A vital person in our Church Community is Mike Brennan who works tirelessly on our behalf during the week. In addition to keeping an eye on the cleanliness of our premises, Mike organises all the Hall and Room bookings. Your editor caught up with him early in the New Year and asked him to tell us a bit more about himself.

“I was born and raised in Newcastle upon Tyne with two brothers and two sisters, and educated to ’O’ level in the Roman Catholic tradition. On leaving school, I took employment in the wages office of a shipyard which no longer exists. The Tyne was in decline at the time, and so, on reading about ‘flower power’, I headed for London in 1967 (the Summer of Love).

I’ve had a variety of jobs in the years leading up to my move to New Malden in 1977 – everything from Scientific Glass blowing, to a spell in the Royal Navy (Fleet Air Arm), messing about with the electronic systems on super-sonic aircraft. My main occupation, however, has been repair and maintenance of short-life housing, which has helped in looking after the church building. I believe my arrival at the church in 1991 was no accident, and continue to grow into the role, as gracefully as possible under the sometimes very trying circumstances.

The best part of my work at the church is to have all building users happy with their use of a building that is running like well lubricated clockwork. Occasionally a spanner is thrown into the works, of course, and a degree of patience, plus the ability to multi-task, are an absolute necessity.

The new lift has been the most significant addition recently; I can’t think how I managed before we had one. Moving furniture up and down the building has become child’s play. Our new facilities have attracted the eye of a diverse group of new hirers. RBK, in particular, seem to have been impressed with our open day presentation of the building. The new entrance has attracted casual enquiries regarding our provision of service, and often led to a request for room hire. Use of the new training suite has been occasional rather than regular, but a concerted effort on the part of our Steering Group to promote what is a state of the art facility should improve frequency of use.

When at home, I play computer games or perhaps a spot of D-I-Y, gardening or maybe strum some obscure chords on my guitar. I am a weekend father to Harry (who has autism) which can be time-consuming, but Fiona is a magnificent right hand woman in this respect, and has had a huge influence on his development.

Fiona and I both work hard and enjoy a seaside holiday somewhere hot as a reward. We began by visiting the Aegean, usually the Dodecanese Group of islands, which are close to the Turkish coast. After becoming disenchanted with Greek cuisine (which did not at that time cater for vegetarians), we spent several happy summers exploring the Canaries. In recent years we’ve tried Turkey more than once and returned to Tunisia several times. We always take Harry, who has his own room and enjoys a degree of independence. I’ve heard a whisper that we may be headed for Arizona this summer, where Fiona has family, and we are welcome to stay.

Wherever I go, I always seem to end up back at Eden Street, and hope – God willing – that I have the strength to carry on with this arrangement for many years to come.�