Adam Bird - My Personal Blog

I have known for some time that the people of Caring Hands in the Community provide a wonderful service for homeless people in Medway. I’m also aware that whilst their hard work hasn’t gone unrecognised, there has been a lack of information available online about the work that they do. This reason, out of many is why I asked my Uncle Matthew if I could be involved in re-purposing their web offering. On Monday evening, I witnessed for myself a small element of their work which reinforced my opinion and desire to succeed in the project we are working on. Caring Hands was initially started by my Uncle Matthew over ten years ago after a conversation he had with a man outside King’s Church where he worked whilst sweeping the drive. The man was homeless, and without wanting to go into specifics (see the website when it launches!) Matthew felt compelled to do something and shortly afterwards Caring Hands in the Community was born. In conversations over the years Matthew has always been ...

Being a Gillingham fan isn’t glamorous. We don’t play beautiful, flowing, intricate football. Nor do we play football in an arena fit for gladiators, surrounded by stands that rise up to the God’s in homage to the heroes what ply their trade on that stretch of finally manicured turf. Which is why, when the chance comes along to see a different side to the game, I try and take it when I can. On Monday, I paid my second visit to the Emirates Stadium, home of Arsenal as they met Newcastle United in the Premier League, live on Sky. Arsenal have been in great form of late, chasing down third place Tottenham Hotspur, their fierce local rivals in battle for the automatic entry into the prestigious Champions league. My friend Will is a season ticket holder at the Emirates and due to work commitments was unable to attend the game. My email response to his invite was “I’ll go, but if nobody more deserving wants to”. As it was, there were no other, so it was I who made a lonely pilgrimage t...

Towards the end of last year I entered a writing competition. The subject was 'life-writing' which for me is what this blog is all about, however uninteresting it appears to anyone from the outside looking in. Unfortunately, I didn't make the final long-list, but in celebrating my 200th post last week I thought that now would be as good a time to share it as any. The following "story" for me, encapsulates everything I've learned about myself in the previous two hundred posts. Premature Perfection Gravesend 1980. July the 26th if I am going to be exact. I don’t remember it. Of course I am not expected to, nobody does. It was the date of my birth. Nothing remarkable about that. People are born every minute, every hour of every day. It’s life. Like mine; nothing really remarkable about that either. I am married now, I have a child. Have another one due next month. Married for just over a year to the women I started dating thirteen years ago. I have a semi-su...

Having had the last week off work due to holiday accrued during 2011-2012, I sit asking just where the time as gone! I know exactly where, working hard on the rebuild of the King’s Church Website which has been the focus of my blogs over the past few weeks. I wanted to take a step away from the project for a while and have a look at some of the other things I’ve done whilst being away from the office. On Monday nights after school Oliver has a swimming lesson at Cascades, our local swimming pool and with me being home for the week it was a perfect opportunity for me to see how he was getting on. As a family, we are not well known for our sporting process. I hardly have any great anticipation that Oliver or Phoebe will grow up to to become sporting legends but both Stephanie and I understand the importance of being healthy and active even if we aren’t the worlds finest examples at putting our principles into practice. Even so, through our children we have a great chance to rever...