hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Just thought of something. Did anyone go to the Brighton Dome for the district convention in the 80s? This wasn't the Brighton Center. I remember there being a bomb scare and we all had to get out as quick as possible.
Anyone went to the old Dorking Assembly Hall?
If you have the 2000 Yearbook, do you know anyone personally who is mentioned in the Britain report?
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Ignored One, I remember that somewhere in Sussex, I think Worthing or possibly Horsham where they played football, it all came to a stop because it was getting too competitive. I used to go every other week there. It was very cliquey.
I have a question for everyone, was your congregation strong regarding meeting attendance? Did some of the pioneers move to get into a more encouraging congregation. London seemed to be the place to go for anyone who wanted excitement and a more progressive ministry.
If you pioneered, how many hours did you end up working by yourself because you couldn't get any partners to work with you?
I aux once, half that time was spent on my own doing street witnessing.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Anglise - I remember Bro Carter, I thought he was a great speaker, one of the old school. So you went to Haysbridge too huh? I always liked to sit up top, so I could see everything going on.
I used to help out with maintenance once, gardening etc. The sisters would cook Shepherds Pie for lunch, my favourite.
I remember when we did maintenance there once, and there was no one with me. I visited behind the stage, went up the stairs (pass the red ropes that stopped you from entering), found all kinds of nooks and crannies.
I usually travelled by coach to Haysbridge, amazing the conversations you could hear from behind and in front of you.
At that time, we had to cough up 6 quid for the coach fare.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Ignored One, spot on. Colin Conradie, this was him. In the Sussex Circuit, been there about 2 years.
I remember, and I don't know if this happened to anyone else, the CO's gave a talk on the reason that the Society 'made the generation change' A lot of the brothers had been affected by this and had slowed down reasoning that there was more time till the big 'A' came.
Colin made a point of having the sound turned up full blast for this item. That was in 2001.
He seemed OK, I didn't care much for the other CO's, if you weren't a pioneer, ministerial servant or elder, they didn't bother with you. Our hall always had a problem putting up the CO and his wife, it was always the same people that had them, every year.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
just brainstorming, and remembered a name of a CO who loved those 'who were up in the truth'
Richard Cullen, served Sussex and I think Surrey circuits.
this is a great post, u know.
Also, anyone heard of an organized 'circuit football team'? You had to definetley be in the 'in crowd'. I heard this from a friend who had just got baptized after leaving the truth in his teens, he was an excellent football player and had been invitied to become part of the cicuit team.
Anyone know anyone from Worthing? I went to a few football matches there on Sat/Sun afternoons. I think they did line dancing as well.
I remember going to a tiny little hall in Portsmouth that served the Cosham and Fratton congregations. You would never have guessed it was a hall. The sound system sounded so 'tinny'.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Englishman, that Blown up Witness story is fascianting, I had to read it twice.
I used to know an old sister who knew many senior people in the org. Her parents were of the anointed, and she was baptized in the London Tabernacle.
Hillary-Step might know of this, this sister told me a story about an anointed brother who served at the London Bethel. He was known for a drink problem. One day it got so bad, they assigned him to do gardening duties in Bethel. The problem got more severe and they dismissed him. He ended up committing suicide. I'm not sure how long ago this would have been. I believed he jumped off Beachy Head.
Yes, there are some weird people in the org. I was told that Midhurst congregation is basically 'ruled' by two families.
Rustington congregation in West Sussex - anyone visited there? They had a brother play the piano for the Kingdom songs.
Ignored One - you mentioned a CO from South Africa. Was his last name Conradie? I think he is single, serves in the Sussex Circuit, can't remember which number though.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Hi Englishman, I don't know Philo, but know of a few people in Southampton. The Wards for example, they have family in Portsmouth I think.
I also heard that in Southampton, a lot of the residents had put up no soliciting signs to stop the Witnesses from calling on them.
There was always a lot of trouble in the congregations in that area.
One time, some of the friends went ice skating in Havant I think, and all kinds of things happened. Nine people got disfellowshipped I heard, and their names were read off one after another. Caused quite a stir. Hence the lack of ice skating.
I used to go to Haisbridge Assembly hall, remember the CO/DO speaking against those who frequent pubs and how 'Jehovahs people' should not be going to worldly places of entertainement. I distinctly remember him saying that 'if they don't want to know Jehovah then we don't want them brothers and sisters do we!' At that a thunderous applause was heard...
Speaking of Haisbridge (and I bet I got the spelling wrong here), we hardly ever got to sit out on the grass, even on nice days.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Ignored One, I know what you mean. A lot of the single mothers who came in he truth felt abandoned by the cong. I was raised in the truth but my face just didn't fit in the Kingdom Hall. I didn't have many friends.
Most of the friends in the hall went to other congregations for social gatherings.
A sad fact of my cong was that even when they did do something as a congregation, the friends would just not mix. It was like oil and water. We used to play volleyball, rounders on bank holidays. There were a lot of young people then. Half of them didn't want to join in, the other half did but wouldn't speak to anyone who wasn't in the 'in' crowd.
Our cong never made the time to really get to know each other. A lot of the friends moved to other halls as they couldn't take it any longer.
A really long time ago, when we were all kids, we used to have childrens parties. the older ones would rent out a village hall and we would have long tables covered with food, we would play games and dance. When we all got in our teens that all ended, naturally, but then there was nothing to replace it.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Interesting post Ignored One. We had a popular elder visit our hall a few years ago, was the PO of one of the Worthing congregations; always gave good talks, specially about the family etc.
He rang off with another sister who was younger than he was and got disfellowshipped. Whole family was in turmoil. He has since married her and moved near Pulborough where he got reinstated.
Never again do I look up at these men and think they're so spiritual. Anyone can fall, and there are wolves in sheeps clothing.
In fact, I found some of the best reasons for stayin at the bottom were simply from looking at the men at the top.
hi everyone, in the congregation i grew up in, it was very cold and unloving.
circuit overseers would come and go, they would give counsel and nothing changed.
at one time even the do came at the same time as the co and gave counsel to 'widen out'.
Uhmm, what's with Canterbury? Doesn't sound like it has a good reputation
