LECTURE - ANN MASON

Sunday 23 March 2025

Ann began by asking us to think about the number of people we have known in our lifetime. 

“Family, aunts, uncles, cousins; friends, work colleagues and acquaintances. We are going to look at your own perception of these people who have now passed to the spirit world.

Did you really know them?

Were there any family stories that have been handed down?”

She continued by reminiscing about her grandfathers.“Like many of you, I had two grandfathers and, from a child’s perspective, I had my favourite, that was Grandad Holmes. He was easy to talk to, always smiling and I felt very comfortable around him.

Now with Grandad Woodford, I was always nervous around him as he didn’t talk much and always seemed very quiet. I was aware that we shouldn’t bother him. 

How did I view them as a child? Well, I had no understanding about their lives. I did come to understand them later, especially Grandad Woodford. I came to see why he was as I remembered him when he asked me to type his story.

Grandad Woodford was born in 1898, and he recounted that he was 10 years old when he first saw an aeroplane. It was flown by a Colonel Coby in the U.K.

He told of how he served in both World Wars and how he was held as a prisoner of war in WWII for 5 years in Europe. He said that he owed his life to a young man who picked him up when he fell on what became known as  the “Death March.’

With the other prisoners, he started his journey on the 23^rd of February 1945 in East Poland and was finally freed by the British Forces on the 20^th of April 1945.  In those 88 days, they had marched all the way to East Germany. In typing Grandads story, I realised how lucky he was to survive after all that he had gone through.

My father told me stories about Grandad Holmes. He worked as a Gentleman’s manservant, very much as you see in the television programme, Downton Abbey. There was a photograph of him dressed in ‘tail’s and he looked very dashing. But after he left that employment, he had to get a job working on the roads and because he didn’t have ordinary working gear, he started that job wearing a suit!

Why am I relaying these story’s about my Grandads? It is so that we understand that all our loved ones, our friends, our work colleagues, they all have stories; personalities that show their strength of character.

So, do you know your family? Are there stories that need to be handed down to your children, to your grandchildren? And don’t forget your story. It is important that your story is told before you pass, and that the younger generation have an understanding as to what family life was like. 

Continuous Existence of the Human Soul.

Death is a word that many people are frightened to mention, however as we all know, there is NO "GET OUT OF DEATH" card.

As Spiritualists, we know that there is, “Continuous existence of the Human Soul” which is our Fourth Principle. What does that mean? 

A good analogy is that when we die, we have taken our physical overcoat off and continued to the Spirit World as if we just stepped into a new room. It doesn’t mean that we lose who we are, everything about us stays intact: our character, our personality, our stories. We are ready to start a new life.

On the other hand, you will be reuniting with your loved ones in the Spirit world, and they would have been following your story while you lived your earthly life.

So, I ask again, how do you want to be remembered? A quote attributed to Benjamin Franklin states, “Some people die at 25 but aren’t buried until they’re 75!” What he is saying is that some people don’t live their life to the fullest even though they are physically alive

 

As we know, we have free will so the choice is ours as to what we do with our lives while on Earth.

Spiritual Messages

As Spiritualists, we know that in a Church Service, messages are given by a Medium and these messages come from our loved ones, friends, or work colleagues, and they are all evidence of ‘proof of survival.’ Often, they want to tell their story or to bring memories and information through that is unique to them, so that the recipient truly knows who it is.

So, how do you want to be remembered?

If you had to sum up who you are and how you want to be remembered in one or two sentences, what would that be?

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LECTURE - The Power of Spirit

Presented by Adrian Noyse

Good afternoon, everybody. It is both a privilege and a pleasure to be able to say a few words to you this afternoon.

I want to talk about the Power of the Spirit.

We are often told that Spirit is ‘only a thought away.’ If so, how can we relate to it? Are we even aware of its power? And even if we are, how can we use it to our advantage? These can be difficult questions. Fortunately for us there are quite a few examples from the past, and indeed quite recently, of where Power of the Spirit has been evidenced and used.

Of course, we are very focused on the physical world; we’re having “an experience” in the flesh while we are here on Earth and that can take all our attention.

We do not lose our spiritual connections. Bear in mind too, that consciousness of the spirit world creates, not the other way around.

In the early days of modern Spiritualism, it was all about physical Mediumship – moving things around. Just think of the Fox Sisters in 1848 at Hydesville, New York State and their “rapping’s.” They could communicate with Spirit by asking questions and getting tapping noises back as the correct answer! This was proof of Spirit and people witnessed these phenomena and wrote about them. The sister’s fame spread as did the power of Spirit to produce physical effects that people could both see and hear.

Another Medium, Daniel Donald Home, could levitate that is, raise his body off the ground and move around at will without any visible means of support! He was observed doing this several times by a notable scientist, Sir William Crookes, who made a study of physical phenomenon at his laboratory.”

Adrian went on to cite other cases of physical phenomena including that produced by Kathleen Goliger who  1915  was investigated by Professor William Crawford and Sir William Barrett. She too could move objects around the room and cause tables to rise. 

“All this shows is that right at the beginning,

It was as though the Spirit world was saying to mankind, “Look what you can do when you set your mind to it and trust the power of Spirit to work with you.” This is so important!

This is all very well, but can this power work for us? Well, how about the phenomenon of Spiritual healing? Here the same principles apply but things are moved around in the physical body rather than around the living room.

 There have been and still are, some wonderful examples of this; Harry Edwards is perhaps the most famous exponent. He could heal hundreds of patients in a day at the Albert Hall in London in the 1950’s and 60’s.

The noted Healer, Isa Northage, used her psychic skills to heal hundreds over the years at her clinic in Nottinghamshire. Her Spirit guide, Dr Reynolds, was materialised there by her while in trance and performed operations on her patients. He would appear to put his hands into patients’ bodies and remove tumours, cancers and ulcers, etc. There are great Spiritual healers today; for example, Chris Ratter in the U.K. who runs a very successful healing clinic.

But what of the rest of us? What can we achieve? Do we need to have special powers?   Not according to Harry Edwards. He had this to say about Spiritual healing.

It is open to all who possess the qualities of love and compassion for the sick to become instruments for divine healing.”  

So, we can all work with Spirit. To do so we need to open our minds to Spirit and to have the intent as to how to use the power.

In this, our thoughts and imagination are so important. They are the manifestations of our own spirit within us. Whatever we do physically, we can think about and /or imagine first. That sets our intent. Our thoughts are electro-magnetic radiation that goes out into the universe, they are consciousness at work.

So, if you want to live a good and fulfilling life, you must let your imagination go and get on with what it comes up with.

Take positive, physical steps towards your goal. There is no truer statement than this, “Fortune favours the brave.”

In my own life, training in accountancy, I always wanted to run my own practice. I used to plan how many clients I might reasonably get, the costs of running an office, my living costs and so on.

I reckoned from my calculations that I could do it so, I set my mind and, after qualifying for my practice certificate, and another 6years of saving, I left my employment and made a go of it. I never, ever, ever thought it would fail! And it didn’t. 

Anybody can do it! You just have to have faith in yourself and in Spirit. They will always help you.”