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The Rev Donald May DFC, BD |
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He was sent to foster parents, but they often beat him, so at the age of five, he was committed to the care of the Sir Josiah Mason Orphanage. Childhood in the orphanage: The care of the staff, the Christian atmosphere and the services in the chapel exercised powerful influences for good over him and he eventually realized that God was his father and had a plan and purpose for his life. Services in the chapel were conducted mainly by Methodist preachers and his first call to ministry came during a visit from the Rev Bert Hodgetts, a missionary in Nigeria and a man with huge credibility among boys because he had rejected professional football with Aston Villa in order to become a Methodist minister. Into the wider world: At sixteen he left the orphanage, found 'digs' and joined a Rover Scout crew attached to the local Methodist church. He went to Scout camp most weekends and began to attend Sunday evening service on the way back. Whilst at camp one day he fell into conversation with an Anglican preparing for ordination and expressed his conviction that God wanted him to become a Methodist minister. The Anglican's good advice led him to become a full member of the Methodist Church and to study for local preaching.
War breaks out: At the outbreak of World War 2, Donald was employed as a clerk in offices of the City of Birmingham—and was approaching the age for call up. Under the influence of a Christian pacifist at church he enquired about medical non-combatant roles, but had no success because he lacked necessary skills. Eventually he volunteered for air crew duties, failed the pilot's course and began navigator training with RAF Bomber Command. After training for two and a half years he finally arrived at 158 Squadron at Lissett in Yorkshire. Also there was his future wife, Frankie who was a WAAF at squadron HQ.
On his first flight over enemy territory, 78 aircraft were shot down and it was common for his own squadron to lose five out of twenty aircraft on a single operation. Donald survived 40 operational sorties and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry during active operations against the enemy. Whilst on leave from the squadron he completed his local preacher's studies and passed the examinations for ministry candidates. He was released by the RAF in December 1945, trained at Headingley College, Leeds and entered the ordained ministry in 1949. He was proud to say that he was one of 200 aircrew survivors ordained into the Christian ministry. Into the Methodist ministry: His first circuit was at Fleetwood, near Blackpool, where he and Frankie were married and where daughters Margaret and Mary were born. After six years he was moved to a more challenging appointment, at Rock Ferry in Birkenhead. At Rock Ferry, part of his mission was to draw disaffected young people into the church. Many of them were on probation and well known to the police and the courts. So successful was he that the local police inspector came to his youth club to see what had caused the transformation of these problem youngsters. From Rock Ferry to Toxteth: After Rock Ferry he moved to Toxteth in Liverpool. He was appalled by housing conditions there and he joined with the Anglican vicar and the Roman Catholic priest to press the city council to demolish the worst houses and re-house their occupants. With others he helped to form the Liverpool Housing Trust, beginning with four houses but expanding to 10,000 properties.
Whilst at Toxteth he championed the work of local sculptor Arthur Dooley and
eventually saw Dooley's Resurrection of the Christ placed on an external wall of his church at Princes Park. After ten years in Toxteth, Donald moved to affluent Altrincham where he drew on his earlier experiences to arouse the church's responsibility to the community. The congregation responded and was enriched for so doing. From the inner city to rural Lincolnshire: His final appointments were in inner-city Salford and then, following a serious heart attack, at Louth in Lincolnshire. Even when placed in delightful rural surroundings, he refused to rest on his laurels. In Louth he formed a successful youth club and his Sunday school numbers grew fourfold during his time there. Donald and Frankie moved to active retirement at Harlow and then to Billericay to enjoy a gentler pace of life. He died at nearby Basildon Hospital on 24th January 2009.
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Donald May was born
on 11th March 1922 in the city of Birmingham. His mother died when he
was four but his father, who later took his own life, was unable to cope with bringing up Donald and his sister.
