Welcome Home

Did you know that  in July 1973, Peter's and Lee had a number record with 'Welcome Home'. Thought not!!!

Well it was fantastic for us three to be welcomed at Luton by Jane and her placard saying Happy Birthday at 12:15 last night. Capt Wizz actually got his plane and passengers in on time after all our doubts. However what we saw of Bucharest's 'second' airport yesterday left us hoping we would be on our way without any delay, and so it proved.

I drove non stop and dropped Dad at Holmes Chapel and Steve in Altrincham and I am sure their other halves are delighted to have them back

So back home now, another year older, I became 53 in the queue at the UK Border Agency at Luton. Very very thankful for an amazing experience for all of us, no major calamaties, safe travelling etc etc.

Homeward bound

So that's just about all from Romania, if you have read the Blog and seen the pictures you will know that all three of us have had a wonderful time out here.

At the beginning when we arrived, I think it's fair to say that we were all taken aback by the conditions in the village. We looked into the houses, both existing and new and found the situations of each family quite challenging and so very different from ours. But over the period we have been here, in a strange way we have become accustomed to what's around us. Each day we go into the village we have been greeted with an engaging smile and friendly handshakes, even high fives from the children. The children are always the most enthusiastic. We have therefore become much more relaxed about what we have been seeing.

The pictures don't tell the whole story of the incidents, family stories, and tensions that exist amongst the Roma.

All in all, 'The Firm' have been given a very special welcome into the lives of the people, (I think that is true for all volunteers who come out here) but we feel that has definitely happened to us.

As thoughts turn to the Wizz Air flight from Bucharest and arriving home, I can say that there is hope here amid the poor people. Some of the Roma are working really hard to improve their lives and lift others up. Daniels dream and vision for the Roma people remains strong through the work of FAST, so long as he can inspire others and share the heavy load he carries with others, then hope will burn bright.

So our time is up here in Romania. We are due to arrive in Luton on Saturday just after midnight, Jane has promised to meet us and we have a long drive back north in the early hours!!

It will be wonderful to be home again with loved ones and friends, we have all learned so much from each other and the people we have met. Thanks for the prayers and the gifts of money which you can now see being spent on Better Homes.

Thanks to Liz, Daniel and Ema, Petr, George and Avram and many others for wonderful kindness and generous hospitality. Thanks to my two companions, Tom(Steve) and Walter (Dad), I was going to come here on my own but you gate crashed my trip, and I am very glad you did!

And Finally..... thanks to readers of this Blog out there, wherever and who ever you are!!

Over and out.

Zeii pacea fie cu voi cu toţi

Gods peace be with you all.

I believe in the sun, even when it is not shining.
I believe in love, even when I feel it not.
I believe in God, even when He is silent. 

Hat's off, hats on!

Here is the family (Cornel and Mariana) who will be very soon living in the new house

that we have made and erected this week.

Inside the work of putting up plaster board has been manfully (oops sorry Kathryn, well done for coping with all the men!) done by the team from Plymouth. Inside walls insulated, plasterboarded and ceilings nearly finished, windows fitted and door also, well done guys.

Meanwhile, ‘The Firm’ have come to the end of their work, it’s 4pm and we have knocked off early (typical Friday afternoon) so that we can take the three hour trip to Bucharest.

So we had a special ceremony this afternoon with Petr, Avram and George outside the house.

Actually it meant handing over our trade mark hats to our three fantastic work colleagues who we have enjoyed working with all week.

Hats handed over to the new "Firm"

No longer are we Tom, Walter and Jack, long live ‘The Firm’ hats off to them.

Just look at the face on George!!!

Hats on to welcome the new ‘Firm’.

Go boys, onwards and upwards!!!

The little house on day 4

Obviously....... if its Thursday it must be time to put the roof on!!! Progress continued really well. Tom and Walter both left me and went shopping, yes you heard it right....shopping!

Meanwhile, with hammer in one hand, nails in pocket etc, I climbed the ladder and helped Avram and George put the felt and battens on. A bit hairy at times but the jobs got to be done and my mates have left to go shopping.

Eventually the rain came and felt quite weary and with a headache. So I had a lift back and warm bath and a 'chill' time reading 'The Shack' again.

Putting the lid on it!!

Progress on the house today has been pretty impressive.

All hands on deck, four extra builders from Plymouth including a female builder called Barbie the Builder real name Kathryn. I have only met today so perhaps I best be careful what I say!!! They all worked really hard on insulating the inside of panelled walls.

The outside walls in place and so it was time to put up Trusses. So with our expereince of lifting and lowering a loo earlier this morning, putting up trusses presented us with little problems.

Something to go on!!

‘Something to go on’….. a subtle title for our first job this morning.

This is a bit difficult to explain when we are so far away from home. But at Goerge's house like so many house they have an outside facility, if you know what I mean.



George has created a new recepticle for his family ‘convenience’, so this morning he wanted us strong men, Jack, Tom and Walter to lift and lower again the shed that is his loo.

As you can see from the pics, everything you need in the new loo was already in place, I simply tested it to see!!!

Is that what we came all this way for.......??

Answer please!

And finally, ten minutes later....Queueing up at the grand opening of the newly sited convenience!!!!

Just another day!!

We made all eight Trusses at George's house, then we put a new shoe on the horse, Stella, like you do!!

As you can see, Dad kept her company at the head end whilst drinking coffee. Using phrases not found in his handy pocket Size Romanian phrasebook, he had an intimate chat, mean while....

Avram and I got to grips with taking old shoe off and putting new one on. Never done that before! Ever!

My Superman shirt today was a gift from Cloverlea Primary School in Timperley who raised 350 pounds with a non uniform on the theme of "Super Heros'.

With Stella shod and cart loaded with 14 panels it was off to the site of the new house two miles away in Tarlengeni. Great fun.

George was in charge and we just sat back and were thrilled and amazed to be delivering the bits of a new house in such a place as this.

It was such fun we were oblivious to the tail back we were causing. A bit like your worst caravaner who holds up the traffic on a Bank Holiday!!!

Dad is trying hard to shout to Stella and George that we should have turned left, Dad knows the Romanian word for left, its stinga, and it's actually in his handy pocket size phrase book.

Go Dad!!! 

By 4pm today, at the site, the panels were in place and also the roof trusses had arrived by Cart and Stella.

A good day again. Tonight we move out of the Centre into a nearby B&B cos there are new volunteers arriving from Plymouth.

Christ has no Body now but yours

Helpful words below from Teresa of Avila and Oscar  Romero

Christ has no Body now but yours
No hands, no feet on earth but yours
Yours are the eyes through which he looks
Compassion on the world
Yours are the feet with which he walks
To do good
Yours are the hands with which he blesses
All the world.


Yours are the hands
Yours are the feet
Yours are the eyes
You are his body

It helps, now and then, to step back and take the long view.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts it is even beyond our vision.

Lord, we know in whom we believe.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work

Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us.

 Lord, we know in whom we believe
No statement says all that could be said.
No prayer fully expresses our faith
No confession brings perfection
No set of goals and objectives includes everything
Lord, we know in whom we believe.
This is what we are about.


We plant the seeds that one day will grow.
We water seeds already planted knowing that they hold future promise.
We lay foundations that will need further development.
We provide yeast that produces effects far beyond our capabilities.
Lord we know in whom we believe

We cannot do everything and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that
This enables us to do something,
And to do it very well
It may be incomplete but it is a beginning,
A step along the way, an opportunity for the Lords grace to enter and do the rest.
Lord we know in whom we believe We may never see the end results,
But that is the difference between the master builder and the worker.
We are workers,
Not master builders,
Ministers, Not messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Lord, we trust in you to eternally renew our belief in you
In ourselves and in each other, in this is our joy and our hope. Amen

Second Monday

Today in pictures, here is the concrete base in Tarlengeni where the house will be built.

We spent the day at George's house very nice house in Zizin, complete with workshop and a very good set of tools etc.

Steve and Avram took some of the huge pile of wood, which has been purchased since we have been here with the money raised, to the nearby village of Tarlengeni. He was back safely later in the morning with no mishaps!! His horse was called Stella.

After lunch Steve was back at the centre, varnishing.

Meanwhile, Walter and Jack, with a little help, spent the day making 14 wooden panels which when put together make the walls of the new house. 

George made us feel at home in his garden, and the impression given by these pics is of a very nice house, he built it himself, and now uses his skills to work for Better Homes.

You can't work with George for very long before having some fun and laughter!! 

That's him still in his orange T shirt, but he tells us he has about six T shirts all the same. His wife Simone made us cups of coffee throughout the day which was very nice. 

By 3pm today all the 14 panels were made and it was on to the roof timbers. The Romanian for roof truss is yet another word that Dad could not find in his handy pocket size Romanian Phrasebook. But we quickly got the idea and tomorrow its our job to make another 7 just like this one!

George says it's no problem! 

So that's it for today, goodbye for now