Parish Magazine

for

The Four Ways Mission Community

St Paul, , St James the Apostle, with The Holy Name, Gunn, St Peter, West Buckland & St Michael, East Buckland

November 2020

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The Mission Community of St. James, Swimbridge with the Chapel of the Holy Name, Gunn, St. Peter, West Buckland, St Michael, East Buckland and St. Paul, Landkey Patrons: The Bishop of Exeter andy NewsletterThe Earl Fortescue Trust (Patronage suspended)

Priest-in-Charge: The Reverend Shaun O’Rourke, The Rectory, Swimbridge EX32 0PH DearTelephone Brothers 01271 and S830950isters, mob 07914361905 email: [email protected] Reader: Mr Christopher James, 6 Tree Close, Gunn, . EX32 7PA 01271 831075 Reader: Mr Peter Rozzell, 5 The Babbages, Bickington. EX31 2LN 01271 373033 Reader: Mr David Rushworth 01271 372725

St. James the Apostle, Swimbridge

Churchwarden: Matt Blüge 01271 830764

PCC Sec: Sarah Muirhead Treasurer: Janet Patton 01271 831065 Electoral Roll: Mary Fardon 01271 344629 Organ/ Choir: Janet Patton 01271 831065 Bell Ringer: Chris Ley 07890331478 C of E Voluntary Aided Primary School: Head Teacher: Vacant Website : www.swimbridgeparishchurch.org

Chapel of the Holy Name, Gunn Deputy Warden: Bryan Hawkins 01271 830597 Treasurer: William Crosbie-Dawson 01271 831141

St Peter, West Buckland Churchwarden: Pat Witheridge 01598 710512 PCC Sec: Gail Barker 01598 761149 Treasurer: Ally Ayre 01271 830011 Electoral Roll: Liz Overall 01598 760314 Bell Ringer: Peter Crook 01598 760437 Deanery Synod: Pat Witheridge 01598 710512

St Michael, East Buckland Churchwardens: Diane Tearall 01769 579031 and Roger Ridd 01598 760248

PCC Secretary: Jeanette Ridd 01598 760248 Treasurer: Rosalie Priscott 01769 572943

St Paul, Landkey

Churchwardens: Hazel Price 01271 831259 and Mike Foster 01271 831334

PCC Secretary: Charles Waldron 01271 831414 Treasurer: Ann Rumble 01271 346463

Organist: Robert Loveridge 01271 371372 Deanery Synod: Hazel Price and Eric Price 01271 831259 Website: www.landkeyparishchurch.org

MOIMM Committee Secretary: Paul Ellis 01598 760534

Magazine Editor: Maureen Hawkins Taddiport, West Buckland, EX32 0SL Tel: 01598 760287 e-mail: [email protected] Please Note Material for the Magazine should be submitted to the Editor by the 1st of the preceding month

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Services for November

1st November 8th November 15th November 22nd November 29th November All Saints Remembrance Trinity 23 Christ the King 1st Sunday of (P) Sunday (P) (Gold) Advent (P) (P) First Reading Rev 7.9-end Wisdom Sol 6.12-16 Zeph 1,7.12-18 Ezek 34.11-16,20-24 Isai 64.1-9 Second Reading 1 John 3.1-3 1 Thess 4.13-end 1Thess 5.1-11 Eph 1.1-15 1 Corr 1.3-9

Gospel Matt 5.1-12 Matt 25.1-13 Matt 25.14-30 Matt 25.31-end Mark 12.24-end 9.30 a.m. Remembrance 9.30 a.m. 9.30 a.m. 9.30 a.m. Swimbridge Morning Prayer Service Morning Prayer Morning Prayer Morning Prayer 11 a.m. 10.30 a.m. Remembrance 10.30 a.m. 10.30 a.m. 10.30 a.m. Landkey Morning Prayer Service Morning Prayer Morning Prayer Morning Prayer 10.30 a.m. tbc (see website) 6 p.m. Remembrance 6 p.m. 6 p.m. 6 p.m. West Buckland Friday Evening Service Friday Evening Friday Evening Friday Evening 6 p.m. Friday Evening

Gunn Join Swimbridge

9.30 a.m. 9.30 a.m. East Buckland Morning Prayer Morning Prayer TBC

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Newsletter

Welcome to November everyone. I hope that you are all keeping well and that you are all begging to venture out into the wider world. As I write this the numbers of covid cases are rising around the country and it makes me feel blessed to be living in North .

We have just had all our AGMs and one thing that stands out is the loss we have had in our churches of people attending. This brings us many problems. We have lost most of our income, not only by personal giving, indeed we have not been able to hold any fundraising events, and this has taken a terrible toll on our reserves and our cash flow. We have always been able to pay our parish share in all our mission community. This year most have just made a 50% contribution. This has adverse effects on the funds available to give us the support we need from our diocese We still have to pay our insurance, most costing around £4000 a year as well as our normal running costs. In short, we are in trouble, we cannot survive the way we are operating. For the short term we need to ask everyone to help if you could manage by starting your normal giving again either through the parish giving scheme or just setting up a direct debit to help out. It will make a tremendous difference to our churches but in the long run we have to really think about how we do church, and how we do things to bring our communities into our buildings to grow new congregations for a sustainable future. The work and the commitment falls on a few and I thank each and every one of you for what you do already. Any contribution will help no matter how small. So please think about how you can help. You can contact our treasurers any time or our wardens who will advise how you can contribute to the life and survival of your parish church. Even now with our future looking grim the light of Christ falls on us. With prayer and your help we will survive and we will grow into strong churches but to do that we have to get through this devastating time, So I ask you to pray for us and help us get through this. With blessing and hope, Fr Shaun.

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News from St Peter’s West Buckland

We shall continue with our Friday evening Service at 6pm and on 9th October we held a low-key Harvest Festival Service. Unfortunately we were not able to have our usual Coffee Morning and supper - perhaps next year!!

Sunday November 1st - All Saints Day. A commemoration day for all Christian Saints may also be known as All Hallows Day. The first Sunday of the season of the Kingdom.

Friday 6th November at 6pm our annual Service of Remembrance and laying of wreaths - safely distanced of course. As it might not be possible to obtain wreaths or use a live bugler this year it will be interesting, but we shall overcome.

Sunday 8th November the National day of Remembrance with the Cenotaph Service.

Wednesday 11th November. The day the First World War ended. On this day in 1920 George V unveiled the Cenotaph in Whitehall and the Unknown Warrior was buried in Westminster Abbey. This prompted Memorials to be dedicated in most communities, particularly rural areas.

Sunday 22nd November Christ the King also known as 'stir up Sunday' from the collect 'Stir up we beseech thee, O Lord, the wills of thy faithful people'. It is also the day to stir up the Christmas pudding.

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Sunday 29th November. Advent 1 Common Worship Year B begins. Advent Sunday falls on the Sunday nearest to St Andrew's Day, the fourth before Christmas. Advent is observed as a penitential time during which weddings are not normally celebrated and Churches are not decorated and the hangings are purple.

Stay safe and well,

Pat Witheridge

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News from St Michael’s East Buckland

Like everywhere of late, all has been still and quiet here. It was a joy to have news that we could resume our services again, albeit quite differently from pre- covid. We have had three Morning Prayer services with a trickle of our congregation. One of those services was taken by Josie, and we would love to welcome her along with husband Mike again very soon. We are just sorry that we are unable to offer our usual refreshments afterwards!

However during lockdown we were able to have our new window installed and I cannot begin to tell you how wonderful it is, all made possible by some very generous donations, a lot of very hard work from our dedicated P.C.C, and lots of local support by those attending and giving very generously, and we were lucky enough to secure a grant. By a way of saying thank you we were hoping to hold an inauguration and dedication service this month, but ...... fingers crossed we will be organising that now for next September. Please come by and have a look and see what you think.

My lockdown has been pretty much as usual; I have been working throughout. Not seeing family and friends was hard, but oh so lovely when we could all get together again, but as I write this alas, we are back to a group of six; tricky for us as we have twenty to manoeuvre! I am hoping as I am sure you are too that we will be able to celebrate a family Christmas, as well as a Church one.

With blessings from us all at St. Michael’s.

Hoping you are all keeping well and safe, God Bless, and hope to see you soon.

Di Tearall

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REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY – 8th November

This year Remembrance Sunday is on 8th November. However owing to the COVID-19 pandemic and in light of the marginal risks posed, the annual Remembrance Sunday March Past at the Cenotaph will not take place this year and I guess that throughout the country there will be very few gatherings to mark this vital day.

As I maybe a lone voice in the wilderness I believe that this is wrong. At the moment I feel that the Church of , led by our Archbishop, Justin Welby, has lost its moral compass. It is at times like this that OUR Church should stand up and be counted. If shops and high streets and bars etc. can be open then, if we are still a religious society, then it is so wrong that our churches and our church leaders are failing to lead the way. Should they really cower in a dark corner?

Paul Ellis

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TIDE OF CHANGE

Whilst reading Father Shaun’s letter to the parishes in last month’s magazine I thought his message was quite stark as he talked about the feasibility of our churches. On a second reading I came around to the conclusion that it was refreshingly realistic. Modern life has changed so much recently and we have to get used to changing with it. During the pandemic many working people have not returned to the office and have established a working environment at home. Also, many people have taken advantage of shopping online and have found it a very enjoyable experience.

I agree when Shaun suggests that church is changing and perhaps in a good way and that is borne out by in excess of three hundred tuning in to the Facebook Sunday Service. Pre-Covid there had been some discussion whether our churches could continue in the same vain, the virus has just forced modernization more quickly. The downside for me is the hour lost not being able to meet up with good friends. Our church for me is a place of refuge and a place to release and forget some of those tensions in life; a place of comfort to get away from it all for a while. Most of us have a real affection for our churches, but if they are not feasible, what will happen to them?

Roger Ridd

Being a Good Listener

I try hard, sometimes very hard but I know that I am not a good listener; it is so tempting to only half listen or worse still to interrupt or to pick up on what someone is saying and to take the conversation down another track.

However, I know that to be a good listener is most important and is, to be honest, a great skill. Yet few of us know how to do it and in fact have the patience to really listen to what people say. A few years ago I worked and was trained as a Samaritan; that means I was trained to listen (that in itself is daft; should we really need to be trained to listen?) because too often we may feel that what we have to say is more important. But that is NOT true and the whole difficulty probably stems from the fact that we have hardly listened in the past. I do try very hard to

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listen and not to cut in or interrupt or even to think about something else while someone is talking but, as you will all know, it can be very difficult.

The good listener does not rush or get impatient but, I can assure you, gives time, encourages and often seeks more detail and all too often rarely says quietly, those two magic words to the person with concerns or worries on their mind, “go on!”

How often has someone said that to you? It is like nectar and if you are bored (hearing the same story again) well remember it may help someone a great deal. You know the simple phrase, “I am very fed up with not being able to talk to or to see people,” well that may hide a more, deep seated or serious problem or issue. And at the moment as we seem to be more and more isolated I know that not having the opportunity to chat or to exchange thoughts (however basic they may be) does cause stress.

So, I try hard to be a good listener. When I am with a person who listens well, I get a very strong pleasure – try it; it is very worthwhile.

Paul

Autumn Leaves

How silently they tumble down And come to rest upon the ground To lay a carpet, rich and rare, Beneath the trees without a care, Content to sleep, their work well done, Colours gleaming in the sun.

At other times, they wildly fly Until they nearly reach the sky. Twisting, turning through the air Till all the trees stand stark and bare. Exhausted, drop to earth below To wait, like children, for the snow.

Elsie N. Brady

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The Common Fund

I hear on the grapevine that for this year the Common Fund that each parish is required to pay Exeter has been cut by half.

The Common Fund contributes to the costs of our stipendiary clergy, including stipends, pensions, housing and training.

That is a very great relief and takes a huge pressure off congregations. I have no idea whether that means that clergy salaries have been cut or rents reduced or the costs of Exeter are down – whatever it is very good news for every church goer in our Mission Community.

Paul

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News from St Paul’s Landkey

Worship continues – all are welcome!

Amid the constant diet of news warning us of rising numbers of coronavirus cases, worship at St Paul’s has quietly continued each Sunday as it has done since 2nd August when services were able to resume. Services are in the format of Morning Prayer, in which Holy Communion is not offered in order to minimise the risk of spreading infection. We have to wear face masks and practice social distancing but, in most other respects, the conduct of the services is as it would be in normal times. We welcome all who would like to join us for worship in an Anglican Christian setting.

There has been a wider range of material than usual to cover in this month’s edition as we have just held our Covid-delayed Annual Meeting which dealt with a number of matters affecting the church. Details of elections and appointments are given later but a brief account of the meeting follows shortly.

It is only right to include in this month’s edition an account of the joyful occasion on 3rd October 2020 when Josie Foster became a licenced Reader. Josie herself has also contributed a piece on the role of women in the church and I extend my thanks to her for this.

All of this means that my regular “Making Sense of the Bible” series takes a break this month (yes, I know, we will have to bear the disappointment bravely!).

However, my profile of the Geneva Bible is partly written, and I will aim to include it next month.

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Annual Meeting

After a delay of six months caused by Covid-19, we held our Annual Parochial Church Meeting at 7pm on Monday 12th October. It was held remotely by Zoom with eleven church members participating but with a larger number of people having been briefed or consulted beforehand on the matters to be discussed.

It is pleasing to be able to report that all posts on the Parochial Church Council have been filled as well as all officer roles. In my position of Secretary, I extend my thanks to all those people who have been willing to put themselves forward to serve our church, especially at this time when the challenge of emerging from the pandemic appears so daunting.

Much of the meeting was taken up with discussing the church’s post-Covid strategy. It was agreed that St Paul’s has the potential to engage with a new generation of worshippers, especially as the parish is growing in size. The church would need to adapt to a new set of circumstances, though, and would require a plan which would meet the needs of the parish in the years ahead. Work on this plan will be getting under way shortly, with the involvement of as many St Paul’s members as possible.

Gift Days – thank you

Our Harvest weekend of 26th-27th September was also opened up to anyone who wished to contribute to the running costs of St Paul’s. These “Gift Days” resulted in the encouraging sum of £1455 being given to our parish church and we extend our grateful thanks to all for their gifts. During a very challenging year, this sum will help St Paul’s to pay its way for the rest of the year.

Remembrance

Plans have not yet been drawn up, but there is the hope that we can hold a brief service of Remembrance on 8th November, Covid rules permitting. It would be held outside at the war memorial and, if it goes ahead, will be advertised on the church and village websites.

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Congratulations, Josie!

On Saturday 3rd October 2020, St Paul's Church member, Josie Foster, became a licenced Reader at a service held at Exeter Cathedral.

Covid-19 restrictions meant that only a few people could attend the service in support of the, approximately, twelve candidates and those who did had to be socially distanced. The service was live streamed on the cathedral's Facebook page, though, allowing others from the candidates' home churches to watch.

The service started at 2pm with the licencing taking place from around 2.40pm, and Josie was the first to be called. It was a dignified service and included Holy Communion, in the form of bread only, being offered to all present. It was a moment of joy and recognition of the hard work and dedication of the candidates involved who would return to their churches and be able to lead services.

Josie’s own article appears a little further on.

Josie Foster – now a licenced Reader

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Harvest Service

It seemed almost as if we had taken a break from the pandemic as we held our Harvest Service on Sunday 27th September 2020. The church had been tastefully decorated for the occasion and Revd Shaun's sermon focused on the wonder of nature's harvest, just as would have happened in a normal year. However, as Hazel Price posed for the photo wearing a face mask, it was a reminder of the reality of Covid-19 in which we still live.

Hazel Price and Revd Shaun

on Harvest Sunday, 27th September

Keeping in touch

We would like to reassure congregation members as well as people in the wider parish that, although services are now being held routinely, we will endeavour to keep in touch with those who are not yet comfortable with returning to church worship. News is being routinely posted on the church website (www.landkeyparishchurch.org) and includes links to online services. Revd Shaun’s services are posted on his Facebook page, a link to which is available on the website. If you are aware of someone who would appreciate a telephone call, 15

let me or any church officer know using any of the telephone numbers given at the beginning of this magazine.

The role of women in the church, by Reader Josie Foster

In May I introduced myself as a Reader in Training, looking forward to my licensing in October. I am happy to say that on October 3rd (despite the Pandemic) we were able to be licensed in Exeter Cathedral with the Bishop officiating. We were only allowed two guests but, since it was live-streamed, many were able to watch and share in what was, for me, a truly moving experience and I am now the proud owner of my ‘blue scarf’.

I shared in a service at Landkey on the following Sunday, and subsequently at Swimbridge, some of the things I had found most challenging during my three years of study. I will share one of these with you now and perhaps over the coming months I can share others.

The topic that resonated with me the most, and changed me the most, was the subject of women and their role within the church. I came from an evangelical right-wing teaching in America, where I was extremely comfortable with the idea that women could play a supporting role but never, never a leading role.

Studying about the great many trials and frustrations, in what was a male dominated society, that women have gone through, brought tears to my eyes. I began to see how the male narrative that is so often used had blinded my thinking.

Jean Mayland was the first woman to be licensed as a Reader in 1974 in the Diocese of Sheffield. A very intelligent lady, she went to Oxford University but was not allowed to study Theology because she was a woman. Instead she read History. She campaigned tirelessly for women to be Ordained, but the first women to be Ordained was not until 1994. Jean herself was eventually Ordained.

Elaine Stalkey, a Christian writer, says this: “God created people as male and female, and this difference will always be there. What we need not to be there are the penalties women pay for their gender in so many areas of life.”

My awareness of how women have had to fight for rights has grown and certainly changed my thinking. I had no idea of the struggles they had faced, and I am

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incredibly grateful for these pioneer women who paved the way for my journey to become a Reader.

God created us all in His image – male and female, He created them. It is distressing to see that equality abused in any form.

Josie Foster

Reader

Annual Parochial Church Meeting -

These are the main decisions that were taken at our APCM on 12th October:

• Hazel Price and Mike Foster were re-elected churchwardens

• The Annual PCC Report and Financial reports were approved

• Jean Loveridge and Adrian Ley were both re-elected to the PCC

• Ann Rumble was co-opted to the PCC

• Eric Price and Ann Rumble were elected Deanery Synod representatives

• Sidespersons were appointed, these being Cynthia Ashley, Jean Loveridge, Elizabeth Nunn, Margaret Perryman, Hazel Price and Ann Rumble

At the PCC meeting which followed the Annual Meeting, Eileen MacCaig was elected PCC joint Chairman, Charles Waldron Vice Chairman, Ann Rumble Treasurer, Charles Waldron Secretary and Peter Elder Electoral Roll Officer. It was agreed that the Fabric Committee would comprise Mike Foster (Convenor), Eric Price and Adrian Ley.

St Paul’s website: www.landkeyparishchurch.org

Charles Waldron

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News from St James Swimbridge

Remembrance Sunday Service and at the War Memorial Sunday 8th November Service in St James Church at 10.15 am.

Followed by an Act of Remembrance at the War Memorial for 11.00am.

Please gather before 10.50 am. in the Churchyard near the War Memorial with the usual social distancing in mind.

Swimbridge War Memorial

Thanks to Fr Shaun, Matt our churchwarden and Janet our organist, a ceremony was held at the war memorial on Saturday 26 September to mark the centenary of its inauguration. The monument was unveiled on Sunday 26 September 1920. Mr Peter Christie, the much admired historian of , kindly shared a contemporary report published in the Journal. The monument cost £170, which was given by parishioners. The report gives this description: ‘Occupying a commanding position in the new section of the Churchyard, and easily seen from the Station Hill and main road, the memorial takes the form of a handsome obelisk in Cornish grey granite, which is from the same quarry as the national memorial erected in memory of Nurse Cavell. The die bearing the inscription is polished, the lettering being cut and painted dark purple’.

The very sensitive restoration of the monument carried out in 2014, master- minded by David Netherway, picked out the names in black. It would be a worthwhile project to change this at some stage to the original, more striking, dark purple. The obelisk, and presumably the rest of the monument, is reported

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to have been carved by Messrs Youings, monumental masons of Bear Street, Barnstaple. The report states that ‘Relatives of most if not all of the departed heroes attended, whilst the very large general assemblage was representative of all classes and sects’.

The memorial is Grade II listed by English Heritage. At the recent ceremony, a beautiful wreath, crafted and donated by Gail Barrow, was laid at the monument on behalf of the Swimbridge Parish Council by Cllr Mark Haworth-Booth. Mark also read this poem, first published in Voices & Memory by ExLibris in 2014 as part of the Exeter Poetry Festival.

Mark Haworth-Booth A Village War Memorial 2014 For David Netherway Familiar names are carved around the shaft, with a lieutenant taking pride of place. The middle part, flecked white and grey, is polished while base and needle are less smoothly finished – rough or smooth, granite always means endurance. The obelisk’s enclosed by chains and posts, but years ago some lengths of chain went missing. The period design of balls and spikes – in emulation of Crusader maces – was cast in iron. It isn’t made these days. Googling and luck revealed a pattern-maker on Tyneside who could fabricate new moulds from the originals and cast the spiked balls. A local firm hand-forged the linking pieces, coating the chains in rustproof silver-grey. A mason cleaned the shaft, recut the names and added black to make the lettering stand out. The new wreaths have arrived. We think we’re ready for the Centenary Re-dedication. The pointed part is just as it was, weathered and lichen-stained – as if a camouflage artist had dabbed with a brush again and again. 19

News from The Holy Name Gunn

THE CHURCH OF THE HOLY NAME GUNN

The Church of The Holy Name, Gunn was formally opened 147 years ago on August 7th 1873, with a service conducted by Dr. Temple, the Bishop of Exeter.

A report in the North Devon Journal stated “that having arrived by the morning train, the Bishop was met at the station by the Rev. John Russell and Mr Pyke- Nott. The service commenced at 11.45. The report said, “before the appointed hour, the church was well filled and became crowded by the time the service commenced.” The report listed many names of attendees from the parish and also from the parishes of Landkey, Goodleigh, Stoke, Bratton, Highbray, and even and Barnstaple. The vicars of all the local parishes were also present.

“The windows and some other parts of the building were florally decorated by the taste of the Misses Tamlyn. The Rev. John Russell began the service by giving out the 136th psalm with Mr Austin of skilfully leading on the harmonium.”

“Mr Pyke-Nott, clad in clerical costume, read the appointed lesson from the Chronicles, and after the 320th hymn- The Church’s one foundation- having been sung, the Lord Bishop ascended the pulpit.”

The full text of his sermon was reported in the Journal and a collection made at the doors amounted to £18. 18s

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After the service, “many of the clergy and other friends forming a party of 40 or 50 repaired to the old chapel and partook of luncheon. It consisted of poultry, cold joints, and pastry and served in a style of much elegance. The room was nicely decorated with flowers and vases of flowers also adorned the table.

Before the meal was quite over, it was necessary for his lordship to withdraw in order to reach Barnstaple in time for the afternoon train. The Rev. John Russell expressed that he was grateful to his lordship for “kindly visiting them that day for the purpose of opening their little chapel”. The Lord Bishop then withdrew for the 3.25 train.

The old Chapel used for this meal appears to be a Wesleyan chapel that was adjoining Berry Farm which has since been demolished. A new Methodist chapel was built in Gunn in 1909.

At 3.30 another service took place in the new church when the building was again crowded to overflowing. A collection at the close swelled the amount for the day to above £25. After the service was over 250 friends took tea together by ticket of 1 shilling each.

The Journal report said, “as a finale to the proceedings of the day, charity came in for its due, a plentiful meal being provided in the evening for all the children and the poor people who chose to partake of it, from which none were sent away unsatisfied.”

This was obviously a great day for Gunn, and it is difficult to imagine the crowds in the little hamlet, so much smaller than today. Where were the horses and traps accommodated during the ceremonies? I suspect that Tree Beech farm was used as reports in 1887 say that a Harvest Festival tea for 120 persons was held in an iron building at Tree Farm. In the intervals between the showers, various sports were indulged in, notably racing and tugs-of-war. At seven o’clock a move was made to the Chapel-of-Ease for the Thanksgiving Service.

John Bartlett

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