05/06/2026
✨ Fun Friday Focus ✨
As promised, today I am following on from last Friday’s post introducing the hardworking Committee behind Deal Spiritual Centre.
This week, I would like to focus on our President — Anne.
We hope you enjoy reading a little about her journey and all she has given to our Centre over the years. ❤️
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Anne was brought up within the Church of England faith, attending church services, a church school and later being confirmed.
In the 1970s, Anne was a young wife and mum running her own hairdressing business
After chatting with a family friend, Trevor, she decided to accompany him to what was then Deal Christian Spiritualist Church, run by the close-knit Fuggle family.
Anne enjoyed her first visit and, whenever she could, would pop in for services and evenings of mediumship.
In 1978, her daughter Wendy also became interested (see Wendy’s story next Friday!) and together they began attending almost every event, eventually joining a Development Circle to explore and develop their own mediumship abilities.
Wanting to give something back to the community, Anne joined the Committee.
Over time, as members of the Fuggle family one by one returned to spirit, Mary Poolman became President (see the article on our website). Anne supported Mary for many years in the role of Medium Secretary.
As Mary grew older and eventually felt ready to retire, Anne was voted in as President — a role she has now held for 25 years.
During that time she has seen many changes, perhaps most importantly the building of our lovely reception room. If you have not yet read the story on our website, please do — it still amazes us today and shows just how spirit intervened to help Anne’s dream become reality. (See the link in the comments below)
Another major change came in the early 2000s when the Committee decided to change the official name from Deal Christian Spiritualist Church to Deal Spiritualist Church Centre, making it feel more inclusive and allowing greater scope for growth and development.
During the 1980s Anne became a Spiritual Healer and joined the Centre’s Healing Team. She later became a Healing Tutor for the Kent International Healing Association and eventually trained as one of their assessors.
In this role she travelled throughout the UK and abroad, and also assisted in rewriting their training manuals.
In the 1990s, Anne and Wendy were asked to take over the monthly spiritual workshops at The Centre after Jean, who had previously run them, moved away. Eager to continue the work, they accepted the challenge and One Step at a Time Spiritual Training School was born.
The workshops proved very popular, with many people eager to learn more and develop spiritually for themselves.
Believing that a basic knowledge of counselling would also be valuable, Anne and Wendy studied through Kent at Canterbury University and gained a basic counselling qualification.
Later, Anne studied Reiki and became a Reiki Master.
Around 2005, Anne and Wendy began teaching Reiki together. Anne reluctantly retired from teaching in April last year due to her husband’s ill health.
However, she continued in her role as President and still works tirelessly behind the scenes to support the Centre on both a physical and spiritual level.
Anne has devoted much of her adult life to this Centre and remains incredibly proud of all that has been achieved since she first became involved.
Her hope has always been that this Centre continues to be a place of love, comfort and belonging, well into the future — somewhere every person who walks through the doors feels welcomed, supported and included.
Together, the Committee Healing Team and tutors have built a wonderful reputation and we are blessed to welcome visitors from far and wide. Many visiting mediums tell us that the atmosphere, warmth and professionalism of our Centre are among the very best they experience.
Anne has supported so many people over the years, and now, following the passing of her beloved husband Alan on 11th April, we hope we can support her in return.
(Anne and Alan were together from the age of 13 and shared 60 wonderful years married.)
I am sure many of you will join us in thanking Anne for her years of dedication, commitment and love — and in sending her healing, strength and heartfelt support at this difficult time. ❤️🩹
