A surprise at school!

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Head teacher Jeanette Hart at Osmaston CofE Primary school in Derbyshire got a bit of a surprise last month when a boy brought a hand grenade into school[1].

It was a show and tell assembly, and since the class had been talking about VE day, this particular lad thought that he’d grab the family heirloom, a world war two hand grenade, and bring it into school.

Mrs Hart told the BBC, “It was quite an eventful assembly. It was going fine and there was a boy who brought an old bullet case in, which I knew about, but then his friend produced a hand grenade from his pocket… That I was not expecting”.

What followed next was that the head ended the assembly, moved all the children to safety, rather nervously deposited the grenade at the far end of the school and then called in the police and Army explosive experts.

Well fortunately the grenade wasn’t live, and everyone was able to get back on with their day, but it ended up not your average day for Osmaston Primary School!

I wonder where you are right now as you listen to HCRfm. Perhaps sitting in traffic on the roads, perhaps working in your office or factory somewhere in Huntingdon or one of the surrounding towns or villages, or perhaps doing a spot of housework with the radio on in the background. Oh what we’d give for a bit more excitement. No not necessarily with an added risk of explosion. But a change to the “same old, same old” would be kind of nice!

The word that the Apostle Paul uses in the Bible for the power at work in Christianity is “dunamis” (Romans 1:16), it’s the word from which we get “dynamite”. He’s saying watch out for the Christian message. It can seriously transform your life. As everyday people hear about Jesus of Nazareth and what he did on planet earth, their lives can be irreversibly changed for good as his love impacts their everyday choices, relationships, future. So more powerful than a hand grenade, perhaps reading your Bible and going to church should come with a health warning, albeit a positive one! “Warning- Christianity contains dynamite, can seriously change your life”.  Thanks for listening.

Charlie Newcombe 26JUN25.



[1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2jkek5nd1o