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As I’m writing this during the holiday, I feel a sing-along coming on…
‘Bob the Builder
Can we fix it?
Bob the Builder
Yes, we can…’
I’ve just dropped into school to check on a couple of things, and been faced with a demolition site caused by none other than ‘Bob the Builder’. (Actually, his name’s not Bob, it’s Eddie. But for the sake of the sing-along both him and his employees will collectively be known as ‘Bob’.)
Bob came on site early on the first day of the holiday with a big hammer over his shoulder and promptly set about knocking seven bells out of some perfectly good walls in school and the dust…well, it resembled images of the Blitz combined with a desert sandstorm.
‘Time to get busy, such a lot to do
Building and fixing till it's good as new
Bob and the gang make a really good sound
Working all day till the sun goes down’
Now, I must say at this point that all this was planned and in Bob’s defence, he is very tidy compared to some building work that I’ve experienced. And Bob doesn’t hang about – the transformation in just one day was nothing short of amazing!
We’re not building outwards, we’re changing inwards.
The old hall (we have two) is being converted into a classroom, computer suite and an art/design technology area. Other work includes modifications to the kitchen, making a dining servery and store room off the new hall and the relocation of the staffroom and the headteacher’s office. Oh, and there’s a wall to come down in the infant corridor.
It would be naïve of me to think that this project would be free of snags in a building that originally dates back to 1830 – rising damp and underfloor corroded pipe work being just two of them to date.
‘Left a bit, right a little, O.K. straight down
We can tackle any situation
Look out, here we come
Can we dig it? Yes
Can we build it Yes
Can we fix it Yes’
So what’s the purpose of all this work taking place, at no small cost, I hasten to add?
It seems to me that we’re all in the business of building – whether we be laying bricks or building lives – our own and others – and there’s always a cost. In the case of school, the building work over the summer will enable us, amongst other things, to deliver a more inclusive curriculum and have improved facilities but a cost will be losing the old hall and the facilities it afforded. But for me, the real building will take place from September 3rd when the pupils and staff return and we work hard together to continue to build up each other; to recognise and develop the potential in all of us to be the people that God put us on this planet to be.
‘Digging and mixing, having so much fun
Working together, they get the job done
Can we dig it Yes
Can we build it Yes
Can we fix it Yes’
We’re not building outwards, we’re changing inwards.
I have no doubt that the building work after six weeks will be a credit to Bob, but I think building with bricks is not the most difficult part – bricks don’t have personalities and rough edges are easily smoothed. People - now that’s an entirely different matter - it takes a bit longer than six weeks! This is where our Christian faith comes into it’s own. Inward change always demands a cost and that cost is often directly proportionate to the amount of change taking place.
“Not all change is improvement, but without change there can be no improvement.”
(‘Developing the Leader Within You’ by John C Maxwell)
At the risk of sounding a bit ‘cheesy’…
God the Builder
He can fix it.
God the Builder
Yes, he can! Pete Hyland
Headteacher
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