I had quite a bit of involvement with Belgrave House, particularly with summer camps in 1963-1966 inclusive. I also went to the Belgrave Easter Conference in 1964 when John Knight, the Christian magician/artist/evangelist was speaker – he met his wife to be (Miriam) there too.
I then had a stay in early summer of 1964 when I was rather ill, so I’ve experienced Belgrave House care and Christian teaching from different situations during the time of Mr &Mrs Nickless and their boys, Stephen and David.
My Belgrave experiences shaped a lot of my life and its experiences, and the Godly lives of the other staff too – Miss Ethel Todd, Miss Gwen Mogford and Miss Brenda Brown.
I met some of my life’s best friends at Belgrave, and we remained and remain friends all of our lives. At one time I wrote up to about 40 letters a week, mostly to keep up and encourage different ones met at Belgrave. Singing choruses was a huge part of life at summer camps at Belgrave, and I used to enjoy playing the piano and singing there as well. The Belgrave reunions at The Elephant and Castle were special times also.
Belgrave had a lasting impact on many lives and certainly on mine. The Belgrave ethos influenced my life’s work at Haus Barnabas too.