Bricks on the Bell Tower

All external walls sooner or later will have the honour of becoming well bricked.

Today 3 of our bricklayers with the assistance of some workers are all around the Bell Tower.

The weather is very good, interchanging between sunshine and cloudy.

Therefore the work continues without any problem.

Through the windows

Going up the roof of the new Church it is quite an experience.

It is certainly frightening if you are not used to heights.

Obviously you get the chance of looking all around the general area. So you get a feeling at least of the neighbourhood and you can understand better the area map.

What I discovered though by going up the top, and by walking with some difficulty around the ring of the Dome, is that I could see through the windows into the interior of the Church.

The Church appeared then quite big and the height (of about 17 metres) even higher than what the actual figure says.

Bricklaying around the Dome

The process of bricklaying around the Dome is continuing.

In some parts the bricklayers are building the square base, while in another part they’ve started the octagonal one.

A lot of materials have been lifted up there by the crane.

There are a lot of other materials though that are taken up there by the assistant builders themselves.

The view is certainly spectacular, but it is frightening as well, especially for those who fear the heights.

Bottles

Our new Church is not yet a place of worship. It is still a building site.

Therefore it is full with many building materials as well as other things that are needed by the engineers and the workers.

Lately the weather has been excellent and it is rather quite warm.

So, the building staff uses -as they should- many cold drinks, water etc.

The bottles remain in our building site and sometimes they appear as part of the decoration.

Photo of the week - 37

Lovely weather today in NW London. Some of the workers at our new Church are complaining that it is very hot for them. Work is progressing in bricklaying, especially on the Harrow side of the building, which is not visible in this picture.

Elvis Night

Tonight we organised a Fundraising Event - Elvis Night, at Van Antonis Greek Restaurant in Hatch End. Hospitality was offered at the restaurant by its owner Mr. Anthony Anastasiou and the Manager Mr. Polycarpos Aconas. The members of our Community's Youth Dept. Panayiotis Argyrou and Demetris Salapatas as well as others had offered their service free of charge. Elvis' impersonator Marios Kombou had also offered his music free, in support of our Church project.

Fr. Anastasios and the President of our Community Mr. Pantelis Demosthenous had offered presents to the owner and the Manager of the Restaurant, as well as to Marios Kombou, for their wholehearted contribution.

The food was delicious, the music excellent; all the people very happy and joyful. Another very successful event for our Church and Community.

Saturday of Souls

Today in our Holy Orthodox Tradition it is the Day of the Souls.

In the morning we celebrated a Divine Liturgy at our Church.

Then we visited the local Cemetery (Pinner New) where we have Section N dedicated as a Greek Orthodox Cemetery.

Many of our Parishioners came there and we sung Memorial Services for our beloved departed.

We were actually blessed with a beautiful weather, of 25 Celcius, and therefore everything went well and in accordance with our customs.

Bricks all around

Today we commemorate in our Orthodox Church the memory of Sts. Constantine and Helen.

After the morning Divine Liturgy I walked all around our building site and I was pleased to see all our bricklayers and their assistants with smiling faces.

They were very happy with the marvellous weather we have today (22 Celsius).

As they had explained to me this is the best possible weather for the bricklaying.

It is a great joy to see all sides of our new Church being bricked nicely.

The Harrow side of the building has -I think- the greatest progress, in regard to bricklaying.

Today the main bricklaying was actually taking place at the back, where the Sanctuary apses are.

Visit to Mr. Costas Sakellarios

Today we had the honour of visiting Mr. Costas Sakellarios and had an interesting meeting with him.

Fr. Anastasios, our Architect Mr. Michael Neocleous, our Treasurer Mr. Soteris Constantinou and Mr. Christos Orthodoxou visited the company Pisani Group, owned by a Greek man, Mr. Sakellarios.

This company specialises in marble works. We had an interesting initial meeting about the marbles we are going to use on the floor of our new Church. Mr. Sakellarios was very helpful and supportive towards our sacred project. We shall meet again soon in order to organise and finalise our cooperation in this matter.

Gloves

As I walk around the building site of our new Church I find various little things scattered here and there.

Some of them are in use by the workers, others not.

Collecting these pictures is like collecting stamps.

They have an interest only to those who value them.

Today I present the gloves.

I have other “things” as well.

They will come around... in time.

The building of the Office continues...

The Church Office is taking shape as a separate room slowly - slowly.

Today we can see the window as well as the outside door.

A look of the Office from the Church’s roof gives another view of it and of its size.

Our previous Project Manager, Andy Hogan, came to visit our Church and ourselves today and took also some materials that he needed at his new work place.

It was nice to see Andy again and to catch up with some news, related to work developments as well as to family matters.