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    After the Fire: Finding words for Grenfell
    After the Fire: Finding words for Grenfell
    After the Fire: Finding words for Grenfell
    Ebook134 pages1 hour

    After the Fire: Finding words for Grenfell

    By Alan Everett

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    About this ebook

    In the immediate aftermath of the Grenfell Tower fire, the local parish church became a focal point of the relief effort, and a gathering place for a traumatised community. In the months that followed, it worked closely with other community and faith groups to provide a compassionate network of support.
    In this bold and prophetic challenge, Alan Everett shows that the church's response was possible only because it had opened its doors long ago, building relationships with the most marginalised in the community. Its effectiveness was born out of a patient, faithful, unheroic ministry that is all too easily underestimated.
    Through gripping reportage and searching theological reflection, After the Fire demonstrates how parish ministry can be a living symbol of God's love, and a vital sign of hope.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCanterbury Press
    Release dateOct 1, 2014
    ISBN9781786220547
    After the Fire: Finding words for Grenfell

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      Book preview

      After the Fire - Alan Everett

      ‘… words are simply inadequate to describe the horror, indescribable pain and continuing trauma of the community and survivors of Grenfell. But somehow in this searing and personal account from the moment the fire was raging, Alan Everett has managed to find the words and the wisdom to weave a profound story of suffering, community and the small beginnings of hope for something better. He uses his ministry and the scriptures … to take us through anger, confrontation, community and sometimes irreconcilable differences in response to the black hell of the needless public incineration of so many people.’

      Anna Ford, former newscaster and presenter

      ‘… utterly faithful to the reality of what happened last summer, Alan Everett articulates the essential importance of the locally rooted faith and community institutions that emerged alongside an army of local volunteers to lead the relief effort in the total absence of any early official response … Alan Everett’s reflections on what it means to be parish priest, the richness of community relationships, the importance of solidarity in responding to trauma and beginning the process of healing contain lessons for all those engaged in local ministry, and demonstrate the unique ways in which a parish church can be equipped to do this.’

      Lydia Rye, Senior Organizer, West London Citizens, Citizens UK

      ‘After the Fire is a compelling, unsparing and scrupulous account of the Grenfell Tower disaster and its aftermath, informed by Alan Everett’s commitment to the idea of the parish and the local. Essential reading for anyone concerned with the future of urban ministry.’

      The Revd Donald Reeves MBE, Director of the Soul of Europe

      ‘Grenfell looms over our moral imagination as starkly as it does over the landscape of West London. Alan Everett was there, living and ministering in its shadow. In this short book, he walks us through the agony of the fire and its aftermath, and then explores what the fire shows us about faith, and what faith has to say about the fire. Moving, shocking, perceptive, honest: After the Fire is a beautiful reflection of a terrible moment in our common life.’

      Nick Spencer, Research Director, Theos, the religion and society think tank

      ‘Like the rest of the world I was both horrified by the Grenfell Tower tragedy and inspired by the gentle measures taken by the people of St Clement’s on that horrible night. After the Fire is a sad but inspiring chronicle of the steadfast love of one small parish while all hell was breaking out around them. But it is also a powerful reflection on the role of the church in times of great calamity and a reminder to us of the mission of God’s people everywhere.’

      The Revd Dr Michael Frost, Vice Principal, Morling College, Sydney

      ‘After the Fire is an important documentation of the tragic fire that engulfed the Grenfell Tower in the early hours of 14 June 2017. Alan Everett eloquently articulates the situation that changed the community in North Kensington. His book will remain an invaluable reference for researchers and for those interested in understanding the role of the community in responding to emergency situations.’

      Abdurahman Sayed, Director of the Al-Manaar Muslim Cultural Heritage Centre

      After the Fire

      Finding words for Grenfell

      Alan Everett

      Canterbury_logo_fmt.gif

      © Alan Everett 2018

      First published in 2018 by the Canterbury Press Norwich

      Editorial office

      3rd Floor, Invicta House

      108–114 Golden Lane

      London EC1Y 0TG, UK

      www.canterburypress.co.uk

      Canterbury Press is an imprint of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd (a registered charity)

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      Hymns Ancient & Modern® is a registered trademark of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd

      13A Hellesdon Park Road, Norwich,

      Norfolk NR6 5DR, UK

      All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, Canterbury Press.

      The Author has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the Author of this Work

      British Library Cataloguing in Publication data

      A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

      978 1 78622 052 3

      Typeset by Regent Typesetting

      Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon

      For those who died

      For those who are bereaved

      For those who survived

      For those who are haunted by memories

      Contents

      RESPONSE

      Wednesday, 14 June

      The early hours

      The day unfolds

      The burden of support

      A national focus

      Meanwhile, back in the church gardens

      Sunday Mass

      A failure of communication and support

      Widening circles

      A busy summer

      The trauma deepens

      REFLECTION

      Faith in community

      Partners in community

      Church and Centre

      System breakdown

      The incarnation

      The Trinity in every parish

      A sense of place

      Who is my neighbour?

      Solidarity in suffering

      Christ’s self-emptying

      Speaking truth to power

      FINDING WORDS

      What does it mean to ‘find words for Grenfell’?

      Universal fragility

      The trauma that endures

      Who speaks?

      Towards a new narrative

      Six-month anniversary

      Stages along the way

      Grasping what matters

      Through earthquake, wind and fire

      A continuing presence

      14 June 2017

      Personal acknowledgements

      Acknowledgement of sources

      RESPONSE

      Wednesday 14 June

      The early hours

      The sound of a helicopter overhead … Emergency vehicles on the street outside … Probably a police raid, I thought, before drifting back to sleep … Later … The helicopter still circling … Emergency vehicles still hurtling along the street … Vehicle after vehicle after vehicle … Why were there so many?

      The doorbell rang. It was Sean Doherty, a priest who lives right by Grenfell Tower. He told me the tower was on fire. We set off, just before 3.00 am.

      The walk up to Lancaster West Estate felt unreal. The street was deserted, eerily still. Then we saw the fire: raging, out of control. It leapt violently up the building, vividly illuminated against the night sky.

      It was such terrible sight that I found myself struggling for a comparison, and rather pathetically came up with a film: The Towering Inferno. But this wasn’t an act of the imagination. In that all-consuming fire beyond the police cordon, people were dying. It may not have seemed real, but it was.

      I opened St Clement’s church, turned on the lights, and lit candles on the altar, as a sign of God’s presence and as an invitation to prayer. Then we went out to the police cordon, to find out how we could help. A few people were standing around in a state of shock. We asked some police officers where the evacuation centre was; one told us it was on Clarendon Road. Backtracking from the cordon, we reached Clarendon Road seven or eight minutes later. A small crowd was gathered under the street lights: sitting, standing, lying down. Most were silent; some were crying.

      The scene was desultory and subdued. There were a few paramedics, and an ambulance, but this did not resemble a major evacuation centre. Where was everyone? Or were these the only survivors?

      We met someone I knew, a tower resident. He had anticipated a disaster like this for years. The Grenfell Tower Action Group had repeatedly drawn attention to fire safety concerns, but it seemed no one had been listening. Wrapped in a blanket, he was calling on everyone around him to ‘bear witness’.

      Suddenly a group of kitted-up police officers appeared, marching along the road, down towards the tower. Someone called out, ‘No, guys, don’t! Take it easy, guys!’ Then they were gone.

      We decided to continue looking for other evacuation centres.

      Heading back in the direction of the church, we popped into a community centre on Walmer Road: the Rugby Portobello Trust. A few people were carrying in supplies, but as nobody seemed to know what was going on, we returned to St Clement’s.

      Some people were already there. They had brought in water. We assembled tables, boiled as many kettles as we could find, got an urn working, put out tea bags, a jar of coffee, cups, sugar, spoons and found some milk.

      Traumatized residents began to drift in. Some accepted a cup of tea. Most simply went and sat down. Volunteers arrived.

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