Ονόματα χορηγών

Στη διάρκεια της ανέγερσης του νεόδμητου Ιερού Ναού μας, προσκαλέσαμε τα μέλη και τους φίλους της Κοινότητάς μας να γίνουν χορηγοί του ιερού και ιστορικού έργου μας, προσφέροντας £1000.

Συγκεκριμένα κάναμε μια εκστρατεία με το σύνθημα BUY A BRICK, έτσι ώστε όσοι θα προσέφεραν £1000 θα είχαν τη χαρά να δουν το όνομά τους χαραγμένο σε ένα τούβλο πάνω στον Ιερό Ναό μας.

Αυτό άρχισε ήδη να πραγματοποιείται. Σήμερα τοποθετούνται στην κεντρική κόγχη του Ιερού Βήματος τούβλα με ονόματα χορηγών χαραγμένα πάνω τους.

North side

The north (or Harrow) side of our new Church building needs some more work done. Some bricks have to be fixed on the arches there.

This work is being done at the moment by two Romanian young men, who are very committed workers.

Dan is cutting the bricks with a special tool and then Adrian puts them in place.

Adrian likes being photographed and asked me today to take again some pictures of him and he also asked me to give him those pictures, which I did.

Walls erected

The work at the first floor of the Community Centre is going very well.

Yesterday, Barney and his team of brick layers, finished with the erecting of the walls.

They have done an excellent job and showed clearly their professionalism and commitment.

Now they are ready to put the roof on and then we shall be close to completion.

We are really very happy with this development, as it is a project which is greatly needed for our Community and its Schools.

Floor day

It is only one day away from the Official Opening, which is to take place tomorrow evening, from 6.00 pm.

Many works have obviously to be done still, as this is a major project.

It seems like the main concern today is the floor, both outside and inside our new Church.

Black tarmac is spread out and levelled throughout the front yard of the building.

At the back of the Church special workers are laying there a brick surface.

Inside the Church the marble specialists are placing the last marble plaques on the floor.

More doors, marbles and wall

The works are continuing intensively, as we are reaching the final week, before the official opening.

The three carpenters from Cyprus are working hard fitting doors in their places.

Both outside as well as inside doors are being put in place.

The little Church Office has now its own door leading into the main Church.

The marble specialists are still working in the interior, producing some real pieces of art.

The Irish bricklayers are working outside, preparing the new front wall.

Front wall and drains

It is time for the front wall to be erected.

Bricklayers have started working and they are hoping to complete it by next week.

At the same time plumbers are working on the side and at the back of the Church sorting out the drains.

The good thing is that the weather is really complimentary to us, although some of us have got the spring flu and we are hoping to get over it soon.

New wood-carved doors

Today we had a really full day, from early in the morning until late.

Paddy and Vassile were involved in preparing the steps for the Sanctuary.

Then a lorry came and brought wood-carved doors from Cyprus.

Although not a lot of pieces they were very heavy and we were less people than the other day, when the lorry brought the icon-screen from Thessaloniki.

So, it was quite a big job to unload the lorry and store the doors inside the new Church.

It was mainly young members of our Community who had help on this.

Nicos, Vassilis, Marios, Adrian and Dan, accompanied by Fr. Anastasios, as well as by some members of the older generation, had worked hard.

It is worth noting that all those people they helped on a voluntary basis.

Therefore we are really grateful to them for their valuable assistance.

In the evening Fr. Anastasios (behind the camera) and Mr. Pantelis Demosthenous, the President of our Community were invited to talk on the London Greek Radio about our sacred project.

Mainly outside

Inside the Church today we had the marble specialists who were fitting the marble tiles on the floor. The electricians were also working in the Church Office:

Outside though there was a lot of activity. Many lorries brought today various materials. The brick layers were building on the Kingsbury side of the Church:

Others were digging in order to place the pipes, which are to be used for the various electrical cables:

Mr. Christos Orthodoxou was dealing with the people who will soon start building the front wall:

All specialists in place, working hard to make sure that the Church will soon be ready to use for our worship.

Saturday works

The weather was quite good today. Therefore various kinds of works were actually taking place, both inside and outside our new Church. The plasterer was working in the Church office. He has nearly finished there.

Paddy and his group were building the brick fence; they have almost completed it.

And finally, our foreman Mic was “playing with his mechanical toys”. Only joking!!!

The brick fence continues

The brick layers are here today progressing the brick fence on the Harrow side of our new Church.

The Irish Paddy and the Romanian Vasile, accompanied by the foreman Mic are doing a good job there.

They estimate to complete the building of the fence in the next few days.

Tomorrow our congregation will have the chance to enter the new Church and have a look at the interior, after the morning Service, which will be celebrated at our temporary Church, and will be presided over by His Eminence Chrysostomos, the Metropolitan Bishop of Kition (Larnaka - Cyprus).

The brick fence on the side

On the Harrow side of our new Church a brick fence is nicely being built.

The brick layers are working there every day the last few days.

It really looks impressive and it is certainly a nice part of the new building site.

We are sure that our next door neighbours will be very pleased with that fence as well.

Facade bricklayed

Rich sunshine today in our area. The time has now come for the facade to get bricklayed.

An English proverb says that “the eyes are the window to the soul”, while a similar Greek proverb goes “the face is the mirror of the soul”.

In any case the face is extremely important; not just the face of a person but of a building as well. It definitely tells you something (if not a lot) about the essence and the character of that place.

And if a building is a place of worship then you would expect the face (or facade) to tell you at least something of the faith that is professed by the people worshiping there. In time this will become very obvious.

A smile sent to Ireland

Brick arches are today installed on the windows of the Sanctuary apses.

Paddy, the brick layer, is smiling to his relatives in Ireland.

He expects them to see him on our blog as he helps to build a place of worship.

He seemed to be very proud about it; and we are very happy to have people like him working in our sacred project.