The community that gathers on Tuesday afternoons in the Chaplaincy Centre for Brew@2 feels like such an unexpected assortment of people and an incredible blessing for those who share the space. Because of this, it should be no surprise that wonderful things come out of these conversations.

This year Holly, a Brew@2 regular, landed a summer job giving tours at the National Gallery in London to groups of tourists. As she told us about her plans and her preparation, researching some of the paintings in the collection over Brew@2 cake, we half-joked that we’d love to come along and join one of her tours. Then one week, we actually began to talk about dates and a trip to London in June was born.

While we were discussing plans to visit London, Helena (this year’s Chaplaincy Assistant), casually dropped into conversation that her uncle was the Archdeacon of London and that he could probably get us all into St Paul’s Cathedral for a cheeky visit. We checked out our proposed date with him and everything fell into place!

Holly met us at Victoria Coach Station and we walked past Buckingham Palace and along the Mall to the National Gallery where Holly led us on a thoughtfully curated tour of some of her favourite paintings. She spoke so confidently and with such depth and knowledge that several other people joined our unofficial tour! Afterwards, we flopped down on some grass outside for a delicious bring-and-share picnic in Trafalgar Square and spoke about what we’d seen. The rest of the afternoon we spent in the glorious surroundings of St Paul’s, soaking up its atmosphere and the views.

It was a day of learning about paintings and history, seeing things with new eyes, but most of all, it was a joyful experience of a generous and beautiful community, finishing off the academic year with thankfulness.

Karen Turner

Brew@2 meet from 2-4pm in the Chaplaincy Centre every Tuesday during term time. Hosted by Chaplain Karen, the group meet to discuss anything from favourite films and trending memes to questions about faith and spirituality. Powered by tea and cake, anyone is welcome to come along, drop a question in the teapot and share in the chat.