Jane Beckett

I was born in Burnley 66 years ago. My mother and my father parted three and a half years later. We were then living in Lytham St. Annes and my mother was left to bring up me and my younger brother on her own. We moved to Wallasey in Merseyside where my mum’s parents lived. Mum was on her own with two children, unheard-of in the early 1960s. Eventually she worked in a school as a laboratory technician, with school holidays off, and she met my future stepfather at the school. He was an Art teacher and they got married in 1972. My father made contact and we saw him in school holidays. Religion was not part of our life. I went to church hall for Brownies and Guides, and through that attended a couple of church services.

I left home at age eighteen to take up a place at a Nursery Nurse Training College in Manchester in 1973 and then worked as a nanny in London and at a Special Care Baby Unit in Birmingham. I then started a Nursing Course in London in 1976. At this time I began to think and to wonder about what happens when you die. In 1980 I nursed sick children as part of a post-grad course in Liverpool and then worked in Oxford on a children’s ward until 1984. I then moved to Birmingham and completed a Community Nursing Course and started work around Handsworth and Aston.  I enjoyed this more than hospital work as there were no shifts, and I joined the IVC (Inter Varsity Club) which gave me a social life playing Badminton, Squash and having weekends away walking.

I met the Bahai Faith in 1989 when I met my husband Martin who was already a Bahá’í (he declared in 6th form at school) on a walk with some friends. I lived in Birmingham and was working as a Paediatric Community Nurse in the city centre. My mother had passed away in 1988 and I began to look for something with a spiritual meaning. I would accompany Martin to Bahá’í events around the Midlands and I began to learn more about the Faith, but it was a slow process. Solihull Community set up deepening sessions on Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, run by a member of Solihull Community, as well as fortnightly talks in a local venue. I won’t embarrass the speaker by giving his name; he knows who he is. What I learned then started an awakening in me. Shahriar Razavi was a member of Solihull Community at the time and I remember asking him questions about the Faith and getting very clear and concise answers. Martin and I would also chat together and he would answer some of my questions, referring me to his bookcase. Tom and Christine Eyton would also answer questions and refer me to books.

In 1995 we decided we would get married. Martin had just been offered a job in Carmarthen, West Wales. We had a Bahá’í wedding ceremony in Solihull in May 1996 and I followed Martin down to West Wales. I was still not a Bahá’í however. I now had a long hot summer off work before restarting work, and I read a few books. The Priceless Pearl and The Dawn-Breakers spring to mind, and I started to ask Martin more questions. Richard and Sheila Swan were part of the local Bahá’í Community, as  was Tim Melville.

In November 1996 I heard David Hofman give a talk about the ‘Most Great Peace’ and something clicked. He talked about slowly moving towards peace but with hiccups on the way, but “One day we will walk through a field of daffodils”. However, as I sit writing this in the middle of a pandemic and think about what has happened in the last 25 years in terms of disasters, wars throughout the globe and so on, we are a long way away from the field of daffodils. I read the book Paris Talks and in January 1997 I finally declared as a Bahá’í after a long search.

Martin, Richard, Sheila, Tim and I worked together on the Spring School Committee and Wetlands Youth Conference. It was all great fun and we set up deepenings on The Covenant, and The World Order Letters in our house. At Ridván 1997 I was elected to the Local Spiritual Assembly of Carmarthenshire and acted as secretary for a while. They were good times. Gillian Phillips and I set up children’s classes in Llanelli which was good fun, and they ran for a couple of years.

I started my first Ruhi book in Carmarthen in 2001 and thought “This is four years too late. I could have done with this a few years ago”. I also became a Soroptimist in 1998 in Carmarthen and am still a member of the Kenilworth club, which gives me an opportunity to talk about the Bahá’í Faith. I had a couple of film nights at our home, when the Bicentenary DVD was released. Recently, about six Soroptimists came and watched the DVD. Both Ian and Semira Holland have given talks for them.

We moved back to the Midlands in 2003, and in 2004 we went on Pilgrimage, which I felt was a wonderful spiritual experience. We now still live in the West Midlands. We moved 3 miles in 2014, as we were bought out by HS2, the high speed rail project, and we now live in the village of Balsall Common where Martin lived when I first met him. We still see Richard and Sheila occasionally and I see Tim (now in Chepstow) at the Welsh Summer School. Gill Phillips passed away nearly four years ago.

I have now been a Bahá’í nearly 25 years. My only regret is that I didn’t declare earlier than I actually did. Looking back, our wedding was the catalyst. As I sit here in the middle of a pandemic, ‘Zoomed out’ with Feasts, Holy Days, ‘Elevate’ Devotionals and Firesides, I am still waiting for the field of Daffodils!

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Jane Beckett

Solihull, February 2021

Jane with husband Martin