Winchester College has published this statement: Review Of Abuse In The 1970s And 1980s By John Smyth QC Of Pupils From Winchester College. It begins:
Winchester College is today publishing an independent review of the abuse committed by the late John Smyth QC against a number of former pupils who were at the College from the mid-1970s until 1982. They are some of the many victims of Smyth who were subject to his abuse over more than thirty years. The Warden and Fellows wish to thank all the victims and witnesses who came forward to assist with this review. We acknowledge the courage and determination of the victims in pursuing the truth about John Smyth: their testimony lies at the heart of this review. The College apologises unreservedly for its part in their terrible experiences…
The full text of the review is available here.
A statement from two of the survivors is published here.
From the mid-1970s to late 1980s I used to attend summer camps run by the Church Missionary Society (CMS). They were influential in my journey of faith and so I can understand others who went to different but similar religious summer camps finding them influential in their journeys of faith. What surprised me at Cranmer Hall Durham in the early 1990s (just one thing that surprised me – there were many) was the small group of evangelical ex-public school boys who spoke about the Iwerne camps in a way that seemed to be exclusivist and associated with an attitude which… Read more »
When I joined the staff at Cranmer in the late 1990s there were no Iwerne students around until quite late on in my time there when one did join the student body. He was, sadly, very exclusivist in his attitudes though I think I got on well with him and my two children thought he was wonderful. (The lack of Iwerne students might have been linked with REFORM’s “delisting” of Cranmer after Michael Vasey wrote Strangers and Friends.) The exclusivist attitude and language which we find referred to in the Winchester College report is something I can identify with from… Read more »