Hi folks Just to be clear. Yes, I'm a woman (as you already know) and no, I don't just TALK about problems - I have already taken action and in some small part, as a result of my contribution something positive is now happening. Secondly, there is absolutely NO anonymity in my name here or in my posts on this site. I have already made it abundantly clear to everyone who needs to k
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi folks Interesting stuff here, OK so telling of experiences where you feel you were emotionally damaged by someone, unnecessarily might not be very savoury but they are very real experiences. Granted, when I was growing up in the church there weren't the kinds of safe-guards for young folk that there are now - I mean, we even got the belt at school in those days!! ArchbishopLaud, I
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi Archbishop Laud I get what you're saying but kids have been forcibly man-handled by SMC leaders before. I myself have been on the receiving end when I was growing up in SMC and the times that I was forcibly removed were times when my parents were not actually attending the meeting themselves. This happened to me and my friend on a number of occasions when we were between the ages of
Forum: Destructive Churches

PS. Sorry, I think it might be Eamon Andrews I meant above?? Can't really remember which one of them hosted 'This is your life' :-) xxxx
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi folks I tend to agree with you ChesterK55, up until this point in time SMC have only had to supply evidence to placate the charities commission but this time they are going to be thoroughly investigated and outside noses will be poked deeper into SMC affairs than ever before. Sure they may fluff over as much as they can but they will still be required to produce solid evidence that they
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Hi folks I'm with you Covlass, I'll be on the stand right beside you!! I do wonder just how much SMC leaders will try to cover-up and, like you guys, I get the feeling that they'll be putting L'Oreal out of business buying up all the 'smear resistant foundation' they can find! And they will need TONNES of the stuff!! I suppose when you have spent as long
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Hi guys Just to let you all know I had some correspondence from the OSCR regarding complaints and they seem to be focusing on investigating concerns around public benefit and the way in which paid positions are handed out. As ChesterK55 pointed out, the investigation process is underway and no doubt we'll all be waiting with baited breath for the outcome of such investigations. Yes!
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LOL I love the Hobbit - and am pretty partial to a wee fag myself - enjoy!! :-) xxx
Forum: Destructive Churches

Just another link here. This article on Latigo is very poignant to the discussion regarding the safety of young people and minors who attend SMC (the church that is, not the school). http://latigo214.info/page20.html Ifellaway, you should have a read at this article because it really says it ALL about how SMC treat young people and it asks some very interesting questions. I dare say,
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Hi all Here's the link to that article Rensil mentioned. Just in case some people are still unaware of the Latigo site: http://latigo214.info/page18.html From this article it can be seen that, over the last 40 years, the membership has dropped from around 1,000 souls (when I attended) to under 300. And this is the church membership apparently GROWING??? If you believe the rubbi
Forum: Destructive Churches

Oh... and 'The Refuge' in Wendover. I forgot that one and it has a thread all of it's own on this forum - so I guess that one is pretty much run the same way as those in the West of Scotland. xxx
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Hi Ifellaway I don't know of any other northern branches myself but there are one or two further South, such as Pudsey and somewhere nearer London I think but I don't know whether or not there is the same controlling pastoring involved there. But I'm sure there'll be someone here who can shed some light on whether or not things are different in the South? Biiiiiig love
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Hi all The thing about being brought up in the church, from baby-hood, is that the shouting in tongues and the need for regular 'deliverance' sessions were the norm and you believed that this was how it was with God and with being a Christian. I didn't start to really question things until I was around 16 -18. Then I began to read the Bible for myself and try to equate what
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Ah, now I remember Wesley Gault but I thought he had a fairly active role in at least one of the outlying churches, at one point - did he not? A lovely man, from my recollections now! But I was, as you say, still a kid then so I may not be remembering too clearly :-) Biiiiig love and huge huggggs God Bless xxx
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Hi Rensil Sorry about that, but I didn't think Grace, Allison or Mary Black had ever gotten married and I thought that Grace Gault was a different person and just a friend of the Black family. Perhaps I'm remembering it wrong but I was quite young when I first became aware of Grace Gault and she was a young woman then but I never connected her with the Black family other than as a f
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi guys Sorry, I've been quiet for a bit to see if anyone else had anything to add to what's already been said. Thanks, Rensil, for some insight into the results of a Cedars education. I would still be interested to know how many of the pupils leaving Cedars went on to Uni or have managed to be any more successful than the kids with a state education. I mean, what are the parents
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Hi Ifellaway, Yes, you're right, sorry sometimes I digress a bit. There is REAL damage done by the use of mind control and hysterics among young people as well as the adults - if not more so, since their minds are so much more pliable. I do remember, while growing up in the church that there were many questionable instances where young folk were present and shouldn't have been. I
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btw, I was using the word 'Holy' in that sentence in relation to being wholly committed and true to your beliefs (it was really tongue-in-cheek)
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Hi Clive There you are!! Just testing, see what I mean about mind control? It's not so difficult to prompt someone to action, is it? Thanks for proving my point - :-) Biiig love and huge hugggggs God Bless xxxx
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Hi folks It's good to know that outside bodies are taking more interest in what's going on in SMC but whether or not it will do any good is something else entirely. I don't think that there would be a problem with full disclosure for those who're working with kids, however you don't need to have a criminal record to be abusive or be handling kids wrongly. So I doubt
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi guys Yes, Ifellaway - you are right about SMC going for a 'type'. From what I can gather now, the congregation consists of the more affluent members of the community - in other words, if you have money (and a lot of it) SMC will be your friend for life and you're likely to be one of the chosen few to whom the leaders 'feel drawn'. Wonder why? Could it be coz you
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi guys Just wanted to back up thePetitor in the above observations. If the I-pads were being paid up by the parents then the income they still owed to the school would be treated as Debtors and would still be counted as an asset to the school and they would not then be recorded as an expense to the school anyway - so even without the I-pads there would still be a £300K loss in three years.
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Ooops sorry! you're right ThePetitor, I did overlook the fact that the coffee shops are also losing money. Surely it must be ringing alarm bells with the members of SMC that ALL of the commercial ventures of the organisation are losing money. If anything is sign that they are not making the correct decisions, that's a great big, fat, flashing neon red one! Biiig love and huge
Forum: Destructive Churches

PS. For those who don't know about the Latigo site the URL to the page with the 2011 accounts breakdown is You can also find links to the 2009 and 2010 accounts on the home page.
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi guys Just a wee correction, the accounts are freely available to anyone who asks for them (although I think you might have to pay a small fee to receive them). SMC are required by law, as a Charity, to make their accounts public to anyone who asks. There's more info on this on the Latigo site. So it's not really that the accounts themselves are secret - although certain aspects
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi guys Just a little note - the I-pad versus pc conversation happened over no more than 10 posts out of what? Over 800 posts and, while the focus may have been lost in three or four of those posts, this is not a thread which anyone should be grasping at as an example of the WHOLE of the FORUM. The main point about the I-pads was to discuss the FINANCIAL situation of the church and the fact
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi guys Nice to see some new names on the forum for a change. Funnily enough I don't have very much to say at the moment except to re-iterate what's already been posted by Rensil and CovLass. Hi Growing123, there's nothing wrong with being pro Struthers but I notice you are giving your support from the outside. Does that mean that you could not 'make the grade required
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Hi Ifellaway Welcome! It's lovely to see you posting here. You mentioned Stornoway and that gave me a lovely warm rememberance of my VERY YOUNG days. I do remember that the camps were held there before they moved to Wiston Lodge. WOW, that was a loooooong time ago and I think the church was far more effective in God's work in those days. It's good that you are backing ou
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi again Just a wee addendum to my previous post. It strikes me as a bit strange that you, Clive, would say we are picking apart every 'little thing' that SMC do. I don't think that the purchase of over 100 i-Pads (twice over) is a 'small' decision to make. We're talking over £40,000 paid out not once, but TWICE from an organisation which is consistently maki
Forum: Destructive Churches

Hi guys It's interesting that the i-Pad issue seems to be prompting support for SMC from the 'resident aetheist'. The i-pad issue is only ONE issue out of the whole SMC question. It IS important to question how SMC leaders find it so easy to do, say and get what they want just by telling their members that this is what God wants of them and branding them 'faithless'
Forum: Destructive Churches