SAPHA Convention 2009

On Saturday 27th June this year we again met at Catford Citadel for another great day of fellowship. As in previous years, Major Mary Scott ensured that the hall was ready and the catering was first class. We are indebted to her and her husband George and we wish them well in their retirement.

Over twenty people enjoyed hearing four main speakers as well as seeing Colonel Joan Williams’ sales table. Joan is a stalwart supporter of the SAHPA and of our Conventions and we always enjoy seeing the many and varied items she has for sale.

After refreshments and introductions, we were treated to four main speakers. American born Dr Brad Hepburn’s talk was a retrospective look at his heritage and the journey of his Salvationist ancestors as they began crossing the Atlantic from Britain in 1891. He discussed six family lines and produced an excellent and informative display of family archives. Brad talked of his joys and frustrations in research ranging from family stories and finding hidden gems in family papers to the fact that before he could access them, family documents were sent to the Salvation Army archives in America from where he was granted virtually no access.

Brad told the Convention of how he brought the material together in book form and we all hope that this will one day be widely available. It is inspirational history at its very best. In his own words Brad ‘traces the history and evolution of young working-class men and women who were attracted to this new evangelical religious movement and portrays how its strong ethos of service impacted their lives and future generations. He also captures, through first hand accounts, inspiring examples of the original Christian mission undertaken by these Salvation Army pioneers’

Another author to speak was our great friend Ken Elliott (Coventry Citadel). Those long time members of the SAHPA and its predecessor (the CMHA) will know of Ken’s writings and his inspirational work on Eliza Shirley (also of course from Coventry). The Eliza Shirley story has featured in our earlier publications and we are glad that the book is selling well. Ken spoke of many aspects of Eliza’s eventful life – origins, early days in America, her persuasion of William Booth to support her Salvation Army work and how the Army was to use Eliza!

The other two talks are reproduced below. Major David Pickard, perhaps the foremost collector (and I hope he doesn’t mind me saying – expert) on Salvation Army postcards gave a very informative and well illustrated talk. I was also privileged to give a talk on Salvation Army medals and orders.