Letters

MEMORIES OF ABERFAN

READING ‘Remembering Aberfan’ (Salvationist 1 May) brought back to me memories of that disaster. My parents, Majors William and May Warren, were the commanding officers of Maesteg Corps and divisional headquarters requested that they, like many others, should go immediately to Aberfan to help in whatever way they could.

A message was left for my brother and me telling us where they had gone. I was 18 at the time and I felt that I should also go to help in whatever way I could. My employer allowed me to have time off work as necessary.

On arriving I saw the seriousness of the disaster and on finding my father in an empty house that the Army had taken over to store refreshments, I took bread and soup to those digging. When an alarm sounded the digging had to stop because a child had been found.

My mother had been asked to help in the church hall, which had become the mortuary, and she washed the bodies and talked to the distraught parents when they came to identify their children. I returned the next day and continued to help.

Some years later I returned to Aberfan, visited the cemetery and observed the stillness.

Bram Warren Brighton

SING A NEW SONG

ON these lovely spring mornings I’ve heard a song thrush singing at the top of a sycamore tree near the end of my garden. I have noticed this melodious singing continues for a number of hours, and the little bird never seems to grow weary. I love to hear the thrush’s beautiful song filling the morning air, out-singing the other songbirds by far.

I am reminded of someone else who climbed a sycamore tree: a chief tax collector named Zacchaeus. His aim was to get as high as he could above the crowds in order to see Jesus, who was coming his way. I wonder if this song thrush feels the need to get to the topmost branches of the sycamore to be seen and heard.

Thankfully, we do not need to climb trees to be seen or heard by Jesus, but maybe we could learn from the determinedness of Zacchaeus, and the diligence of the song thrush to sing a new song to the Lord each day, beginning every morning, overflowing with songs of praise and thanksgiving to our almighty God, for he has done marvellous things.

Nicola Walmsley Barrow-in-Furness

THINKING OFFLINE

I TOTALLY agree with Mr Armstrong’s letter (Salvationist 24 April). This isn’t solely an issue for older people; it also affects, for example, people who are living with disabilities. Although they may have the internet, they may not have access to Zoom in many cases because they would not have reason to use such a programme.

My local Salvation Army branch has been very good at providing an alternative to Zoom, although I should add that we are a larger corps and we do attract people from other places in the Cotswolds, and I realise that this might be more of a challenge for a smaller corps, particularly as not all places have internet connections that are fast enough for technologies such as Zoom to be of use in the first place.

Annabelle Short Cheltenham

LITTLE TEACHER

THE ‘More rear-mirror views’ article (Salvationist 10 April) brought back lovely memories of an evening at Regent Hall in August 1977, when we were introduced to the story of Adjutant Catherine Hine and her work among the East End Chinese community in the early 1900s.

The occasion was the first presentation of a wonderful mini-musical, Little Teacher, written especially for the students at that year’s Sunbury Music School by Major Joy Webb OF. Joy wanted to unpack to these young Salvationists something of the rich heritage which was theirs and Catherine Hine was the chosen servant of God who had such a story to be told.

In spoken word, music and song, the drama unfolded, from ‘Banner of the Star’ – a depiction of the altercation between rebel Chinese fighters, when the producing of the pocket flag avoided further bloodshed in the civil war – to Catherine’s teaching about the feeding of the 5,000 in ‘Jesus Makes It More Than Enough’.

The conclusion became even more meaningful when the Salvation Army Chinese flag of Limehouse, made especially for this community – and graciously loaned by the Heritage Centre for this occasion – was raised in Catherine’s honour, in true remembrance of a wonderful pioneer Salvationist.

As the musical’s closing words stated, Catherine felt called to be a missionary to China. She never got there – but her flag did.

Kathy Kerslake Staines

LETTERS

Readers’ letters are a popular and well-read section of Salvationist. Many years ago General Frederick Coutts said letters for publication in the Army’s press should be ‘carefully thought out, logically presented and charitably expressed’. Letters may be edited and should ideally be no more than 300 words.