Chad Varah CH

Yesterday, Mary and I attended a Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Chad Varah CH. Two thousand people crammed into St Paul's Cathedral to pay their respects to one of the great men of the last century. His monument, of course, will be the founding of The Samaritans, and the many lives he saved by building up that great organisation throughout the world. But for his friends, he'll be remembered as an irreverent priest, wonderful company, the author of stories in Eagle and Girl, and some of the worst jokes I've ever heard. Many so-called great men, will not touch the masses in the way Chad did, and certainly when they die, will not be able to fill St Paul's Cathedral. Sad that I could not find a word about him in The Times or Telegraph this morning, but then that's the way he would have wanted it, as he was a truly modest man. I miss him.