Minister's Message – April 2026

Minister’s Pastoral Letter

(Rev Barrie Tabraham for Rev George Quarm) – Lent 2026

Being Grateful for Golf!

I’m writing this to the members of Merrow, Stoughton and West Horsley on behalf of your minister, and since we’re not yet celebrating Holy Week, I hope you won’t mind my sharing some thoughts that have arisen very recently . . . from another bizarre accident I sustained whilst playing golf!

Some of you may recall that I had an accident playing golf last June, when I managed to blind myself in one eye for a few days and give myself concussion for a week. I don’t play so much these days (only once since before Christmas) but I’ve been a ‘special’ member at Chobham Golf Club since September 1994, just after it was opened. I say ‘special’, because they kindly allowed me to join at a reduced rate after I’d offered to be an informal, non-denominational chaplain!

Anyway, on 13th March, I was hit on the head by a golf ball – so forcibly, that I stumbled into a waterlogged ditch, covered in blood, water and mud. My fellow golfers dragged me out of the mire, I was taken to the club house to await an ambulance, and from thence to St Peter’s Hospital, where I was kept in overnight. Scans, tests etc revealed no serious injury though as I write this I’m still a little ‘groggy’, if that’s the right term.

So what theological lessons have I learned from all of this? Not, as one wag pointed out, ever to leave the house on Friday 13th (last year’s accident was on Friday 13th June!) – I’m certainly not superstitious. Nor to give up what, apparently for me, is a violent game! No – but a gentle reminder always to be thankful. And I can list those things here and now.

I’m so grateful for . . . .

· The guys who got into the ditch with me (it was about 4ft deep with about 7-8 ins of muddy water at the bottom) and hauled me out.

· The member of staff who grabbed a buggy and raced over to us to take me back to the club house.

· The staff who helped me into the club office, cleaned me up as best they could (my whole face was covered in blood), gave me a hot cup of tea, and replaced as much sodden clothing as was possible with blankets.

· The thoughtful person who went into the pro’s shop and bought a posh pair of socks to keep my feet warm!

· David Broadley, my partner, who followed the ambulance, stayed with me in A&E until 10.45 pm, helped me with a bottle (gents, you know what I mean!), took all my blood-stained garments home and washed them, and picked me up the other day and took me to Chobham to collect my car.

I could go on. So many people have phoned, texted or emailed when they heard of the accident. I have been astonished at people’s kindness. In the case of David, who is a devout Christian and a member at Trinity (whom I’ve known for 36 years as minister and friend), I might not have been surprised. But the care I received from people I hardly knew – including the member who played the ball that hit me (and it was, to be truthful, a beautifully struck shot!) who was visibly upset by the incident – this was an afirmation of the goodness that we can see all around us.

Over the years I’ve known people who’ve believed that basically, human beings are naturally selfish and inclined to evil. I’m not so sure. John Wesley spoke about ‘prevenient grace’, which means that God has placed within each and every one of us a ‘capacity’ for goodness that only needs unlocking. And Neville Ward, that great Methodist who wrote about prayer and the spiritual life, used to say that ideally, all our prayers should begin with thankfulness – because then we will be in a better position to pray for the needs of others.

I think I had to be reminded of the need to be thankful and always to be so – though in the future, perhaps in a gentler way!

A Prayer: Loving, gracious God, forgive us for being slow to see all that you have given us in life that can make us thankful. Despite the evil and suffering we see in the world around us, we know that there are many folk who show kindness when it is needed. We thank you for those times when we are on the receiving end of other people’s care, and we pray that through such moments, we too may become more loving. Amen.

God bless you all,

Barrie Tabraham March 2026