Me an evangelist (in your dreams)

If anyone had have said to me one day I would be going into schools leading collective worship with puppets I would have thought they were crackers. You see I am the one who made myself ill because I was asked to speak a couple of words in a drama sketch, (I chickened out) I am the one who broke into a sweat if we had to read out loud at a bible study. I thought God loved and forgave people apart from me. Depression and stress felt to rule my life.

Unfortunately I haven't the space to tell the whole story, but what I can say is that at the age of about 20 I tried to get God out of my life, but he just wouldn't let go, and at 27 I started on a long and often painful road back to him.
I was a real pain to the people who tried to help me, mainly because I tried to rely on them and not on God.

In 1987 I began to share a house with Barbara, who also gave me very wise council and helped me to get on track with God. In church I remained introverted not wanting to play any part that would draw attention to myself.

Barbara is an arty sort of person and she enjoyed painting and drama, she had also begun to take an interest in puppetry as a way of communicating with kids. She asked me to go along with her to an arts day being held in Sheffield by the Church Army. Somewhat reluctantly I went, so long as nothing was expected of me. I actually enjoyed the circus skills and trying to model balloons, then came the biggy, the puppet workshop. Out from a theatre came the cheekiest puppet, it was like being hit by an express train, something inside of me came alive.

On the way home that January day I said to Barbara we have to do this. We spoke to our vicar David Ward who encouraged us and said we could do something on Easter Sunday. This was ideal I thought because a lot of people go away that weekend and it wouldn't be too busy. Little did we know, the church was packed, but this time I couldn't chicken out.

The rest is history, for two years Barbara and I did a regular spot at church, then we moved into our local school. I was sponsored by a Christian business man in Huddersfield to take two mornings out of work to go with the puppets into school, we were now known as Hand to Mouth Puppets. This eventually led to my working part then full time for what is now Hand to Mouth Ministries.

God has changed my life; I no longer need to hide in the puppet theatre and am regularly fronting our assembly presentations.

We are privileged to take the love of God into schools doing around 100 presentations a term. I still have bad days, and feel low, but I know I'm not alone, I have good friends who support me, but more than that its God who supports, watches over me and is in the driving seat.

To contact Margaret or Hand to Mouth Ministries, please email