A History of Stourbridge National Spiritualist Church

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Being just five miles off the mainland, the Isle of Wight was heavily targeted by the Luftwaffe during World War Two, because early warning radar equipment was located there, and so, for their daughter’s safety, the Jermys decided to send her to Stourbridge, to be close to her sister-in-law. Heather often used her psychic gifts to help others and Eric said that he never recalled her taking money for those sittings. As a hub for Modern Spiritualism in all of its many facets and forms, we welcome anyone and everyone to come along to one of our Demonstrations, Services, Workshops, Healing sessions and all other manner of activity and events, to share in the love and light of our affirming, inclusive religion.

Stourbridge Spiritualist Church members commended for long Stourbridge Spiritualist Church members commended for long

We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused. One can only imagine the greeting he would have received in the spirit world from those he worked with for decades in promoting the truths of Spiritualism: mediums, healers, speakers and, above all, his wife Heather (pictured with him, right), who had made the same journey eight years earlier, following her death in June 2007. On August 9, 2009 Eric was presented with a “Lifetime Achievement Award for Services to Spiritualism” in a service at Stourbridge attended by 200 well-wishers, including SNU leaders.Join us at Stourbridge for an evening's demonstration of mediumship with the superlative Chris Drew! As well as triggering Eric’s investigation of Spiritualism, brother Bert was to play an even bigger role in that quest. A year after he recounted seeing apparitions of dead airmen, Bert Hatton was the flight engineer on a Sunderland flying boat that took off at night from Singapore and crashed into the sea. Some of the crew survived but Bert was not one of them. The Hattons were devastated, of course. Eric and his fellow JV Trustees, Hugh and Margaret Davis, also rescued and helped relaunch Psychic News as a magazine, after its demise as a newspaper in 2010. In doing so, he was able to keep a promise he made to the publication’s founder, Maurice Barbanell, that he would do whatever he could to keep Psychic News in print if it ever encountered difficulties.

Stourbridge National Spiritualist Church - Cylex Stourbridge National Spiritualist Church - Cylex

Eric also became president of the Spiritualists’ National Union (SNU) when he took over from his friend of many years Gordon Higginson, on his sudden death in 1993 at the age of 73. Gordon had held that post for 22 years, and Eric had served him as vice-president since 1985, having already given more than 30 years of service to the Union in other capacities. And with that conviction came a determination to comfort whenever he could others who were grieving and to encourage them to explore the spiritual implications that came with that knowledge.Such was the strength and power of the bond of our intertwined lives that I felt deep within myself that she would do her utmost to take away my hurt and prove she was near,” Eric wrote in his autobiography, Taking Up The Challenge (2010), adding: Theirs was a remarkable, loving partnership that was never self-centred: service to others was paramount in their lives. As well as playing key roles in their local church at Stourbridge, West Midlands, and becoming trustees of Spiritualist charities, they also made time to assist individuals on a personal level. It took me over a year to persuade him of the importance of such a book, and in the autumn of 2009 we began work. Taking Up The Challenge was published in December 2010 and so popular did it become that Eric was still signing copies at what proved to be his final JV Trust week in September 2015. It was evidence of this calibre that first persuaded Eric, in the 1940s, that not only do we all survive death but communication between this world and the next is a reality.

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The church, which has been based its present location since 1926, is still going strong - despite the death last year of much-loved former minister and honourary president Eric Hatton, who was one of Spiritualism's best-known ambassadors. I’ve had only two what I call ‘lightbulb’ moments in my life – those extraordinary spine-tingling encounters where there is an instant recognition and ‘knowing’ of a person you’ve never physically met before,” Sue explains. The subject was first raised by his older brother, Bert, when home on leave from the Royal Air Force. He told Eric and their sister, Laura, that whilst working on Catalina and Sunderland flying boats he and other crew members had “seen” colleagues who had been killed in aircraft accidents. They even experienced these phantom airmen walking straight through them.In some sittings with these three, reference was made by Heather to incidents which I had long forgotten, and to verify them I had to make searching enquiries to confirm the accuracy of the details. Some were extremely personal, and though I would love to share their veracity here, I cannot, because in doing so I would be betraying a pact that Heather and I made.” At Stourbridge, we are proud to be a Spiritualist Church of truly international standing and recognition. Over the course of the past Century, we have been honoured to be the regular home of some of the most gifted and celebrated mediums, speakers, healers and teachers of our time. And that is how Eric and Heather came to meet – not in Stourbridge Spiritualist Church, as one might imagine, but at a rehearsal of the North Worcestershire Operatic Society. As those who knew Eric were well aware, music was as important in his life as Spiritualism and he often combined both with his memorable solo performances at Spiritualist meetings.