Page 6 - The Portal magazine - March 2025
P. 6

THE P    RTAL                              March 2025                                      Page 6

        Iwan Williams




        Jackie Ottaway and Ronald Crane meet the man who works in
        the Sacristy at the Basilica and Shrine of Our Lady of Walsingham


          T WAS a cold winter’s day as we settled in the library at Elmham House in Walsingham. We were meeting
       IIwan Williams who works in the Chapel of the Reconciliation sacristy at the Basilica and Shrine of Our
        Lady of Walsingham.

         Iwan was born on May 12th                                                    I discovered it as a place
        1979 in the Pilgrim Hospital,                                                 of pilgrimage.” He was
        Boston,  Lincolnshire  to                                                     at  Gresham’s School, a
        a RAF Electrical Officer                                                      boarding  school  with a
        and  his  wife.  He  was                                                      Church of England chaplain.
        immediately        adopted                                                    At the prayer group they
        because   of   complicated                                                    would say Evensong or
        family circumstances. With                                                    Compline together. He was
        his grandparents living in                                                    confirmed into the Church
        the same property, it just                                                    of England and after leaving
        would not work financially.                                                   Gresham’s  began  what he
        He found all this out about                                                   calls his wayward years.
        twelve years ago. That was
        when he finally met his                                                         “I suppose I thought I was
        parents. This involved lots of                                                an atheist. But after many
        tears and lots of information.                                                years protesting that I was
        One can only imagine                                                          an atheist, somewhere there
        how cathartic, joyous, and                                                    was heartfelt prayer. All of
        wonderful this was.                                                           a sudden this possibility of
                                                                                      exiting a situation would
         His adoptive parents were                                                    appear to me. It happened
        a local professional and his                                                  numerous times. The first
        wife. She, a housewife, was                                                   time  it ever  happened
        Presbyterian. He was baptised in the local Presbyterian  was when I was seven years old, whilst at Lincoln
        Church in Lincoln. He attended Saint Mary’s school.  Cathedral School. I had forgotten to do my homework
        Then he moved to the Lincoln Cathedral School. This  for a particularly scary teacher.
        is the school attached to the cathedral of the Blessed
        Virgin  Mary.  For  a  short  time  he  was  in  the  choir   He was not very popular with the younger boys. I
        but then they started a school choir. Because he was  remember praying all the  way  through  the night.
        local, and maybe because his voice was not quite good  Whether  I  slept  I  don’t  know.  Possibly  a  bit,  but
        enough, and he ended up as a head chorister of the  I remember the dawn coming up. I remember
        school choir.                                         praying ‘Please don’t let him remember; please, don’t
                                                              remember.’ I went to school. I didn’t hand in my
         It was quite a good choir, and they went on to win  homework.  Nothing was ever said! He was one of
        prizes in various choral competitions. They travelled  the strictest teachers you could ever imagine. It was
        around singing at lots of competitions. He remembers  completely unlike him to miss a thing like that.”
        the various languages, Polish and Russian among them.
        He remembers Choral Evensong in the Cathedral: “St     In his early thirties, Iwan took some time out of work
        Hugh’s Choir in Lincoln Cathedral is gorgeous” he  in order to attend to a health issue. He was working as a
        comments, remembering sitting almost daily in the  head-hunter at a recruitment consultancy in London.
        late  12th  century  wooden  choir  stalls  that  still  exist  It was a dog eat dog, backstabbing environment in
        today.                                                which it felt as though they were making money for
                                                              the sake of making money. He knew there was no love
         He continues, “I would have been about thirteen or  in it whatsoever. Just get as many people through the
        fourteen when I came to Norfolk and to Walsingham.  process as possible.                               Ø
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