Cathy Le Feuvre

Founders' Day - 160 Years of The Salvation Army

Today - July 2nd 2025 - The Salvation Army marks it's 160th anniversary!

The Christian church and charity 'movement' or organisation hasn't been called 'The Salvation Army' for that number of years. That name was adopted in 1878, but the story goes back to July 2nd 1865!

It was on that day that The Rev.William Booth, a Methodist itinerant preacher and evangelist, preached at a meeting in an old tent on the Mile End Waste in East London, and it's that event that today's Salvation Army marks as its beginnings!

Although William and his wife Catherine were part of the Methodist church at that time, they were quite individual and forward thinking and when they eventually arrived in London after years of travelling independently around the British Isles sharing the good news of Jesus Christ in different locations, they began to understand what God had in store for them.

Both had always had a heart for those who were disadvantaged, and in 1865, the couple began working with a group of Christian businessmen and others who were becoming increasingly concerned about the plight of the poor and disadvantaged in the community. If you're ever read 'Oliver Twist' or 'A Christmas Carol' and other works by the brilliant English author Charles Dickens, you'll recognise the kind of poverty which many people in mid-Victorian Britain were enduring and which William and Catherine found themselves surrounded by when they arrived in London.

In June 1865 William became involved in a Christian mission in the East End of London and he preached to crowds outside the Blind Beggar pub on Whitechapel Road. You can read more about that later in this article in the abstract from my book.

A couple of days later he preached in that battered old tent nearby on the Mile End Waste, to a crowd largely poor and dishevelled listeners, and a new organisation, 'The East London Christian Revival Society', which would later be renamed 'The East London Christian Mission', was born.

This picture and the other historic ones here are from The Salvation Army archives at the International Heritage Centre in London and this one depicts that moment in history in that tent!

The movement flourished, with a focus on teaching people about Jesus in a way they could relate to ... not in churches primarily, but in places like bowling alleys, dance halls and outdoors. But it also had another focus, to help those who needed help including food programmes and other assistance for those living in dire poverty. 

Despite opposition - many people didn't like the Booths' approach and many with vested interests particularly didn't like the fact that they encouraged people not to drink alcohol which they perceived to be at the heart of many of problems and poverty of their time - the new organisation proved popular and many people became Christians and joined the ranks. People who had been rejected by the traditional churches because of their low status and economic disadvantage and impoverishment, found a home with the Booths and their quickly growing Christian 'movement' ... not a church but a /movement' of individuals determined to change the world for God. 

As it spread beyond the London area, The East London Christian Mission became 'The Christian Mission' and then, in 1878 it was renamed again as The Salvation Army, adopting much of the military-style uniforms and titles for which it became known ...  as an example, ministers are 'officers' and the churches are known as 'corps'  and William Booth was the General, which is still the title held by today's international leader ... which outwardly proclaimed showed their public commitment to God and their determination to 'fight' for good.

The change of name led to rapid expansion and The Salvation Army quickly became known or standing for social justice, fighting against the injustices of society as well as bringing people to understand God, going to people where they were and reaching out to 'the whosoever'.

Although over it 160 year history some things have inevitably changed within The Salvation Army, the organisation remains true to it's roots, and continues to strive to be relevant to people and their situations and to fight for and stand up for those who cannot speak loudly for themselves. And to bring Christ to the 'whosoever'.

In 2025, The Salvation Army is in 135 countries across the world, holding not just weekly worship services, outdoor events, clubs and activities for people of all ages, but also running food programmes,  community support, and residential accommodation for people who are homeless, and responding to disasters and providing practical support to those in need of help.

 

In 2013 I wrote my first book, which was the story of how William and Catherine Booth met, loved, served God together and formed The Salvation Army. Based on letters which they wrote to each other throughout their relationship, from the moment they first met in 1852, through a long engagement and then marriage, during which they were often apart ... William was often out preaching and teaching and Catherine herself had her own ministry which took her away from her husband.

'William and Catherine - the love story of the founders of The Salvation Army told through their letters', (which was originally published by Lion Monarch Books, now SPCK) is still available to buy including online in most of the usual places.

The book mixes historic narrative and explanation with extracts from William and Catherine's letters, which are held in the British Library, and some very short stories which I wrote based on different historic facts and some of the words and feelings the couple expressed in their own words, in their letters. Today we call such stories 'immersive history' and I loved doing those.

Of course, I'd love you to buy the book,  if you haven't already. Thanks to those who have, by the way... I get so many great comments about the book still. 

But here, just for you, is an extract from the book ... that moment in June 1865 when William Booth preached outside the Blind Beggar, based on how I think that might have gone down with those drinking in the pub. It's from Chapter 13 and the little story is followed by a narrative explaining those very early years of the Christian movement that would become 'The Salvation Army'.

Hope you enjoy it...

.....♥.....

Outside on the street a tall man with a thick dark beard mounted an old box.

Oh, not this again!

Couldn’t a man enjoy a couple of ales without having that noise outside?  If the pub wasn’t so handy for home, he’d find somewhere else to sup. But the Blind Beggar was perfect especially when he’d had a few too many – all he needed to do was to stagger round the corner to the old woman who’d be there, as always, waiting to put him to bed.

The drinker rubbed the dirty window pane to peer out.

 ‘George!’ he shouted to the aleman behind the bar, ‘can’t you get rid of ‘em?’ 

'It’s a free world Joe. So long as they don’t step over the door we can’t do nuffink about ‘em!’

‘Shut the door!’ someone yelled.

‘Don’t you dare! It’s bloody boilin’ in here!’ shouted Barman George.

He was right of course. Even this late in the day, it was still warm. Well it was mid-summer after all, and the inn reeked with body sweat,  stale beer and the smell of the open sewer in the road outside.

Joe looked out the window again. He’d lost count of the times now when his drinking had been interrupted by these religious fanatics. There seemed to be an endless stream of them, all spouting about God and how he needed ‘saving’.

Saving from what, that’s what he wanted to know? Who could save him from the misery of gruelling hard work and grinding poverty?

Maybe another pint might help. He searched his torn pocket. Just a penny left. Enough for one more, but then he’d go home empty handed again and he’d have it in the neck from the old woman. He’d done that many a time before, even though it meant the kids went to bed with empty bellies. But a man had to have his fun, didn’t he? What with spending all day at the docks, hauling all those sacks of whatever it was they were loading the ships with. Maybe he’d just spend the ha’penny.

‘Another half George!’ Joe approached the bar, which had thinned out a bit. A few of his mates had ambled outside and seemed to be listening to the tall man. A few were heckling from the door, but a couple had moved forward.

Just to get a bit of air, Joe took his half across the threshold into the street and stood there under the Blind Beggar sign.

‘Not seen this one afore Will!’ he said to the man next to him.

‘No – new I think! Looks a bit fresh doesn’t he?’

Not just fresh, but not posh either, Joe noted. He wasn’t dressed particularly sharply, his frock coat looked a little worse for wear. In fact, he appeared more frayed around the edges that the other missioners who usually turned up outside the pub. This one’s thick black hair was all over the place as he waved his arms around. He was sweating profusely and occasionally mopped his brow with a grey looking kerchief. And what was that accent? He wasn’t London, that was for sure.

Joe was intrigued. He found himself listening to this one like he hadn’t listened before. He was, of course, a religious nut, but he seemed to be a bit more normal than the rest.

‘What’s ‘is name Will?

‘That’s right!’ came the reply, followed by a hearty laugh.

‘Don’t muck me about mate! What’s ‘is bloody  name?’

‘You said it! ‘is name is Will! William Booth!’

Although William had rather reluctantly joined Catherine in London and at first merely expected to use it as his base for his continued work in the rest of the country, as he walked about the poverty stricken eastern reaches of the city, he had quickly recognised the desperate spiritual needs of those around him.

Although the term ‘East End’ would not be coined for a few decades more, this part of London was already notorious as desperately poor, overcrowded, crime-ridden and disease stricken – cholera, typhus, typhoid and influenza were virtually endemic.  In the 19^th century London was fast becoming the first ‘world city’, with a large population which was almost daily added to by immigrants, most of whom arrived poor and even destitute. It was a city of contrasts, with all the trappings of the beginnings of a ‘modern’ society sitting alongside almost medieval poverty.  Transport systems were developing to bring people in from the suburbs to the city for work and play – the first London Underground line, a section of the Metropolitan line from Paddington to Farringdon stations was already two years old by the time the Booths were setting up home in the city.

Shipbuilding around the ever expanding docks along the River Thames brought goods and people from around the world. There were sugar refineries, iron foundries, tanneries, glass works, dye shops and other industries which required hoards of unskilled workers – dockers, builders, chimney sweeps, rag collectors, garment workers – most of whom worked for subsistence wages, on daily contracts with no job security.  These ‘labouring poor’ sat at the bottom of the social heap, and just above there was an elite group of well-paid and privilege craftsmen and a  fast growing ‘white collar’ or lower middle class, who sat just below the ‘higher middle class’ – among them the lawyers, doctors and churchmen of the day. The ‘upperclass’ were perched at the top of this divided society, often landed and titled gentry.

The eastern reaches of London, which were once a selection of small villages surrounded by fields east of the medieval walled City of London and north of the River Thames ,were by the mid-1800s a mass of streets with open sewers running through them.  Millions of people were crammed into the east end, displaced by slum clearances around St Katharine Docks in the late 1820s and the building of the Central London railways stations which was on-going when William and Catherine arrived in the city in 1865.

Years later, when he was devising plans to not just help save souls but rehabilitate individuals and give them a practical as well as a spiritual future, William Booth’s Salvation Army would establish one of the first labour exchanges to help people find work. And the seeds of that programme were being planted in William’s heart in 1865 as he mixed with the hoards of displaced persons in the eastern reaches of London. As he walked through the streets he was captivated by the place, and the opportunities which it afforded his ministry. He bounded home to Hammersmith one night, burst through the door and announced to his wife ‘Darling! I have found my destiny!’

In the summer of 1865 outside the Blind Beggar Pub William Booth was doing what came naturally, preaching to the unconverted in their own environment.

Under a pub sign, risking ridicule and even some physical danger – it wasn’t unusual for street preachers to have things thrown at them by a heckling crowd – William was part of an evangelistic tradition which was growing rapidly in mid-19^th century London.  There were numerous chapels and small missions, many of them Methodist, across this part of London.  By the 1850s in London there were around 144 charities many of which were already mixing religion with practical works and good deeds.

William’s street preaching impressed a group of churchmen and evangelists known as the East London Special Services Committee. Among them were Mr R.C Morgan and Mr Samuel Chase, the editors of The Revival, who despite their misgivings over the preaching antics of the Rev Booth’s wife, were still determined to have William join them for their next evangelistic campaign.

The Special Committee didn’t come from or belong to one single denomination and William Booth had already preached for them at the Garrick Theatre some years before.  Now they wanted him for more radical work and on July 2 1865 – the date that is now noted in history as the ‘start’ of The Salvation Army – William Booth stood to preach for them in a tent on the Mile End Waste, on the old Quaker Burial Ground in Whitechapel, East London.

Although the old tent blew down that autumn, there was no stopping the Booth mission. The East London Christian Revival Society was born and in the winter of 1865 it moved indoors.  On Sundays the meetings were held in a local building - the Assembly Rooms on New Road in Whitechapel, otherwise known as Professor Orson’s Dancing Academy, its main function in the week. Even on the Sabbath the evangelists had to share their meeting hall with a photographer and on weekdays the Booths and their expanding group of supporters rented other venues – an old chapel, a warehouse, a stable, a carpenter’s shop, a skittle alley. By 1867 the group had moved into more permanent ‘Sunday headquarters’ at the Effingham Theatre in Whitechapel Road.

.....♥.....

Songs in the Key of Life - a radio interview

Well today was an interesting one!

Around lunchtime I was guest on the Jim Delbridge Show on BBC Guernsey and BBC Jersey... sharing stories and 'Songs in the Key of Life' with Jim and his producer Levi Laurence.

 

I chatted about my life and work and I shared two of my favourite songs / tunes... and both Jim and Levi shared their choice of music too! Such fun! And it was great to be back in a studio again ... I forget how comfortable that environment feels!

 

If you want to listen to the whole show ...please go to BBC Sounds... I'm on in the final hour for about 40mins from around 1.09pm

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0kkw7lg

 

But, as I'm inclined to do, I also isolated the interview and I'm attaching it here so you can listen to it if/when you have time or feel inclined.

 

The Salvation Army - Church and community work in Jersey got a mention, as did my work as an author, writer and my life growing up in Kenya and the family. We crammed SO much in!

 

I'm not going to divulge WHAT songs I chose... you may have to listen to the interview to find that out ... and why I chose them.

You may find ONE slightly surprising... although if you know me well ... maybe not.

 

Thanks to Jim, Levi, BBC Jersey and BBC Guernsey

Happy listening!

 

Songs-in-the-Key-of-life-BBC 8 Feb 2025

NB ... to listen ... click right on the mouse and open this audio in a new window ... that works best.

I Shall Pass This Way But Once...

I've been doing a lot of clearing recently and as I continue to rifle through lots of stuff, clearing & storing and 'letting go' of many things … I found this little picture!

 

I remember it at home over the years propped up here and there … the mantelpiece, various shelves. 

 

On the back of the card are these words:

 

To Major and Mrs LeFerve (sic) With All Good Wishes from Marjorie Holleyoak

I''ve no idea who Marjorie was but it was a long time ago that my parents received this lovely card, probably from a church / Salvation Army corps member or friend - my parents were Salvation Army ministers.

 

A long time ago given as a gift, but the sentiments are the same today as they have always been!

 

‘I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any creature, let me do it now. Let me not defer or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.’

 

This quote is credited to Stephen Grellet …a prominent French-American Quaker missionary, 1772-1855.

 

I'm wondering now if the sentiments in this message seeped into my psyche down the years ... you may (or may not) know that in recent years I've written a book about kindness ... 'The Gift of Kindness', published by Authentic Media and written with my friend and writing buddy, Debbie Duncan.

 

A (very old) Red Post Box

Post boxes ... those receptacles where we can post our letters here in Jersey in the Channel Islands, and across the British Isles (and the UK) .... are not just functional, many of them are a thing of beauty and can also tell us about our history.

They are sometimes also called 'Pillar Boxes' when they are stand-alone items.

For those who live in other parts of the world who often might only post letters at an actual Post Office, this might seem unusual. But red post/mailboxes ... either as those stand-alone pillar boxes or, built into a wall cavity, are a striking part of our street scenes, and a constant reminder of our history.

The boxes represent the Royal Mail... or in our case, Jersey Post ... and the clues to their age and origin are right there.

Each one bears the Crown, and the letters are called the “Royal Cypher”. They signify the King or Queen who was the monarch at the time when the post box was erected.

Most of the red post (or mail or pillar) boxes you can currently see around the British Isles, of which the Channel Islands are a part) currently bear the initials ER ... representing the late Queen Elizabeth II, who reigned over the United Kingdom, Great Britain and its 'Crown Dependencies', of which Jersey is one, for more than 70 years before her death on 8 September 2022. 

ER stands for 'Elizabeth Regina'.

But older boxes still exist, and this one on the left, bearing the initial GR, is still in use in the parish of St Ouen in Jersey. It's set into a granite pillar outside the Morrison's supermarket in the village.

GR stands for 'George Rex'... King George. Queen Elizabeth took the throne when her father died on 6 February 1952 ... he was King George VI and he reigned from 11 December 1936, taking the British throne when his brother Edward VIII abdicated after less than a year as monarch. Edward had succeeded to the throne on 20 January 1936 when his father, and Queen Elizabeth's grandfather, King George V, passed away.

A GR post box was put up during the era of a King George and if there are no more letters around the GR, then it’s likely from the period of King George V.

If it’s from the era of King George VI I'm reliably informed that we may notice a little “VI” next to the GR.

SO ... bottom line ... it appears that this red post box dates from the reign of Elizabeth's grandfather! It's very old! Maybe more than 100 years old ... And it's still in use today!

The interesting thing is those two post boxes above actually sit at the same location, just about a metre apart ... it's great that the postal authorities have left the old box there as a testament to history!

And if you're wondering... at some point in the future we'll start to see new post boxes bearing the Crown and the initials CR ... representing our 'new' and current King Charles III, who succeeded to the throne on his mother Elizabeth's death on 8 September 2022.

For those geeks among us, interested in stuff like 'street furniture', this sort of thing is very exciting. I have yet to see a red post box with the initials VR (Victoria Regina, representing Queen Victoria, who reigned from 20 June 1837 to 22 January 1901) ... but I'm assured some of those red pillar /post/mailboxes do STILL exist!

Just a little footnote ... a similar post about the old GR post box first appeared on my ClickASnap website, which I'm loving populating! Click here to check it out if you want to... or click on the link on this website.

Thanks! Enjoy!

Christmas Without Christ

Christmas!

 

It's a lovely time, isn't it? Some would say the 'Most Wonderful Time of the Year'.

 

How much fun to be had, family to be surrounded by, presents to be unwrapped, food to be consumed, songs to be sung very loudly, alcohol to be consumed in vast quantities.

 

It's part of our culture, at least for many in the 'modern', 'western' and developed and entitled world where Christmas is often seen just as a time for partying, excess and overindulgence. Yes, a time for getting together with family, which is important, but also for giving in to the commercial pressures of ... oh ... so ... many needs and wants.

 

I'm not going to talk here about the over commercialisation of the season ... numerous people cleverer than I have spent many words doing that before me.

 

But I am going to address the 'elephant in the room' ... something which isn't new but which has become uppermost in my mind in the past weeks.

 

Let me explain.

 

A friend of mine who does PR and communications, especially on behalf of Christian organizations and charities, posted something in the run up to this festive season which really challenged me ….

 

He wrote …

 

‘Spoken to a journalist in the last hour: I asked who their main Christian guest was this year. The journalist said no-one - we are doing Christmas differently this year!

I'm sure Christmas starts with Christ...’

 

“We are doing Christmas differently this year’!!

 

Ah ….. No ….!

 

As my friend points out … it’s in the name!

 

‘Christ mas’ …

 

Of course, it saddens me that there are journalists out there who, when thinking of their Christmas coverage, decide to ignore the reason we celebrate in the first place! It's not surprising, I guess, given the culture we live in ... but it shows just how far removed that culture has become from the 'real' Christmas. And how much the commercialisation and myths of the 'happy Christmas time' have increasingly shaped our perception of this mid winter festival.

 

This also reminds me that, without being too heavy handed, us Christian folk … the people who follow and believe in the Christ whose birth we celebrate at Christmastime … need to gently remind people that it’s more than drinking, eating, tinsel and pressies, or even all the wonderful charitable kindnesses that happen especially at this time!

 

All this put me in mind of a poem I wrote some years ago … it has featured in a couple of BBC local carol services when I needed a poem - if I can’t find the words I need, I’ll write them myself.

 

But here …as we move through this Christmas season  … I share it with you my friends… and pray that in all the partying and stuff we choose to surround ourselves, we may all take some time to remember the Reason for the Season!

 

Christmas Blessings on you all!

 

The Gift of Kindness - on World Kindness Day

Today is World Kindness Day, so it's an opportunity for me to share some extracts from the book I wrote, with my friend and sometimes writing buddy - Debbie Duncan - on the subject ... of Kindness!

We were writing 'The Gift of Kindness' in 2021,  when the world was still impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic but there were some hopes that soon we would be out of lockdowns and strict restrictions.

We looked back at what seemed to be an explosion of kindness during those pandemic days. The kind things that people were doing for neighbours under house detention, kindnesses even shown on social media.

Writing 'The Gift of Kindness' was an opportunity to tell some stories of kindnesses from the pandemic, and other times, as well as to unpack what kindness is - from many different angles including science, anthropology, literature, popular culture and faith, including the Christian faith which is the perspective from which this book was conceived.

Some of the sentiments expressed and stories of kindnesses extended were personal ... it was real joy to gather information from friends and further afield, and to bring it all together in a book which helps us all to really explore what kindness is, and our own attitudes and actions - kind or otherwise.

Debbie and I really wanted to challenge ourselves in the writing, and this we did. We also wanted people to think about what kindness might look like in our world and culture. Kindness in the workplace, commerce and industry, Kindness in education, Kindness in the health and care sectors, Kindness in politics, Kindness in the media. You get my drift, I'm sure. Kindness in EVERY aspect of life! 

Yes, you might think it's all a bit 'pie in the sky' ... but we can but dream, can't we?

And it's not just about the occasional Random Act of Kindness ... it's about being intentionally kind, as well as developing kindness in our lives to the extent that, eventually, we may not even have to plan being kind but it will come naturally. As naturally as breathing! If kindness was just embedded into every aspect of our being then it would, I believe, begin to manifest in all the things we do ... including all those sectors mentioned above.

A year and a bit on from publication by Authentic Media UK in August 2022, and it does feel that the world seems to have reverted to it's pre-pandemic nature ... and kindness seems to have taken a back seat. Again.

'The Gift of Kindness', we hope, is evidence that once the world managed to survive a global pandemic and kindness had a great deal to do with that.

I mentioned that today is World Kindness Day, and we explain in the book that this day was launched by the World Kindness Movement in 1998. On this day ...  13 November ... we are encouraged to make the world a better place through good deeds (although of course, being kind is for every day ... and not just for today or even for a pandemic). The World Kindness Movement is a coalition of nations’ kindness NGOs and was celebrated across the world, and it’s captured the imagination of people and governments. Many many countries now recognise World Kindness Day.

Maybe today, or tomorrow, you might like to consider what kindness means to you and whether you are a 'kind' person. The book isn't just narrative. At the end of every chapter there's a summary, and a prayer and some 'practical pointers' that you might like to give thought to as you look at kindness in your own relationships, interactions and life.

If you fancy exploring the subject, you might like to buy our book... it's on lots of sites online, including the publisher - Authentic Media (UK) and Amazon, of course. 

And just to whet your appetite... here's an extract from my part of the 'introduction' to the book ... just a little something to show how 'personal' kindness is to me.

The importance of kindness in the world

Throughout my life I’ve witnessed and experienced kindness on many occasions, and in many people. Living as a child of Christian leaders in The Salvation Army, who then moved to Africa when I was quite young, I was aware of the kindnesses of others. I learned the importance of kindness and the implications of my behaviour and actions.

Our family had little in the way of money and resources most of the time, but often we benefited from the generosity of others, and I also saw the way my parents shared what little they had with others. Before we left for Africa and my parents were church leaders, I remember going down to breakfast and finding a ‘gentleman of the road’ at our table, my dad having met him the previous evening and brought him in from the rain and cold, with an invitation to sleep on a mattress in the garage to prevent him freezing on the streets. In Africa, a Boxing Day picnic and barbecue was held on our remote farm where many local Salvation Army and other friends gathered with our family, everyone bringing something to the table to share.

If you’ve ever got involved with one of those ‘sharing’ lunches or suppers, you’ve seen kindness in action because there will always be those who are unable to bring food to the table, but are welcome to sit down to eat anyway.

Throughout my life I’ve witnessed people spending hours delivering food parcels and reaching out to others who they don’t even know. In fact, on the day my dad passed away, or as we say in The Salvation Army, was ‘promoted to glory’, he had spent the afternoon picking up food from the Marks & Spencer’s supermarket which was still in date but could not be sold in the store, so it could be packed up and delivered to those in need.

As a journalist and broadcaster, I’ve been privileged to witness so many kindnesses down the years and especially in my time as a ‘faith’ producer and presenter, working in programming which reflects faith and Christian communities, I have been humbled by what I have seen and reported on. The churches and individuals running foodbanks, looking after homeless people, caring for victims of trafficking and domestic violence, and families in crisis. Not to mention those just making themselves available to offer a listening ear or a shoulder to cry on.

Of course, we know that good deeds are not confined to people of faith, but as Christians these sorts of kind actions are what Christ calls us to do, and while some may see it as their ‘duty’ or even their job to do this work, I would say that when we have Jesus in our lives this is something that could begin to come naturally. It’s an example of that kindness imperative that Jesus empowers us to live out. When we ask ourselves ‘what would Jesus do?’ then the answer has to be – be kind, compassionate and loving, not to draw attention to ourselves but just because it’s what we are called to be and because it feels natural to do it, even if it means a sacrifice for ourselves.

And what we do doesn’t have to be ground-breaking. Acts of kindness and compassion come in all shapes and sizes.

Making a difference

During the coronavirus pandemic it was part of my job, then working for BBC Radio Jersey, the local BBC radio station in the Channel Islands, to help share ‘Make a Difference’ stories. This campaign was quite simple, really; it just gathered stories of people who were reaching out to others, mostly for little or no reward or recognition. We shared those stories on the radio to inspire others and, sometimes when appropriate, to gather support for those causes.

No sooner had the first lockdown begun in March 2020 than we saw the setting up of a special Facebook page – ‘Coronavirus Jersey – Acts of Kindness’ – a grassroots campaign to connect islanders and share resources and messages of support. It also helped people to share their needs without feeling ashamed, and this resulted in the most tremendous outpouring of kindness. All over our lovely little island of Jersey, rainbows appeared in windows, a sign of hope. Children painted little pebbles which you would come across in random spots around the island as a reminder of love and kindness and friendship. People stepped up to deliver goods to those shut in at home, to volunteer, to share what they had with those who had less.

At the invitation of the government of Jersey, The Salvation Army church and charity movement locally established and ran the island’s foodbank and what resulted was an outpouring of support and love – they were inundated with not just messages of support but donations of food and cash and manpower. The hairdresser who couldn’t open his shop instead spent his time working in the foodbank. There were many volunteers, most with no connection to the church, who stepped up to fill food bags and drive around delivering them safely to those who could not leave home. It was a real community effort!

One story from the pandemic that sticks in my mind is the ice-cream van man who, in May 2020, parked his vehicle in front of the hospital and gave free ice creams to all those health professionals and others working in that building to keep us healthy and safe. And he did this on his own birthday! What a joy-bringer! We will read more about this later in the book.

It is easy to be cynical about the world, to seek out the negative in people and situations. But we don’t have to look far to see the good that others do every day and, especially for those of us who aspire or claim to be Christians, if only a little of that inspires us to go do the same, then we will be truly living the Jesus way.