnic and Praise but the barbecue was running again, so we didn’t need a picnic. Tim asked James to take some video of the event. 

The service was very good – evangelistic, with a short relevant message.  Andy was on drums, and Tim on bass, plus a lady guitarist with a lovely voice, and a talented guy on keyboard.  One person we know about became a Christian. 

Picnic and Praise worship team

We met a lady called Ellie who was one of the singers on Friday at the folk night.

We had a final gathering on the towpath at around 8pm. Hazel had a headache and was too tired to participate.  More wine and nibbles and talk of next week’s plans.

No boating today

Next: heading west to Kintbury, Hungerford and beyond.