One of the most moving experiences for me during our travels in the UK came in a small garden park behind the famous Aldersgate Church in downtown London.
On a quiet and rainy Saturday morning, the giant city moving sleepily on the first day of the weekend, we stood in front of an old, old Heroes Wall. Not as old as remnants of the nearby Roman wall that shortly after the birth of Jesus Christ protected this ancient city along the River Thames, but old as in the earliest days of the 20th century when the modern age was in its dawning.
The first photo here explains the wall and the next three offer a sampling of the poignant little stories that in so few words capture so much about the human condition and those who give themselves for others.
But before the pictures, let me say a few words about Aldersgate. Here is where John Wesley made his conversion from the old church to the new church which would become the simple and unadorned denomination known as Methodism. John was deeply spiritual and a man of stirring words. His brother, Charles, who also converted here, was a man of lyrics and melody and wrote many of the most memorable hymns marked by dog ears in Methodist songbooks.
The Roman wall nearby and its contemporaneity with Christ, the Heroes Wall and unpretentious Aldersgate make this part of London, so historic and eventful, a special place. There are probably at least fifty of the little stories on the Heroes Wall. I hope you enjoy the few I’ve selected here as much as I do. I’m attaching few cutlines to these photos. Few are needed.
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Dennis Forney has been a journalist on the Delmarva Peninsula since 1972 and has been writing his Barefootin’ column for The Whale and then the Cape Gazette for more than 30 years. Like his Barefootin' Facebook page to get notified of blog updates.
