Loving the Enemy - building bridges in a time of war
Andy March
- Regions:
- West Mids, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Leicestershire, Derbyshire, Northamptonshire
- Notice Period:
- Regular (more than one month's notice)
- Type:
- Hobby
- Fee:
- Paid: £50 plus travel costs
- Category:
- Entertainment
- Updated:
- 19th April 2025
- Tagged:
- World War 2 | Memoir | Germany | Love
Hear a compelling true story of loss, love and reconciliation
Are you looking for a speaker? If so, I am available to speak about a book I have written Loving the Enemy: building bridges in a time of war which tells the true and compelling story of my grandparents, Englishman Fred Clayton and Rike Büttner-Wobst from Dresden, Germany, who rose above the hatred and enmity of warring nations to build an enduring bridge of love.
My grandfather was a grammar schoolboy from Liverpool, and brilliant Cambridge scholar - a friend and contemporary of Alan Turing - who left the comfort of the halls of Cambridge at the beginning of the Nazi era and made a troubled journey to discover first-hand what life must have been like to live under the despotic regime. Arriving in Dresden, he developed a friendship with a German family that would change his life.
The war intervened, but could not destroy Fred’s determination to maintain the bridges he'd built. After the war, having experienced deep trauma, he wrote to the family and my grandmother replied. She had witnessed the bombing of her home city Dresden and survived the humiliation of the Soviet occupation. A correspondence began that would bring them both hope and healing.
My book, and how it came to be written, has featured in The Church Times podcast and newspaper, Premier Christian Radio and UCB2 (see halwillpublishing.co.uk/media for more information)
Would this be the sort of talk your group would be interested in hosting?
If so, please get in touch.
Views: 40 | Enquiries: 0About Andy March
Andy March is a vicar in Coventry, which has been home for him and his family since 2012. He graduated from University of East Anglia with a degree in English Literature and Creative Writing, he has channelled this passion for storytelling into his work as a vicar, where he seeks to find ways of bringing the Bible narratives to life and communicating them to all ages.
It wasn’t until his grandfather, Fred Clayton, died, that Andy became fully aware of the extraordinary life that he’d led. At his funeral Fred’s brother, George, delivered a moving and passionate eulogy, which had a profound impact. Andy didn’t think much more of his grandparents and their stories until 2014, when he was a Vicar in Coventry. Both Coventry and Dresden had been destroyed by bombing in the Second World War, and there was a strong history of reconciliation between the two cities. In February 2015, on the 70th anniversary of Dresden’s bombing, The Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishop of Coventry, the Lord Mayor of Coventry, the Dean of Coventry Cathedral, and a number of others made an official trip to Dresden and Andy had the privilege of being part of that group. There he was invited to tell the story of his grandparents, featuring in the Church Times, on radio in the UK (BBC 5 Live), and national German television. Through this he felt he was being given the responsibility to bring their story back to life and through the generosity of the Coventry diocese he was given a sabbatical in which to write Loving the Enemy. Five years on Loving the Enemy was finally published.
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