We are sad to announce the death from bone cancer of Colette Rowland on Wednesday 23rd June. Here Colette and Tony Rowland are pictured at the wedding of their daughter Rachel to Howard just before returning to the States after serving Antioch from 1980 till 1984.

This tribute is by Tom Bick .

I have many fond memories of Colette. I came over from Belgium with the Rowlands and lived with them in Shepherds Bush, 1980-81. I was Tony’s servant, but much of my time was spent driving Colette around London in the ‘chocolate van’ – a 1973 Bedford minibus.

Being French meant Colette was particular about food. I was also the assistant treasurer for the three Outreach households and given the task of keeping us all on budget; in those days money was very tight. I would spend many hours driving her to open air markets to find the best fresh produce. One time she got this great deal on 3 large bushels of gooseberries and thereafter we were treated to gooseberry pies, tarts, mousses or little bowls of 8 or 10 of them with cream – every dessert had a significant gooseberry presence. Personally I find even the best specimens not really fit for eating, being rather sour and sinewy. But we were usually hungry and polite enough to comply. After some weeks, with perhaps 2 bushels down and one to go, we had a lovely Lord’s Day meal and were perhaps hoping for chocolate cake to follow, when Colette appeared triumphantly, unveiling a large gooseberry pie with whole gooseberries dotting the circumference and one in the middle. At that moment I could almost hear a camel’s back breaking somewhere – I’d had enough: starving as I was, there was no way I was going to let another gooseberry pass my lips. When, as graciously as I could, I declined a slice, Colette was genuinely surprised. But shortly after this the gooseberries disappeared for good.

I’m poking fun at Colette as I often did in her presence and I’m sure she would laugh too because she could laugh at herself. Colette was so full of life and it was completely infectious. Any non-Christian guests who came over didn’t have a chance. One Cambridge student friend of her son, Jonathan, came for a meal and Colette, who was no academic, was telling him stories of God’s goodness. At one point the young man stopped her and asked “You’re not trying to convert me, are you?” Now I would’ve turned red and denied it, but Colette didn’t miss a beat and shot back “Of course I am! So you can go out and convert others too”. Completely disarmed, he just laughed and the stories continued.

I remember Colette as a devoted wife and mother who made great sacrifices to follow the Lord and look after others. On our rides together, she often asked me questions about the Bible or theology – me! (I was about 1/3 her age at the time.) She would listen intently to my (pompous) answers – amazing. Despite chronic health problems, she seemed always cheerful. In fact I can’t really think of anyone who smiled and laughed as much as Colette. She loved well and gave great consolation and hope to thousands – one by one.

So au revoir, Colette. May your joy now be complete. - Tom Bick

Garden Party Time!

On Saturday 26th June we celebrate the Annual Antioch Barbecue at the Yates's

It starts at 4pm and runs till 6pm.

Come and enjoy the lovely food and friendship together.

We'll have face painting and other fun for the kids!

Burgers, buns, commiserations over the football and lots of fun!

See you there!

We played valiantly, but this was not to be Antioch's year for winning!

So some of us did other exercises!

These two photos come by courtesy of Stephanie Fitton, a gapper from the US, based in Charis community in Belfast this year.

We met the other members of Churches Together in Acton at 10:15 at Acton Park, then proceeded up the High Street to Acton Hill Church for a joint service.

Here we have a couple more photos

These photos are by Daniel Thompson

With many questions in different categories, Sarah and her "staff" tested the teams of would-be victors!

This was all in aid of Developing Technologies, a charity set up to help design, test and produce technology for the developing world, and to prove that there are many solutions to the problems we all face, which do not require expensive solutions. The Developing Technologies Website has much more information.

www.developingtechnologies.org

Our teams were mixed by age, gender, enthusiasm and experience!

We all needed to contribute, if we wanted to win!

There was no time to waste, and we had to keep our eye on the presenter at all times!

Sarah led the evening very well, and even the losers had a good time!

And we can all recognise more international flags now!