Kitchen Sink Spirituality – Leslie Price

This is women's radio station. You're listening to Avril Price with Kitchen Sink Spirituality and the voice of holistic London. Welcome, listeners, and I'm very pleased that you are tuning in with us today. And as you know, I like to bring you news and views of what is happening in spiritually diverse London. And I am especially pleased today to welcome you to Live, Leslie Price. Hello, Leslie. Hello. I'm so pleased that you could join us today, Leslie. Now, Lesley is our librarian at the College of Psychic Studies, and we are both friends and colleagues. We are indeed. And not only that, but we share the same surname. So you are in with the Price clan today, listeners. So, Lesley, as I say, thank you very much for joining us. And I'd like to start off. How did you get involved with the college? What led you to the door? When I was a student, which is 50 years ago or more, I read some books from my local library about the psychic field. And at university, I made contact with my local spiritist church and with something called the Brighton Psychic Centre, which in those days was a very noted place where you could hear outstanding speakers. And one of the speakers was the president of the College of Psychic Studies, Paul Beard. So I went up to have a look at the quite impressive building in South Kensington, quite close to the Natural History Museum. And when I was about to graduate from university, I knew I wanted to do something in the psychic field. And I saw an advertisement in Psychic News, which is the newspaper Spiritualism Magazine, and it said, receptionist, clerk at the college, £750 a year. So I knew with a salary like that, that was for me, and I applied and I got the job. And when I arrived, I was put in charge of the library. And being quite young, I didn't really realize what a privilege that was because all the best psychic books, psychic literature, was gathered together in this one building in Queensby Place, South Kensington. And after that, and I worked there for about 18 months, but I retained contact with the college. I've been back at intervals, and when I retired from local government in 2013, I applied to work at the college, and that's where I am now. And it's thrilling to be at the center of all sorts of exciting developments in psychic studies. Yeah, the college, it really is quite an iconic place, isn't it? It is. But, you know, it all started off being on the edge of the law. Oh, do tell, Leslie. We love these anecdotes. Okay, imagine you're back in the time of Sherlock Holmes, right? And mediumship at that time. Was not legal under the Vagrancy act, mediums could be arrested and sent to prison for giving communications from those who'd passed on. And it happened. And mediums really did go to prison. And sometimes men and women, they got hard labour. So some quite respectable Victorians decided they'd like a place where mediums could work in safety, decent surroundings, protection from all the things that could happen if you're operating on the edge of the law. And they founded what was then called the London Spurchest Alliance. And a number of women, and we'll come to them in a minute, played a very important part. In 1925, the college moved to its permanent home in South Kensington. There'd been the Great War with tremendous loss of life, and a collection was launched at the end of the war for all those who benefited from the college services of mediumship. They raised £5,000 and in due course they moved to this house in South Kensington. And their president there was none other than the creator of Sherlock Holmes, the Detective, namely Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. So you and I, Avril, we work every day in the building that Conan Doyle worked in in the last five years of his life. And it always feels such a privilege to be there. I mean, I've been there 21 years now and the time's gone ever so quickly, and it is. It's been like being with family, but it's really quirky place. Like the mosaics on the hallway are still exactly the same as they were back in 1880, as is the. The banister that leads all the way up to the stairs. It's. It really is a bit of a grand old battleship, isn't it? It is, but there's one big difference from when I first went there 50 years ago. There's a lift now, in the old days. Talk to me about that lift. Well, it may be a haunted list and it may be temperamental, but there are five floors, as you know, at the college. Yeah. And without that lift, it would be a case of survive or give up, because today activities take place on all five floors every day of the week. Now, what do you mean by activities, Lesley? What kind of activities are these? Spooky activities or teaching activities? Well, almost everything at the college takes place in daylight. But what the college does and its primary function is, I think, to train mediums and healers and increasingly people who specialise in all sorts of arts, such as astrology, palmistry and your own tarot. In addition, a service is provided to the Individual Enquirer. Now, in the old Days, particularly after the wars, first and second world wars, there were a lot of bereaved people and there are still bereaved people who come to the college and who find comfort in the communications that I received through the sensitives there. We generally call them consultants to. But there are also spiritual seekers, those who are looking for a philosophy of life. Now there's no dogmatic opinion at the college, nothing you have to sign on the dotted line for, but there are all sorts of ways of finding out. More lectures, classes, training and of course a vast library. And they're also a special group of people, I think I can call them special, who, who have spontaneous psychic experiences of their own and perhaps don't know what to do about them. And here the college can help. And indeed some people who've since become very famous have trained as mediums at the College of Psychic Studies and as healers as well. And nowadays healing is quite an organized activity with very careful standards, testing, assessment. The college plays its part among the various healing organizations in this country and in training and validating healers. Yes, I feel that the college does a really worthy work, particularly within the area of holistics, as you just said. You know, if anyone is having experiences that they can't quite equate, then the College is a natural go to place. I think. I think it is. And it's so convenient being only five minutes from South Kensington station. There's also an excellent website with a lot of valuable information on the history of the psychic field and of the College itself. Actually, the history of the college is really, really deeply fascinating and particularly in that area of South Kensington, because the college as we certainly know it of sorts was 1882. But I was interested the Natural History Museum, which is literally just around the corner, that was built in 1835. So within a 50 to 70 year period we are suddenly seeing London go through this whole kind of like social change. And what's especially interesting about that is that A.E. wallace was also connected to the college who was a contemporary of course of Darwin. That's right. Alfred Russel Wallace was one of the signators of our articles of association at the College. He was, as you say, the co discoverer of natural selection and evolution with Charles Darwin. But there was a difference between the two. Alfred Russell Wallace investigated spiritualism and psychic phenomena and became convinced of survival and wrote some very important books about him. Charles Darwin, for all his genius as a naturalist, he investigated psychic phenomena to a very modest extent, but he had an aversion. He couldn't even bring himself in some cases to attend seances to find out more. And obviously Alfred Russell Wallace, who made an important contribution to quite a number of sciences, not just biology. Arthur Vossel Wallace is more our kind of person. I was very happy a couple of years ago to cross the road from the college, go to the Natural History Museum, join Sir David Attenborough and others for the unveiling of a statue of Alfred Russell Wallace. And I felt it was not before time. Oh, that sounds fantastic news. I didn't even know anything about that. Well, we're going to go to a quick break now and then we'll return to our conversation. 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To donate, simply head to our website. Every little will help. This is Women's Radio Station. You're listening to Avril Price with Kitchen Sink Spirituality, the voice of holistic London. And here we are this afternoon in conversation with the very lovely Lesley Price. We're having an absolutely fascinating chat so far, and we have been discussing the origins of the College of Psychic Studies, a very iconic place within the field of spiritualism. But I think some of our listeners may not be clear about what spiritualism actually is. So perhaps we could just touch base with that. Lesley we can. Spiritualism is based on the idea that people survive death and that it's possible for them to communicate with us and indeed for us to communicate with them. And what spiritists have in common is this shared belief. They may have all sorts of other beliefs or disbeliefs, but it's the belief in the fact of communication as well as survival that makes them spiritualist. Now, at the College of Psyche Studies, we have people of all sorts of different opinions, including a few skeptics, people who belong to different religions or no religions. So there's no party line or anything like that. At the college, people consult mediums for a variety of reasons. Obviously, looking for evidence of survival and looking for comfort in bereavement is one of the main reasons. But sometimes people come in frankly for guidance. They might be at an important point in their life and they feel the need to get some idea as to which direction they should take. And that's a perfectly legitimate reason. And then there are those who have some inner spiritual searching that's moving inside them. And the psychic dimension can be a stepping stone to all sorts of other things. You know, listening to your description, it comes across as being terribly human. And I think that a very humanitarian that we can use this whole philosophy of spiritualism in order to heal and help and support each other. I think that's always been a humanitarian emphasis, and quite rightly so. The first woman to become president of the college back in the 1930s was a lady called Miss Lind af Hagaby. And she was a very famous humanitarian in this sense. She was extremely concerned about animal welfare, particularly animals that I'm sorry to say were used in laboratory experiments. And she took part in a famous court case in the early years of the 20th century. She was a Very noted orator. And in particular, she spoke very well in court. And this emphasis not just in the welfare of human beings, but in the welfare of all living creation is something that's very common in the psychic field. It's as if people exposed to the psychic dimension become sensitive to not just human suffering, but to animal suffering as well. And there are also quite a number of notable cases in which animals that have passed on, certainly domestic pets, have returned. That's a whole new conversation about animals making contact. But I think what I'd really like to discuss with you is how women have been involved in spiritualism, because it's a little area of social history which indeed runs into current times about how women have. Well, for example, back in the day, women were able to make a living from mediumship. Is that the case, do you think? It was. Now, officially, the spiritualist movement starts in 1848 with two sisters in the Fox family in New York State, in Hydesville, in whose house rather unusual phenomena were happening, like what we would now call poltergeist phenomenon. And they develop mediumship, and indeed they become professional mediums for a time, and they earn their living through. Through mediumship. But lots of people start their own, as we call them, home circles, and they start getting all sorts of phenomena like automatic writing, trance, even the development of spirit art. And professional mediums emerge, not just in America, but here. So here, as you rightly say, we have people working professionally, often women earning their living as mediums, sometimes operating from their homes and sometimes from particular psychic centers, and sometimes from the growing number of spiritist churches, but always on the edge of the law. Now, it's difficult when you're in this rather exciting, pleasant surroundings at the College of Psychic Studies, eminently respectable, to realize that in 1928, the college was raided by the police. I didn't know that. That's fantastic. The secretary was arrested and I believe. Handkerchief. And one of the mediums, Mrs. Can, was also arrested and taken away. And they were prosecuted under the Vagrancy Act. And some very notable people, including Sir Oliver Lodge, the great physicist, gave evidence on their behalf in the court. And I have to say the court dealt with them leniently. So mediumship started in the modern world on the edge of the law. And not until the 1951 Fraudulent Mediums act was it properly legalized in this country. And a distinction was made between genuine mediumship and fraudulent mediumship, which quite rightly remained illegal. Women played a very important part in the early days of the college. One of the founding members was Emma Harding Britton, who'd been a great campaigner for mediumship and spiritualism in the United States and in England. She was born in London, she settled in later life in Manchester, but she lived in the United States. And she'd known the Fox sisters, the founders, personally, and she joined the college when we started in 1884. There were two other women, quite notable women, who were artists who became founder members. One was Georgiana Houghton, a spinster lady who painted quite remarkable, I should say, technically, she drew rather than painted quite remarkable colored pictures of a symbolic nature which interpreted the character of people who sat with her. Now, Georgiana Hatton's joins with the subject of a very successful exhibition held at the Courtauld Gallery years ago. And there's something about them which is of a very upsetting nature. See, abstract art is supposed to start around 1900, but these drawings were done in the 1870s. So if you take this seriously, you have to rewrite the history of abstract art. And this exhibition caused quite a stir, as you can imagine. It was even noted in the Financial Times and the Guardian, as well as in the specialist art journals. The other notable artist was called Anna Mary Hurt. She was a married lady and she also did symbolic drawings. She'd been properly trained as an artist in Germany, and she just did conventional paintings of the sort that you normally had in Victorian times. But one of her paintings was very harshly criticized by John Ruskin, the noted critic. So she gave up conventional art, and when her family became involved in the investigation getting spiritualism, she developed the gift of psychic art. Now, if you work in a particular room at the college, you will see on the wall drawings by Georgiana Houghton and pictures also by Anna Mary Howard. But there's a sad story to this story. Anna Mary Howard got diphtheria in Germany soon after the college was founded and she passed away. Oh, and Georgia Houghton suffered a stroke and not long afterwards she passed away. The drawings of Anna Mary Howitt were inherited by her husband, who, and in due course, with the help of the noted scientist William Crookes, they went to the archives of the Society for Psychical Research. Georgia Houghton's drawings, 20 or more of them, ended up in Australia, in Melbourne. We're not quite sure how, but for 100 years they've been preserved by the Victoria association of Spurches in Melbourne, and they were the core of the exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery. But at the College of Psychic Studies, we have an album of Georgiana Houghton's drawings and a team from the Courtauld Gallery came to examine this album not very long ago to try to work out how the images got there. I think they must have apported themselves or something like that. But that's a wonderful story and I remember going to see the exhibition and I thought it was really quite something. So we can see a massive contribution there from Lady Mediums. We'll be back right after the break. Welcome to Women's Radio Station, the voice of women worldwide. Hungry an average woman eats about 2 to 3 kilos of lipstick in her lifetime. Women's Radio Station, we want to hear from you. This is Women's Radio Station. 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This is Avril Price with Kitchen Sink Spirituality, the voice of holistic London. And I'm here having a lovely conversation with my friend and colleague Leslie Price from the College of Psychic Speaker Studies in Queensberry Place, South Kensington, the icon of all things spiritualist. And we've been having a lovely chat about spiritualism and its origins. And I just wanted to say about Emma Harding, Britain, is that when I came across her, I instantly fell in love with her. She became a bit of a heroine, particularly as it took me back into those times where women wore, you know, the full metal jacket of long dresses and bodices and one thing or another, and she did such a lot of work for spiritualism, I think. She called herself a test medium and she was involved in musical mediumship and so on and so forth. But what really impressed me was that she traveled between the UK and Boston in the States, which may have taken about three or four weeks to get there. She traveled with her mother, which must have been grueling, one presumes. And, you know, and it was not very comfortable to be, you know, to wear the Victorian clothes of that time, but to have that passion and to have that dedication and to really believe in something. I remember it being a massive cornerstone in my career, actually. She really, really inspired me. But she wasn't the only person of that or the only lady of that era, because there was Etta. Right. Of which we have a big portrait on our wall. And she makes me laugh, Etta, because sometimes I look at. And if she's wearing her glasses, I know that something going on, but if she's not wearing them, then we're all good. Etterbete was a noted American medium, but there's a royal connection here, which. Got a moment. I'll tell you a bit about. Yeah. There was a clairvoyant called Georgiana Eagle who performed before Queen Victoria in 1846. Yes. Queen Victoria was so impressed that she gave her a gold watch. She did. And this gold watch, in due course, came into the hands of William Stead, the journalist. And William Stead had a sitting with the medium, just mentioned Etta Reed, who was visiting England for America and who should communicate with him, but Queen Victoria, who naturally he'd known personally. And William Stead thought, I ought to give this watch to Etta Reid to take back to the States in appreciation of her mediumship. So he did, and Eterid went to the stage states. But then about 20 years ago, 20 years later, when Etta was getting on a bit, she thought, I need to find a home for Queen Victoria's gold watch. I should add that on the side of the watch it said, presented to Georgiana Eagle. So what she. She did she. What Etta did. She consulted various people, including the Prime Minister of Canada, Mackenzie King, who was Asperger's. He was Canadian Prime Minister during the Second World War. And she also consulted some friends who were members of the college. The Duchess of Hamilton was one of them. And after various considerations, including whether to give the watch to the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle, where the royal wedding took place recently, it was decided to present it to the college. And it came. Came to the college in 1938, and it stayed there and it was on display in our lecture hall. But then something terrible happened. In 1962, it was stolen. Oh, no. Now, you can imagine having all these psychic people around at the college. They would have no difficulty in locating it. Don't tell anybody, but nobody knew where it had gone to and it remained completely unknown until January of last year. Yeah. And then on a Sunday afternoon at the college, we received an email from an antique dealer in the Isle of Wight. And he said, I've just noticed in an antique dealer's catalog that this watch is for sale at a famous antique dealers. The antique dealer was very interested in the. In Osborne House, which was Queen Victoria's home in the Isle of Wyck, where this Claire Barnes demonstration had taken place. So he alerted us to the fact that this watch had resurfaced. It was stolen, but it had resurfaced. So a team from the college, including our then president, Stephen Chapman, who was a solicitor, which is very helpful, he was very useful, they went round to the antique dealers and we gathered together some evidence to prove that it was ours. We got out the minute book in which the very sad news was recorded in 1962 that it had been stolen. And we cut out some old press cuttings to show that it had been known to be at the college for years and years before that. And the watch was withdrawn from sale. And some months later, the person who was selling it, who was not the person who'd stolen it, who would now be very old, of course, returned it to us and we had a great party at the college in February to mark the return. And I like to think that Etta Reid, who'd once owned it and whose picture is on the wall there at the college, would have been pleased at this development. Absolutely. Cock a hoop. I remember that event. Vicky's Ticker, that's what we call it. Yeah. That was a good evening. So I don't think I was pronouncing her surname correctly. I always call her Etta Wright, makes her sound like a soul singer, but it's actually Etta reads. Well, if we have any American listeners, they might be able to tell us. It sounds a bit like a German name, but how it was pronounced in her own time by herself, I'm not quite sure. So, moving on a little bit, then. So we're not the only Prices that have been at the college, because one of our predecessors was none other than Harry Price, which always makes me chuckle because that's my dad's name, but there is actually no connection as such. But Harry Price was actually. Was quite famous for various reasons, wasn't he? In his lifetime, Harry Price was regarded as the leading expert on psychic phenomena by the BBC and also by Fleet street, the newspaper world. He died in 1948, but in the 20s and 30s he became very famous as a ghost hunter and in particular the investigator of Boring Rectory, which is a haunted rectory. But I'm sorry to say that for people who knew Harry Price well, his mania for publicity and for self advancement was a bit of a distorting factor. In the late 1920s, he had his laboratory at the top of the College of Psyche Studies building in Queensby Place, and he called it the National Laboratory for Psychical Research. And I may say it was a condition of his tenancy that his nameplate outside the building should not be larger than that of the college itself, because even then they knew that he was a bit of a self promoter. Now, he was a controversial person who got into dispute with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, because Sir Arthur Conan Doyle was a very keen believer in spiritualism. And Harry Price, he changed his mind from time to time. But sometimes he was rather anti spiritualist, depending on the way the publicity was going, and sometimes he was rather pro spiritualist. Nevertheless, his laboratory was one of the most advanced psychical research laboratories in the world at that time. And some very famous mediums took part in investigations on the top floor of the college. Now today, one of those rooms is used as a meditation room. And I like to think that it has a calming effect on whatever disturbances were left by Harry Price. Yeah, he was quite a character. So his job then would have been mediums who came into the college. He would have tested, quote, unquote, them. And I think that Helen Duncan and Eileen Garrett were amongst the more famous female mediums of that time, were they not? Yes, Eileen Garrett is a really interesting and important medium. She was partly trained at the college in the 1920s. She'd been brought up in Ireland and she'd had psychic experiences from girlhood. But when she was a medium and a famous and noted medium, almost from the beginning, she was uncertain about the origin of her mediumship. So she made a point of cooperating with scientists not only in Britain, but also in the United States. I'll say more about her in a moment. Okay, we'll go for a quick break and then we'll come back to Eileen Garrett. Welcome to women's radio station, the voice of women worldwide. So I do glitter for a living. Next on women's radio station wrs. Women's radio station hey, this is Jessie and I'm a life architect. So what has made you say effort in rage or effort enjoy this week. I love listening to women's radio whilst driving in my car. My sport and me listen online on your smartphone and on your computer. If you wanted to find out a little bit more, do go to our website womensradiostation.com Mira B Ltd. We are a virtual PA consultancy. We provide remote administrative services. Our offering is diverse. We manage your calendar, we update your client database, we take care of your property in France and in London. We also offer bookkeeping and translation services. Would you like to know more? Please call 077-8684-8998 for further information. Mirae B Limited making the life of the business owner successful. Hi, I'm Vivian Arts, President of Women in Banking and Finance. Are you a woman working in the financial services sector in the uk? If you are not already a member then you are missing out on a fantastic network which has been inspiring women for 40 years. We are a not for profit organization empowering women to network, learn and inspire each other at every stage of their career. Through our highly sought after events, we aim to improve diversity by working closely with government leaders and firms through our UK branches. Find out more at www.wibf.org uk and join a network to transform your career. Do you dream of a wedding on the beach? Or maybe in the middle of a vineyard? Imagine your wedding in Italy, the land of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. Getting married in Italy in a venue that is magical and has natural beauty. Amoretti weddings create unforgettable moments. What you had to do is just relax and watch us make your wedding a real fairy tale. Contact us now for a free consultation. Www.amoretti.co.uk hi, I'm Valentina Barbacci and I'm the Executive Director of Media Matters for Women. We're a registered charity operating in Sierra Leone and the Democratic Republic of Congo and we produce and share podcasts via Bluetooth or mobile phones, focusing specifically on women and girls excluded from information due to extreme poverty. We empower those living in rural areas with media that transforms how they access, own and share information. To find out more and be part of this movement, come check out our website at mediamattersforwomen.org at New Square Tutors, we believe that matching a student with the right tutor is half the battle. We help students from preschool to adult to gain confidence and a love of learning. Whether it's working towards an exam or hoping to build confidence, we're here to help Our tutors cover a range of subjects as well as all major school exams and university entry. Lessons are tailored to the students individual needs to ensure the best learning experience. For more information visit www.newsquaretutors.com or check out the Women's Radio Station website. Hi, my name is Sahail Mirza, author, writer and speaker. I'm here to tell you about my new book Many Mansions which has just been published on Amazon which outlines my journey from the depths of despair and a crisis of meaning to one of fruitful faith and the light within. You can find details of the book on Amazon which describes it as a hot new release and I'd love to hear from you on my website which is www.spiritual-survolution.com at distinctively me we are passionate about making clothes that complement any body shape through our made to measure tailored pieces. Distinctively Me Smart and elegant clothes are made in our London studio from the highest quality fabrics and will create the perfect outfit for any woman. Our trousers, skirts and jackets are modern yet timeless and can be worn season after season. Visit us@distinctivelyme.com to be amazed at our service and prices. Distinctively me discover the pleasure of Made to Measure hi, I'm Michelle Bartlett, the founder of Live Laugh Love Ladies Club. We're looking for ladies to link arms across the globe. This is a new vibrant brand connecting women socially. Our club members enjoy great food, fun and inspiring speakers whilst making friends in a room of all generations. If you're a social butterfly in the community, this fast growing franchise could be for you. If you would like to know more about stepping into our pink shoes then look at the Business Opportunity page on our website livelaughadies club. Also at womensradiostation.com women's radio station is a not for profit, community interest company. Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate simply head to our website. Every little will help. Sa. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle passed away in 1930, the novelist who created Sherlock Holmes. So Harry Price, the psychic investigator thought I'd like to organise a seance to see if I can get in touch with Conan Doyle and Ardingale even then was known as a really good medium. So he arranged this with Eileen Garrett and they sat down to wait for Arthur Gondale to communicate. But the trouble with this is that you can't command the attendance of a particular person who's passed on and the sitting got going and who should appear. But some of the airmen who'd recently perished in the R101 airship disaster. And they were not happy, not merely because they perished in a tragic fire when the airship crashed, but because they knew that the airship was not airworthy, it was too heavy, and they knew this and that. They died really in a way that was completely unjustified. And Eileen Garrett was able to transmit some of the technical details. So this was very remarkable. And Eileen Garrett's mediumship convince many people, except for Eileen Garrett, as I mentioned a few minutes ago, she took part in many experiments to try and understand her maidenship. And then in 1951, she started a research organization to investigate the paranormal, which is still with us today, called the Parapsychology foundation, based in New York, which organizes conferences, publishes books, and finances parapsychological research all over the world. And the money for that came from another woman, Frances Bolson, a member of the House of Representatives in the United States. And when Eileen passed away, her daughter became the president, also called Eileen. And today, Lise Kohner, the granddaughter, continues as the president of the Parapsychology Foundation. So it's not only that women have got this great gift for mediumship, it's also that women can have played their part in the investigation of mediumship and continue to do so. Now, I don't wish to suggest that mediumship is not found in men as well as women. It certainly is. But I think it's fair to say that women have played a major part in the development of mediumship, and they still do. And that's certainly the case at the College of Psychic Studies. I do recommend you to contact the College of Psychic Studies, look at the website, call in, just sit in the library there, browse through the books, and perhaps attend a lecture or a class or something of that nature, and see whether the College of Psychic Studies has anything to offer that would meet your own particular interests and in sa. Progressing in any way. The first president of the college was a clergyman called Stainton Moses. And he made the point Even then in 1884, that the spiritism of the future would be different from the spurcism in his own time. And I think he was right, because the tendency then, which became more pronounced over the next century, was to set up spurches churches, and to see that as the main vehicle for promoting mediumship. But we know that churchgoing has declined as an activity in Europe and that we now live in the Internet age, an age of electronic communication, instinct, communication, and all sorts of new media which were not present in the early Days. Now, the college is among the organizations that are responding very much to these electronic changes with webinars and all sorts of online opportunities, including Skype, which were just not available when the college started. We've also had the New Age movement, which a generation ago was the latest thing. So there are always fashions and there are always trends. And at the time you and I are speaking, we know that there's a great interest in angel revelations and angel teachings, and who knows what it's going to be in, in 10 years time. What remains, though, is the sensitivity which is found in a small number of people, often women, but not always. And that sensitivity takes different forms in different generations, but that seems to be something that continues and which expresses itself in various ways. And I think we can be grateful that today the legal climate has changed and the social climate has changed and society as a whole is much more accepting of that sensitivity. And mediums, healers, and those with these particular, particular guests are much more able to express themselves and make their contribution to society. Very well said, Lesley. That's brilliant. I absolutely agree with you wholeheartedly. I suspect not. It may be that our listeners will have their own experiences and their own views about this, but I suspect not. And that it's something they're able to do only through the human contact to somebody on this plane who is indeed watching EastEnders. So, listeners, I would like to invite you to get in touch with us and perhaps let me know about some of your experiences and we could have a whole show about that. If you would like to email me@presentersomensradiostation.com or you can contact me via Twitter and it's womensradiostn. I would love to hear all about your experiences. Anything that goes bump in the night. We're quite used to fielding these kind of questions, but I would like to take this opportunity to thank Lesley for coming in. It's been absolutely wonderful and as usual, I'm pulling my hair out because I wish we had longer, because the whole subject of spiritualism is deeply fascinating and it has had such a profound effect on society, often unbeknown to lots of people. And as we've already said, the contribution that women have made to that has been phenomenal. And in actual fact, our college is headed by our principal, Jill Mattini, who does a really, really good job of making sure we all work really hard, but she's done a very good job of making sure that the college remains the icon that it is. Is there anything that you want to say before we close. Lesley? Yes, I'd like to thank Avril very much indeed for some very stimulating questions. Oh, good. Thank you and thanks to James, our producer, and to Natalie, our operations manager. Thanks very much, listeners and bye for now. WRS women's radio station, Voice of women Worldwide. Welcome to future Classical Woman Awards with me, Stefania Passamonte on Women's Radio station. Hello and welcome to Talking Travel with myself, Kay, on women's Radio station. Women speak about 20,000 words a day. That's 13,000 more than the average man. Welcome back to From Sonnet to Song. I'm Isabel Schuller. I'm Martha Reid, WRS women's radio station. You know, women are great at organizing things and saving money. Well, have you heard about the amazing booking site heathrow parking.com it's an airport parking comparison site without the annoying meerkats. Heathrowparking.com is the place to pre book your airport parking, whether you're after a meet and greet or a park and ride service. 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Are you a woman working in the financial services sector in the uk? If you are not already a member, then you are missing out on a fantastic network which has been inspiring women for 40 years. We are a not for profit organization empowering women to network, learn and inspire each other at every stage of their career. Through our highly sought after events, we aim to improve diversity by working closely with government leaders and firms through our UK branches. Find out more at www.wibf.org uk and join a network to transform your career. Hi, my name is Sahel Mirza, author, writer and speaker. I'm here to tell you about my new book, Many Mansions, which has just been published on Amazon, which outlines my journey from the depths of despair and a crisis of meaning to one of fruitful faith and the light within. You can find details of the book on Amazon, which describes it as a hot new release and I'd love to hear from you on my website which is www.spiritual-survolution.com Women's radio station will give a voice to your brand, Advertise your product, services or goods on air with a package tailored to suit you. For more information, visit womensradiostation.com you know women are great at organizing things and saving money. Well, have you heard about the amazing booking site Heathrow Parking.com? it's an airport parking comparison site without the annoying meerkats. Heathrowparking.com is the place to pre book your airport parking whether you're after a meet and greet or a park and ride service. Ladies, we're talking savings of up to 60%. What's not to love with gold FIFO reviews, fully flexible booking options and a best price guarantee, you'll find the perfect parking for you at heathrowparking.com. My special Mum or my special daughter. Tell us why your mother or daughter is so special. Record your entry and send to Compass competition@womensradiostation.com voted for by our listeners. The best entry will win a bunch of flowers sent to their door. WRS Women's Radio Station Voice of Women Worldwide at Distinctively Me we are passionate about making clothes that complement any body shape through our made to measure tailored pieces. Distinctively Me Smart and elegant clothes are made in our London studio from the highest quality fabrics and will create the perfect outfit for any woman. Our trousers, skirts and jackets are modern yet timeless and can be worn season after season. Visit us@distinctivelyme.com to be amazed at our service and prices. Distinctively me Discover the pleasure of Made to Measure Women's Radio Station is a not for profit community interest company. Supporting women is our passion. We're currently welcoming donations to help towards our running costs to keep this important initiative alive. To donate simply head to our website. 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