Living in Bute Gardens has enabled me to get to know the Hammersmith area well. I realise how fortunate I am in being within walking distance of the churches of Holy Trinity, Brook Green and St. Augustine’s, with their plentiful supply of weekday and Sunday Masses. I can also easily get to Nazareth House where I find the 10. a.m. daily Mass with the residents a moving experience.
Someone asked me “How are you enjoying retirement?” I lamely replied “Very much, thank you” being somewhat unwilling to continue the conversation by explaining that, even though I am arriving at my Diamond Jubilee of First Vows, I don’t consider myself retired, and I hope I never will: there is always more to do for others.
Many people coming from Heathrow get off the Piccadilly Line at Hammersmith. Many are grateful for directions, and basic French comes in useful at times!
Away from Bute Gardens I am a trustee of the London Ecumenical AIDS Trust, a member of the Westminster Diocesan Education commission, and a governor of St. John’s Beaumont. Contact with families, some local, some further afield is also very fulfilling, and the ‘telephone ministry’ with past Digby Stuart students and Woldingham ‘old girls’ brings encouraging responses.
Near weekly contacts with Duchesne bring much by way of receiving and giving in the building of community. Just as the Charity Commission concerns the welfare of members of the Society, so, it seems to me, that must be the first of all our loving commitments to each other.
As to the general noise and hassle of Hammersmith, the almost constant sirens, Fire engines, Ambulances and Police cars are also a constant call to prayer for whoever needs help or is in trouble, as well as for those activating the klaxons. “Lord, be with them, whatever the need and wherever you are called to be”.
Bute Gardens is ideally placed as a base for a variety of mission and ministry activities. It is a privilege to be in London with so many people and I have no hesitation in confirming that this is where I feel God’s call for me to live with its particular small humanising space: the garden!
