Yes, this week has been a tremendous time of team-building for our budding assistants as they have masterly assembled some of the toughest furniture known to man. Some say it's harder than solving a rubik's cube blindfolded. Yes, it's Ikea. Drawers, cupboards and seating, our assistants knuckled down, got their screwdrivers in hand, and for the most part scratched their heads in perplexion while reading the instruction manuals, but in the end the dedicated men and women at Heathside were left with a real sense of fulfillment.
Fitting curtains. |
Some of the assistants were okay at assembling furniture. |
Self-satisfaction. |
After bigging up the teamwork of making furniture to sound like a Hollywood epic - granted, a very dull one - we move onto our community gathering that took place at Heathside on the evening of Tuesday 20th November. We focused particularly on what we can do as a community in the upcoming time of Advent. It was a great time of fellowship and a chance for some of the long-established members of the community to meet some of the new assistants. It was also a great opportunity for us all to hear about (and see the photographs!) of different stages of the development of the house.
From this:
To this:
On Sunday night I was promoting the work of L'Arche Manchester at the evening student's mass at Holy Name Church - a church widely known by avid fans of the Smiths as it is immortalised in song (in "Vicar in a Tutu" Morrissey quips "I was minding my business lifting some lead off the roof of The Holy Name church"), followed by a meal and fellowship at the Catholic chaplaincy, Avila House. I am returning there on Wednesday 28th November - at 7pm to talk in more depth about L'Arche and our hopes for our new community here in Manchester. Drop in if you're free!
That's all for this week.