Transcript: Bishop Lynwal Williams

[00:00] 

My name is Bishop Lynwal Williams, and I live in Cambridge, and I also work with the Bibleway Church Charity, 263117, and my work involves not only pastoral, but also presiding over numbers of churches, both here in the UK, as well as in other countries, like Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and America.

 

[00:36] 

I am from Jamaica, and I traveled to the UK around 1976, and that was to join my parents, who were… who were already here in the UK. Of course, they were working, and they left us, myself and my brother, with our…  with my grandparents, but at the age of 17, I then migrated to the UK to join them, and to further study here.

 

[01:12] 

What made me move to Cambridge was the position of pastor came up in our church organisation. At the time, I was living in London, and the local church in Cambridge, the position of leadership became vacant, and my then presider, Bishop L. E. White, sent me and my wife here to take up the pastoral responsibility. That was in January from 1984, when I came here, and have been here ever since. 

 

[01:55] 

I had connection with the US air bases here in the East Anglia region, and particularly Mildenhall and Lakenheath. Now, how this came about, of course, as you are aware, say 20, 30 years ago, the major city was Cambridge. Most of the surrounding cities were not as developed as they are today, and so most of the personnel from the air base, when they wanted to come… to go out and do, as I say, shopping or visit the city, Cambridge was the place to be. 

 

[02:38] 

Of course, part of our everyday activity was to evangelise and to go out on the street, and to meet people, and to share the… our gospel with them. Now, our church being a Pentecostal Apostolic church, which was very much like the American churches, because, of course, our roots from an organisational standpoint came from America. So when we were singing and performing in the street, places like in town centres, the Grafton Centre, then, of course, it was quite attractive, not only to the locals, but also to those who were coming in from these bases to do the shopping or to just visit the city, et cetera.

 

[03:37] 

So that is how, by virtue of that, people were very happy to make connection with us, and we with them, because they saw something that looks like what they had back home, and so we then connected some of the… those who were in the religious circle on the base in particular. 

 

[04:00] 

We used to go onto the bases there, which is mainly Lakenheath and Mildenhall. Those were the two, but the most popular one was Lakenheath. So that is, we used to do that, say, for example, depending on what activity was going on. There was a church on the Lakenheath base that whoever were in the armed forces that were Christian-minded or were coming from a church background where they want to continue fellowshipping, then they would use that church, and so hence the reason why when we got connected with them then we would visit them. 

 

[04:50] 

Sometimes it would be twice per month, sometimes it would be three times, depending on the programme that they are having there. Other times we go there just for as friends to interact with people on the base, perhaps have lunch or some cases people buy things, because, of course, on the base things were… the price were different from the local shops and stores, et cetera. So yes, that's how we were interacting. 

 

[05:23] 

In terms of the spiritual side, we thoroughly, thoroughly enjoyed that and we interact. The music was very similar to us. Our music were very similar to them in the way we play and the way they play. And I think anyone who have any kind of insight into what I call the American music, then they would see a lot of similarities and recognise that a lot of the known singers were actually coming from a religious background. And so the music, you know, were very similar and catchy. And of course we enjoy having… having that kind of fellowship with them.

 

[06:12] 

Socially, again, as I said, we were able to meet, interact, and there… especially when it comes to social events, like whether it's holiday, marriage, whatever, then you have the two culture, which here in Cambridge and from a Caribbean stroke [refers to Caribbean / African American] background, then our food, for example, were… were very different and unique. And we also find theirs the same. So it was good to share that kind of social interaction, but mainly I said, what… what we really were keenly interested in was the fellowship from a religious perspective.

 

[07:03] 

In those days, you didn't have much interaction with the white folks from on the base because, you know, they're coming from that background with divisions and were still quite right there. So even when they come here, it was very, very different. Of course, the Black Americans find it fascinating because, of course, they could interact with both Black and white, assuming it didn't matter. And of course, with a… with a church that was multi-cultured because we had, not only, Black Americans, but we also have Europeans within our church… our church makeup.

 

[07:49] 

So to be able to go there and, you know, everyone was able to see the interaction. And that was very positive, especially to the Black Americans to know that, yes, what they were experiencing was mainly and largely to do with their particular culture and environment… and environment. Here, it was different. People see everyone as people and treated them as people.

 

[08:13] 

I believe they feel that it was like a taste of back home on the basis that one they were meeting with people of like mind, of like culture, because as you know, in Jamaica in particular, it's highly influenced by the American culture, you know, very, very much so. So for us, it was… it was pretty normal there. Now, in terms of the Americans being here in Europe, I think they were feeling a lot more at home on the basis that apart from they’re doing their duty, when they were away from the regimental aspect of their duty, they were in a free… a free flow. They could function as normal. They, you know, they interact and yeah, it was great. It was a… it was very much a learning process from both… from both sides in that we observe their method operandi. We look at how they function, you know, what they do, how they do it. And they in turn were doing the same thing with us. So it was… it was great. It was a great learning curve for both sides.

 

[09:35] 

My thoughts on music, especially interacting with the African Americans, were most fascinating because as you are aware that, especially in the sixties, the driving force in music were things like R&B, was first… first gospel, R&B and naturally soca, and all of those kind of music. Souls and, you know, you've got those coming from that side of the Atlantic. So yes. It was… it was an integration that was going on in the sixties. If you can remember that people like Elvis Presley and all of the other, some of the other European groups, they were, you know, it was all that mix that was going on. But from a Black, and from especially from the American stroke [as above] perspective, even the Afri-Caribbean perspective, it was interesting because we were coming through with things like reggae and… and some of the other genre of music that comes out of the Caribbean.

 

[10:50] 

Now in America, you've got jazz, which was very powerful. And… and so combining that, and I find that… that was one of the fascinating thing about it was that they were able to combine all of them in many instances. So they did not particularly focus on just say one thing. It wasn't just about jazz. It was… you have R&B and sometimes you have the amalgamation of both, say R&B, you may have a touch of jazz, you may have a touch of, say, for example, some of the other genres of the music world. So yeah, so it was most fascinating what was happening in… during that period of time. You have, again, I said things like rock, which was another emerging force coming from, say, Europe, but catching on very, very well in America. So yeah.

 

[11:55] 

So… so we find having them here was a great opportunity to interact and to work, to play, sing, and even worship together, which was very attractive, even to the local people. 

 

[12:10] 

I would love to go back on to… to the base and worship with the Americans in the future. I think it would be absolutely wonderful given the level of both interaction and enjoyment that we experience working together, fellowshipping together, socialising together. It would be a great opportunity and a wonderful privilege to do so, to further enhance the cultural, you know,  diversity and I think it would be beneficial to even the younger generation now to see that interaction going on.

 

[12:57] Finish