The long and winding path... to a fresh form of chaplaincy
It's always good to have news of people who have attended our courses. Some of you may remember Pam Cram who considered Anna Chaplaincy after coming on a training course we ran in Derbyshire... and has recently taken up a new type of chaplaincy that seems to suit her very well! Here are a few paragraphs from Pam, telling us in her own words, how she came to follow this new path:
'A week or two before the first Covid lockdown, I attended Anna Chaplaincy training at Cliff College in Derbyshire. The training was a great experience, but the other side of the pandemic it seemed clear that, one way or another, becoming an Anna Chaplain wasn’t going to work for me. We did have links with some care homes locally, but the churches in my village and my (Methodist) Circuit weren’t falling over themselves with enthusiasm, being pre-occupied with post-Covid adaptation. Not to mention various other complications at that time, personally and in life generally.
Fast forward to 2025 and Greenbelt Festival, where I found myself in conversation with the Waterways Chaplains. Suddenly, my chaplaincy journey took on new life and a new twist. Our garden overlooks a short stretch of the Swansea Canal, not linked to the general canal network, and not navigable other than on canoes, kayaks and paddle boards, but with a very busy towpath, part of the national cycle network and a popular place for a walk. Was this somewhere for a chaplain?
After a few months of exploration, training and probation, at the beginning of September 2026 I was commissioned as a Waterways Chaplain. Most weeks I wander the towpath in my specially prepared bilingual gilet (or in the heatwave a polo shirt), sometimes calling in at a popular café in the park, at the equally popular Men’s Shed (also a café style venue), and at the Canal Centre run by the Canal Society Volunteers.'
'It may not be ‘Anna Chaplaincy’ but the reality is that the majority of those I speak to are those ‘of a certain age’ – retirees volunteering, meeting socially, walking their dogs or their grandchildren, or out alone to get out in nature for the good of their mental and physical health.'
'Some characters regularly seen are a lady who walks on her wheeled walker to a point where she can see the tree next to her husband’s grave in the cemetery; a couple who every day push the recently widowed father of one of them in his wheelchair a few miles along the towpath; a gentleman who loves photographing nature; and a neighbour taking a break from her role caring for her husband.
Often, I chat with someone visiting from near or far, and then I never see them again, but it may be a rare chance for them to pour out some problem in a safe environment. Sometimes conversations are very short, especially on cold, wet or windy days (something we are familiar with in South Wales!), but if that person lives alone, it might be the only conversation they have all day. And if there’s no-one around, I ‘talk’ to the ducks, watch for the kingfisher, and listen to the birds, all of which is good for my own mental health!'
Congratulations to Pam and we wish her well in her new chaplaincy role which sounds as if it suits her down to the ground!
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