It was Doreen and Nev’s Ruby Wedding anniversary and Nev said he’d like to go to church to renew their vows – such a lot to be thankful for over 40 years of happy marriage. They had been married at St. Augustine’s and Doreen had attended there as a child – everyone did – but then her friends went elsewhere so she never got confirmed. After they got married, Nev used to come to Bolton Villas, their local church, but Doreen didn’t go anywhere – on a Sunday morning she ‘pottered and made Sunday lunch’. Why? Because Doreen’s dearly loved dad had died aged 54 and Doreen couldn’t understand why God should have allowed such a thing to happen. She wore black for 12months afterwards and as she said ‘it still gets me’ – which it clearly did.

But their wedding anniversary fell on a Sunday and in preparation for renewing their vows, the vicar at St Augustine’s gently pointed out to Doreen that these disasters in our lives aren’t always God’s fault. He invited Doreen to a Christian Beginnings course, and Nev and their eldest daughter Susan went too – 2 buses each way on a Monday night in winter, in the rain. At the end of the course, all of the participants were asked if they felt ready to take the next step, and our Doreen was the only one to say ‘no’. But God hadn’t given up on her, and during the following week Doreen wondered ‘why did I say that?’ and just had that deep feeling of peace that she did want God in her life and so picked up the phone, said ‘yes’ and was duly confirmed at Bradford Cathedral.

So Doreen began to attend St. Augustine’s, but it was a bus journey and somehow it still didn’t feel like home. Nev, even though still a regular attender at Bolton Villas, began to go with her for at least a year. But then there was ‘an event’ at Bolton Villas (no idea what it was, but how important do these ‘events’ often turn out to be) and Doreen went along with Nev. I remember that we were all so pleased to see Nev again after his time out at St. Augustine’s and for Doreen, the welcome they both received made it feel as if she’d arrived home – Bolton Villas ‘was my place’. And the rest is history and Doreen has been making others feel as if Bolton Villas is ‘their place’ ever since.