Break to Bournemouth,,,Earthquake in Christchurch New Zealand

Hello Friends,

How have you all been this week.  We had a very nice few days at Bournemouth starting last Saturday through to Wednesday.  It was a cheap coach trip that I suggested to some friends in guild....we have always gone on a guild weekend at end of Feb. however this year it had been cancelled.........so this was just a thought for our own guild and in the end 10 of us booked and off we went.  It was a real nice few days. The hotel was excellent, beautiful and clean and food excellent. It was on top of the cliffs looking out to sea...unfortunately none of us had sea views.We had trips our each day. on the Sunday we went a short morning trip to Poole. This is a very nice coastal town home of the famous Poole Pottery that sells for high cost in auctions. Also just a few mins. from the harbour is Brownsea Island where the Scout Movement was begun by Lord Baden Powell. On that island are lots of red squirrels, unfortunately we did not have time to go over to the island  ( Although Mary and I have been over on other occasions) The sun did come out whilst we were there and we were even able to sit out and watch the beautiful sail ships bobbing about in the harbour.   Next day was a full day tour to the Isle of Wight. We sailed from Southampton to East Cowes. Unfortunately the weather was very dull and grey and certainly not very photographic. It was a pity as one of the places we stopped for lunch was called Godshill and most of not all the houses had thatched roofs which come out nicely in photographs...but not this time !!  sorry....Next day was a trip into the New Forrest. Again it was a dull grey day but quite pleasant. we saw many many New Forrest ponies but no foals as yet..

All to soon it was Wednesday and the day to come home...

As some of you may know one of my very favourite countries in the whole wide world is New Zealand. I have been fortunate enough to have been there 6 times now and each time I leave a little of myself behind. So it will come as know surprise to hear that the news of the horrific Earthquake in the south Island City of Christchurch has been much on my mind and in my prayers. It was actually the first place that Mary stayed in when we did the grand tour of the South and North Island...we stayed in a hotel called the Copthorne,   well today another friend who lives down that way has written an article about what is happening...and what has happened to the hotel...I have asked her permission to reproduce it here for you all to have some up to date personal news.    Can I ask you all to pray for all the people in that beautiful City. and in the surrounding countryside. By doing so it shows that we truly do:

Love One Another.

From New Zealand....



On Tuesday the 22nd of February 2011, Canterbury NZ, suffered it darkest day. There was an earthquake of great magnitude. To date there has been confirmed 146 deaths, 236 missing still, trapped under the rubble, in the inner city. Christchurch is the 2nd biggest city in NZ. It is the first time in our history that the govt has called a National Emergency, that is where they can commandeer anything from anyone. I shall start with the elderly, in NZ like most countries, we have rest homes, for the elderly, they have had to be vacated, some folk are in their 90s, and are being shipped away from family and friends because there is nowhere safe for them at the moment in ChCh. They are being taken by helicopter, plane and cars, and some are very very distressed. Next is the people with heart conditions, some have just died on the spot, others have had heart related problems 5 days on, and now the doctors are calling it "Heartbroken Syndrome". The main ChCh hospital was slightly damaged, and all patients were at first evacuated, those that had a home to go to and were well enough, were sent home. Then the injured came in, 100s of them, there are still over 150 in ICU. On that subject the Australians sent over a medic (MASH) team, and they have set up a huge special tent in one of the parks, where they can do operations and births, and anything in between. There are so many countries that have sent special teams of rescuers in I cant tell you how many have done so! But there are over 750 people from all over the world here, all bought their own equipment too. Buses full of people were crushed, the folk inside dead in an instant, people in shopping malls crushed, offices, lifts, homes, schools, kindergartens, you get my drift, not one person was not affected by this quake. There have been so many stories of heroics, many many sad ones too as you can imagine. The inner city has gone, buildings that have stood over a 100 years, (remember NZ is not that old) gone, the church Peter and used to work at , just a pile of rubble, and 3 men killed in there, they were trying to take out the pipe organ , rescue it from last years quake. The suburbs have literally sunk, its called liquefaction, where the ground, roads, cement paths turned to quicksand, one chap walked outside a moment after the quake to see if his elderly neighbour was ok, and sunk at the gutter to his waist. He is OK. Trucks cars, buses, you name it they sunk into sinkholes. A hotel called the Grand Chancellor, sunk 3 metres (8 foot) in 10 minutes, another hotel, a very large one, just disappeared. (The Copthorne). A building housing over 120 people just fell like a house of cards, with most trapped inside, (120 still inside), it housed a local TV company, and an English school where Asian kids went to learn English, also a doctors rooms, its flattened, 7 people got out of there. There is so much I could write, but I will put local NZ news site on here so if you want to you can see for yourself. http://www.stuff.co.nz/ tvnz.co.nz tv3.co.nz



and all this happened in 45 seconds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!