Background Geoff wrote for this website. It isn’t in the book: Building the Iron picks up the story.
Who was ‘Will’? Was he being held captive somewhere nearby?
We’d barely landed in Brynmill before another call on my valuable time arrived. There were whispers of a strange religious sect that wanted to take us into their care. What was a ‘sect’? It sounded sinister. Much to my dismay, it was mum and dad who’d arranged the whole thing with the chapel, a few minutes from the house. Far too close.
Within a fortnight they came for us. THE BAPTISTS. There were two of them, a man and a woman. We didn’t stand a chance. My father wanted peace on a Sunday, so his word ruled. In truth Mr and Mrs Rainbow, who ran the Sunday school, were very nice people.
The grown-ups in the pews were more frightening, and they kept looking my way. In time I started watching the chapel secretary instead: an old gentleman with a pronounced limp who made his way up the aisle each week, shuffling his important papers, to announce what was coming up.
He always finished with a flourish: “free will offerings will now be taken.” It took me ages to work out. Who was Will? Had he been kidnapped? Were they collecting for the ransom, or looking for volunteers to set him free?
