Parish of Leatherhead, Surrey: Extracts from the Great War Parish Magazines

From the January Parish Magazine 1919
LETHERHEAD WAR HOSPITAL SUPPLY WORK-ROOMS.
In consequence of the recent sale of Hawksbury, the work-rooms are closed and will not re-open.
E. Hicks, Hon. Secretary.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER FOR JANUARY, 1919.

My dear People,
God Bless you, this New Year.

A new year and a new time: a time which one who believes in God must feel to be a very solemn one.

It begins with a great gladness of peace: a great sense of relief and freedom. With a great outburst of heartfelt thanksgiving we have praised, and to-day again we praise, God. Then we turn our face towards the coming days: but still as in God’s sight and with very earnest and humble prayer to God for His guidance to our nation, our rulers, and ourselves. How shall we use the time — ‘this our day’? God has brought us through the war, and given us a fresh lease of power — for what?

We trust first that 1919 will be the year of the great Peace and that it will be a just and lasting peace. It has been said “wars benefit only those who have been defeated in them.” True or exaggerated the words warn us. For an illustration think of 1871, remember Sedan and the vast indemnity paid by France, and then look at Germany now. A mighty victory has led directly to moral decadence and economic disaster.

Certainly victory carries with it great temptations. I do not think they are less, possibly they may be more subtle and therefore greater, because we have fought for the right and have defeated cruelty and wrong. There is a great danger in being champion of the right: the danger of coming to ‘think of ourselves as righteous and despise others.’

It was necessary that we should look sternly and severely at the awful fault and crimes of Germany. Righteous indignation braces conscience. But how easily it passes into something unlike itself: from indignation into hatred, from righteousness to what is bitter and cruel. Suffer the word of warning.

Anyhow what is far more important is that we should look to ourselves, and see that the evil powers which have misled Germany to her ruin do not in other forms beguile ourselves. The sins of Germany have been national self-worship, and the worship of force, of gold, and of the machine. They have been sins, you see, against the law of Christ, the Lord of unselfishness, faithful service and sacrifice, against the King of Love.

The unselfishness of the Dominions, the sacrifice of our own men and women even to the death, the service of America to the righteous cause, the mutual goodwill to the allies have, under God, won the victory'.

With this in mind, think again of the future and Britain’s part in the world. We are not, I verily believe, covetous of more Empire, and it is only right that we should be careful of British interests. But shall we have it as a main hope and purpose to do all we can to draw all nations into a League of Peace, to act as trustee and defender of the weaker races, to conduct ourselves so that slowly but surely hatreds may die down, and slowly but surely the ideals which are good for all the nations may come to be pursued by all?

And at home! — We all know that there must and ought to be great changes: the word revolution is often used, and for considerable numbers of our countrymen it is even a watchword. We ought in Christ’s name to make society fairer: to distribute profits and advantages more evenly: to give each child born into the national life a better chance: to extinguish or greatly mitigate hardships of the life of our workers in town and country.

Yet all this canno be done without a mighty power of general goodwill, disinterestedness, and unselfishness. It might degenerate into an ugly and brutal struggle for money between “ Haves” and “Have-nots,” rich and poor. It might fill the land with bitterness and strife.

These words will be heard and read by men and women of different kinds. But for all of them there is truth in what I am trying to put before you.
Those who have had sometimes a wrong and unchristian monopoly of the- great word “respectable” will have to reconcile themselves (let me put myself among them) to great losses and disagreeable changes, and to welcome a state of society in which they count for less.

The wage earning classes may be tempted to use their great political and economic power in a way that will make intolerable the burdens of one of the poorer classes in the country, the small-fixed-income men and women. Russia has given us a lesson that revolution can be as ruthless as autocracy or Junkerism. Capital selfishly used can fight a cruel and tremendous battle with Labour — whichever wins. Labour can organize hatred against all who are not in its ranks: can have a noble programme and a bitter press.

Can the power of Christ and of His law of Love bring her through? That is the real question before us all to-day.

Therefore as His servant, speaking to my fellow servants, I pray you face the future humbly, seriously, bravely. Turn your thanksgiving into prayer. Pray in this year of grace 1919 more earnestly and intelligently than ever His own prayer. Throw out your thoughts wide and ask that in His name, as we know it in Christ, the nations all, and our own, may feel their way forward, that His Kingdom and Will may be better seen and increasingly prevail:
ask that He would give life’s bread and portion more and more truly and fairly to all:
that we and all the people may forgive each other and judge each other gently as we hope to be forgiven and judged:
and may He, who alone can do it, guard us from the temptations and deliver us from the evils which the world, the nation, and each one of us have to face, and which without Him we cannot possibly overcome.

I desire to remain,
Your faithful Bishop and servant,
EDW: WlNTON:
Farnham.

FOR KING AND COUNTRY.
The Military Cross has been awarded to Capt. C. C. W. Gregory, Royal Berkshire Regt., for services with the B.E.F. in Italy.
The Military Medal has been awarded to Cpl. J. W, Otway, 1st Royal West Kent Regt.

The following have given their lives for the Cause :—
Pte. E. R. Huggett, Middlesex Rdgt, died of Malaria in Mesopotamia, Nov. 17th, 1918.
Cpl. R. G. Crocker, wounded in action, Nov. 7th, died in hospital in France, Dec. 7th, 1918.

We greatly regret to record the death of Mr. William Yardley, under whose care had been for several years the electric lighting of the Parish Church. Mr. Yardley was one of the first to join the Letherhead Company of the 10th East Surrey Volunteer Battalion, and was a most keen and energetic member of the force: and his death was probably due in part to exposure to the weather in the performance of his duties.

From the February Parish Magazine 1919
During the Vicar’s recent illness the Rev. C. F. C. Elvin, formerly Assistant Curate of Letherhead, has been staying at the Vicarage in order to deal with emergencies and important matters arising during the week. He is in England on leave from the S.P.G. Mission to the Chinese at Singapore, and is at present undertaking Sunday duty near his home at Alton. The Vicar desires to thank many friends most gratefully for all their kindness.

The last Sunday of 1918 (Dec. 29th) was observed as a memorial of those who have laid down their lives in the war, and of gratitude for their devotion and sacrifice. At both morning and evening service the Vicar read out the long list of names of those who belong to Letherhead, exactly 100 in all.

The first Sunday of the New Year was observed as a day of special Prayer and Thanksgiving. The morning service was attended by the Letherhead Company of the 10th Volunteer Battalion of the Surrey Regiment, by the V.A.D., and the Nurses of the Red Cross Hospital, and by the Urban District Council. A number of prisoners-of-war who have recently come back from Germany were present and gave thanks for their return home.

LETHERHEAD WAR HOSPITAL WORK ROOMS.
On Wednesday, January 22nd, a well-attended gathering was held in the Institute of those who had helped in the War Work Rooms during the last three years. After tea, in the name of all who were present, Mrs. Mitford presented a case of silver and mother-of-pearl afternoon tea knives to Miss Hicks, as a token of the appreciation felt by all connected with the Work-rooms of the way in which she had organized the work, and of her unfailing tact and consideration. A picture was also presented to Mrs. Chetwynd-Stapylton, and a Liberty work-basket to Mrs. Alfred Blaker who had both done much successful and valuable work with Miss Hicks at the Work-rooms.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER.

My dear People,
This month is for us a waiting, very quiet in appearance, but in reality simmering with possibilities, anxieties, and opportunities.

I should like to think that there is not one of our parishes which is just going on in the old groove: not doing anything by clergy and people together, either to improve the services, making them clearer, simpler, and more suitable for the people generally — nor preparing for the returning men — nor arranging to carry on war-prayers into peace-prayers for the needs of the world, and Church, and nation in this most solemn time of crisis — nor talking over together how the life of the place can be made better: whether there should be a Church Lads’ Brigade Company for the young, or a Women’s Institute to bring all sorts together. A parish which does none of such-like or better things is not a parish for times like ours.

The time seems quiet. But we have learnt our lesson. ‘As it was in the days of Noah,’ ‘as it was in the days of Lo ’ in the old Scripture stories, as it is to be in the days of the Son of Man, so it has been, in fact, in our own days. All quiet, and things as usual, and then suddenly, as in an instant, the storm, and the destruction. We have seen it so in the War. We may have to see it so again. Those who watch will understand.

Meanwhile, it is for us a time of waiting, in which we must try our best to girdle the World’s Council Chamber at Versailles with forces of prayer for God’s guidance, very specially for our own statesmen acting for us there.

For this and for an outcome of true and abiding peace for Europe and the world, I bid your earnest prayers, both publicly and privately, during this month.
But I cannot stop there. It would be inhuman to say nothing of what at this moment is the condition of some European countries, great and small. “Upon the earth distress of nations with perplexity, men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking upon the things which are coming on the earth.”

What words could be more apt for Russia, Poland, the Balkans, Austria? It is past all experience and imagination of ours to hear of people in numbers actually dying of hunger on the pavements of a great city (Petrograd), from which only four years ago we were eagerly looking for the irresistible and disciplined numbers whose attack on our enemies would be our own protection.

This is only an extreme case. Our Food Controller says, “Great tracts of Europe are on the verge of starvation.” Famine, one of the great spectre-terrors of human life, known to us in the West only by grim repute, has great regions and masses of Europeans in its grip. The American administrator, acting for the Allies, has got by the ears the Wolf of Starvation. And with starvation goes anarchy — sometimes effect, sometimes cause. Streets whose names are as familiar to foreigners as our Piccadilly, Strand, and so on, are scenes of conflict with machine guns and bombs.

Contrast this with the Europe so familiar to us of international trains, and easy travel, and glittering ‘civilization.’ Imagination staggers at it. This is what is happening, while with us restrictions are relaxing, commodities are increasing, men are returning to happy homes, plans for sport and business are resuming, grievances, small or great, are being aired.

Let us not, at any rate, just ‘pass by on the other side’ without a thought, without a prayer. No doubt there will be opportunities for helping beside the official ones. Of these we shall hear.

Meanwhile, let us not be high-minded, but fear. Such a shaking,of the very fabric of civilization in Western lands may recall to thoughtful men how sand-built much of our security is. They certainly drive us to think again what are “the things that cannot be shaken,” what are the foundations of sure building, what are the immortal springs of civilization. To ponder this will be to find ourselves learning again the mighty lessons of the War and the Overthrow. It will do much to prepare us for strain of trouble which may easily test our own English social and economic life.

If such troubles come, British character, and good sense, and experience, and habits of free life will count, as we hope, for much, but our ‘sure trust’ can be only in the light which Jesus Christ has cast upon the principles of sound living and true thinking : and in the kindness and mercy of God which follows those who try to make those principles prevail in their own lives and the lives of their fellows.

I desire to remain,
Your faithful Bishop and servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

FOR KING AND COUNTRY.
Col. E. J. Woodley has been “mentioned in Despatches,” and made an Officer of the Military Division of the Order of the British Empire for services during the War.

The Order of the British Empire has been conferred on Mrs. John Henderson, of Randalls Park, who has done so much for the Red Cross, and in particular for our Red Cross Hospital in Letherhead, and on Mr. W. T. Limming, Quarter-master of the Red Cross Stores Dept, in Boulogne.

The Distinguished Conduct Medal has been awarded to Lance-Bombardier G. Reddick, R F.A., for distinguished service with the British Forces in Italy.

We greatly regret to record the death of Corpl. John Poulter, Bedford Regt., on Oct. 29th, 1918, in the prisoners-of-war camp at Sennelager.

The following, so far as the Vicar has been able to ascertain, are the names of the Letherhead men who down to the present time have returned home from imprisonment in Germany.

T. Bullen          A. Gibbs            W. Poulter
W. Busfield      T. Horne           R. Richardson
A. Dovey        F. Mileham        C. Toone
H. Easton         A. Moore          C. Wild
A. Freeman      D. Pentycross S. Williams

From the March Parish Magazine 1919
Burials.
“ Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord."—Rev. xiv. 13.
1919.
Feb. 8. Albert Harold Friday, aged 25 years.
Feb. 10. Joseph Warden, aged 61 years.
Feb. 12. Charles Robert, aged 81 years.
Feb. 12. Frances Mary Jackson, aged 4 years.
Feb. 20. John Edward George Ricketts, aged 3 years.
Feb. 22. Annie Sophia Gardiner, aged 30 years.

Under the circumstances of the present pressure upon the Clergy, and the shortage of Staff in so many places it has been impossible to secure the aid of preachers from outside. The Rev. H. G. Jameson will preach in the Parish Church at Evensong on the first Sunday in Lent; and the Vicar hopes to undertake a course of sermons on some of the Beatitudes (S. Matt. V.) on the other Sunday evenings. He also hopes to preach on Sunday mornings from the 2nd Lesson (Epistle to the Hebrews), and to give short addresses at Evensong on Wednesdays, at 6.30 p.m.

The Rev. R. B. Maurice will preach a course of Sermons on the Epistle of S. James, in All Saints’ Church on Sunday mornings.

The Three Hours’ Service on Good Friday is to be taken by the Rev. H. G. Jameson.

We are glad to say that the Bishop is taking steps which should lead shortly to the return of Mr. Sharp from his duties with the Forces to his work here. Owing to the demobilisation of a great number of our troops abroad, and the greater concentration of those who still remain there is no longer the urgent need of so great a number of Chaplains to the Forces.

It is much to be hoped, though there is not at present any great prospect of it, that the claims of National Service on almost the whole of Mr. Maurice’s labours may be released.

WASTE PAPER DEPOT
This depot is now closed after two years’ work, during which a sum of about £300 was raised. £155 was sent to the Y.M.C.A., £71 to the Letherhead War Hospital Supply Work-rooms, and the balance will be given to the Star & Garter Fund for disabled soldiers. An average of rather more than one ton per month of paper-making material was salved. Two parcels of educational books were sent to prisoners in Germany ; xJ-cwt. of nut-shells were sent to the National Salvage Committee.

The very hearty thanks of all concerned with the paper depot are due to Mr. Bulpin, who most generously lent his shop in Bridge Street; to Mr. Hewlins who very kindly lent a weighing machine, and Mr. Lack, the depot’s next-door neighbour, who helped in many ways. The workers are also grateful to Mrs. Miller, whose shop in Bridge Street was used as a store-room.

Messrs. Lendrum, the paper merchants, propose in future to call on the contributors to the depot, and buy the waste paper direct from them, as it is still urgently needed. It has been suggested that the contributors might like to give the small sum of money received for their paper to the Cottage Hospital. Mrs. Watney, of Beechwood, Letherhead, will call on the contributors to collect the money from those who are willing to support the fund.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER.
Farnham Castle,
Surrey.

My dear People,
Never even during the dark times of war have I written to you with more solemn and anxious thoughts in my heart.

Four and a half years ago we had the experience of danger falling upon us which had been often spoken of, but which most of us had never really expected would come. God grant that this does not happen again and in a worse form. Civil strife has ever been rightly accounted an even worse evil than the strife of nations, and we can dread no bitterer things than the struggles, hatred, or cruelty which might come to us with class war. Yet that may be.

My usual duty would be to call us all to keep Lent, 'walking humbly with our God,’ searching our hearts in His sight, punishing ourselves a little for our sins, bracing ourselves to try and be more faithful and dutiful, to follow our Master more truly, to do more and care more for our neighbours, — for one another.

And I do this to-day. It is as needful as ever: and a special call to it before the great anniversaries of the Lord’s Passion, Death, and Victory is just as much wanted.
Perhaps the ways of it may be rather different now from what they were in my younger days. Perhaps repentance comes less now by careful self-examination, and more by the lessons which God teaches, whether by the awful examples of how evil works in the world: or by the splendid glimpses of what the world might be (and may become) if we could more truly put away the evil and seek the good, and if we could bring to the service of the King of kings the courage, unselfishness patience, comrade ship, and simplicity, which have been so nobly thrown into the earthly war.

Perhaps some of us who have practised religion may find repentance by learning a little more to take our place with the poor publican who thought so little of himself, rather than with the strict and careful Pharisee.

But still, dear people, I give you again the old personal heart-searching Lenten call.

It may be that with our hearts and minds fuller, as it is right that they should be, of big things, the affairs of the nations, social efforts and troubles, and the like, we may be almost careless of ourselves. But it is wrong. The wall is no sounder than the bricks that are in it. The strength of the chain is that of its links. Each is charged with his or her own soul: and bound to contribute the best of it to the service of God and man.

But, to return to what I said at first, I must this year speak specially of special dangers and special calls.

We all hope that 1919 may be a year of new beginnings, of change, of better national life. But the thoughts and plans in different minds are immensely different. There may be rude clash and painful differences in State and in Church. It may be that such troubles will be blessings disguised. It may be necessary that some old things should be put away for new and better ones. But it may be otherwise: and the days may be evil.

Anyhow we shall need all our best watchfulness and care. Let me give some simple words of counsel.

(1) I am writing first and chiefly to my own Christian people. I charge you to be earnest, strong persevering in prayer. Pray for God’s guidance. Ask it for the nation, for the classes, for the churches. We need it urgently at every turn. Ask the Lord Christ, whom His men reckoned asleep or absent on the hill while the little boat tossed and was near to swamping on the rough waters, to be present and help us through now with His calm presence and His word of power.

(2) Be careful how you speak: how you form your opinions, and hold them, and bring them out. The newspapers say wisely and truly that we must rely on the soundness and steadiness and good sense of the community or nation at large. You help, ever so little, but quite truly, to form public opinion. We should all try to understand the other side. We must try to remember how we are governed by our own surroundings, the thought of our class, or set, or profession. It is true of the clergy as much as any, but it is true of all. How many labour men if they were employers would not think as employers do? How many employers if they were wage-earners would not think with labour? In these days most people read a newspaper. What a good thing if we all read, two, of opposite sorts. But indeed our newspapers are often to blame. They ought to help us to see both sides fairly. But they do not usually do it: and I am afraid the newspapers and the papers that circulate in the ranks of labour do it as little as any. We ought to see the trader’s case, the workman’s case, the employer’s or capitalist’s case. They have all a great deal to say for themselves. We ought all of us to be ashamed to prate in the language of our own set.

Perhaps you will think it strange that I should write like this, and in a letter that may be read in Churches. But indeed I think it is right. For it is in just such matters as these that the great Christian things of charity, and of mutual gentleness, and of tolerance and considerateness to others are most urgently needed and may make the greatest difference.

I could not have rested with an easy conscience if I had not, at the beginning of this month, and looking forward to this anxious spring and summer, tried to say these things to all, however few, whom my voice can reach.

We need it all in the Church and between the Churches as much as in political and social life : and sometimes we lack it as much. But I hope we are doing something to understand one another better, and be more patient with one another. God bless you and give you truth and peace.

I desire to be,
Your faithful Bishop and servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

FOR KING AND COUNTRY.
The Military Cross has been awarded to Lieut. W. M. Kemmis-Betty, R.G.A. (S.R.)
Major B. G. Chetwynd Stapylton, East Surrey Regt., is “mentioned in despatches” for services in Mesopotamia.

From the April Parish Magazine 1919

Miss E. B. Hewlins, after seventeen years’ devoted and unremitting labour, has resigned the post of Treasurer of the Magazine. That of itself involved a great deal of toilsome and constant attention, and to it she and her sister added the heavy task of organising the distribution of copies. It is probable that readers of the Magazine have little idea of the amount of work which is involved in bringing it to their doors, and of the gratitude which the Parish owes to the Misses Hewlins in connection with it. We are fortunate in having obtained the assistance of Miss Hicks as Treasurer, and of Mrs. Dashvvood as organiser of distribution for the future.

An admirable Recital of Sacred Music was given in the Parish Church by the Choir of S. John’s School, supported by the Parish Church Choir, on the evening of March 20th. The Church was very full and the music was most beautifully and reverently rendered throughout, making the Recital what it should be, a real act of worship, and not a mere performance giving pleasure to the hearers. We are most grateful to the S. John’s School Choir for the help which they have — not for the first time — given us in this way. A collection was made in aid of the Cottage Hospital, which amounted to £10 12s. 8d. The expenses (music, etc.,) came to £2 2s. 2d., leaving £8 10s. 6d. to be contributed to the Hospital Funds.

We thank, most gratefully, the Committee of the Red Cross Hospital, for their kind gift of a wicker Bath-Chair, for the benefit of invalid Parishioners. The Chair is kept at the Vicarage, to which application should be made by those who desire the use of it.

THE VICAR’S LETTER.

My dear Friends,
I entreat all of you to read carefully, think over with prayer and let your actions be in accordance with, what our Bishop says in his letter to the Diocese which is printed below. No words which I might add could so well befit this most solemn season of a most momentous year.

Miss Marsh and Miss Gutteridge have to be added to the number of District Visitors who have left us. Their unremitting care will be much missed in the Kingston Road; and there are several districts in other parts of the Parish which now lack Visitors: some of these have for a long time been without this help. It is quite impossible, particularly under present circumstances, to keep our people as they should be kept in touch with Church life without the invaluable aid which is given by District Visitors: and I appeal to the ladies amongst us who are not at present taking any part in this most necessary work, especially to those who since the armistice have unavoidably given up labours and ministrations to which they had devoted themselves, to come and help us in this way.

It is quite definitely work amongst our fellow men and women for the sake of Christ, and it is greatly needed for their welfare a matter which concerns us all as members of one Body in Him.

It must also be evident how much our Parish Church Choir needs reinforcement. And I ask that some of the men in the congregation who have voices and knowledge of singing should, by joining it, help us to make our services a more worthy offering of prayer and praise to Him whom we all worship together in Church. That is a thing which is more than worth doing: it is surely a claim upon those to whom God may have given, as He does not give to all, the gifts necessary for the purpose.

Trusting that these appeals may not be made in vain.
I remain,
Yours very faithfully, T. F. Hobson.
March 26th, 1919.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER FOR APRIL, 1919.

My dear People,
April will bring us Holy Week, Good Friday, and Easter: the remembrance of our Lord and Master’s Death and Triumph: the centre of our Christian year: its holiest thoughts, its strongest call, its tenderest appeal, and (let me remind you) its highest opportunity. I pray you do not miss it.

I might so speak any year. Any year I might bid you in God’s name, as your Bishop, not to let the time go past without thought, without reverent and godly use, without the profit which such use of it may bring. Let us pray for each other that we may find what God means us to learn.

But this is no common year. God knows what April may bring or find along with its soft airs and springing flowers, in this land of ours — and in the Europe to which we so largely belong. Even when you hear or read these words great things may have happened for good or evil, for strife or peace.

I want (1) to make a special suggestion, and (2) to give you a word to think about.    .,

My suggestion is this: that you try to bring together, side by side, the thoughts of the Holy Season, and the special troubles and problems of this uneasy, anxious, and portentous time. The words are not too strong.

Great thoughts, great troubles, great examples come home to our minds and hearts (as we all know) with fresh force and meaning at special times, for example, when we are very sad or afraid or joyful. What then has Christ’s Cross and Passion and Victory to say specially to us in this year 1919, and in such a state of the world?

Think it over with prayer and find for yourselves some answer, some one of many answers. The news of every day brings tidings of terrible sufferings, and still more terrible cruelties and barbarities. Is it not something that evil and cruelty did their worst against Jesus, and that His Victory was won over them by the mighty patience and love of His Death at man's hand for man? Is it not something for us here in this land to whom God has given victory after War to watch again the awful Victory of the Cross, and be reminded that those who are to win with Christ, or use victory as He would have them do, and find true peace, must do it all in His Way, not with selfishness, or boastfulness, not turning back to careless self-indulgence, and vulgar pleasure, idleness, or show?

For four years and more we bore as a Nation a heavy Cross, and many lives among us felt personally its sorrow and its weight. Did we not learn from that experience, through those days, new things about the value and use of life, new thoughts about what makes life real and noble, and what makes it empty, and poor, and shallow?

We learnt a little, like the Apostle, “how to be abased”; shall we be able now to show that we have learnt “how to abound”? The Cross borne in wartime shall surely not be meaningless for us in peace. Will there not now be more for us than before in the thought that we were signed with the sign of the Cross in token that we should “not be ashamed to confess the faith of Christ crucified, and manfully to fight under His banner against sin, the world, and the devil, and to continue Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto our life’s end ”?

(2) And now for the word. It will perhaps surprise you. It is the word “ human-hearted.” I do believe that there is a great call upon usjust now to be “ human-hearted.”

If we are human-hearted, the newspapers just now are heart-rending reading. Peace is more painful than war. In war the slaughter and suffering was not a little redeemed by the heroism, the devotion to duty, and to a noble cause, the splendid things of generalship and discipline. But in “peace” as we call it the daily tidings of massacres, executions, mad strife of men tearing out their country’s entrails, ghastly cruelties, hunger and famine are mere and unredeemed horror. The fact that misguided men in Russia or elsewhere think that they are thus serving some ideal hardly relieves the picture, almost, indeed, darkens it. And what lies beyond?

What prospect of building up again happy nations on foundations of justice and goodwill?

Now let us remember that if we are human-hearted this is our concern. We cannot be content with our own peace even if we keep it, or with our own security and abundance. There is an old Latin family motto, “All that is human touches me.” The Roman could say that. But our human-heartedness is to be learnt of the Son of Man. He died for all. He was human with the manhood which is that of all mankind. He makes a new manhood in which all men are “one man.” Nationalities have their place: but all nations are within His Kingdom. We must feel something of the pain, the shame, the humiliation of all that the world is doing and undergoing. It is horrible to be indifferent, thoughtless, complacent; or to have no thought but “it serves them right.”

Some who suffer are our allies; some our enemies: but all alike are men. Depend upon it the life of the world is one. Where it goes wrong the poison will run through all: all will suffer more or less. “Our neighbour’s house it is that burns.” But Jesus has given us His own teaching about our neighbour. For His sake let us keep ourselves human-hearted, A time of such awful sorrow for the world cannot be a time for us of mere relapse into old, selfish, spending ways. In our thoughts, in our prayers (after the fashion of the Lord’s Prayer), in whatever way we can, let us be human-hearted towards all men.

It is a most needed thought; I have hinted it: I leave to you to follow it out.

Wishing you all a truly happy Easter,
I desire to remain,
Your faithful Bishop and Servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

From the May Parish Magazine 1919

MOTHERS' UNION.
The Annual Mothers’ Union Festival, which was discontinued during the War, will be held this year on Wednesday, June 4th, at 3 p.m. by the kind invitation of Mrs. Leach, at Vale Lodge. An address will be given by Mrs. Gore, of Sly field, who has succeeded Mrs. Northey as Presiding Member for this Deanery, and it is particularly hoped that all mothers of young children who are Mothers’ Union members will make a special effort to be present. Young children for whom their mothers find it difficult to make arrangements during their absence may be brought.

[It was reported in the June magazine that the Summer Festival, which was, by Mrs. Leach’s kind invitation, to have been held at Vale Lodge on Wednesday, June 4th, has had to be unavoidably postponed until September.]

GIRLS 'FRIENDLY SOCIETY
The Thursday gathering of the G.F.S. members which has been held since the middle of January has now come to an end.
On Wednesday, June 11th, it is hoped to hold a Conference of G.F.S. members from the Dorking, Letherhead, Cobham, and Epsom Branches in the Institute. Will all members please make a note of the date. Further details will be published in the June Magazine.

CHURCH LADS’ BRIGADE & I.C.S.P.
It is with the deepest regret that we have to announce the resignation of Cadet-Captain C. R. Young who has so successfully held the command of both the Brigade and Patrol for the past two years, and maintained them in such an admirable state of efficiency. Capt. Young will be very sorely missed here and will be accompanied to his new home at Oxted with the most heart-felt gratitude for all that his exceptional capacity and utterly self-sacrificing devotion and enthusiasm has done for the welfare of the boys in this place.

Meanwhile the command of the Brigade and Patrol will be temporarily in the hands of the Rev. C. J. Sharp. But the work is that which should be undertaken by a layman: and it is most earnestly to be hoped that some young layman from among our parishioners may speedily be found who will come forward to undertake it for the sake of the Church, and of the boys in Letherhead for whom these organizations are of such inestimable value.

On April 12th a Boxing Tourney was held at the Drill Hall between the Letherhead and Dorking Companies and Letherhead was successful in four out of the five heats.

On Easter Monday, April 21st, a competition was held in the S. John’s School Playing Fields, by the kind permission of the headmaster, between the Letherhead, Dorking, Cranleigh and Peaslake Companies of the Winchester Battalion. The Slaughan Company of the Winchester Battalion was also present as guests. The Adjutant’s Cup for Drill, held for the last two years by the Letherhead Company was won this year by the Cranleigh Company: and S. Richardson of the Letherhead Company won the Silver Bugle which was previously held by Cranleigh. After luncheon in the Drill Hall the Battalion returned to S. John’s Playing Fields for Sports: and later in the afternoon there was a very good exhibition of boxing in the Drill Hall. After tea the Battalion marched to the Brighton Railway Station and was there dismissed.

An Entertainment will be given in aid of the C.L.B. Funds in the Institute at 7 p.m. on Saturday. May 3rd, by the “Chocolate ” Company.

Two of the alms boxes in the Parish Church — one of them containing the Free-will Offerings to the Diocesan Fund were broken open at Eastertide and cleared of their contents.

We are asked to state that Mr. Shawcross, ex-Mayor of Guildford, who has returned from a visit to Northern France and Belgium will give an Exhibition of Scenes shewing the devastation caused in those regions by the war, in the Victoria Hall, at 7 p.m. on Friday, May 9th. Seats, price 1s. 3d. and 7d. The balance after payment of expenses will be given to the Cottage Hospital.

THE VICAR’S LETTER.

My dear Friends,
I must begin on a personal note of deepest gratitude for the wonderfully generous Easter Offering of this year. At a time when claims are more numerous, and the necessary burdens weigh so much more heavily on people than ever before, the goodness and kindness of the Parishioners in this matter is a thing about which I can find no words to express my feelings and can only say “Thank you ” from the depth of my heart. It is indeed an extraordinary encouragement to try to serve God more faithfully in the ministry to His people to which He has called me in this place.

As is announced under “Notices,” the collections on the 5th Sunday after Easter, May 25th, are to be given to the Central Church Fund, about which Canon Partridge, the Secretary of the Fund, came to speak to us one Sunday morning last January. The need of the whole Church in the land for a definite fund from which she can draw to meet the necessities of the vast task of the re-construction of her methods of work is enormous : and only by the establishment of such a fund can she hope to provide for the training and maintenance of the men (and women) who should be forthcoming to meet the increasing numbers and demands of our population ; and carry on the manifold activities which she is called to exercise in the attempt to perform the duty which is the reason for her existence, the bringing of the people of this land to live the life of Children of God, and the extension of His Kingdom throughout the world. I hope in the intervening days to be able to speak to you more definitely upon this subject.

We are glad to welcome Mr. Sharp on his return from service as Chaplain to the Forces in France: it will, of course, make a great difference to the possibilities of ministering a little more adequately to the spiritual needs of the Parish, than has been practicable now for some time past: and we may hope that in no long time things may be in full working order among us, and that we may be able really to go forward. I should like to express my sense of how great a debt this Parish owes to our two Voluntary Lay Readers for the invaluable help which they have so freely given during this time of stress : and my own exceeding gratitude to them for the weight which they have taken off my shoulders.

I remain,
Yours very faithfully,
T. F. Hobson.

THE VICAR’S LETTER.
My dear Friends,
I have space only for a few words, and they must unfortunately be words of regret.

Mr. Maurice, to my very great sorrow, and, I am sure, to that also of the whole Parish, finds it inpracticable to take up again the charge of All Saints’ District, in view of the opening of other work before him to which he has long felt drawn. For a short time he will continue to give the help on Sundays which he has given during the time he has been employed on National Service, from which he has not yet been released: but it is more than desirable that permanent arrangements for the care of All Saints’ should be made, and this will be by no means an easy task.

We all, and more especially the people of All Saints’, have been filled with sorrow and anxiety by the very serious illness of Mr. H. A. White: and most earnestly trust that in answer to our prayers he may be soon restored to completeness of health.

By the departure of Mr. and Miss Hawkins, Letherhead has suffered a very great loss. Mr. Hawkins spent time, and trouble, and indefatigable energy unsparingly as Treasurer or Committee member of many institutions, both there directly connected with the Church and others: and Miss Hawkins was most regular and unfailing in her support of All Saints’, and as a district visitor in the upper part of the Parish. Both will be very greatly missed here: and the good wishes and gratitude of many friends will follow them to their new home at Hove.

I remain,
Yours very faithfully,
T. F. Hobson,

THE BISHOP’S LETTER.
Farnham Castle, Surrey.

My dear People,
I hope that in all parts of the Diocese we may be thinking about the Call to Service, and about the special Campaign of the Kingdom in which we join with the Church throughout the land.

We may see little come of it, or much. That is in God’s Hands. But if it should be the means of sowing seeds of fruitful thought and stronger resolve, these are things which in many a case are not seen at once. They sink in and spring up in their own time, or rather in God’s time.

What we can all do is to pray that He may guide our foolishness to ends and purposes of His own making and giving. I hope we shall all do this in church and in secret.

Meanwhile the big things about which I have written to you in the last months are still there, looming and anxious.

We still watch to see whether peace will deepen and extend, and will begin at all to change into a great human fellowship in which all the nations may gradually find place, and find that the true interest of each is in the life of all.

We still watch to see whether the Nation will face the tremendous demand upon it for unity and self-control and patience, with which to go through the really tremendous strain upon it of a time of reaction, and of getting away from living on borrowed money.

We look forward to an hard and anxious winter. Can we pull through? Yes, if we pull hard and pull together. Not if we pull different ways; or do not pull our weight.
Pray, dear people; pray and think: and watch. Remember you are the people: or a part of the people. It all turns in a country like ours upon how the whole people bear themselves and think and act.

England has got a most noble, stirring, difficult opportunity.

Let all that is Christian in England be alive and alert to help England steer its way, and forge ahead, and carry its great burdens, for the honour of God, and for the good of men.
I desire to be,
Your faithful Bishop and servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

From the June Parish Magazine 1919

BELGIAN REFUGEES’ AID COMMITTEE.
In presenting this fourth and last Balance Sheet, the members of the Letherhead Belgian Refugees’ Aid Committee would like to take this opportunity of thanking most heartily all those who have contributed so liberally of their money and personal services, for it is due to the wholehearted support they have received that they have been able to carry through their scheme of offering substantial assistance to the Belgian refugees in our midst.

Altogether sixty-two Belgians have at one time or another been housed and kept in Letherhead, and (in addition to many gifts in kind made to individuals) £2,095 has been collected in the town. The small balance over is being sent to one of the refugees, who, on her return to Antwerp has found that the Germans had taken practically everything out of her house.

The Committee are glad to feel that the inhabitants of Letherhead have, in such a practical manner, proved the reality of their gratitude to the gallant Belgian nation, and they can truly say that its representatives, who have stayed in our town, have been in every way worthy of the help that has been so generously bestowed upon them.

Signed on behalf of the Committee, by
6th May, 1919.    E. A. Downes, Chairman.

FOR KING AND COUNTRY.
We greatly regret to record the death of
Lance-Corporal Robert Henry Stickland, Notts, and Derby Regt., reported missing on May 27th, 1918, now presumed to have been killed in action in Flanders on that date. He was formerly a member of All Saints’ Choir, and of the Church Lads’ Brigade.
Private Arthur Charles Toone, 1/5th Queen’s Royal West Surrey Regt., drowned in Mesopotamia, Sept. 25th, 1918.

From the July Parish Magazine 1919

It is hoped that, if all goes well, Sunday, August 3rd, will he observed throughout the land as a day of Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the conclusion of peace. In that case the services in our Churches will be, of course, of a special character, and we trust that it may be possible to hold an open air service at 3 p.m. on Letherhead Common.

We are asked, on account of out interest in Carpentaria, where our late Vicar, the Rev. E. J. Nash, worked for several years on leaving Letherhead, to make the following announcement:
On Thursday, July 17th, at the Wigmore Hall in London, at 3 p.m., the Bishop of London will plead for recruits for the Bush Brotherhood and similar organizations throughout the Empire. This is not an ordinary Missionary Meeting, but an integral part of the “Call to Service,” and as such should command the support of all loyal church people. Several “ Bush Brotherhoods ” are in danger of extinction unless volunteers are forthcoming.

The “ Call to Service,” alluded to above, is a matter of which we shall hear much in the coming autumn. It is an organized and inclusive appeal to be made to all members of the Church in this land, but the arrangements for mating it effectively are not yet completed.

We have a flagstaff, but no flag, at our Poplar Road Schools. It is a real want on such days as Empire Day and others, on which it is well to impress upon our children, by an appeal to the eye, some idea of what it means to be an Englishman. It would be a matter for real gratitude if someone could provide us with a large “Union Jack” for that purpose.

From the August Parish Magazine 1919

The approaching departure of Miss E. L. Maw from the Parish, necessitates her resignation of the office of Local Secretary to the Diocesan Fund, for which she has done such admirable work during the last seven years. We are fortunate in obtaining as her successor, Mrs. Downes, The Headmaster’s House, St. John’s School, to whom communications with respect to the fund should now be addressed. Miss Gibbons, of Clare, Park Rise, has very kindly undertaken the care of the Free-will Offerings to the fund.

LETHERHEAD CHORAL SOCIETY.
The Society hopes to resume its work in October. A General Meeting, of which due notice will be given, and at which all lovers of music will be welcome, will be held previously. Hon. Sec,, A. Wynne, Aviemore, Linden Gardens.

THE BELLS AND PEACE CELEBRATIONS.
A Thanksgiving Peal for Peace was rung on the bells of the Parish Church by members of the Surrey Association of Bell Ringers on Saturday, July 5th. The Peal, of Grandsire Caters, with 5003 changes, composed by A. Knight, of Chesterfield, and conducted by A. Dean, was rung in 3 hours and 14 minutes by A. Dean (Tenor), G. Marriner, A. C. Otway, A. H. Winch and W. E. Otway of Letherhead, and J. Wyatt, T. White, J. Hoyle, A. Harman and W. Lynch. This was the 160th peal of both Messrs. Dean and Winch.

The Peace Celebration on Saturday, July 19th, began at 6.30 a.m. with a Peal of 647 Grandsire Caters conducted by A. Dean, the other ringers being W. Messam, A. H. Winch, G. Marriner, W. E. Otway, A. C. Otway, W. Marks, E. Hull, A. Dixon (all of Letherhead), and H. Boxall (Dorking).

On the same day at 11 a.m. a Quarter-Peal of Grandsire Triples, with 1260 changes, was rung in 45 minutes by W. Messam, W. E. Otway, G. Marriner, E. Hull, A. C. Otway, A. H. Winch, A. Dean (Conductor), A. Dixon.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER.
Farnham Castle, Surrey.

My dear People,

These words will come to you after our thanksgivings and rejoicings are over. We shall have tried all we know to realize the blessings of Peace, the relief of not being at war. How great are those blessings! How deep is that relief! We have done well to be thankful.

And now in quiet, sunny August, when many (except those who harvest for us, or do us holiday service) have some relief from stress and strain, our thoughts begin to turn forwards. The new time, can we help to build it? The repair of our social and business life, can we set it forward? What use can we make in peace of the noble things which we learnt from all the sacrifices and service of war? What can we drop or change of the things which when war came looked selfish or silly in its lurid light?

There are many such matters for thought. Most of us have got changes of our own to face.

The time that is coming is an anxious time. Times following wars have been of that kind. We all know what reactions are. The day after some heavy strain of work, or after some exciting event or pleasant outing, brings us reaction, in body and mind. After war reaction is strong and wide-spread. It shows itself in restlessness. We are disinclined to settle down. We feel the blank of the war excitement. Peace is monotonous. We feel it also in a general reluctance for work. This is partly, I think, nature’s remedy for overstrain of body and mind.

But it is dangerous. Those who understand business and trade all know, or should know, that it is only by patient industry that the country can recover, and we can avoid or soften bad times, whose pressure would be heavy on all classes. Reaction is seen also in a return to ways of extravagance and spending; perhaps most in what is called society, but not there alone. It was natural that pleasure should have rather a wild run after so much pain. But if it goes on in the same way it will do us harm, and be the means of throwing away what war has brought and taught us.

We have received extraordinary blessings: we have immense responsibilities as a country, and as citizens of it. Let us carry into peace the spirit of service and self-denial that war taught so sternly. Let us be generous now towards those who have been our enemies. We have had enough of the word Hlun. It stood for something against which we had to be up. That is conquered. Let us lay the word aside: and the spirit which often goes with the use of it.

Here is the old Bible summary of the true temper of God’s people: “To do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with God.”

I desire to be your faithful Bishop and Servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

THE CONCLUSION OF PEACE.

THANKSGIVING SERVICES.
The Treaty of Peace was signed on Saturday, June 28th: and the Services in Church next day were, naturally, mainly characterized by the note of thanksgiving to God for the formal ending of the War. Two days later we were instructed that the National Day of Praise and Thanksgiving to God for His mercy, for the victory with which He had crowned the efforts of the Allies, and for the blessing of Peace, was to be the following Sunday, July 6th, instead of, as had previously been announced, August 3rd. On that day, accordingly, we joined with all other Churches throughout the Country in the Thanksgiving Services specially appointed for the day: and in remembrance of those who have laid down their lives that we might live, and that England might continue to exist in honour and freedom.

Besides the Services in Church, a United Service for all denominations was held in the afternoon on the Recreation Ground on Letherhead Common. A Procession was formed outside the Parish Church, and headed by the Letherhead Silver Band followed by the Parish Church Choir, marched down the Kingston Road, increasing in size as it went by the gradual accession of numbers of the inhabitants of Letherhead.

The All Saints’ Church Choir joined that of the Parish Church as it passed All Saints’ Church. The Wesleyan Minister, the Rev. P. Colwyn Vale, accompanied the Vicar throughout, and was supported by the leading members of the Free Churches of the place.

The Service consisted of well-known hymns of praise; prayer offered, and the 61st Chapter of Isaiah read by the Rev. Colwyn Vale: thanksgivings led by the Vicar, and brief addresses by the Vicar and Mr. Vale.

On the return march, the Procession halted at the War Shrine in North Street, and prayer was offered by the Vicar in remembrance of the Glorious Dead.

Gratitude is specially due to the Letherhead Silver Band for the assistance, so indispensable to the Procession and leading of the hymns, which, as is always the case on such occasions, they most readily and generousty gave: to Mr. W. J. Burley for the loan of a lorry to serve as a platform ; to Mr. H. Elson for making the necessary arrangements on the Recreation Ground; and to Police-Constable Selfe for his careful and kindly shepherding of the Procession amid the motor traffic of a Sunday afternoon.

PEACE CELEBRATIONS.
The alteration of date for these to July 19th left the Committee appointed to deal with the matter with an unexpectedly short time before them for the completion of arrangements which had already been sketched in outline and to some extent taken in hand. Some uncertainty existed down to within a fortnight of the appointed day as to the method by which the funds necessary for carrying out the programme would finally be raised; but, by the vigour of a few most energetic members of the Committee at almost the eleventh hour, voluntary subscriptions were collected to an amount sufficient to enable the whole programme, to be carried out: and the most complete arrangements were made by the various Sub-Committees for carrying it out with entire success.

The Committee owes an incalculable debt of gratitude to the Headmaster of St. John’s School, who placed its Dining Hall and Kitchens at their disposal for the Dinner to the Demobilized Soldiers and Sailors, thereby removing from their path one of the greatest difficulties with which they had to contend.

The Dinner, held in St. John’s School Hall, was attended by about 350 returned Sailors and Soldiers. Mr. E. R. Still, Chairman of the Governors of St. John’s School, presided. Of the 983 Letherhead men, who, so far as the lists at our command shew, served in H.M. Forces during the war, 106 have given their lives for their country, a considerable number who had returned have left the place again on renewed service, or from other causes, and a large number have not yet come back. It is sufficient to say here that the dinner was most admirably served in every detail, and was, by all accounts, very fully appreciated lty those in whose honour it was given. At the end of it the Chairman welcomed them home in most admirably chosen words, and excellent replies were made on their behalf by Col. Gillett and Mr. W. J. Eborn.

At 2.30 a Procession was formed outside St. John’s School under the direction of Mr. E. H. Burgess, Chief Marshal, as follows :—
The Vicar (Chairman of General Committee) and Mr. T. J. Leavey, J.P. (Chairman of Urban District Council).
Letherhead Silver Band.
Demobilized Sailors and Soldiers, and a detachment of 10th V. Bn. R. W. Surrey Regt,
V.A.D. Nurses, British Red Cross Society and War-Hospital Workers.
St. John's School Cadet Corps and Band.
Special Constables.
Fire Brigade.
Representatives of Postal Service.
,,    „    Railway Service.
„    „    Friendly Societies.
„    „    Slate Clubs.
Employes of Urban District Council.
Nightingale Girl Guides.
Church Lads’ Brigade, Band, and Scouts.
Children of the Council School.
,,    „ C.E. School (joined at the Crescent).
„    of Miss Parrett’s School (joined at the Crescent).
„    of the Council and C.E. Infants’ Schools (joined at the corner of Randall’s Road).

The route of the Procession was Epsom Road, Church Road, Church Street, The Crescent, High Street, North Street, Bull Hill and Randalls Road to Randalls Park.
When the head of the Procession reached Bull Hill a halt was made; and verses of the hymn “O God our help in ages past” were sung, and Mrs. Leach and Mrs. Chapman placed a wreath of red, white and blue flowers, subscribed for by the Towns-people, on the War Shrine.

The Procession, which it has been calculated numbered something like 2000 people, must have been by far the most impressive ever seen in Letherhead, and was most admirably marshalled and directed throughout its course.

On reaching Randalls Park, which had been most kindly placed at the disposal of the Town by Mr. J. Henderson for the purpose, Sports of various kinds were held, and at 4.30 a Tea was given to the Wives of Sailors and Soldiers and to the children of the Parish: and such ample provision had been made that it was found possible also to include the Mothers of the men who had been on service.

The most excellent arrangements had been made for the seating of the wives and mothers in a huge tent, and for the grouping of the children according to their various schools, etc., and for providing for their entertainment, with results apparently as satisfactory as those of the arrangements for the Dinner earlier in the day.

To each of the school-children was given a mug in commemoration of the occasion.

Afterwards the Sports were continued, and eventually the prizes gained in them were presented to the winners by Mrs. Still, and Dancing took place.

About 9.15 the Silver Band started from Randalls Park, and, followed by ever-increasing numbers of the people proceeded along Station Road, North Street, Church Street, Highlands Road and Reigate Road, to the site of the Bonfire, near the old reservoir at Yarm Court.

The Bonfire was lighted at 10 o’clock and there was also a display of fireworks. The weather, which had been threatening all day, did not break until about 5 o’clock, when proceedings were well advanced: and the most memorable day in the annals of Letherhead closed in heavy rain, which however had not interfered with the general enjoyment.

It would be impossible to give too much praise to the number of willing, helpers, whose extraordinary heavy labours made our Peace Celebrations, such a complete success.

From the September Parish Magazine 1919

THE VICAR’S LETTER.

My dear Friends,
In the July number I spoke of the forthcoming Recruiting Campaign for the Kingdom of God which is to be held throughout the country. Hardly any definite information has yet been issued upon the subject, but, so far as I can discover, the idea appears to be —
that the world’s needs are met in Christ alone;
that the Christian life must express itself in service;
and that therefore a call should be made for personal service in God’s kingdom on earth;
that men and women should be invited to offer themselves for serious work, undergoing special training where necessary, in any part of the common life in which they are likely to be of most“use, the object always being the advancement of the Kingdom;
that in deciding where and how they can most effectively work, advice and information should be given to the Church through appointed experts;
that the call shall be both for home and for missionary service, and should not be confined to spiritual as distinct from secular activities;
that as far as possible the Church should give financial assistance to enable people to get started on new undertakings.

To this end the Diocese of Winchester has been divided into eleven districts, and a “leader” appointed to preach, speak, appeal, and advise in each. Our district includes the Rural Deaneries of Dorking, Letherhead, Godalming, and Guildford; and its “leader” is to be Dr. Tugwell, the Rector of Culbourne, who came to us in Letherhead on the National Mission in 1916. He is to open the campaign among us in November. We are indeed fortunate in having one who is already known to us, and who made so deep an impression upon us three years ago, to be our leader and guide in this work. He will need a great deal of help from the laity, and my immediate duty with regard to that is twofold.

First I have to ask all who can spare the time, whether it be but little, or comparatively much, to hold themselves in readiness to give any assistance within their power: and I appeal especially to these who already have any kind of experience of Church work, but not to these alone.

We are all, both clergy and laity, rather in the dark at present with regard to what such assistance would imply, but we shall, of course, be told in due time exactly what is needed from us. Among other things, it would probably include explaining the call for service to individuals and groups of people, speaking at meetings, bringing to the leader, or to those who may be most immediately working with him, such information as they may require, telling him of special matters which call for his personal attention, etc. Not everybody will be able to do everything, but some can do one thing, some another: and a great many can “do their bit” in one way or other. I shall be most grateful if any who are willing to give any kind of help will send in their names to me without waiting to be asked.

Secondly, I call upon you all to pray constantly and earnestly that this effort to spread and deepen the influence of the Kingdom of God among us may be abundantly blessed, and lead to really great results ; and to pray particularly for God’s blessing and strengthening of our leader in his heavy and difficult work, a work which will tax his powers of body, mind and spirit to the uttermost. And I call upon you all not only to do this daily at home, but to gather together with me and the other clergy from time to time during the intervening weeks, on Sundays and Wednesdays, that our united prayers may go up to God that He may further our humble endeavours to His glory, and to the bringing of all men to the acknowledgement of what is due to His love.

Yours very faithfully,
T. F. Hobson, August 22nd, 1919.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER.
Farnham Castle, Surrey.

My dear People,
I wonder what you are thinking about in these holiday weeks? It has been a glorious time, with its clear skies, and splendid sunlight, and only just the anxiety lest some of the things which we need should suffer for want of rain. Such holiday keeping, too, there has been, as never was! The difference between peace and war has come home to our minds afresh in all its blessed reality.

Thanks be to God for all His gifts! Yet these delights will not prevent feelings of another and different kind in the minds of thoughtful people. To open the newspaper is often as disturbing as it was in war time. “The Road to ruin,” “National Bankruptcy,” “The Scandal of Profiteering,” “An Orgy of extravagance in all classes,” “Enormous waste in Government departments,” “Coal indispensable for rich and poor next winter, and also as an export to purchase material for industry at home,” yet millions of tons not raised because of contentions in the coal trade, — such are some of the titles and phrases to which we are daily accustomed. And we are often told that there is worse to come.

You will please mark that I am not expressing opinions about the responsibility for these different troubles, I am not, I hope, so presumptuous, or uncharitable.
But I do wish the Christian people to whom I write to take stock of the anxieties of the time. It is a time when the Nation needs all its spiritual resources to pull through, and to meet economical, political and social strains.

It is in the twin powers of faith and duty that the spirit of a people can prove itself. I want to think that our faith as Christians is being strengthened and enlarged by constant and thoughtful prayer that He, Whose name we seek to honour, and Whose Kingdom and Will we desire to see prevail, will guide us all, and will teach us those things of justice and unselfishness and self-control and conscientiousness in which the life of nation, class, and individual is made strong.

And after the first reaction is over (of which I spoke last month), let us all settle down to quiet duty, and simple living, and patient bearing of privations. For well we know that there are and will be great privations. We are learning that you cannot wage a great war without hardship, however much this is disguised by carrying on upon huge sums of borrowed money. Big profits and great wages may disguise this from many; but how many there are (not least among those to whom I write) who with little incomes halved in value “know the difference” in discomfort, real privation, toil, and anxiety.

But this brings me to my other point. We cannot truly pray to God without trying to think His thoughts and to see things with His eyes. Those eyes are upon other nations as upon ourselves; He is not blind to the appalling sufferings and troubles of the other nations. They too are His; children of His Father’s heart. The condition of Europe is just appalling — and its prospects in the coming year. Enemies, neutrals, allies, it is so with them all in various degrees. We are to have a Government Paper on the whole matter soon after what I write is read. The needs are indeed so vast and overwhelming that nothing but Government resources can at all cope with them.

America is doing its part gallantly and nobly out of its mighty comparative wealth. Our own Government is bearing a large though far lesser share. What private charity can do is very little, but it ought to be done* both for our own sake, since we cannot afford to be callous, and for the sake of those with whom every little supply of help means the knitting of a link of human sympathy.

I should like to think that all our holiday keepers would send something, make some little sacrifice. Perhaps the “Save the Children Fund,” 329, High Holborn, W.C.l (approved by the Government) may be the best of all ways. We have got to think of whole generations of children cut down to perhaps half their numbers, stunted by want, swept by pneumonia, tuberculosis, and rickets, starvelings in body and mind. If people only knew! Truly Lazarus is laid at our national gate full of sores.

I think this ought to be my message to you this month.

The powers of darkness, and the results of evil, are all about us. Cruelty such as we thought belonged to other ages long past, or to races whom we despised as barbarous, has been taking its most brutal forms of torture and destruction.

May the Spirit of God marshal all the forces of the spirit in mankind to resistance, and rescue, and service.

I desire to be,
Your faithful Bishop and servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

Some may like to see the Government Report on “Food Conditions in Germany.” [C m d 280, 6d.]
The worst reports of all are probably from Austria, but Czecho-Slovakia is very bad. Armenia is still bleeding and in terror.
Another trusty channel of help which will appeal to many is “ The Serbian Relief Fund” (5, Cromwell Road, S.W.7), largely for reconstructive work among the young generation. It appeals specially to our young folk.

* Government confirms this, by giving £1 to meet every £1 collected.

THE CHURCH LADS’ BRIGADE CAMP.
What we want to do is to think Imperially in all things both in Church and State, by which I mean that although it is necessary sometimes to carry on as a local unit yet we must not forget that in nearly everything we do we are really a part of a greater whole. This is as true of the Church Lads’ Brigade as of anything else, and it is a fact which was brought before the minds of all who attended the Lads’ Brigade Camps this summer. For although our Letherhead Company may only number about 30 lads, yet we had only to be in camp to realise that we were part of a “big show.”

The South Eastern District Camp to which we were attached was itself only one of the several camps undertaken by the C.L.B. this year; but even at this one camp there must have been well over a thousand cadets. We started off on the evening of Friday, August 1st, in rather luxurious style. A motor lorry had been engaged at a reasonable cost to convey the whole party with their kit to the Boxhill Station, where we joined representatives from Dorking and Cranleigh companies.

The railway journey was on the whole uneventful and we arrived at Folkestone Town Station at 12 o’clock mid-night. From the Station we had a four-mile uphill march to the Camp, which was situated on the cliffs about midway between Folkestone and Dover. After being supplied with blankets and a ration of hot cocoa and biscuits the cadets lay down in their tents for what sleep they could get before daylight.

The daily routine of camp life varied to some extent, each day’s work starting with “Reveille” at 5.30 a.m. and finishing with “Lights out” at 10 p.m. The two most important events of the week from a military point of view were (1) an Inspection by the G.O.C. Dover Troops, which took place on Wednesday, and (2) a short Field Day which proved a great success on Thursday. By far the most popular event of each day was the Bathing Parade, which in spite of the climb down and up the cliff was very enjoyable.

Each evening entertainments were organized in one of the large tents, but as a good many cadets preferred to take a walk into Folkestone or Dover the attendance was not always very large. On Friday an Athletic Sports Meeting was held at which some good form was displayed and handsome prizes won. Early on Saturday camp was struck and we arrived home in Letherhead all safe and sound at about 3 p.m.

It was a bold venture on the part of those who were responsible to attempt to revive the annual C.L.B. camps this year. The difficulties, especially with regard to feeding a large body of boys are very great and although there were (especially at the beginning of the week) a certain number of muddles and mistakes yet on the whole I think that all of us who were there will be glad that we went.

From the October Parish Magazine 1919

MOTHERS' UNION
On Wednesday, September 17th, the Festival of the Mothers’ Union was held in the grounds of Vale Lodge by Mrs. Leach’s kind invitation, and a most delightful afternoon was spent by all those who were present. Mrs. Gore, of Slyfield Manor, who has lately succeeded Mrs. Northey as Presiding Associate for this Deanery, gave a most inspiring address, in which she strongly urged the formation of a Branch Committee to make the work of the Mother’s Union more widely known in the Parish. After tea, which was laid in the garden — thanks to the beautiful weather — many amusing games were enjoyed, and the gardens were a great pleasure to all. It was a pity that more Mothers were not able to come, as the gathering together of the members from time to time adds so very largely to the feeling of its being a “Mothers’ Union.”

RECRUITING CAMPAIGN FOR SERVICE IN THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
1.    UNDERLYING PRINCIPLES. The Campaign issues from the two-fold conviction that the world’s needs are met in Christ alone, and the Christian life must express itself in service. Christian service pre-supposes a recognition of Christ as the source and inspirer of all true life; and it can have no lesser aim than the acceptance of His rule in every country and the resolute working out of His principles in all the relations and business of life.

2.    AIMS. With this end in view we seek :

To focus the message of the Church in a call to. world-wide service. Every man and woman must be brought to see that Christ has need of their service in whatever walk of life.

To lead each Christian congregation to become an effective unit of service for meeting the actual needs of the locality and of the world beyond; with a commission to work for the changes needed in human society, to bring about the unobstructed rule of God in the whole of human life.

To enlist Christian men and women either for life service, ordained or lay, in the Church in all lands, and to secure that due place is given to the call to service overseas.

To re-affirm the principle of a ministry attested for service where-ever each is needed most.

To give direction to those in doubt as to their vocation, and to guide to suitable openings for service.

3.    THE CHALLENGE AND CALL. We call on men and women to choose and decide their life work by this single test: “Where can my life count most for the bringing in of the Universal Kingdom of God.” We are specially concerned with those Christian men and women, who are facing the choice of their life work. Because we believe there is no hope for the future except in a world that is Christian through and through, we call on such persons to consider whether they may not do best service, by devoting their lives to leading the men and women of all nations to Christian discipleship. We desire to help those who would seem best able to further Christ’s rule in the ordinary occupations of life, or by some form of social work. We seek to help people to discover the one place in all the world where God would have them serve, and to give to all service a world horizon.

The world outlook discloses a vast field for united action between Church and State in educational, medical and social movements at home and in India, Africa, and our self-governing Dominions, and tends to break down the distinction between home and foreign. The accomplishment of a world task offers the Church a new and larger hope of unity.

The Leader of the Campaign in this District of the Winchester Diocese is the Rev. Dr. Tugwell, who will have his headquarters at Epsom. The Clergy under him who will be concerned with our Parish are the Rev. Sir Paget Bowman, Vicar of S. Luke’s, Woodside, South Norwood, for the Parish Church; and the Rev. Lancelot Smith, Vicar of Thursley for All Saints’: and they will need a great deal of lay help from among ourselves. The period of the Campaign for this Deanery is from November 8th to 15th.

The Rev. W. E. S. Holland who has been called by the Archbishops to lead the Campaign will address a Meeting in Holy Trinity Parish Room, Guildford, at 2.30 p.m. on Monday, October 6th, and all earnest Churchmen and women who can possibly attend that meeting are urged to do so, in order that we may know more fully what lies before us, and what we can do.

Prayer for the Campaign.
O Almighty God, Who hast given unto Thy Son Jesus Christ the Name which is above every name, and hast taught us that there is salvation in none other: mercifully grant that, as Thy faithful people have comfort and peace in His Name, so they may ever labour to publish it unto all men ; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

THE BISHOP'S LETTER.
Farnham Castle.

My dear People,
I earnestly ask the prayers of my people both for the Diocesan Conference at Winchester on May 14th and 15th and for all the discussions in our Church assemblies (Convocation, etc ) in the coming months about the welfare of the Church, and about our relations to other Christians.

It will also be my duty to write you a letter about the Central Church Fund, and the collection on Sunday, May 25th, which I hope will be met by a response worthy of our Church, and of the wonderful blessings which we inherit and have received.

The time is full of anxiety throughout the world. You will have felt with me that such a time of “ peace ” as this, in the turmoil of the wrorld, makes almost as much a strain upon the wisdom and spirit of the nation as did the time of war, with the difference that we may be less awake and alive to it.

It is, I am certain, a time when Christian people must not be content just to go along with the currents of opinion, but to consider carefully, with prayer for the Spirit’s guidance to us all, how our Lord would guide us as a nation to think and act. Some counsels which we receive are, I think, frankly unchristian, and remind us of the moral dangers which beset a victorious nation, with all the resources of force for the time at its command.

About all these things we must think and pray.

EDW: WlNTON:

FOR KING AND COUNTRY.
Reported wounded and missing March 22nd, 1918, now presumed killed in action near Neisel, Flanders—
Capt. Henry Ernest Chapman, M.C., Royal Horse Artillery. It is with the deepest regret and sympathy that we add the name of this most gallant officer to the long list of Letherhead men who have given their lives for the great cause.

From the November Parish Magazine 1919

The Parish has incurred a serious loss by the departure of the Misses Maw, who in spite of delicate health have done so much for its benefit during their life here. Two of the sisters have been most devoted district visitors, and also interested themselves specially in the welfare of our boys Miss Elizabeth Maw was, besides, our most energetic Local Secretary of the Diocesan Fund. They will be most sincerely regretted by many friends of every class.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER.

My dear People,
I hope that our thoughts in the Diocese will be much occupied this November with the Campaign of Recruiting for Service in the Kingdom of God, I have spoken about in former months. But now it is going on; and I have good reason to think that it is commending itself to people’s minds and hearts.

I am sure that at first some will have thought that it was fanciful and unnecessary. But indeed I believe that it is entirely timely and right for us. The time of settling down and of restarting after the war is a confused one. In many people there is still weariness and reaction, and they are not inclined for anything. In many others on the contrary there is a new alacrity and desire to take things up in a new and better way.

I have found it so at the Universities. I have met the same thing in the life of a country parish. At such a time we all need something to clear and rouse and steady our thoughts. The Church ought to have guidance to give. It must be something quite simple: something that has a meaning for us all: something that comes straight and clear out of all that the War has taught: and above all something that has the true note of our Lord’s teaching and that may make our Christian membership more live and real.

Such I honestly believe is the great truth which is being presented to you in many forms and by many voices during this month.

It is the truth that Christian life is service: service with and under Christ in the Kingdom of God: service in the Holy War, to which there can be no ‘conscientious objectors,’ between good and evil: between the things that make human life in all its forms, national, local, and family life, wholesome, clean, strong and happy ; and on the other side the things which stain and weaken and degrade life, and throw it into confusion and strife. It is as I have said the holy War: it is also the common cause of Service.

To this every Christian is pledged: he is taught to make it his first thought in daily prayer “Thy Kingdom come: Thy will be done.” He has been signed with the Lord’s Cross in token that he shall be “Christ’s faithful soldier and servant unto his life’s end.” He or she: man or woman or even child. Children will rise to the thought, understanding as they often do more simply than we older ones.

This then is the thought given to us: and with it there will be suggestions as to how we can be true to it in the most various ways, in high ventures of missionary service, in different forms of citizen duty in town or village, and in the dutifulnesses of home life.

This is the call of the Campaign. But all depends on the way in which you not only listen to it, but make it your own, rally to it, and let it perhaps quite silently enter into and shape and change and quicken the tone of your Christian life and of our common Church life.

We look for nothing sensational: we hope, and let us quietly and steadily pray, for something deep and far-reaching and effectual for good.
God bless you: and may His Spirit working amongst us guide our thoughts and wills in the way in which He would have them to go.

I desire to remain,.
Your faithful Bishop and servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

THE PARISH MAGAZINE.
The cost of printing the Parish Magazine continues to increase. A very large proportion of the copies have hitherto been distributed at 1d. each, instead of at the 3d. at which they are marked; and that penny barely suffices to meet the cost of the “Church Monthly” which they contain. The “Church Monthly” can only be produced at that very low price on account of its huge circulation in so many parishes in the country. The Local News for this Parish costs twice as much. The result is that, in spite of £22 received for advertisements, and a grant in aid of £10 from the General Parish Purposes Fund, the Magazine Committee are faced with a deficit for the current year. It is hoped to wipe off this deficit by the proceeds of a Whist Drive which the Ladies of the Committee most kindly propose to organise.

It has only been possible to carry on so far because a certain number of subscribers and others have willingly paid the 2d. per month for1'the “Local News” copies, and the 3d. a month for the copies which contain also the “ Church Monthly ” (2/6 instead of 3/- a year has been charged for these to subscribers who pay in advance). If the Magazine is to be continued it has become absolutely necessary that everyone who receives a copy should pay at least 2d. a month for it from next January onwards. We should all feel it to be disastrous to the Parish for many reasons if we were forced to give up having a Magazine, and it is therefore most earnestly to be hoped that no difficulty may be made at paying the 2d. a month which is still less than the actual cost price of the full Magazine.

From the December Parish Magazine 1919

On Sunday, Dec. 28th (Holy Innocents’ Day) there will be a Choral Celebration of the Holy Communion in the Parish Church at 12 o’clock. The Collections at all Services on that day will be given to the “Save the Children” Fund for the rescue of children, especially in Eastern Europe and Western Asia, from famine and other terrible after effects of the War. The appeal is made to the whole Christian Church throughout the world.

It is with very great regret that we have to announce that the Rev. C. J. Sharp will be leaving the Parish on January 12th, in order to take up work in the town parish of Holy Trinity, Guildford. Mr. Sharp will then have been Assistant-Curate here for over four years — for nearly one of which he was acting as Chaplain to the Forces, at first for a short time in Yorkshire, and then for several months in Flanders.

In a larger and busier place he will of course gain a wider experience which wdll be valuable for his ministry in the future: but he will be very much missed here, where his gifts of pastoral ministration have been so very greatly appreciated, and his interests and labours have been so unsparingly devoted to the welfare of our boys. Our deepest gratitude and most sincere good wishes will follow him to his new sphere of work.

Mr. Maurice is continuing to help us for a while on Sundays, and in other ways, to carry on the work at All Saints. But it is high time that an Assistant-Curate were found to take full charge of the District. This could have been done by now if it had been possible to find a house in which a married curate could live. If some Parishioners could advance the money for buying a permanent residence for the Curate-in-Charge, there is a possibility of securing one. It is also to be feared that it may be some time before a successor to Mr. Sharp can be obtained.

THE VICAR’S LETTER.

THE RECRUITING CAMPAIGN FOR THE KINGDOM OF GOD.
My dear Friends,
We were fortunate in having the Rev. R.M. Curwen, Rector of Shanklin, to open the Campaign in our parish for urging the claim, of personal service in the Cause of Christ on all the members of His Church. He spoke forcibly and convincingly to good congregations in the Parish Church at the morning and evening services on Sunday, Nov. 9th, and on the same afternoon addressed a small meeting of men in the Victoria Hall. On Monday, 10th, he spoke to the Mothers’ Meetings in the Fairfield and All Saints’ Parish Rooms, and on Wednesday evening, Nov. 12th, he addressed a small congregation in All Saints’ Church. All who heard him seem to have been greatly interested and deeply impressed by his words.

On the evening of Tuesday, Nov. 11th, Miss Savile, one of the Archbishop’s Women Messengers, and Dr. Tugwell, spoke at a special service in the Parish Church, which was very well attended. Miss Savile dealt simply and clearly with the general object of the Campaign, and Dr. Tugwell most earnestly and impressively brought home to each individual soul the reality of the Lord’s need of the service which it can render to Him in the uplifting of the world to Him ; the duty of rendering that service; and the danger of “betraying” Him by refusing it.

The question for us is now, what effect is the first “stirring of the waters” going to have upon us in this place? It is not to be expected that it should produce sudden or striking results immediately: what is to be looked for is the steady growth of an irresistible conviction that where so much needs to be done for the betterment of human life and for the raising it up to God who created it in His own likeness that all His children might become more and more like Him every one of us is bound to do what he can to that end.

Each one of us should ask why should not I try to do one at least of these things which are so much wanted? The things that are wanted are now fairly well known to some of us — the list of “opportunities for Service in the Kingdom of God” is far too long to be re-printed here, but copies of it still lie in the Church; but I may repeat that in that service is included “any work, part or whole-time, voluntary or paid, that has for its object the betterment, body, mind and spirit, of men, women and children, at home or over seas.”

Enquiries about any kind of such work, which any one may be moved to willingness to undertake, may be made through me, or direct to the Secretary of the Campaign, 3 Bedford St.. London, W.C.1.

For those who are in one way or another tied to this place I reprint the list of some local needs and opportunities for service in connexion with the parochial organizations. These are :—
Sidesmen.
Ladies’ Choir (Par. Ch.) District Visitors.
Relief Committee Men.
Sunday School Teachers.
Bible Class and Study Circle Leaders.
Associate to take G.F.S. Candidates’ Class.
Officers and Instructors for C.L.B., Scouts and Girl Guides.
C.E.T.S. Secretary.
Organizers of Clubs for Lads and Girls.

I shall very gladly welcome offers to help in any of these ways: or offers of willingness to stand in readiness generally for service, until ft becomes clear to the person concerned what is the job which he or she is meant to attempt.

Yours very faithfully,
T. F. Hobson. Nov. 23rd, 1919.

THE BISHOP’S LETTER for DECEMBER, 1919.
Farnham Castle, Surrey.

My dear People,
This month of December is for us in the Church our Advent month: and before it ends our Christmas month.
I ask you to let Advent and Christmas speak to us in a way specially suitable to our time. Advent as we all know means a 'Coming,’ and Christmas tells of the coming of Jesus Christ.

Our thoughts then will be the Comings of God into His World. For the World is His, everywhere and always. In the quiet even course of life God is with us every day, unseen, often unremembered, except by those who practice themselves to live in the remembrance. All times are God's : and all places. But then there come special times when God seems to come’: when the course of life is broken in some sudden way: and such times are spoken of as 'days of the Lord.’

Our Lord speaks very clearly about this. He looks back, and He sees instances of it in the ancient stories of Noah and of Lot. Men’s ordinary lives went on as usual for a long time in town and country: they built and planted, bought and sold and married, undisturbed. But there suddenly came a ‘day’ the day when Noah entered into the ark and the flood came or the day when Lot came out of Sodom, and it rained fire and brimstone out of heaven. Whatever the facts behind these ancient stories, there is no doubt about their teaching.

And then Christ looks forward and says that as it has been so it will be. There will be ‘days of the Son of man.’ Life will be smooth and unbroken, and then suddenly a break, an interruption, a judgment.

No doubt a few years afterwards, when the old life of Jerusalem was suddenly interrupted and the City perished, those who remembered Christ’s words saw that they had come true. But that was not the end, and the same thing will go on happening from time to time, till it may be some Last Day ends the life of men upon our earth.

There has been one such ‘day’ in our own time. Life went on steady and unchanged. We ate, we drank, we bought, we sold, we planted, we budded: all as usual till the day when the Germans entered Belgium and the crash of Armageddon was upon us, and destroyed the old order of life and with it many of our bravest and best. A new chapter of history was begun, and many words of many kinds were written in our newspapers, ’and spoken among us, to the effect that it was time, that we had been getting too easy, too confident, too careless, too luxurious, and that something ‘had to come.’

It came. And now, afterwards, how are things to be? Are we going, in the old words, ‘to eat and drink, to buy and sell, to build and plant, and marry’ — the old easy way of comfort, and bustle and business, and family life, each one for himself or for his own?

Or have we learnt our lesson — that God gives men spaces of time not to waste but to use, and to use for good, in His service, and not just as they like and for themselves?

In the great day of God’s judgment in the War, we learnt many things. We learnt to stand together, all for all: to save for the public good: to do without things we had had: to serve and to work, to sacrifice time and strength and home, yea and life, our own or the dear lives belonging to us, for a great cause.

We learnt great lessons. Are we going to use, them and how? This surely is the profitable Advent question: and this is the question, as you will see which has come or is to come to us in the Campaign of Recruiting for Service in the Kingdom of God.

How shall the War-service, the War-loyalty, the War-bravery, the War-comradeship pass on into use, still finer use, in time of peace?

Shall we be a more united, industrious, sober, sensible, unselfish people?
Shall we have more courage to attack evil things in social life?
Shall we use the things which we have as things held in trust?
Shall we think more of the sorrows and sufferings amongst our own people, and then also of the far greater sufferings and needs of other peoples?
Shall England be out in quite a new way for carrying to new races the Gospel which has been her own best possession?
Will the classes, whichever they are, to whom money has come on a new scale, use their money well, and learn to give as well as spend?

These are Advent thoughts. But Christmas brings another thought to join them.
There is one Coming of God into His world which was unlike all the rest. It came by the Birth of Jesus Christ. It was a coming not to judge but to save. It brought new life, new light, new hope. It began with Him. But it was to continue through His Life, living on in those who are His, and are called by Him to be the salt of the world and its light: to witness by life and word for the Kingdom of God: to recruit for its service, as “good soldiers and servants”; with that thought impressed on us afresh by the Campaign, English Christians should keep their Christmas.

A “happy Christmas” may it be to you all — but not a thoughtless one: not one in which while we enjoy ourselves we have no thought for the starving peoples of Europe: nor for the many English homes where prices and losses make a bitter Christmas for people of narrowest incomes, with no advance either of profits or wages.*

I ask thought and consideration for them.
I desire to be,
Your faithful Bishop and servant,
EDW: WlNTON:

*For the first of the two objects the “Save the Children Fund,” 329, High Holborn, W.C.1, may be recommended. For the second I cannot suggest a single -channel out of many. Sometime anonymous individual gifts are best.

LETHERHEAD SILVER PRIZE BAND.
Extract from Report for the Year ending Sept. 30th, 1919.

Most of the old members have returned from the Army, and the Band has nearly recovered its full strength. It has had a highly successful year, and has turned out on 45 occasions. A series of 12 Promenade Concerts was given during the summer, which assisted by exceptionally fine weather produced results in excess of any previous efforts, and the Band tenders its most hearty thanks to those who placed their grounds at its disposal and to all who contributed to its funds. During the War, up to the Armistice, the Band has raised £72 in aid of the local charitable institutions. Solo Cornet and Trombone players are invited to join the Band.

From the April 1920 Parish magazine

Extract from the First Parochial Church Meeting held on April 15th 1920 at The Institute:

The War Memorial.

It will have been seen in the “Letherhead Advertiser” for March 20th that work has already begun on that part of the Memorial (the laying out of the ground in North Street and the erection of the Arcade under which the tablets bearing the names of those who gave their lives in the War are to be placed), for which Mr. Leach has so generously made himself responsible. Also that the Committee have selected the design for the Cross: and that an appeal is being made to the whole Parish for subscriptions for the Cross and Memorial tablets which are estimated to cost about £1100.

The ladies who undertook the oversight of the War Shrine and I have kept the records of the names of the men and of the dates on which they fell, as they reached us from time to time. But I shall be grateful if I may receive from their relatives corroboration of these, more especially with regard to the regiments in which they were serving at the time of their death, as men were in the course of the War so often transferred from one battalion or regiment to another.

From the March 1921 Parish magazine

It is hoped that the Cross which is to form part of the War Memorial will soon be completed: and that it may be possible to arrange for the unveiling and dedication on the afternoon of Sunday April 3rd. If that should prove impracticable, the earliest Sunday following for which it is possible to arrange is to be chosen for that purpose.

From the May 1921 Parish magazine

Extract form the AGM of qualified Electors on the Church Roll of the Parish, held in the Institute at 8.30pm on Thursday April 7th:
The Vicar stated that it had been suggested to him by some of those who had undertaken the care of the War Shrine, that it should find a permanent resting place in the Parish Church. He earnestly desired that this might be so: but as yet no definite offer had been made, nor had the measurements necessary for considering where it might be placed in the Church had been furnished.

From the August 1921 Parish magazine

At the request of the War Memorial Committee, Mrs Leach has very kindly consented to undertake the oversight of the flowers placed at the Memorial. On each Friday all dead flowers will be removed, and the empty pots placed under the wall, at the point nearest to the Clock Tower: where also dead wreaths will be left for a while. These, unless claimed, will eventually be removed.

From the December 1921 Parish Magazine

On Sunday, December 4th, at a Special United Service in the Parish Church at 3pm, the War Shrine will be formally received.

The Shrine was dedicated, in its original position in North St., by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese on March 21st, 1917. Since the dedication of the permanent War Memorial last April, the Shrine, by the desire of the Ladies who presented it, and for so long tended it, with the cordial agreement of the War Memorial Committee, has been place in the Parish Church. A flag which has been presented by the same Ladies will also be dedicated at the Service.

From the January 1922 Parish magazine

RECEPTION OF THE WAR SHRINE INTO THE PARISH CHURCH AND DEDICATION OF THE FLAG.
The War-Shrine, an oak triptyck bearing on the centre panel a cross underneath the arms of which are recorded the names of the Letherhead men who gave their lives in the Great War, and on the side panels the names of all who served in it, was placed in North Street in 1916 by the following ladies: Miss Atkins, Miss A. Brown, Mrs. Finké, Miss O. Finké, Mrs. Leach, Miss M. E. Leach, Mrs. Still, Miss M. Still and Miss G. Wanklyn, These ladies also undertook the care of it and the keeping of the records up to date, Miss G. Wanklyn acting as Secretary. It was dedicated by the Bishop of Winchester on March 21st, 1917.

After the dedication of the permanent War Memorial on April 3rd, 1921, the Shrine was removed and renovated. By the desire of the donors, and with the consent of all the various authorities concerned it was placed in the Parish Church, and a flag to surmount it was given by the same ladies, Mrs. Clark-Kennedy taking the place of her mother Mrs. Finké.

As the Shrine is a record and memorial which concerns all the people of Letherhead of all shades of religious opinion, the Vicar decided to hold a Special “United” Service for its formal reception, and for the dedication of the Flag on the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 4th, The Urban District Council was present officially en masse at the service, which began with the hymn “Soldiers who are Christ’s below” sung in procession, the Choir headed by the Cross being followed by the Headmaster of St. John’s School, the Principal of the Royal School for the Blind, the Rev. H. E Sumner (Congregational), the Rev. H. M. Brook (Wesleyan) and the Vicar. After the hymn came the Lesson, Wisdom III. 1—6, read by the Rev. H. E. Sumner: Psalm 23: and an Address by the Rev. H. M. Brook on freedom and peace as the objects for which we engaged in the war. The hymn “O valiant hearts” was then sung, during which the Vicar proceeded to the Altar followed by Miss O. Finke bearing the Flag and Lt.-Col. Gillet. The hymn being ended Miss Finké delivered the Flag to the Vicar with the following words,

"Reverend Sir,
We, members of the War Shrine Committee, desire you as Vicar of this Parish, to accept this Flag, and to dedicate it to the glory of God and as an adjunct to the Shrine now placed in this Church in memory of the men of Letherhead who served in the Great War.”

The Vicar, having received the Flag, laid it upon the Altar and dedicated it,saying
“May Almighty God, in Whose cause our men fought on behalf of freedom and righteousness vouchsafe through our ministry to accept and bless this Flag for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

"Let us pray.
Grant O Lord that those who, at Thy call, followed the flag of their country in the cause of justice and freedom, and whom Thou brought back in safety to their homes, may ever be so ranged under the banner of Christ that when all the conflicts of earth shall cease they may attain the peace of Thine everlasting kingdom, through the same, Thy Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

The Vicar then delivered the Flag to Col. Gillett, who unfurled it; and the Choir headed by the Cross-bearer, and followed by the Clergy and Lt.-Col. Gillet bearing the Flag proceeded to the Font, where the Shrine had been placed on the Western Wall of the North Aisle. Mr. A. H. Morris, who had undertaken all the details of arrangement, received the Flag from Col. Gillett and placed it on the socket above the Shrine, and places near the Shrine had been reserved for the Clergy and Choir, the Ladies’ Committee, the Urban District Council, and representatives of the Letherhead Troop of Scouts.

Miss A. Brown then addressed the Vicar as follows:

"Reverend Sir,
We, members of the Committee, desire you to receive this Shrine, already dedicated to the glory of God by the Bishop of the diocese, within the walls of the Church of the Parish: and to maintain it with the Flag which surmounts it in memory of the men of Letherhead who served in the Great War.”

The Vicar replied :
“We accept the charge which you have this day placed in our hands, and it shall be our endeavour duly to preserve it. May the Almighty God from Whom proceeds all grace and blessing vouchsafe through our ministry to accept and bless this Memorial for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Lord have mercy upon us.
Christ have mercy upon us.
Lord have mercy upon us.

Our Father.

"Let us pray.
We give Thee thanks O Father Almighty for all these thy servants who waxed valiant in fight and wrought righteousness, counting not their lives dear unto themselves; and we pray Thee that, this life ended, having fought a good fight and finished their course with joy, they may rejoice evermore with them that having come out of the great tribulation, and having washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb stand before Thy throne and serve Thee day and night for ever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

"O Almighty God, the Father of the spirits of all flesh, by Whom all souls do live, Whose blessed Son Jesus Christ hath by His death destroyed death, and by His rising to life again restored to us everlasting life: we thank Thee for all those who have given their lives in the War, we commend their souls to Thy all-merciful keeping, and beseech Thee to grant that we with them may have our perfect consummation and bliss in the light of the peace of Thy kingdom where the sun of Thy countenance shineth forever, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

"Comfort, O Lord, we pray Thee, all who mourn the loss of those near and dear to them: be with them in their sorrow: support them with the knowledge of Thy love; and teach them to rest and lean on Thee. Give them faith to look beyond the troubles of this present time, and to know that neither death nor life can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, to Whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost be all honour and glory, now and for ever. Amen.”

“Most merciful Father, grant unto those whom Thou hast brought back in safety from the War, and to all of us who with them are still in our pilgrimage and walk as yet by faith, that having served Thee with constancy on earth we may be joined hereafter with Thy blessed “Saints in glory everlasting, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.”

The Choir and Clergy then returned to their stalls singing the hymn, “For all the Saints.”

The Vicar said the Collect for All Saints’ Day and concluded the Service with the Blessing.

Parish of Leatherhead, Surrey
Extracts from the Great War Parish Magazines - post 1918

The Leatherhead War Memorials research project website is at http://www.leatherheadweb.org.uk/warmemorials/

From the January Parish Magazine 1919

From the February Parish Magazine 1919

From the March Parish Magazine 1919

Parish of Leatherhead, Surrey Extracts from the Great War Parish Magazines - post 1918

The Leatherhead War Memorials research project website is at http://www.leatherheadweb.org.uk/warmemorials/

From the January Parish Magazine 1919

From the February Parish Magazine 1919

From the March Parish Magazine 1919

Parish of Leatherhead, Surrey
Extracts from the Great War Parish Magazines - post 1918