The Horsingdon Transmissions No.44: Spiritual Warfare

Despite the wide doctrinal variance between many of the churches in Horsingdon, All Hallows Church in Northwich Park has remained a stalwart of Anglican traditionalism within the borough. Between 1964 and 1969, All Hallows thrived under the guidance of the charismatic Reverend John Broadham.

Of an evangelical bent, Broadham firmly believed that Northwich and Horsingdon were the the nexus of a very real spiritual conflict; quite literally embodying the priniciple of 'muscular Christianity', he brought a rather heavy-handed approach to the matter: not only being a vocal opponent of what he considered to be the impure and demonological doctrines espoused at other places of worship within the diocese, Broadham on occasion also became embroiled in physical altercations with those ministers and ecclesiasts whose credos he deemed an offence against nature and an offence against God. Apparently Roland Franklyn narrowly avoided a drubbing at Broadham's hands.

It didn't help matters that Broadham had been in the Royal Marine Corps, and had won a number of boxing tournaments during this time in the services. Rumour has it that his religious calling also came about as a consequence of his encounters with forces of a praeternatural variety which Broadham experienced during his participation in certain covert operations whilst in the military, and that his posting to Northwich Park may not have been entirely coincidental. In any case, the spiritual warfare Broadham was engaged in quickly turned both temporal and corporeal when, in 1969 after publicly criticising The Church of Starry Wisdom, All Hallows was destroyed in a fire. Broadham was believed to be in the building at the time of the conflagration, although no body was recovered. The church was rebuilt the following year, and dedicated to the memory of Broadham.