GCH Update - Easter 2026

We recently had one of our fortnightly Bible studies on the subject of 1 Corinthians 13, in which St Paul describes Christian love, in all its power and generosity. Both of the guests who were there reflected on their culture shock when they first came to Britain, which immediately seemed a less loving country than the East African countries where they had grown up. They recalled how drivers would offer lifts to anyone they saw walking by the road, or how, if you saw someone picking mangoes from a tree outside your house, rather than warning them about trespass, you’d offer them a ladder so they could get to the higher ones! I am very grateful for our little outpost of community in a grey and unfriendly city, and pray that it spreads. After all, as Dorothy Day wrote, ‘God meant for things to be much easier than we have made them.’

We are happy to have been able to re-open our night shelter, now as a joint project with our friend Conor from Martha House, to operate through the winter. In preparation for the re-opening, Conor and Harry worked miracles in the hall through January, installing new curtains, a dividing wall, and heat and sound insulation, which will make this winter shelter—and any future hospitality in the hall—much warmer, and much cheaper to keep warm. The shelter is already filling up, and a small army of volunteers have returned to cook and do shifts in it.

We had to say goodbye to James in November, who has returned to Australia to pursue his degree in social work; we are beyond grateful for all his work and his unfailingly warm, joyful presence here. Just before Christmas, we were joined by Eva, who will be a volunteer here until the summer. She has settled in well and, to our great relief, is undertaking much-needed work in the garden. One of the guests in the house, who had been detained by the Home Office and threatened with deportation, is back with us. We are very happy that he is back here, but his imprisonment was pointless and cruel, and in a decent country would never have happened in the first place.

Moya spent January at Maria Skobtsova House in Calais. While there she was able to see the new Sojourner Truth House, a house of hospitality in Calais inspired by the Catholic Worker which she has set up with four other Quakers, which hopes to start welcoming guests in the Spring. We’re looking forward to maintaining close links.

Finally, we want to express our immense gratitude to Brian Arthur, who, having passed away last year, left us a very substantial legacy. We were glad to have been able to meet and get to know him in the last part of his life, and hope we will be able to use his legacy in a way befitting of his trust and generosity. Please keep him in your prayers.