Collecting the Chairs!

These are our new church chairs!
It's a bit of a long story but well worth the telling!
We are sorting out a building for our Sunday Services now that Harvester Reformational Church Halifax is established and we need chairs so I had a look on E Bay last Tuesday evening and found these - "19 chairs, very good condition, £50. Buyer collects - from Llandudno!"
Now Duncan and I are not very accomplished E Bay buyers but we know someone who is!
My sister, Chris and particularly her husband, Phil, are excellent E Bay buyers so we contacted them and asked them if they would do the bidding for us. Bidding closed at 6.30pm on Thursday. There was one bid of £50 and he looked like a dealer. The only slight problem is that Chris and Phil live in Turkey but actually, apart from the 2 hours time difference there was no problem.
We were in the middle of our meeting at King Cross Library on Thursday when I got a text to say that Chris and Phil had "won" the chairs for £125 and it had been a 'real nail-biter' in the closing minutes!

So we arranged to collect the chairs from Llandudno; from a very nice lady at The Stratford House Hotel! Pete and Duncan went to collect them and could take no passengers as the back seat was removed as well as taking the trailer attached for the job.
It was a beautiful day yesterday and off they went at 10am having their priorities firmly etched in their minds:

First stop - lunch - of course! I don't know how they managed the GIANT haddock. They were the size of a whale or do I mean Wales as they were in Llandudno?!




(Even more surprising was the amount of tea Duncan put away later on!)




Then, fully replete they found the hotel and knew they were in the right place as all the chairs were stacked in the hallway waiting for them.
So the jig sawing into the trailer and car began:

They all fitted, though it was touch and go with the last one!
When they arrived they were told that there were an extra couple thrown in for free!
So they returned and dropped 20 of the chairs in storage and brought a sample one on for me to see at Lucy's where we were having a worship time as we do every Monday.
I think the neighbours were a little bemused at a small crowd of people excitedly taking it in turns to sit on the chair on the pavement outside Lucy's house!
They are lovely!
Comfortable, quite light and in excellent condition and such a bargain working out at not much more that £5 each!
But there is even better news!
When I was discussing the Pay Pal procedure with my sister, to arrange for us to pay what we owed her she said that Phil had said he wanted to give them to the church to help us as we were starting out on this new, big venture; they wanted to be a part of it!

Incredible. We were overwhelmed by their kindness! We have assured them that as they have blessed this work of God's in this way, God will bless them as that's His way! 
So thank you everyone for your part in this chair drama! We are so excited as we see 21 seats that will have people on them in the very near future! As my sister said when I told her we would be announcing their gift to the church (very small church at present!) on Sunday, her reply we ...."from little acorns.....!"


Watch this space. Or should I say, watch these chairs...as God fills them!

Preparing for the Great Book Giveaway!

There was quite a bit of organising once the books the had arrived and I dread to think of the logistical nightmare it must have been to allocate one million books around the country.

Each book has its own unique reference number, so that once read, if the book is passed on and logged on to the Book Night site, as explained in the back cover, then each book can be tracked. So each of my 48 books has its number and point of giving in the back. Exciting!

It was wonderful to be a part of it all.

I wonder if there will be coverage in the Examiner and Courier as was suggested?

Exciting Meetings Planned - Do Join Us!

Visit of Jan and Chantal Oosthuizen
April 1st-4th 2011 

Friday April 1st  
Blackley Baptist Church Centre : 7.30pm - 10pm
HX5 0TD   
(www.blackleychurch.org.uk )


Saturday April 2nd 
Norwood Green Village Hall: 9.30am - 1.30pm
HX3 8QT 
(http://www.multimap.com/maps/?qs=HX3+8QN&countryCode=GB)


Sunday April 3rd
Norwood Green Village Hall: 10.30am - 1.00pm


 Apostle Jan and Prophet Chantal are visiting the UK in March/April and are willing to visit us and minister in what ever way they can into our church.
We have met this wonderful couple on several occasions in South Africa and are so excited to be able to host them here in Yorkshire. We can't encourage you enough to make a date to come and spend some time with them and benefit from their powerful ministries.
They oversee and pastor three churches in Olifantsriviervallei, two of which we had the privilege of visiting during our three month stay in Cape Town. Citrusdal is a beautiful place and we were made very welcome there when Duncan ministered there and also in Clan William which is a bit further up the valley. 
 Do come and be with us if you possibly can!

Toast to HRI!

We distributed the 48 copies of "Toast" to the staff, patients and some visitors in the hospital yesterday and we were very well received.
We began on the enquiry desk, then on to the shop before going on to a couple of wards. A doctor going down the stairs was accosted with the question:"Would you like a free book?" and was pleased to accept one and a lot of nurses were also very pleased to take a copy off our hands.Patients and visitors were left smiling and in one case I apologised to a man in his bed as he seemed to have lost his visitor as she was deep in her copy as we left the ward!
A thoroughly enjoyable experience and we look forward to being able to track the travels of the copies we have given out, as each of the million books has its own unique identifying number written in the back.
A mammoth task; a mammoth occasion and an absolute success. Well done World Book Night organisers. Look forward to next year!

I'm A Celebrity....Get Me INTO Here!

I was photographed at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary yesterday so that the World Book Night Give Away could be a positive piece of news in the NHS News magazine. I expected it to be in an office somewhere but not a bit of it...oh no, in the middle of the busy waiting area under the fairly curious scrutiny of patients, visitors and staff as they waited, ate sandwiches, read newspapers and enjoyed the 'entertainment' of me posing nervously beside the stack of copies of toast! Nervous on two counts - being the target of the 'Paparazzi' (well 3 cameras flashing away!) and also nervous as I expected the pile of books to fall at any moment as they were none too stable!
So the big day is tomorrow and we are going to distribute this fantastic book on the wards to staff and patients, in a bid to get a book into the hands of the people and get the nation reading. I have to add a unique reference number into the back of each copy so that the million books that are being given away can be tracked! How exciting is that?!
And this morning I received two book plates signed by the man himself - my hero of the kitchen (male! Nigella and Lorraine Pascal vying for first place in the female category!) Nigel Slater ! He has personally signed these book plates and I am so chuffed! The only problem is...obviously one goes in a copy of Toast but which of my collection of Nigel's recipe books gets the other one? Decisions, decisions!

Orangutan and the Hound

Orangutan and the Hound

First Day!

Well, I've just waved Duncan off - his first day at school again! Bags bulging with lap top, books, resources, high lighter pens, sandwiches, tea bags, mug, AQA anthology.....all the necessary requirements of a teacher.
It's been a long year. In fact, it's been more than a year since Duncan was "employed". So it is with relief that we now have a source of income to pay the mortgage and still have the time to build the church - Harvester Reformational Church Halifax - blog link below. This will be his 'tent making'.
The teaching job was so incredibly God's provision and isn't Duncan's first calling as he has been called by God to "Reform, reform, reform", but he is a teacher of great talent and skill and God will use him in this school I have no doubt. He will be brilliant and that's not just the biased opinion of the wife who loves him, but a fact.
Yesterday he went in to school to go through the resources and was received by the pupils with warmth and affection; he will soon be a part of the furniture I'm sure. And his lessons...they'll rock! No boring fodder from my husband, no! He has all sorts of little bits and bobs to stimulate them and keep their interest. He prepared it all last night but even as he was walking out of the door he thought of a Simon Armitage poem that he could just toss into the lesson for the fun of it!
Simon Armitage - did I ever tell you that I taught Simon Armitage? Yep, taught him all he knows!!!