Bricklaying on the Sanctuary apses

The bricklaying continues according to the programme.

The Sanctuary apses look really beautiful with the bricks on them.

In actual fact the bricks bring warmth to the building, while the concrete is just a cold building material.

Around the Sanctuary windows the bricklayers build red colour bricks.

This obviously gives a different effect to the wall surface and looks really nice.

Bricklaying one level up

The bricklaying has been moved one level up.

The bricklayers are now working on a platform which is about 2 metres from ground level.

There are more bricklayers working now in our Church and they are concentrating in advancing the works.

They come originally from Ireland, and they are well qualified in this kind of work.

All works on the base of the dome and on the barrel roof have been completed today.

The scaffolding on the roof has now been removed and all other materials are now being taken away from there.

Microphones and speakers

An important meeting had taken place yesterday at our new Church. Those present included the Parish Priest, Mr. Christos Orthodoxou, Mr. James Iyengar of Moonlite Productions Ltd, as well as some of our electrical engineers.

The main topic of our discussion was the microphones and the speakers for our new Church.

This is a very complicated issue which requires a lot of expertise on behalf of our experienced engineers and all those involved in our great project.

We hope to have everything arranged, as far as the sound system is concerned, within the next two weeks.

Ibex - Construction Programme

The new company (Ibex) that has taken over our project and will lead it up to its completion has announced its Construction Programme.

It is about the “External Finishes and Fit Out” of our Church.

The Programme may be seen at the entrance of our building site.

Photo of the week - 33

There was no visible development from last week's photo that could be recorded on this picture; the reason being that the works (mainly bricklaying and electricals) are actually being done behind the hoarding.

The Ecumenical Patriarch’s Blessing

His All Holiness Patriarch Bartholomew, Archbishop of Constantinople, New Rome and Ecumenical Patriarch is the Head of the Holy Orthodox Church, which numbers about 300 million members around the world.

He is a great spiritual figure of our age, who takes important initiatives, especially in regard to the environment. This is why he is called “The Green Patriarch”. It is a great honour for us to have such a great man as our Patriarch.

He has recently sent a kind epistle to Mr. Pantelis Demosthenous, the President of our Community and he expresses his joy for the great project that our Community has undertaken. The Patriarch has bestowed unreservedly upon our Community his sacred blessing.

He congratulates the President as well as all our parishioners for the building of our new Church and concludes by praying to our Lord to grant to us all His grace and mercy.

Great Benefactors on site

Today we had the honour of welcoming to our building site some of the Great Benefactors of our Church and Community.

The very successful businessman Mr. Panicos Herodotou (from Romania), his son from Cyprus, the Chairman to the Association of the Greek Communities in Great Britain Mr. Kypros Nicolas (from North London), accompanied by the President of our Community, Mr. Pantelis Demosthenous, had visited our new Church today.

They were shown around by the Project Manager Mr. Trevor Dean.

“It is a real miracle”, they all said and they promised to support the building process up to the end.

Archbishop Gregorios in our Church

Our Archbishop Gregorios of Thyateira and Great Britain had paid a surprise visit last night.

As I was driving out of our Church’s parking to go to a prearranged appointment I saw him walking on Winckley Close. He was accompanied by Mr. Andreas Ioannou.

He had come to see the progress of our building works. It was very nice to see him and to be able to show him around the new Church.

He was amazed with the works and the progress made so far. He was interested to see all sides of the building and observe many of the building materials. He asked questions about various details and walked all around the interior visualising how the Church will be when it will be completed.

Finally he gave his blessing for the speedy and successful completion of our building programme.

Our Architect visits his “poem”

Michael Neocleous, of Papa Architects Ltd., London, visited the Church that he has designed and built, took some pictures and then he had sent two of them to me with the following message:

“My sister is a photographer and I invited her to take a couple of photographs last week and I just thought I’d share them with you.

The church has a fantastic diverse quality of light and form. It’s very dynamic”.

A tour around the building site

I thought of uploading today various pictures from all around the building site.

The brick work seems to be going quite well.

At the back of the Church, on the Sanctuary apses show very nicely.

On the Harrow site it is also developing rapidly, with two bricklayers working there.

On the Kingsbury site one bricklayer produces a nice brick-wall as well.

Inside the Church an electrician is doing his own work.

The roof of the building has been covered with waterproofing liquid material.

Photo of the week - 32

Last week I was in a Conference. Thus, I didn’t take the usual “photo of the week”. This picture is the 32nd one from the beginning of the building works. The new element for this week is the RIW - waterproofing black material that covers the whole of the roof, in order to protect it properly. Not to mention the red van, which appears to have been parked in front of the Church almost permanently.

Bricks go up

It is really very good to see the bricklaying progressing according to the programme.

The bricklayer, another dedicated member of our building company, is actually producing a nice result out there.

In the next picture you will see the width of the wall, with the concrete, the insulation and the bricks added together.

Our Buy a Brick Fundraising Appeal goes quite well so far. But we definitely need some more people to come forward and contribute towards the building of this magnificent place of worship.

A meeting

Today we had a meeting at our building site, which later continued at our Vicarage.

Representatives of our Community Council had met various Engineers, as well as the builders on site.

Electricals, air-conditioning and heating, was some of the topics that had been discussed.

The President of our Community Mr. Pantelis Demosthenous had met with His Beatitude the Archbishop Ieronymos of Athens the day before yesterday and informed him in person about our sacred project.

VIP visitors

Two VIP visitors came today to see with their own eyes our great project.

They are two excellent and exceptionally talented priests of our Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Thyateira and Great Britain.

These are Fr. Emilianos Papadakis (on the right), Parish Priest at Kingston and Fr. Athenagoras Athanasiou, Parish Priest at Leyton.

Thomas Sunday

Though the doors were shut at the dwelling where the disciples were gathered for fear of the Jews on the evening of the Sunday after the Passover, our Saviour wondrously entered and stood in their midst, and greeted them with His customary words, "Peace be unto you." Then He showed unto them His hands and feet and side; furthermore, in their presence, He took some fish and a honeycomb and ate before them, and thus assured them of His bodily Resurrection. But Thomas, who was not then present with the others, did not believe their testimony concerning Christ's Resurrection, but said in a decisive manner, "Except I shall see in His hands the print of the nails, and put my finger into the print of the nails, and thrust my hand into His side, I will not believe." Wherefore after eight days, that is, on this day, when the disciples were again gathered together and Thomas was with them, the Lord Jesus came while the doors were shut, as He did formerly. Standing in their midst, He said, "Peace be unto you"; then He said to Thomas, "Bring hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and bring hither thy hand, and thrust it into My side: and be not unbelieving, but believing." And Thomas, beholding and examining carefully the hands and side of the Master, cried out with faith, "My Lord and my God." Thus he clearly proclaimed the two natures -human and divine- of the God-man (Luke 24:36-49; John 20:19-29).

This day is called Antipascha (meaning "in the stead of Pascha," not "in opposition to Pascha") because with this day, the first Sunday after Pascha, the Church consecrates every Sunday of the year to the commemoration of Pascha, that is, the Resurrection.

Fr. Anastasios, the administrator of this blog, will be away at a Conference for a few days. Therefore there will be no new posts uploaded here until this coming Wednesday.

Dome triangles

The Dome triangles are being prepared.

Soon they will be ready; thus completing the concrete frame of the building.

A sample brick wall has just been built at the entrance of the building site.

It shows the kind of bricks to be used at our walls, as well as the way that they will be built.