The world’s largest floating bookshop, the Logos Hope, which docked at the East London Port on Thursday afternoon, was officially opened by its captain in an onboard ribbon cutting ceremony yesterday.
The vessel will be in the port until May 30 and welcomes visitors to its bookshop and to enjoy cultural family shows and performances of CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in the 400-seater auditorium.
Captain Chris Hughes of Britain, who heads a crew of 400 multi-national Christian volunteers, said volunteering on board the vessel was “a wonderful way to serve God”.
The opening ceremony yesterday morning was attended by East London port manager Jacqueline Brown, councillor Helen Neale-May, religious leaders and the media and included a “parade of nations” in which crew members filed into the lounge clad in national dress followed by a duo performing a Mexican dance.
Master of ceremonies Randy Grebe said the vessel’s arrival in East London was part of a “historic voyage” for the crew because it had never sailed this far south of the equator.
Previously a ferry between Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the Logos Hope was transformed into a Christian ministry ship operated by the German charity, GBA Ships.
It took over from the Doulos which was decommissioned in 2009 and is twice its size.
The bookshop holds more than 5000 titles.
Besides manning the bookshop and performing daily tasks like cooking, cleaning and administration, the crew will perform outreach work at community projects like Skobeni, Scenery Park and Duncan Village. “We have a lot of projects in East London,” said Filipe Leite of Brazil.
“We will help with food gardens and painting. We will donate books to a library project in Scenery Park Baptist Church and train people how to manage the library.”
Port manager Jacqueline Brown said she was honoured to roll out the red carpet for the Logos Hope.
The book fair is open to the public from 1pm to 9pm on Sundays to Tuesdays and from 10am to 9pm on Wednesdays to Saturdays.
Entrance is R5 and free for children under 12. Enter the harbour through the Hely Hutchinson Road entrance on the East Bank.
For more information about dates and times of performances of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and to book tickets costing R50, please call 072-917-1394 or e-mail logoshope.eastlondon@gbaships.org — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
EL rolls out red carpet for floating bookshop
The vessel will be in the port until May 30 and welcomes visitors to its bookshop and to enjoy cultural family shows and performances of CS Lewis' The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe in the 400-seater auditorium.
Captain Chris Hughes of Britain, who heads a crew of 400 multi-national Christian volunteers, said volunteering on board the vessel was “a wonderful way to serve God”.
The opening ceremony yesterday morning was attended by East London port manager Jacqueline Brown, councillor Helen Neale-May, religious leaders and the media and included a “parade of nations” in which crew members filed into the lounge clad in national dress followed by a duo performing a Mexican dance.
Master of ceremonies Randy Grebe said the vessel’s arrival in East London was part of a “historic voyage” for the crew because it had never sailed this far south of the equator.
Previously a ferry between Denmark, Iceland and the Faroe Islands, the Logos Hope was transformed into a Christian ministry ship operated by the German charity, GBA Ships.
It took over from the Doulos which was decommissioned in 2009 and is twice its size.
The bookshop holds more than 5000 titles.
Besides manning the bookshop and performing daily tasks like cooking, cleaning and administration, the crew will perform outreach work at community projects like Skobeni, Scenery Park and Duncan Village. “We have a lot of projects in East London,” said Filipe Leite of Brazil.
“We will help with food gardens and painting. We will donate books to a library project in Scenery Park Baptist Church and train people how to manage the library.”
Port manager Jacqueline Brown said she was honoured to roll out the red carpet for the Logos Hope.
The book fair is open to the public from 1pm to 9pm on Sundays to Tuesdays and from 10am to 9pm on Wednesdays to Saturdays.
Entrance is R5 and free for children under 12. Enter the harbour through the Hely Hutchinson Road entrance on the East Bank.
For more information about dates and times of performances of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe and to book tickets costing R50, please call 072-917-1394 or e-mail logoshope.eastlondon@gbaships.org — barbarah@dispatch.co.za
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