Water Eaton mission continues

Mon 13^th Jun  Water Eaton

We had a shared breakfast with members of local churches, in the open air under the poplar trees. We supplied some cooked bacon which all disappeared.

This was followed by some worship, and we led “A Thousand Hallelujahs”, “God I look to you”. Sue Smith gave a message before we turned to prayer. Chris went though some practical matters.

Sue Smith speaking

Chris bringing it all together.

We went shopping in Tesco, accompanied by Graham Pope, and we had orders from several people. The car is useful.

James skippered two Beacon boat trips later. We had an incident with a fisherman who was inside his boat, his rod was not showing, and he had no float. Unaware that he was there, we broke his line as we passed. On our return, he asked if we were going to be going up and down all day. We said there were a few more trips, and then others during the week. He complained that he hadn’t been told.

The next time we passed, very slowly, he shouted “Slow down!” He was very cross. It took the edge off some very pleasant conversations were were having with our passengers. We had seen some families of ducks and swans, and everyone was having a good time.

Beacon going under a bridge

Ten Thousand Reasons in action

Passing mission boats

One of the passengers on Ten Thousand Reasons had a 7^th birthday, so we had bought a cake, and we sang the song. She was thrilled with the boat trip and the welcome.

Birthday girl and Ten Thousand Reasons

Surprise cake

In the evening we had a shared supper, organised by Roger and Jo, which grew and grew until everyone was involved.

No boating on Gabriel today

Tue 14^th Jun  Water Eaton

We used the older songbooks today, with How great thou art, and In Christ Alone.

We had no specific duties, and Rob and Trish arrived for the day. We went to Wetherspoons with them and with Andy and Sue. It was good to catch up.

We planned our songs for tomorrow night, as we now had Peter and Fran singing as a duo, we had an acapella group, whom James had tried to contact with no reply, and we also had Barbara from Ampere who was going to be passing.

We therefore split our performance into four sets, with three breaks for the other acts. John on recorder and Jan on fiddle were to join us for the last two sets.

We had a run through with John and Jan to establish what they remembered, as we haven’t played together since the mission at Ellesmere in 2018. It mostly went well, with just one song dropped.

Later we had contact from the acapella group who can’t promise to perform. It depends on who turns up. We may have to reshuffle songs again.

It was a very hot day. We have been blessed with excellent weather all week.

We heard that a lady had become a Christian after Roger and Jo spoke at a church lunch time event. She will be looked after by people in that church

No boating on Gabriel today. No pics either.

Wed 15^th Jun  Water Eaton

We had our usual team meeting at 8.30am, where we led What a beautiful Name, and A Thousand Hallelujahs.  Roger and Jo spoke.

Roger and Jo addressing the morning meeting

Beacon being useful

Barbara went past on Ampere, hoping to find a mooring near the Red Lion for tonight’s folk evening. She sent a text later to say she had found a space. That was good news.

While speaking to the leader of the acapella group, we discovered that they had not been able to assemble enough people to perform. We decided to give Barbara two spots instead of just the one.

We had some help from Team members to get our PA equipment across the bridge to our car, and we went to the Red Lion to set up. Despite the pub website suggesting we would be in the garden, we were told that we would, after all, be in the bar. We were quite pleased about that.

Our first two sets of five songs were just us. We sang “Can’t help but wonder where I’m bound” by Tom Paxton, and asked people to consider whether they were bound for heaven or not. We sang some quieter songs such as “Antiques” and “The man who calmed the sea”. We were delighted and encouraged that our friends Jack and Sandra had come from Aylesbury to support us.

Peter and Fran sang three songs between our two sets, and then we got Barbara up, with her extensive repertoire of boating songs. She was well received, as we thought she would be. We had agreed that she would sing “Rochdale Nine”, instead of us.

Barbara

Then we were joined by John on recorder, and Jan on fiddle, and we sang the other song we share with Barbara, “Miles and Miles of Poly” which we have reworded somewhat. It went down really well. Then Barbara took another set, using her accordion for some tunes, and then some more songs with her guitar.

James Hazel Jan John  (photo Jack Telfer)

Our final set with John and Jan included “I saw the Light”, and we finished with “Oh when the saints”. The audience were enthusiastic and participated well. It was a great evening. There were some meaningful conversations afterwards. The landlady was of course very pleased with the numbers of customers.

We were very grateful to Graham, who single-handedly loaded all our equipment into our car, while we were talking to people.

A man called Michael kept asking when we were coming back, and he was thrilled with the evening.  Later, when John, Jan, Steve and Fiona were starting to walk back along the towpath, they found that he had fallen in the canal, and they rescued him, and sent him off in an ambulance. Hopefully he wasn’t seriously injured.

No boating on Gabriel today

Next: Thursday and Friday boat trips, school assemblies, visits from Brownies, teas and coffees etc. Saturday: Fun day with BBQ, music, boat trips etc, and a wet weather forecast!!!