Sadly, the weather beat us today and we had to stop painting around noon. It was a real pity because a great squad of painters turned up, and we would probably have completed the work in 1-2 hours. As it is, we will perhaps try and get the work done again tomorrow morning. Despite the weather we have made considerable progress. We have spread 2 loads of bark, dispatched a load of rubbish to the tip and had the spaces in the fence filled in by Martin. 
Just a reminder that tomorrow we hope to get most of the work finished around the lighthouse garden. We have the paint for the garden fence and Duncan Maclauchlan has very kindly picked up a large load of bark for us today. We're also grateful to Martin Hamill who is filling in some of the gaps in the fence this afternoon. I would have taken a photo of him, if I had remmebered my camera! Hopefully the sun will shine tomorrow, or at least it won't be wet! We plan to be around the garden all day, so if you have an hour to spare it would be great to see you.
It felt as if Hilton Church was returning to normal this morning after the long summer break. The church was packed for the Holiday Club service. 
At 5pm next Sunday evening, we are having a community bbq along with street pastors. There is still quite a bit of work to be done before the garden is completed. THURSDAY is the day we are setting aside to get the work done. We will be barrrowing gravel chips, spreading bark and painting fences. If you have any time to spare morning, afternoon or evening, we would love to see you. Don't come in good clothes, and if you have an old paint brush, please bring it with you.
I'm grateful to the Fire Brigade for helping us out today. The boiler room was completely flooded as a result of the recent heavy rains. 
Over 40 kids are coming along every morning this week and taking part in our Holiday Club, Mission Rescue. It has been a great week so far, lots of fun with some great kids and an excellent team. Sunday morning will be our Holiday Club service where you will have the chance to see and experience some of the things we have been doing this week. I have attached a few photos, enjoy. Chris Watt.
The rain is absolutely pouring down this morning, so it's great that we were able to get so much work done in the garden yesterday. On reflection, I have too much other work to do this week to properly organise the painting of the fence, so I'm going to aim for spending next Tuesday getting it done. I'll post some more details nearer the time, but if you are free at any time next Tuesday it would be great to have your company.
I'm just in after a really positive day in the lighthouse garden. During the day, there were 10 volunteers who came to help. A big thank you to each one. We got all the weeding done, we got the area near the sheds strimmed, and we added a further ton of chips onto the path. The next jobs to do include taking some of the surplus items to the dump and painting the fence. If you're reading this and you can help with a trailer to the dump, could you email me at mailto:duncan@hiltonchurch.org.uk
If you would like to help with the painting of the fence, I will try and get the materials tomorrow with a view to getting it done (weather permitting) on Thursday from 9am. If you have an old paint brush which you could bring to use, that would be great. I'll try and buy some cheap ones to use as well. 
This was the scene which greeted me this morning at 8.30m when I began the weeding. " Many hands make light work!" I think it might be a little bit of an exaggeration to say that we had many hands, but we did make great progess this morning and this afternoon. I'm off back to the garden for the evening. I will try and post some of the days photos when I get back.
We are hoping to get the Lighthouse Garden completely sorted over the next couple of weeks. There is quite a bit of weeding to do, some fences to be painted and some gravel to be added to the paths. I am not really a gardener, but I'm setting aside Tuesday to do some work. If you would like to join me, I'll be there, on and off, from 9am until the evening hours. Many hands make light work! If you have a trowel for weeding, please bring it along. We have 3 trowels in the Lighthouse.
Over the years, quite a number of the residents and carers from L'arche have regularly worshipped at Hilton Church. Last week the Lighthouse hosted a meal and celidh for them. 
I have noticed over the last while that the number of people cycling to church has increased significantly, but that the level of provision we have in relation to storing and locking bikes at the church and lighthouse has remained woefully inadequate. I was reminded of this when I saw the above racks recently in France. It's something we really need to address as a matter of urgency. Perhaps there is someone reading this post who would like to research the issue further and find some suitable racks for us to provide. Here's one link which may be a starting point.