Have you heard the one about a redundant undertaker who became a medium?

Well you have now, who also plays the organ for churches, writes Cathy Gibb

Meet Jason Satchwell, a medium who worked for a funeral parlour in Leicester for 18 years. It was a profession he had always planned to go into after he left school.

He was in fact made redundant when the firm of undertakers he was working for were taken over by an American based company.

“It was all pre-planned by spirit you know. I was made redundant in 1990, and then

had to nurse my ill father who eventually passed to spirit in 1991. After that I too got ill, and to this day I have not been able to return to the undertaking business,” Jason told SN.

On a happier note, I am sure that their parents in spirit will be present when Jason and trance medium Tony Brightwell’s civil partnership takes place at Brighton’s Town Hall on April 11th followed by a mid-day blessing ceremony at their regular Brighton & Hove Spiritualist Church.

“We are then off to Blackpool for our honeymoon for a week which we are really looking forward to,” said Tony.

 “We don’t travel so much these day because of our ill health,” commented Jason.

“ We met in June 1998, we have been with each other ever since.”

 “Really it was love at first sight and anyone who says there isn’t such a thing is talking rubbish,” said Jason, who stated that they don’t have arguments.

“We are both on the same wavelength and we have similar likes which is really important in a relationship even down to the kind of music we like, which happens to be classical.”

So how did these two get into Spiritualism and become the mediums they are today?

“My background was Baptist and Orthodox Church and my father was a Methodist Preacher. I was taken to Brighton’s Brotherhood Gate by friends and the medium on the clairvoyant night Jim Lee (who is now in spirit) came to me and said that spirit are saying that you should be up here. I did what spirit told me by sitting in teaching medium Betty Horne’s awareness and development classes, and Tony would wholeheartedly support me because he too was a good trance medium.

My mother also read Doris Stokes’ books which she passed on to me, so that’s really how I got into this way of life.”

Tony who came from Croydon said that his mother was C of E, but he soon got the Spiritualist bug when he met Jason, and they now work with one another on the platform. Tony usually gives the address via spirit, while Jason provides the spirit contacts for the congregation, but they do take turns in changing it around.

Five years ago, Jason and Tony moved into a cosy bungalow down in Woodingdean, and the freedom of space has allowed them have a dog since losing their beloved Bill the budgie and Hector the guinea pig, who have both come back to them from spirit.

The new addition is Lenny, an eight year old retired rescue greyhound which they picked up at the “All Sorts Greyhound Rescue Centre” in Sussex.

Lenny’s racing name was Lennox Call To Serve, and did very well winning lots of money when he raced in Ireland, but now plagued with arthritis and no longer useful to the racing fraternity, he is very much loved and well looked after by the two kind hearted Spiritualists, who will help anyone and everyone.

Admittedly having a dog ties their owners down, but both Jason and Tony still serve the local Spiritualist churches. They will be serving Hassocks, Shoreham and Lancing in May, and Boundary Passage and Worthing ( 27th evening service) in July.

Jason Satchwell and Tony Brightwell are both available for one to one private readings, and they are more than happy for you to contact them by telephone on 01273 301968