All of you have visited the lovely shrine room at the men's community in Leeds. Many of you were involved making it and will remember what a good time we had. Right from the first day, a dreary, wet winter's day, the fundamentals were in place; fun, friendship and healthy, physical effort. I remember tearing the roof off, chucking it down into the 'garden' and making a big bonfire. Cold dark, replaced by hot light.

And so it went on. Shovel and spade, dot and dab; happy hammering, dodgy brick laying, & raucous power tooling with our mates; poetry as gaffer Andy and gaffer Owen did speak esoteric builder talk - one unto another. And one day it was all done. Well more or less; and it is beautiful. But some of us were sad because it was done.

Thinking about the shrine room project I felt we could progress from that experience. By offering the services of a Buddhist Labour Team in the wider community we could achieve a number of useful things within the Leeds FWBO sangha. First we could do enjoyable work and earn ourselves some income, second we could continue developing our friendships as we had during the shrine room project, and thirdly we could eventually generate a money surplus to contribute to the Leeds FWBO Centre. I discussed the idea with Rijumitra & Samanartha who gave me broad encouragement. I began advertising the Buddhist Labour Team last year and work has been going on since then.

Eight of us have been involved in this work at one time or another. We have done a variety of jobs such as gardening, decorating, landscaping, removals, cleaning & repairs. We have worked for very vulnerable people, sangha members, an environmental project in York, a local special school and the ordinary public. Recently we have been called in to replace an Alan Titchmarsh, Ground Force-created back garden in Pudsey with more substantial decking - Buddhist decking. I am sure there is a handy metaphor there somewhere.

We have had lots of positive feedback and almost every job we have done for a new customer has led to further work. Trust is the factor that our customers have emphasized as the biggest attraction of the 'Buddhist Labour Team'. We have continued to enjoy our work and build our friendships.

Thus far BLT activity has, for the sake of convenience, been carried out under the auspices of myself as a sole trader. Fortunately a number of people around the sangha have tasted the BLT experience and found it suitably nourishing, so we are ready to establish an independent business entity related to the Leeds FWBO. We are to acquire a van, tools and other accoutrements like a business loan, a cash flow projection & financial targets! We will be a Company Limited by Guarantee with Articles of Association which will enable us to donate any financial surplus to the Leeds FWBO Centre. There are likely to be four directors Samudradaka, Samanartha, Rijumitra and myself.

The Articles of Association will declare our serious purpose to:

• Develop friendships with each other through working together
• Provide ourselves with flexible, part-time paid work
• Express our Buddhist values in relationship to our customers
• Generate money for the Leeds FWBO Centre

We see flexibility as a key attribute of our plan. We will blend 'Buddhist Labour Team' work with other jobs, buddhist activities, holiday ideas, family commitments etc. that we all have. There will be fixed annual costs that we must commit ourselves to meet. However the modest scale of those costs means that by skillful management we can get a good balance of priorities and retain the essential group ethic. Flexibility means that BLT activity can lie fallow for short periods or go into overdrive when the people, enthusiasm and work is available. We can also be flexible about the type of work we take on, we wont be wearing blinkers in considering alternatives. One of the things we can be flexible about is the pool of people who will work. If you would like to get involved - let us know.

Up till now we have done very little to promote the BLT yet there has usually been more work to do than people to do it. Green Events was a great source of regular enquiries but sadly that is currently out of print. So we will welcome any help that any of you can give to let the Leeds public know the Buddhist Labour Team is ready, willing and able.