Treasure No 73: Healing the Nations: Fred Kaan The Man and his Hymns by Gillian Warson, Stainer & Bell Ltd. 115 pp £9.50 ISBN 0-85249-889-6

He is widely known for his hymns, but not so many know about the man himself. He was born in Haarlem in 1929, but the family moved in 1934, and spent the years of Nazi occupation in the town of Zeist. There, his parents supported the Resistance and, at great risk, made a hiding place for small arms in their …

Treasure No 52: Barratt, His Successors and the Quality of Faith

In 1879, the Congregational Union Assembly decided that a new Sunday School book was needed. This was published two years later, and its editor was G. S. Barrett. Perhaps it was the speed of production that led to his being offered the editorship of the next denominational hymn-book. Congregational Church Hymnal, published in 1887, which became known as ‘Barrett’. Barrett …