I get asked many times where and when I started to communicate with spirit, and my answer to those people can be a short conversation or a more detailed one like I am going to tell you now.
I have always been a sickly child, I suffered badly with acute asthma and still do, and because of that I have had some near death experiences. I can only remember from around the age of seven upwards, I remember that because spirit would be around me the most at this age.
I really didn’t understand what was really going on in my life then it all seemed so normal. Spirit would come into my bedroom which I shared with my brothers or they would visit me when I was in hospital which I lived in most of my childhood. But it wasn’t always as pleasant as it now.
Whenever I was really poorly I had people around me touching me, what’s strange talking to you about this now is I can, my mum was so anti ghost I knew it wasn’t a subject she took kindly too, even to this day. But there is one specific time that stands out from the rest, I was so poorly I was once again rushed into hospital and after all the normal medical care had been done, I was really struggling to get my breath my mum was at the side of me and I always used to panic well can you imagine not being able to breath.
Then something strange but normal to me my mum’s father appeared to me, he hadn’t been in spirit very long but there he was as plain as day, I told my mum about it but I didn’t get a response from her, I loved my granddad very much and trusted his words whenever we used to go and visit him on a Sunday. He told me to relax, breath deeply and once he told me these words I felt a huge sense of calmness come over me since that day he has never left my side.
My grandmother used to go to the spiritualist churches so she too has always been close to me. She was always in bad health when I seen her but now she is in perfect health and thankfully she comes around me often.
The communication with spirit got much stronger after a very serious asthma attack. I had the flu and as normal it went on my chest, I remember being on the settee watching TV, then my chest got a whole lot worse I had the urge to go to the front door for fresh air, I told mum it was time to call the doctor and as I got to the front door I heard mum on the phone to the emergency doctors, it was then I felt a jolt that’s the only way I can describe it, I was still stood up but I heard my mum shouting down the phone that we need an ambulance, the phone went down and mum was shouting one of my elder brothers, it was strange because I had no idea at this point why mum was in panic mode, until my brother came running down the pathway and it was then I looked around and seen myself on the floor. As you can imagine it was just so scary, it seemed like hours while I was watching my brother giving my mouth to mouth, it all felt so terrible then an ambulance crew came down the pathway and as you can imagine I was shouting at everyone telling them I am here.
The next time I felt aware was in the casualty dept all these people were running around and I was on the bed, I was looking right at the faces of the nurses and doctors I remember this as if it was yesterday. After a few weeks in Intensive care I was woken and a doctor came around while my mum was next to me. I right away recognized him from casualty and I told him about what I had seen he didn’t seem that interested but I didn’t care I knew what happened.
Ever since then spirit seemed to come to me more regular and I could see them as clear as I see you, I could also hear them better than I did, at the time it wasn’t a great thing. It was some years after that when I started using the gift of communication and talk about spirit calling. My wife had been going to a local spiritualist church on Chatham street in Edgeley Stockport but one day she decided not to go so I went instead, I sat at the back like all new people do when they go to a church for first time.
A medium was working on the rostrum all the way through the service I could see shadows and spirit talking to loved one’s it didn’t freak me out because this was very normal to me, this particular night it was an open circle evening, and a few people got up out of the congregation to give information I kind of liked this, then the chair person known to me now as Ron Christie shouted to me and said I know you have a message for someone in here would you like to give it I nearly died on the spot, however I got up reluctantly and gave a lady some information her father had told me to tell her. She took it all and thanked me for the information; it was this point that my professional career started in spiritualism.
Ron invited me into an advanced development class where I learned not only to turn the communication off but also how to understand the information better.
After a few months once again I was in the church and I was regular now giving messages to people on a weekly basis.
It was at this point I was introduced to Stephen my spirit guide, Stephen had been looking after me for some years, his name at the time was not important as really I had that many people talking to me anyway I was confused but it was always Stephen who would be the stronger spirit around me. Stephen was born in the 1920’s he passed with MS, this has been confirmed during teaching trance sessions and my body hurts after some of these sessions.
It was Stephen who told me to talk to a lady who was a few seats in front of me and it would change my life. This lady was Auntie B she was no relation but known with this name, I told her after the service what my guide told me to do, Auntie B run a more Physical Development class and she invited me into it.
This was also the start of my trance mediumship, Auntie B gave me one to one classes for over 3 years and she always told me when the time was right I would leave her class and work the spiritual circuit.
After that circle I went into many more and ended right back at the very class I started all those years ago back at Chatham Street Church.. It was here I met my very dear friend June Hutchinson after a very long chat and more time to get to know each other we started working the rostrum together.
June has been on her own journey and because of this we have stuck together like glue.