Having concluded many happy and fruitful days as continuous cruisers Sandra and I have settled in the delightful wharf side town of Devizes.
We have the challenge of devising a suitable evolutionary timetable for ourselves and are busy integrating ourselves into St James’ church, which has strong service traditions towards boaters and an outward looking push for a growing congregation in the broadest of inclusive terms.
To date Sandra continues to be an integral part of the Waterways Chaplaincy here too and is using her ordained status to deliver regular services, an outreach programme and co-ordination of ‘house’ groups as well as a growing animation in pastoral and prayer matters.
I am hoping to be able to engage with the new employees in churches along the long pound in order to support their engagement with the canal community by increased animation within the parish congregations. We have had some encouraging meetings but trying to start a new home, sell a boat and the summer season has meant a slow start.
We are encouraged that the partnership between the church and CM and WWC which serviced ‘shower Tuesday’ for boaters last winter is being re-trialled with longer hours and a booked spaces system on Fridays…. And are starting to help the Church, which is very close to the canal, to accept that the services on the wharf bring boaters into town regularly enough to warrant a closer look.
Together with Rob and Trish Munday, we are trialling a long pound use of Litania this autumn. She is ‘on the way up here’ (almost certainly arrived by now!) and early meetings with St James’ are encouraging. The challenge is to spread the load widely enough to avoid it becoming a burden for anyone and to do it quickly enough that the pilot can yield data and create expectation. The church is providing the services of a pioneer minister and hosting a Tuesday evening prayer vision session. Early Litania exposures are hosting some Sunday morning church groups, prayer on the boat sessions, offering praying from the boat into the wharf passers by. To follow are a series of exposure / fun ‘use of Litania’ sessions to introduce the potential to as wide a group as possible and more targeted activities aimed at ‘capacity building’ for the Litania management group. (making a promotional video, help moving the boat for more isolated individuals and existing small friendship groups, targeting pastoral need etc.)
Litania’s traditional resourcing of social and spiritual need responses will continue in a more limited capacity but the fuel boat business is very excited about it’s arrival and we are hoping to involve them as a specialist referral point – which was what NB Ocho was able to provide by it’s life within the K&A west community. Rob and Trish will be ‘holidaying’ on the long pound for a while – for which we are very grateful, and continue to provide the link to the health based uses which have been such a valued part of Litania’s presence in the community since Covid.
We are excited by the possibility of forming a supported group of Christians with garden moorings where Litania can rest when away from its formal mooring.
My outreach to Boaters looks like involving them in wildlife initiatives aimed at healing attitudes towards the Canal and River Trust and majoring on ‘living the dream’. I am hoping to introduce ‘long pound’ church members by them reapplying ‘the Wiltshire Council’s Boaters’ survey’ which they have recently asked us to become involved in responding to. For fitness, after boating, Sandra and I volunteer on the Caen Hill flight.
Graham and Sandra Meadows