Well, that's over. I've been back home for three hours, most of which was spent asleep, 'cos I was knackered when I got back in.
It was an early start (two hours earlier than I normally have to begin work) and it'll be the same again for the next seven days.
I took the tube to Liverpool Street at 7am and walked the remaining short jaunt to Rodwell House on Middlesex Street. Things were just kicking off and I spent much of the first hour welcoming volunteers and sending them up to the fifth floor to be told what they should expect over the coming day. While they were being briefed, I chatted to Stan who arrived shortly after 8am to be first in line for the pre-announced opening time of 2pm.
Then I was equipped with a walkie-talkie and given my first task of the day: Chad, another Key Volunteer, and I worked with a team of approximately eight vols (it varied over the course of the morning) to position metal fencing around the perimeter of the centre in order to control how guests approach the main building. Despite concerns that we didn't have sufficient materials, by about midday we'd finished the job with a few spare panels of fencing left.
By this time, Stan had been joined by around fifteen others, keen to get inside out of the cold and make use of the services that the Open offers guests. I spent the next three hours on the Main Gate, chatting to increasingly chilled guests and vaguely organising them into a queue - you can't do much more with a growing number of people, several (though definitely not most) of whom have decided to warm themselves up with cans of strong lager and/or cider - at 9% ABV Special Brew is always a favourite tipple on these occasions.
Evidently preparations on the inside went to plan because we opened the doors at the scheduled time and within thirty minutes had welcomed in over a hundred guests. This number doubled over the next hour and by the end of the shift at 4pm, the estimated number of guests was 310.
I spent the rest of my time helping out on a number of small tasks, helping to coordinate people with my walkie-talkie and rescuing one male guest who had fallen asleep in the loos. The general atmosphere in the centre was very jovial and relaxed.
There was a lack of food today and what was there was only ready quite late, but the Main Gate crew did have the opportunity of a few minutes inside drinking superheated soup, which generally did the trick of warming our cockles.
All told, the first day of the East Centre was a very good day with few incidents. Let's hope it stays the same for the rest of the week.
Right now I'm nibbling on some very good cheese and Italian sausage, washed down with half a bottle of Italian red wine (a Primitivo from Puglia, since you ask). I’ll be off to bed soon, to grab a few hours sleep before heading back to the centre.