Delayed baptism photos

I seem to have been in some sort of time lapse, but at last I am writing up the baptism. I had spoken to so many people who were seriously frightened of being totally immersed, that I was pleasantly surprised by the whole experience. A bit of me wanted to stay in the pool a bit longer.

It was immeasurably more pleasant than the horrific experience of first entering Guildford Crescent Baths as an eight or nine year old, and being completely submerged for the first time in my life. And you have to imagine the amount of chlorine in the water - your skin stank for days afterwards (this was the primitive 60s when you only had one bath a week, and when you went straight from the water into the changing room).

The most trying bit was getting the water heated up. You just do not imagine this sort of thing could cause so much trouble, but it turned out that the only baptismal pool heater (yes, that is a thing!) in the Forest of Dean was owned by Coleford Baptist Church. It is no longer allowed to be loaned out, and may soon be replaced, but I managed to secure a loan. However, I had a lot of trouble getting it to work, in fact I couldn't (a complex saga involving a trip switch). However, we did manage to warm the pool up enough to be bearable, which was all I asked.

It was an awesome day, and lovely to have so many friends and family there, and to be baptised by Marigold and Geraint, from Parkend and Coleford respectively, who are great friends.

The photos below (taken by my sister-in-law) are the whole of the baptism in sequence, followed by assorted church leaders etc. praying for me afterwards.

It was totally awesome - if you are thinking of being baptised by immersion go for it, it's not scary.