Born in 1940 and christened at St John’s Church Cavendish Road. My mother started to go to the Salvation Army in the mid 40’s and so from the age of 7, I attended the Idle Citadel Salvation Army. I was saved when I was 7 and became a junior soldier. I had a good foundation in life growing up as I did in a Christian home and attending Church almost every night as well as Sunday.
Music was very important to me and so it was natural that I join the various musical sections, junior choir, then senior choir as well as the band. Eventually ( in my 30's) I became bandmaster and everything seemed to be going well.
I met my sweetheart Beryl Walton and in 1953 we were married. Soon we had a lovely family, Kevin, Steven and Catherine. It was just after Catherine had been born in 1971 that my life changed dramatically. I was diagnosed with a serious kidney complaint that needed an operation. The doctors said that it was over 30 years since they had done this operation. I had the operation and was taken back to the ward. Over the next few days my kidney refused to respond and I was attached to a pump needed to filter my kidneys. It was very noisy and disturbed the whole ward. A week later it was decided that the kidney wasn’t going to function and it was decided to take me down again for another operation. They put a 'nil orally' sign above my bed, placed a white gown on the bedside table all ready for me to go down the following morning.
That evening, Beryl came to see me as she had done faithfully for the last four weeks and asked me if I had prayed about it to which I replied ’ What’s the point, there’s no one listening to me out there’. Shortly after that, the new Salvation Army officers who had just been appointed to be the ministers at our Church, Lieutenants David and Dorothy Murden came to see me and asked if they could lay hands on me and pray for Gods healing power. I said ’yes’ and that’s what they did. I was not prepared for what would happen next which was to change my life completely.
The next morning I awoke to an eerie silence in the ward - the pump had been switched off and removed during the night. The white gown and the 'nil orally' sign had been taken down. I asked what was going on and was told that much to their surprise, my kidney had started to work during the night and so they had turned the pump off as
I didn’t need the operation. Wow! Instead of feeling elated I felt ashamed of myself and cried out to God to forgive me. I realised then that I didn't know God as much as I thought I did. I was a kind of 'veneer Christian' that once you pierced the surface and got down into the real me I wasn't all that I appeared to be. I was not only fooling the world but myself as well.
A few weeks later I was allowed home and when I was fit enough went to the hall every night, knelt at the mercy seat and cried out to God -’Father I want to know You like David and Dorothy know You’ - the same prayer that years later I realised Paul in his letter to the Philippians church had cried out to God - ‘I want to know Christ‘. ( Philippians 3;10) It had taken a serious operation to show me that I didn’t really know God as He wanted me to know Him. I had just been going along with the crowds.
What happened next was to change my life completely. As I knelt there, I felt the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit and my life was filled with light - I stood up - danced all the way home. From that moment on I wanted to get to really know Jesus and seek His direction for my life.
This was in the early 70’s when God was moving in a powerful way in His church. I was greatly inspired by the work of the Fountain Trust led by Rev Michael Harper and subscribed to their magazine 'Renewal'. On one occasion I remember going to a mid-week prayer meeting at St Mathias Church in Armley Road Leeds led by Rev Harry Cooke. During the prayer time a woman stood up and spoke in tongues and I heard it all in plain English.
I said to the Lord ‘not me Lord - I daren’t stand up and give the interpretation - what if I’m imagining it all’ and I sat there for what seemed a long time until another person stood and gave the interpretation. I knew then that what God had done in my life was real and that what He was doing that evening was confirming it. That was the turning point in my life.
To cut a long story short, sometime in the early 80’s I tried to introduce a short bible and prayer session in one of the band practices and was told by one of the bandsmen that they had ‘ come for a band practice - they come on Sundays to pray and read the bible‘. A few weeks later I had resigned as bandmaster and started to sit in the body of the hall with the congregation. One Sunday evening as I sat there, God led me to to read Jeremiah 29 which said that He was taking me out but one day would bring me back ‘I know the plans I have for you they are for good‘- I didn’t understand what it was all about - but that’s exactly what happened.
Sometime in the mid 80’s left the Army and started a New Life fellowship using a hall on the outskirts of Thorpe Edge. It became a meeting place for other people whom God had called out of their different churches to come together with like minded Christians who were open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. People from the Holy Trinity Idle, The Baptist Church in Undercliffe, the Salvation Army in Holmewood and a few others. We were open to Gods leading and enjoyed our fellowships together. A local ladied haidresser came and got saved and a family brought their young daughter to be dedicated. At Christmas we advertised in the local T&A that we were having a christmas lunch for anyone who would be lonely that Christmas.I said that we would arrange transport to bring them in. Not realising that the T&A went to folk who lived far away I was shocked to recieve a call from Colne to bring someone in and that's what I did.
In 1985 - I found myself in hospital again for a short time after which some of us were led back to the Idle Salvation Army which by now only had a few people attending. I remembered the bible reading God had given me from Jeremiah - it would seem that now was the time for Him to bring us back to the Salvation Army only this time there were more of us.
In 1995 God called Beryl and I to become Salvation Army Officers and thankfully because God had looked after me in Watmoughs giving me a good retirement pension when I had to retire as Sales Director from Watmoughs Financial Print I did not have to claim a salary, a car, a house or weekly expences from the Salvation Army and so am able to give my life full time as the Commanding officer at Idle Corps at no cost to the Corps. At the same time as Beryl and I were commisioned, Ray and Pamela Powell who had been part of my New Life Fellowship were also commissioned and together we became Divisional Envoys- Ray and Pamela to Stanningly and Beryl and myself to our home Corps at Idle.
This year, June 2023 was the 28th anniversary of my appointment as Commanding Officer of the Idle Citadel Corps - 28 years - I can’t believe it’s been so long - and it's not all been easy - but I believe that the difficult times have been Gods way of teaching us to trust in Him - and He certainly has been awesome in His answers to our prayers. As the song says - 'if all were easy, if all were bright where would the cross be, where - the fight, 'tis in the hardships God gives to you, chances of proving that you are true'.
Over the years we had more than our fair share of obstacles, the parting of the walls that took all our financial resources ( £35 000) to put right - followed by the vision to build on at a cost of over £150 000. We followed Gods leading and the full cost of the money came in. God blessed us in many ways - including encouraging us with healings and mighty answers to prayer.
A young lad Christopher who came to our meetings every week had a genetic bone disorder which meant that he had to wear callipers on both legs. He shared with the fellowship that he had to go see a specialist the following Thursday who wanted to put a steel rod down his spine to try correct curvature of the spine - he was frightened. I laid hands on him and prayed. The following week he came to the meeting - no callipers on his legs and could hardly contain himself as he told us that he didn’t need a steel rod down his spine because ‘ Jesus has healed me’ he shouted - there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
A few months later a lady came to our meeting for the first time -when she introduced herself I could sense that she was troubled in some way. She shared how her new grandson, baby Adam, had just been born and was now in intensive care because his lungs were not functioning properly. I asked if she wanted me to pray about it in the meeting and she said yes please. I asked God how He wanted me to pray and as I prayed the words came ‘Lord as you breathed new life into the first Adam I pray that You will breathe new life into baby Adam’. The following week the lady came back and excitedly told me that Adam was now home as his lungs had miraculously started to work. A few months later the whole family joined us when I dedicated Adam to God.
During the building processes we had been involved in, we found that we needed new chairs as the old ones were unsuitable. I got estimates that showed they would cost £6500. We had spent all our money on refurbishing the building and so I organised a prayer meeting where we prayed specifically for the new chairs. The following day I received a phone call from a complete stranger who was walking up Hollings Hill and said he felt an urge to give some money to the Salvation Army. I gave him my address and a couple of days later a bankers order arrived for £ 6500 - the exact amount for the chairs.
Following that, the roof on our worship hall started to leak and we were told it needed replacing at a cost in excess of £170 000. We prayed about it and amazingly, a few days later I received a call from a solicitor in Shipley who said that a man whom used to attend our over sixties meeting had died and that as executor of his will I would need to organise the funeral and clear his flat. I couldn’t believe it and then I remember that 19 years earlier I had called at the hall following the over-sixties meeting and this gentleman told me that he had been to the post office and got a will that he would like me to sign as 'a witness' which I did. Little did I know that I had signed to be 'the executor' of his will.
I gathered a team together and we cleared his flat and sent all his papers to our headquarters in London. We later learned that he had left all his money to us and the total was over £200 000. It appears that God supplied the money for our new roof and refurbishment those 19 years before. Our God is indeed an awesome God.
Over the last 25 years God has done amazing things. The Fellowship started to grow. We soon had a choir of over 20 who went into uniform and became our Songster Brigade. New people came along and filled our leadership roles and became local Officers. Within a few years we had a fully functioning pastoral team.
Obviously the devil didn’t like what was happening and so sent people in who brought disruption and discontent. This was the start of a very difficult period in the life of our Corps..
Personally too we entered a very difficult phase in our life and ministry. Not to be content with Beryl having to look after my mother who was afflicted with Alzheimer’s there was more trauma to come. My mother died in 1999 whilst we were at our first evening meeting at Roots at Southport, a kind of Salvation Army Spring Harvest, which meant that our names were flashed on the big screen in the Floral Hall and Beryl and I had to come home. Then cruelly Beryl, after looking after my mum with Alzheimer’s, developed Alzheimer’s herself and life at home became extremely difficult.
In 2001 I was diagnosed with a very deep malignant melanoma which needed an emergency operation. The specialist wrote to my doctor that ‘the long term prospects for this man are very poor’. Thankfully God gave Thelma my sister-in-law, a message one morning as she studied her bible. The message was that "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." John 11;4.
That was fourteen years ago and after ten annual visits to the specialists they gave me the all-clear. I told them that God had healed me and they just smiled and said ’they do say faith helps’.
The last few years have not been very difficult for me and my family. Add to all that the tragic death in 2002 of our granddaughter Victoria and then ten years later the death of our son Kevin in 2012. Kevin was taken in to hospital with a suspected minor heart problem. He was sent to Leeds general for an operation but tragically they flooded his brain with blood and advised us to allow them to turn his machine off as he would be a vegetable if he came round. The funeral was the day after boxing day 2012 - and week later we placed his ashes in a grave kindly given us by the Holy Trinity Church. Such a traumatic time but God, faithful to His promise has never left me - He is my strength and I am fully reliant on Him. Every morning I kneel at my bedside and ask Him to help me to know His will both for me and for the Fellowship here at Idle and give me the strength and ability to carry it through..
I struggle with the tragic event of last February 2014 when my lovely Beryl, my soul mate died. Even though she needed me to care for her 24/7, - I didn’t mind because I loved her so much - She had gradually lost the ability to do anything for herself was confined to a wheel chair and slowly lost the ability to speak. Two months earlier I had bought a stair lift as until then I had had to lift her feet one by one up the stairs and it had grown very difficult. Thankfully even through all her frustration, Beryl communicated her love for me through her eyes and knowing smile which I thank God for everyday and even have a photograph to prove it.
I still struggle with the question ‘why did Victoria, Kevin and Beryl have to die and am learning the hard way the truth of the scripture verse someone wrote in my autograph book when I was a young lad ‘ trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding’ Proverbs 3;5. Thankfully, as the song say’s. I’m in His hands
Please pray for me and our fellowship that God will strengthen us all. That the people who comprise our Church will seek to know Him and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit so that He can build His church here at Idle. We are at the moment in a difficult time of lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic and so we have been closed since March. Because of this, I have been putting my weekly messages on facebook and also youtube which can be looked at by anyone and have been reaching a far wider audience than our fellowship which is good. My prayer is that when we come through all this and are able to go back and worship together again that our fellowship will have grown spiritually and be ready for the next phase of Gods plan for His church in anticipation of the return of Jesus.
We have a lovely worship and Community hall - God has built the fabric of the church and He hasn’t done all that for nothing. You can also see this on Youtube.Type in Billy Cowgill at Youtube and click on the uniformed photograph of me and you will gain access to all the videos.
Whilst we now have a large worship Hall and Community centre ready for what God planning in the future, I believe that what God has been doing in the last three months is to take us all out of the comfort of our churches and put His church back in touch with the world around us and for us to get our ACT2gether and become once again the church that He wants us to be which is the Living body of Christ in the world today.
I mentioned a verse that someone put in my autograph book years ago - let me close with what that verse continues to say and which I believe was and still is for me and our fellowship -‘In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths’. Proverbs 3;6 God bless Billy
Music was very important to me and so it was natural that I join the various musical sections, junior choir, then senior choir as well as the band. Eventually ( in my 30's) I became bandmaster and everything seemed to be going well.
I met my sweetheart Beryl Walton and in 1953 we were married. Soon we had a lovely family, Kevin, Steven and Catherine. It was just after Catherine had been born in 1971 that my life changed dramatically. I was diagnosed with a serious kidney complaint that needed an operation. The doctors said that it was over 30 years since they had done this operation. I had the operation and was taken back to the ward. Over the next few days my kidney refused to respond and I was attached to a pump needed to filter my kidneys. It was very noisy and disturbed the whole ward. A week later it was decided that the kidney wasn’t going to function and it was decided to take me down again for another operation. They put a 'nil orally' sign above my bed, placed a white gown on the bedside table all ready for me to go down the following morning.
That evening, Beryl came to see me as she had done faithfully for the last four weeks and asked me if I had prayed about it to which I replied ’ What’s the point, there’s no one listening to me out there’. Shortly after that, the new Salvation Army officers who had just been appointed to be the ministers at our Church, Lieutenants David and Dorothy Murden came to see me and asked if they could lay hands on me and pray for Gods healing power. I said ’yes’ and that’s what they did. I was not prepared for what would happen next which was to change my life completely.
The next morning I awoke to an eerie silence in the ward - the pump had been switched off and removed during the night. The white gown and the 'nil orally' sign had been taken down. I asked what was going on and was told that much to their surprise, my kidney had started to work during the night and so they had turned the pump off as
I didn’t need the operation. Wow! Instead of feeling elated I felt ashamed of myself and cried out to God to forgive me. I realised then that I didn't know God as much as I thought I did. I was a kind of 'veneer Christian' that once you pierced the surface and got down into the real me I wasn't all that I appeared to be. I was not only fooling the world but myself as well.
A few weeks later I was allowed home and when I was fit enough went to the hall every night, knelt at the mercy seat and cried out to God -’Father I want to know You like David and Dorothy know You’ - the same prayer that years later I realised Paul in his letter to the Philippians church had cried out to God - ‘I want to know Christ‘. ( Philippians 3;10) It had taken a serious operation to show me that I didn’t really know God as He wanted me to know Him. I had just been going along with the crowds.
What happened next was to change my life completely. As I knelt there, I felt the awesome presence of the Holy Spirit and my life was filled with light - I stood up - danced all the way home. From that moment on I wanted to get to really know Jesus and seek His direction for my life.
This was in the early 70’s when God was moving in a powerful way in His church. I was greatly inspired by the work of the Fountain Trust led by Rev Michael Harper and subscribed to their magazine 'Renewal'. On one occasion I remember going to a mid-week prayer meeting at St Mathias Church in Armley Road Leeds led by Rev Harry Cooke. During the prayer time a woman stood up and spoke in tongues and I heard it all in plain English.
I said to the Lord ‘not me Lord - I daren’t stand up and give the interpretation - what if I’m imagining it all’ and I sat there for what seemed a long time until another person stood and gave the interpretation. I knew then that what God had done in my life was real and that what He was doing that evening was confirming it. That was the turning point in my life.
To cut a long story short, sometime in the early 80’s I tried to introduce a short bible and prayer session in one of the band practices and was told by one of the bandsmen that they had ‘ come for a band practice - they come on Sundays to pray and read the bible‘. A few weeks later I had resigned as bandmaster and started to sit in the body of the hall with the congregation. One Sunday evening as I sat there, God led me to to read Jeremiah 29 which said that He was taking me out but one day would bring me back ‘I know the plans I have for you they are for good‘- I didn’t understand what it was all about - but that’s exactly what happened.
Sometime in the mid 80’s left the Army and started a New Life fellowship using a hall on the outskirts of Thorpe Edge. It became a meeting place for other people whom God had called out of their different churches to come together with like minded Christians who were open to the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives. People from the Holy Trinity Idle, The Baptist Church in Undercliffe, the Salvation Army in Holmewood and a few others. We were open to Gods leading and enjoyed our fellowships together. A local ladied haidresser came and got saved and a family brought their young daughter to be dedicated. At Christmas we advertised in the local T&A that we were having a christmas lunch for anyone who would be lonely that Christmas.I said that we would arrange transport to bring them in. Not realising that the T&A went to folk who lived far away I was shocked to recieve a call from Colne to bring someone in and that's what I did.
In 1985 - I found myself in hospital again for a short time after which some of us were led back to the Idle Salvation Army which by now only had a few people attending. I remembered the bible reading God had given me from Jeremiah - it would seem that now was the time for Him to bring us back to the Salvation Army only this time there were more of us.
In 1995 God called Beryl and I to become Salvation Army Officers and thankfully because God had looked after me in Watmoughs giving me a good retirement pension when I had to retire as Sales Director from Watmoughs Financial Print I did not have to claim a salary, a car, a house or weekly expences from the Salvation Army and so am able to give my life full time as the Commanding officer at Idle Corps at no cost to the Corps. At the same time as Beryl and I were commisioned, Ray and Pamela Powell who had been part of my New Life Fellowship were also commissioned and together we became Divisional Envoys- Ray and Pamela to Stanningly and Beryl and myself to our home Corps at Idle.
This year, June 2023 was the 28th anniversary of my appointment as Commanding Officer of the Idle Citadel Corps - 28 years - I can’t believe it’s been so long - and it's not all been easy - but I believe that the difficult times have been Gods way of teaching us to trust in Him - and He certainly has been awesome in His answers to our prayers. As the song says - 'if all were easy, if all were bright where would the cross be, where - the fight, 'tis in the hardships God gives to you, chances of proving that you are true'.
Over the years we had more than our fair share of obstacles, the parting of the walls that took all our financial resources ( £35 000) to put right - followed by the vision to build on at a cost of over £150 000. We followed Gods leading and the full cost of the money came in. God blessed us in many ways - including encouraging us with healings and mighty answers to prayer.
A young lad Christopher who came to our meetings every week had a genetic bone disorder which meant that he had to wear callipers on both legs. He shared with the fellowship that he had to go see a specialist the following Thursday who wanted to put a steel rod down his spine to try correct curvature of the spine - he was frightened. I laid hands on him and prayed. The following week he came to the meeting - no callipers on his legs and could hardly contain himself as he told us that he didn’t need a steel rod down his spine because ‘ Jesus has healed me’ he shouted - there wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
A few months later a lady came to our meeting for the first time -when she introduced herself I could sense that she was troubled in some way. She shared how her new grandson, baby Adam, had just been born and was now in intensive care because his lungs were not functioning properly. I asked if she wanted me to pray about it in the meeting and she said yes please. I asked God how He wanted me to pray and as I prayed the words came ‘Lord as you breathed new life into the first Adam I pray that You will breathe new life into baby Adam’. The following week the lady came back and excitedly told me that Adam was now home as his lungs had miraculously started to work. A few months later the whole family joined us when I dedicated Adam to God.
During the building processes we had been involved in, we found that we needed new chairs as the old ones were unsuitable. I got estimates that showed they would cost £6500. We had spent all our money on refurbishing the building and so I organised a prayer meeting where we prayed specifically for the new chairs. The following day I received a phone call from a complete stranger who was walking up Hollings Hill and said he felt an urge to give some money to the Salvation Army. I gave him my address and a couple of days later a bankers order arrived for £ 6500 - the exact amount for the chairs.
Following that, the roof on our worship hall started to leak and we were told it needed replacing at a cost in excess of £170 000. We prayed about it and amazingly, a few days later I received a call from a solicitor in Shipley who said that a man whom used to attend our over sixties meeting had died and that as executor of his will I would need to organise the funeral and clear his flat. I couldn’t believe it and then I remember that 19 years earlier I had called at the hall following the over-sixties meeting and this gentleman told me that he had been to the post office and got a will that he would like me to sign as 'a witness' which I did. Little did I know that I had signed to be 'the executor' of his will.
I gathered a team together and we cleared his flat and sent all his papers to our headquarters in London. We later learned that he had left all his money to us and the total was over £200 000. It appears that God supplied the money for our new roof and refurbishment those 19 years before. Our God is indeed an awesome God.
Over the last 25 years God has done amazing things. The Fellowship started to grow. We soon had a choir of over 20 who went into uniform and became our Songster Brigade. New people came along and filled our leadership roles and became local Officers. Within a few years we had a fully functioning pastoral team.
Obviously the devil didn’t like what was happening and so sent people in who brought disruption and discontent. This was the start of a very difficult period in the life of our Corps..
Personally too we entered a very difficult phase in our life and ministry. Not to be content with Beryl having to look after my mother who was afflicted with Alzheimer’s there was more trauma to come. My mother died in 1999 whilst we were at our first evening meeting at Roots at Southport, a kind of Salvation Army Spring Harvest, which meant that our names were flashed on the big screen in the Floral Hall and Beryl and I had to come home. Then cruelly Beryl, after looking after my mum with Alzheimer’s, developed Alzheimer’s herself and life at home became extremely difficult.
In 2001 I was diagnosed with a very deep malignant melanoma which needed an emergency operation. The specialist wrote to my doctor that ‘the long term prospects for this man are very poor’. Thankfully God gave Thelma my sister-in-law, a message one morning as she studied her bible. The message was that "This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God's glory so that God's Son may be glorified through it." John 11;4.
That was fourteen years ago and after ten annual visits to the specialists they gave me the all-clear. I told them that God had healed me and they just smiled and said ’they do say faith helps’.
The last few years have not been very difficult for me and my family. Add to all that the tragic death in 2002 of our granddaughter Victoria and then ten years later the death of our son Kevin in 2012. Kevin was taken in to hospital with a suspected minor heart problem. He was sent to Leeds general for an operation but tragically they flooded his brain with blood and advised us to allow them to turn his machine off as he would be a vegetable if he came round. The funeral was the day after boxing day 2012 - and week later we placed his ashes in a grave kindly given us by the Holy Trinity Church. Such a traumatic time but God, faithful to His promise has never left me - He is my strength and I am fully reliant on Him. Every morning I kneel at my bedside and ask Him to help me to know His will both for me and for the Fellowship here at Idle and give me the strength and ability to carry it through..
I struggle with the tragic event of last February 2014 when my lovely Beryl, my soul mate died. Even though she needed me to care for her 24/7, - I didn’t mind because I loved her so much - She had gradually lost the ability to do anything for herself was confined to a wheel chair and slowly lost the ability to speak. Two months earlier I had bought a stair lift as until then I had had to lift her feet one by one up the stairs and it had grown very difficult. Thankfully even through all her frustration, Beryl communicated her love for me through her eyes and knowing smile which I thank God for everyday and even have a photograph to prove it.
I still struggle with the question ‘why did Victoria, Kevin and Beryl have to die and am learning the hard way the truth of the scripture verse someone wrote in my autograph book when I was a young lad ‘ trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding’ Proverbs 3;5. Thankfully, as the song say’s. I’m in His hands
Please pray for me and our fellowship that God will strengthen us all. That the people who comprise our Church will seek to know Him and be indwelt by the Holy Spirit so that He can build His church here at Idle. We are at the moment in a difficult time of lockdown due to the Coronavirus pandemic and so we have been closed since March. Because of this, I have been putting my weekly messages on facebook and also youtube which can be looked at by anyone and have been reaching a far wider audience than our fellowship which is good. My prayer is that when we come through all this and are able to go back and worship together again that our fellowship will have grown spiritually and be ready for the next phase of Gods plan for His church in anticipation of the return of Jesus.
We have a lovely worship and Community hall - God has built the fabric of the church and He hasn’t done all that for nothing. You can also see this on Youtube.Type in Billy Cowgill at Youtube and click on the uniformed photograph of me and you will gain access to all the videos.
Whilst we now have a large worship Hall and Community centre ready for what God planning in the future, I believe that what God has been doing in the last three months is to take us all out of the comfort of our churches and put His church back in touch with the world around us and for us to get our ACT2gether and become once again the church that He wants us to be which is the Living body of Christ in the world today.
I mentioned a verse that someone put in my autograph book years ago - let me close with what that verse continues to say and which I believe was and still is for me and our fellowship -‘In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths’. Proverbs 3;6 God bless Billy