Back to East London... (Part Two)

Our next port of call was Hackney Downs station, and our destination was the old Clapton Congress Hall. I’ve heard so much about this place, which was a Salvation Army church which could seat over 4,000 I’m told. It was also the Training Centre for Salvation Army officers before the complex at Denmark Hill was opened. It used to look like this: But last I read, it looked like this: So there’s us, just moseying on down Lower Clapton Road and there it is down a little cul-de-sac – looking much better than I was expecting. It was quite strange to see it suddenly for the first time: After they had built the new Training College in Denmark Hill, there wasn’t such a need for the Clapton Congress Hall anymore, so The Salvation Army eventually sold it (but it’s not all bad because there’s still a Salvation Army church about fifty metres away): We then travelled to Cambridge Heath because I wanted to see the building where Booth lived and where the name ‘Salvation Army’ was chosen, and where, and where..., etc. But when we got there it turns out the building doesn’t exist anymore, so we had to sit at the beautiful Cambridge Heath station for fifteen minutes. It looks like this: And Patrick and I looked like this (because it is Quite Boring): But who cares about the past? Why would two young guys spend their time walking around London looking for old buildings and graves on a Saturday afternoon? I know some people who would ask that. I know definitely of some people who read this blog who would ask that.

And my answer is that I find it totally inspiring. Totally. These were people and places that, in many ways, changed the world. These people were determined to show God’s love to those people who had little chance of seeing it elsewhere. They fought for what they believed in. They saw real need and wanted to improve lives. And today The Salvation Army is bigger than it’s ever been and doing so much good in the world, that I’m thrilled to be a part of it. It makes me want to look at what I do and inspires me to do more.

And walking across Tower Bridge at the end of the day I took these two beautiful shots of a city that still needs people like William Booth as much as ever: And just to go the whole hog, I’ll post the famous speech Booth gave just before his death in 1912:

While women weep, as they do now, I'll fight;
While children go hungry, as they do now, I'll fight;
While men go to prison, in and out, in and out, as they do now, I'll fight;
While there is a drunkard left, while there is a poor lost girl upon the streets, while there remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight.I'll fight till the very end!