A decade of parish life: from the magazine, 1923-34
(2) Clubs, Societies and
Activities
In
1914 the Rector's confidential report
to the Bishop of Stepney listed the many parish clubs, societies and
activities. Some of these did not survive the war, but by the 1920s a
wide, and constantly-changing, programme of weekly or monthly
activities for young people and adults stretched to the limit the
parish facilities - the Mission Hall, the Parish Room behind the
Rectory (later demolished), the church vestries, and Rectory itself.
Those listed below are in addition to the various bible classes, and
the Scouting and Guiding groups (described here).
Sunday
School
The
Sunday School met each week at 3pm; from 1925, when Mr Beresford became
Rector, on the fourth Sunday of the month
it took the form of a Children's
Service. There were also special
Children's
Services on major festivals, and days such as Ash Wednesday and Good
Friday. (At Christmas 1927 the children had to be sent home from the
afternoon service because the lighting failed.) Miss Edith Palmer
had organised Sunday School for some years,
and was officially made Superintendent in 1924; she set out to ensure
that it met the standards expected by the deanery association, such as
that all teachers should be confirmed (one was not, but this was 'being
rectified'). The children took exams in the autumn - written tests for
the older ones (in 1923 Jimmy Warncken, aged 8, was the youngest child
to take this) and orally for the younger ones. There was a weekly
preparation class for teachers on Thursday evenings, followed once a
month by a service of intercession (introduced in 1926).
The
magazine regularly exhorted parents to ensure that children attended
regularly, and also came to the 11am morning service. In 1923, when
Sunday School temporarily closed while the Mission Hall was repaired,
stamps were issued for morning attendance, but only a small proportion
attended: a great pity; no habit
of worship can be established unless they come to church in the
morning, and with a service lasting only an hour, they can help at home
before and after and so not interfere with their mother's arrangements.
The Rector (Mr Pringle) pointed out that in all local churches, and
generally elsewhere, morning church and afternoon Sunday School were
the
expectation. Again, in 1925, he said The
members have not increased as much as could be wished. On the whole the
children are very regular, though it would be well if a few parents
realised that, if there is to be any real value in the work of the
Sunday School, it is essential that the children should be at school
every Sunday - except of course in case of illness. Would parents
please also take to heart Miss Botterill's words at the prize giving,
on the subject of Sunday worship. The attendance at Sunday School
cannot take the place of worship in Church, and it is very grievous to
see no parents and very few children in Church on Sunday morning.
[It was, of course, common in those days - and not just in the
East End - for parents to send children to church and Sunday
School but rarely to attend themselves.]
His
successor, Mr Beresford, echoed this; in 1926, having paid tribute to
Miss Palmer and her team, I
want to say also how disappointingly small the number of children in
the school is. It is somewhere about a hundred*, instead of the five
hundred that it might well be, and I would earnestly urge all parents
who read this to see that their children attend, and attend regularly.
You want to do the best for your children. Do try to see that they have
a chance of being trained in religion! But in 1928 he
reported we do not seem to be
making very great progress, but we go steadily on; and the
following year, numbers have not
increased, but regularity of attendance is good.
A number of experienced teachers had left, but new ones had been
recruited from among former scholars, and Miss Stone, the parish
worker, was re-organising the infant department as a Kindergarten
School, with all the members of the former Girls' Bible Class (for
girls over 14, meeting on Sunday afternoons in the Rectory) assisting
as teachers. Miss Stone left the parish the following year for less arduous work, and Miss Palmer
handed over her leadership in 1929; she later became churchwarden.
[* A 100-strong Sunday School today would be regarded as a success, but
the context is very different....]
There
were occasional plays, for children and adults - for example, the
Girls' Diocesan Association performed a morality play 'The Two
Pilgrims' in 1931 - free, no
children unless accompanied
- and (non-talkie) missionary films from SPG: on Zululand in 1931, and
'Japan Today' in 1932 - 2d. for the children's showing, and 6d. or 1s.
for the second showing for adults.
The Treat
Although in his 1914 report the Rector had said that we are trying to do away with prizes and
treats in our Sunday School
because parents shopped around the various local churches for the best
inducements, this policy obviously did not succeed. In the 1920s there
was an annual treat in early January, with one or more donated
Christmas trees from which all received presents, prizes given for the
exams the previous year, tea, and an entertainment. This took various
forms: 'lantern entertaiment', conjurors from Hoxton and a
ventriloquist are mentioned; in 1924 the Girls' Diocesan Association
presented a nativity play 'The Three Roses' (repeated in 1933 by the
teachers); in 1929 the White Diamond Minstrels performed (see below on
The Corinthians). Prizegivers included Miss Botterill, Mrs
Pringle, wife of the former Rector (twice), bishops' daughters (Nancy
Curzon, daughter of the Bishop of Stepney, and Dr Bertha Turner,
daughter of a former Rector and later Bishop of Islington), and
Miss Palmer. In 1931 the Rev R.W.
A. Ward,
a protégé of the Rector from his SPCK college days who had preached
here from time to time, brought toys and books from his church in
Purley. In 1934 an invalid lady from Derby who had heard
something of St George's over the Wireless had the kind thought of
sending a gift of money to buy presents for the children.
But it
was not all one-way: on the first Sunday of the year, children were
asked to bring gifts of toys for sick children at St George's Hospital.
And the children had missionary boxes. In 1928 the teachers discovered
when they came to empty them that they had been stolen from the Mission
Hall, with a loss of about £7; a
certain friend made up the deficit,
but the contribution to SPG that year was reduced.
Children's Guild
A
junior Band of Hope had been established in the parish before the war
(perhaps in the time of the keenly-teetotal Rector Charles Turner?) In
1924, of the many who studied the
syllabus for the Church of England Temperance Society's exam last
Febrary only four entered the exam; one won best East End district
prize, two others first class, and one only missed the certificate by
three marks; what a pity the others did not keep up the study and
enter.
In 1925 the new curate Mr Ball-Knight set up a Guild for children over 7 which will be something like a Band of Hope, but instead of using every evening for Temperance work, we shall have some evenings for talks on Missionary work, and some for talks on Kindness to Animals [an interesting trio of themes!] There will also be songs and games. It met on Tuesdays in the Mission Hall.
In
November 1926 Mr and Mrs Ball-Knight organised a fundraising concert
party entertainment with the Belfrie Players, who presented two scenes
from 'As You Like It' and other short dramatic episodes; there were
also songs and excellent
recitations
from Dorothea Mayall. The event raised £3 5s. The players enjoyed
themselves, and returned a few months later for another fundraiser,
with a larger audience; sketches included 'Followers' and 'Acid Drops'
(set in an old-fashioned workhouse). Miss Mayall's recitations brought the house down, and she was
encored again and again, while the kiddies thoroughly enjoyed
'Burlington Bertie'.
Thirty
three children went on an excursion to Theydon Bois in July 1927 (this
was later to become the regular venue for the Sunday School outing -
see below). They caught the 9.04 train from Shadwell; after lunch they
had free tickets for the swings, roundabouts, cycles and
helter-skelter; after bread and jam,
lettuce and cakes
they had a stroll through the forest, and Mr Ball-Knight told stories
on the grass; lemonade and cake followed, and they were back at 9pm.
This was to be Ball-Knight's farewell, as he left the parish soon
after. Later
that year it was announced that the Guild would become a Junior Branch
of the Church of England Temperance Society, (affiliated to the London
Diocesan CETS), worked on the
lines of a Band of Hope,
for children between 6 and 14. Subs were a halfpenny a week. But it
seems that the group did not survive after the re-organisation of the
Sunday School in 1929. [CETS medal
pictured - it features St George and the dragon.]
St George's
and St Matthew's Girls' Club
Pell Street Girls' Club (on the premises of the former St Matthew's,
was run by Miss Jeffrey until her resignation in 1923, when the
combined 'St George's & St Matthew's Girls' Club' was created, with
Miss Savage-Armstrong as Club Leader, assisted by the indefatigable
Miss Lavinia Botterill. By 1928, Miss Annie Krebs was in charge; she
resigned for health reasons in 1932.
There were three regular
classes - singing (30 members in 1928, but discontinued four years
later), drill/physical exercise and Saturday afternoon dressmaking (to
which adults were also welcome; this was popular, and an assistant
mistress was appointed in 1929). Class members over 14 were also
welcome to attend the recreation evening, which continued to be held at
Pell Street for a few more years; for a time there was also a junior
club session (10-14) in the parish room. The committee included
members, and they were affiliated to the National Association of Girls'
Clubs, and attended events of the Stepney Association of Girls' Clubs,
including the winter rally). A hockey club started in 1924, but does
not appear to have continued for long.
Fundraising socials
(dances and games) and concerts were held; among visiting groups were
the Guild of St Martin-in-the-Fields who presented a play 'The Mollusc'
in 1923 (poorly attended), and Excelsior Girls' Club who presented a
nativity play 'The Way to Bethlehem' in 1931 (free admission). In 1931
the girls joined with students of Fairclough Street Institute in
presenting a shortened version of 'The Bohemian Girl', with scenery and
costumes.
Girls'
Friendly Society
The GFS
is an Anglican society founded in 1875 by Mary Townsend, and many
parishes had branches; only a handful remain today, but the society
continues to
use its funds for other projects. The parish branch, established before
the First World War, met on Monday evenings; members were expected to
attend 8am Holy Communion on the second Sunday of the month, and new
members were admitted each year by the Rector at a service in the side
chapel. Whist drives were held to fund activities; in January1926 it
was reported that the proceeds were sufficient to provide a (belated)
Christmas treat for all members. The following Christmas 20
members were taken to the pantomime. In March 1927 'some friends from
West London' provided a musical entertainment, with three local
members disguising themselves as
Three Old Maids of Lee*.
*
There are three old maids of Lee,
They are as old
as can be, And one is deaf and one cannot see, And they are all as
cross as a gallows tree, These three old maids of Lee - the
second verse of 'A Bird in the Hand', a song by the
English lawyer and lyricist Frederick Edward Weatherly (1848-1929):
picture from The
Graphic 1888.
Mothers'
Union
The
Mothers' Union, an
Anglican organisation to support family life,
was created by Mary Sumner in 1876 and became national in 1896; it is
now a worldwide organisation with ?m members and has a proud record of
past and present achievement. The parish branch was long-established,
and met monthly in the Mission Room or Rectory for a devotional service
with a speaker. Members assisted with many parish activities, organised
regular working parties to clean and scrub the church and ran their own
choir.
The Enrolling Member in 1926 was Mrs Mordaunt
(incumbents' wives often filled this rôle, but our Rector was
unmarried); she arranged a trip to the MU headquarters at Mary Sumner
House [pictured] in
Westminster, which had opened two years earlier. That
year they shared a char-a-banc trip to Windsor with the newly-formed
Women's Fellowship (see below).
They regularly entertained other branches - for example, in 1927 St John Limehouse, when the Rector's Stepney Orpheus Choir sang - and in turn were invited by others. In 1928 they were guests at Stanmore, where they found a lovely rectory garden with lake. There were curious competitions in the church institute: It required some courage to put your hand into a tub full of mixed bran and needles and see how many needles you could get out at one go, and it required considerable skill to light a dozen candles with one match or to throw fifty-two cards into a hat singly, without sending one astray! When the rain stopped, they went boating on the lake, had a service in church, and returned with bunches of flowers.
But their annual trip for the next six years was by motor-coach to Staplehurst in Kent, where they were the guests of the Misses Hallward at Scarden, Frittenden Road - sisters of Margaret Hallward, parish worker here until her death in 1926 (MU gave a chalice, and Sunday School a paten, in her memory - still in use at weekday services). Here they spent the afternoon in the garden and had short excursions round about. In 1931 some members were invited to Cobham through the kindness of Lady McAlpine [who opened the parish fête that year] and Miss Stericker; and in 1934 their excursion was to Westcliff-on-Sea.
In
June 1933 the branch was present at the great
Thanksgiving at the Albert Hall, which was repeated the following day
at Limehouse for all East London branches, where with two other
branches they provided the choir.
Women's Fellowship
In 1925,
perhaps because a year or so previously Miss Leggatt had, after many
years, given up her little
monthly meetings for women, and perhaps to
cater for those beyond the scope of the Mothers' Union, Miss Turner and
others set up a monthly afternoon Fellowship. The first meeting was a
social with a 'mothers' bible class'. The next month, despite a
thunderstorm, a good number came and a choir sang Old English Songs,
and a few months later the Rector's Stepney Orpheus Choir provided
entertainment. In 1926, they shared a trip with the MU, and the
following year went to Southend, to which there was also a parish trip
on a different date: both
parties returned safely after various
hair-raising adventures in the Kursaal [pictured].
But there are no further reports until December 1934, when the newly-arrived Church Army Sister A. Reason relaunched the Fellowship with a jumble sale, jointly for Church Army and the group's funds; they were to meet every Tuesday afternoon except the week when MU met.
Boys' Clubs
Apart
from the Cubs, Scouts and Rovers, activities for boys and young men
were fewer and less enduring than those for girls: initiatives came and
went. In 1923 there was a Saturday afternoon 'lads' working party', for
window cleaning and the like, and the Rector announced that he would
be glad to receive for a
sit-round informal chat after service on
Wednesday evenings all or any of the lads who have been confirmed,
but
this does not seem to have taken off. For some years there was a
football team, captained from 1923 (when they lost one of their key
players) by Sid Kelly. Mr Ball ran a junior boys' club on Tuesdays, but
did not re-open in 1925 because he had eye trouble and was forbidden to
take on extra work, and no-one was found to take his place. Attempts
the previous year to establish a 16+ club, meeting straight after the
junior club, seem to have foundered, though a successful fundraising
dance was held. Successive curates led bible classes at various times -
among them C.H. McKie, until his resignation on health grounds in 1932.
The Corinthians
It
was no doubt to fill this gap that in 1928, some months after Cecil
Barrett stood down as Scoutmaster (because it was too time-consuming)
he started a 'boys' Bible Class Club', The Corinthians, to keep the
lads together and to give an opportunity for them to improve
their health. The class was on Sunday at 3.30pm and club night
was
Tuesday, when they had exercises, boxing, punchball and pyramids, and
aimed to start morris dancing. He explained that this was a less
demanding commitment than the Scouts, but invested a good deal of
energy into this work, and reported regularly in the parish magazine.
(And two years later when the Cubmaster left he took on the leadership
of the pack as well.)
The Corinthians' first project was a 7-mile cross country run through the roughest land in Epping Forest.
In
November 1928 Barrett
reported
The
summer being over we have now to resort to indoor work, and as the Club
now numbers over twenty, we shall have rather a cramped time for the
next six months. However, we shall keep smiling and pull through! One
way we get over our difficulty is to send half the members out running,
while the rest practice in the Parish Room. Two members have just
attained the honour of clearing five-foot-two in high-jump, and it is
surprising to see many turning somersaults now whose dignity would
never have let them try this particular feat before! We hope to add
parallel bars to our equipment.
Barrett announced a plan to
take members to Lucerne for a fortnight the following year, at a cost
of £5 a head, and started a bank to enable them to save 2/- a week, but
nothing seems to have come of this.
We are a bible class club,
and as the senior class in the school keen to help the younger folk,
he
wrote the following month. So he organised a Minstrel Concert
(political correctness was many years off) to help fund the Sunday
School excursion. It was a sell-out and raised £9 3s 6d. There were
songs, choruses, dialogues and sketches; the members of the Troupe were
real 'natives' in the sense that they were bred and born in St.
George's and belong to one of our own Clubs, but it required careful
scrutiny to identify them under their black faces and many-coloured
wigs.
In October 1929
Barrett wrote
In
November 1930 Barrett reported a successful opening of the football
season: the team beat St Mary's 6-0 in the Hackney & Stoke
Newington Deanery League, and took part in a swimming gala arranged by
the Stepney Federation. In August 1931 a number of club members, and
several scouts, camped again at Hayle.
Men's Activities
In
Corbett's time there had been a branch of the Church of England Men's
Society, but this did not survive the War, which disillusioned
many
men. Those who were involved with church had Sidemen's duties and
practical work maintaining the church and mission hall to keep them
busy. There was an Ex-Service Men's
Committee, which in 1923 organised
a dance to fund a war orphans' outing. In 1926 the Curate, Mr
Ball-Knight, set up a men's bible
class, on Sunday afternoons in the
Rectory parish room (Miss Turner had one for older girls at the same
time.) But increasingly those who were married preferred to participate
in social and other events with their wives and children, as seen
below.
Social
events for adults
Despite the regular
round
of fundraising dances and socials, and whist drives (Mrs Govett, the
warden's wife, arranged these on alternate Saturday evenings from
1924), there was always an appetite for social gatherings. in 1924 it
was reported that the Monday
night club is flourishing and well
attended. Readers who join will find they can spend a pleasant evening
at it. In 1929 the Parochial Church Council suggested a 'social hour'
after Evensong, once a month, which was tried as an experiment. In
October a good many came, despite wet weather; Mrs Weldon sang, the
Rector played violoncello solos, and there was community hymn singing.
In November Mrs Bright, Mrs Ephremsen and Thoré Ephremsen sang,
gramophone selections were played, and there was community singing of
favourite English, Scottish and Welsh songs. A string orchestra was
promised for the following gathering. Did this continue?
More
enduring was the Badminton Club,
set up in 1925, with Mr Judd the
warden as treasurer, and Mr Ball-Knight the curate as secretary; the
next few weeks will be an American Tournament of badminton and table
tennis for which the Rector promised prizes; this continued to
meet
regularly. In 1926 Mr Ball-Knight also set up a Rambling Club for
over-18s. The first ramble was in April - to Leatherhead by train then
on to Box Hill for tea, returned another way and catching the 8.47
train 'by winter time' to Waterloo 9.30. They were a small party
because of other church things, and some were put off by the weather,
but it only rained during tea - when one member drank twelve cups.
Please come, said Mr Ball Knight, but
only if you're prepared to walk, and run if necessary.
Congregational Social
Every
January there was a party for the congregation, to which the Rector and
Miss Beresford issued invitations. (This caused problems in 1931, when
some claimed not to have received an invitation; thereafter, notice in
the magazine and in church was regarded as sufficient.) It was
explained that the party is not
meant to include children under 14
except when it is not possible for parents to come without them.
The
range of entertainments included:
|
Each year from 1932 a Rectory Garden Party was held for the congregation, linked to the annual Anniversary of Dedication service in July.
Summer
Outings
In
1923 two senior classes of boys from the Sunday School had a 'long half
day' at Cranbrook Park and the smaller boys were taken by Captain &
Mrs Burton to the Zoo; the girls went to Cranbrook and Valentine Park.
From
1924-26 Miss Palmer organised a joint outing to Southend (chosen by
vote by a majority of parents) for the Sunday School and the
congregation, by train from Fenchurch Street. Sunday School children
paid 9d, Sunday School teachers 1s. adult members of the congregation
3s and all others full price, 4s 6d. In 1925 100 children and 56 adults
went. There was some doubt in 1926 as to whether cheap tickets would be
available.
Thereafter separate trips were held. The parochial
trip was again to Southend in 1927 and 1928, but in 1929 to Oxford: the
exact time-table cannot be issued until the Railways publish their
Summer tables, but there was a choice between a full-day or a
half-day
trip if you don't mind a
late train back. The cost was 7s, to
include tea at St Edmund Hall. The
excursion is not intended for
children, but if they go, the cost is 4s. In the event, it
was sunny
enough to show Oxford at its best, but not so hot as to make sight
seeing a burden. In 1930 they went to Windsor.
In 1927 the
Sunday School went to Boxhill, but from 1928 to 1933 they went each
year to Theydon Bois [pictured]
- in 1929 it was noted that the
country seems
preferred to the seaside. Here they enjoyed nature study in the
forest, especially frogs and tadpoles, went on donkey rides and
roundabouts, and had buns and ginger beer at Theydon Retreat. In 1933
they tried Eastcote, but returned to Theydon Bois the following year.
The younger children did not go on these trips; instead they had tea
and games in the Churchwardens' Garden (or Mission Hall if wet).
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