Waldensian Review No 132 Summer 2018 | Page 3

WALDENSIAN CALENDARS 2019 Beautiful as ever, with pictures of the Valleys and Bible verses also in English. Available from the begin- ning of October. Please order via the website or send a cheque for £12.50 (payable to Waldensian Church Mission) to: Milvia Walker, 19 Forest Approach, Woodford Green ig 8 9 bw Prescot and Peggy Stephens were my strongest supporters; they liked the fact that I was born and brought up in the Waldensian Valleys, but my father was from Riesi, in Sicily, and, a lay preacher himself, had various pastors among his relatives. They thought that, as a journalist, I would be a good communicator, and Prescot was fascinated by the fact that my parents were friends with Primo Levi and that I had known the great Italian writer and Holocaust survivor for most of my life. Obviously Prescot had read my articles in the weekly of the Waldensian Church, which he regularly scrutinised. A few years later I also started editing the Waldensian Review; so many events with great speakers have been organised, I have met amazing peo- ple, some have sadly passed away, but younger generations are coming up. Awaydays, books, calendars, Waldensian ordinands spending their year abroad in Cambridge, exchanges and friendship at various levels, all equally valuable. Very few people have met me in the past 30 years without learn- ing that a) I was Italian, not very difficult to spot but not automatic; and b) that I am a Waldensian: what it is, what it means and so on and on and on. This also works the other way round: in the Waldensian-Methodist Church, if and when people need help or want to know something to do with this country – especially Church-related, but not only – they first ask me. This is what Prescot Stephens had hoped for, when he thought I would be a good ‘go-between’ between Churches, countries, people, cultures. I find that all this binds perfectly with the story that I am going to tell you about my family and how it fits, once again, with the big picture and at this point I start wondering if it is all really ‘by chance’ … Erica Scroppo Newbury, Editor 1