It’s a little over a year since Ewen Huffman became Chaplain to Hinckley Point C, the first salaried Chaplain to the construction industry. Starting work at Europe’s largest building site just as a global pandemic took hold was never going to be easy, but Ewen has continued to work on site throughout the year and has quickly become a familiar and valued part of the team. He’s been working alongside other health and mental health workers to provide support to anyone who needs it.
"HPC has a desire to care for the whole person. We’ve got Hinkley Health here where you can go for your physical needs and we have over 300 Mental Health First Aiders, helping with mental wellbeing. However, people are spiritual beings as well and the project recognised that those with faith often have a good sense of overall wellbeing. They saw a need for a chaplain and appointed me. I think it’s very pioneering and it’s gone astonishingly well so far."
Among the many things Ewen has achieved in the past year he's established a Christian group and holds regular prayer meetings with people joining in person or remotely if they prefer and has, among other things, plans to develop a choir.
“I’ve simply gathered together those on site who profess to be Christians. I’d say a small number have re-found their faith and some have found their Christian faith for the first time. We pray three times a week using old Celtic liturgy from the 3rd Century, along with our own prayers. We pray for the needs of people on site and, always, for our leaders. It’s short and sharp and lasts for about 12 minutes. It’s a lovely, supportive and growing group of people.”
This month Ewen made front page headlines onsite when he was featured in the EDF magazine talking about his role. You can see the article about Ewen below.