QPR fan bikes around the world

A QPR fan is on an around the world bike ride and hopes to finish in April 2012 in time to attend a Chelsea game he has tickets for.

Matthew Blake, 25, began his journey three and a half years ago after finishing studying at Kingston University where he had cycled to training sessions for a local football team.

The avid cyclist said: “I started football for a team in Alperton Lane, Middlesex It turned out to be quicker and cheaper to ride than take the train so I started riding up each week.

“I started riding everywhere around London including to Rangers games and from there began to read about other people who had done big bike trips. The idea that I wanted to do this was quickly formed in my head, I finished uni, worked a year in two jobs to save up money and left.”

Not wanting to become locked into a job Matthew began his bike journey around the world.

 He said: “Once you're on the career path it's not so easy to get off  and so I figured I wanted to enjoy myself and see the world first. The main reason I am doing this trip is because it makes me happy.”

Now Matthew is on the final leg and is currently in Khartoum, Sudan having just left South Sudan. He expects to be home in five months after he’s travelled to Cairo, Israel, Cyprus and Turkey before experiencing a European winter. 

He said: “I should be home early or mid-April next year. I've got a corporate ticket for the Chelsea game on April 28 so need to make it back for that!”

Matthew has been a QPR fan since he was born, and had his first season ticket from 1995-96, when QPR went down a league.

He said: “Us being actually good at the moment also makes it harder for me to be away, I preferred it when we were rubbish.

“I've also met QPR fans in Bulgaria, a man who follows the club as he taught QPR player Alan Macdonald's daughter to ski, Cambodia, San Francisco and Argentina!”

Matthew isn’t just cycling for fun, the money raised through sponsorship will go to SOS Children’s Charity, a place he visited on his ride through Zambia.

He said: “I'm raising money to help build a new SOS Children’s Village in Chipata, Zambia. I know people who've worked with them at home and they're just such a brilliant organisation and have turned around the lives of so many kids all over the world that it's a great thing to be a part of.

“It's not just building an orphanage, it's an entire village where kids will be with a family, each child will have a Mum who'll look after them until they turn 18. They have a house, brothers and sisters and also access to medical care and a school.

“Taking kids with nothing and giving them a family, a home and an education is something that's easy to want to support!

Despite having only completed just three months training before taking off Matthew feels he’s never felt fitter, even when playing football.

He said: “I'm also a fairly energetic person so being on the bike is a great way to keep active - you gain a ridiculous level of fitness, and also with your body craving energy all the time you can eat as much food as you like without ever gaining wait - and I love  food!

Since beginning his journey the intrepid traveller feels that there really is no better way to see the world than on a bike.

He said: “I've travelled before on trains and you basically go from city centre to city centre, whilst if you're in a car you still have the windows and the car door blocking you from the outside world and its people. In comparison on the bike you see the entire country you're visiting and meet so many people you'd never have spoken to otherwise - it really is the best way to travel.”

Riding alone for so long you would think Matthew would get lonely, but he reckons the isolation makes him more social.

He said: ““Being on your own it forces you to go out and speak to people and get into social situations you never normally would otherwise.

“I've ridden with a few people for different lengths of time over the last three and a half years and it's only been the last few months that loneliness has started to creep in.

“When you're five months from home it's easy to remind yourself that you can just get your head down and that after three and a half years then five months really isn't a long time.”

As for boredom Matthew has plenty of ways to keep himself occupied.

He said: “I still enjoy the cycling even now so I never get bored with that but for when not on the bike then I have books, sometimes an mp3 player. I've broken 4 on this trip and am currently without one!”

Matthew says the most special places he has been to are Kyrgyzstan, Korea, Columbia and Lesotho, especially up mountains as he loves being at altitude, but the best part of his trip has been the food.

He said: “One the best thing about this trip has been trying all the different foods around the world.

“We have all the restaurants at home but it's never the same as actually being there for it. Lechona in Columbia, Manty in Kazakhstan, Thai curry, Mexican tacos. I could go on about food all day!”

The past few weeks have been tough with problems with Visas, being arrested and rain washing away the roads forcing Matthew to take a boat along the River Nile.

“My water filter broke I was having to drink water straight from the Nile with predictable consequences.

“I was also arrested and detained for 16 hours at the border as they were suspicious as to why a westerner would be on a cargo boat in South Sudan, but I was released without charge so while a waste of time, was no big deal.

Despite his adventures and mishaps Matthew would recommend cycling to anyone who wants a new experience.

“You don't have to go around the world but even just a short trip on a bicycle will show you a way of travel which is so different to anything else you'll have experienced before.

“As for visiting all these far off countries I think it's important to see how other people live and realise there's a way of life that's different to your own at home.”

“You get to see the world, meet amazing people, see things you could never imagine, lead a ridiculously healthy life and don’t have to have a proper job!”

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Posted in: bike,charity,football,hammersmith and fulham chronicle,portfolio,QPR,sport

Songs of Praise for Choral group

A CHORAL group was invited by the BBC to join the Songs of Praise choir alongside Katherine Jenkins and Andrera Bocelli to celebrate the show’s 50^th birthday.

Ten Fulham and Hammersmith Choral Society members had appeared on the Sunday religious show before so applied to become part of the Songs of Praise harmony choir.

The group were then invited by the BBC to perform with the harmony choir and Orchestra at the show’s 50th Birthday celebrations held at Alexandra Palace’s Great Hall.

Chris Harman, chairman of the Fulham and Hammersmith Choral Society, said: “We knew it would be big but we weren’t prepared for the scene of over 6,000 audience seats when we arrived for the afternoon rehearsal.

“When we returned after a break, those seats were filled with an enthusiastic audience who were obviously keen devotees of Songs of Praise. 

“Although the celebrity guests, including Andrea Bocelli and Katherine Jenkins, were an attraction what impressed us most was singing among thousands of other people and being caught up in the emotion of the event.

Songs of Praise is the longest running programme of its type in the world and the anniversary show was the 2,248th edition of the programme.

Almost 7000 people gathered in Alexandra Palace singing some of the most popular hymns featured over the years – including Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer, Angel-Voices Ever Singing and Jerusalem.

Mr Harman said: “As well as the religious aspect it’s clear that singing together is an uplifting experience and it’s what we find as members of a choral society.  Of all musical performance singing is the one that anyone can join in. 

“We enjoyed singing at the event and felt we made a real contribution to a successful concert.  We also enjoyed seeing ourselves in the programme broadcast the following Sunday.

The Fulham and Hammersmith Choral Society, who are celebrating their 60^th birthday this year, take part in many singing events across the community as well as abroad.

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Posted in: hammersmith and fulham chronicle,music,portfolio

A novel approach for former press officer

A FORMER Old Walcountian Rugby player has surprised his colleagues and family by releasing his first novel having previously only written match reports for the club originally formed by old boys of Wallington County School.

Rob Murphy, 55, of Wellesley Road, Sutton, said: "I'd only thought about writing a novel once or twice so the club didn't know.

"I wrote it in my spare time as a hobby over 16 months.

"I kept it quiet. It was only when the publisher notified me I put a message on facebook and waited to see the reaction.

"I don't think they know what to feel yet."

Mr Murphy has always been involved with the Woodmansterne based Rugby Club playing for the Old Walcountian Rugby Football Club as Prop Forward until he suffered a knee injury.

For the past 21 years he has worked as their press officer, writing up match reports every week of the season.

He said: "The highlight of my time with the club was beating the Old Whitgiftians 27-24 to win the Surrey Shield in May 2009, as the club got some silverware in their cabinet!"

His novel, Kingdom Come, opens four years in the future with Scotland and Wales discovering oil deposits, giving them independence from the UK.

The Government takes action as things start to spiral out of control and events begin to escalate.

With terrorism rife they turn on their own people as the country slips into economic decline.

Mr Murphy, a civil servant, said: "I have seen over the years that the struggle for natural resources drives conflict, even in countries where it's been quiet for a number of years.

"I thought, could this happen in Britain?

"My novel is very much set in a hypothetical world. Playing out what could happen. You cannot rule anything out, even when it seems unlikely," he added.

Nearing retirement, Mr Murphy feels writing could be his new hobby, but he is waiting to see how his first offering fares before picking up the pen again.

"If I do write another book it'll be a political thriller or something on wars, but I'll wait to see how Kingdom Come does."

Kingdom Come is available direct from publishers AuthorHouse, £9.87 or e-book £5.99. Amazon, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble £17.19

This appeared on the Croydon Advertiser website and newspaper. You can read it here. 

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Posted in: book,croydon advertiser,portfolio,preview,rugby,sutton

Pope declares 2012 a Year of Faith

Pope Benedict has declared 2012 a Year of Faith, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the start of Vatican II.

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Posted in: 2012,blog,catholic church,pope benedict,prayer,year of faith

Ealing Abbey: Action now, rather than regret later

I held off blogging about Ealing Abbey because it's a hard subject for me to put into words. Now a report commissioned by St Benedict's school has concluded that the monks should no longer be involved in the running of the school after numerous cases of abuse over the last 20 years. The move will come into force next September. A mixed blessing some may say.

Lord Carlile's report on St Benedict's school applauds its academic status and its schooling, but lists the cases of abuse of power revealing the harsh reality.

It is a saddening read. The full report is here.

Thanks to the actions of a few (a few too many) the position of the Abbey in the school's running is untenable. It is instances like these that further remove the church from education and schooling. 

Of course, this is right in the circumstances.

David Pearce was jailed in 2009 after he admitted to abusing pupils, he had been headmaster at the school from 1993 and stayed at the Abbey after he left the post. Then in March Fr Laurence Soper went on the run after allegations of abuse.

The final nail in the abbey's coffin has been the Vatican's move to investigate the school - the first case in the UK - has made history, but this is perhaps one 'first' we'd rather do without.

Comments on all the news stories I've read speculate on how people could have known they were dangerous and potential risks, but really until someone speaks out how can we ever know?

Teaching is always a profession that has the risk of abuse by its nature, but we don't tar all teachers with the same brush. The same applies here to priests.

We can't embark on a witch hunt. There are good priests as there are bad. Those that are good should not suffer because of the bad apples. Instead we should support the Abbey and hope it can learn from the mistakes of the past and move on.  

In the case of Ealing Abbey and St Benedict's, the trust has been broken. The position of the school is one that no one would like to be in right now, but it is still one that can be regarded with sadness despite all that has gone before.

We can only hope that Lord Carlile's report is a sign of things to come. Transparency, openness and an awareness that leads to the church stamping out such problems as these so we do not find ourselves wondering what we could have done and what went wrong again.

Action now is always better than regret later. 

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Posted in: abuse,blog,catholic church,Ealing Abbey

Bieber gets a blasting, but is it inspiring?

It is with some discomfort that I've been watching events unfold in the ongoing sex saga that is Justin Bieber's life at the moment.  It seems inevitable that anyone that portrays themselves as 'holier than thou' is bound to be setting themselves up for a fall.

Well it seems that Bieber's turn to tumble has arrived, as newspaper fawn over the news he may have had a secret tryst - read as dirty 30 second fumble in a backstage cupboard - and as a result fathered a love child.

Ignoring the fact he denies it, calling it 'crap' at the MTV awards, it seems all too familiar a scenario when someone like Bieber says they follow a Christian lifestyle. He famously said not too long ago he felt that people should only have sex if they love each other, and he believes in chastity. He also spoke out against abortion stirring up the debate again - it's not often a teen pop sensation start getting all political.

You would think he'd said he had slapped on a chastity belt the way everyone was harping on about it. I wonder what his other half Selena Gomez though of all the fuss?

Now he's probably regretting even having brought it up as the sharks swim at his feet, ready to pull him down at the first chance they get.

In a weird way if the claims aren't true (which seems likely at the moment as more stories come out that the accuser is a ex-con and trouble maker) and he is truly is innocent, then I have to begrudgingly admire him.

Here is a young kid who professed his belief with conviction, didn't back down when grilled by the press and now is suffering for it. It's an all too familiar sad tale, but it is, however, strangely, also inspiring.

Bieber inspiring - who knew?

...on another note does anyone else think that Bieber used to look like Donny Osmond? Nope? Just me? I'll be quiet then!

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Posted in: affair,blog,chastity,justin bieber,no sex before marriage

Dear baby 7 million...

...wrote Fr Lombardi in a rather cute - if not random - letter. Full text below. 


Dear baby number seven billion! I don’t know if you are a girl or a boy, whether you are Indian or Chinese, born in a great city or a tiny village. I don’t know if you were born in the fertile South American lowlands or under an igloo above the arctic circle. 

I don’t know if you were born on a remote island, or in a refugee tent. I don’t know whether you are healthy or sick or handicapped. I don’t know whether both your parents were there to embrace you at your birth, or whether your mother alone was there to hold you. I don’t know whether people will say there are too many or too few of you and your contemporaries. Today, I don’t care about that. 

This world you are coming into is a bit complicated and it’s not friendly for everyone. We haven’t done a very good job preparing it for you. The leaders of the richest and most powerful nations are sitting around a table, struggling to find a way forward. We too are asking ourselves about your future. 

But today I want to tell you that you are unique and special, that you are a wonderful gift, that you are a miracle, that your spirit will live for ever, and so you are welcome. We hope that when you smile someone will respond to your smile, and when you cry someone will caress you. We hope you can go to school and that you won’t go hungry. We hope that someone will answer your questions wisely and encourage you as you find your place in the world. We hope you will be able to love others, that will be able to grow, and work, and live among your family, with many friends, in a nation and in a world that is free and at peace. We pray that you can understand that your life will find its fullest meaning not in this world but in the next. 

Because this is what you were born for. Your Creator and Father made you for this. We will do our part to make this possible; but you will have to do your part, too, because your future will also depend on you and the choices you make—and it will be up to you to welcome baby eight billion.

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Posted in: blog,fr lombardi,vatican