One hundred years ago: May 1912
Post date: Apr 02, 2012 6:42:3 PM
Extract from Parish magazine of May 1912:
THE VESTRY, 1912.
The Annual Easter Vestry, held on the 18th ult., was attended by the Vicar and his colleague, the people's warden and four other parishioners. .
Mrs. Hole had written from the Fir Trees, Hawkhurst, resigning her position as Churchwarden, and expressing regret at her inability to attend the meeting. The Vicar had received an earlier letter from Mrs. Hole in reference to some candlesticks which she had chosen and was sending for the church—"which I hope you will like and accept as a small Easter Offering from a very old parishioner." The Vestry meeting saw the candlesticks, and passed a resolution unanimously instructing the Vicar to write and ask Mrs. Hole to accept the cordial thanks of the Vestry for the gift, with an expression of regret that she had left the parish, and was obliged, therefore, to resign the churchwardenship.
The Vicar regretted that he was not at present in a position to nominate a successor to Mrs. Hole.
Mr. R. French presented the Churchwardens' accounts, duly audited, for the year ending 31st March 1912, and a resolution was passed that they should be printed in the Parish Magazine. It was felt that the entirely anonymous character of the contributions to the Churchwardens' Funds consequent upon the abolition of the Voluntary Rate rendered a continuance of the old-fashioned way of printing and issuing the accounts not only unnecessary, but also impracticable. An abstract of the accounts is,therefore, appended to these notes. Mr. French was congratulated by the Vestry on the successful way in which he had carried out the change from a Voluntary Rate to dependence upon anonymous support through the Church Collections ; and also upon the great saving in the cost of lighting the Church effected through the adoption of incandescent burners.
It is hoped that a certain saving will be effected by the installation of a hot water heating system which Mr. French explained to the Vestry. The Vestry appointed a small committee to consider the scheme in detail. The Committee has since met, and a revised estimate embodying one or two alterations is to be submitted. Pending the receipt of the new estimate, it is believed that about £120 will cover the cost, and it is hoped that Mr. French will soon be in a position to see the matter through. Mr. French reported to the Vestry that he was already assured of the support of certain leading parishioners, and the Vestry have no doubt that the scheme will commend itself to the parish generally.
CHURCHWARDENS' ACCOUNTS for year ending March 31st, 1912.
RECEIPTS.
Balance in hand, April 1st, 1911 £16 12 2
Monthly Collections—
General Expenses £76 3 9
Choir and Organ Fund 16 11 3
92 15 0
£109 7 2
PAYMENTS.
NOTES AND NOTICES.
When it was known that Mrs. and Miss Lownds had decided that it was necessary, for the benefit of Mrs. Lownds' health, to leave Wateringbury and go to live at Aldeburgh, on the East Coast (Suffolk), suggestions came simultaneously from two or three quarters that, in view of the long residence of the family in the parish and the continued and often self-denying interest which its members had taken in parochial work of all kinds, a present should be given to them on their departure. The result was twofold : first, the school-children both in the Sunday and in the Day Schools, some of the old scholars, and also the teachers in both Schools, combined to present to Miss Lownds a copy of Professor Moulton's Modern Reader's Bible, and a beautifully illustrated book of fifty of Turner's pictures, called Turner's "Golden Visions"; and, secondly, a subscription was quietly made amongst a few friends, including the cottagers of Latter's Buildings, Miss Lownds' District, and a useful amount sent by cheque to Mrs. and Miss Lownds, with a brief address and list of subscribers. The following letter has been received from Miss Lownds in reply :—
Pembroke House, Aldeburgh,
Suffolk, March 26th, 1912. MY DEAR FRIENDS,
It was such a surprise to me, and certainly a most pleasant one, to receive a delightful present from you all soon after leaving Wateringbury.
I thank you with all my heart for your great kindness, and only wish that I could let you know how grateful I feel, both for your gift and your good wishes. I shall value your beautiful presents (for which the cheque will soon be exchanged) for the whole of my life, and shall be reminded in a very pleasant way of you all, and this will be the case with my Mother too, for I know that she was meant to share in your kind thought, and one of the things which I shall get will be especially for her own use.
But in any case we should have been in no danger of forgetting our Wateringbury friends; we much regretted leaving you, and shall often think and talk of you all. I wish so much you could all come and see us here, so that I might shew you the presents which I choose, and the new home which they adorn.
I should have liked to write and "express my gratitude to each one separately, but as this is not possible l am asking Mr. Livett if he can kindly find space for this letter in the Parish Magazine. With best wishes and renewed thanks,
Believe me, yours very sincerely,
MAY LOWNDS.
Parishioners will be pleased to hear that Mrs. and Miss Lownds are happily installed in their new home, where the Vicar and Mrs. Livett have had the pleasure of paying them a flying visit, all too short, of two days ; and that under the influence of Aldeburgh's bracing air Mrs. Lownds has made a wonderfully quick recovery from the very serious illness which followed the trying journey from place to place.
*****
Yet another bidding of farewell has to be recorded. Miss Ada Horton, successively scholar, pupil teacher and assistant mistress in our Girls' School, has left us, partly on account of her aunt's health, to take up a post of assistant in the Bridge and Patrixbourne Church Schools, near Canterbury. Ada Horton has an excellent record of work in our Day Schools, and has given valuable assistance in the Sunday Schools. Intelligent, conscientious and sympathetic, she is likely to do good work wherever she goes, and our good wishes go with her. She takes away a silver watch and chain presented to her on the day of her departure by the Vicar on behalf of the children, her fellow-teachers in Day and Sunday Schools, and some of the Managers.
*****
At a drawing-room meeting held at the Vicarage on behalf of the Women's Home Mission Association, Wateringbury and Nettlestead Branch, the women's side of the Additional Curates' Society, addressed by the Diocesan Organising Secretary (the Rev. R. A. Whyman) and Miss Livett (Secretary for the Diocese of Bath and Wells), the sum of £1 9s. 8d. was collected. Mrs. Hole has acted as local secretary for this Branch since its institution two or three years ago, and has of course been obliged to resign the position. Will anyone volunteer to take up the work? It is not onerous, merely meaning the collection annually of a certain number of subscriptions.
*****
The Annual Meeting of the local branch of the Church of England Zenana Missionary Society was held in the Church Rooms on March 27th, the Vicar in the chair, and was addressed by Miss Dickson, who gave a vivid description of the influence of the work in an Indian village (of 40,000 inhabitants) near Calcutta. It seems to be the only source of hope to the outcasts created by native social conditions, a real "Gospel" to the poor, and as such it is beginning to attract the attention and co-operation of native elements other than out-cast—a living witness to the force of Missionary Christianity in India. These meetings are always well-attended. Miss Fremlin, the local Secretary, who supplied tea after the meeting, reports that the collection amounted to £7 10s. Od.