Tony and Barbara Holden

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We’ve lived in Loughton since 1993 – a London, Central Line Underground, commuter town – which is in Essex: Tony retired in 2003 Barbara in 2006 after living and working in Newham between 1976 and 2006.

Since we first began this website, our lives have been changed and limited by health and latterly, as for so many, by Covid-19.

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We get help to continue living in this house [since 1999] from wonderful church, neighbour, friends and also from some bought-in-care: it isn’t at all easy going!

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Barbara gets to the High Road, our LMC church, and out with friends and has her own health problems. Now Tony is in-house because of a [rare] neurological movement disorder. We need people with a car and a willingness to push Tony's wheelchair for when we go out [as Christmas 2021 at daughter Sian’s]!

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Family and friends visit and make contact through social media. We have a small church house group that meets monthly in our home. And we regularly engage with son Adam and daughter Sian and their families – 4 teenage grandchildren. We continue to enjoy our long-term interests – Barbara especially the garden dialogue and politics; Tony writing [some as this jointly], poems, drawing; and, of course, our lives together since we met in South Wales September 1963.

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Barbara – I worked in secondary and adult education as teacher, counsellor and finally as manager for Community Education and Youth Service in the London Borough of Newham – where we lived from 1976-1993. I continue with my life-long commitment to church, politics, interfaith dialogue and feminism.

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Tony – I worked for the Methodist church as a Minister in three parishes [South Wales, Accrington, Bilston-Wolverhampton 13 years]. Then in Stratford East London [11 years]. Next for the National Methodist Church [12 years]. And back to Stratford [4 years]. We are formed by what we ‘do’ and I found myself focusing on the urban issues of cities, racial justice and anti-poverty [all of which looks very different through the lenses of climate change and a pandemic].