News from a far country!

Our oldest grandson, 19 year old Simon Briars is doing voluntary work in Zambia.

He is out there with Student Partnership Worldwide (SPW) and with his Zambian work colleague Clement M. Shibalika they are teaching in a HIV Aids awareness programme in Serenje which is in the north east of the country.

He left the UK in the first week of January and after training for four weeks in Kabwe, just north of the capital Lusaka, he has moved to where he will be until mid August. Now he faces a daily routine of being in their first class just before 8 in the morning and being “on the go” often until around 4 in the afternoon on most days. Their daily routine keeps them fully occupied and weekend breaks are most welcome as will be the Easter holidays. Boma Basic School and Miselo Kapika, extension school provides education for over 1500 children under the headship of Mrs.Dakas. The situation with regard to HIV aids is awesome and the age expectancy in this region of Africa is only 32! Last year at this particular school 87 of the girls got pregnant so the educational programme set up by the Zambian Authorities is most important

One recent problem this week for Simon was getting Malaria which took him out of the routine for 3 days, although he takes the weekly dose of Larium, it can’t give full protection when you read the small print! So it is important to make sure the mosquitoes don’t bite and in the rainy season that isn’t easy. He is on the mend after the Doctor gave him some “mind numbing drugs” and plans this weekend to take the 5 hour minibus journey back to Kabwe for two nights in a better mid-range hotel with a better restaurant with better food (for the European taste buds).


In spite of a few major set backs he is resolved to finish the task he has begun but he says that he values the “chin-up chats” with home and mail arriving from the UK is always a “red letter” day.

Changing faces !



Over the years people have told me I look like my father, Frank Briars.
I am not sure that is true but just recently I came across a photograph of my grand father, Frederick Briars. He was born in 1857 and was taught to read and write in a Sunday School class for the under privileged boys living around the Sanvey Gate area of the city of Leicester.

Mary Royce would have been 23 years of age when she started her class for boys and my grandfather, Frederick Briars would have been about 12 years of age. I remember my own father explaining to me how it was the direct invitation of Mary Royce while out walking on the Belgrave Pastures that resulted in him attending her class. She asked Frederick, if he could read and would he like to be able to read. He became a regular attender of the class meeting where he was to be taught to read and write by Miss Royce, and we must assume that it was there where he heard the Bible stories.

Mary Royce, the founder of the Royce Institute was born in 1845 and as a young woman took on the task of giving poorer children the Christian Gospel while improving their education.
Dr. Mary Royce was one of the country's first women doctors and it is reported that her death, aged 47, was following an infection caught while treating one of her poorer patients. In a letter to "her boys" she encouraged them to continue to meet in "the room" after her death leaving a sum of money to three of "her boys" so that the work could continue.

Frederick Briars was one of those original founder trustees of The Royce Institute, a work that continues to this day.

The purpose of the gospel of Christ is to see lives changed.
This change can only come about when a person acknowledges that they are a sinner in the sight of an Almighty God. There is also the need for true repentance, namely a sincere desire to leave the pathway of the pattern of this world in order to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Romans chapter 10 verse 9 & 10 states "that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation."

With the confession of sin comes conversion and also cleansing. That is being changed enough to be made ready for entrance into heaven. The inner work of salvation should result in outward change. In Bible terms it is described as being "conformed" into the likeness of God's Son. (Read Romans chapter 8 verse 29)

It doesn't matter whether we look like our father, grand father but it does matter that we bear the image of the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son.