PASTOR DAVID OLDHAM, EVINGTON BAPTIST CHAPEL

Pastor Oldham retired from the pastorate of Evington Chapel at the end of 2009, having been pastor for 27 years. During that time he faithfully preached the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ and gave warm pastoral care to all who needed it. Everyone at the Chapel would agree that he is very ‘approachable'.

Among Pastor Oldham's many gifts is an ability to relate to children and young people. For 20 years from 1983 he played an invaluable part in ‘Bible Time', an after-school group for children, teaching the younger children and also leading Prize-Givings and Carol Services etc. During Sunday services he would give a brief talk ‘to the young in heart' before the main sermon. Of course the phrase included us all! His gift with children was put to good use in a monthly magazine, Cheering Words, which he edited for 49 years. He is also a Vice-President of the Trinitarian Bible Society which sends out translations of the Bible to all parts of the world.

David, as we all affectionately call him, was a pupil at the Wyggeston Boys' School in the 1940s. For many years he worked with the family printing firm O. and M. (Oldham and Manton) which still functions in Leicester.

On his ‘official' last Sunday the congregation presented Mr. Oldham with a framed picture of the Yorkshire Dales, where he and Mrs Oldham go for their holidays, and a sundial inscribed with the words, ‘My times are in Thy hand' (Psalm 31 verse 15).

We are all very pleased that Mr Oldham will continue to preach on several Sundays in 2010.

Margaret Siddans