I worked as a voluntary evangelist with London City Mission from September 1982 to September 1983. We were reminded from the outset that we were there to work. It wasn’t a London holiday. And we did work, but it also felt like a holiday. I’d often travel to museums and tourist spots on my day off. And I took the opportunity to visit different parts of England. My fondest memory are all my friends. I often think that I didn’t appreciate them at the time as much as I should have done.
There was the option to stay on, and there was the possibility of working as a full time missionary in London. I did think and pray about it. In the end, I thought it best to come home to Ireland and train to be a teacher. I did end up in full-time Christian work in Ireland in the 1990s. But then I went back into secular work, although I did continue to use my skills in church life.
One memory that sticks out was October 1983. I was in Thomond College of Education, Limerick, training to be a teach of metal engineering and technology. I had encountered a taste of third-level education before, but life seemed very dull compared to London. And I felt a little overwhelmed. On October 30th, I was thinking of what I was doing this time last year. I had spent the day in Guildford. I visited Guildford Baptist Church (Milmead Centre) on several occasions during my stay in London. I remember walking around the town in the dark, killing time before the evening service at the church. And I could hear bell ringing from a local Anglican church. For what ever reason, it felt one of the happiest moments that I ever encountered. And now it was 1983, and I was back in Ireland. Nowadays, I fondly remember my whole life. I’m even nostalgic about the winter months of 1983 and my time in Thomond College of Education (Now University of Limerick). But it was difficult to say goodbye to all my English friends. I did see some of them in the couple of years that followed.
I remember visiting my old hostel in 1996. All my friends were long gone. The new folk did invite me in for a chat. What shook me is that they knew no-one that I knew. And they knocked down the hostel some years later.
The funny thing is, in later years I worked as a Teaching Assistant in the University of Limerick. I loved the job. On Sunday nights, I’d look forward to Monday morning instead of dreading it. But, like the Voluntary Evangelist scheme, it was temporary. Thankfully, I did find other work when my term ended. But I do remember being down in the dumps for a few weeks when my contract finished. So that was another phase that I found difficult to say goodbye to.
As I said, nowadays, I fondly remember my whole life. If someone asked me if I want to relive my life, I don’t think that I’d like to go through it all again sequentially. What I would love is if you could wake in the morning and choose any day of your life to relive. I might avoid the really traumatic days. But I think that I’d enjoy going back to mundane days. And I’d certainly spend many days back in 82-83. In fact, I do that all the time in my memory. Long term memory is a wonderful gift. And music, both secular and Christian, can take me to any stage of my life.
So, as always, let me close with a few songs. I remember Pass the Dutchie being on London news one night in September 1982. These kids were amazing. David Bowie’s Let’s Dance was playing everywhere in the Spring of 1983. I remember watching Top of the Pops in late September back home, and Modern Love came on. I remember it playing in our coffee bar in Covent Garden in late August. I hadn’t realized at the time that it was David Bowie. I think that I missed London so much that I almost became obsessive about the songs of the period.
Here are secular songs from September 1982 and September 1983:
And here are a couple of favourite Christian songs that I associate with London at the time:
Hibernia Gospel 