TABLE TALK!

Tim Veater.

The human landscape.

Human beings, in common with all living creatures, have a physical presence. It is exquisitely distinguishing and early on, natural philosophers from Aristotle to Linnaeus developed taxonomies to describe it. 

But behind every physical appearance of the human, hides the mental and psychological underpinnings that form and inform, what we refer to as 'character' - all those attitudes, beliefs, motivations and desires that create the person that we are, the actions that we take, our response to other people, other creatures and nature in general. The outlook thus formed constitutes our 'World View'.

What shapes our outlook?

We regard our thoughts as uniquely our own, and in one sense they are, but in another sense they are merely the reflection of the human milieu - all those wider influences from the cradle up - what Locke coined as the mental and formative 'clean slate' of childhood. 

Do any of us ever have a truly original thought or opinion, not commonly held by millions of others? Are we not all merely photocopies and replicates? To what extent do we just reflect the 'group-think' or 'no-think' of the society in which we currently find ourselves? 

In politics much is made of the largely meaningless, indefinable, "values". 

Once they were clearly defined 'Christian' ones. Now they, in common with Humpty Dumpty, "mean whatever I want them to mean - no more or less." Philosophical and religious absolutism is out and moral ambiguity is in. 

Apparently the political establishment is against torturing detainees, bombing innocents, shooting children, invading other people's territory, genocide. But when it comes to Israel, suddenly all these 'values' disappear like the morning dew. Everyone supports 'freedom of expression' but pass laws criminalising those that exercise it. They are against war but instigate, fund and supply it. This is the worst form of hypocrisy.

The hypocrisy of British political 'values'.

There was a good example of this Parliamentary hypocrisy recently.

Nearly a hundred and twenty thousand people took the trouble to sign a petition requesting the government to investigate Israel's malign influence on British politicians. In the ensuing debate only a few MPs turned up but those that did turned the focus of it to 'antisemitism' - quite the opposite of its intended purpose. In the face of policies and actions of mass murder genocide, all the claims to 'British Values' somehow simply evaporated in support for a fascist regime bent on killing an whole population and curating World War III! (See: UK Politics: Pro-Israel Influence - Hansard - UK Parliament )

As if to unintentionally reinforce the thrust of the motion, the debate was overwhelmingly 'pro-Israel', despite its horrendous human rights and war crime history. It seems apart from a couple of Muslim MPs, there was a strange absence of support for the motion or criticism of Israel, rather proving the point of its disproportionate influence on the Parliamentary process, whilst white-washing criticism of Israel's  long-standing genocidal policies in the region in claims of 'antisemitism'.

The debate ended as follows, which perhaps says it all. Do we require more proof of malign Israeli/jew-ish influence than the contributions to, and conclusion of, the debate set up to examine it?

HANSARD

"Richard Tice.

Now that we have debated this appalling motion, is there a minimum timeframe before we have to debate it again?

John Lamont

Any further petition would have to attract more than 100,000 signatures, but the Petitions Committee has discretion, even when it reaches that number, on whether to grant another debate. When reflecting on how this debate has gone, and more widely on how the Jewish community in particular has reacted to the petition, I would certainly argue that it should not come back for another debate, even if it reached that threshold. We have had an opportunity to air our views, and we have collectively called it out for what it is. I am grateful to you, Mrs Harris, for chairing the debate, and to all hon. Members who have taken part.
specific contribut

Question put and agreed to.

Resolved,

That this House has considered e-petition 752646 relating to pro-Israel influence on UK politics and democracy."

Human need to belong.

There is a strong and deeply rooted human need to belong and conform. The outsider and non-conformist is both feared and respected in equal measure. The truly original thinker may be idolized or reviled. It takes a strong, determined and confident person to swim against the current of popular or manufactured opinion. Original thinkers can have and have had, a remarkable impact on human thought from the ancient - Babylonian, Assyrian, Arabic, Chinese and Greek - to the philosophers and scientists of more modern times. 

Those that set out to challenge the status quo, could face far more serious consequences than mere opprobrium. We automatically think of those iconic figures of Western history taking on the Church and/or science such as Copernicus, Galileo, Erasmus, Luther, Zwingli, More, Descartes, Locke, Newton, Voltaire, Paine, Kant, to name but a few, leading up to and including what we term 'the Enlightenment' and an era of scientific discovery. Even Darwin was controversial in the mid-19th C., and still is to this day.

But to those who think those times of conformity and censure are past, just consider the consequences of challenging 'global warming', the Covid 'pandemic', medical interventions, current evolutionary and social theory or American and Israeli actions in the Middle East and elsewhere.  People today are being labelled and treated as 'terrorists' just for showing their disgust at government policy - its so-called 'values' in action.

Resisting unjust power and conformity in the distant and not so distant past (the Suffragettes are oft quoted) carried great risk, but it is still no fun today. The 'Filton Six' have been harshly treated, and the judicial process immorally manipulated to secure a conviction and onerous sentence, but how much more disgraceful the term 'terrorist' should be applied to those who merely demonstrate against international violence with a sign?

Our 'democratic system' has indeed been tampered with and corrupted to be the very opposite. What has happened to MPs 'world view' to allow such a disaster? Treating innocent people as the worst sort of criminal, is an abdication of what once was regarded and admired as 'British Justice'. Indeed it is the very essence of a tyranny.

Empirical approaches to a world view.

John Locke (1632 - 1704) has been called the 'Father of Empiricism', that is seeking after truth, using pure reason, laying aside anything that defies it. His analysis was directed at human thinking, religion and government in the context of the political upheavals in England at that time. 

With relevance to our current situation, he was one of the first to suggest that a monarch obtained his authority not from God but from the people, who possessed the right to depose a 'King' if or when he became a tyrant. This was revolutionary stuff with its origins in the civil war fifty years before. Effectively the 'king' has now been replaced by the Cabinet Office and Secret State apparatus.

Indeed, a change in thinking, resulted in a real revolution and the founding of the current constitutional settlement in 1689. Locke outlined the moral and legal right to individual life, liberty and property, free from governmental interference, without clear democratic permission, a principle that has been progressively undermined and is now so flagrantly abused. 

Tainted by his close association with the Earl of Shaftesbury (1621 - 1683) erstwhile Lord Chancellor, he was forced to flee to Holland where he successfully avoided attempts to extradite him. Even after returning in 1689, he still published anonymously for fear of the public reaction. 

His appreciation and impact came well after his death, a common feature of great and novel thinkers, who we may regard as peculiarly talented or even label 'geniuses' - that is touched by a mysterious, indefinable - some might say 'divine' - intuition. 

How else to describe the insights of a Faraday, Mendeleev or Einstein? 'Empiricism' has left its defining mark on the 19th and 20th Centuries and created the technological world with all its problems, divisions and risks that we know today. Locke's principles of government need to revisited and applied before it is too late.

Back to 'table talk'.

It is a truism that the older we get, the more we reflect on our personal past in the context of the wider one. Constantly, people and events come to mind that have shaped one's own personality and world view. The knowledge, attitudes and skills acquired. The beliefs and moral outlook that may not always be consistent or uniformly applied.

So where is this philosophical ramble taking us? Back to the table and not the Periodic one! The domestic dining table where I sat in the nineteen-sixties. 

Mine is an undistinguished and indistinguishable life and career, with perhaps a few minor successes. I was constrained by my own social, educational, intellectual and emotional background, from doing and being the person I would have liked to have been. We all have to live with our own limitations.

I suppose that could be said to be true of the overwhelming majority of the country and planet. It is the fortunate few who fulfill their dreams, that nevertheless may turn out to be illusionary and disappointing. But maybe, just maybe, my failures were also my strengths, because they taught me modesty and empathy in good measure. 

It made me detest arrogance, cruelty and injustice, which is surely no bad thing? It is the reason why I despise (see above) the politicians who make claim of possessing "values", whilst facilitating wars and aiding and abetting genocide, passing laws that criminalise the innocent whilst protecting the guilty. This is the very antithesis of justice.

Family features.

We may choose our friends but not our relations. The decisions as to our creation, our biological parentage and thus our genetic fingerprint, our socialisation, education and family connections are all largely outside our control but affect us for the rest of our lives for good or ill.

I arrived into a middling but staunchly non-conformist Christian family. Both my parents were members of a sect called the 'Plymouth Brethren', in many ways not unlike the better known American 'Amish', although perhaps not quite so extreme. It was unashamedly puritanical Judeo/Christian, my parents and other sect members believing in the literal voracity of both Old and New Testaments as the divinely inspired 'Word of God'. 

I was taught to believe I was 'in the world but not of the world'. As a consequence a not always clear line was drawn between 'worldly' things and 'spiritual' things. Smoking, drinking alcohol, gambling and promiscuity were definitely off the table. Cinema, television and radio all seen as works of the Devil. Nevertheless all these things intruded and were to some extent compromised. In the Second World War my father was a Conscientious Objector based on the Biblical injunction, "Thou shall not kill". 

As a child in the '50's I struggled with some of these ideas and restrictions but generally complied whilst exercising a greater degree of liberty. Strange how mixed in with the belief was an element of incredulity and skepticism- a classical case of 'cognitive dissonance' that remains entrenched.

Conversion and significant Bible verses. 

I experienced a spiritual conversion when I was was eight that is still vivid to this day and was baptised by emersion when I was just eleven. I still have the New Testament I was given at that time inscribed with a verse from II Timothy. 2.15:

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 

From an early age I had lived with another verse embedded in my outlook from Jeremiah 1.8:

"Do not be afraid of their faces, For I am with you to deliver you, says the Lord." 

The following words were also significant:

"Then the Lord put forth His hand and touched my mouth, and the Lord said to me: Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms. To root out and to pull down. To destroy and to throw down. To build and to plant.”

I cannot claim to have fulfilled these early promises and injunctions, but these and other scriptural verses lodged in and had a permanent influence on my psyche and view of the world - particularly its endemic cruelty and injustice.

Around the dinner table.

Reminiscing, as one does, of times around the Sunday dining table ("Young men see visions and old men dream dreams." Acts 2.17) a number of notable ones are recalled. 

Given my father's beliefs and membership of a much wider Brethren hinterland, our house was constantly being visited by preachers and others of all descriptions but all giving allegiance to a common faith. As a small child these provided both variety and amusement. 

I remember at about five being emotionally quite upset - heart-broken in fact - by the departure of a Scotsman called Mr. Gilmore who must have shown me the affection I felt lacking from my parents. I was also distraught when after only another six years or so, he didn't seem to remember me at all! Such are the perspectives of the young and old.

Another Scotsman, Mr. Kilpatrick, tall and skeletal, had a high pitched laugh that might reasonably be described as a cackle. He seemed to take great delight in chasing my brothers around the kitchen table brandishing a rolled up newspaper. This was home entertainment before the days of wireless and television!

A Welsh preacher called predictably, Mr. Jones, was afflicted with a spinal deformity that had the appearance of a 'hunched back'. He also had the unfortunate habit of continually clearing his throat with a cough. He relied on gifts and hospitality, travelling from 'Assembly' to 'Assembly' on children's missions. 

One of his entertaining talents was to turn a scribble into a recognisable image. In fact in many ways he was a religious entertainer of children, using anything he could lay his hands on - in one case a daffodil - to illustrate his bible message. Of course the Bible is bursting with human stories from the distant past that remain pertinent and affecting.

As children we always treated our adult visitors, whatever their idiosyncrasies, with the greatest respect and decorum. But this did not mean that in private we did not extract all the enjoyment we could from mimicry and allusion. 

This was not reserved for the visiting preachers but applied to all the attendees of the Meetings and to local village characters. None were safe from our harmless ridicule. Accents, favourite expressions, vocal impediments, peculiar habits, facial and physical features, dress were all grist to our entertainment mill.  

Stand-out table memories.

Memory One.

When I was around fifteen, before and after, I idolised my policeman brother who was ten years older, married and had what appeared to me to be a glamourous and exciting life. He would visit every Sunday as his shift timetable would allow and join us for lunch. Those were happy occasions and I would hang on his every word. He was fun and I looked forward to his visits enormously and the stories he would tell. 

However one of his stories shocked me and took me aback, shattering my preconceptions of ethical policing. It was youthful idealism and naivety coming face to face with reality. It chimed with an era when the public was transitioning from the ethos of ' Dixon of Dock Green' to 'Z Cars' and ironically named 'Softly Softly'. Harder more honest TV depictions were to follow.

His story related to a police chase through Bristol. When finally stopped the driver was asked, "I suppose you think you are Stirling Moss?" The bit I found chilling was his account of the police van rocking when the miscreant was placed in it, suggesting he was being beaten up. Chilling on two accounts: naively that policemen would do such a thing; and two that my honourable brother would find it amusing. I could not view either in quite the same way again.

Memory Two.

My father always sat at the head of the table although he did not stand on ceremony or etiquette. I tended to sit at the opposite end. I blended respect with a certain unreasonable and unfair distain. I wanted him to be more than he was, although really he was quite enough. He was fully signed up to the Bible and Brethren Assembly which was his main activity and interest. Without fanfare or reward, he fulfilled a community role visiting the sick and dying.

He worked hard to provide for the family and did not waste his money on cigarettes, alcohol, gambling or other trivial pursuits, but money was still limited. He gave me half a crown pocket money a week - now 13½ p!  I had signed up to Christian precepts but I leaned towards a more liberal, less literal interpretation of the Biblical text. This was anathema to him.

His was an ambivalent and sceptical view of the world in contrast to my unrealistic optimism. The brief vignette etched in my memory was his dismissive smirk to my statement that I believed in the essential 'goodness' of humans. It was a put-down born of experience. I now take a more ambivalent sanguine view. Humans are transparently capable of the greatest good and the greatest evil, without compunction, without guilt - at least on a superficial level - even by those claiming religious conviction. Humans are indeed the 'most dangerous animals'!

Memory Three.

Perhaps as an illustration of this 'given', another memory from around the table. On one occasion a missionary joined us for a meal. His name was Mr. J. 'Harry' Brown who had an almost legendary reputation. (See:  'A Missionary In The Making' J.H. Brown  A Missionary In The Making by J.H. Brown | Goodreads ) About fifty years before he had run a village tent mission which formed the seed of the Pensford Assembly. He had subsequently in 1923, become a missionary in South Africa. 

An account of his Christian conversion at age seventeen is provided in the video below. I found it quite moving. He wasn't 'alright', he was 'all wrong'. The experience changed his life and direction. He lived into his nineties but there he was, presumably in his late sixties, sitting at our table, on his last swan-song visit to his home country after leaving it aged twenty-three.

He was a tall man with an impressive mien but quite jocular recounting his exploits and dominating the table. He was ten years older than my father, who partly as a consequence of being converted at the mission already referred to, held him in high regard. I was not quite so enamoured. I said little and just listened to the conversation and repartee. 

However what left its mark was, what appeared to be, his general attitude to the native black African, which he stated plainly he thought to be inferior to the white man. What I glimpsed was a flashback to a colonial past of European arrogance and entitlement, in which the indigenous population was to be 'civilized' and managed according to European precepts, which included the Christian religion. "The gun in one hand, the bible in the other". Clearly in 1968 Harry Brown saw himself in that role. 

It was a year in which John Vorster, leading the National Party government, intensified political repression and South Africa’s international isolation deepened. The Liberal Party of South Africa was banned, and prominent activists were arrested under the 'Suppression of Communism Act'. The country also withdrew from the British Commonwealth, severing formal ties with Britain, although strong social and economic ties were maintained, as demonstrated by Margaret Thatcher's approach to the country a decade or two further on.

 
Whether or not Harry supported apartheid was not clear but I got the clear impression he may have. At least he did not speak out against it and it shocked liberal-thinking me. It suggested that evangelical Christianity was no guarantor of political and social equality or freedom from repression. 

A parallel situation exists in Israel today. Religion can be a force for both good and evil, and the moral certainty of believers in any or none, must be subject to objective ethical criteria, before it can be regarded as laudable and beneficial. 

We must be as cautious of certainty as we are of of doubt.

Memory Four

The two Ron(ies)

Ron P. played a significant role in my childhood, largely confined to Sundays but sometimes popping up on other days of the week. He, his brother and two sisters were brought back to England when his mother died and brought up by his aunt in a Somerset mining village.

His grandfather had been a missionary in the Far East, and he possessed Indian good looks and charm. For some reason they all attended Pensford Gospel Hall and until death intervened, our two families were closely linked. Ron led the service at my father's funeral in 1986, I attended his in 2008.

My first memory of the family was of his younger sister Ruth when I was about five. I remember being fascinated by her pronounced dark eyes. On another occasion picking blackberries from the hedge outside the hall. Both she and Ron had a sense of fun. Every Sunday they formed a little unit of three, brother, sister and aunt. Ron with my father and Harold H., they formed the core of the little Assembly and its meetings, regarding itself as a reflection of the early Church.

At some time in the 1930's Ron became a solicitor's articled clerk. After some years he gave it up, starting his own business as an estate agent. As the years passed, this generated a good income, and throughout my childhood and into my teens, he exhibited an affluence and style of life that was out of my poor dad's reach. By the late fifties the most obvious evidence was a new bungalow in a nearby village where my ancestors had lived for generations and new cars. 

The house seemed to be something out of 'Ideal Home'. We were invited to social gatherings there. The cars advanced from MG Magnet, to second hand Mark 1 Jaguar, then to my astonishment and delight - I was at that time mad on cars - a new pearlescent blue Mark 2. I shall never forget the thrill I felt seeing that glamorous car parked outside the new Gospel Hall for the first time. 

Ron didn't visit our house often. Sometimes he would come back on a Sunday night with a visiting speaker. They were light-hearted times of recalling entertaining characters and events from the past. However only once do I remember him coming for a proper meal.

Amazingly I remember inviting him and he accepting. My mother cooked and served deep fried battered cod, chips and peas. I remember nothing of the conversation, only the way he meticulously removed the batter before eating the fish. I thought it rather peculiar and effete. A distinguishing social statement. 

He was always affable and polite but could also be quite dogmatic and judgmental. At my mother's funeral in 2003, he wondered if I had ever become a Christian? The words seemed hurtful and inappropriate, though I suppose he thought them deserved. They are the last words I ever remember him saying, and they tarnish his memory.

When I got married in 1979, he drove my mother, father, sister and his niece (See link to Elaine Blick below) through a heavy snow storm to the wedding. He didn't think much of the Quaker ceremony and said so. All I remember of his contribution was an invocation and reference to the devil! Maybe it was percipient?

A few years on, when I had children, he sat at my humble cottage table for a meal. At that stage, when he would have been in his late sixties and still a bachelor, he commented ruefully I was very lucky to have a family. Despite his accrued wealth, he had somehow missed out on the thing that mattered. I attended his funeral and acquired his 1996 Mercedes car that I have to this day.

Ron two.

Another Ron who sat our family table in the 1960's had a very different but related story. I had met him at the Burden Neurological Unit, a part of Frenchay Hospital Bristol. He was undergoing specialist and experimental treatment for depression. This consisted of placing fine gold wires into his brain through drilled apertures on either side his skull connected to a 'fuse' box' used to deliver electrical current, monitoring any behavioural or emotional outcomes.  I was about eighteen at the time and I guess he was in his late twenties.

He had run away, afraid of the proposed procedure but had been found at a railway station and returned to the unit by the police. I assume he was subject to some sort of court order. We developed a conversational friendship and I used to take him for drives in my Fiat 500. 

He too had been brought up in the 'Exclusive' wing of the Brethren. Sadly when he tried to distance himself from the sect, he had been completely shunned and this had played upon his mind, all contact even with his parents and siblings removed. It led to depression and quite likely suicidal tendencies. His was a sad story but some years on I received a post card from Ron - from Italy - so I hope his life improved thereafter and he was able to put his trauma behind him.

Conclusion

So there we have it! A personal ramble around memories of 'table talk' with just a few of the characters involved that have impacted and influenced my life. As Locke pointed out, every person born is like a 'blank slate' on which is written the future life. With currently at least a million young people classified as 'NEETS' (Not in Education, Employment or Training) and with 22% of twenty to twenty five year olds reporting some sort of mental illness, I can't help thinking something has gone badly wrong and we need to relearn some of the lessons of the past. END. 

See also:

Elaine Blick See:  ELAINE BLICK AUTHOR - Search

A Missionary in the Making Autobiography of J.H. Brown

"Author: J. Harry Brown

Rare

"I have read the book with deepest interest, and I am sure it was written from an experience and an understanding of African life that very few have had. The facile pen and the versatile brain of the writer makes the book live and keeps one spellbound. Harry Brown is not a man with a one-track mind; his ability in languages, building, engineering, doctoring, dentistry, and in many other callings, enabled him to readily meet any situation.

It must be remembered that Africa in the early days was terribly primitive in every aspect. No roads, no railways, no vehicles of any kind, no horses, no oxen; anything and everything for transport was carried on the heads or shoulders of African carriers. The wonderful way in which the Lord helped in those early days is graphically described by Harry Brown's versatile pen." A.H. Boulton

ENCOUNTERS #15 - 'All right for eternity': HARRY BROWN

Bing Videos

Pensford Gospel Hall by Ronald Padfield Precious Seed: vol 57.2 (2002)

Pensford Gospel Hall - Precious Seed | A UK registered charity working to encourage the study of the scriptures

"A History of the Assembly

Pensford is a pleasant village situate seven miles south of Bristol, with a population of about 1000. The villagers were formerly engaged mainly in coal mining and agriculture, but mining having ceased, they are now employed variously, chiefly in Bristol or Bath. A Methodist community existed in the village until a few years ago, and, in fact, John Wesley preached there on several occasions. The local Anglican Church is now no longer used.

In the early 1920s the Bristol Saturday Afternoon Village Open- Air Unit visited Pensford more than once. This led to a real spiritual concern for this village, and in 1922 certain brethren from the Bristol assemblies commenced gospel meetings in the village, mainly for children. They were held in the local school, weekly, on Monday evenings from November 1922 to March 1923 and were well attended. It is not known that any were saved at that time, but an early register shows that a number joined a branch of the Scripture Union then formed.

It was then felt that a gospel campaign should be mounted, and just at that time (surely not a mere coincidence!) the late Mr J. H. Brown, who had been conducting fruitful gospel tent campaigns in Gloucestershire, was available for a few weeks prior to going out to central Africa on missionary service. He agreed to bring his tent to Pensford, and pitched it near the viaduct in the centre of the village. During a period of six weeks in the summer of 1923 many attended the gospel meetings, among them the local Anglican vicar who encouraged others to come.

God was working, and the gospel of Christ, faithfully and clearly preached, proved to be ‘the power of God unto salvation’ to about ten, possibly more. Of these, and others, some, including sisters, were to become faithful members of the assembly for years. Notable among them was Maurice Veater, then a lad of 13 years, who from the time of his conversion made rapid progress in his knowledge of the Scriptures and witnessed boldly for Christ in the village. He was also used to point others to the Saviour, and became a competent teacher, and an outstanding pillar in the assembly until his home-call in 1986 at the age of 76 years. Michael McCarthy (‘Uncle Mac’) was another devoted brother and stalwart in the assembly until his death in a road accident in 1954.

For about a year after the campaign, a mixed company (some from denominations) met weekly to break bread and hold a gospel service, but these meetings eventually ceased. However, a little while later, the believers (then better instructed) met together to form an assembly more in accordance with New Testament teaching. They gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ alone; baptism by immersion was practised; eldership gradually came to be recognized, and there was a continuance in the apostles’ doctrine, in fellowship and in breaking of bread and prayers, Acts 2. 41-42.

From that time in 1924 to the present day the assembly has continued (in the early years with help from brethren from Bristol) with the blessing of God, and has been a blessing in the lives of many believers and in the salvation of souls.

The assembly’s first meeting place was a sectional wood building, formerly used in evangelistic work in various places, on a rented site very near the spot where Mr Brown’s tent had been pitched originally. It served well for many years, but lacked some amenities and with passing years the structure had deteriorated.

After many unsuccessful efforts to find an alternative meeting place, in a remarkable way, in 1958, the assembly was able to purchase for £20 the site of two derelict cottages in a favourable position, and on this site the present Hall was built. It was actually opened on Saturday, 12th September 1959. It was a time of rejoicing; a large number gathered, and there was thanksgiving, praise and prayer and ministry of God’s word by various brethren, including Mr Alexander Pulleng and Mr Walter Norris.

During the years the number in fellowship has been fairly constant at about 25 to 40 until the last year or so, the number now being just over 20. In these days it is almost inevitable that some young Christians will move away from a country assembly to seek education, employment, etc., and this we have experienced at Pensford. We are thankful for those who are still with us.

The assembly has sought to maintain a lively testimony in the village, and to some extent in the surrounding villages. A Sunday School and a children’s meeting flourished for many years, and there has been frequent tract distribution, and in earlier years open-air preaching. In 1937, following gospel meetings by the late Mr Frank Lawes, a women’s meeting was started by Mrs. Bames, and this still continues. Although Mrs Bames, after many years of devoted service, was called home, aged 90 years, on 6th March, 2002, other faithful sisters are actively engaged in this work. The meeting has been a good testimony in the village, a help to many, and a means of making Christ known. For some years the assembly was able to visit three homes for the elderly in the area once a month and to hold a short service at each, but at only one of these is this now possible.There has been a consistent interest in missionary work, earlier particularly in that of Mr Michael Browne. In more recent years it has been a privilege to have in fellowship Mr and Mrs John Axford (Brazil) and Mr and Mrs John Rutter (Botswana) and so we have a special interest in them and their work.

As we review the past we are bound to give thanks to God for His faithfulness and blessing, and we are encouraged to trust Him for the future. ‘God is able to make all grace abound … that ye … may abound to every good work’, 2 Cor. 9. 8. For this we pray, for His glory, in the needy village of Pensford."

Veater Ecosan: "The World About Us"  Veater Ecosan:

Veater Ecosan: "The World About Us"

A Journey Through Time – Pensford Publow and The Stantons Community Trust

John Locke  See: Veater Ecosan: "The World About Us": Search results for john locke

Veater Ecosan: "The World About Us": Search results for john locke pensford