It has been the greatest privilege to have been part of the St. Christopher’s family for so many years.  Shortly after we arrived in Bahrain from Iran in 1979, I found a job with Arabian Exhibition Management and the then General Manager, Ian Grimshaw, suggested I might like to go to church. I’d been a pretty lax churchgoer during our time in Iran but went along and found there was something special about St. Christopher’s.  Michael Roemmele was the priest and, among many others, Hazel Pond and Paddy Richards provided a warm welcome to newcomers.  Michael left a year or so after we arrived and he was followed by the late John Parkinson and his wife Joan. They were wonderfully hospitable people.  John was quite a character, very accepting and unjudgmental of people, with a deep faith, and I am eternally grateful to God for John’s ministry.  During his tenure, Prince Charles and Princess Diana visited Bahrain and attended the church.

Derek and Val Taylor took over from the Parkinson’s shortly before the first Gulf War –and what a blessing they were, not only to St. Christopher’s, but to the wider community. They worked tirelessly for so many people.  They were such a support during the war - many British and other families left the island during this time as Saddam Hussain was expected to bombard us with chemical weapons. We’d have air raid warnings which weren’t always heard and Derek would telephone those on their own to let them know one had gone off.  During his time the church was refurbished and he was heavily involved in raising the very large sum of money needed.  He was also instrumental in bringing a group of Christians from the Episcopal Church in America, ‘Faith Alive’, to Bahrain to share their faith with us – we had small group meetings and bible studies and it was a time of sharing and great blessing for many in our congregation.

After the departure of the Taylors, Keith and Pat Johnson took up the reins and they were followed by our dear Alan and Pam. God has blessed us all immeasurably – He really is in this place! “I will praise the Lord all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live” Ps.46:2

Our travels began in June 1966 – Derrick was involved in the flight trials of the BELFAST transport aircraft which was being developed by Short Bros. & Harland.  He’d returned from the tropical trials in North Africa and Kenya and said ‘how would you like to go to Kenya’.  I said ‘yes please’ and so he took a job with East African Airways and there we were going down the ramp at Aldergrove airport with our three little boys of 2, 3 and 4-1/2 and our parents thinking they’d never see us again!  We travelled from Heathrow on a Comet – which seems very small compared to our present day aircraft. I can remember being more than a little nervous as I’d never flown before and every time we hit an air pocket I thought this was our last day on earth!  So began one of the loveliest periods in our lives.  We love Kenya – the beauty of its landscape, the jacarandas, flame trees, getting caught in torrential tropical rainstorms, the wide open spaces, the awesome sunrises and sunsets, but most of all the people (in those days one didn’t see too many people of a different colour in Ireland).  Kenya was a great place in which to raise children – they had such freedom and spent every waking hour outside.  It was brilliant.  We thought little of driving long distances to parties, getting stuck in the mud during the rains and having to dig ourselves out! 

In 1971/2 there were quite a number of nasty incidents in the country and things had begun to unwind a bit with the company so we decided that it was time to go and returned briefly to Belfast where Derrick was offered a job with MEA and Iran Air.  He opted for Iran Air, so off we set again for what was to be another six years.  Tehran was very different to Nairobi, but we’re pretty good at adjusting to places and most weekends I’d become a ski-widow and they’d go off to the slopes for some recreation!  As many people will know, driving in Iran is very interesting… and I spent many uneasy hours until they were safely home.

In August/September 1978 we were in Toulouse when the unrest, which had been building up for some time, became violent with a terrible massacre at Jaleh Square in downtown Tehran.  We came back to demonstrations and curfews.  Our sons came out from school for Christmas but by then it was evident that things were not going to improve - though we did have a lovely Christmas with 13 of us sitting down to dinner!  Evacuations of people had begun and Derrick sent his CV with one of our friends who was leaving, to give to someone in Gulf Air.  It was a little hard to believe what was happening (except when bullets were being fired down the street and huge tanks were driving up Pahlavi Avenue!)  Every night people would ignore the curfew and take to streets – we’d go to the roof to watch – it was eerie, listening to the chanting all over the city – the term ‘Voice of the People’ took on a whole new meaning.  There were daily power cuts and we’d sit by candlelight listening to the BBC World news on the radio every night at 9 pm to find out what was happening. The Shah and his family left in January 1979 amid much rejoicing by a large section of the population and shortly thereafter Ayatollah Khomeini returned.  By this time Derrick had heard from Gulf Air and as soon as the airport, which had been closed for a time, reopened, he went for an interview and we arrived in Bahrain in April ’79 for what has become almost 27 years!

This has been another wonderful period in our lives – it seems only yesterday that we arrived in hot, humid weather and felt right at home.  Bahrain is a very, very special place with special people.  The changes over the years have been tremendous – we used to bring back Colgate toothpaste etc. which one couldn’t get here – but how that has changed.  Now we find it’s the other way round – we take things back that aren’t available in the UK!

The company for which I’ve worked since August 1979, Arabian Exhibition Management, was formed in 1977 to run exhibitions and conferences in Bahrain, and has had a long association with the church through the Belgrave family - AEM’s first chairman was James Hamed Belgrave.  We were formerly part of the Montgomery Group, headed by Bryan Montgomery.  Mr. Montgomery has been a wonderful supporter of St. Christopher’s in so many ways over many years – the windows on the right-hand side of the church were given by him and he contributed a large sum of money towards replacing the wall at the Christian cemetery, among other things. He always worships in the Cathedral when he visits, and will in fact be in Bahrain on his way to India, towards the end of March to celebrate his birthday – we wish him a very, very happy birthday.  I’d like to thank AEM (now part of Allworld Exhibitions headed by Leo Kelly and his son Brendan) for its support of the work of the church, not least in absorbing the cost of mailing the Bahrain Anglican news and the Christ Church Aden bulletin as well as contributing to some of our Outward Giving needs. AEM is without doubt, one of the very best companies in Bahrain and I shall miss each and every one of our small team more than I can say.

Although we are sad that our time to leave has now come, we have so many happy memories, and, thanks to Gulf Air, will still be able to visit at some future date.

Blessings on you all. Gloria & Derrick Rea