1. As you may know, the Jewish Passover meal has a special place and role for the
youngest child: he or she asks father or grandfather to tell them what the celebration
means. And that question unlocks the key to a story that goes back through generations
and millennia to a time when the Hebrews were slaves in Egypt, and to the very night
when the Lord led them to freedom.
The transmission of a story through generations is a key to the survival of any family,
society or social group, and it also plays a vital part in the well-being and identity of
children and young people, for, because the child is part of this group, such stories are
also the child’s story. Thus stories are possibly the most significant element in social
bonding, attachment and personal identity. With this in mind I would like to describe
three seasonal occasions which form a regular part of our communal life at Mill Grove.
Remembrance Sunday
The first is Remembrance Sunday. This year I had the privilege of preaching the
remembrance sermon at the village church at Lambourne End, Essex. It was the place
where as a child I regularly felt very sensitive to the muffled sounds, musty smells,
autumnal colours and primal emotions of this solemn day. I used to sit in the Hardy-
esque gallery of this church (with its remarkable Norman arch and ancient frescoes)
looking down on the predictable proceedings.
I would carefully consult my newly-acquired wrist-watch to see if the bugler from
Chigwell School managed to come in at exactly the right time (that is 11.00 a.m.). And I
would listen with rapt attention to see if he could play note perfectly the traditional
military fanfares that marked the beginning and end of the two minutes silence. For me
this place is where “history is now and England”, and this is where the “real”
remembrance service takes place each year. All other services including the national
Cenotaph ceremony in Whitehall are copies of this in my mind.
So it was a genuine honour to be asked to preach in this very special place. I made the
point of addressing the next generation and trying to distil what we as adults would like
them to know about the meaning of the service. After we had processed from the
church to place wreaths at the memorial outside the church I noticed two young boys
still holding wooden crosses embossed with poppies. When I asked them if they were
going to place their wreaths now, their mother explained that they had actually brought
them to place on their father’s grave. He had died earlier in the year, and she had
decided to combine a visit to his fresh grave with this service of communal solidarity.
Thus it was that I stood beside them as the sons placed their crosses and the mother
wiped tears from her eyes. And I guess that if you were to ask the boys a few decades
later what the remembrance ceremony means they will, like me, forever associate it
with this particular place. And their father’s death and the deaths of those who died in
two World Wars will be forever interwoven.
Founders’ Day
Just a few days later it was the 107th anniversary of the act of compassion that was at
the beginning of what we now know as Mill Grove. We call it “Founders’ Day”. We
gather for a meal, a harvest celebration, and then a simple ceremony when we recall

2. something of the story of this unusual family that comprises over 1,000 who lived at
Mill Grove as children, and enfolds their spouses, children and grandchildren around
the world. This year one of those who married into the family read a passage from the
Jewish Scriptures, and this was followed by a little girl asking, “What does this
celebration mean?” The reply was a very moving personal response describing the place
of Mill Grove in the life of one of the families present.
The room at that time was filled with seventy or eighty people of four generations, and
there were probably twenty children between six and fifteen. I was struck by the way
the young people entered into the whole occasion and listened to both question and
response. I was witnessing the story actually passing from generation to generation, and
this is part of the secret of the meaning and nature of Mill Grove. It is a place that has
been there for children since 1899, and it is still there as a living community alive and
alert to contemporary movements and trends as it holds fast to the vision of its Christian