Ricky Martin and others from Ken’s tutor group at Alton Towers
Ricky Martin and Ken at Crofton School
“We Are Hard Pressed” featuring Helen Joy Rubio and Ross Gill
So fame and fortune would appear to be just around the corner thanks to “Don’t lose sight of my Shore” winning the Eurovision Song Contest. There seemed only two issues to resolve – first who was going to sing it? Bucks Fizz, Cliff, Katrina and the Waves or maybe even Engelburt . Second did I buy a Ferrari, a Porsche or both? Unfortunately someone in the Eurovision Song Contest hierarchy had not read the script and so for some reason, still not fully understood, the song was not chosen to be the UK representative- disaster! The record company did ask if they could adapt the song for the Country and Western market in America but I was never a fan of Tammy Wynette or stetson hats , chaps and spurs so I simply went back to worrying about how to win the next Basketball Cup for Crofton School.
Talking about fame – I think the Crofton student who achieved the most fame whilst I was Head of PE was Steve Richardson who represented Europe against USA in the Ryder Cup. Rich Martin (Ricky Martin) also became famous when he won The Apprentice in 2012. Rich, as I have said before, was in my tutor group- featured are two pics – one of him with me when he returned to Crofton after winning The Apprentice and one of him a tad earlier on a trip to Alton Towers. Rich is a great example of someone who wanted something and went out and worked really hard to get it. I still play golf with Steve Richardson and I am still in touch with Rich – fame thankfully never went to their heads- two really nice, humble guys.
I said that after the Eurovision Song Contest let down I went back to worrying about winning Basketball Cups – well that is not all I started worrying about- I also started worrying about dying!
I was not so much worried about how I died, although I did quite fancy being a hero and rescuing someone from drowning or from a blazing inferno (as long as it did not hurt too much) No I was worried about what happened after I died. Some friends asked why I worried as I would not know anything about it – it would be the same as it was before I had been born or it would be just like switching off a light bulb. However the thought of no existence- just switching off to nothing freaked me out. When I was about 15 years old I broke my leg playing football – it ached and ached for about two weeks afterwards and then someone visited me who had previously broken his leg but who told me it stopped hurting after a couple of days. So dear mum took me back to the hospital to have another x ray and the bone was found to be still apart – I think they forgot to set it. So I had to have a “Denham Compression Plate” fitted which was screwed into the whole length of my tibia. The operation took about six hours but after they put the needle in with the anaesthetic and I counted to ten I woke up straight away – of course I did not it just seemed that way- my brain had been shut down for six hours- I had no knowledge of existence and that is what I thought being dead might be like and that scared me to death (sorry)
That experience had such an effect on me that I have never had a general anaesthetic since- even opting for a local when I had a hernia op.
On the other hand there was of course the possibility that death is not the end, in which case what comes next? Reincarnation did not work for me so what about going to heaven or heaven forbid (sorry again) hell? I had studied RE for O Level and also for A Level (on the few occasions I attended 6th Form) I had also been a choir boy and had been confirmed into the Church of England so I knew the basics of the Christian faith although I could never work out how Christ being crucified could “save me from my sins” However I would always say that I believed in God but now I was beginning to realise that I had to decide whether I really did as He seemed to be the only one who could sort out this death issue for me.
My dear friend Bob Milliken (the legend that is Mr Mill) had, I later found out, been praying for me for eight years, not non -stop of course, but nevertheless showing real perseverance. He kept putting Christian literature in my pigeon hole at school -for example testimonies of famous sportspeople who were Christians. I never really read them, although because of my respect for Mr Mill I never threw them away.
One day at the end of term Bob invited me to go to his church in Paulsgrove. As it was a Christmas Service I thought I would go and sing a few Carols and that would appease him. So I went with my son Chris assuring him that we would only have to sing “Oh Little Town of Bethlehem” listen to a sermon on the Wise Men and then we could come home.
You can imagine my shock when the Pastor (it was a Baptist Church) started talking not about The Wise Men but about death- he got my undivided attention and it seemed like I was the only person in the church and so the only one the Pastor was talking to. At the end of the service Bob introduced me to the old gentleman who had been sitting to my left – his dad. Bob went off to talk to someone and I chatted to his dad, obviously also called Mr Milliken. Mr Milliken told me that he had been a Missionary in the Belgium Congo and that he and his wife had evangelised the natives by singing hymns to them around camp fires; his wife playing a squeeze box. I knew that his wife, Bob’s mum, had died about two years previously and I found myself asking “Oh is she in heaven now then – singing to the natives?” Mr Milliken replied, not with a “God willing” or “That’s a nice thought.” He simply replied with one word and it was the one word that began to change my life – “Yes”
Next blog I will tell you how I responded to Mr Milliken’s “Yes”
The song I have chosen for this week is “We are hard pressed” sung by Ross Gill and Helen Joy Rubio. We produced this for “Release International” a charity that supports the Persecuted Church. The song is on the Mustard Seed Songs CD “For Unsung Heroes” and is also available on the website www.releaseinternational.org