Home circle.

Here is a summary of our home circle.

Home circle held on 31st March 2015.

What two people who never came across each other in life had in common.  How two spirits informed of their lives in one physical séance and when spirit activity astounded members.

Sir Harry Donald Secombe, CBE (8 September 1921 – 11 April 2001) he was a Welsh comedian, singer and the person thought to be the spirit referenced in the séance.  As the séance began members reported blue round lights in the séance room, with the dim lighting the spheres of light did appear visibly and were numbered in groups of two to three.  One distinct light was noted as over and across the medium’s face and it was seen as the medium referred to a male spirit in the séance.  He was an actor, a life filled person who loved to get people to cry with laughter.  He was seen by the medium in his mid years, she stated that he was smiling, happy to link to friends and to people he knew in life.  The links included that of the Green, Green grass of home, and an odd link to My Heart Will Go On, which while no one could explain or provide an answer for, it became apparent in research that this may link to 1981… Sir Harry Secombe was knighted in 1981, and jokingly referred to himself as Sir Cumference (in recognition of his rotund figure).  The motto he chose for his coat of arms was “GO ON”, a reference to goon and possibly to the My Heart Will Go On link.

Sir Harry Secombe played Neddie Seagoon, he was a central character in the BBC radio comedy series The Goon Show in the years of (1951–60).  He also appeared in musicals and films and, in his later years, was a presenter of television shows, in the séance the spirit was noted as talking of his singing, his reference to Green Green Grass of Home did link with him signing a song of the same title and incorporating hymns and other devotional songs into an inspired album.

The spirit was notable in the séance for talking of his achievements in life, his friends, his love for the Green hills and his name printed on some kind of placement on a wall.  In 1963 Sir Harry Secombe was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).  In life Secombe passed on 11 April 2001 at the age of 79, from prostate cancer, in a hospital in Guildford, Surrey.  His ashes are interred at the parish church of Shamley Green which is another link to the Green Green Grass spoken of in the séance, and a later memorial service to talk about his life was held at Westminster Abbey on 26 October 2001.  As well as family members and friends, the service was attended by Charles, Prince of Wales and representatives of Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Anne, Princess Royal, Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon and Prince Edward, Duke of Kent.  Noted on his tombstone is the inscription: “To know him was to love him.”

The spirit, the medium said, referred to the voice as important.  One should use their voice to engage people and cause joy in the heart.

Spike, Spike was mentioned by the spirit and this was in the séance as activity was reported in a visual sighting of a large white misty form, it was something that was apparent for a few seconds and while seen it clouded out that part of the room.  It was that upon hearing of his old friend’s death, Spike Milligan, who was a friend of Sir Harry Secombe quipped, “I’m glad he died before me, because I didn’t want him to sing at my funeral.” But it was that Secombe would have the last laugh: upon Milligan’s own death the following year, a recording of Secombe singing was played at Spike’s memorial service.

While the sitters were talking of the white misty form of earlier, there was tap sounds noted first from around one of the member’s seats and then from the walls all around the séance.  The medium started to talk of a young male spirit.  J was the initial in the name given, the medium noted April as a month he would like referred to and that he was someone who relied on images rather than words.

Joseph Carey Merrick (5 August 1862 – 11 April 1890), sometimes referred to as John Merrick, was an English man with severe deformities who was exhibited as a human curiosity named as the Elephant Man.  He is the person thought to be that of the indicated spirit in the séance as research seems to link him with a lot of what was noted, in the séance the male spirit talked of London, and in life society knew him after he went to live at the London Hospital.  Merrick was born in Leicester, Leicestershire and began to develop abnormally during the first few years of his life, his skin appeared thick and lumpy, he developed enlarged lips, and a bony lump grew on his forehead.  One of his arms and both of his feet became enlarged and at some point during his childhood he fell and it was that he damaged his hip, resulting in permanent lameness.  In the séance members watched as a light was noted in a small round but brightly lit shape, it was seen for a few seconds.

The medium talked of the male spirit in front of her, he had been sad, she said for many years as he had difficulty in knowing what friends were and how he could live like his mother and father had asked for him to, in life when he was 10, his mother died, and his father soon remarried.  Research shows that Merrick left school at 13 and had difficulty then finding employment, he had difficulties with his father and stepmother, he left home and in late 1879, Merrick, aged 17, entered the Leicester Union Workhouse.  In the séance noises were heard of shuffle sounds, taps and a ringing noise.

In 1884, after four years in the workhouse, Merrick contacted a showman named Sam Torr and proposed that Torr should exhibit or show him.  Torr agreed and arranged for men to manage Merrick, whom they named the Elephant Man.  After touring the East Midlands, Merrick then did go to London to be exhibited in a penny gaff shop on Whitechapel Road which was rented by showman Tom Norman.  Whitechapel was a link spoken of by the spirit in the séance.  Norman’s shop, directly across the street from the London Hospital, was visited by a surgeon named Frederick Treves, who invited Merrick to be examined and photographed.  Soon after Merrick’s visits to the hospital, Tom Norman’s shop was closed by the police, and Merrick’s managers sent him to tour Europe but it was that later Joseph Merrick would be an inspired man, someone who was investigated by doctors and who tried to live life as best as he could.

It is interesting that Sir Harry Secombe and Joseph Merrick came through together as there are links to them both.

The Royal connection: The Princess of Wales visited with and was friends with Joseph Merrick, as was Sir Harry Secombe a friend of Princes and notable people who were seen as friends who were often in and out of his life.

The April Link: Both Sir Harry Secombe and Joseph Merrick passed on the same date of the 11th April.

The séance was of interest as it was that physical activity was noted, actions did correspond to information which was claimed as by spirits, two spirits were referenced, two people who lived years apart and although one would not know it had a lot of common links.