‘Treasures From a Deep Mine’ reaches Australian press

A newspaper in Tamworth, Australia, has written about the story behind recently published book Treasures From a Deep Mine by Alison Daunton-Fear. Tamworth is where Alison’s family lived from 1960-65. The article is written by Howard Barnes, who is an old friend of the family.  His father, Esdaile, was the Curate in Street, England, during WW2, for Alison’s husband, Richard.

Firstly Howard introduces Richard Daunton-Fear, noting his Tamworth connection. Richard was vicar of St John’s Tamworth in the years that the family lived there. He also mentions Richard’s more further afield influences, where he ministered in Adelaide, England, Africa and America.

“He always had an adventurous spirit and was not afraid of trying something new.”

Howard goes on to then write about the lesser known story of Alison Daunton-Fear, Richard’s wife. She was a gifted public speaker and at a time when women were not encouraged to speak. However, Alison spoke at regional gatherings in the Northwest and Sydney, as well as on an evening epilogue on Radio2TM.

“Alison Daunton-Fear died in England in 2001, but it wasn’t till recently that her three children, Mary, Andrew, Ruth, were sorting through her belongings and they made a delightful discovery.”

The article tells the story of how the book was formed, following the discovery of over 100 inspiring, hand-written talks by Alison, that spanned the 40 years of her ministry.

“The talks reflected her radiant Christian faith and a deep understanding of the needs of humanity.”

40 of the talks were selected by the children and published in the book titled Treasures From a Deep Mine.

The article concludes with Alison’s desire to train women to be speakers, conducting speakers’ courses across the north west, “aided by a big old tape recorder so the ladies could hear their talks and work on ways to improve their style.”