Marvellous

by Neil Baldwin

  That meant I couldn’t go down to London and present one of the football awards for the Football Supporters’ Federation, which Malcolm is chair of. They wanted me to come, with Toby Jones if he was free, and show some clips from the film. It would have been good. But it was the same day I was due to turn the Christmas tree lights on for the Students’ Union at Keele, and I always do that, every year. I couldn’t let them down.

  In March the next year I had to turn down something else I’d have liked to go to: the Royal Television Society Awards in London. I had been invited to go to the dinner and awards ceremony, which I would have loved to do, but I had already promised to go to an event at St Hilary’s Church in Wallasey, where Auntie Iris got married and where I used to go as a child with my mum when we were staying at Auntie Iris’s. I couldn’t let my cousin and everybody there down.

  I met the Tuesday Fellowship, a club for the older parishioners, which meets in the afternoon. We had a lovely lunch of home-made soup, and then they showed clips from the film, followed by a question-and-answer session with me and Malcolm. Malcolm and I work together as a team. Vic gave me a lift there and back. It was really good to see my auntie’s old friend Betty Cartwright, who reminded me of the time Canon Maurice Marshall made the mistake of thinking I was a vicar.

  You can see a video of it on the Chester Diocesan website (at http://www.chester.anglican.org/news.asp?Page=821#. VYGw4_lViko). I told them that I always wanted to be ordained but it never happened. But many vicars have told me that I don’t need to be ordained to do my ministry. I reminded them that Christ died on the cross for us.

  I sang a solo of ‘Abba Father’ with the vicar, Rev. Andrew Greenhough, accompanying me on the guitar. I’m a good singer. Andrew said that his wife had been a student at Keele in the 1980s and remembered me. The parishioners seemed to really enjoy the afternoon.

  Afterwards we were invited for tea by the Bishop of Birkenhead. He had some lovely cakes and he is a very nice man. He invited me back to take part in their mission work, which I will.

  It was marvellous to learn afterwards that Peter Bowker had won a Writers’ Guild of Great Britain Award in London. He deserved that.

  MALCOLM

  As always, Neil had no nerves on these occasions. Despite his newfound fame and the celebrity events, both of which he enjoys, once he has made a commitment, he will not backtrack on it or forget his commitment to his family, or the places or events that have been a central part of his life. His values are the same as they’ve always been, and so are his loyalties. At his heart, he’s a man of strong loyalties and great integrity.

  NEIL

  Four days after the film was first broadcast, it was the real Fresher’s Mart at Keele University at the start of the new academic year. It was very similar to the scene shown in the film, with me having my stall for my football club and trying to sign up students. The Students’ Union was packed out.

  I signed 128 players up for NBFC that day, including quite a few girls, so we might even start a women’s team. I rang Malcolm in the evening to give him the good news.

  I was interviewed by the Daily Mail and The Independent for feature articles about my life.

  MALCOLM

  The day the Daily Mail journalist came to Keele happened also to be the day of a visit by Dr Rowan Williams, the former Archbishop of Canterbury. During the afternoon Rowan Williams was doing a question-and-answer session with members of the Christian community at Keele in the University Chapel. I told the reporter that Neil was in the chapel with Rowan Williams; she looked a little sceptical. Sara, the vice chancellor’s assistant, who is a good friend of Neil’s, went across to extract Neil from the Williams meeting.

  At the end of Neil’s interview with the Daily Mail, we went to take some photographs outside the chapel. In the middle of this Rowan Williams emerged and, as he walked by, he gave Neil a cheery wave. If she had been in any doubt before, the Daily Mail reporter now knew for certain that Rowan Williams is a very good friend of Neil’s.

  NEIL

  I have known quite a few of the Archbishops of Canterbury. I told Rowan Williams that he was one of the best.

  MALCOLM

  In the early evening Rowan Williams was giving a lecture entitled ‘Mysticism and Spirituality – Two Worlds or One?’ There was nothing more certain than that Neil would be going and I decided that I would go along too.

  After the lecture the Friends of Keele University were hosting a dinner for Dr Williams in Keele Hall. I asked Neil if he would like me to get us two tickets for the dinner. I knew what his answer would be.

  The dinner was held in Keele Hall on circular tables of ten. When I examined the table plan I saw that the University had placed Neil and me at the same table as Rowan Williams, who had the host, Professor David Shepherd, dean of the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, on his right, me on his left and Neil on my left. It was a nice gesture by Professor Shepherd and I knew it would lead to an entertaining evening of discussion.

  NEIL

  The university put Malcolm, not me, next to Dr Williams. I thought they might have put me there, not Malcolm. But it was fine because I could speak to Rowan Williams. I told Dr Williams that the former Bishop of Winchester, Michael Scott-Joynt, had died. Rowan Williams hadn’t heard that. Michael Scott-Joynt was a very good friend of mine, who had been Bishop of Stafford. His birthday was the same day as mine and we sent each other birthday cards every year, as well as Christmas cards. This year his wife still sent me a birthday card. It was very nice of her to remember, even though Bishop Michael had died. He died on the same day that my film was broadcast on TV. He was a good man.

  Dr Williams said that he would need to find out when the funeral was, and I promised to let him know.

  MALCOLM

  I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised that Neil was more up to date on such matters than the most recent Archbishop of Canterbury.

  Dr Williams is now the master of Magdalen College in Cambridge University. With Neil’s Cambridge connections, the conversation inevitably turned to these matters. Dr Williams said, in the way that people do on these occasions, ‘If you’re ever coming down to Cambridge, Neil, you must get in touch.’

  What I knew, but Dr Williams didn’t, was that, three weeks later, the Neil Baldwin Football Club were to spend a weekend in Cambridge, playing against Selwyn College on the Saturday and Downing College on the Sunday. Uriah Rennie had agreed to travel down from his Sheffield home to referee them both.

  Neil replied, ‘We’re coming to Cambridge to play some football matches in three weeks’ time.’ He then produced a book and a pen, which he passed to Rowan Williams and said, ‘Write your phone number in there.’ And, of course, Dr Williams duly did. He could hardly refuse, having made the offer just a couple of minutes before. He may not have known, but I did, that a visit from Neil was now a cast-iron certainty.

  In his after-dinner speech, Dr Williams commented, ‘I have been sitting next to Neil, a famous film star, and, as you can imagine, we’ve had a very interesting evening of discussion.’ Neil intervened to say, ‘I told him that he is one of the best Archbishops of Canterbury we have ever had.’

  NEIL

  Unfortunately, when NBFC visited Cambridge, Rowan Williams wasn’t in when I rang him, but it is good to have his number for the next time we go there.

  It was a great weekend. We were looked after, and we won both the games: we beat Downing College 5–2 and Selwyn College 4–3. It was great to have Uriah refereeing both games. His daughter is at Cambridge University, so being able to visit her was an added bonus for him.

  Over the years I have been to Cambridge University many times and my football club has played there quite a few times. We always get a very warm welcome. After Keele, Cambridge University is the second-best university in the world.

  The visit to St Hilary’s was the second time since the film was on I had been invited to a church. I was glad to get the invite from Rev. David Lake, Rector of Crick,
Yelvercroft and Lilbourne – which is in Northamptonshire, just off the M1 – to speak at a special showing of Marvellous. The church has had a legacy from a parishioner which they used to establish a new film club in the church itself, which is a marvellous idea. They decided to show Marvellous as their first film. Of course, I went. It was very good that Malcolm came with me so that he could give me a lift home afterwards. He came in his Stoke City shirt because Stoke had been playing at Leicester that day. But I went earlier so I could have tea with David. He’s a great vicar despite being a Baggies supporter.

  MALCOLM

  And Rev. David Lake was delighted. He says:

  After watching the film Marvellous with Patricia, my wife, we both sensed that the world was a better and more hopeful place. I understood the kind of passion and belief that football inspires, but Neil’s faith was like that too. No one seemed more to exemplify Jesus’s words about having that childlike trust in order to enter the Kingdom of God.

  Neil suggested that his longstanding friend Malcolm might share the evening with him, and, from that moment on, it was all hands to the pump at St Margaret’s, Crick. By the time the evening of Saturday, 17 January 2015, came round the excitement was palpable. We had featured in a local newspaper, a live interview had taken place on BBC Radio Northampton and I had even been selling tickets to people who had stopped me in the streets. It was one of the highlights of my ten years here. At the end of the film more than two hundred people rose to their feet as one and gave Neil Baldwin the most wonderful standing ovation. Everyone found Neil to be as funny, witty and as profound as the film shows him to be.

  NEIL

  There was then a question-and-answer session. David said to me, ‘I’ve heard, Neil, that you’re being made a Freeman of the City of Stoke later this year. Can you tell us exactly what that entitles you to?’ I told him what it was: ‘I can drive sheep through the city – and enjoy a pint of beer in every pub.’

  It was a marvellous evening, the church was packed, and everyone enjoyed the film. When the meeting was over, quite a lot of the parishioners wanted to take photographs with me or get my autograph. Some of them were put on Facebook.

  During the questions, I asked David if it was all right for me to go up into the pulpit. I wanted to see how big it is. He said yes, so I did. And they invited me back to preach on Whit Sunday, which was great. I always enjoy preaching in church.

  I told everybody that it was good to see the church so full, but I hoped they were all coming back the day after for the Sunday service. After all, it’s no good only going to church to see a film, is it? At the end of the evening I said a prayer. They were very kind. They gave me some presents: a history of the church and, as a joke, the things in the film which my mum didn’t want me to have – fruit pastilles and Creme Eggs.

  MALCOLM

  Neil’s request to ascend the steps into the pulpit in the middle of the Q&A, leaving David and me at ground level, was unexpected. But I have learned to expect the unexpected where Neil is involved. The Q&A then began to sound a bit more like a sermon from Neil, but no one minded.

  In the audience was Alison Rose Quire, chief executive of an organisation that runs residential facilities, who thought that it would be good to show the film to her organisation’s staff conference and have Neil and me there to do a Q&A, which we did. Alison summed up the occasion:

  After seeing the film and hearing Neil and Malcolm speak at a local church, they were an obvious choice to speak at our Care and Community conference. It was like watching a light bulb being switched on. The audience suddenly realised that in many ways we are holding people back by placing limitations on them by virtue of a diagnosis instead of supporting people to have high aspirations and go after their dreams.

  NEIL

  That was another great occasion. I told them all to be happy and to do what you want to do, because that way you get the most out of life. They seemed to like the film and meeting Malcolm and me. We have done this a few times now and we make a good team.

  MALCOLM

  A firm of financial advisers in East Anglia hold an annual meeting for all their clients, and invited Neil to give the keynote speech. Neil and I both felt this wasn’t really his cup of tea.

  NEIL

  I was invited to open the new Watermill School for children with special needs in Burslem. It was a great day, and I unveiled the plaque with my name on it. I gave a talk to encourage the children to do whatever they wanted to do and to enjoy life. Joan Walley, the local Member of Parliament, was also there, and so was Norman Smurthwaite, chairman of Port Vale Football Club, and Tom Pope, one of the players. I had already been up to the school to meet them for lunch, and had been back several times since the opening day, as I am now the patron of the school. The latest time, I had to introduce Prince Andrew’s daughter, Princess Beatrice. She was very nice. I told her how often I write to her grandmother, the Queen.

  MALCOLM

  The head-teacher of Watermill School, Jonathan May, explained why they chose Neil to open the new school and the contribution he makes to the school and the local community:

  Neil is now firmly rooted as a friend of the school and indeed has been describing himself as a patron of Watermill, which we are very happy to endorse. He has been for his lunch on around six occasions now. He loves his school dinners and the children always make a great fuss of him. Some of the children that identify with his needs have been heard to ask him if the name-calling was true and what to do about it. I heard him respond that you just ignore it and get on with what you’re doing.

  It’s true, he does know everyone. He came at the end of January to open our school Eco project bringing the Bishop of Stafford, Geoff Annas, with him. It was a fantastic event, almost as good as the opening. The bishop spent the morning in school, he and Neil spoke at the opening and blessed the project. They had lunch and, as usual, Neil tried to blag a lift to Keele University. It was snowing particularly hard, so we took him straight home.

  He returned to the circus ring in a cameo appearance in Gandey’s Circus when it came to Stoke and he secured us some complimentary tickets. The children and staff really enjoyed seeing him as a clown.

  The school feels we owe Neil a lot. He sums up our values and aspirations perfectly. He has gained respect through his humility and interest in being friendly to all. We have learned much from him and his very interesting experiences in life, and of course all the good friends he has.

  I was there at the opening along with quite a few of Neil’s friends from the Church Army, the Christadelphian Church and even the circus, including Sara, the vice chancellor’s PA, and Glynn and Jill Cherry. It was a joyous occasion and showed how much Neil has become a real local celebrity in North Staffordshire.

  NEIL

  The children even sang a song they had made up especially about me. Here are the words:

  I saw the light on the night that I passed by her window;

  I saw the flickering shadows of Match of the Day.

  She was my Stokie.

  As Vale scored I watched and went out of my mind.

  My, my, my Delilah!

  Why, why, why, Delilah?

  I could see that girl was no good for me;

  But I was lost like a Stoke fan at Vale Park.

  At break of day when that Vale match finished, I was waiting;

  I crossed the street to her house and she opened the door;

  She stood there laughing –

  I had Nello with me and she laughed no more.

  My, my, my Delilah!

  Why, why, why, Delilah?

  I could see that girl was no good for me;

  Forgive me, Delilah, I just couldn’t take any more.

  She stood there laughing –

  I had Nello with me and she laughed no more.

  My, my, my Delilah!

  Why, why, why, Delilah?

  I could see that girl was no good for me;

  Forgive me, Delilah, I just couldn’t take a
ny more;

  Forgive me, Delilah, I just couldn’t take any more.

  Not long after the film was broadcast, a group of five Irish musicians based in Dublin, who had never heard of me until they saw the film, formed a special choir called the Nello Irish Choir, saying that they were inspired by the events from my life. A singer and musician with the choir, Ultan Clooney, said, ‘Neil’s story was heart-warming, positive and so uplifting. It was so funny as well as moving and we were inspired to celebrate this remarkable human man in song.’

  A slightly adapted version of this ‘Nello song’ to the tune of ‘Wild Rover’ was also sung by the Watermill children at their school’s opening:

  His name is Nello

  He’s one of us

  And it’s fair to say

  He’s MARVELLOUS

  He’s Stoke through and through

  A Potter so great

  Three cheers for Nello

  Let’s celebrate

  CHORUS

  Come on Nello,

  We all agree,

  You’re the pride and the joy

  Of Watermill school.

  Now when Lou Macari

  Came up with his plan,

  He signed up Nello

  As his kit man.

  Oh the great Scot Lou