Great hospitaly from Ron - aged 91

Jan and I had a great day yesterday representing the European Christian Mission at Hagley Free Church, near Kidderminster, pictured below.

Eighteen months ago I wrote to church treasurer Martin Heathcock introducing myself as the new Midlands volunteer for ECM.

He invited me to preach at both their morning and evening service for their World Mission Day.

There was a good congregation for the morning service where the children enjoyed taking part in learning about Albania and many of the adults returned in the evening to hear more about the Balkans country.

In between Jan and I were entertained by the amazing Rev Ron Tucker. He is living on his own and made us beef bourguignon for lunch and had baked a cake for tea – and he is 91 years old. I hope I can be as equally hospitable when I am that age.

He had worked as a missionary with his wife Betty for the Baptist Union in Assam, North East India, for many years before going to Botswana and finally Malawi.

To get to Assam Ron and his wife set off on a marathon passage to India straight after their marriage complete with possessions and wedding presents.

They caught the boat from Liverpool to Mumbai via the Suez Canal which took three weeks before travelling on three separate overnight trains across India and then two days in a canoe and finally four days walking before arriving at their destination.

He added that as the nearest shop was a week’s walk away they had to do a whole year’s shopping in one visit.

Ron said they had to work there for five years at a time before returning home for a year where there was a busy diary full of deputation work.

Getting home the first time was no easy matter as Ron and Betty and their four-week-old daughter had a precarious canoe trip crossing a river which had risen by 30ft in the floods.

Perhaps missionaries with their direct flights from London Heathrow have a slightly easier time today with their travel plans.

It was a very enjoyable and interesting day and also successful as I sold copies of both God’s Secret Listener, published by Lion, Hudson Monarch, and Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel.

Dickens celebrations - in Albania

It is staggering that celebrations to mark today’s 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens's birth have been going on all around the world – including Albania.

Less than 40 years ago any Albanian caught reading the English author would have been in serious trouble as the dictator Enver Hoxha had banned his people from reading any “Western propaganda”.

Now an Albanian girl was reading some of Martin Chuzzlewit as part of the international readathon which began in Australia with a reading of Dombey and Son before ending with an excerpt from The Mystery of Edwin Drood in the United Arab Emirates.

Susie Nicklin, director of literature at the British Council which organised the event, said: “We are responding to the huge global demand from audiences in 66 countries with whom Dickens, pictured below, has struck a chord as his themes and characters seem as fresh to them today as they did to British readers in the Victorian era.”

It was fascinating to hear the Albanian girl say how much she had enjoyed her grandmother regularly reading stories to her when she was a youngster, with her two favourites being Peter Pan and A Christmas Carol.

Since then she had read most of Dickens's works including Martin Chuzzlewit.

In London the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall led the celebrations with Prince Charles laying a wreath at the author’s grave in Poets’ Corner as part of a service at Westminster Abbey before the Royal couple went on to visit the Charles Dickens Museum in Doughty Street, where the author lived from 1837-39.

Dickens died on June 9, 1870, aged 58.

The Westminster Abbey service was attended by a large gathering of the author's descendants including great-great-grandson, Gerald Dickens, pictured below, who had been at The Lion Hotel, Shrewsbury, last weekend for a special festival to celebrate his great, great grandfather’s work.

Gerald, who wrote the foreword to my book, Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel, pictured below, where Charles had stayed on a number of occasions, gave special Dickens readings on the Friday and Saturday night to a packed house in the ballroom.

To find out more go to my blog tttp://thelionhotelbook.blogspot.com

At the Abbey service today the Dean of Westminster, the Very Reverend Dr John Hall, said: “Dickens’s humanity and compassion made an extraordinary impact on Victorian England through his writings, which remain immensely popular.

“This bicentenary should help renew our commitment to improving the lot of the disadvantaged of our own day.”

After the service Gerald was due to attend a bi-centenary dinner at London’s Mansion House on Tuesday night, where Sir Patrick Stewart was due to deliver a reading, as well as the launch of a Dickens newspaper and iPad app using his work as content.

Meanwhile, all members of the Cabinet were presented with copies of Dickens's works by Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt to mark the author's bicentennial - Prime Minister David Cameron was given Hard Times and Great Expectations.

Finally, the Royal Mail revealed today two new stamps featuring The Pickwick Papers, pictured below, and Nicholas Nickleby to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens which will go on sale from June 19.

If you would like to read more about Charles Dickens’s visits to Shrewsbury email John@jbutterworth.plus.com to buy a signed copy of Four Centuries at The Lion Hotel for the special price of £6 including postage anywhere within the UK or £7 including postage anywhere in the world.