“…..When David was just ten years old he went to work in the cotton mill. ‘It’s SO noisy!’ he thought, the day he started. ‘I used to think the roar of the mill wheel was noisy. It was nothing to this!’ The boy discovered before the first day ended that he had to learn to lip-read because nobody could hear over the clatter of the looms. David was put beside an old weaver and was shown by a mix of sign language, lip-reading and slaps on the back what he had to do. His job was to watch the shuttle going right and left … right and left … right and left – over and over and over and over again and to see when a thread snapped. Then he had to jump up, grab the broken ends, tie them together and all without letting the loom stop going right and left … right and left … over and over and over again. If his mind wandered and he missed a broken thread, a slap on his ear soon made him jump and grab the ends. ………”

THAT’S an extract from author Irene Howat’s version for children, of the story of David Livingstone, written especially for her ‘Story a Month Club’, a web-based site that aims to bring the stories about Christians to children in a living and colourful way.

Irene hails from Ayrshire, a rural area with both farming and mining running through its veins – both industries well represented in Irene’s family.

“When I was 11, I joined the 3rd Ayr Girl Guides,” says Irene. “Soon afterwards I took myself to the Auld Kirk one Sunday morning. I felt very much at home there.

“The minister, the Rev William P Howat, made a huge impression on me through my teenage years, as did the Scripture Union group at Ayr Academy.

“At 16 I became a Christian and the following Sunday asked Mr Howat if there was anything a young Christian my age could do to serve Jesus. The following week he gave me the names and addresses of three elderly members of the congregation and said I could visit them. Of course, I thought I was helping them – but little did I know he had chosen three of the most godly elderly women in the congregation and they helped me more than I could ever have helped them – as he had known they would!

“Mr Howat also introduced me to the Church of Scotland’s ‘Friends of the Overseas Church’. This met, I think, just once a year in Edinburgh and through it I made friends with others about my own age who wanted to spend their lives in God’s service, not necessarily overseas, but at least keeping that option open.

“From school I went on to study in Glasgow and became very involved in Seaside Mission and the now long defunct Christian Highway. My summers were spent on various summer missions, all the way from Galloway to Skye with various places in between. Christian Highway was a group that went out to youth hostels for weekends with a view to enjoying ourselves and offering a short Sunday service if anyone wanted it.

“Angus and I met in the library in Ayr. He was the librarian and I was teaching in Ayr Academy.

“We were married in 1971 and moved up to Elgin a few months later. Angus served in the public library from then until 1985 when he felt called to the ministry and that took us to Edinburgh where he attended Free Church College, which is now the Edinburgh Theological Seminary. We moved to Edinburgh for him to begin his theological training. From there we moved, in 1990, to Campbeltown where he ministered, and then north to Tarbert Loch Fyne where we continued his ministry from 1996 until 2009. On retirement we went back home to Ayrshire where we are happily settled in Coylton.

We have three daughters, two of them married. Our grandchildren live just an hour away which means we see them often and greatly enjoy being part of their young lives.”

Irene discovered a passion for writing while laid up during a particularly difficult time, when pain made her unable to walk.

“I have always had pain when walking and by then it was acute and walking was for a while not an option. But I used the time to attend college to study Systematic Theology and Church History. It was a result of my studies that my first book, ‘Pain, my Companion,’ was published.

“Since then I’ve written over 50 books, all of them published by Christian Focus Publications (CFP). Apart from six picture story books, nearly all are biographies or collections of short biographies. More than half of my books were written for children. One series of ten books, each containing the stories of ten Christians, has sold particularly well both here and in the States,” she says.

Irene is involved in writing for the Free Church too – for the last 20 years she has edited ‘The Instructor’, forerunner to the present day ‘Compass’, the Free Church’s magazine for primary school aged children.

“One of the interesting spin-offs has been the letters I’ve had from children, many hundreds over the years. I reply to them all and have built up a relationship with a good number of children and young folk. One of my first ‘Instructor’ correspondents is now in her thirties and we meet every couple of months for a chat! I retire from that job in May.”

Irene says she’s noticed changes in the way young people and children are brought up nowadays.

“Children are no longer encouraged to have heroes in the way that I was when I was a girl. One of my favourite books was

‘The Girls’ Book of Heroines’ and, to my delight, I found a copy on Ebay some years ago so can now read it all over again.

“Today children are fed a diet of celebrities. Some celebrities are fine as far as they go, but celebrities don’t have the staying power that heroes have.

“For instance, as a youngster I read about Florence Nightingale and David Livingstone and also loved listening to groups playing on Radio Luxembourg. I know which of these has had a lasting influence as I still know the stories of Florence Nightingale and David Livingstone but I have to use the Internet to remind me of the Spencer Davis Group and Moody Blues!

“I also know from the many children with whom I have contact that they like to read about real people. Yes, it’s great reading fantasy, and I wish I’d invented Quidditch, but even the youngest readers know that it’s pretend and that they can’t grow up to become Harry Potter. The wonderful thing about Christian heroes and heroines is that they started life as ordinary boys and girls. So children can dream of doing what heroes did, for with God all things are possible.”

I’ve written over 50 books, all of them published by Christian Focus Publications (CFP). Apart from six picture story books, nearly all are biographies or collections of short biographies. More than half of my books were written for children. One series of ten books, each containing the stories of ten Christians, has sold particularly well both here and in the States.

Irene Howat

That set Irene wondering – how could she bring the stories of the Christian heroes to children nowadays?

That’s when she began to devise ‘The Story-A-Month Club’.

“Each month members are sent, by e-mail, an illustrated life-story of an interesting Christian person, some are from our own day and others are taken from history. So far they have been doctors, artists, athletes and other sportsmen, musicians, missionaries etc. They have run schools, orphanages and prisons and their own homes besides. And they have come from many different parts of the world. The stories, which always include a description of the subject’s childhood, are factual and certainly not preachy, though it is always made clear that the person is a Christian. Each story is about the length of a chapter of a book.

Along with their newly-written story, children are sent the person’s life story in pictures to colour in. The suggestion is that they can collect their stories into a loose leaf folder and make their own totally unique book of heroes. Which, of course, takes me full circle to ‘The Girls’ Book of Heroines’ which I read when I was a child. One last thing is included in the monthly pack and that’s a sheet of puzzles based of the story. The £3 annual membership of the Story-a-Month Club just pays for the artwork and IT support. The Club is non-profitmaking.

Irene Howat’s STORY-A-MONTH Club

Irene Howat

“‘The Story-A-Month Club’. Each month members are sent, by e-mail, an illustrated life-story of an interesting Christian person, some are from our own day and others are taken from history. So far they have been doctors, artists, athletes and other sportsmen, musicians, missionaries etc. They have run schools, orphanages and prisons and their own homes besides. And they have come from many different parts of the world

“Story-a-Month Club members can’t contact me directly unless they go through my publisher, as some do. One lad in Texas wrote to thank me for still being alive so that I could write more stories for him!”

Not all Irene’s biographical subjects are from olden times or have long been dead.

Many are still alive today.

“Sitting with people and hearing their stories face to face has been an enormous privilege,” says Irene.

“I wrote the biography of Dr Helen Roseveare, a missionary in the Congo, who was captured by Simba rebels and held captive with other missionaries for some time before being freed. They suffered terrible things. But Helen also had times of great blessing and so did I through working on them with her.

“Imagine sitting in my sitting room with that gracious lady and hearing her tell me this story. One day in Nebobongo, in the Congo, Mama Luka (that’s how she was known) went to the orphanage on the hospital compound and told the children that a tiny baby had been born overnight but sadly the mother had died. She explained that the only hot water bottle in in the hospital had burst so it was hard to keep the baby warm. There were no fancy incubators in 1950s Congo! The children knew that it was cold in the Congo at nights. Mama Luka also said that the baby had a two-year-old sister who was crying because her mummy wasn’t there.

“A ten-year-old orphan, whose name was Ruth, stood up and prayed. ‘God, please send a hot-water bottle so that this little baby doesn’t die. And God, it will be no use sending it tomorrow because we need it today. And while you’re at it, God, will you send a dolly for the baby’s sister who is crying because her mummy has died. Amen.’

Mama Luka didn’t say ‘Amen’ because she didn’t believe it was possible.

“Later that day, when Mama Luka was in the hospital ward, a man came in with a message.

“A truck has just driven in with a parcel for you. The man dropped the parcel and drove away again.

“Mama Luka went out and looked at the parcel. It had been sent from England and it was the first parcel that she had received in all the time she had been in the Congo.

“Mama Luka took the parcel to the orphan home to let the children see it being opened. Their eyes were wide open as baby clothes, bandages, soap and other exciting things were taken out and held up. Then Mama Luka pushed down into the parcel and felt what could only be a hot water bottle!

“When she held it up Ruth jumped to her feet.

“If he sent the hot water bottle, he’ll have sent a dolly too!’ she yelled.

“The little girl yanked everything else out of the parcel and, when she reached the bottom, there – as she knew it would be – was a dolly for the baby’s big sister.

“That’s a wonderful story, made even more wonderful by the fact that the parcel was posted many months before Ruth prayed and it came the very day when the hot-water bottle was needed to keep a tiny new baby alive and the dolly was needed to comfort his big sister.”

Irene still has plans for her retirement.

“Writing still takes up much of my time, both for Compass magazine, the Story-a-Month Club and poetry, both in Scots and English. I’m hoping to have more time to spend on poetry in the future and on art, my life-long hobby”.

As Irene reflects on a life of service to Jesus, she can’t help smiling.

“Who would have thought that when I was a new young Christian I asked my minister how I could serve the Lord. Now, as a disabled person past retiring age, the Story-a-Month Club is a way in which I can continue to serve him for a wee while yet.”

Two of Irene’s books