OPEN CIRCLE

You are all welcome to attend Thursday nights circle at Park Grove. Whether you come for the energies, to develop your clairvoyance, to hopefully get some message or just to enjoy the company of like minded people the same as you. We look forward to seeing you and hopefully increase your link with the Spirit World. As always make sure you are at the church before 7pm as the door is shut promptly at this time. Only £2 per person for an hour well spent. See you there.

Wednesday Healing Sessions

Wednesday Healing Sessions Two sessions afternoon and evening this Wednesday 1pm till 2pm and 7pm till 8pm. Healing is free but you can make a donation to the church which goes towards the upkeep of the church.

Great Stand in

Can I say a big thank you to Mike Cronin for his sterling support of Park Grove. Once again Mike took the place of someone who could not make it. Mike said yes without hesitation, and did a great job. Funny and very good survival evidence. Thank you again Mike,you are a STAR

Saturday Healing

One session starting 10-30 and closing at 11-30. Please come along and see our experienced approved healers do their thing so to say. You will receive a welcome that is second to none. Healing is free, but if you wish you can make a donation toward the upkeep of the church.This Saturday the healing will take place in the back room as there is an all day workshop taking place in the main church.

Workshop at Park Grove

On Saturday there will be a workshop held at the church. It is being organized by Kim and Sharon and it one of several workshops that will be held at the church on a Saturday. The cost will be £5 for the workshop which will start at 10-30 and finish approximately 4-30. Tea and coffee plus biscuits will be supplied but please bring your own lunch . There are Two parts to the workshop 1- INTRODUCTION TO SPIRITUALISM and 2- INTRODUCTION TO MEDIUMSHIP

OPEN CIRCLE

You are all welcome to attend Thursday nights circle at Park Grove. Whether you come for the energies, to develop your clairvoyance, to hopefully get some message or just to enjoy the company of like minded people the same as you. We look forward to seeing you and hopefully increase your link with the Spirit World. As always make sure you are at the church before 7pm as the door is shut promptly at this time. Only £2 per person for an hour well spent

Wednesday Healing Sessions

Wednesday Healing Sessions Two sessions afternoon and evening this Wednesday 1pm till 2pm and 7pm till 8pm. Healing is free but you can make a donation to the church which goes towards the upkeep of the church.

Momday Demonstration

Tonight at Park Grove sees the return of Margaret Challenger, a good friend to Cardiff First. Let me assure Margaret, that this time you will not be left out in the cold to await the opening, as happened last time Come along and see how it should be done, only £3 per person. Starts at 7pm

Sunday a.m. Service

Diane Jeal was the worker this morning at Park Grove. The service was excellent and Diane worked in a lovely way which uplifted all present. Thank you Diane for your lovely reading and address.

Saturday Healing

One session starting 10-30 and closing at 11-30. Please come along and see our experienced approved healers do their thing so to say. You will receive a welcome that is second to none. Healing is free, but if you wish you can make a donation toward the upkeep of the church.

S4C At The Church

Tonight, S4C will be at the church to record a Divine Service which will form a part of a series of programmes about religions. So why not come down to the church to be part of the congregation. The workers will be Carol Ellis and Tony Leeson. The service will start at 7pm. The open circle might take place after the service but you can still come down anyway. Look forward to seeing you all there

Wednesday Healing Sessions

Wednesday Healing Sessions Two sessions afternoon and evening this Wednesday 1pm till 2pm and 7pm till 8pm. Healing is free but you can make a donation to the church which goes towards the upkeep of the church.

Awareness and Discussion

Awareness and Discussion 28th Feb @ 7pm £2 per person

Monday 12th March

Demonstration of Mediumship with Angela Porter. 7pm start. £3 per person

Hot off the Press

News just in about Park Grove. Next Thursday S4C will be at the church to record a Divine Service which will form a part of a series of programmes about religions. So why not come down to the church to be part of the congregation. The workers will be Carol Ellis and Tony Leeson. The service will start at 7pm. The open circle might take place after the service and we will let you circlers know asap, but you can still come down anyway. Look forward to seeing you all there

Open Circle Thursday

You are all welcome to attend Thursday nights circle at Park Grove. Whether you come for the energies, to develop your clairvoyance, to hopefully get some message or just to enjoy the company of like minded people the same as you. We look forward to seeing you and hopefully increase your link with the Spirit World. As always make sure you are at the church before 7pm as the door is shut promptly at this time. Only £2 per person for an hour well spent

William Hope – Spirit Photographer (1863-1933)

A carpenter of Crewe, England, and famous spirit photographer, whose abilities were discovered accidentally about 1905. Hope and a friend photographed each other on a Saturday afternoon. The plate that Hope exposed showed an extra figure, a transparent woman, behind whom a brick wall was visible. It was the sister of Hope's comrade, dead for many years. With the help of a Mr. Buxton, the organist at the Spiritualist Hall at Crewe, a circle of six friends was formed to sit for spirit photography. With the help of Mr Buxton, the church organist at the local Spiritualist Hall at Crew, a circle of six friends was formed to sit for spirit photography Fearful of being accused by devout Catholics of being in league with the devil, the circle destroyed all the original negatives until Archdeacon Thomas Colley came on the scene. He tested Hope's powers, endorsed them, and gave him his first stand camera, which Hope refused to give up long after it had become old-fashioned, its box battered and its leg broken. The first controversy about Hope and his psychic photographs arose in 1908 in connection with Colley's first sitting. He recognized his mother in the psychic "extra." Hope thought it was more like a picture he had copied two years earlier. A Mrs. Spencer, of Nantwich, recognized her grandmother in the image. Hope informed Colley of his mistake. Colley said it was madness to think that a man did not know his own mother and advertised in the Leamington paper asking all who remembered his mother to meet him at the rectory. Eighteen persons selected the photograph from a group of several others and testified in writing that the picture was a portrait of the late Mrs. Colley, who had never been photographed. The second case of public controversy arose in 1922 and was, on the surface, damning for Hope. In a report published in the Journal of the Society for Psychical Research (vol. 20, pp. 271-283), Hope was accused of imposture by Harry Price. The accusations were later published in a sixpenny pamphlet. The basis of the revelation was that Price, in a sitting at the British College of Psychic Science, caught Hope in the act of replacing the dark slide holding the exposed plates with another. Price also said that Hope handed him two negatives (one of which contained a psychic extra) that did not bear the secret mark of the Imperial Dry Plate Company (impressed on the packet of film by X-rays) and that were different in color and thickness from the original plates. Subsequent investigation proved that the counteraccusation by Spiritualists claiming an organized conspiracy against Hope deserved examination. The wrapper of the packet was found, and it bore marks of tampering. Moreover, one of the original marked plates was returned anonymously and undeveloped to the Society for Physical Research (SPR) a week after the experiment and three weeks before the revelation. On being developed, it showed an image. Since the packet of marked plates had been lying about for four weeks in the office of SPR it was open to tampering and substitution. It was also likely, in the view of the Hope apologists, that the missing plate was sent back out of pure mischief. Immediately after the accusation of fraud Hope offered new sittings and declared his willingness to submit to stringent tests. The offer was refused. Harry Price, however, signed a statement to the effect that the test of February 24, 1922, "does not rule out the possibility that Hope has other than normal means." Many prominent people supported Hope. For example, Sir William Crooks gave an authorized interview published in the Christian Commonwealth on December 4, 1918. On his own marked plates, under his own conditions, Crookes obtained a likeness of his wife different from any he possessed. Sir William Barrett claims to have received with Hope "indubitable evidence o supernormal photography" in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (vol. 34, 1924). After the exposure by Harry Price, Allerton F. Cushman of Washington also claimed to have obtained psychic extras on his own plates, similarly marked by the Imperial Dry Plate Company, and also on plates purchased before the sitting by Hereward Carrington. Sir Oliver Lodge, however, was emphatic concerning a test of his own with a sealed packet sent to Hope: "I have not the slightest doubt that the envelope including the plates had been opened." The most signifcant charges of fraud were advanced by Fred Barlow and Major W. Rampling Rose in an article in the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research (vol. 41, 1933). Previously, on January 21, 1921, in Budget No. 58 of the Society for the Study of Supernormal Pictures, Barlow had asserted that he "got results with Mr. Hope here in my own home under conditions where fraud was absolutely impossible. I have loaded my dark slides in Birmingham and taken them to Crewe with my own camera and apparatus, have carried out the whole of the operation myself (even to the taking of the photograph) and have secured supernormal results." Then, in 1923, Barlow had associated with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in the publication of The Case for Spirit Photography (1923), a book written in answer to the Hope exposure. At that time, he says, he could not "get away from the fact that many of these photographic effects are produced by discarnate intelligences." But in 1933 Barlow asserted that "a further ten years of careful continuous experimenting has enabled me to say quite definitely that I was mistaken. During the whole of this period no single instance has occurred, in my experience, that would in any way suggest that Hope has genuine gifts" (Light, April 14, 1933). Hope never commercialized his gift. He charged about 50 cents for a dozen prints. This was calculated on the basis of his hourly earnings as a carpenter. He was very devout—almost fanatical—and relied blindly on the advice of his spirit guides. "During all his career as a medium," writes David Gow in Light, March 17, 1933, "he had become so accustomed to accusation and abuse that he had grown case-hardened. His attitude seemed to be that, knowing himself to be honest, it did not matter how many people thought otherwise. I found, too, that in his almost cynical indifference, he was given to playing tricks on skeptical inquirers by pretending to cheat and then boasting that he had scored over his enemies in that way…. Mr. Hope, was believed to be a genuine medium, but of a type of mentality which might easily lead to the opposite conclusion on the part of an unsympathetic observer." During his lifetime Hope obtained more than 2,500 claimed spirit photographs. He died March 7, 1933.

Open Circle Thursday

You are all welcome to attend Thursday nights circle at Park Grove. Whether you come for the energies, to develop your clairvoyance, to hopefully get some message or just to enjoy the company of like minded people the same as you, we look forward to seeing you and hopefully increase your link with the Spirit World. As always make sure you are at the church before 7pm as the door is shut promptly at this time. Only £2 per person for an hour well spent

A WEEK IN THE LIFE OF CARDIFF FIRST SPIRITUALIST

SUNDAY DIVINE SERVICES. 11am and 6pm OPEN TO ALL ( Freewill Collection). MONDAY DEMONSTRATION OF MEDIUMSHIP 7pm OPEN TO ALL. (£3 per person). TUESDAY ( FORTNIGHTLY) AWARENESS AND DISCUSSION. 7pm OPEN TO ALL ( £2 per person). WEDNESDAY SPIRITUAL HEALING. 1pm till 2pm 7pm till 8pm OPEN TO ALL (Donation). THURSDAY OPEN CIRCLE OPEN TO ALL ( £2 per person). Doors close at 7pm prompt. SATURDAY SPIRITUAL HEALING 10-30 till 11-30 OPEN TO ALL. (Donation.) Special Events advertised in local Press and on the church blog cardifffirst.blogspot.com

Wednesday Healing Sessions

Wednesday Healing Sessions Two sessions afternoon and evening this Wednesday 1pm till 2pm and 7pm till 8pm. Healing is free but you can make a donation to the church which goes towards the upkeep of the church.

Monday Dem

A well satisfied audience left the church in good spirits (excuse the pun) Sharon Fry gave a splendid exhibition of mental mediumship. Splendid evidence of survival was given in a style that was relaxed, happy and very accurate. A great evening.

Saturday Healing

One session starting 10-30 and closing at 11-30. Please come along and see our experienced approved healers do their thing so to say. You will receive a welcome that is second to none. Healing is free, but if you wish you can make a donation toward the upkeep of the church.

A Mystery at Park Grove

In my role of President I am back and forth the church sometimes several times a day. On a visit today (Thursday)I discovered that the door knob was hanging off. I then went off to B&Q and got some new ones and replaced the damaged one. It took minutes. It is a pity that I was not told about the damage, as I live only 5 mins from B&Q and forward knowledge would have saved me not only petrol, but also allowed me more time with my wife who is recovering from an operation