The Sheldon Long Barn Project

Boot Room excitements …

maryandmartha — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 12:15:55 +0000

Just because the blog went quiet, doesn’t mean the Long Barn has been quiet! Full house over New Year, then closed for two weeks for builders’ remedials. We’ve put our heads together and decided the splendid “Boot Room” although small will be brilliant to serve lots of purposes. It has washing and drying facilities for guests and we’ve put up cupboards to have a central place for lots of other useful things like spare towels, the former ”comforts box” (including a teddy, hot water bottle, hair dryer, etc), top up supplies for hot drinks (to help us do changeovers more quickly), tourist information, and no doubt more besides. Maurice is doing us lovely wooden signs like one at the top of the stairs so you know which way to turn for your bedroom. And risk assessments and training on the new fire panel. Tomorrow the place will be full of guests again …

Blessing the bedrooms

maryandmartha — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 18:33:00 +0000

Night prayers last weekend and the blessing we said in every bedroom as part of the liturgy.
Preparing for a very full retreat on Monday with Angela Tilby ”At the Burning Bush”.
So wonderful doing room plans knowing everyone gets a decent room!

God of our sleep and dreams
Pour down the blessings of night
On all who sleep in this room
Blessing of the quiet moon, resting their bodies
Blessing of a billion stars, expanding their selves beyond time and space
Blessing of black holes, sucking them deep into the oblivion of rest
Blessing of silky darkness, enfolding them in your love

God of our life and light
Pour down the blessings of day
On all who wake in this room
Blessing of the bright sun, lighting the dark corners
Blessing of the broad sky, lifting their thoughts heavenwards
Blessing of the guardian trees, earthing their lives with deep roots
Blessing of the far hills, drawing them onward on life’s journey

God of our life and light
God of our sleep and dreams
Creator, Redeemer, Sustainer
Bless this room with your love
Bless this room with the breath of your life
Amen.

Party time!

maryandmartha — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 19:25:57 +0000

Long-standing volunteer Sheila Atkinson had her hard-working family spring a surprise 80th birthday sit-down-dozens-of-courses lunch in the Long Barn. Didn’t manage a good picture of the birthday girl, but here’s a nice one of the Long Barn instead! First time the kitchen has been really put through its paces for a large number of people and it didn’t disappoint. Lovely to see the place really buzzing.

What a difference a year makes

maryandmartha — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 21:29:08 +0000

Can’t quite believe that this time last year we were running a 12,000-mile Service in the OLD Long Barn! It was the last event before we stripped it out and knocked it down. And here we are 7 weeks into using the beauiful new building. There’s been a lot of talk this week among the guests and volunteers – some of them new to Sheldon and some who’ve walked with us for 20 years or more. It’s especially nice when some of the hard work sweating the detail appears to have really paid off. People frequently comment how quiet the building is and this was something we all paid very careful attention to right from the start. And several people have said it’s the best shower room they’ve seen and could they please have the design to give to their architect. And in amongst it all lives get quietly changed which is the real reward. The money side is coming along quietly too, mostly with gifts from people who have been here and valued the Sheldon ministry in their own lives. A £5,000 and a £10,000 this week both as gifts from inheritances and more interest free loans too. It all makes a huge difference. Thank you.

Behind the scenes

maryandmartha — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:14:24 +0000

Thought you might like to see the heat stores that are making the most of the autumn sunshine via the solar hot water panels on the roof to supply the underfloor heating and the hot water to the taps. The engineers from Sprague & Ouseley have been waiting for months for their moment of glory …

Old friends

maryandmartha — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 14:29:08 +0000

Just showed Richard and Hilary round the Long Barn. They have been bringing groups of special needs children to Sheldon for over 25 years and seen the changes. When I finally prized Richard away from his camera I got them to repeat in my office some of the things they’d been saying as we went round

“What do you say about it? Fabulous, stunning – amazed at what you’ve managed to create. Having seen the pictures on the website they really don’t show the true beauty of the building – especially all the timber – the sweep of the staircase and everything. It’s just lovely. Views from the bedrooms and the views from whole building. The accommodation is just beautiful. Furnishings too. And there’s a washing/drying room!! Much needed. It’s just exactly what you want to do a visit with school children. It’s got everything you need and more. There’s just no comparison with what was there before. It’s lovely. Absolutely beautiful. So well equipped.”

I think they’ll be back.

Growing the lawn

maryandmartha — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 19:36:37 +0000

Took down the protective tape around the new grass today. So took a picture for a new header for the blog to celebrate. Friends have been magnificent this week with gifts and loans to help with the ongoing work of the appeal. Tomorrow we have building team folk back for a few remedials on doors and gutters, but overall delighted with the first few weeks of use. Very enthusiastic feedback from guests. Room 1 was even referred to as “The Penthouse Suite”!

Raising the Flag

maryandmartha — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 16:12:35 +0000

So we raised the flag on the Long Barn in good Sheldon fashion. 80 people including architect Roger Hands and site foreman Terry Dolling plus lots of friends who had climbed mountains and walked marathons with us and been incredibly generous to help make it possible.

So back to the fundraising now. Two lovely standing orders totalling £80/month, and a £100 card with “blessings on all who sleep, study, slob and sit in [the Long Barn]“. Thanks to you lovely people. We’ve just sent out a mailing to all Friends with an update on the funding needs and pray for many to respond.
Trouble-shooting a few glitches arising as the building actually comes into use, but delighted to say that it has passed the test of the first week with flying colours. Nice feedback included “the quality is so good, it’s not flashy or in your face but it makes you feel safe”.
With a flurry of quite complicated booking enquiries from clergy in really serious need of the Mary and Martha ministry it’s good to be encouraged that we’re hitting the mark.

Day one

maryandmartha — Mon, 03 Oct 2011 10:39:43 +0000

Today is the first day of our fabulous new Long Barn actually in use. Richard Gilpin leading a Quiet Day 10.30am to 4pm and then residential arrivals this evening for the Enneagram workshop tomorrow. Every bedroom will be occupied tonight. We’ve done all the snagging and trouble-shooting we can but it’s not until real people actually use the building that the unexpected things arise. So standing by …
In the meantime we are getting a grip on the finances – always hard to keep track in the final weeks of a big project. Some things have come in under-budget, especially the “loss of earnings” component we had included. This is thanks to a construction site less disruptive than we had feared (thanks Imperial) and the tremendous loyalty of our guests who have kept booking regardless (thanks to all of you). We’ve also done a good job of recycling furniture and equipment around the site, and Imperial look like bringing in the construction pretty close to budget. On the down side HMRC have rejected our assessment of zero rating for VAT on the project and assessed it as standard rated. As you know we’re good at putting up a fight when needed but on this occasion have been advised (to coin a phrase) that “resistance is futile”. The net effect is to increase the project budget by around 10% to £1.1m. Still, the Olympics overspend is up to something like 300% now isn’t it so we feel distinctly modest by comparison! We’re re-doubling our efforts on the fundraising and would welcome any additional gifts, grants or interest free loans that supporters can offer. We reckoned it would boost our morale and yours if we changed from an appeal total to an appeal countdown, so here goes for the final £248,000 …

Click to view slideshow.

Show Home

maryandmartha — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 17:32:56 +0000

Everyone has been asking for pictures of the inside so we’ve done up a a couple of bedrooms to show you.
Here is one of the typical size ones (2,3,4,6 and 7 all the same)

and here is one of the two largest ones (1 and 8)

Bit of alright eh?
And here’s one of the en-suites (every bedroom is en-suite)

We’re concentrating on the bedrooms first as we’re committed to guests staying in them starting on 4th October. Downstairs is coming together too, and you can see what a lovely suntrap the place is.

It’s always a busy time of year for taking bookings, and we’re delighted with the way they’re coming in. Lots of showing round. And still lists a million miles long, but getting there!