Meeting of the Parliament
Meeting date: Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Official Report
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Time for Reflection
Good afternoon. The first item of business this afternoon is time for reflection. Our time for reflection leader today is the Rev Andrew Jolly, chaplain to the United Kingdom oil and gas industry.
The Rev Andrew Jolly (UK Oil and Gas Chaplaincy)
As all of you know, today is 14 April. There is nothing very exciting in that, except that it is a little known fact that 14 April is my birthday. Please do not sing. However, dates figure hugely in our lives. For most of us, it is about remembering the birthday of a child or grandchild or even an anniversary. It may even be about remembering the death of a loved one or some other important milestone in our life or that has arisen—for example, on 6 May.
I am the chaplain to the oil and gas industry. Dates figure hugely in my life and that of the chaplaincy. For many people, 1 April this year will have been just a date on the calendar, but for many of those who are employed offshore and onshore in the oil and gas industry it was a date to recall with sadness, like so many others. Dates such as 6 July, when we recall Piper Alpha, 6 November, the date of the Chinook crash off Sumburgh, and 27 December, the date of the helicopter crash in Morecambe Bay, are all dates when tragedies occurred. The first anniversary of the 17 deaths that occurred on 1 April 2009 took place recently, when many families and friends recalled the deaths of the 16 offshore workers on flight 85N who perished as it returned to Aberdeen from the BP Miller platform, and the death on the same day of another offshore worker on the diving support vessel the Wellservicer.
Many other events that claimed many lives in the oil and gas industry could be mentioned. However, the loss that some families and friends recall will be of an individual who died in an individual event, due to natural causes or an accident while working offshore. Their death was not part of some catastrophe but happened in isolation. The loss, pain and sorrow of their family and friends are every bit as real as those of families who have lost loved ones in tragic accidents that have claimed the lives of many people. Although it is easy to remember the big events, we must be aware of the danger of forgetting the single losses. In all those tragedies, the chaplaincy is able to respond by providing pastoral and spiritual care to friends, families and colleagues offshore and onshore.
When filling up our car at the petrol pumps, when switching on our cooker to roast our Sunday joint or when flicking a switch and expecting our house to light up, it is easy to forget that there has been a human cost to the convenience that we enjoy. It is a cost that the industry is working hard to eradicate but which has been paid in the past. Tomorrow or, perhaps, some day next week will be someone’s Piper Alpha or 85N, when they will recall the life of a loved one. Do not forget them, as we in the chaplaincy do not forget them.