7th October 1978  Wedding of Sue and Jim

 24th November1972 Birth of our fourth child, Amanda Jane Lancaster

Our family is now complete!

August 1970 We moved to 423 Springfield Road

1966 Formation of the Chelmsford and District Evangelical Fellowship (CADEF)

At this time there were two interdenominational groups in Chelmsford. The first was a lay group, the Chelmsford Evangelical Fellowship for Witness (CEFW), which had been responsible for an evangelistic tent mission led by Major Batt after the Second World War.  Members of the CEFW executive committee I recall were Jim Stunt (a local solicitor), Reg Richardson (a local headmaster) and Eric Gahagan. The second was a group of ministers who had co-ordinated the local churches support for the Billy Graham Crusade.  This included Rev Graham Caink, Methodist Minister at Witham, who I knew from the Methodist Revival Fellowship.  It was felt that the time was right for a united Evangelical Fellowship to be formed, to stand for a Biblical Gospel at a time when there were modernist versions current, and to co-ordinate united Bible teaching, evangelism and prayer for Revival, including outreach to local schools.  A meeting was called at Jim Stunt's offices, and it was agreed to form CADEF.  I was appointed Secretary, at the proposal of Graham Caink, and I tackled this project with typical enthusiasm and energy!  So much so, that the saying 'plan ahead, CADEF' was frequently part of our family conversation!  CADEF became a charitable trust in March 1992, and I am still a Trustee!  Over the years, CADEF has functioned solely in ministry to local senior schools, through the Schools and Youth Ministry (SYM) and now Made for More.  Steps are in hand for the CADEF Trust to be handed over to Made for More.  This process is not yet complete, but when it is, CADEF will cease to exist, having fulfilled its original aims with God's help.

Looking back over this period of my life, when I was fully committed to my Marconi career, and involvement in my church and CADEF, I am so thankful for the support of Joyce, my faithful wife, who brought up our family of four children and supported me in everything.

 

 ESSEX SHOW GOOD NEWS STAND CONTINUED

As I said, the Good News Stand continued until 1987, with various themes, illustrating the message of the Gospel. 

CHOOSE FREEDOM IN JESUS CHRIST

SECURITY

                                           GOOD NEWS  INSIDE                                 

USUALLY THE WEATHER WAS KIND TO US, BUT ON ONE NOTABLE OCCASION THE RAINS CAME DOWN, AND WE WERE KNEE-DEEP IN MUD!

IT WAS A TEAM EFFORT, INCLUDING MEMBERS OF MY FAMILY, ABLY LED BY JOYCE!

 

ONE YEAR WE CHOSE THE THEME OF THE PRODIGAL SON, WITH TEAM MEMBERS TAKING PART

IN 1978 THE QUEEN VISITED THE SHOW.  SHE WASN'T ABLE TO VISIT OUR STAND, BUT OUR SHARP-EYED PHOTOGRAPHER DIDN'T MISS A PHOTO OPPORTUNITY!  

ONE YEAR WE HELD A CHILDREN'S PAINTING COMPETITION.  THE ENTRIES WERE JUDGED PROFESSIONALLY, AND THE PRIZES WERE PRESENTED BY ONE OF THE SHOW DIRECTORS

The Essex Showground has now become a racecourse, but looking back I am so thankful to have been part of this Christian outreach.  It was a great opportunity to sow the seed of the Gospel, and one day we shall see the fruit, when Jesus comes to set up his kingdom. 

 JUNE 1969  CHRISTIAN WITNESS STAND AT ESSEX AGRICULTURAL SHOW, GREAT LEIGHS

 There was already a Church Stand at the Showground, but a number of local ministers, notably Rev Peter James, Vicar of Great Leighs, thought there ought to be a more specifically evangelical witness at the Show, to make known the Gospel to the hundreds of visitors attending.  Harold Freeman and I took up the challenge.  Harold had been General Secretary of the Methodist Revival Fellowship, and I was Secretary of the Chelmsford and District Evangelical Fellowship (CADEF), so we had plenty of contacts in the local churches.  However, our personalities were not particularly compatible, but somehow with God's help we managed it!   We launched the Stand under the banner of Essex Evangelical Witness, and we had support from a number of evangelical churches in the Chelmsford and Braintree area.  Here are some pics of the first year

We chose as our theme the uncertainty of the times, and peoples' desire for answers.  ( Nothing has changed!)  We had an exhibition, and a leaflet which we distributed, with a return slip.  There was quite a lot of interest!  We hired a marquee locally, and the rent of the site was paid from donations received. The statement of account, prepared by our Treasurer Mike Barker, showed an income of £255 5s ( this was before decimalisation!) and an excess of income over expenses of £2 16s 9d,  So we were encouraged to think that God wanted the work to continue, and continue it did, until 1987!   We finished with a balance in hand of £855.19, which we distributed to local Christian work.  This illustrates the point, which was observed by Hudson Taylor, that God's work, done in God's way, never lacks God's provision!  My 'signing off' letter, in March1987, referred to my whole family being enriched by the experience.  

 1966 onwards EDDS and FPPS Projects for the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA)

I was now working for Ian Donaldson at Great Baddow, and he put me in charge of the two major data processing and display projects which Marconi had secured from the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). This was to install a new Flight Plan Processing System with Electronic Data Displays at West Drayton. This covered the airspace for the whole of the London TMA (Terminal Movements Area) for both civil and military flights.  This was a major project, which required a highly reliable system, with triplicated hardware and a huge amount of software.  At one time we had a team of over 100 programmers working on this.  It was a very complex system, and for various reasons fell behind the required timescale. I was involved in regular progress meetings, which required a lot of preparation, and at one time I was working at West Drayton during the installation and commissioning phase. Although it was a highly stressful time, it was extremely good project management experience at this stage in my career.  We had three growing children, and Joyce took most of the responsibility for their upbringing, as I had to work long hours. But we always made sure we had good summer holidays, including the beginning of a long love affair with Cornwall!

Coming back to the projects, we soon found it was very difficult to squeeze all the programmes needed in the Myriad computers.  Without getting too technical, the computers only had 32,000 words of storage, so needed a backup disk drive, which transferred chunks of programme into a reserved area.  Today's mobile phones have far more capacity!  Eventually we had to separate the civil and military parts of the system, and the civil part was taken over by a new more powerful system supplied by IBM, while we were left with the military system.  This was a big blow to our Company pride, but the reduced system gave excellent service through to the 1980s.  

 24th January 1965 birth of our third child  Sandra Anne Lancaster.

Sandra, soon to be known as Sandy, was born at home, 55 Lady Lane.  Dr. Hedley Missen attended the birth, and I remember it wasn't entirely straightforward!  There was talk of calling for backup help. but eventually all was well.  In those days the Salvation Army band came round the area playing hymns on Sunday  mornings, and I remember  Robin Catlin, our senior doctor, asking them to move on, as Joyce needed peace and quiet to recover from the birth.