The Cumbrian market town of Keswick is situated in the heart of the Lake District in an idyllic situation on the edge of Derwentwater. It is surrounded by impressive mountains and gentle hills and is popular with walkers, climbers, dinghy sailors, wind surfers, canoeists, to name but a few. Summer or winter, its streets are always busy. For three weeks every summer a different group of visitors come in to the town. These are visitors to the Keswick Convention which is a gathering of evangelical Christians and has been in operation for 140 or more years .

It began on the evening of Monday 28^th June in 1875 with a prayer meeting held in a tent on the lawn of the vicarage of St John’s Church and apart from a few years during the two wars when it was either not held or held in London, it has convened ever since. It was founded by an Anglican, Canon T. D. Harford-Battersby and a Quaker, Robert Wilson. Its mission is to promote Bible teaching and down the years it has had an impressive list of Chairmen and speakers. The first conference lasted four days with 400 folk attending under the banner of "All One in Christ Jesus" and this is still the watchword of the convention. The American term of convention was adopted probably influenced by the Quaker, Robert Pearsall Smith and the New England evangelist, D. Moody. In 1969 a second week was added to the programme. This was a ‘Holiday Convention’ which gave visitors more time to enjoy the delights of the area and for many families ‘The Convention’ became their annual holiday. Visitors to the town during Convention Fortnight would see tents teeming with books and people spring up in various places in the town. At the 1975 which was the Centenary Convention , the American evangelist addressed some 15,000 people who gathered in Crow Park on the shores of the lake.

With its growth it was felt that there ought to be a permanent centre and a building which became the Keswick Convention Centre was opened in Skiddaw Street on 12^th July 1987. The tent, however, did not disappear being attached to the rear of the roof. The following year a storm destroyed the tent on the Monday night but two days later a replacement was erected and the Convention was able to resume. With the need to extend its range of activities, Rawnsley Hall (formerly part of the Keswick School) was purchased by the Convention Trust and it is now the focal point for youth work. In 2001 a third week was added to the Convention due to the demand for family activities.

2003 was the year the Convention Trust became Keswick Ministries. Its aim is to take the Bible teaching ministry to a wider audience both nationally and internationally. The work goes on throughout the year and uses the media to promote its work. It operates as a charity with its trustees drawn from a number of Christian organisations and denominations. A full-time operations manager and a small number of permanent staff are employed but during Convention week the workforce is swelled by a considerable number of volunteers. It still functions in the tent, the Rawnsley Centre and local churches and meeting halls. Each week has its own speakers, musicians, presenters all operating to a common theme beginning with an opening meeting on Saturday evening and concluding with communion and a celebration service the following Friday evening. The morning Bible readings consist of a series of expositions, usually from one book of the Bible, given by the principal speaker for the week. All the main tent meetings are recorded on video and audio formats and talks from the Convention are broadcast weekly on a Christian radio station, Trans World Radio hosted by Trevor Newman. A yearbook is published along with other books featuring the Convention’s speakers and BBC Radio 4 has broadcast from Keswick as part of the Sunday Worship programme. There is a parallel programme Keswick Youth which offers Bible teaching and activities for young people between the ages of 11 and 18 years and two shorter events ‘Bible Weeks’ in spring and autumn are organised along with other events throughout the year.

The Convention has come a long way from the tent in the vicarage garden and in May 2015 it set its sights on Keswick’s former pencil factory and the Derwent Project was launched at the 2015 convention. Five million pounds was to be raised to acquire and develop the site ready for this year’s Convention. The plans include a 400 seat auditorium in the main building, accommodation, rooms , dining facilities etc. I am assuming that it has now been completed and I imagine that it will be quite an impressive building. The people of Keswick know how to build buildings that are quietly impressive and blend into the landscape, the Theatre by the Lake being a fine example of one such edifice. For any fans of the Pencil Museum I am happy to report that the intention was for it to remain on the site!

If Canon Harford-Battersby were to return to Keswick I think he would be highly delighted and quite overwhelmed by the success of his enterprise and it is very good to know that evangelism is flourishing in, and spreading from, the little grey town by the lake.