24 September 2014 | Bracknell, United Kingdom [Judith Makaniankhondo, tedNEWS] Newbold’s 1980’s Reunion was such a success that it has left many alumni, staff and guests asking the question – which decade will Newbold welcome home in 2015?
On the afternoon of Friday, 15 August, the faces of the participants lit up as they walked through the doors of Salisbury Hall, and then later had supper together. The delight of being 
together was clearly evident as memories and reminiscences began to flow! Who did this and that, ‘do you remember when we had to apologise to the teacher?’ They also shared vespers led by former Newbold pastors, Garth Anthony and Doug Sinclair. The three-day event was a fantastic and memorable way to revisit, reunite, rekindle, reconnect, remember, rejoice and reminisce.
On Sabbath, the members and visitors at the Newbold churches felt blessed, and rejoiced with the 1980s nostalgia. Helen and Mike Pearson, who have both studied and worked at Newbold, led the Sabbath School classes. Pastor Claes Lundstrom, who met his wife Elbjorg at Newbold, preached in the Contemporary service. Pastor John Ferguson preached in the early Family Service, Pastors Lynn and Reidar Kvinge preached at the Family Service, with a sermon entitled, Returning Home. In the sermon, a tinge of the 1980s era was given when Reidar and Lynn shared a long string of 450 love letters to each other. This demonstrated how the pair communicated in the 80s in the absence of emails, Skype, SMS, or MMS. All they had was a pen and paper. Reidar beautifully paralleled this to how God has written to us the sixty-six books of the Bible, longing to get our attention so that we can return home.
The theme of returning home continued to surface throughout the Sabbath afternoon as alumni, staff, and their guests ate lunch together, shared a cream tea in the magnificent Sylvia’s Garden, and then attended the evening Banquet. Many memories were shared with the evening climaxing in some line dancing routines – stunning!
Just when you thought it was all over, oh no! It wasn’t for the old friends. Another treat was in store: an excursion on Sunday afternoon to Chartwell House – Winston Churchill’s home – where on this historical note, the friends had to say, ‘fare thee well’! [tedNEWS]
tedNEWS Staff: Miroslav Pujic, director; Deana Stojkovic, editor
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