Cowra's Best - Dudley Nicholson

Giving back to God

Dudley Nicholson agreed to run Cowra’s Red Shield Appeal to support a good cause and help out a friend. He is now a senior soldier, worships at the corps and actively serves in both the township and beyond

Dudley grew up learning about God. He attended a Christian fellowship group, sang in a choir and taught Sunday school. “In the late 50s, I even went to a Billy Graham crusade and walked up the front with a couple of hundred schoolkids and gave my life to God,” he says. Religion though, wasn’t sitting well with Dudley. He felt like he was surrounded by hypocrisy and just wanted to leave home. “In those days, you couldn’t leave home until you were 21, unless you joined the Armed Forces,” Dudley explains. “I joined the Army for the shortest period possible, just to get away.”

Salvos contact
Brigadier Bill Shaw, or “Milo Bill” as he was called, was Dudley’s first contact with The Salvation Army in 1963. “I was a young fellow serving in the military as a driver aid, so I used to drive the Brigadier out to the troops with the Milo he had for them all,” Dudley explains. “I did this for three years, before I got out of the military, but I never forgot him and what he did for the blokes.”
Dudley describes his life’s journey from that point as “travelling a rocky and uneven road”.

“I was a lapsed Christian and I went AWOL – absent without leave,” he explains.

Dudley married, and he and his wife Carol raised their family. “My wife and I used The Salvation Army for various reasons as we brought up our kids, and I always said that once I retired, I would give something back to the Salvos for all they had done for us,” he explains.

Return to Cowra
Dudley and Carol moved to Cowra in late 2012 to retire. For Dudley, it was almost a homecoming as he was born and brought up in Canowindra, just over 30km away. Not long after they arrived, Dudley saw the Salvation Army Emergency Services trailer at the Community Welfare Centre and decided that’s what he wanted to do to give back to the Salvos. He made inquiries at the Family Store and was asked to wait until the end of January when the new corps officer, Captain Louise Beamish, would be starting her appointment. In the meantime, Dudley came across an old friend, Bill Bundy, who had been chairman of Cowra’s Red Shield Appeal (RSA) for 23 years. “He asked whether I wanted to help him out,” says Dudley with a laugh. “He said he had just the thing for me – a role that I would be really good for – and that would also enable him to step down.

“He said he would have a chat with Captain Louise and for me to go and talk to her.” 

Dudley went to see Captain Louise and walked out of her office as Chairman of the RSA!

“Carol and I felt like we were being led, but we were not sure to where!” he says.

Deeper connection
Dudley decided that, as Chairman of the RSA, he should at least go to a few meetings to see what they were like, and to give the congregation an opportunity to get to know him. Carol accompanied him to the meetings. “A few weeks later, I could see the writing on the wall,” he says simply.

During one meeting, Captain Louise spoke about becoming a soldier or an adherent in The Salvation Army. “I asked her what the difference was and she explained,” says Dudley. “She told me, though, that I couldn’t be a soldier because I drank.” Dudley told Carol that he would give up drinking. Carol, however, wasn’t convinced, as he had said this before and gone back to having a drink after a few days.

“I got up the next morning, God spoke to me, and I haven’t had a drink since,” says Dudley, with conviction. “I knew this was it for me. I went to boot camp, did soldiership classes and was enrolled as a soldier. I’m also doing further Bible studies with Captain Louise. Carol is an adherent.

“It’s rather unusual to have a soldier as Chairman of the RSA but this is the journey God has taken me on.
“There have been lots of dramas and rocky roads to this point, but they are in the past. I have got off the rocky road and am back on the smooth, whatever happens.
“I never thought I would be a Salvation Army soldier, but I am proud to be one, and to serve.
“No life-shattering experience has drawn me here; it’s just part of God’s journey for me.”

Community roles
Dudley and Carol are certainly giving back to The Salvation Army, and are serving in other community organisations as well.
They are both active in the SAES, and Dudley is studying to complete his training in community care. Dudley is also president of Riding for the Disabled in Cowra, and Carol assists him with that role. He is also president of the Returned Services League’s Club branch management committee, the local caravan club and, to continue his Scottish heritage, Clan McNicol. “I’ve always been in Apex, a Cubs or Scouts leader and in the community, but I went a lot further with my commitment to The Salvation Army this time!” he says with a laugh.

This article first appeared in The Salvation Army's Pipeline magazine.