ALF MCCREARY
CEDRIC Wilson is a former mayor of Castlereagh and a former member of the UK Unionist Party. He was elected in 1998 to the Northern Ireland Assembly and he now runs his own publishing company. He is married to Eva and they have three grown-up children and six grandchildren.
Q can you tell us something about your background?
A I was born in Ballyhackamore in 1948, the youngest of two brothers and a sister (Neil, Adrian and Elizabeth). My father Samuel’s parents owned a newsagent shop on the Upper Newtownards Road and my mother Elizabeth’s parents ran a farm at Glastry on the Ards Peninsula. I have very happy memories from my childhood. Our home was full of art, music and laughter. However, at the age of seven, I was struck down with rheumatic fever, which, in the 1950s, was claiming thousands of lives.
Q what happened then?
A the rheumatic fever interrupted my primary education for a considerable period until I commenced my secondary education at Orangefield Boys Secondary School in east Belfast. When I left school at 16, I started working at my father’s sign-manufacturing business. We made signs for some of the major companies in Northern Ireland, including the Belfast Telegraph.
In 1975, I married my Norwegian fiancee, Eva Kverneland. She came to Northern Ireland as an au pair for a doctor’s family in east Belfast. Her grandfather was the founder of the well-known Kverneland plough-manufacturing company. We have three grown-up children, a son and two daughters, plus six grandchildren from a one-year-old to a 15-year-old grand-daughter.
In 1981, I was elected to Castlereagh Borough Council and later I was appointed deputy mayor and mayor. In 1998, I was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for the constituency of Strangford.
Q how and when did you come to faith?
A IN October 1960, aged 12, I attended a gospel mission in Ballyhackamore Gospel Hall. I was brought up in a godly home, but I had always understood, from an early age, that salvation was a personal decision and that night I accepted Jesus Christ as my personal saviour.
Qdoes faith play a real part in your life, or is it only for Sundays?
A increasingly so, mostly through prayer. I have found that, as a result of the current uncertainties of life, people are searching for answers. I take every opportunity when asked to suggest that the answer to most of life’s questions can be found in the Bible.
Q have you ever had a crisis of faith, or a gnawing doubt about your faith?
A I have never had any doubt about the truth of God’s word, as revealed to us through his Son, but I have, to my shame, at times failed to live in accordance with the principles of the faith that I profess.
Q have you ever been angry with God and, if so, why?
A NO, though at times, I have failed to understand why certain things have occurred in my life, but later on I have come to see that they were for a purpose. I believe that all things work together for good to those who love God.
Q are you ever ashamed of your own Church, or denomination?
A NO, I am not on the roll of any Church, or denomination, though I attend worship at a mission hall in Ballyhalbert. I am simply a believer who enjoys and shares fellowship with other believers.
Q are you afraid to die, or can you look beyond death?
A NO, but I have moments of concern about the process. This is the beauty of having God’s words of comfort at those times. I don’t fear hellfire. On the basis of the fact that I have put my trust in God, I need not fear eternal separation from Him — which is hell.
Q DO you believe in the resurrection?
A yes, because Christ rose from the dead. I don’t think that we can even begin to comprehend what life after death will be like.
Q what about people of other denominations and faiths?
A I am exhorted to show them kindness and compassion, but Jesus said: “I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes onto the Father except through me.” It is my responsibility, therefore, to explain that to people, regardless of colour, class, or creed.
Q DO you think the Churches are fulfilling their mission?
A many of the major Church leaders have lost their sense of mission and are trying to find things other than the preaching of God’s Word to fill their pews. People are turning their backs on organised religion because many leading figures in the main Churches don’t even believe some of the fundamentals of the Bible, such as the virgin birth and the resurrection.
Q has religion helped, or hindered, the people of Northern Ireland?
A I have great admiration for many of those members of the clergy who put their lives on the line during the Troubles, attempting to get the men of violence on both sides to stop the campaign of sectarian murder. Unfortunately, in Northern Ireland the word “religion” has a strong political connotation and people equate Catholic as nationalist, or republican, and Protestant as unionist, or loyalist. In fact, this has now been institutionalised by the authorities as a means of determining a person’s prospects of employment.
Q what is your favourite film, book and music?
At he book is The Four Loves by CS Lewis. The film is Dances With Wolves. Music? Van Morrison, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and Leonard Cohen. I think they all are searching for a spiritual dimension.
Q where do you feel closest to
God? Aprobably in prayer, but also in nature — whether it is in the mountains in Norway, or the North Coast in Northern Ireland, marvelling at God’s magnificent creation. And, last but not least, through the beauty of music.
Q what inscription would you like on your gravestone?
A job 19:25-26 (King James Version): “For I know that my Redeemer liveth and that He shall stand at the latter day upon the Earth. And though after my skin worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God.”
Q have you any major regrets?
A yes. Someone once said that the man who never made a mistake never made anything. Two of my major failings — talking when I should have been listening and being silent when I should have spoken out.