Heart 2 Heart

In this final part of my Mum’s reminisces from her childhood, she shares how she was evacuated with her Mum and brother and how they survived a near miss from a doodlebug. In this case it was drastic circumstances that led to their leaving their home, albeit temporarily.  There can be many different reasons for leaving the familiar and striking out into the unknown; war, work, adventure or maybe even a Godly command.  God told Abram ‘Go from your country, your people and your Father’s household.‘ (Genesis 12:1).  Abram didn’t know where he was going, but he did have God’s promise of blessing for him and his future.  Sometimes God calls us to ‘Go’.  We don’t always know where we will end up or who we will end up with but if we trust God, he will show us the way and bless our faith in his promises.   In about 1943, it was decided that although Kingston was relatively unscathed, it was prone to random bombs as the Luftwaffe were returning from their raids, so we were to be evacuated to so

This is the second part of my Mum's story.  It shows how through another set of God-incidences, two men (Reg Lloyd, my Grandad and Beck Onishi, my Dad’s business associate) who would once have been mortal enemies could become men of mutual and honourable respect. Reg Lloyd (left) | Mum, Dad, me & my brother (right) Photos taken by Beck Onishi This is mainly my story of experiences during and after World War 2, so I will now go back to about 1942 and the entry of Britain into the war against Japan.  My father was in his 31st year, hardly a young recruit and certainly no hero.  Nevertheless he was called up and sent off to Chittagong, India, to be prepared for fighting in the swamps and jungles of Burma as part of the 14th Army.  As a baby at this time, I was obviously oblivious to all this and my earliest memory is of my father turning up at our Kingston home probably in about 1943/4.   He had previously been reported to my mother as missing in action but she was convinced he

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been reflecting on the stories we each carry.  Stories of people, places and events; such as VE Day, 400 years of the Pilgrims leaving Plymouth, VJ Day and significant birthdays for family members.  Stories form part of our identity and inheritance, so I’ve invited my Mum to guest blog by sharing a couple of her stories. Here is part one of her story - one that shows how people, places and events can become inexplicably interweaved.  We often dismiss these coincidences but sometimes they are more than coincidences, they are God-incidences.  We may not always know the significance of them, but I know that, despite the doubt concerning the authenticity of the windows, Mum was comforted by knowing that somehow God was connected to her life personally through these enigmatic signs.   Akureyri Church (left & main) | Coventry Cathedral & Mum (right) I was born on the 14th November 1940 in Oxford.  Although my mother, father and older brother were li