WALDENSIAN CALENDARS 2019
Beautiful as ever, with
pictures of the Valleys and
Bible verses also in English.
Available from the begin-
ning of October. Please
order via the website or
send a cheque for £12.50
(payable to Waldensian
Church Mission) to:
Milvia Walker,
19 Forest Approach,
Woodford Green
ig 8 9 bw
Prescot and Peggy Stephens were my strongest supporters; they liked the fact
that I was born and brought up in the Waldensian Valleys, but my father was
from Riesi, in Sicily, and, a lay preacher himself, had various pastors among his
relatives. They thought that, as a journalist, I would be a good communicator,
and Prescot was fascinated by the fact that my parents were friends with Primo
Levi and that I had known the great Italian writer and Holocaust survivor for
most of my life. Obviously Prescot had read my articles in the weekly of the
Waldensian Church, which he regularly scrutinised.
A few years later I also started editing the Waldensian Review; so many
events with great speakers have been organised, I have met amazing peo-
ple, some have sadly passed away, but younger generations are coming up.
Awaydays, books, calendars, Waldensian ordinands spending their year
abroad in Cambridge, exchanges and friendship at various levels, all equally
valuable. Very few people have met me in the past 30 years without learn-
ing that a) I was Italian, not very difficult to spot but not automatic; and b)
that I am a Waldensian: what it is, what it means and so on and on and on.
This also works the other way round: in the Waldensian-Methodist Church,
if and when people need help or want to know something to do with this
country – especially Church-related, but not only – they first ask me. This is
what Prescot Stephens had hoped for, when he thought I would be a good
‘go-between’ between Churches, countries, people, cultures.
I find that all this binds perfectly with the story that I am going to tell
you about my family and how it fits, once again, with the big picture and at
this point I start wondering if it is all really ‘by chance’ …
Erica Scroppo Newbury, Editor
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