Future starts here

Nance Turner began talking to spirits when she was two. They would come to her bedroom at night and she would happily chat to them while her parents slept soundly next door. "My mum and dad thought I was dreaming when I told them," she said. "Then I think they thought I was a bit doolally. In the end, I think they were quite relieved when I told them I was clairvoyant."

Nance, 26, of York, kept her gift a secret throughout her school days for fear of being labelled as "different".

It wasn't until she got a job at York Dungeon that she decided she couldn't ignore her clairvoyant skills any longer.

She said: "They have got three spirits there anyway, but when I arrived suddenly it was overrun. I saw a spirit every day. I would be having a conversation with someone and they would disappear right in front of my face. It was very scary."

Soon afterwards she met a clairvoyant who predicted she would be working as a professional clairvoyant in four years' time.

"I said I didn't think so, but here I am four years later," she said.

She believes everyone has a degree of clairvoyant intuition, often dismissed as deja vu, but that really skilled clairvoyants are able to go deeper and become completely enveloped in the spirit world.

"It's a tiring experience," Nance explained. "I'm not one of those clairvoyants who gets all melodramatic about it, but you do feel the energy from the spirits and you feel it when it drains away.

"It's better than any high you can imagine, but it also leaves you feeling very drained when it's over."

She uses tarot cards, but she admits that they are little more than a distraction - something for nervous clients to focus on as she chats with the spirits.

"Everyone has their own spirit guide and everyone has their own guardian angel," she said.

"They can be animals or spirits from thousands of years ago. Whatever form they come in though they are there to look after you. There are no such things as evil spirits."

Nance insists she would never give anyone a bad message, but she is not averse to giving a client "a kick up the bum" on behalf of a spirit.

"It's not my job to scare people," she said. "But I do give people a good telling off if that is what the spirit wants. Most people understand that it is the spirit, not me, telling them off, and most people accept it because it is what they really needed to hear at that point in their life."

Sometimes, however, there are tears as well as smiles - especially if the spirit is a child."It doesn't matter if the child passed years ago, it can still upset people," said Nance. "Children are real bundles of energy in the spirit world. They are beautiful things. I try to get that across and hope it brings some comfort."

She can't do a reading for everyone. The time has to be right for them - they have to want to hear the messages she has for them.

While Nance once found her gift quite frightening, she is now very comforted by it - especially as some of her regular spirit visitors are members of her family. She said. "I like it that they are with me. It makes me feel safe and secure. I only hope my clients feel the same."

Nance's reading with Jo

Nance chatted amicably with my nan - who she described very accurately as a tiny little bossy person with Nora Batty-style wrinkled stockings.

She said my nan (actually my great-grandma, who died a few years ago aged 96) was pleased to see I had settled down at last, which sounded spookily like her. However my nan kept referring to me as Jo, but she always called me Joanne.

And her accuracy left her for a while when Nance discussed both mine and my partner's personalities. She said I was very focused and my partner was a whirlwind of activity around the house - wrong on both counts.

Nance warned a man called Carl would cause problems in my relationship. But more scary was the prospect that my partner was on the verge of treating himself to a new shed.

Verdict: spookily accurate on small details, a bit blurry on the bigger picture.

Lynn's reading with Jo

Lynn said my baby would arrive on Tuesday, April 15 - my waters would break as I stepped out of a car and that I shouldn't bank on reaching the hospital in time. But I'm still waiting for the baby.

She also predicted that it would be twins next time (next time!).

She said the spirits were worried that I was still working a week before the baby was due and that I should shelve my plans to begin working from home eight weeks (spot on) after the birth.

She was a bit off beam when she talked about a woman named Joyce who kept cropping up in the spirit world (no bells ringing there), a caravan which I am going to buy later in the year (no, don't think so), a big house move in the next couple of months (no money, no move) and a Labrador puppy that my partner is going to bring home (no chance).

But she did also say that my finances would begin to perk up, I would find a better work-life balance and that new career opportunities were just around the corner, so all was soon forgiven.

Verdict: a very warm, pleasant experience (with a warm, pleasant woman) - not sure about the accuracy, but you certainly leave Lynn's feeling good about yourself and the future.

LYNN Bell uses her clairvoyant gift to help people but on one occasion she is convinced it saved her life. "It was many years ago, before it was compulsory to wear a seat belt. I was driving when I saw an accident and me being put in a body bag. I felt a bit shaken and pulled over and put my seat belt on then continued my journey. On the way back, at exactly the same spot, a car travelling on the opposite carriageway crossed over the central reservation and hit me straight on. My car was written off, but I was still wearing my seat belt and it saved my life."

In another spooky incident, Lynn recalls how when she first met her husband Tony an image appeared behind him of the two of them as bride and groom. This shocked her immensely as first impressions indicated he wasn't her type.

But her vision was accurate. They tied the knot soon afterwards and have been happily married for 16 years.

Despite this story, Tony along with Lynn's dad are firmly in the non-believers camp. "Tony thinks I'm a lunatic and my dad is just a traditional Geordie who thinks it's all very silly," she says candidly.

Lynn, who is 42 and lives in Bubwith, first became aware of her psychic powers when she was a young girl. "I remember seeing people in the playground. I got into it seriously when I was 18 and began going to the Spiritualist Church. Eventually I began taking the service."

Alongside her commitments to the Spiritualist Church, Lynn built up a successful career in the radio industry, at one point becoming the managing director of Minster FM in York, where presenters dubbed her the 'Baroness of Minster Towers'. She now runs a successful national radio consultancy, where she 'sells' her expertise to stations across the country.

Believing that business and the spirit world were not natural bedfellows, she has tried to keep them apart. However, she admits her special skills do spill over into her professional life. "It refines my instincts. I can instinctively make judgements which is sometimes not a great thing," she admits.

Given her business background, it is fitting she describes the 'gift' in terms of a radio transmitter. "I feel like I'm a radio set and for some reason, I'm able to receive information which I can pass on to people. Sometimes it doesn't hit the mark, sometimes it is exactly what they are looking for. I can't understand it, but it has helped me to help people. It's not for personal gain and it doesn't help me in my life or in making decisions. I can't get away from it. I have tried many times. It's natural to me and you have to be true to yourself.

"If I don't use it, things don't feel right. I feel I'm lacking something and it is very rewarding working with it."

Lynn mainly works as a clairvoyant for charity events or those recommended by friends who need help mostly because they are recently bereaved or at a crossroads in their lives. She said: "We are a very cool culture and when we lose people, we don't know how to cope. People feel very lost and turn to spiritualists and psychics often for comfort or to take away the responsibility of making a decision."

But Lynn sees her job as comforting people so they feel able to make decisions for themselves. She says: "We all have to make our own journey in life."

Lynn's reading with Maxine:

Lynn saw a new beginning for me following a reshaping of my life with things in my work and home becoming resettled. This was spot on considering in the past year I had got married, become a mother and returned to work. She said I looked well but was very tired (too true). Ominously she said someone was keeping me in the dark about a change and someone was letting me down at work (own up, whoever you are). She predicted the date May 3 would be important and saw a geographical move and changes in my career and even a link with voluntary work overseas (no plans as yet!) She said I'd begun to wear different colours which was correct because I've made a conscious decision not to buy any more black clothes. When she switched to the tarot cards she homed in again on big changes in my work and home life and saw that I had a child and a very happy, loving relationship. Some of the names she mentioned to me: Barbara, Joyce and Bertie meant nothing.

Verdict: Very accurate on the broad sweep of my life and dreams. Not so hot on the fine detail.

Nance's reading with Maxine:

She said my head was in turmoil and I needed to let it out; tell people how I felt and move on (a bit dramatic, but I admit I have my share of dark days).

She saw a geographical shift around the world and a return to studying or a new career (not imminent). She threw a series of questions at me which I was surprised I could answer: 'Who has the motorbike?' (my brother-in-law). 'He's a speed freak so tell him to be careful'.

She also predicted I had a sister who would need non-urgent treatment from a nurse (weirdly, this happened the next day) and had messages for my uncle Billy 'the zany one' (true) and my great auntie Maggie, 'who knows how we all like to party' (correct).

But she was way off the mark when it came to my personal life; she said I'd had a bad run of luck with men and suggested I was better off without them (I've been with my partner for ten years) and there was nothing to indicate that I had a child.

Verdict: Much of her detail had resonance, although I felt key parts of my life were untouched.

Find out what is in store for you...

- To arrange a reading with Nance Turner, ring 07986 110356

- Lynn Bell would like to offer readings for Evening Press

readers, with the aim of running a regular column in Impressions.

If you have an issue which Lynn could help you with, please write to Lynn Bell c/o Maxine Gordon, Features, Evening Press, 76-86 Walmgate, York, YO1 9YN or email: maxine.gordon@ycp.co.uk

Correspondence will be passed on to Lynn and the Evening Press reserves the right to publish the letters but will guarantee anonymity to readers.

Updated: 08:59 Tuesday, April 22, 2003