Last night (Tuesday 27 February), the annual Bar’N’Bus Fundraising Curry Night took place at the Tandoori Parlour in Hart Road, Thundersley.
Around 120 people attended from across all the various Bar’N’Bus teams across south Essex raising somewhere in the region of £750 (to be confirmed).
Numbers are down on previous years, maybe as a result of the economic situation, or maybe through waning interest and over-familiarity. But by giving to Bar’N’Bus, one is not only supporting the three Thurrock teams at Grays Beach, West Thurrock and Corringham Town Centre, but resourcing the Lord’s work in taking the love of Christ and his Gospel to young people on the streets in the evenings. These teams are constantly under pressure of being under-staffed and without drivers, so apathy is not an option.
There were representatives of the Grays Beach team in attendance – see picture showing Norma & Stuart Gilbey, Pete & Denise Lawton, and Gary & Jo Jones. Also there were members of the West Thurrock team, and a couple of folk were spotted from the the borough’s original Blackshots team.
For more information on how to become a team member or bus driver, see www.barnbus.org.uk.
THE WEDNESDAY NIGHT WEST THURROCK TEAM URGENTLY NEED A NEW DRIVER!
An easy way to raise funds for Bar’N’Bus is to go through http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/barnbus whenever you shop online. It’s not always a lot, but with frequent use can build up.
Reports from the latest Bar’N’Bus newsletter, wirtten by the Bar’N’Bus Operations Manager, Stuart Christian:
Grays (Tuesday)
When visiting the team back at the beginning of December I was amazed at the number of young people on the bus. It was a really busy evening, lots happening and a great atmosphere. The following week has different, same young people but this week they were unsettled with many causing trouble. Some young people had even opened up the engine cover at the rear of the bus and fiddled with some switches meaning that the bus would not start at the end of the evening. Thankfully we managed to get it sorted out quickly and get the bus back to Tilbury safely. Working on the front line we need to remember not to take anything for granted. While most weeks do pass without much trouble, there are some weeks where you do have trouble. It can be a little frustrating, just as you think you are getting somewhere you then have a set back. However we keep praying and plodding on, it will all be worth it in the end.
West Thurrock (Wednesday)
The team have gone back to going out weekly which is great news. This is a big commitment from some especially Ray the team leader who is there every week. The team have only have a few young people that come to the bus but as I said before it is not just about numbers. Some recent weeks have been the best weeks that the team have ever had. One week a young person came on and really opened up to the team about her whole life. I don’t think this would have happened if the bus had been busy. Jesus did not just talk to huge crowds but also had time for individual people.
Stanford and Corringham (Thursday)
Recently the team spend an evening refocusing on their work in Stanford and Corringham. Prayer is such an important part to the work we do, well the most important part. The team decided that their prayer time they have at the beginning of the evening was starting to lack and so decided to rectify this by trying harder to get there on time so that there is plenty of time to pray beforehand. I am sure this will bring much more fruit to their work.
