Romfest - Sunday 26 September 2010

A colourful carnival procession, led by a life-size mechanical steel elephant, will be making its way through Romford Market Place this month as part of Romfest, an event to celebrate Havering's Cultural Olympiad and the London Week of Peace.

More than 200 youngsters from across Havering will be taking part in the procession, which has been put together by arts company Emergency Exit Arts and the Grand Union Youth Orchestra.

Entitled 'Carnival to Silk Road', it will bring together hundreds of local people and will feature elements of world music, dance and design from Caribbean, Chinese, Indian and Eastern European cultures, culminating with a performance on the main stage.

Dancers and musicians from Abbs Cross and Frances Bardsley Schools will join the procession, as will primary school children and around 30 youngsters who took part in a summer carnival club at Fairkytes Arts Centre, where they prepared their carnival costumes and learnt music and dance routines.

Read more here from LB Havering's website

Ideas for things to do in September

Here's a round up of some things to do in September:

From Friday 3 to Sunday 5, (and the first weekend of every month) at the South Bank by the Royal Festival Hall, the Real Food Market takes place. There may also be a Real Food Festival later in the month (23 to 26).

From Thursday 9 to Sunday 12, the third annual Kings Place Festival takes place (near Kings Cross). This is the only event I’m mentioning in this post that costs. One hundred 45-minute concerts in four days, including classical, contemporary, blues, avant-garde, world, folk, jazz and spoken word. Each concert costs £4.50 online (check website for discounts available) and performances will run from morning to midnight. New at the festival this year: the Rotunda's Food Market (see website for more details).

Also, on Saturday 11 and Sunday 12, there is the Thames Festival. To pick out just two events: on Saturday, the Feast on the Bridge takes place on Southwark Bridge. On Sunday, there are fireworks between Waterloo and Blackfriars bridges. Click those links to find out more ... and to find out about much more going on at the festival besides!

On Saturday 18 and Sunday 19, there is the Open House London weekend. Over 700 buildings new and old all over London celebrate design excellence by opening their doors at no charge to the public, all within 48 hours. There are also neighbourhood walks, architects’ talks, cycle tours and more. If you are at all interested, you should be able to get a guide from your local library. You can also check out locations online.

A bit more Fairtrade coverage on TV

Here's one way to get some good Fairtrade coverage on TV:

http://www.battlefront.co.uk/12th-campaigner/play-fair-pay-fair/

The BBC looks at the benefits of Fairtrade chocolate

From the BBC website earlier this week:

It has been 18 months since Cadbury began using only Fairtrade cocoa to make its Dairy Milk bars.

The Fairtrade system means farmers get a premium for their cocoa, and the price they are paid never falls below a living wage.

So, what has this change meant for cocoa farmers in Ghana and what does the future hold after the Kraft takeover of Cadbury?

David Gregory has been finding out.

Havering Mela - Sunday 27 June

Emma's 40th Birthday picnic-party...

Here's the moment that Emma discovered 'Lavender Bear', her birthday present from Rosi & Jon.

81 people turned up in Lodge Farm Park for a rain-free Sunday afternoon - family and friends from all over the place. Thanks so much to everyone for coming! We ate plenty of food, played plenty of games (including new favourite, 'Kubb'!) and generally had plenty of fun. :)

For anyone who may be randomly reading... let me introduce some of our little community who happened to be 'caught on camera' that afternoon;

Firstly, Esme and Lewis enjoying ice creams...





Richy, Rosi, Jon and Dan playing Kubb...







The Newman Bros (the littler ones) - Oscar and Thomas...





The lovely Hewitts, Anna and Tim...





Wendy and Karen, Sue and Caroline, Sarah and Ian, Angel and baby-Charlie...

















Anyone got any more pics? Lots missing... :)

24 hours of prayer

From Friday to Saturday, we gathered to pray. Click across to Phil's blog for a short report and a few more pics.

The London Fairtrade Festival: May 9-11

Something you may want to do at the weekend (fitting around helping Tim and Anna move!)

prayer @ Newman's/Toggies...

We're continuing our monthly rhythm of 24-hour prayer next weekend, kicking off at midday on Saturday 6th and ending at midday on Sunday 7th March (and then we'll be at Clare and David's house for community meal from 12.30pm - please let them know if you're going to be there).

I'll email out the rota for our 24-hours of prayer a little bit later. If we fill it up really quickly, we might add an extra 12/24 hours and start on the Friday instead... but let's see how we do with what we've got first.

To follow-on with the way we've been praying this past couple of weeks, we'd like to describe this prayer room as a 'waiting room'... space to wait on God, to listen out for revelation... even regarding things that we've been wondering and praying and talking about for some time. So come with that in mind.

We'll probably also take some time over the weekend to respond to the bit in Justin's prophetic word to us about Romford train station... would you like to take a little prayer-wander down there sometime?

Let's pray...

prayer spaces in schools, Coopers Coburn

In less than 18 months, we've now had six whole weeks of prayer in secondary schools... and there are at least 3 or 4 more to go before the Summer break. Last week, I joined in with the re:generation guys for our first week in Coopers Coburn School, where Caroline Shepherd used to be a student!

I'm going to post some more thoughts and reflections on my blog a bit later, but as a summary - it was amazing, yet again. The Head of RS popped in before we'd even finished packing the room down on the Friday afternoon to show us an email she'd sent to the Head teacher, with a list of recommendations for how to keep the momentum going. Waaaaaay beyond what we'd hoped.

Please keep praying for me, and for others involved in this stuff. For Caroline and probably Sue as they explore taking the 'Unseen Traffik' show into Coopers. For me - I'm speaking at a Havering youth workers forum next Saturday, and I'm also up to my neck in all this with 24-7 nationally. Fun fun fun...

Newsy bits and bobs...

It was fun to be together at Sarah & Dewi's today for our community meal. There were a bunch of dates and newsy bits and bobs, so I thought it might be worth posting them up here...

Please pray for Phil and others who are hosting a prayer space in Coopers (secondary) School, Upminster this week (22nd - 26th). This is the third 'prayer spaces in school' week since September, and there are at least four more in our Borough before July. Amazing stuff!

And please pray for Rich, who's doing a Fair Trade presentation tomorrow. See below for all the info on Fair Trade fortnight which starts today.

Izzy is one of 24-7's Wild Goose interns this year, and she'll be staying with the Toggies/Newmans from Monday 22nd till Thursday 25th. Say hello if you bump into her.

Monday 22nd: creative/craft circle at Toggies/Newmans from 7.30pm. Anyone is welcome to come and join in... either to share a creative skill, or learn one, or just join in/watch. Lots of fun.

Tuesday 23rd: prayer at Rosi & Jon's, from 8.30pm

Thursday 25th: Unseen Traffick follow up evening, at The Deeper Lounge beside St Edwards Church in Romford market-place, from 7.30pm - whether you saw the Unseen Traffick show back in November or not, if you're interested in 'human trafficking' in any way, you're very welcome to come along. Caroline Shepherd and Sue & Drew are hosting an session to explore human trafficking a little more, and to consider how we can engage in challenging this injustice, beginning locally.

Sunday 28th: Mandy Moo (ex-Wild Goose intern - she's already visited us a few times) coming to stay with Anna & Tim for a month, to 'check us/Romford out', and to decide whether to move here permanently. Be hospitable. Invite her for dinner.

prayer weekend... we'll be praying for at least 24 hours (maybe more) between Friday 5th and Sunday 7th March. Any preferences/thoughts?