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The magazine for the NCIs’ pensioners • issue no 71 • apr 2018

Editorial Ed Peacock

It’s a long time since the lastContact, for which many editorial

apologies. One consequence isthat this issue comes to you literally

in pieces, with the obituaries offormer colleagues forming a

special supplement. The main section includesvery different but all entertaining memories ofthree of our number, Sir William Fittall, RichardNabarro and Tim Robinson; special thanks tothem. Thanks too to all the other contributors,who have made this a bumper bundle indeed. Ihope you find their work as interesting to read asit has been to receive.

Reunion 2018This year’s reunion is on Friday 18 May. Detailsare in the papers being sent out with this issue ofContact.

The NCI staff pensioners committee, snapped inhappy mood after their December meeting.

From left: Ed Peacock, Bob Hodges, RobinStevens, Margaret Birch, Linda Kendrick,Maureen Webb, Colin Bullen, Jamie Milford.

Your Committee

Reunion inMay 2017Colin Bullen writes:

As usual it waspleasant to meet oldfriends and chatabout old times. Thearrangements madeby Matt wereexcellent, the foodbeing very good, witha wider choice ofvegetarian optionsthan hitherto. Thespeech by Sir Williamwas amusing andinformative, and itwas nice to hear from

the new Secretary General that the NCIs still valuethe event and are glad to see old colleaguescongregate in Church House once more.

The fact that the timing was a week later than usualmay have reduced the numbers attending, as Isuspect quite a few were on holiday, while thegeneral election campaign did prevent some othersfrom making it. Nevertheless it was a good turnout.

All in all a good day.

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HonoursCongratulations to Janet Gough, former director ofthe Archbishops’ Council’s Cathedrals and ChurchBuildings Division. She was made an OBE in the2017 New Year Honours List, for services toheritage. The Church Times reports her saying, “Thisis as much recognition for my colleagues at ChurchHouse, on the Cathedrals Fabric Commission forEngland, the Church Buildings Council, and thedioceses.”

Crispin Truman, Chief Executive of the ChurchesConservation Trust, was also appointed an OBE, forservices to heritage and charitable foundations. Heis a founding member of the European networkFuture Religious Heritage and a member of theInternational Advisory Panel of the Foundation forJewish Heritage.

On 9 June at Lambeth Palace long-serving memberof the General Synod and supporter of the ChurchFrank Field MP was presented with the LangtonAward for Community Service by the Archbishop ofCanterbury.

On the same occasion the Archbishop presentedthe Canterbury Cross for Services to the Church ofEngland to Peter Bruinvels, another veteran ofChurch House and Millbank; to Sir William Fittall,former Secretary-General at Church House; and SirAndreas Whittam Smith, former First ChurchEstates Commissioner.

Congratulations (if that is the right word) too toJudith Egar, formerly on the legal staff at theCommissioners and Church House, on herappointment as Rural Dean of Lewes and Seaford,in addition to her work as curate in the benefice ofSt Anne, St Michael, St Thomas at Cliffe with AllSaints, Lewes in the diocese of Chichester.

Colin Hopkins was made an MBE in the 2018 NewYear’s Honours – congratulations! Colin worked forthe Commissioners and the Archbishops’ Councilfrom 1988 until 2003. In 1999 he became Secretary

to the ChurchSchools ReviewGroup, chaired bythe late LordDearing, whichpublished theseminal report‘The Way Ahead:Church OfEngland Schoolsin the NewMillennium’ in2001. After holding a senior post in the SouthwarkDiocesan Board of Education, he moved to Lichfieldas Diocesan Director of Education in 2006. His MBEis awarded for services both as a school governorand in chairing the Trustees of the C of E CentralEducation Trust. More info can be found athttps://www.lichfield.anglican.org/news/2017/12/28/diocesan-director-education-gets-mbe/.

In the 2018 New Year’s Honours an OBE wasawarded to Timothy Tatton-Brown, for services toheritage. He is consultant archaeologist toLambeth Palace (and formerly consultantarchaeologist to the cathedrals at Canterbury,Rochester, Chichester and Salisbury, as well asWestminster Abbey and St George’s Chapel,Windsor). Another OBE went to Gavin Oldham, along-serving Church Commissioner and member ofthe General Synod, for services to children, in thelight of his work with the Share Foundation, whichoperates the Junior ISA scheme for children in care.

On 6 April 2018 the Archbishop of Canterburypresented the Cross of St Augustine to CanonJoanna Udal, formerly Secretary for AnglicanCommunion Affairs at Lambeth, “for herunparalleled service to the Anglican Communion”.He also presented the Canterbury Cross to AndrewNunn, “for outstanding and unstinting service tothe Church’s and the Archbishop’s administrationfor 37 years”. Andrew has served at Millbank,Church House and Lambeth.

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Tim Robinson, formerly of the Commissioners’ staffand subsequently Secretary to the Central Board ofFinance, has written a memoir called Much to Learn.Much of it concerns his early life – he writes mostreadably and entertainingly about school andNational Service – but the last chapters speak of hiswork at Millbank and Church House. Here arethree extracts.

Office procedures at Millbank in the 1950s:“After a day or two [since starting at theCommissioners’ office] I was given the task ofreplying to simple enquiries. This turned out to bequite a performance. I would draft a letter and putit in Eric’s [Eric Turner, Tim’s Higher ExecutiveOfficer boss’s] in-tray. After a while he would getround to it and make numerous amendments,always careful to keep ‘Dear Sir’ and ‘Yoursfaithfully’ and to preserve a few of the interveningwords (heavily qualified by phrases inserted withloops and arrows). I would then put it in the out-tray by the door for collection by one of themessengers who would get it going on its way tothe Typing Pool on the fourth floor. If it waswanted for sending out the next day it wasnecessary to mark it ‘XXX’ in red, but it was unwiseto do this with all one’s letters as Miss Lovell, theHead of the Typing Pool, might start to ignore one’scrosses altogether.

When it came back I would examine it for anytyping errors and then it would proceed up thechain of command for signature by the Principal or,if it was addressed to a Bishop, by one of theAssistant Secretaries. Obviously this all took timeand it did not take long to see that there were flawsin the system. One was that towards the end of theafternoon the Principals and Assistant Secretarieswould be flooded with letters for signature andhave to do so blind. Thus they had to rely on thetrustworthiness of the HEO or SEO who hadinitialled them and who could just as well havesigned the letters themselves.”

Millbank and Church House“At the age of 48 I was seconded to Church Houseto be Secretary of the Church of England CentralBoard of Finance and Financial Secretary to theGeneral Synod. Here I experienced an interestinglydifferent culture. The structure of theCommissioners (mirroring that of the Civil Service)was essentially hierarchical and the qualities whichthey particularly valued were accuracy, objectivityand the ability to get to the point of any question.Little or no account was taken of one’s personalopinions. In Church House the reverse was thecase. Here democracy prevailed; we were all onfirst-name terms and personal opinions countedfor a very great deal. The professional staffincluded quite a number of clergy on short-termcontracts who were new to office work and hopefulthat a spell in Church House would lead on tohigher things when they completed their tour ofduty. But decisions on policy lay much more in thehands of the Synod members that made up most ofthe committees and they expected their personalopinions to prevail. After all, it was their strongopinions that had got them elected to the Synod inthe first place and they could not let down thosewho had voted them in.

Thus, I moved from an atmosphere whereproblems were settled by reasoned arguments,based on unemotional discussion of the facts of thecase as they related to the Commissioners’ legalpowers and responsibilities, to one where eloquentspeakers with ambitious schemes would seek toget their way by seizing the moral high ground.

Work at the CBFDull? Repressive? On the contrary, the work wasfull of interest and contained many lessons on howto manage difficult situations (not to mentionpeople). My colleagues were cheerful and hard-working. This was particularly noticeable in theStatistics Department which seemed to be in aconstant state of hilarity notwithstanding itsgloomy figures revealing declining churchattendance.”

© Tim Robinson

Memories of Old Millbank and Church House

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These are some of the notes for Sir William’s talk last year.The full text is available from the editor on request.

� Thank you. I think that my predecessor, PhilipMawer, who left the Secretary General role in 2002,didn’t come and speak to you until a couple of yearsago, so I’m not sure whether it’s a vote of confidenceor a sign of addiction that you want another formerSecretary General quite so quickly. Had wonderedwhether to play for time. But concluded that, as withgoing to the dentist, the experience wouldn’t geteasier by putting it off for a year or two.

� As I said in my farewell speech to the Synod 18months ago - the last time I spoke in this building -we are quite a rare breed; the period of office of thelast 4 spanned 67 years. You have now exhaustedthe supply of retired Sec Gens. John Guillum Scott1948-72, Derek Pattinson 72-90 sadly no longer withus. Philip 90-02 and then me till November 15. Weall hope that William Nye, my successor has a longstay. So you’ll have to look elsewhere forentertainment over the next few years.

� One of the fun things about appearing in anhonours list is to see who else is there too. Iremember Philip making much of the fact that hisname appeared close to that of Mick Jagger. In mycase the names of the other knights were almost asobscure as mine though among the ranks of dameswas one Barbara Windsor.…

� I was born in Dover a town that still bore the scarsof bombing from the air and shells fired from Calais.Most of the children at my primary school were, likeme, from modest homes.

� I did my schooling in Dover at the local primary andboys grammar schools and in 1972 went off touniversity. My parents, like most of theircontemporaries, had left school at 14 with theexpectation that they would work, marry and stayliving in the same area all of their lives. Even when Istarted going to school in the late 50s fewer than 1in 20 children went on to higher education. By thetime I went in 1972 that had increased rapidly to 1 in7, still far short of today’s figure which is nearly ahalf-one in two.

� How then would I summarise the important thingsfrom that first phase of my life up to the age of 22?Much that has made me what I am - someone with aChristian faith, a love of music, an interest in historyand politics, a passion for getting things done, acommitment to fairness and opportunity - date from

that period and the support and affirmation I gotfrom my parents.

� And so in September 1975, after three years atuniversity, my Whitehall years began when Istarted work as a graduate trainee at the HomeOffice. My first four years in Whitehall weren’tparticularly fulfilling.

� This was partly because there wasn’t enough goodwork to go around given chronic overstaffing - aproblem that folk memory says the Commissionershad at the time too at Millbank. It was also becausewe had a weak minority government that couldn’tget much done. Contrary to the impression that YesMinister created in the 1980s, civil servants whowork closely with ministers usually much preferministers and governments who are decisive andhave the power to make a difference.

� But I stuck it out for the first four rather humdrumyears and then in 1979, just six weeks after theThatcher victory my fortune changed. I was given myfirst really interesting job as the Private Secretary forthe Minister responsible for immigration, racerelations and various other things.

� It turned out to be the first of three private secretaryjobs that I did, the second in the Home Secretary’sOffice with Leon Britton and Douglas Hurd in themid-80s and the last in the Northern IrelandSecretary’s Office in the early 1990s. For lovers ofYes Minister this final outing as a Private Secretarywas when I was in the classic Bernard role, withPeter Brooke and the late Patrick Mayhew doingmuch better than the hapless Jim Hacker, and theSir Humphrey role taken by the recently ratherfamous Sir John Chilcot.

� My Whitehall years started in the Harold Wilson eraand ran through to the highpoint of the Blairpremiership when the clouds of the Iraq War werebeginning to gather. Nine years of Labour rule intotal with 18 years of Conservative rule underThatcher and Major sandwiched in between.

� Not everything I did involved day to day workingwith Ministers. For more than three years I did a bigmanagement and resources job in the PrisonService headquarters at the time, after the miners’strike, when for a period the Prison Officers’Association was the most militant union remainingin the country.

� It was during that turbulent period that, through no

Sir William Fittall’s talk at the Reunion on 19 May 2017

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fault of the union, there was the major riot atStrangeways prison and many other dramas. Thelight-hearted moment I recall was when Ken Doddwas being tried for tax evasion. They were seriouscharges and a conviction looked bound to lead to aprison sentence. A senior colleague mused with mewhat would be the management implications for usof having such a celebrity on our hands. I suggestedthat we shouldn’t worry too much because theprospects of a Liverpool jury convicting Ken Doddwere pretty small. One of my better predictions. Andhe’s a knight of the realm now too!

� The other close brush with a megastar, this time inthe flesh was when the Voluntary and CommunityUnit which was part of my Directorate had arranged adinner at the Millennium Dome in 2000 to celebratethe contribution of the voluntary sector to society. Amember of the Royal Family and a few othercelebrities were invited but at the last minute one ofthe latter failed to show up at the top table so toavoid an awkwardness yours truly as the seniorofficial present had to occupy the vacant seat. To mysurprise I found myself sitting next to Cliff Richard,no less. The most surreal element of the evening wasthat between each of the courses a gaggle of womencame to queue up to beg for his autograph, in theprocess giving me a look like daggers drawn forsitting in the hottest seat of the evening.

� Most of my 27 years were spent in the Home Officebut I had a spell in the mid-90s in the intelligence partof the Cabinet Office. And I also had two spells inthe Northern Ireland Office initially when thebombs were still going off and then after the GoodFriday Agreement when Peter Mandelson and JohnReid were trying to stop everything unravelling again.

� Dealing with senior Sinn Fein figures who were alsolongstanding leaders in the IRA was an experienceunlike any other I had known before or since. Theethical dilemmas involved in trying to keep the IRA onceasefire and move them towards disarmament werevery difficult indeed. So was sitting across the tablefrom people whose occasional bursts of humourwere underlain by a strong streak of menace.

� Then on the Unionist side the most striking figurewas of course the good doctor who had been athorn in the side of the establishment ever since the1960s and when I left in 2002 was still trying to pullthings down. Ian Paisley’s eventual decision to do adeal and go into government with Sinn Fein and hisability to get along with Martin McGuiness was oneof the great political miracles of our era.

� So we come to my third and final part, whatturned out to be the 13 years that I spent here from

1 October 2002 as Secretary General.

� It was the only job I ever sought outside Whitehall. Ihad expected to stay there all my working life. Butthe prospect of coming to work for the Church ofEngland - an institution that I loved and had servedover many years in a voluntary capacity as a readerand organist - was irresistible. And despite all thefrustrations of working for such a complex and slow-moving institution, with very strong brakes and notmuch of an accelerator, I enjoyed my time hereenormously. The work was absorbing, the peoplefascinating, the challenges enormous.

� One of the biggest challenges was of course to stoppeople falling out with each other - a problem that Iwas familiar with from the Northern Ireland peaceprocess. It’s a bit strange that people committed tofollowing Jesus Christ should fall out with each otherquite so much but the church is a hospital forsinners as well as a school for saints and our Lordnever promised that we would be made perfect inthis life even if we are bishops.

� Well we eventually managed to reach anaccommodation on the introduction of womenbishops without the Church of England falling apart.We also, at a different level, made huge strides ingetting the various national bodies of the Church-the Commissioners, the PB, Lambeth, Bishopthorpethe AC to work together more seamlessly. I cannottell you the difference it has made to have the threemain NCIs all together in this building and for thechief officers to work together as a team.

� But sexuality continues to be a contentious issueand more fundamentally the Church of England, likeso many other churches, faces the massivechallenge of congregations that on average aregetting smaller and older, despite some gloriousexceptions, especially in many of our larger cities.My final year was hugely busy with the developmentof the renewal and reform programme that thearchbishops have been championing with the helpof John Spence and many others and it’s great to seethat the momentum of that has been continuingover the past 18 months.

� So there we are. A few reflections on life, work andfaith. Since I retired 18 months ago I’ve becomechair of the local charity in Folkestone that runs thechurches’ social action projects in the area, I’vehelped during an interregnum that’s now finished inour local church, I’ve enjoyed dividing my weekbetween Saltwood and Peckham and I’ve at last hadmore time for my wife, two cats and twogranddaughters. Life is good!

William Fittall

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Tour of Freemasons’ Hall,Covent Garden

A tour has been arranged ofFreemasons’ Hall in CoventGarden, at noon on Friday 15June.

Their website(http://freemasonry.london.museum/tours/) states“Freemasons’ Hall has been the centre of Englishfreemasonry for 230 years. It is the headquarters ofthe United Grand Lodge of England, the oldestGrand Lodge in the world, and also the meetingplace for over 1000 Masonic lodges. The building,which is listed Grade II*, was completed in 1933.The interior of the building is richly decorated.”

There is an extensive Library, and the Museum“contains an extensive collection of objects withMasonic decoration including pottery andporcelain, glassware, silver, furniture and clocks,jewels and regalia. Items belonging to famous andRoyal Freemasons including Winston Churchill andEdward VII are on display together with examplesfrom the Museum’s extensive collection of printsand engravings, photographs and ephemera.”

The tour lasts for 45/60 minutes, so is not long.  Butpeople can go back inside after lunch to browse inthe Museum at greater leisure if they wish. And wecan have the pleasure of each other's companyover lunch, to make the trip worthwhile - all ofCovent Garden will be our oyster.  The Hall’saddress is Freemasons' Hall, Great Queen Street,London, WC2B 5AZ. The tour is free (visitors maymake donations if they wish).

Please let Ed Peacock know by 31 May if you (plusany companions) will be coming (01892 543206,peacockedward@hotmail.com, or 24 Ferndale,Tunbridge Wells, TN2 3NS), as we need to knownumbers and (according to the website) to give theFreemasons our names in advance.Photographic ID may be necessary.

Planned visitsVisit to Kew Gardensand PalaceMaureen Webb writes:

FRIDAY, 13 JULYKew Gardens is abeautiful place to visit and there is plenty to fill yourday. The gardens open at 10 a.m. As this might betoo early for your travel arrangements, I suggest wemeet just inside Elizabeth Gate at 11 a.m., thisgives the early birds an hour to look around at theirleisure. Gardens close at 5.45 p.m.Travel is fairly easy –� By underground to Kew Gardens station (500m to

Victoria Gate)� By overground train to Kew Bridge station (800m to

Elizabeth Gate)� By bus no.65, which stops at Victoria and Lion Gate.� Free disabled parking with a blue badge at Kew car

park on Ferry Lane, TW9 3AF

There are five restaurants or cafes. The nearest toKew Palace is The Orangery restaurant. Picnics areallowed throughout the gardens, but not in theglasshouses or galleries.

Kew Palace is a historic royal palace within KewGardens. The building was started in 1631. Whatremains of the original building is called “the DutchHouse” which dates from 1728. It was a favouritecountry retreat of George II, his wife and children.Guides abound in the Palace, usually dressed inperiod costume and very well briefed in the periodthe Palace was in use. There is an interestingkitchen in the Palace and kitchen garden.Unless you are a “Friend of Kew”, the entry fees areas follows:

� Adults £16� Concessions £14

Both these are minus the voluntary donations theywill suggest. The price includes entry to Kew Palace.

If you will be joining us, please let me knowmaureenwebb39@gmail.com or 01372 463524(with an answer phone), in the event of last minuteproblems mobile 07939 288 404. If possible, let meknow about a week in advance if we shall have thepleasure of seeing you.

Visits are planned to Freemasons’ Hall in CoventGarden (15 June) and Kew Gardens and Palace (13 July)

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Maureen Webb organised a happy visit on 4 April toOsterley House, the National Trust house and parkreached on the Piccadilly Line on the way toHeathrow. Here are the NCI visitors.

Osterley

Maureen Webb writes:

On a brilliant sunny day at the end of May I arrivedabout ten minutes early to meet up with ourpensioners group of eleven persons eager toexplore this lovely church. The number of thisgroup was rather late to be confirmed, I had beenaway in Italy, replies had come in rather late and Iwas hoping the Cathedral could manage to join usup to one of their advertised Friday tours.

However, my delight turned to despair when Ilooked to my left and found 600 or more pupils ofSt Dunstan’s independent school arriving for theirannual service. No one from the visitor experienceteam had mentioned it and it appeared nowhereon their list of coming events. Because ofheightened security, the school had also requestedthat no members of the public be admitted to anypart of the Cathedral until 2 p.m. that day. Help!

The staff of the cathedral shop tried to soothe us,seeing us through to the refectory and promisingus all complimentary guides (usually £1 each). Alsothey suggested a visit to Guy’s Hospital Chapel, tinybut beautiful, and quite nearby. Some of ournumber voted to relax in the sun in the refectorycourtyard and we would join them in about anhour. There are some very famous peopleremembered in the Guy’s Chapel as well as doctorsand nurses who devoted their lives to improvinglives for many Victorians and Edwardians.

12.30 pm saw us back at the Cathedral, StDunstan’s pupils beginning to people the streetsaround London Bridge and hopes rising of bargingour way into the Cathedral somewhat earlier thanexpected. Worth waiting for! We mostly lost eachother spreading through this wonderful building – aplace of worship has stood on this ground since606. The oldest part of the building is the RetroChoir dating from the 13th century and there is amemorial to those victims killed in the sinking ofthe ‘Marchioness’ riverboat in the Thames in 1989.

Visit to Southwark CathedralAnd many fascinating other memorabilia are to befound from the entire history of this Londoncathedral. Do go and explore for yourselves – Iwould like to live next door to make many morevisits possible.We ended with lunch at the Cathedral’s Refectory.

So, apologies for the somewhat bumpy start whichspoilt the overall visit, but we triumphed in the end.

Southwark Cathedral – looking west and the HighAltar and Screen by Philip Quarry FRPS

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Richard Nabarro retired in 2017, after 38 years’service. These are some of his memories. A fullversion is available on request from the editor.

The Early Years: 1979-1984My early career began in P&G the forerunner oftoday’s Communications team, on the first floor of1 Millbank. The first day was a lonely one as mybosses Lou Henderson and Martin Elengorn werestill on holiday after Christmas!

My lasting memory was hearing the dull thud of thebomb that killed Airey Neave in March 1979. 38years later, on my 60th birthday 22 March 2017,another tragedy struck at Westminster bringingthings full circle.

I then moved to Bishoprics and helped look afterSee houses including Auckland Castle Durham andlater, Lambeth Palace. Tim Robinson, the Head ofDepartment when I arrived described the work as“housekeeping”. Having recently audited this areaon several occasions, I can safely say that little haschanged in almost 40 years: still a difficult area tomanage for personal, political and financial reasonsand the poisoned chalice for many a head ofdepartment……

I worked alongside two of the best managers I haveknown in my time: Jock Pennel as BishopricsSecretary, a down to earth diamond who listenedto staff and Tony Granville my immediate linemanager who brought a calm serenity. And it wasof course here that I met my first wife Hilaryalthough we only started “courting” after I had leftthe department!

Advancement: 1984-1993Promoted in 1984 to a post in RedundantChurches, I found this department to be bothfrustrating and enjoyable in equal measure.Frustrating because the process was, and still is,time consuming, but enjoyable because of apersonal interest in ecclesiastical architecture.

Moving on in 1987 just when getting the hang of it,meant next stop was Stipends and Allocations tobolster my career.

Two memories here: the evaluation and constantlychanging figures for the calculation of communitycharge (poll tax) as an allocation to dioceses (thegovernment offered £4m for state aid for churchesin use, but insisted that clergy and their spouseswould henceforth have to meet the cost directlythemselves, with the ending of zero rates onparsonages). Eventually this cost the ChurchCommissioners over £9m.

And second, I helped save the church £4m peryear!! HMRC decided to challenge the exemption ofnational insurance payments on the HeatingLighting and Cleaning element of clergy stipends.Although we could never find a letter from HMRCto say that this was something granted inperpetuity, we found enough circumstantialevidence amongst documented files going back tothe 1970s that convinced them that theCommissioners could retain this right on behalf ofthe clergy.

Plateau: 1993-1996After some abortive attempts to transfer me to theChurch House staff, I made my way to CommercialProperty in 1993 in the aftermath of the FinancialTimes “scandal” and the capital loss of £800m. It isfair to say that property doesn’t do it for me, buteventually it did for me a few years down theline……………

The Reinvention 1996-2017Considered a graveyard for many, I moved toInternal Audit in 1996 (Philip Mawer formerSecretary General described us as “the snoopers”)where the Head of Department Mary Ball told methat the last thing they needed was anotherproperty person (the department had developedout of Estates Projects).

I said goodbye to Millbank as in 1999, Internal Auditbecame a “common service” not only for theCommissioners, but also for the Pensions Boardand the emerging Archbishops’ Council. This meanttransferring to Church House. I have conductedaudits across all the main National ChurchInstitutions as well as Lambeth Palace. The role can

Richard Nabarro 1 January 1979 – 30 April 2017

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be extremely rewarding when recommendationsmade are turned into reality, but also frustratingtoo when you return to a department and discoverthat nothing has changed.

Shortly after my mother died in 2005, I took up anappointment working for seven south easterndioceses that lasted until 2009, immersing myself inthe role in part because of Mum’s parting. This was“pioneering” work that I hoped would blossomacross the country, but sadly, this came to an end.However, as I left the department earlier this year,there were signs that maybe this idea may beresurrected and I look forward to hearing aboutprogress over the next few years.

My time in the dioceses did not preclude me frommeeting Marita (a Pensions Board manager) whobecame my wife in 2010.

SocialThrough my career I have:-� Acted with the Deansbank Players appearing as

the Rev Toop in See How they Run amongstothers;

� Played badminton with Colin and BernadetteBullen;

� Played occasional football;� Joined in a number of quizzes of late and

represented the NCIs in the Civil ServiceBarbados Challenge in 2010 as part of a team ofexperts on pop music (yes we went toBarbados!);

� Attended every Christmas party bar two (onebecause I was really sick, and the other becauseI was in New Zealand).

------------------If I’m honest, I don’t think I achieved my fullpotential working for the NCIs for over 38 years,but then again it has kept me gainfully employed,largely out of mischief, and provided me with twowives (and a couple of girlfriends too along theway!)

Richard NabarroMay 2017

65 years as a ReaderThe Southwark Diocesan Newspaper The Bridgecarried the following item in November 2016(subject to a few subsequent minor amendments).

During a celebration of his 65 years as a Reader,held at St John’s, Selsdon, Ron Last looked back towhere it all began.

He said “I was first licensed in 1956 to two ruralparish churches in Suffolk. The main duties ofReaders at that time were to conduct Morning andEvening prayer; participation in services of HolyCommunion was very limited. Living in a ruralDiocese of many widely spread parishes, I oftentravelled many miles to conduct a service in anisolated parish where there was an interregnum orthe parish priest was on holiday. My mostrewarding ministry was to serve the elderlyresidents of the Seckford Hospital (Almhouses) inWoodbridge by conducting Evening Prayer in theirChapel. It remains so today.”

During the service Acting Warden of Readers,Nicole Burgum, presented Ron with a Certificate.She said: “Ron will be the first to admit that he is acountry boy at heart and greatly enjoyed hisministry in rural Suffolk. He came to SouthwarkDiocese in 1965 when he got married and settled inthis area. At a Diocesan Youth Council conferenceat Leiston Abbey he asked about work in churchadmin and it was suggested to him that he shouldcontact the Central Board of Finance.

This he did and he worked at the Board for 32years as Assistant Secretary, and thenAdministrative Secretary, until he retired.Throughout those years, Ron has been sustainedby his Christian faith.”

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This novel opens onterritory familiar to manyof us – a commuter train.It’s travelling to Wharton,a town in the South-Eastwhich may be not unlikeSevenoaks or TunbridgeWells or Tonbridge. Weread of threeneighbouring families, oftragic past histories, ofdramas and tensions ofthe present.

There are several glimpses of characters'personalities, as in these two quotations:

“But Jane indulged her whenever she could.Organising other people’s lives was thehappiness of Dorothy’s, and the death of Jane’sfather last year had left her short of material.”“Not that Howard would have agreed. He likedto do the driving himself so that when hearrived anywhere he was entitled to be tiredand allowed to be taciturn.”

We read the thoughts of all the main characters –their worries, their secrets, their hopes, their self-estimation. They include Philip, the reluctantcommuter; Angelo, the heartthrob Italian novelist;loyal, good Jane, getting over heartbreak;

overspending Kate, so pleased to have got her sonsinto Wharton’s prestigious public school; beautifulImogen, having to face the running down of hermarriage; classics teacher Austen. We also get toknow damaged boy Terzo; Teddy, confused andalarmed as he tries to work out who he is; and Ellen,plotting to prevent her father from finding new love.

You’ll recognise the title as coming from the hymn‘Come down O love divine’ –

“And so the yearning strong, with which the soul will long, shall far outpass the power of humantelling.”

We get insights into the life of the local church,which show the author’s familiarity with the C of E –though I can’t imagine that many vicars strikingquite such a wrong note as happens at a funeral inthe novel. Spoiler alert: there’s a great scene inWharton school chapel.

These neighbouring families have to deal with theirpasts in their different ways, at the same time ashaving to cope with a difficult present. Somesucceed. They are painted with a sympathetic hand.Of Human Telling is worth the read.

Published in 2017 by Matador; ISBN 978-1-78589-879-2; RRP £7-99; Kindle £3-99

Of Human Telling, by Tanya van Hasselt

The Editor of Contact has invited me to write about apractice I use called Centering Prayer (CP).

But first let me say (to the many pensioners who won’tknow me) that I worked in the Commissioners’ PrivateOffice alongside Ed Peacock in the 1970s for our bossthe Secretary, Sir Paul Osmond CB. I was his PersonalSecretary – ie, the one who did the shorthand andtyping! I enjoyed my 6 years with the Commissioners –the steadiest job I ever had – before spending 12 yearswith refugees in the Ockenden Venture. I am, of course,long retired and involved with various projects I love,one of them being Centering Prayer.

Based on Matthew 6:6 (“If you want to pray, enter yourroom, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is in

secret and your Father who sees in secret, will reward you”).What I love about this prayer is that it brings me into acloser and ever-growing relationship with God that isnew and fresh every day. I have been practising forabout 5 years and am now not sure what I would dowithout it! I have often pondered the first two mostimportant Commandments: (paraphrasing) Love Godwith your whole being, and Love others as yourself.What does it really mean to love God? There aredoubtless many answers to this, but in Centering Prayerloving God is listening, learning and giving consent:loving God, the Ultimate Mystery, is allowing God to loveus by just being open in silence to his presence andaction within each of us.

Founder, Fr Thomas Keating, based Centering Prayer on

Silence – another way of being with God by Denise Moll

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Dr Eve Poole’s appointment as Third Church EstatesCommissioner means that for the first time allthree Church Estates Commissioners will bewomen. Loretta Minghella OBE (Chief Executive ofChristian Aid from 2010 to 2017) is FirstCommissioner and Dame Caroline Spelman (MP forMeriden) is Second Commissioner.

Dr Poole started her duties in April 2018, insuccession to Andrew Mackie who has served asThird Commissioner since January 2013. Anacademic with 15 years’ experience teachingleadership at Ashridge Business School, Dr Poole isthe author of Leadersmithing, shortlisted for the2018 Business Book Awards.

Commenting on her appointment Dr Poole said: “Itis a great honour to be appointed Third EstatesCommissioner. My first job after university wasworking for the Church Commissioners in thePastoral and Redundant Churches Department andwhat I learned then set me in good stead for myresulting career, at both Deloitte and Ashridge.”She also ran the Scottish Redundant ChurchesTrust. Dr Poole holds a BA in Theology fromDurham University, an MBA from EdinburghUniversity, and a PhD from Cambridge University.

As Third Church Estates Commissioner, Dr Poolewill chair the Pastoral, Closed Churches, and

Bishoprics andCathedrals Committeesin addition tomembership of theBoard of Governors.She is Chairman ofGordonstoun School,and divides her timebetween Edinburgh andLondon. Eve and herhusband, Nathan, havefive-year old twin girls,and she worships at StPancras Church.

Loretta Minghella, the Chief Executive of ChristianAid, became First Church Estates Commissioner lastsummer, succeeding Sir Andreas Whittam Smith onhis retirement.

Welcoming her appointment, the Archbishop ofCanterbury, Justin Welby said: "Loretta Minghella isa hugely skilled and distinguished leader with anexceptional record of service. She has significantexperience in the financial markets, law and charitysector and has an outstanding track record inbusiness, investment and economic affairs. … I amdelighted that Loretta has chosen to use her greatskills and experience in serving the church andgreatly look forward to working with her."

All three Church Estates Commissioners are female

The Cloud of Unknowing, a classic written in the 14thC.He took much from that, and added a more modernapproach combining the psychology of understandinghumans with spirituality (or religion) – which I findpowerful.

The practice: a minimum of 20 minutes twice a day attimes of your own choosing (preferably first thing in themorning and before supper). Going into silence, we letgo of any thoughts that may arise – without judgement,just letting go again and again. It is simple but not easy!The practice is not about talking to God (which can bedone at other times). Our intention is to be open andreceptive to deep inner transformation ofconsciousness (a gift of the spirit) and the fruits arefound in daily living more than in the prayer time itself.

Practicals: The community or network supporting thispractice is Contemplative Outreach, based in the USA,with the UK branch in London. Weekly or fortnightlygroups can strengthen the practice, and short or longerRetreats are offered in beautiful centres. I have foundthese immensely valuable, and they have brought meinto contact and friendship with others committed to CPon a similar path.

For more information seewww.contemplativeoutreach.org.uke: info@contemplativeoutreach.org.uk orring Jill Benet: 0787 0631 986.Thomas Keating has written many books on CP, but thefirst and main book is Open Mind, Open Heart, which Iuse daily: ISBN 978-0-8264-1889-0.

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The magazine for the NCIs’ pensioners • issue no 71 • apr 2018Editor: Ed Peacock

Design: Robin StevensProduced by the Church House Print Room

Please send contributions/comments to Ed Peacock24 Ferndale, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN2 3NS

e-mail: peacockedward@hotmail.com

Remember our website!http://www.bullen.demon.co.uk/penindex.htmThanks to Colin Bullen for managing it.

Book CornerMatt Chamberlain, poetEd Peacock writes:

In the daytime Matt Chamberlainis the Commissioners’ SeniorAdministrative & GovernanceOfficer (and as such is the staffpensioners’ committee’s hard-working contact with ChurchHouse). When he’s not at Great Smith Street,however, he’s a published and performing poet.

A glance at his website(http://mattchamberlainpoe.wixsite.com/poetry)shows several of his collections. I have two.Lowering Awareness contains varied poems such as‘Stained Beauty’ (a troubling evocation ofSaddleworth Moor), ‘The Marshalsea’ (which Mattperformed at the Rochester Dickens Festival in2016), and the comic ‘Toblerone’.

The other, One Man’s Trash, is ingenious: MattChamberlain and his fellow-poet Spreken came upwith the idea of interpreting the other’s images.They each took photos of ordinary things, whichthe other then wrote about. The one stipulationwas that the resulting poem had to containsomething positive. A kitchen sink full of not-yet-done washing-up; a house sprayed with racistgraffiti; a sign in a car park telling you where to pay;a pair of muddy walking boots: these unpromisingpictures inspire some imaginative work.

Matt has a new volume out – Pin Me To The Goldfish.My order has gone in. His books can be boughtthrough bookshops, through Matt’s website, ordirect from Amazon.

The First Clapham Saints

The former Third Church Estates Commissioner,Timothy Walker, has published The First ClaphamSaints – A London Village 1600-1720. It costs £15 andcan be obtained from his websitewww.claphamhistorian.com. Mr Walker explainsthat it is a study of puritan and then nonconformistmerchants, the latter being surprisingly importantduring Cromwell’s time and after.

Thanks

The Committee’s thanks are due to MattChamberlain in the Commissioners’ office, who isour liaison at Church House. He circulates news(usually, alas, notices of deaths) to thosepensioners whose e-mail addresses are known,and he facilitates our committee meetings, thedespatch of Contact, and the annual reunion.Thanks, Matt. Mucho appreciado.

Our thanks go too to Robin Stevens, who putsContact together, to the Church House Print Roomfor producing it and to all those who help in itscirculation by stuffing envelopes etc; and to theCommissioners for enabling its production.

MitreThis mitre was for manyyears part of theweathervane over the GreatHall at Lambeth Palace. Itwas replaced in the recentrenovations.