Page 19 - Edition Summer 22 News and Views revised 31.05.pub (Read-Only)

and became members in 2000. It was a time when I began to feel the warmth and spiritual
support in personal worship that had been sorely missing in my other church experiences.
Wisdom shared during Meetings opened new challenges and areas to explore. Of course, these
Meetings were always followed by often noisy discussions, as well as laughter over a welcome
coffee.

In 2003, we felt that another significant change in our lives was needed. We had often talked
about moving to Spain, which was already a favourite holiday destination. I continued to be
concerned about David’s health, and continued medication. As for me, I was becoming
increasingly disenchanted with the OFSTED school inspection process, which had moved from
one of supportive discussion with school staff about the best way to move a school forward, to an
adversarial system that seemed intent upon breaking down goodwill and making matters worse. I
decided to quit my work as a school inspector, and in discussion with David planned our move to
Spain.

One of the reasons that David and I get on so well is that once we make up our minds, we simply
get on with it. Within a few weeks we had moved to our new home in the Costa Blanca. What a
breath of fresh air that was. Our next-door neighbours were a gay couple. We had a lesbian
couple living opposite, and a few doors down was a middle-aged couple, who had a gay son and
didn’t quite know how to cope with it. Indeed, our new home was in a street named San Gabriel,
which we were told is the patron saint of gay people, but that might be an exaggeration. Within a
couple of weeks, David was pain free and no longer needed any medication. Within a couple of
months, David had been interviewed and appointed as the manager of the office of an English-
speaking publication, intended for the British community. I resumed my working life delivering
newspapers, and later becoming a reporter and photographer for the same newspaper. The
paper was owned and managed by a gay man, and all the staff, apart from one confused
secretary, were all gay. A wonderful time of healing for us had begun and we no longer felt like
outsiders looking in.

A couple of years later, our boss declared that he wanted to expand the newspaper as it was
doing so well. I suggested the Canary Islands, and our boss asked us to prepare a business plan
for him to consider. Not one to waste time, three weeks later, David and I were on a ferry to the
Canary Islands accompanied by our two dogs, Barney and Bella, and a laptop computer. We
were to launch and manage a new English language newspaper in Gran Canaria, and with an
intention to launch across the seven islands. Amazingly, Gran Canaria was one place where we
had always wanted live, but thought impossible. There we were, with a full-time contract and
health insurance. We were indeed fortunate.

The ‘live and let live’ attitudes of people in this wonderful island has always been an inspiration to
us, and so much in contrast to the narrow, judgemental and often cruel experiences and attitudes
that we had experienced in the UK, some of which very sadly continue today. Our work editing
the newspaper was often challenging, but we were always refreshed and invigorated by
wonderful people from so many nationalities that we worked and enjoyed being with.

Our thoughts and prayers often returned to Bournemouth Meeting. We would usually sit together
with Barney and Bella and a lighted candle at 10.30 am on Sunday mornings, in an attempt to
link with Bournemouth Friends. One day we had a knock at the door. It was a Belgian couple,

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