London Days

Living in London has lots of advantages. One is that it is possible to fit a few extra events and occasions into the Presidential diary. So, last week, the day before driving up to Yorkshire for the weekend, Liz and I were able to go to a gig at which our younger son, Joe, was playing bass guitar with one of the two bands he plays in. The band is called Night Code. The venue was the Bull and Gate, Kentish Town (and this may be the first time that particular venue has been mentioned in the President's and Vice-President's blog!)

On Monday evening I went to the British Academy for the 5th birthday celebration for Roehampton University, of which Southlands College is a constituent part.

Then on Tuesday it was to Lambeth Palace for Christian Aid's AGM. I'm pictured, left, with Christian Aid's Daleep Mukarji, for whom this was his last AGM. Daleep and his wife Azra are good friends of ours, and attend Muswell Hill Methodist Church.

On Wednesday I went into Methodist Church House and was joined by Roberta Rominger from the URC and Jonathan Edwards from the Baptist Union, as together we signed a Christmas Card for Phil Woolas MP, the Immigration Minister. We're encouraging people to send him a Christmas card inviting him to do what he can to end the UK's detention of children seeking sanctuary.

Then it was off to URC Church House to meet the staff, discuss all sorts of things, and pray together. The picture (below) shows me with John Marsh, Moderator of the URC General Assembly, Roberta Rominger the URC's General Secretary and Richard Mortimer, Deputy General Secretary.