I first came across the Guardian Weekly while staying with George and Mary More in a small village in eastern Maharashtra, India; that was in 1967. George and Mary were Church of Scotland missionaries, Mary, a qualified doctor, ran a small clinic in the village primarily for leprosy patients. George, having gone to India as a minister of the kirk, soon discovered “one thing India had was sufficient theology”, so he retrained himself in basic engineering. With help from the local community he set up a small workshop enabling young men to develop basic skills.
I had gone to Maharashtra as an agricultural adviser with VSO. My role was to help and advise the Dattapur community: a hospital, rehabilitation centre and agricultural project for leprosy patients. The centre was one of many run by followers of Mahatma Gandhi. The experience changed my life.
During my VSO time I spent many happy hours with George and Mary. They not only helped me adjust to my time in India, but introduced me to my window on the world, the Guardian Weekly, which still arrives through my door, but now in deepest Somerset.
