The Hiraeth Project

CHRISTMAS BLOG

2011-12-15T22:39:00.004Z

Hello dear friends,

May we wish you a very, very happy and blessed Christmas time! We are sending out a techie greeting to save on the pennies.

As Christmas approaches - rather more quickly than we are ready to cope with, this is just a short update as we continue to make progress on the bunkhouse.
All the work on the septic tanks, drainage and the driveway is now all but complete, just a few tidying up issues. It looks very different to the time of writing the last blog.

In our last blog we spoke of the down stairs walls being ready to insulate and line, however due to the delay in having the windows, there has been a knock on effect and the downstairs is as it was. But thankfully there has been progress.
The drying room has been completed and we are ready to paint.

The water pressure tank and filtration system is connected and up and running.
The upstairs and downstairs have now seen the first fix of electricity for lighting, plug sockets and fire alarms plus all the outside lighting. The whole of the heating system is now complete and was passed as ready to use just a few days ago.

The newly commissioned windows have just been installed and they look beautiful. The upstairs has been plastered which is very exciting and it all has a more finished feel about it. Just the skirting boards and the fire doors to go.

This is as far as we can think of progressing at the moment, even though there won’t be much more to do. We’ll be completely out of funds once we’ve paid a few bills and although we know we can trust God to complete the project, it’s another period of waiting on Him to supply our needs and learning more lessons in trust and patience. Feeling a little weary now and not a little frustrated!

Our hens have been very generous in their egg laying and at present, we have a rather magnificent looking Jacob ram with us for a couple of months, known affectionately as Shadrach! We are hoping that by early May there will be a few lambs on site. We’ll all enjoy seeing them but Ffion should be over the moon.

Luke still enjoys life in Stockholm; it’s the longest he’s been in one place for quite a while. Lloyd, Menna and Ffion have visited him for a few days before Christmas and they’ve all travelled back to the UK for us to have Christmas together along with my parents. Emelie, Luke’s girlfriend is in her first year of a nursing course under the eye of the Red Cross which means she’ll be qualified to nurse in areas of conflict or natural disasters.

Menna is thoroughly enjoying her course in Outdoor Education at Trinity St. David’s in Carmarthen. She is in her second year and the time seems to be whizzing by. Just last week she was canoeing on the River Wye and sleeping in a hammock slung up in an open barn, how we would have loved this a few years ago. Not now I’m loathed to say! Plans for next year hopefully include sea-kayaking around the Scilly Isles, rock climbing in Greece and France and climbing in Snowdonia in the clothes women would have worn a hundred years ago. She and another two girls from the course are applying to Landrover to re-enact a journey made by some army wives in the 1950’s to the Himalayas. There’s a lot of work to be completed before the application can be submitted but it sounds very exciting.

Ffion is a pretty, chatty little girl. She spends quite a lot of time with us, as Menna studies or is away on expedition. She’s happy with us but is always glad to see Mama return.

Lloyd has now completed his first term at WEST (Wales Evangelical School of Theology) He has settled in very well and is enjoying the course. It’s good to have him closer and we see him regularly. He misses his Tunbridge Wells friends but he’s making new friends and is helping out in a small local church.

Clive and Gay are happy and both involved in our not so local church, being 25 miles away! Clive has become an elder – in more ways than one – and Gay as usual, is helping out with the kid’s work. The church is growing and we are enjoying the ministry of our pastor.

Well that’s about it and once again, our love to you and heartfelt thanks for friendship and support.

God bless you all,
Clive Gay Luke Menna Lloyd and Ffion x x x x x

Photos here as always:

Winter 2011

AUTUMN BLOG 2011

2011-11-02T18:35:00.006Z

AUTUMN BLOG 2011

Well, this didn’t fall hot on the heels of the last blog as promised. Apologies.
As we write, our drive way has been described as a scene of carnage! You may agree when you see the photos, though these do not convey the depth of the mud. This is all due to the installation of a new septic tanks and drainage system. Hopefully this will be the last of the really messy jobs.

We are moving forward slowly and we have so much to thank and praise God for. Some of you will know the wonderful answers to pray we have been blessed by, we’ll tell you all now, that you may join with us in giving praise and thanks to God who alone is capable of completing this project.

You may remember us saying in our last blog that we needed about £25,000. The builders completed a very good phase of work and needed paying. The Lord impressed upon us a wonderful verse in Ezra 8 v ….Clive did indeed approach the bank – read this in the context of the last blog. While sitting in front of the banker he had a change of heart and told her that as God had always been so faithful in the past, we would trust Him for the future and terminated the interview. In the space of a few days we received gifts of about £20k, a day before the builders gave us their bill of £19k which we were able to pay them on the spot. God’s timing is indeed perfect and it has given us many opportunities to tell of the Lord’s goodness.

Then in the last few weeks we had a quote of £7K for the drying room etc and we saw £8 arrive just when we needed it. How can we adequately thank Him for His kindness to us?

The last joiner who was to have made the windows and doors let us down quite badly so we have placed the order with a local man and they should be ready in about six weeks. In the meantime the builders will be back in to insulate and line the downstairs walls and ceiling. With all the building regulations we are insulated to the nth degree and although the building should be lovely and warm, it does mean we lose lovely stone walls but hopefully we’ll keep the beams as we have done upstairs.
We have been blessed by seeing many friends visit us and we have both had opportunities to visit Tunbridge Wells, though not seeing as many folk as we would have wished due to other commitments there.

We are both keeping well. Clive had an MRI quite recently to keep an eye on what’s happening to the small tumour as he’s experienced a few more blackouts of late. He’s seen the neurologists and all is well.

Luke is still settled and happy in Stockholm. He and Emelie are pleased to have got a new flat in the centre of the city which will be more convenient for them. We look forward to seeing him at Christmas.

Menna is now in her second year of her course in Outdoor Education. She is in the process of working towards her rock climbing award, mountain leadership and kayaking qualifications. She has now moved into a house with a girl from college but we still look after Ffion a few days a week. Ffion is a beautiful, chatty, curly haired little girl with a mind of her own! She loves splashing in puddles and with the rain we’ve had lately there’s been plenty to keep her amused.

Lloyd has commenced his three years at WEST (Wales Evangelical School of Theology) He has settled in well and seems to be enjoying his lectures. It’s good for us too as we see him more often.

Gay’s Mum and Dad are reasonably well, now in their 71st year of married life! Dad’s Alzheimer’s makes its own steady cruel progress. We see them at least once a week and it will be so wonderful for us to be together at Christmas, all four generations. Hopefully this year, with a new water system in place, we won’t be breaking ice on the river or hauling water from kind friends in the village again!

Please keep in touch with us, the best email address is gayp@hotmail.co.uk we would love to get your news. We would really appreciate your on-going prayers for the project, particularly:
*Safety for the workmen and more conversations about the Lord.
*Further funding to complete the project, there is now light at the end of the tunnel.
*Godly decision making for the remaining work.
*Early prayers that God will be glorified in all that takes place in and through Hiraeth Bunkhouse

Thank you for your time, your prayers and your friendship,
God bless you and all those you love,

Clive, Gay and Family

AUTUMN PHOTOS HERE:

Autumn 2011

At long last - Summer 2011 Update

2011-08-21T20:49:00.002+01:00

This was written a couple of months ago.
Recent news will come hot on the heels of this blog.

Hello dear friends,
After a dry and beautiful April, we’ve had quite a lot of rain; consequently the fields, mountains and gardens look spectacular in so many shades of green. Though we lost a number of plants due to the severe frosts of the winter, it’s truly amazing that so many plants have burst into life with a ‘Look at me, I’m back looking more beautiful than ever!’

I think the best way to show you the progress being made is by way of our photos this time. However here too, is how we see it in words...

The carpenters have now completed the dormitory walls, complete with sound proofing and two layers of special plaster boarding. One of them remarked, ’There’s more sound proofing between the dorm walls, than I put into some semi detached houses!’ Such is the wisdom of the directives issuing out of Europe.
The first fix of the electricity has also been installed upstairs.
It’s quite exciting walking around the rooms, praying in each one and planning how they will look when completed.

The water tank is now in situ and will shortly be connected to the bunk house.

The ground floor has been excavated the damp proof membrane and the drainage installed, the first layer of insulation laid and the first layer of concrete has been poured. Once that had dried, more insulation went down and the pipes for the under floor heating went down and finally the screed.
The outline walls for the wet rooms, four of them, and the drying room have also been laid.

The joiner is about to commence work on the windows – to European standards of course! They should be installed in the next two weeks.

Now that the work has begun, we are realising in takes on a momentum of its own and if we had all the finance, the work could be completed very quickly indeed. We have all the work men we need. Now all that is necessary is the financial wherewithal.

To be specific, we are needing £25K very soon and another £35K to continue and complete the work!

So, we are spending much time on our knees.

Help us. Keep on reading, praying and seeking God’s mind for us dear friends.
Do we keep on praying and make arrangements at the bank, or do get taken to the wire and wait to see God at work. We are finding it very difficult at the moment.
Clive likens it to the time of his cancer. He asked people to pray and he sought medical help. For us now……………?

If you would pray for guidance for us, we would be very grateful.
We know that for us personally, the journey we make in this venture, is as important as the end result. We want to be the people God intends us to be.
We remember the first trip we made to the Soviet Union back in the Seventies, how the preparation for the trip was as important as the trip itself. What we learned about prayer, fasting and stewardship are life lessons for us as Christians even now. Those days were and remain extremely precious.
We don’t want to miss out on something wonderful that God has in store for us but we also realise that workmen and bills have to paid promptly.

The word we seem to be coming across on a regular basis in our prayer times is, Persevere.

We are all well. Can’t believe Ffion was two years old July 1st. She’s a very chatty little person. We lost a chicken recently, it went missing for nearly two days. It appears that the little girl had picked it up and put it in the spare coop we have and shut the door!! Inside we found eggs and a very hungry and thirsty hen.

So dear friends, walk this road with us. Enjoy the photos, we’ll send more as progress is made.

Write or call (01550 777 144) we would love to hear from you.

With our warmest love and prayers that God will bless you and all those you love.

Clive, Gay, Menna and Ffion in Wales
Luke in Sweden
And Lloyd in Tunbridge Wells
x x x x x x x x

PHOTOS HERE:

Summer 2011

Greetings from a very lush Wales!

2011-05-23T21:46:00.003+01:00

Greetings from a very lush Mid Wales!

April, like the rest of the country was very dry and pleasant but lately it’s rained and the country around us has burst into life and beauty.

We hope our blogs may be a little more regular as work commences. We only have finances to go so far at the moment but we continue to bring our needs before the Lord.

Work has started on the first floor of the barn. Dear friends that we worked with in the past while at People International came to visit us from the States, one of them via Pakistan and Afghanistan. They gave us two weeks free labour and made a wonderful start, insulating the eaves and getting all the timber frame work in place for the dormitories. We were so encouraged to see the work actually get off the ground.
Since then the carpenters have picked up where Chuck, Cathy, Ron and Donna left off.

A 2000 gallon water tank was delivered this week, shortly to be partly sunk into the ground and fed by a new spring.
This week should also see the ground floor excavated.

After this then who knows? We are trusting God knows. He knows all things, the end from the beginning and every star BY NAME!!
Psalm 147v.4

We’ve just said goodbye to good friends from our previous church in Tunbridge Wells. Sixteen arrived on Friday evening and worked so hard, erecting fences, clearing brambles and weeds and making the entrance to the property much prettier and more welcoming. The fellowship was sweet, food was good and six folk even slept in the semi constructed rooms in the barn! We must thank our dear friend Alan from our church in Carmarthen for all his help with the catering over the weekend.

We are all well here. It’s hard to believe that Ffion will be two in the not too distant future, Menna has completed her first year at University and Lloyd commences his first year in September.
Luke is still living in Sweden, though we are really looking forward to seeing him and girlfriend Emelie in July.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, we hope you enjoy the photos.

From all the Pritchards with our love.

Photos here:

Spring Summer 2011

More photos from Menna's degree:

Menna - University

Spring 2011 at Min Yr Afon

2011-04-18T15:09:00.002+01:00

Greetings to you all from what has been a pleasant spring. It’s good to know we are almost past the threat of anymore really cold weather. We lost our water on several occasions this winter, so to know there is milder weather ahead of us is quite a relief.

To look at the building here, there would seem to have been little taking place and construction wise that is true. However much has gone on in preparation. Inevitably, there has been more waiting. Waiting on building regulations, waiting to know whether we have been granted help from a local investment fund under Carmarthenshire C.C. and most of all, waiting for quotes from builders.

However we feel we are at last on the cusp of moving forward on phase one of the work. At the risk of boring the socks off you, this will include:

Harvesting more spring water and sinking a holding tank and pump. This will ensure there will always be a good flow of water when twenty people arrive off the hill all wanting showers and a hot meal.

Secondly, we have to excavate the ground floor put in a damp proof membrane, hard core concrete, an insulating layer, the under floor heating pipes and a screed top coat. The drainage goes in at this stage as well.

A friend has been more than helpful in advising us and working out costs of the very demanding specifications with regard to insulation. In fact many of the specs. in the building regs. are incomprehensible to the lay man!

We also have friends arriving from the States – via Northern Pakistan! - to help construct the dormitories up stairs, that is, if we have the go ahead from official channels.

Funds will always be a challenge. We can complete phase one but after that……………………only the Lord knows! And He does. He just asks us to trust Him and on His past dealings with us, we have absolutely no reason to doubt His provision. As fund raising in the current economic climate is not easy, it is more reliable to trust the God of the universe don’t you think?
Can I be bold and ask, that if any of you go to a Church that would like to support this project, we would really appreciate hearing from you. A kind friend printed a fund raising leaflet for us and this is available if you would like to receive some. This explains our intentions in setting up the bunkhouse and the charitable trust.

At a family level, we are all well.
Luke continues to live in Sweden, learning the language and looking forward to spring after a long snowy winter. We are hoping to see him in May, which will be great as we haven’t seen him since Christmas.

Lloyd has been offered a place in WEST (Wales Evangelical School of Theology) to study for a degree in Theology. He will really miss his friends and the church in Tunbridge Wells, however we are looking forward to him being closer to us.

Menna is loving her course at Trinity Carmarthen. This term she’s been caving, and working on the hill, she spent five days in Snowdonia rock climbing and four days on the river this last week.
She has also been chosen to assist with a party of school pupils from the British School of Paris, as they have an adventure holiday in the French Alps this summer.
We are grateful that Menna walked away unhurt from quite a serious car accident recently.

Ffion is learning new words all the time and is a busy, chatty little girl, just like her Mum! She gives the chickens a hard time as she loves picking them up and dancing around with them. They don’t seem to suffer from the experience and they lay copious numbers of eggs!
She is still very wakeful through the night.

Gay’s parents keep in reasonable health, both of them now in their nineties. We see them at least once a week and now that the really cold weather is over, we hope they will spend more time here with us.

Clive had another MRI on his brain quite recently. He’s had a tiny tumour for a while now which we have been told is nothing to be concerned about.
The doctor has told him that this tumour is very dense and they are not sure what it is, he sees a neurologist soon so we’ll know more then we expect.

Church is great, enjoying the ministry and the fellowship. After saying that we felt our time for serving in a church context was past, we are both fully involved again. Inevitable I guess!

So that’s about it. If work starts soon, we will up date the blog more regularly and send some pictures of the work in progress, ooh, that sounds good!

Please continue to pray for us. Do please send us your news, we would love to hear from you.

Much love and God bless you.

Autumn (and Winter!) at Min Yr Afon

2010-12-09T11:43:00.005Z

Hello dear friends,

Very warm season’s greetings from a very cold Wales.
Our love and thanks to all who have supported us for so many years. How can we ever repay you?

It’s very odd looking back at a previous blog, we find ourselves in a very similar situation, freezing temperatures and frozen pipes. We are really hoping they don’t burst again. We thought this year might be different with our new heating system installed but the temperatures here have been extraordinarily low for this time of year, minus sixteen we’ve heard!

The new residents at Min yr Afon seem to be thriving despite the cold weather. The hens are still laying (November to February they are less productive) and our newest residents, four beautiful Jacob sheep. Have a look at the story at the end of Genesis chapter 30. We thought we would get them ahead of the bunkhouse opening, in order to domesticate them as far as possible, so that children and youngsters can pet them. At present, two will eat from our hands, though whether through friendliness or greediness we are not sure!

We have recently become members of Living Word Church Carmarthen. We are very happy there amongst a loving fellowship. Our pastor Matt Bownds has a wonderful teaching ministry. Have a look at the website (link above).

We hope you will be as pleased as we are to hear that at long last, the architect’s plans along with all the other surveys have now been submitted to the planning department. Praise the Lord. We will now have to wait between five and eight weeks to hear from them. Please continue to pray for a successful outcome. We have to confess we thought we would be up and running by now. Our next job is to raise the money needed to complete the vision we have.

FAMILY NEWS
It was our joy to celebrate the 70th wedding anniversary of Gay’s parents in September. We feel enormously privileged to have in them, such an example of faithfulness and commitment. They continue to be very loving and supportive and of course take great delight in their great grand daughter.

Luke was 30 this year! He is living and working in Sweden at the moment. This is where Emelie’s family live. He will be there until next summer at least. After that who knows, he still has the wander lust! We look forward to seeing him over the Christmas period.

Menna has commenced her degree course in Outdoor Education at Trinity St. David’s University in Carmarthen and she is absolutely loving her course. This term has concentrated on river and coastal work Brrrrrrrrrrr! Take a look at a few of her photos.

Menna - University

Lloyd is in his second year of serving at St. John’s Church Tunbridge Wells. He’s very happy there and we hear great things about him. He’s now praying about his future and at present he’s thinking of theological college. Lloyd will be with us for Christmas. How wonderful that we’ll all be together.

Ffion is now 17 months old and she’s as busy as a proverbial beaver. She’s been walking for quite a while and her language is just kicking in. She loves feeding the chickens and throwing sticks into the river. She has just started sleeping through the night. It has been a long time in coming but Menna is really grateful she’s got there at last. She’s very beautiful!

Clive and Gay
We were invited to a very Jesus centred wedding in the autumn in Tunbridge Wells. It was just lovely seeing old friends who we miss enormously. There were so many more we wish we could have seen.
Clive has experienced his first surgery free year in five years, for which we are very thankful. He is in reasonable health but gets pretty tired fairly quickly. He is in the process of gradually putting up some new fencing to move the sheep around the property. They make great lawn mowers when the ground is too soft for the mower, and they get good fresh grass.
Gay LOVES living here, enough said!!

So dear friends, we hope that by the time we next write to you, it will be to say that the work is under way.

Would you pray with us, that there will be no further hold up. We have felt quite disconsolate at times, faithless, impatient people that we are. As we look back, it probably won’t seem as long and tedious a process as it has been to live through.

Please pray about our funding. The architect gave us a ball park figure of £100.000!! We are sure we’ll do it for less but as you can see we will need to raise a considerable amount.

And please pray that ‘Hiraeth Bunkhouse’ will achieve its potential for Jesus sake.

Praise God for all His faithfulness in so many ways

We wish you all a wonderful time over this Christmas period. How blessed we are to know what Christmas is all about. JESUS.

With warmest love and God’s richest blessings,
From all the Pritchards xx

Autumn Winter 2010

Summer at Min Yr Afon

2010-08-03T21:52:00.001+01:00

Greetings again from us all at Min Yr Afon.

Early summer was absolutely glorious here in Mid Wales with week after week of sunshine. This proved more than helpful to us, as the roof was off the barn. The work is now completed, taking about seven weeks in total.

We have had an on site meeting with two men from the Environment Agency, the hydrologist and the architect. They had a very good look around the grounds and in the building.
As the computer projection for the one in a thousand year catastrophic flood is, that the building will flood, the fact that we have an escape route via the first floor on to a high bank behind the house means that, providing we put in place certain measures, the Environment Agency has written to say they will have no objection when the plans are submitted.

So, thank you so much for your prayers. As you know this decision has been a long time in coming but here we are, ready to talk about the actual plans. The next step is probably to sound out the planning officer. We don’t want to incur extra costs if there is something we need to do prior to submitting the plans for the bunkhouse, hence a pre-planning meeting. We would so appreciate your on going prayers as we move forward.

Family updates includes the lovely news that Ffion is taking her first wobbly steps! Menna has just passed her driving test, pretty essential as in September she commences her three years at Trinity College Carmarthen studying Outdoor Education.

Lloyd is as busy as ever in his apprentice post at St. John’s Church T.Wells. Next week he is off to help at a Christian camp then back to Holiday Club at Church. Hopefully after this he’ll grab a few days holiday.

Luke is now in Sweden with Emelie and her family. He’s trying to get a job there so he can once again save up to make another trip, this time to Northern Pakistan and North West China. We are hoping to see him in the autumn.

Clive had a check up in hospital this morning, he has been cancer free for five years now! Gay is in good health as usual, just feeling ever so slightly older, eek!
Dylan our gorgeous Labradoodle is as curious as ever about the chickens! We have thirteen hens who are keeping us in eggs.

We have welcomed many friends in the ten months since moving here, staying for varying lengths of time. About 150 we think. This is why God brought us here, though catering for folk will be much easier when the bunkhouse is up and running.

We are very happy in our Church in Carmarthen. The fellowship is warm and welcoming and the preaching is wonderful.

Most of you will be reading this via your email, for those of you who have received this via snail mail but could receive it via email, please let us know by sending us your email address to gayp@hotmail.co.uk Many thanks.

We will keep you up to date with any progress we make and would really love to have your news. Please write to us. Thank you so much for your support.

With love and prayers,

Clive, Gay, Menna & Ffion
(Dylan the dog and the chickens !!!!!!!)

Summer at Min Yr Afon

The latest from Min Yr Afon

2010-04-26T11:59:00.001+01:00

Hello Friends,

Well at last we have something positive to report. The license to re-roof was granted last week and…
THE ROOF IS OFF!!

Dyfed our roofer tells us it will take about four weeks to complete as many of the timbers have to be replaced. So thank you for praying about this. We have enjoyed a month of sunshine, it’s been glorious. I wonder what the next few weeks will hold for us! (Photos below!)

Spring has been sensational here at Min yr Afon with day after day of blue skies and sunshine. Thank you Lord.

We’ve recently hosted many friends who have stayed with us over the holiday period. Seventeen in all, it was lovely seeing folk and fortunately their visits were nicely staggered so we never felt overwhelmed.

Last weekend we enjoyed the company of sixteen men from Christchurch in Tunbridge Wells. The idea was to work on our grounds in the day and enjoy and deepen friendships in the evenings. I can’t begin to tell you how hard they worked and what they accomplished. They even brought their own food and a cook!!
They cleared large areas of brambles and cleared old ditches and dug out new ones. They were such good company and we thank God for all their hard work. We hope we’ll see them again, perhaps for a holiday next time. We are sure there were many aching limbs on Monday morning (link to Photos below).

In a week or so, we welcome about ten folk from our church St. Johns, T.Wells. There are plenty more jobs to do and we look forward to seeing them. It’s a long journey and we really appreciate people making the effort for us.

Both Clive and Menna have hospital appointments on Friday. Clive will see his consultant following his last stay in hospital and Menna for results of a colonoscopy.

Menna received exciting news yesterday following an interview last week at Trinity University, Carmarthen, for a degree course in Outdoor Education. She’s been given a place for September this year. We were surprised to hear so quickly but are absolutely delighted for her. We shall do all we can to support her and Ffion. In time, the qualifications she will gain will be a huge help in offering activities from the bunkhouse.
Ffion has cut two teeth and started crawling this week. Now we’re in trouble!

Lloyd continues to be happy working in the Church in T.Wells. It was great to see him over Easter along with five of his friends from his Thailand trip, who met up for a reunion. We hope he’ll be here again as part of the work party from St. Johns.
Luke returns from India in the middle of May and will stay with us for about a month before going to Sweden for the foreseeable future. He also celebrates his 30th birthday in June. We can’t possibly have a thirty year old child, we’re much too young! (Then we look in the mirror!!)

Gay’s wonderful Mum celebrates her 90th birthday in May. She remains in good health generally speaking, some aches and pains but she’s as jolly as ever and it’s always a pleasure spending time in her company. She and Dad will have been married for seventy years in September. Isn’t this marvellous, God has been ever present in their marriage and they’ve been an extraordinary example of faithfulness to our family and many others.

We are continuing to enjoy our Church in Carmarthen. Matt our lovely pastor preached really well over Easter. We have taken a number of our visitors with us, all of whom have enjoyed it.

So thank you for your friendship, please keep on praying for a positive answer from the Environment Agency. Hopefully we’ll hear this week and if it’s a positive reply, we can go ahead with the planning.

The blog should be more regular from now but we will always let you know. Come and see us some time, we can always find room for you, even if it’s in a tent!

Lots of love and God bless you and those you love.
From all at Min Yr Afon x

Spring at Min Yr Afon

Christ Church Work Party

St. Johns Work Party

Bannau Sir Gaer and Llyn y fan fach

2010-02-22T22:31:00.000Z

Yesterday we were privileged to explore a part of the Beacons less well know than the Pen Y Fan area.

Llyn y fan fach surrounded by Bannau Sir Gaer (the Carmarthenshire Fans) is just 20 minutes from Min Yr Afon. We were blessed with a glorious afternoon - blue sky, sunshine and a foot of snow on top!

A must-do walk when visiting us!

(You can read more here:
http://www.breconbeacons.org/geopark/enjoying/llyn-y-fan-fach)

Photos here:

Bannau Sir Gaer

And more pictures

2010-02-05T12:25:00.001Z

Here:

Update from Min Yr Afon

2010-02-05T12:01:00.000Z

Well, we survived all the freezing temperatures relatively unscathed! Hope you did too.

We are all well, Clive has a check up with his surgeon next week and Menna had a colonoscopy last week. We should have the results soon. Ffion is gorgeous even though she’s teething – noisily!

Lloyd is still serving in our church in T.Wells, learning how to live independently as he shares a flat with one of the other church apprentices. We look forward to seeing him in March.

Luke is still in India, we assume! We haven’t heard from him for a while. Luke, if you read this, write to us!!!!!!

There isn’t too much news and that’s why we’d like to ask you to pray for us and the lack of activity. We seem to be taking one step forward and two steps back in regard to the various permissions we are seeking.

BATS
We lost two or three weeks, when someone who had agreed to apply for a license for us to re-roof (due to the bats) said they were unable to do it. We now have some one else, but he is telling us a different story about how to proceed. If matters don’t move along fairly quickly we will lose the opportunity to complete the roof work before the bat breeding season occurs and then it will be September before anything can be done. Please pray it will now go through more smoothly and in a timely fashion.

FLOODS AND PESTILENCE
After being told the flood model would be in our hands last week we are still waiting for it. Then does it need to go to our architect or off to pre planning?? Who knows?
We are really hoping the architect is going to make all things clear in the morning when we call him.

Wasn’t that really boring for you? – For us too, waiting. But we need your prayers hence the information overload. We know that God is in complete control, it’s our

We’ve had a quote for a change in our heating system and this should go ahead fairly soon. We don’t mind the hard work of the logs and coal (although it’s not great for Clive), but we are finding it HUGELY expensive. We have considered all the options, the wood pellets are far too expensive to install and can be unreliable to run, not always but sometimes and for us but particularly the bunk house, we must be sure that what we install ensures hot showers and a warm environment.
We could go on, but after talking to lots of people, praying and looking on the web we feel we must go with, of all things, oil! Sorry to the greens among you, but it’s the way to go for us at present. Maybe solar or hydro power can be installed at a later date to supplement heating and power, but not now. If you have any better ideas, NOW is the time to speak!

Now for something that is close to our hearts and that’s Church. It’s now been five months since we had a Church we could call home. We seem to be travelling further each few Sundays to find somewhere that we will know is the place God wants us to be. Somewhere that will cater particularly for Menna and Ffion. We have never been in this position before and it’s very strange not being in the thick of Church life.

We’ve had precious friends visit us for Australia and hopefully we’ll be welcoming many more into our home in the coming months. It’s why God gave us this lovely home.

The snow drops are peeking through the earth now and we look forward to hosts of golden daffodils in a few weeks! Hopefully it won’t be too long before we get a hen house up that is mink and fox proof, ready to welcome some feathered ladies that have been acquired after their days at a battery farm. We are sure they will enjoy roaming around and will still lay enough eggs for us to use as a family.

We’ve taken up enough of your time. We hope you’ll enjoy the new photos and our news. Please send us your news we love hearing from you. Talk to you soon and please pray for the project.

God bless you and all those you love
With much love,

The Pritchards

Winter at Min Yr Afon

2010-01-11T13:39:00.000Z

Dear Friends,

A very Happy New Year to you all. We hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

We are currently writing from a very cold Wales!
(link to photos in post below)

Obviously all of Britain has been in the grips of a deep freeze - we hope you are keeping warm!
Our pipes are currently frozen and we have had no water for 4 days. Flushing the toilet involves breaking the ice on our river to fill a bucket! We are brushing our teeth with bottled water and have filled up two 25L jerricans for washing up/cooking. Washing ourselves involves Ffions baby wipes!! So we are now eagerly awaiting the big thaw before we get too stinky!!

We have managed to have some fun in the snow though! (video of Gaynor sledging... with a little help from Dylan - video here)

We had a lovely Christmas with family. Gaynors parents joined us from Merthyr and we were so glad to have Lloyd with us from Tunbridge Wells. The only thing that put a 'dampener' on things was a burst water pipe on Christmas Eve which involved a late night call out to a plumber with an emergency fee of £440. Who charges £250 per hour?!?!?

Last time we wrote we were waiting to hear from the Kent and Sussex hospital regarding Clive's operation. As most of you know, shortly after that Clive was admitted to Carmarthen hospital for a few weeks. After a weekend of pain and vomiting we took him to hospital late one night. A few days later he received an emergency operation to repair what was an obstruction caused by a twisted gut. At the same time his hernia was repaired (saving us a trip to Kent). After 16 days recovery he was finally allowed home and is still in recovery for a few more weeks.

Thank you so much for your prayers during what was a very difficult time for Clive and a tiring one for Gaynor and Menna.

The bat survey is being prepared for submission to the Welsh Assembly for a license to enable us to re-roof (you may remember in our last post that the builder was actually booked in to do this but we then found out that before we even touch the roof for repair we needed this special license from the Assembly!).

Please pray for:
*A favourable response from the Welsh Assembly and similarly from the Environment Agency re: the flood consequence assessment.
*Continued recovery for Clive (up to this point it has been fairly slow)
*And for no more burst pipes during the big thaw

Thank you for your continual support, financially, and in your prayers. It means so much to us.

Please do let us know how you are and anything we can prayer for for you.

Lots of love from us all x

Photos of Winter at Min Yr Afon

2010-01-11T13:15:00.000Z

You can view photos here:

Winter at Min Yr Afon

Photos from this Autumn

2009-11-14T00:23:00.000Z

Here:

Autumn at Min Yr Afon

2009-11-13T22:57:00.000Z

Dear Friends,

Once again our apologies that it has taken so long to write.

Well there's lots that has happened in the last month...

We were very grateful of being able to share back at St. Johns Church in Tunbridge Wells. It was wonderful to catch up with old friends and we miss you all! We would like to say a huge thank you to those of you who made donations to Hiraeth. These have enabled us to get re-roofing booked for next week, and we are looking into new heating systems. We are doing extensive research in this area as it is important that the system we install is efficient, eco-friendly, cost effective etc. but at the same time, with Clive's health needs to be easy to maintain.

We are still waiting to hear from the hospital regarding Clive's next hernia operation.

We also have the flood survey booked for next week (if we haven't sunk by then - look at the weather!!!!!) Please pray for this!

After returning from Tunbridge Wells we were able to visit our good friends, Keith and Ruth Wynne, at John Stott's place - The Hookses. And what a place! It was a welcome day off for us. The views were stunning, we enjoyed a lovely walk along the cliffs and beach. We hope to spend longer there in the future.

Tomorrow Gaynor and Menna are attending a training morning for a local schools outreach program. An interactive 'Jesus' bus is travelling around and sharing the gospel - we will know more after tomorrow!

The house is coming together. We still have so much to do but we're getting there!
We are hugely looking forward to decorating for Christmas. More importantly it will be wonderful to have Lloyd with us.

Luke is visiting with his girlfriend at the end of the month before they travel back to India. He was able to spend a long weekend with us recently, with a friend of his. They managed to do a couple of walks and helped cut logs for the fire.

It has certainly been a month of visitors! And from all four corners of the earth.

Dave and Debbie, from St.Johns, stopped by with the boys for the day. They were immensely helpful! With paint brushes in one hand and axes in the other!

We were joined by a dear, dear friend from Canada who's lovely wife recently passed away. They used to serve with us in Central Asia.

Following this some missionary friends from the Ivory Coast(again ex-PI friends!) came to visit. We haven't seen them in nearly two decades so it was great to catch up!!

Menna was also joined by her friend from Brighton last weekend. We all managed to get up Pen Y Fan (the highest peak in south Wales) and up to Castle Carreg Cennen. He took some lovely photos which we will post a link to, along with some other photos of things mentioned above.

Menna also visited her old work colleagues in Brighton during our trip down south. She got to meet her ex-bosses baby Monty who is just 11 days younger than Ffion.

Gaynors parents also visit us every couple of weeks for a few days. It's a welcome break from the house for them.

So who's next...?
Do come and stay - our 6 person caravan is available for hire and we have two doubles and one single guest bedrooms.

Come Spring we would also be grateful for anyone who can help manually. If you are interested in helping out, please do let us know.

We appreciate your prayers and support, we wouldn't be here without it.

In all the activity and house renovation, we want to keep uppermost in our minds that we want to do it for Jesus and the lovely verse from Psalm 127 v 1 : "Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain"

God Bless and Lots of love,
Clive, Gaynor, Menna and Ffion xxxx

And some photos...

2009-10-09T23:07:00.000+01:00

We have uploaded some photos to an album which you can view by clicking below:

the hiraeth project

Finally...

2009-10-09T21:56:00.000+01:00

Dear Friends,

Sorry it has taken so long to get this updated. Unpacking, combined with not having the internet for a couple of weeks has meant a slight delay.

Well, we are here!

The move went well, but was of course very stressful!
The Pickfords lorry parked completely on the little bridge which leads to our house and we thought we would be fishing our boxes out of the river! But there were no problems or delays - a real answer to prayer.

The first couple of days we had friends over to help us paint, unpack and re-assemble flat pack furniture which was a real blessing. Thank you everyone!

We are so happy here!! However, even without the bunkhouse project and endless decorating, day to day living itself is hard work. Clive is out most days chopping wood for our fire - the source of our hot water and central heating.

We have unpacked half our boxes (although there are still approximately 48 boxes of books left to unpack!) And finding a new home for everything is taking some time.

We have nearly finished decorating two guest bedrooms and have already had several visitors, including some old PI friends and family from Australia. We have had to buy a huge annual wall-planner to keep on top of when visitors are coming. Lots of you are very keen - which is lovely as we dearly miss you all!

Church here is very different...
We have joined a small (between 5 and 20 people max.!) fellowship in a nearby town the last few Sundays. It's going to take a lot of getting used to after our large, active experience of church life in Tunbridge Wells! Please pray for Grace Evangelical Church in Llandeilo and guidance for us to know whether or not it is the right place for us to settle.

With regards to the bunkhouse - well, let the paper work commence!
We have had our bat survey (!) done by an old friend. There are bats but they are not going to cause huge problems for us. Another answer to pray.
Next up - the flood survey! Now this we really do need your prayer for, as this could potentially put a stop to all our plans. However, we are recieving excellent advice on the matter and more importantly, trust God.

Looking forward to renewing friendship and fellowship in our Church in Tunbridge Wells next weekend when they are hosting a leaving lunch for us and giving us the oppotunity to share about our plans.

Ffion is delightful as ever! However it looks like she is cutting her first tooth so Menna has had a few disturbed nights and days. In general though she is very contended and happy to sit in her bouncy chair and watch us paint or clean! Menna hugely enjoyed finally being able to do her nursery.

Dylan is loving it! And there is rarely a day he is not in the river!

Right, time for bed. But we won't leave it so long until our next update.

Thank you for your continued support and prayers,

All our Love,

Clive, Gaynor, Menna and Ffion x

And so it begins...

2009-09-08T11:49:00.000+01:00

Well, the boxes are nearly all packed and this Thursday/Friday we will be relocating to Wales.

It has been a busy few weeks, and mild panic is setting in during these last couple of days as we prepare everything for the movers to arrive!

We are so excited about the move, but sad to be leaving behind dear friends.

Keep checking for updates of everything that is happening - warts and all! We hope you will enjoy reading about our new adventures.

Please do keep us in your thoughts and prayers.