Second Lieutenant Arthur van Grondelle recently qualified for the Parachute Regiment in the British Army by passing through 'P Company,' a gruelling training programme. Out of 80 men, only 15 made it in the end. Mr. van Grondelle will speak about what it was like to be a part of 'P Company' and to be a platoon commander in his early twenties. He will speak about the role that his Christian faith played in sustaining him through his training.

He will speak alongside Revd Dr. Mark Bezerra Speeks who has served as an Army Chaplain since 2010 and previously served as a rating in the Royal Navy for three years and a reservist soldier for eight years with the Honourable Artillery Company. He has also worked in investment banking in London, Paris, and New York for over twenty years. He recently earned a DPhil on political theology and the just war. He will speak about the challenges of being a Christian in the armed forces, relying on his long experience of having a pastoral role as a military chaplain.