This became rather more formalised when a large contingent of Norwegian Christians spent a weekend on the island in June 2019. They came with a conviction of the need to acknowledge the ‘sins of their fathers’ and on June 8th, the anniversary of the Viking invasion of Holy Island in 793AD, they staged a formal ceremony of confession and prayer at the old harbour wall, during which sword and axe were laid down and a silver and gold menorah presented to the island in symbolic recompense for what was plundered, materially and spiritually.

Speaking for a few minutes at one of the gatherings was Roy Godwin of the Ffald y Brenin retreat centre in South Wales. One of our guests recommended his book ‘The Grace Outpouring’ which tells the story of God working at the Centre and beyond through prayer. Tracey felt very strongly that we needed to visit. We read the book, listened to some teaching on developing a house of prayer and began to structure our day along those lines. In August we managed an 850-mile round-trip over a weekend and it proved a significant visit for Tracey in particular.

At the same time we outlined our prayer focus and placed a prayer-tree in the dining room at Bamburgh View, and invited guests to contribute their prayer requests. It was very interesting that during this time there was a noticeable increase both in the warmth of appreciation shown by our guests and the sense of welcome they experienced during their stay. And at one point, for a few consecutive days, people were being attracted to our doorstep - and walking in - looking for café facilities - but that’s another story!

We also wanted to extend our website to encourage similar prayer request and testimony, as well as to provide a space for sharing something of our experience, journey and vision.