What a delightful and appreciative audience the St Nicholas Ladies Group proved to be.
I’m always pleased to be invited to talk about my book, No Going Back, and its sequel, After.
Sometimes – as happened this week – the rapport between speaker and audience felt special.
I wondered why that should be.
Perhaps it was the older demographic that knew just what the Second World War meant, both in this country and abroad. (I’m often shocked how little young people seem to understand even though the war is studied as part of the curriculum.)
Perhaps it was the 'Thought for the Month' the group leader, Margaret Wright, shared with the group before the start of my talk.
“Humans never learn. We are constantly teetering on the brink of war, sometimes a step back, sometimes with our toes very clearly over the precipice. As we are all holding our breath as the Middle East and the places we know from the Bible are decimated and desecrated by war, we, through the Prince of Peace, pray that the abyss will be filled with love, not hate.”
Or perhaps, as I discovered talking to various members after the talk, they were just thoroughly nice people.
The meeting took place at St Barnabas Church in Albion Street, Kenilworth. A church has been on this site since 1886 with many changes to the building taking place over the years. Before 1886, services were held above the Co-op store in Park Road in a room known as St Nicholas’ Mission Hall.
Then a piece of land was purchased in 1884 and for the sum of £510 (raised by various events) a new Church was built. The new building was known as St Nicholas Mission Room and renamed in 1905 as St Barnabas.
A history pamphlet at the church states that: “St Barnabas has been a local landmark since 1886. It is close to many people’s hearts. It has always been known as a welcoming place, reaching out to our local community and beyond.”
I can certainly vouch for that.
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