The Service

      First of all, let's dispel any misgiving or suspicion of mysticism, which may be harboured in the mind of those who remain curious but hesitant.   It matters little what one's principle religion may be.   All are welcome to attend, and learn about the Spiritualist Philosophy.

      There is no cause or reason for anybody to feel uncomfortable throughout the proceedings.   Indeed, everyone I have known attend a Meeting, has come away utterly relaxed, almost as if a heavy load has been removed from the mind.   In fact I'm sure that the healing and meditation session has somehow cleansed away malingering dregs of despair, and lightened one's heart.

      Generally, the Service begins with a reminder of the Seven Principles of Spiritualism.   It is pointed out that each individual is free to believe or interpret these freely.   They are not hard and fast rules for Spiritualism.   It is up to yourself whether you accept and understand them, or hold a differing point of view.

In brief they are:


1. The Fatherhood of God.
2. The Brotherhood of Man.
3. The Communion of Spirits and the Minsitry of Angels.
4. The Continuous existence of the Human Soul.
5. Personal Responsibility.
6. Compensation and Retribution hereafter for all Good and Evil Deeds done on Earth.
7. Eternal Progress open to every Human Soul.

The 1988 Meetings.

      The early Nineteen-thirties were dreadful years for young couples.   The depression still had effected most people in Britain, in one way or another.   My father had to go to East Anglia to find work.   My parents found more than a means for survival in Norfolk.   They forged a friendship with another migrant couple, which was to last a lifetime.   Their escapades and situations that they got into were retold countless times and kept us laughing right through my youth.   A phrase from one story, was to give me a bit of a jolt decades later.

      Most of their escapades took place while I was a toddler, unaware of what they had got up to, until the tales were told.   ‘Uncle’ Frank was a Seaman, with all the ability to spin a good yarn.   His daughters and myself listened enraptured, as he entertained us with one adventure after another that he had personally experienced while sailing the Seven Seas.   The stories were only outdone by his humour, which generally took over before the crunch line.

      One day at a family get-together, the general conversation turned to an elderly uncle who may have been psychically endowed.   Few people took it seriously in those days, so when Dad and Frank said that they had once gone to a Spiritual Church Meeting to see what it was all about, somebody remarked that they never thought that anyone would ever see those two at such a meeting.   It wasn’t long before ‘Uncle’ Frank had us all in stitches.   He said that it was all solemn, until the Medium announced that “We have two disbelievers here tonight”.

      After my first Reading from T..., in 1988, which changed all my views from speculation to conviction, my daughter suggested that we should go to one of the Meetings in Hughesdale.  I don’t know what any of us expected.   I think we would have been alarmed at that time, if the Medium had even looked in our direction.   One doesn't have to accept a Reading.   It is quite understood, if you decline.   It wasn't until we went a second time, that I was addressed.

      At first, it might have applied to many a person of my age group.   It was only when the medium said that there were two men in spirit, and one of them was saying, “we never expected to see you at one of these meetings”.   My first reaction, was that they would have known of my interest, and perhaps it was because the medium had never seen me before.   At the same time, I knew that it was Dad and ‘Uncle’ Frank, and the message had been phrased to let me know who they were.   In fact I could imagine the grin on both of their faces.   The words weren’t the same as those they had met with so many years earlier.   But, there was no mistaking that they were reminding me of it, and were identifying themselves.

      So far there had been nothing remarkable at either of these meetings, other than the evident recognition that others in the congregation received, during the demonstration sessions. That was soon to change.

      We decided to go once more.   That morning, we received some very distressing news.   Edith’s youngest son had ‘phoned us, to tell us that his best friend, had been killed on his motor bike, the night before.   I had only met the lad a couple of times.   He seemed to be a decent enough youth.   The tragedy of such a young life lost, was uppermost in our minds when we left a few hours afterwards, to go to Hughesdale.

      By this time, the proceedings were fairly familiar.   The medium was a young lady, whom I understand hadn’t been conducting demonstrations for very long.   She was about to close the proceedings, when she said she felt a need to give one more reading, and getting approval from the Minister, she turned to myself.

      To begin with, I couldn’t place who the spirit might have been.   The room described, certainly fitted the room I had known so well in Consett, during the War years.   The heavy red velvet cover over the dining table, and other furnishings were familiar, but it could have been a typical room from that era, wherever there was still some Victorian influence.   Then quite suddenly, the lass put her one hand on her forehead, and leaning slightly back, exclaimed, “Oh my, there is a young boy in the Hall on a motor bike.   He is riding all around the room, and he doesn’t know what has happened to him.”

      In the shock of the moment, I’m afraid I blurted out that he had only passed over the night before, which brought a stunning silence to all present.

The 1999/2000 Meetings.

      I’m not sure now, just what fired up a new interest in the Spiritualist Church.   If anything it was the continual bombardment of ‘33’.   We were helping my daughter to purchase a new Unit, sometime in May, 1999, when I suggested that following a visit to the Building Site, we might go to a Meeting in nearby Berwick.   It was held in the local community hall, where the congregation was small, and numbered no more than fifteen persons.   One of the mediums, commenced the Demonstration, by telling us that he had ‘received’ images of Scotland, on his drive out to Berwick.   Try as he did, he couldn’t really place it with anybody present.   Ede and I remained silent.

      A couple of weeks later, we decided to drive all the way up to Ringwood, where the same medium was next scheduled to give a demonstration.   Ede felt that it might have been her late husband, ‘sending’ the Scottish scenes.   After all, he had been a Scot, and they had been together for seven years in Scotland.   This time it was an established church of the Victorian Spiritualists’ Union, and the local Minister was to be ordained during part of the Service.   The Church was packed, and we could only find seats near the rear.

      The Medium was in good form, and had everyone chuckling away at his description of a Pub Scene somewhere in the English Midlands, where some three ‘Spirits’ were having a happy get together.   He told us that it was all so vivid and real, he felt that he could walk straight up to the bar himself, and order a pint.   With so large a congregation it was understandable that we didn't get a message on this occasion.   Even so, we both remarked upon the ‘zing’ like sensation that was still with us, as we drove away.

      One night in during the week, following the Ringwood Meeting, my eyes were worse than usual, and kept me awake for ages.   One of the thoughts that pursued all others in my nocturnal mental meandering, was how could I possibly do something really good, and help others.   This came about after I felt that I had been able to advise someone on the internet, who was feeling down and low.   It was a good time to say a few prayers, in which I asked how I might do more.   Then getting a little flippant, I chucked in a request that when my time came, I might be allowed to take all of my books and CD’s with me.

      That very same weekend, we decided to attend the Meeting at Mornington, which was only a twenty minute drive.   Like nearly all other Spiritualist Churches, it was held in one of the local Community Halls.   With another smallish congregation, the seats were arranged in one large circle, with everybody facing in, rather than the usual rows of chairs facing the Minister, Lecturer, and demonstrator.   A second table and a couple of chairs were placed in the centre of the circle, where healing could be administered.   It was more open than, elsewhere, making it much easier for the demonstrator to approach any member of the gathering.

      In this way, most people there that afternoon, received a reading.   Eventually, the Medium came up to me and said that, “ I had a great love for other people, and that I felt that I could do not do enough for other people.   But I would spread my work and through some means, I would be able to do more.”   This was so close to the private thoughts disclosed in my prayers, unheard by any living soul.   Could it really have all been picked up, and repeated to me by the Medium?

      I was still harbouring a mixture of wonder and doubt, when the next part came through.   She continued, “I can see books all around you.   So many books.   They seem to be coming to you from the Sky”.   I do not see how it could even have been telepathy at work.   I had forgotten for the time being, my desire to take my library with me.   Perhaps it was something she could pick up from my aura?   I had certainly spent a lot of time in my Study, where I was almost surrounded by bookshelves, which reached well above my head.   The thing is that it was hardly a ‘one off’, and there was always the ever present ‘thirty-three’ phenomena in the now expansive range of inexplicable events.   Whatever could come next?

      Early in August, Edith got a 'phone call from Cairns to say that she had a new grandson.   We had only just flown up to Cairns for a visit in May, and had no idea when it might be possible to make another trip.   Somehow this began to play on her mind.   One day, it really got to her, and had her feeling completely upset.   I was able to ease her disquiet a bit, promising that we would drive up to Cairns, within a month or two.   It was to be the beginning of October, before the whole holiday was practical.   That didn’t matter, once Edith knew that she would be seeing the wee one, before too long.

      A few days later, Ede spotted a notice in the local paper which said that the Seaford Spiritual Church would be holding a Meeting that coming Sunday, at a hall in Somerville, no more than ten minutes drive from home.   This time she declined, when I said that I would like to go.   All the same, I felt that something was to come out in that Meeting.

      It wasn’t the first time that I had seen two mediums giving the demonstration, but the two ladies this day, worked as a team, and one of them was a psychic artist.   This was something new as far as I was concerned, and particularly interesting.   The idea was that the other medium would commence the ‘Proof’, while the other got busy with her crayons, drawing a portrait of the Spirit, that she could ‘see’ coming through.   Then, while her friend took a rest, she connected the sketch with some member of the Congregation.   Only, this day, she had two readings to give, before the other medium got under way.

      Apparently two forceful ‘entities’ had come to her earlier that morning, anxious to make sure that they could get an early place in the ‘queue’.   The first one was showing her a harbour full of ships.   I knew there and then, who it was, and when I put my hand up to say that it might be for me, the medium immediately confirmed that it was.   Her next words left no doubt.   She told me that something very emotional had happened in the last few days.   The message was, to stay in there, stick with it, and everything would be alright.   He was thanking me for looking after his family. By this time I wasn’t taking it all in, being more struck by the realization that nothing escapes the notice of an interested spirit.

      Gardening and other home duties put a stop to any further Sunday afternoon Meetings.   However, following a flush of ‘thirty-three’s’, in Mid May, 2000, I wondered whether I might find the answer through another Meeting.   The nearest that week was in Seaford, yet another new venue, as far as I was concerned.

      The Minister opened with a reading from “Conversation’s With God”.   Unless the Author repeats himself a lot, I am certain that this was the very same piece that I read in a Bookshop some months previous, when I had picked the book out, opened it at random, and read a few lines.   He then lectured on the power of choice and decisions, and used the phrase “Turn it Around”.   The following morning, having got up and made a cup of tea, I started to read a little more of Richard Bach’s “The Bridge Across Forever”. Now I had had this book for years, yet had never got around to reading it, until that week.   As I read, I stopped and did something that I never normally allow myself to do.   I let curiosity get the better for once, and turned to the back pages, to see who the writer would meet.   There are 272 pages within the paperback.   It opened up on page 232, and the first words that came to my eye, read “Turn it around”.

      If this, as it would appear, relates to the Reverend's opening lecture, then I was being told to take control of a situation, and be decisive.

      I went to one more Meeting after that, in Somerville.   I did receive a Reading from a young man who was one of the visiting Demonstrator’s that day, though nothing of any great note came through.   I was told that I had a habit of jumping from one project to another, and should concentrate on one thing at a time.   It was true that I had been writing a piece of this, a piece of that, and some of the other, and was still far from completing any of them.   The comment could have applied to many a person.   Yet, who can tell?