On 29th October the Forum welcomed the Rev. Jim Grebby as our speaker.  Jim has for some time been the lead chaplain at Harrogate District Hospital and he described his career, first in the engineering industry and then as a jeweller, before stress in his private life led to a crisis which lead him to find solace in the Methodist Church.

He became a Christian and felt called to be a preacher before becoming a minister at the age of 48.  His first post was as a minister in Newcastle but he wanted to become a chaplain and in 2006 obtained a post as a hospital chaplain in Leeds before moving on to Harrogate.

Jim described the role of the hospital chaplain which involves much more than providing religious support and outlined a number of personal experiences to illustrate the provision of spiritual care to patients, relatives and staff before inviting questions from the Forum’s members.

After a lively question and answer session Jim Fussey thanked Mr. Grebby for a most interesting talk which all the members had enjoyed.