Mick Wenlock
Admin Emeritus (retired)
Late in 1982 I was declared by the Finance Police. One minute, in the Sea Org in Copenhagen, the next out on the street. No money and in a country where I do not speak the language at all well and where the only people I knew were Scientologists and SO members.
My wife and I had been married for four years at that point. She was still in, we had one son (Sean) who was (and still is) handicapped and my wife's son from her first marriage. Sean was 3, Chris was 7.
Lacking anything else to do, I made my way back home to England, got myself a job and wrote in requesting the comm ev. After two months - mid January 1983 I got a phone call from FOLO EU telling me that my wife was at Flag (on the RPF as it turns out) and I needed to come and pick up the children.
At that time, I was determined to get back to the SO, I wanted my comm ev because I felt that I had been unjustly treated. I couldn't very well unload my upset on my family because if I got them upset at Scientology and the Sea Org then how would I be able to get back? I didn't know what was going to happen to my marriage, I was worried about Sean - and to a lesser extent Chris. (Chris' father was in the SO IN Copenhagen at NEP at the time). I was working flat out in a Cold Storage Unit trying to earn money to pay back people who had advanced me the readies to get home. My friends did not understand, at all, what had happened.
And now this. I got what money I could together and bought a ticket on the ferry from Felixstowe to Gothenberg and a train ticket from Gothenberg to Copenhagen and I set off the next day.
The ferry left Felixstowe at 5 pm, it was raining, it was dark and it was cold. I had one backpack of clothes and supplies and about one hundred dollars in cash. I had no idea what I was going to do in Copenhagen, I had no idea how I was going to live or where, I had no-one to turn to when I got there. Not a pleasant journey.
The ferry arrived in Gothenberg in the early morning, I walked along to the railway station and caught the next train to Copenhagen. I don;t remember how long I had to wait for the train but we arrived in Copenhagen at around 7 pm that night.
I phoned to the FOLO when I arrived to talk to the head nanny (name of Clara) and told her I had just arrived and I would be by to tlak with her in about 10 minutes.
I walked out of Hovedbanegade and onto Vesterbrogade to walk down to the Nordland. As anyone who has been in Copenhagen in early January at 7pm can tell you, it's cold and windy and dark.
I walked up to the front door of the Nordland and Clara was there. With two children in tow. She opened the door, ushered Chris out, put two suitcases on the ground and handed me Sean (who had to be carried then, he was not yet walking). And then closed the door.
Holding Sean in one arm, holding Chris' hand with the other and three large bags, nowhere to go, very little money and it was cold and dark.
More later.
My wife and I had been married for four years at that point. She was still in, we had one son (Sean) who was (and still is) handicapped and my wife's son from her first marriage. Sean was 3, Chris was 7.
Lacking anything else to do, I made my way back home to England, got myself a job and wrote in requesting the comm ev. After two months - mid January 1983 I got a phone call from FOLO EU telling me that my wife was at Flag (on the RPF as it turns out) and I needed to come and pick up the children.
At that time, I was determined to get back to the SO, I wanted my comm ev because I felt that I had been unjustly treated. I couldn't very well unload my upset on my family because if I got them upset at Scientology and the Sea Org then how would I be able to get back? I didn't know what was going to happen to my marriage, I was worried about Sean - and to a lesser extent Chris. (Chris' father was in the SO IN Copenhagen at NEP at the time). I was working flat out in a Cold Storage Unit trying to earn money to pay back people who had advanced me the readies to get home. My friends did not understand, at all, what had happened.
And now this. I got what money I could together and bought a ticket on the ferry from Felixstowe to Gothenberg and a train ticket from Gothenberg to Copenhagen and I set off the next day.
The ferry left Felixstowe at 5 pm, it was raining, it was dark and it was cold. I had one backpack of clothes and supplies and about one hundred dollars in cash. I had no idea what I was going to do in Copenhagen, I had no idea how I was going to live or where, I had no-one to turn to when I got there. Not a pleasant journey.
The ferry arrived in Gothenberg in the early morning, I walked along to the railway station and caught the next train to Copenhagen. I don;t remember how long I had to wait for the train but we arrived in Copenhagen at around 7 pm that night.
I phoned to the FOLO when I arrived to talk to the head nanny (name of Clara) and told her I had just arrived and I would be by to tlak with her in about 10 minutes.
I walked out of Hovedbanegade and onto Vesterbrogade to walk down to the Nordland. As anyone who has been in Copenhagen in early January at 7pm can tell you, it's cold and windy and dark.
I walked up to the front door of the Nordland and Clara was there. With two children in tow. She opened the door, ushered Chris out, put two suitcases on the ground and handed me Sean (who had to be carried then, he was not yet walking). And then closed the door.
Holding Sean in one arm, holding Chris' hand with the other and three large bags, nowhere to go, very little money and it was cold and dark.
More later.