Mission - Humphrey Gillott

Alpha at British Transport Police (BTP) Force Headquarters.

Everyones' prayers at NBC, for this course, have been very much appreciated by us all. The course has run very well, with between six and three each week, both Christians and non-Christians.

St. Pancras Station.

Having been the sole chaplain at this station for the last four years, I have now been joined by two London City Mission (LCM) railway chaplains, Alan and Stuart. As you will know, the new International station opened last November, with Eurostar trains terminating here instead of Waterloo. Alan has transferred over from Waterloo, but Stuart is a new appointment, and will be at the station for two days each week. Stuart and I have pastoral care of all the railway staff at the station, apart from Eurostar staff.

On Saturday March 1st, Jonathan, the Diocese of London's appointed chaplain, will arrive at St. Pancras. He is not a railway chaplain, his duties yet to be determined, but it seems as though he will be there for the traveling public. Stuart and I would very much appreciate your prayers as we meet up with Jonathan in the near future and discuss best working practice, so that we give good pastoral care to St. Pancras as a whole and work as a team.

Two weeks ago, a member of the Network Rail Customer Service Staff, collapsed and died on duty on one of the platforms, in the early hours of Monday morning. This has really shaken the staff there, especially those who were on duty with him that night. He was a much loved man, and the staff are very sad that they have lost their colleague. He was only 49 years old. Stuart and I have been visiting the staff over these past two weeks, allowing them to talk through the situation. His funeral takes place this next Friday (29th Feb.).

On a happier note, as I arrive at St. Pancras from my office at Euston, I always enjoy looking at the superb reconstructed Victorian brickwork outside the station, the bricks for which have been supplied by Martin Warner's Brickworks.

London Midland (formerly Silverlink County) Trains.

There is much uncertainty amongst the staff at the present time.

The Train Maintenance Depot (TMD) at Bletchley is due to close on 31st May 2008, with the train maintenance being transferred to the new depot Northampton. On a visit last Thursday, I found that some staff have been offered jobs at Northampton, but others are still awaiting to hear what opportunities are open to them.

At Bletchley station, the former Silverlink Control is to be moved to Birmingham, with some jobs available, but there may be redundancies.

There may well be changes in other areas on the Network, the staff would very much value your prayers at the present time.

Ordinand Trainee Industrial Chaplaincy Outplacements.

I have had Alastair with me for about a day per month since last September as part of his ordination training (Oxford Diocese). He is a railway enthusiast. Before we first met last year, the nearest we got to each other, as far as we knew, was on a steam special to York from Manchester in 1978!

I am to host another Ordinand Trainee, Stephen, from May (St. Albans Diocese). When he first telephoned me about this, I suggested that he might like to come to my home, so he could see the DVD which was made of me for a railway magazine in DVD form " A Day in the life of a Railway Chaplain”, about a 12 minute production. To my amazement he said that he already had it. His wife is interested in railways and had subscribed to the DVD magazine!

Thank you so much for your prayers and support.

Humphrey.

This page was created on Thursday 28 February 08 and last updated on Sunday 19 July 09