Edna's baptism at grand old age of 90

Edna Palmer, 90, was baptised at Garstang Free Methodist Church.

Edna Palmer, who lives in Preesall, was submerged into a pool at Garstang Free Methodist.

In front of 250 people, Edna says she ‘declared her faith in Jesus’ as she was applauded coming out of the ‘bath’.

Edna’s son-in-law John Sainsbury, who is the pastor at the church, says it was a ‘privilege’ to perform the baptism.

Edna was dunked into the pool by son-law-law John

“It was a really exciting event and the church was completely packed,” he said.

“Edna came up on to the platform and was fully dunked under before confirming her faith in Jesus and telling us a bit about her life.”

And Edna says she was converted after her daughter and John’s wife, Sue, found faith.

“When Susan was 21 she came home and said she’d become a Christian. I didn’t know what that meant but then she said she wasn’t going to marry her lovely fiancee and I was really mad,” she said.

The 90-year-old was joined by her daughter Sue who helped convert her

“How could she say that God was all about love when she was breaking that poor boy’s heart? Then she threw up all her education and her good job in the NHS and went to work in Romania as a missionary.

“I was really mad then too – we’d sacrificed to send her to university and now she was giving it all up and living off charity. She kept talking about Jesus as if he were her friend and I didn’t understand it.

“Then one summer when she came home and gave me a little booklet called Knowing God Personally. It totally changed my life.”

Edna then came to live with John and Sue and wanted to join others in experiencing baptism.

Edna says she wanted to be baptised after watching others do the same

She said: “Last Easter I saw the four young women being baptised and I thought I wanted to too.

“I was probably baptised as a baby but I don’t remember it and it didn’t mean I loved Jesus.

“Now I do and I wanted to be baptised to show it.”