Dear Friends,

It was with great sadness that I learnt of the untimely death of Jenny Saunders in March from cancer. Some of you will know who Jenny was, some of you will not, some of you will better know her through knowing her mum, Christine Curwen. I first met Jenny not long after arriving at Leigh in 2001, some 11 years ago. She came along to our youth group, The Bridge, one Sunday evening to talk to us about her recent trips to The Gambia, West Africa. She showed us video of the building work that had been carried out on one of those trips. Jenny was the link in the chain of life that first led me to hear of and then travel to Gambia some 10 years ago. My link has duly gone into the chain and served to connect members of my family, friends and many more people from far and wide, here and abroad into that huge family of people who care so much for this tiny African republic.

My last trip took place on 12^th March, our party of 15 travellers; some seasoned,
some new, stepped down off the plane at Banjul Airport into temperatures of +30c. It was a new adventure for a few, a coming home for others who had been many times before. This year we had travelled back in time, we were re visiting a school that we had built in 2005/06 in a village called Sinchu Balia. The school buildings were in need of much TLC and the teachers in need of encouragement, the children? Well they were in need of education. I have to report that the project was a great success, with a complete facelift for the school, the addition of a covered area for play and teaching, a much needed office for the staff and perhaps the most important of all, training, encouragement, love and care for the teachers and children.

I am also a link in a chain of people that goes back to what we now celebrate as Easter. I think it was my mum who first introduced me to Jesus and I like to think that I have been a link to others who now know him too. We are all inspirational in someone’s life; let’s not forget at this time of year those who, in our lives influenced us into being who we are now, in particular the one who gave His all so that we could be free.

David Bennie

Youth & Families Minister