I am not a steel mogul!

In case anyone else is searching for my name using Google Blog Search, which I have just added to my sidebar, I would like to point out that I am not the "steel mogul" Peter Kirk, founder of Kirkland, Washington, who is referred to in a Seattle Times article linked to on several blogs. So please don't send me begging letters. My modest tithe is already allocated.

In fact Peter Kirk the steel mogul (that's probably a bit of an overstatement!) lived in the 19th century. He was my great grandfather's brother, one of three brothers who worked together in the steel industry in northern England. Peter tried his luck in Washington State, where he "hoped to make his town a rival to Pittsburgh", and himself a real mogul in the process no doubt, but he never made it big.

I have in fact met several people from Kirkland in the last few years, mostly through a church in a neighbouring suburb which has been involved in the same Bible translation work as I have. One of them also works for a real mogul based in another nearby suburb - Bill Gates! And his company actually welcomes the right kind of begging letters, that is, applications for funding for community programmes. But they did turn down a request from a friend of mine recently. So for Christian work it is better to rely on giving from within the church.