So it's 2010 and I've been looking for somewhere to write about the most amazing job in the world. And now I've found it I just hope I can keep up the popstings and tell you about the people and the work I come across in my daily role as the Vicar of St Paul's Church Stratford E15 and the Construction Chaplaincy work.
I've been the vicar at St Paul's Stratford for over three years now. The church is sited next to the new Westfield Shopping Centre being built in East London. We are also right on the edge of the Olympic Park and Olympic Athletes Village. The entrance to the site is about 200yards from the front door of the vicarage, so you would think I dont have too far to go to work. well you'd be very wrong, soooo wrong. To get on site I have to catch specificaly appointed transport buses from the appointed bus stations next to Stratford Regional Rail and Underground Station. So walking away from the site catching the bus which passes my house, then takes me a mile further into the security check points is like having a proper job and travelling to work.
I started here in October 2006, and frankly it was a bit boring. We had won the Olympic bid in 2005 and the site in East London had been selected for redevelopment, but nothing much was happening. It was open wasteland.
The picture shows the Stratford International Railway Station to the distant right. Soil from the Eurotunnel link had been drilled out and placed on the land you see in the picture. It raised the land height by 20feet over an area of 400 hectacres (so I'm told, having not measured it myself I am willingto accept these figures)
So when I started on the site there were half a dozen security guards on the main gate 24 staff in the International Station & me. Before the Olympic and Stratford Shopping Centre could begin lots of planning had to take place.
The London Borough of Newham East London, was and is the 4th most economically and socially deprived area in the country, Stratford sits on the edge of the borough and butts onto Tower Hamlets in London which is the 2nd most deprived area in the UK. So it really doesnt look like it has much going for it. There are currently 15000 unemplyed people in Newham. people who have never had a job, people who never want a job, and people who would love a job but have no skills or insufficient education to aid them in getting a job.
The allocation of the Olympics to the London 2012 bid and especially the venues to be built in East London, iniatially raised the hopes and aspirations of the local communities. Jobs for all was the mantra, local expectations at the Buisness Community Forum were that 'local people and buisness' would be first and foremost in line for employment and recieve allocation of contracts from the Olympic Delivery Authority (ODA). Local shops were expecting a boom period, local councillors I spoke to were confident that the Olympic would bring immediate prosperity to the area.
My friends, how sad it has been to see that very little of this has come to fruition. Local buisness has been almost totally excluded from the contracts from the ODA as they quote one source "dont have the expertise to provide the quantites or quality of .........." the open ended sentance is for you to fill in the gaps.
The excitment that I found in the community when I arrived here and the expectations of what the ODA promised soon faded. By August 2008 the local population were still waiting for the 'Olympic Boom' to happen.
St Paul's Stratford Interior
Meanwhile I was also the Vicar of St Paul's Church Maryland Road Stratford E15 and I had work to do there as well. Upon my arival there were only 8 people in the church congregation. It would seem that the previous vicar had left after some madman had come into the church and thretend to shoot him. Well, I know my preaching isnt all that hot (sometimes) but no ones ever threatend to shoot me, so the poor chap left and the congregation just wilted away.
Now we have numbers in the mid 20/30's but its been a big long slog uphill to encourage a community of believers in the church. I am pleased to say they church members are a family and do care about each other.
the building is exceptional and is fast becoming a venue for arts and music concerts so heres a picture to show what we look like from the front.
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