Littleport Christian Spiritualists

A long time ago, in a Village not too far away…

While the story of Spiritualism in Littleport began in 1998, the current format was born on March 3rd, 2022, with the founding of the Independent Spiritualists’ Alliance. The Littleport Village Hall is not only the place where it was born but has also been a witness to the evolution of Spiritualism in this area from the very beginning.

Whilst much of the history is not absolute in its connection to the current church, the ISA believes in the importance of fair, unbiased history, and so here you will find one of perhaps the only locations that records Littleport’s journey in its fullest.

The Littleport Christian Spiritualists are the current evolution of Spiritualism to take up residence in the Village Hall and Rev Nick Brown is our Ministry Leader. Nick has been a part of that journey since 1998, when it all began.

Littleport: 1998

In the latter half of 1998, then-editor of Psychic News Lyn Guest de Swarte (now Rev Lyn Gibb de Swarte) moved with partner and roving PN reporter Cathy Gibb to the seemingly quiet, unsuspecting village of Littleport in Cambridgeshire.

Lyn & Cathy would soon find out the residents of this historic, at the time, village, now town, were neither quiet, nor unsuspecting. With a rich tapestry of history, including the notable and famed Littleport Riots, Littleport was founded itself by King Cnut, after being shunned by the Bishops at Ely Catherdral, and given shelter and hospitality by the residents of a small island in the Fenland Marshes of the Isle of Ely on which the Cathedral then sat. In gratitude, Cnut funded what would become the now bustling hub of Littleport.

These former marshes that surrounded our home, now solid and stable thanks to the drainage of the Fens, have witnessed much, including the presence of the famed Dr John Dee, who was sent by the crown to watch over the ‘heathen, pagan rabble’ that lived here. Of course, as a man of note within Spiritual practices himself, I am sure he had quite the busy holiday, and found himself as warmly welcomed as King Cnut did.

Lyn and Cathy founded the first Spiritualist church at the Littleport Leisure Centre in 1998 with the support of a number of recent additions to the Littleport family who had moved to the area from the notable Spiritualist hub of Stansted Mountfitchet, namely Ken & Burnette Britten, and Alan and Joan Reynolds. They were happily joined by many longtime Littleport Residents, with the first official committee being formed by Lyn, Cathy, June Bower, John and June Cox, Alocha Barker, Erica Power, Mike Goodall, Maureen Swift, Hazel Gasgarth, Jacqui Burford, and of course, a then youthful, and new to the movement, Nick Brown.

Wandering Mystics

The Happy band, although enjoying their time together, found that running a Divine Spiritualists Service in a bar whose large windows overlooked the changing rooms of the local football team (something enjoyed by Sports Journalists Lyn and Cathy) was not always the easiest thing. So, with the support and aid of Jacqui Burford, who was, in fact, a resident of nearby Queen Adelaide, the band acquired the Village Hall in that nearby location. But our hearts were always in Littleport, so after six months, the church returned to Littleport, finding its final home at the Village Hall. Littleport, Ely & District Spiritualists known as LEADS, was born.

Becoming SNU

The church’s success and growth were noted within Spiritualist circles, notwithstanding that having the editor of the national newspaper as a President did have its benefits on that score. Soon after the formation of Littleport, Lyn guided the committee to join The Spiritualists’ National Union, and the affiliation service was conducted by then-SNU President Duncan Gascoine.

However, shortly after this, Lyn and Cathy moved on their spiritual wanderings to the south coast of the UK, and the members of the church elected Nick Brown, a Littleport resident, to be the President. It is worth noting that at the time, aged 21, Nick was the second youngest ever President of an SNU church, bested at the time by only by Gordon Higginson himself.

After four and a half years, however, Nick decided to focus on working the platform and his career in retail, stepping down as president. This allowed new blood to steer the church in a bold new direction. The church continued to grow from strength to strength, with new ideas, and fresh members coming in, making the church their own, under the oversight of the SNU.

Spiritualist practices flourished and grew in the Fens, with a rich and diverse collection of like-minded souls working together to promote the work of Spirit. In particular, the Healing Circle was, and remains to be a huge focal point for them.

A Chance Visit

Early in 2012, former President Lyn Guest de Swarte (she hadn’t married Cathy yet) was invited to serve the church she founded as a medium. Reaching out to a few familiar faces from the past to arrange a reunion, Lyn returned to Littleport.

A lot had changed in that time, Lyn herself especially. Now an ordained Christian Spiritualist Minister, after the service, she spoke with Nick about his own beliefs and path, knowing that he himself was a Christian Spiritualist. She had founded The New Spiritualists’ Society, and offered to resume the teaching (albeit over a distance, she was now in London) she had started with Nick over a decade before, with a view to his completing ministry training, being ordained, and starting a once a month Christian Spiritualist Service

Collared Back into Service

On Sunday 22nd July 2012, Rev Lyn Guest de Swarte, ordained Nick at the first Service of the newly formed Littleport Christian Spiritualists, a once a month Sunday Service, in Littleport Village Hall once more, in a new church that he founded on behalf of The New Spiritualists’ Society. But the origin story does not end there of course. LEADS, still holding services on Thursday Evenings, closed their doors for the last time in October that year, having voted to move to the larger City of Ely, 4 miles south of Littleport. EADS was born… And there was a vacancy in the Hall on Thursday Nights! LSC took up the mantle, and continued the Thursday Services in Littleport.

A New Direction

After almost a decade working within the New Spiritualists’ Society, Rev Nick Brown, at that point Suffragan Archbishop to Rev Lyn, Principal & Primus Minister, stepped away from the Society, seeking a new and quieter path. Littleport Christian Spiritualists, and Nick, became an Independent Church and minister, but after being encouraged by a group of Spiritualist Ministers, namely, Rev Alan Sutton, Rev Tony Swindells, Rev Barbara Price, and Rev Jeanette Bolton, they grouped together to form the Independent Spiritualists Alliance on 3rd March 2022. Of course, many friends and colleagues have joined that adventure since then, but the goal is the same in Littleport as it was all those years ago in a Football Bar, just a mile over the other side of the Village; to bring comfort, upliftment, evidence and proof of life after life, and build a community of like minded souls.