House!

11th July 2013

The day started with getting a message from BBC Wiltshire asking if they could interview me (via Skype) about the exchange. They had interviewed me before I came out here and had interviewed David Calhoun via Skype.

Then my media appearances continued with an interview with the Mooresville Tribune

In the morning I went with some members of the United Methodist Women’s Group to a care home that appeared to be mainly for older people with learning disabilities. The women go fairly regularly to lead entertainment. Today it was bingo and yours truly was the bingo caller. That shouldn’t be difficult should it? Wrong!

For starters, although I’ve only played bingo perhaps half dozen times in my life, I am familiar with the British terminology for certain numbers e.g. 22 = two little ducks 88 = two fat ladies etc. etc. So I had to resist the temptation to use these calls.

I also understood that there was a prize for a line and then a prize for a full card. But some of the residents thought there was a prize every time a line was completed. The Methodist ladies clearly weren’t bingo players and couldn’t help much. So in the end I managed to make this rule clear and the great Mooresville bingo incident of 2013 was averted.

I asked one of the Methodist ladies if she knew who ran the home. Was it run by the town for example? She thought it was a state facility and was aimed at people on medi care. Well whoever ran it should be ashamed as it was really grubby. The carpets in the hallways looked as if they could do with cleaning (or better still replacing.) The floor tiles in the dining room (where we played bingo looked as if they could do with a wash too. And the saddest thing was the location. If I hadn’t been taken there I would have sworn the building was an industrial unit as it was situated at the back of an industrial estate.

Over lunchtime Tom and I were taken for a drive round the area by a gentleman who was born in Mooresville (well technically Mount Mourne – but an important difference in these parts.) His family owned several farms in the area – particualry around the area the parsonage is situated in. Farms that were sold off to Duke Power when they constructed Lake Norman . The gentleman also pointed out some very interesting houses including one that looked like the classic plantation house and which apparently has the remnants of shackles in the basement, that were used to restrain slaves.

He told us an interesting tale or two.

A railway line runs through the centre of the town (pretty much single track.) And in all the time I’ve been here I’ve not seen a train run along it. I asked our host if it had always been a freight line. He said back 60 or so years ago there were still passenger services. And in fact in Mount Mourne there had been a small depot (I loved the way it was pronounced “deepoe”). His brothers (who were older) would flag down a train and for 5 cents take the train the three or so miles from Mount Mourne to Mooresville to go to the cinema. And then pay another 5 cents to come back.

He also said how when he grew up on the farm a number of the workers were black. And he was close friends with one black guy of about the same age. On one or two occasions as young adults the two of them went on road trips together. Our host told us how they’d encounter prejudice in various places – and this after the civil rights movement.

This evening I went to a meeting of the Stephen ministers. And I learned more about it. One thing is certain there are no Stephen ministers in the UK and no plans to expand there. This is really a shame as I am convinced it would work well.
This evening was an opportunity for all the Stephen ministers at the church to have supervision that is share what they have been experiencing with their clients. So although Stephen ministry isn’t counselling it clearly shares some of the best practices of counselling.

(I wonder whether Stephen ministries – or similar - is something Willows Counselling could consider?)