As usual, the
Friends have had a wonderful three days holiday again this year, this time in Carlisle. Tullie House, Vindolanda and Carlisle Castle were the highlights, but I had another one.
On our tour of Carlisle on the Thursday evening we
passed the Methodist Central Hall and that rang a bell. This
church, I later found out, was built in Fisher
Street on the site of an older building,
which, according to a plaque on the wall had
been preached in by John Wesley in 1788 and 1790. This present Methodist Church had been
erected during the ministry of the Revd George
Bramwell Evens 1914-1926, and George Bramwell Evens was "Romany "of the BBC.
Romany
was the forerunner and inspiration of such people as David Bellamy and David Attenborough and he used to broadcast regularly on Children's Hour during the 1930s and 40s. His broadcasts about natural history and walks in the countryside were so realistic, that in your imagination you
were actually "Out with Romany"
I have
joined the Romany Society of which Terry Waite is the patron. In 2003 he
unveiled the plaque which is on the wall of the Methodist Church Hall. I thought that the building looked rather sad and neglected and when I enquired about it at the Visitor Centre they said it had been closed since
2005.
Joan
Musgrave did not go on the evening tour as she had been brought up in the area. When I told her about the Methodist Church I had an
interesting surprise. Joan had been taken to the Church as a baby, and
christened by Romany!
Since
returning from the Carlisle holiday, I have found out that Sarah Stevenson from Mellor, the
granddaughter of a friend of mine, works at Tullie House Museum. However, she
was not there on the days we visited because she had a special job to do.
