Some people believe in it, and some people don’t. Some people might be undecided, others might be terrified of it. But there’s one thing for sure – the life of a medium is interesting.

Psychic Gloria Pyne, of Stanborough Avenue, Borehawmood, has been running Borehamwood Spiritual Centre, in Allum Hall, Elstree, every Thursday for the past thirty years.

The 57-year-old and her hard-working committee of ten people do not make a single penny out of the sessions and instead donate all their profits to local charities.

In the past year, they have donated £500 each to the Borehamwood Foodbank and to the Borehamwood Times’ Funky Friendz appeal for a new youth club in the town.

Each week, around 50 people gather in the hall and to hear a different medium in the hope of getting in contact with their loved ones.

There’s a lot more to being a medium than what you might have seen on Poltergeist, Charmed or even the Sixth Sense.

Gloria has a number of spirit guides who help her transmit messages from the dead for people they left behind.

She said: “It’s like having a television screen inside your head. I can see an outline of the person. I will pick up on that energy and they will show me an image which builds in my head.

“The voices aren’t in my ear, they’re in my head. My spirits feed me what they want their loved one to know.

“They don’t mean to hurt you – they want to communicate with someone. A spirit won’t tell you anything that could hurt you. They come through with messages of hope and guidance.”

Children of all ages are also welcome to attend the sessions, where people are offered a free ‘healing’ to cleanse them of bad spirits.

Gloria also agrees to take on free 'clearance' sessions to help lost souls cross over. Ten years ago – she would do two or three a year, but nowadays, she has to do this three times a day.

She believes that this is because since 2012, the world has been changing spiritually and that people are having more and more experiences with the other side.

As a result, she passes down her expertise at training sessions.

She said: “You’ve got to be able to switch off. Otherwise you’ll be walking around, seeing dead people.”

Although spirits can materialise, Gloria says they rarely do. But when she was nine, and part of a choir in Allum Hall, she saw her very first spirit and realised she had a gift.

“I was walking up the stairs and moved out of the way to let a woman go through, and I noticed she was wearing odd clothes. Then I realised she was floating down the stairs, not walking. I screamed and ran back to class.”

Gloria did not develop her gift until later in life, after spending years working as a professional wrestler and a fire eater in Hong Kong, Singapore, Dubai, Malaysia, India and Africa.

Now married and with an 18-year-old daughter, she says one of the beauties of being a medium is that her own mother can sometimes come through for a “general chat”.

She is now encouraging people to visit the centre to find out more. “We’re a very relaxed, laid-back, non-denominational group. We just want to promote spirituality as a way of life.

“People get a bit nervous but it’s all done with love and laughter, there’s a really nice, positive energy.”

Sessions are held every Thursday at 8pm and cost £3 per person. Chidlren under 16 go free. For more information, call Gloria on 07908 224506. For more information, visit www.borehamwoodspiritualcentre.com/