A Mixture of Memories
by Peggy Chaplin
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A Mixture of Memories
by Peggy Chaplin
First Edition
2014
Published by
Dolphin Books
49 Maldon Road
Tiptree
Essex C05 0TS
[email protected]
ISBN 0 9520339 8 4
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
The right of Peggy Chaplin to be identified as the author of this book has been asserted in accordance with
the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without the
prior permission of the copyright holder. Written permission must also be obtained before any part of this
publication is stored in any form in a retrieval system of any nature.
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired
out or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than
that in which it is now published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed
on the subsequent purchaser.
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Contents
A Foreword
Chapter 1
A Peep into the Distant Past
Chapter 2
Tiptree Congregational Church as it was in the early years of the 20th century
Chapter 3
The 1930s Onwards: A Mixture of My Memories
Chapter 4
Church Buildings: Changes Over the Years
Chapter 5 Children’s Work
Chapter 6
Youth Work
Chapter 7 Tiptree Congregational Church: The Congregation in my Childhood
and Youth
Chapter 8 Tiptree Congregational Church: World War II – 1939-1945
Chapter 9 Mission and Outreach to Others
Chapter 10 Church Groups and Special Events
Chapter 11
Other Inter-church Joint Activities
Chapter 12 People
Chapter 13 My Memories of the Past 80 years: An Overview
Appendix
Body Building
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A Foreword
One of the criticisms often aimed at the church nowadays is that it is living in the past, and that this inflexibility renders it irrelevant in today’s rapidly changing world. Even in a church publication I read a parody
of a verse of the hymn ‘Onward Christian Soldiers’ which read:
Like a mighty tortoise moves the Church of God.
Brothers, we are treading where we’ve always trod.
Well, did those words make you smile, or did they annoy you? There are, of course, certain things that have
not changed, and must not, if we are to remain true disciples of Jesus. The basic truths of the gospel remain
valid in every culture and each generation, and Jesus’ command to His disciples to share his good news with
everyone everywhere, remains the responsibility of each new generation of Christians. It is only the means
by which this is done which needs to be adapted to meet the challenges of our ever-changing society.
Whilst remaining forward-looking (as we must), it is nevertheless good from time to time to pause, take
stock of the past and present situation of the church, and, remembering God’s faithfulness in good times
and bad, His forgiveness of our failures, and His unfailing love, give thanks.
I am now in my 86th year, and my association with this church goes back about 80 years. Recently, old-age
has sharpened my memories of this church as it was in the days of my youth, and I often find myself ‘singing
in my head’ the words and melody of a hymn never heard nowadays, or remembering some church event of
the past, and when I have mentioned it, people have said to me “You ought to write that down”. So if God,
who has blessed me with good health throughout my long life, will grant me continued health of body,
soundness of mind, and clarity of memory for as long as it takes to set my memories down on paper, that
is what I intend to do. I know it will give me joy to take this ‘nostalgia trip’ down ‘Memory Lane’ as I share
with you reminiscences of this, the church which has been my spiritual home and family ever since it first
planted in my infant heart the seeds of Christianity, and nurtured them in my formative early years into the
firm faith which has helped and supported me, in good times and bad, all my adult life.
I dedicate this to the past generations of this church family whose teaching, fine example of Christian living
and friendship has inspired and built me up in my faith, and to you, my Christian friends in my old age,
whose love and support mean more to me than you can ever know. I hope I shall also prove that the words
‘We are treading where we’ve always trod’ are simply not true. Both before and throughout my lifetime, this
church has been constantly changing and adapting to keep in step with current needs.
My knowledge of our church’s ancient history is limited to what others have written, and I will begin with
some information gleaned from the church archives and other sources, which make me long to know more
about our courageous forefathers who won for us the right to worship God and order the affairs of His
church in freedom of conscience. My memories go back no further than the mid-1930’s, when I first joined
the Sunday School, and those recorded here will concern mainly the years of my childhood and youth, since
when Tiptree and this church have changed in many ways.
Jesus, who promised to build His church, has been doing so here for 350 years, and, as long as His people
remain faithful to Him, will continue to do so until He returns in glory. Let’s thank Him for all that is past,
and trust Him for all that is to come.
Peggy
May 2014
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Chapter 1
A Peep into the Distant Past
(Information derived from facts researched by the late Mr A C Wilkin, and more recently by Harold Kennington and the late Mr Fred Shead; also from the Essex Records Office where our church records, dating
back to 1693, are stored.)
Before Tiptree was developed as a village, this part of Essex was a sparsely populated area of heath and
woodland. Others have written at length about this, so I shall not enlarge upon it here, except to mention
that there was no parish of Tiptree. Different parts of the heath were included in the parishes of surrounding villages, the area where our church stands being included in the parish of Great Wigborough, This is of
significance for our church when related to the history of persecution of non-conformists in this area.
During the reign of Queen Mary (1553 -1558: known as Bloody Mary) many Protestant Christians were
persecuted, and some were put to death for their faith. Among those put to death by burning in 1555 were
four men from the parish of Great Wigborough (now known as the Wigborough Martyrs), namely John
Simson and John Ardeley, who were tried before a large crowd of spectators at St Paul’s, London, on 10th
of June, John Denley, burnt at Uxbridge on 8th August, and John Newman, burnt at Saffron Walden on
31st August.
In 1662, 2000 clergy, known as dissenters, were expelled from their rectories and vicarages for their conscientious objection to and consequent non-compliance with regulations imposed by King Charles II relating
to the worship and practices of the church. “Without home or income thenceforward they became wanderers at the mercy of every spy; outlaws, destitute, afflicted, tormented…”, “Refusing to accept deliverance
because their faith and conscience were at stake”. In spiritual matters they placed their allegiance and obedience to their Lord Jesus Christ above their duty to any ecclesiastical, royal or political authority. “They
had occupied the higher posts at both universities, were the most learned and most active of their order, the
heads and leaders of the clergy, of whom they numbered the fifth part”.
After 26 years of untold misery the national conscience was aroused, and “for the first time in its history the
Church of England found itself confronted by an organised body of dissenters without its pale. The impossibility of crushing such a body as this wrested from English Statesmen the first legal recognition of freedom
of worship under the Toleration Act 1689”. (Quotations from Gray’s Short History).
Although little is known of the early history of our church, tradition says that the woods near the site where
it now stands were the lonely resort of some of the godly evicted clergy, and that here, beyond the reach
of the 5 Mile Act (banning them from within 5 miles of a town), they preached to a few supporters who
had probably travelled out from towns to this lonely spot. In 1664 a group of these people agreed to found
an independent church, but it was not until 1750 that their descendants became the first congregation to
worship at Goodman’s Green Meeting House, which, together with a manse, was built by John Goodman.
The only information I have been able to find concerning the original Meeting House mentions that it was
enlarged several times, which suggests that the congregation expanded rapidly. The walls were whitewashed.
Deep galleries were supported by large oaken posts which somewhat obscured the light, and it is stated, hid
naughty boys. There were many square family pews. One in particular was in front of the pulpit, and usually
contained deep-throated psalm-singers, and musicians playing a bass viol, a trombone, and other wind and
string instruments.
Although church membership numbered only 48 in 1846, records show that up to 300 persons attended
prayer meetings.
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A notable event was the erection of the schoolroom in 1844 (on the site now occupied by houses opposite
the entrance to our church car park in Chapel Lane). For about 20 years this was the only day school within
7 miles. From 1870 it became the British School, and received a grant of £50 a year from the government.
After the Church of England erected its school in Tiptree, the British School had to close as it was unable to
finance itself. After the school closed as a day school, the building continued to be used as a meeting place
for Sunday School and church activities of many kinds until 2004.
A minute of a church meeting in 1862, recording a time of great spiritual blessing, is reproduced below.
From the Minute Book of Tiptree Congregational Church.
A church meeting was held on March 2nd 1862, when Hannah Trent was admitted to church fellowship. Since there are at the present time a large number under
spiritual concern in the congregation, it was resolved that special prayer meetings
be held during the second week of this month for a larger effusion of the Holy
Spirit on the pastor, the office bearers and the church: on the anxious and undecided: on the young and on our Sunday and day schools: on the thoughtless masses
around us and the means employed for their conversion: and on our families and
unconverted relatives.
A church meeting was held on April 6th 1862, when Joseph Norman and Mrs
Joseph Norman were admitted to church fellowship. Prayer meetings were held
as above and continued during most evenings of the past month, the attendance
has been from 200 to 300, the schoolroom becoming so crowded that it became
necessary to meet in the chapel. The meetings have been of the most remarkable
and delightful character. Many have been brought under deep conviction and in
sighs and tears cried for mercy, others obtained joy and peace in believing, from
40 to 50 profess to have found the crucified One and many of God’s people have
been refreshed and quickened. Surely it has been a time of refreshing from the
presence of the Lord, and this church hereby unanimously desires to recognise the
faithfulness of God as the hearer and answerer of prayer and to record its sincere
gratitude for the many direct answers to special prayer which have been realised.
Remembering that at that time Tiptree was still a small community and the area surrounding the church
still sparsely populated, it would be interesting to know how far and by what means people travelled in order
to attend services and meetings at the church. Two years later in 1864, the old meeting-house was replaced
by our present building, which cost approximately £1800, and was paid for by public subscription.
An orchestra continued to accompany singing until 1888, when an organ was installed.
In 1901 the manse was rebuilt, and in 1906 the schoolrooms were extended.
In 1910 the church deeds were transferred to the custody of the Congregational Union of England and
Wales.
In 1912, the church opened a Mission Hall in the area to the west of Tiptree, known as the Endway. Services, a Sunday School, and Women’s Happy Hour were held there. The hall was closed in 1966.
In 1918 our church building was seriously damaged by fire, and afterwards restored. This was remembered
by some of the people I knew in my youth, including the late Mrs Sylvia Wilks (church member, organist,
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and Sunday School teacher), who in the 1970s recorded her memories of our church as it was in her childhood and youth, now well over 100 years ago, during the reigns of King Edward VII and King George V
(see Chapter 2).
Over the years, records show that the church was given gifts of money and land, which enabled it to become
established and to pay a minister. The members adopted the Congregational form of church government,
which meant that, under God, they remained completely independent, looking to the Bible for guidance,
and praying to be led by the Holy Spirit whenever decisions had to be made, and God continued to bless
them.
I hope this account of our church’s early history does not contain too many inaccuracies. It has been difficult
to piece together the snippets of information gleaned from several sources, and it is unfortunate that there
are many gaps in the history because no records appear to exist, but I have found this an interesting exercise,
and I hope my readers will find it interesting too.
Jesus said: I will build my church,
and the power of death will not be able to defeat it.
Matthew 16:18
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Chapter 2
Tiptree Congregational Church as it was
in the early years of the 20th century
(by the late Mrs Sylvia Wilks - church member, organist, and Sunday School teacher)
While King Edward VII was still on the throne, my parents, Mr and Mrs M Salmon, moved from Brightlingsea to Tiptree, bringing me and my little brother Wilfred to a purpose-built wooden bungalow in Gladstone Road.
Young friends in the Arnold family took me with them to the Chapel and the Sunday School belonging to
it. The Superintendent was Mrs M A Wilkin, who was a teacher and superintendent for 55 years. There is a
plaque to her memory now in the church. The school was well attended, with a girls’ and boys’ Bible Class.
The infants sat on backless forms down the centre of the room until they were taken out to a small room at
the back, where they sat on a gallery and had their own lesson. Their teacher was Miss Gladys Hilder. There
was morning and afternoon school; in the morning the teachers and scholars went in procession to the
church where most of the children sat in the gallery above the clock, going out at half time. The afternoon
school was from 2.00 – 3.00pm, followed by PSA (Pleasant Sunday Afternoon) in the church, which some
of the older scholars attended.
The Scripture Examination was held then, as now, and I entered for several years and won a few prizes.
(These were only given to those scoring high marks.)
Our annual ‘treat’ was held in the summer on a field near the Jam Factory belonging to Mr A C Wilkin.
There we had games and races and tea in a barn.
Our minister in 1908 was the Rev G. F. White. He was a young man, and lived with his wife and young
son in the manse, which was joined to the church. This was his first church, and his stipend was £120 per
annum. He was musical, played the violin, and conducted the church choir. He also led the PSA, which had
a programme of speakers, Bible reading, hymns, vocal solos, etc. There was a book club for members, who
paid a small weekly sum for the purchase of a new book.
All services were well supported, particularly the evening one which was popular with the young people,
when young men sat on one side of the gallery and young women on the other. The organ was the old-fashioned sort, which needed an organ-blower. Mrs E Parish was the organist, assisted by Miss K Mynott. A full
choir led the singing.
There were four deacons, all men – Messrs. W Hills, W Parish, W Ruffell, and E Wilks. A Finance Committee of four worked with the deacons, and were not necessarily church members. The deacons’ wives were
expected to arrange any teas and prepare the communion table.
There was a system of ‘pew-renting’, when numbered seats were for the exclusive use of those paying for
them. My parents had ‘sittings’ on the gallery beside the organ, in seats originally reserved for the choir, who
now sat on the rostrum.
The church was heated by a huge ‘tortoise’ stove, which eventually caused a disastrous fire, after which central heating (by coke boiler) was installed. The lighting was from hanging oil lamps.
During the week there were clubs for boys and girls, the boys’ gymnastic club being well patronised. There
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was also a weeknight service or Christian Endeavour meeting. The junior Christian Endeavour group met
at 4.00pm, when children took part, led by Miss A Rush. At one concert given by its members, I sang, after
which I was invited to join the church choir, thus beginning my long association with the musical side of
the church.
The Sons of Temperance and the Band of Hope met on alternate Friday evenings in the schoolroom. The
latter had an annual outing to Goldhanger, when about 100 members were conveyed by farm wagons to
the seaside.
The forerunner of the present Prayer Fellowship was the Watchers’ Band, which was run in connection with
the London Missionary Society. Members paid a small sum annually, and were supplied with a handbook
which set out a plan to pray for missionaries. I was secretary of this for many years.
A small band of ladies connected with the church were tract distributors, regularly visiting their own district
with religious booklets, and thus making friends with some non-churchgoers. My mother was one of these
visitors.
An old thatched cottage stood in front of the schoolroom (where bungalows now stand), where the chapel-keeper and his wife lived and looked after the church and schoolroom.
There was little social life in the village apart from the chapel, and some families walked long distances three
times on Sunday to attend services. At that time there were no car-owners in the village and few cycles in
use. Possibly a few still came by pony and trap, as they had done years previously, and used the cart sheds,
the remains of which can still be seen.
I cannot remember anything about the Endway Mission, but note that the building was presented to the
church by Mr A C Wilkin in 1912.
All the people mentioned herein have now passed away, but I thank God for their influence, and for many
others belonging to the church, and pray that this influence may long continue in Tiptree.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
That concludes Mrs Wilks’s report. I hope you found it as interesting as I did. Here are a few comments on
what she has written:
Mrs Wilks grew up in an area of Tiptree, which is now part of Tesco’s car park. Her brother, Wilfred Salmon, later became a prominent Congregational minister.
In my youth, many older people talked nostalgically about the PSA meetings, when the church used to be
filled to capacity on Sunday afternoons. The meetings had ceased before my time.
The old thatched cottage referred to was still there when I went to Sunday School, but I think it was in
ruins. I remember the church selling the site and the bungalows being built on it. The church had some
money in a ‘Caretaker’s Cottage Fund’, which was eventually used for another purpose.
The remains of cart sheds and stables for horses were still to be seen in Chapel Lane for many years, on the
left side, from its junction with Chapel Road to a point near the entry road to our present car park. These
sheds were eventually demolished, as they were a hazard to children who chose to play in or around them.
Mrs Wilks was still in charge of our church’s efforts on behalf of the London Missionary Society in my
youth.
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Chapter 3
The 1930s Onwards: A Mixture of My Memories
Having written about the past history of the church, I come now to the part which I thought would be easier
because it is my own personal memories of my childhood and youth, but now, with a lifetime of memories
mixed up in my head, I am wondering where to begin, and how I can do justice to the all-important place
that this church has held throughout my life, or separate those memories from those of my personal journey
of faith with which it is inextricably linked. To attempt to do so would seem disloyal to my Lord and to the
church whose influence is woven into every fibre of the person I have become, so I make no excuses for the
many personal references, and if others find these helpful my living and my writing will not have been in
vain. But before I begin writing about the church. I feel I must first set the scene, for the Tiptree in which
I grew up was vastly different in many respects from the place it has become in the intervening years. Here,
then, are my memories of Tiptree in the 1930s.
The biggest and most obvious difference that has taken place is that the population has tripled or even quadrupled, partly by natural growth, but more by the numbers of people who have moved here from other
places. In my childhood, the majority of Tiptree people originated from the local area. We were ‘country
folk’, and many, particularly the old people, spoke with a rich East Anglian accent seldom heard nowadays,
except perhaps in the rural areas of Suffolk.
The other obvious difference that the years have brought is in the ‘character’ of Tiptree, which has changed
from being a predominantly agricultural sprawling village into a commuter community. Others have written about the development of Tiptree from the area of heathland and woods mentioned in the records of
our church’s early history, so I cannot go into that here, except to say that by the time I was born Tiptree
was a thriving community. At that time our church was right on the edge of the village, as there were very
few houses in the Newbridge Road area.
The centre of the village then, as now, was Church Road, which was well supplied with shops selling food,
clothes, and most everyday necessities. There were also a few other small shops in other parts of the village,
and a Co-op store at the junction of Maldon Road and Kelvedon Road. There were, of course, no supermarkets, and all the shops (except the Co-op) were family owned. Tiptree also had six pubs, and a small
cinema which was a converted army hut on a site near the present ‘Oasis’ Christian shop site. (Sadly, Hitler
did not seem to have approved of Tiptree people going to ‘the pictures’, because one of his bombers scored
a direct hit in a bombing raid during the war, blowing our cinema (called Whitehall) to smithereens. But I
digress, because that was all to happen in the future. During the years of which I am writing, it was a part
of the life of Tiptree.)
Wilkin’s Jam Factory, and the Anchor Press printing works (on the site now covered by Tesco’s car park)
were the largest employers of labour, and there were other smaller businesses, including a basket factory in
Grange Road and Autos - a small haulage company - in Church Road, but a large proportion of Tiptree
people owned land, growing the strawberries for which Tiptree had already become famous, and other fruit,
also seed crops, mainly flowers. Other local people were employed by the landowners.
So where, you may be wondering, were these fields, and what has happened to them? Well, the easiest answer I can give is to ask you to imagine Tiptree without any of its housing estates and the roads which run
through them, and then imagine those areas planted with growing crops, and you will have some idea of
the Tiptree where I grew up.
One of my earliest memories, probably when I was about three or four, is of men working in our house
installing electricity. At first we just had electric light, replacing the oil lamps and candles which were previ13
ously the only means of lighting, as Tiptree did not have gas. A few years later, we had our ‘wireless set’ (as
radios were always called in those days) and an electric cooker to replace the solid fuel stove and oil stove,
previously used for cooking. An electric iron also replaced the flat irons which had had to be heated on the
stove before use. The iron used to be plugged into the electric light socket instead of the bulb.
Apart from those items, we had none of the ‘mod cons’ which are to be found in nearly every home now,
and are regarded as necessities - things like a vacuum cleaner, washing machine, refrigerator, freezer, telephone and television. Even a bathroom and a flush toilet were luxuries which I could not imagine ever possessing. Before mains water was installed in our part of Tiptree during my childhood, we had a pump over
the kitchen sink. Some people were not so fortunate, and had to fetch their water from the garden. (It was
not until I was in my 20s - in the 1950s - that sewer pipes were laid in our part of Tiptree, and we could at
long last enjoy the ‘luxuries’ of a bathroom and a flush toilet). Computer technology, if it existed during my
childhood, was certainly not known in Tiptree.
Central heating of homes was unheard of, and most people’s homes only had one warm room in wintertime.
This was the living room, usually heated by a coal fire in an open grate. Bedrooms could be bitterly cold on
winter nights. Sometimes Mum put an oil stove in the room to take the chill off the air before we went to
bed, but in spite of this, we often woke to find our window covered with fern-like frost patterns.
Washing days must have been a nightmare for the adults, with water having to be carried to the wash house,
the copper filled and fire lit, baths taken down from their hooks on the wall and filled with the hot water
from the copper (a hazardous business!), washing scrubbed and rinsed, whites boiled in the copper, then
dipped in blue water, mangled, some starched, then pegged on the line to dry, after which the copper and
baths had to be emptied, the copper fire ashes raked out, and everything wiped and put away until next
wash-day - and there was still the ironing to do after the clothes were dry.
Bath nights also involved the carrying of baths, heating of water, and clearing it all away afterwards.
Despite all the work involved, most housewives took pride in keeping their homes and families clean. Linoleum-covered floors were scrubbed, and grates black-leaded and buffed until they gleamed.
In hot summer weather, keeping food fresh was a problem. Milk had to be boiled, butter often became an
oily mess, and meat was kept in a safe with a perforated zinc door to protect it from the swarms of flies,
which were always hovering nearby. We hung sticky papers to catch those which were flying around our
homes in summer-time.
The volume of traffic in Tiptree was small compared with the present day. As we lived on the Maldon Road,
we probably saw more motor vehicles than most of the village. Few people in Tiptree owned cars, but there
were a lot more bikes than are seen now, and also motorbikes with side-cars. There were also quite a lot of
horse-drawn vehicles. Bus services to Colchester and Maldon were good, and the fares cheap (1/6d - the
equivalent of 7.5p in today’s money - was the adult return fare to Colchester for many years).
Tiptree also benefited by being on the route of the Kelvedon - Tollesbury steam railway, always known locally as The Crab and Winkle. The Crab and Winkle puffed noisily through the middle of Tiptree at regular
intervals each day (I believe it was three times in each direction), crossing over Maldon Road at a point
near its junction with Perry Road and The Cut, and over Station Road close to the Cherry Chase junction.
At each of these places there were stations, that on the Maldon Road being called Inworth Station and the
other one Tiptree Station. A cloud of steam and a loud whistle always heralded its approach. (The Crab and
Winkle line was, sadly, one that was closed by Dr Beeching in the 1950s, and the location of it can no longer
be seen, having later been built over.)
Some of the horse-drawn vehicles already mentioned belonged to tradesmen. Milk, straight from the farm,
was delivered daily by horse-drawn cart. The milk was in churns, and the milkman served it straight from
the churn, measuring pints and half-pints straight into the housewives’ waiting jugs. The milk was, of
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course, not pasteurised. When very young I used to take my cup to the door, and the milkman always filled
it for me.
The local baker also delivered his bread by horse-drawn cart, and a man in a small trap brought fish from
Tollesbury or Mersea. Another regular visiting tradesman came in a large box-like horse-drawn vehicle,
hung on the outside with items like brushes, bowls and other household items. From him Mum bought
such things as soap, washing powder, and paraffin oil for lamps and the stove with which she heated the
bedroom.
Another colourful sight passing our house on the Maldon Road were gypsy caravans, drawn by horses. The
gypsies used to call at the houses selling handmade wooden clothes-pegs, artificial flowers made from crepe
paper and twigs, and other small items. They also often offered to tell fortunes to anyone who was willing
to ‘cross their palm with silver’, saying “You’ve got a lucky face, lady”, but if their offer was declined they
sometimes uttered a curse. As a child I was very scared of these people.
Tiptree had no Medical Centre, and in my early years only one GP, who held a surgery at his home (near
the site of the present Catholic Church in Church Road, which had not then been built). (Many years later
a further surgery opened in Chapel Road, and Tiptree had two more doctors). A district nurse delivered
nearly all Tiptree babies as well as caring for the sick and dying. If a patient needed hospital care it was usually the Essex County Hospital in Colchester that they were sent to. There was no NHS at that time, and
medical care had to be paid for, but I am not knowledgeable about how the system worked.
The spiritual needs of the people of Tiptree were catered for by St Luke’s Church, the Congregational
Church (which in my earlier years was always referred to as ‘The Chapel’), and the Salvation Army, which
had a small hall in Kelvedon Road. The Tiptree United Brotherhood, a Christian organisation for men, held
meetings on Sunday afternoons in the Factory Hall, attended by quite a lot of men, including my father.
What was life like for the children of Tiptree in the 1930s? Well, there were just two schools - St Luke’s
(which Barbara and I attended) and the Council School (that is the one now called Tiptree Heath School).
These provided compulsory free elementary education to children from the age of five until the school
leaving age of 14. There was no secondary school, but a few (including Barbara and myself ) passed an exam
called ‘The Scholarship’ at age 11, and were able to leave the Tiptree schools and go on to higher education
until at least the age of 16. Girls from Tiptree usually went to Colchester County High School for Girls, and
boys to Colchester Royal Grammar School. For boys, there was also the possibility of taking an examination
for admission to the North East Essex Technical College at age 13.
At the Tiptree schools there was no school meals service, but milk, in bottles containing one third of a pint,
could be bought daily for a halfpenny (this was cheap, even in those days. 12 old pence were the equivalent
of 5p today). Cod-liver oil and malt – a fishy-tasting toffee-like substance, could also be bought cheaply at
school.
School holidays were arranged to coincide with the busy fruit-picking season, when those whose fathers had
land would require their help. We never went away on a family holiday, but we never felt deprived because
no children of our acquaintance ever went away either. Even if family finances had allowed for a holiday
break, time in the hectic summer months would certainly not have allowed us the luxury of a few days away.
Except on Sundays, when Dad would not work or allow his fruit pickers to do so, he was busy most days
from before 6.00am until well into the evening.
So what was life like for the landowners of Tiptree and their families? My dad owned land in three areas
of Tiptree, the largest field being the one next to our house in Maldon Road. It was sold to a developer in
the 1960s, and is now the site of the 29 houses in Holly Way. On it he cultivated crops of fruit (mainly
strawberries, raspberries, and gooseberries) and flowers, grown under contract for a seed firm. There were
also two small orchards, one of cherry trees and the other of plums and apples. Each of these orchards was
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surrounded by a wire-netting fence, and under the trees were hen houses. Dozens of free-range chickens
lived happily there, supplementing their diet of wheat, maize and mash with worms, insects and windfall
fruit. Each morning a chorus of ‘clu-clu-cluck’ heralded the arrival of that day’s batch of eggs, which were
graded by weight and washed if necessary every Friday evening, and dispatched to a packing station on
Saturday mornings.
For Dad the growing of the crops was a yearround occupation, but in June and July the whole
family became involved in picking and weighing
fruit. Dad also employed women to help with
the fruit-picking. The fruit was collected by lorry each evening and taken to Spitalfields Market,
London, to a wholesaler who then sold it on to
retailers during the night, and it was on sale in the
shops next morning. Soft fruit perishes quickly, so
it must be sold next day or it is wasted. As soon as
the fruit harvest ended, it was time to attend to the
seed crops, also involving a lot of work before the
seed, dried and cleaned of husks and dust, could
be dispatched.
Round the circumference of the field my Grandad,
a nature lover, had planted at intervals, holly trees
(hence the reason for the name that the estate on
the site now bears). Some years the holly yielded a lot of red berries, and other years, hardly any. In years
when there were a lot of berries on the trees, Dad cut boughs of holly and sent them up for sale in the London market, a week or two before Christmas.
My aunt and sister Barbara
strawberry-picking
From all that I have written you may by now be thinking that life in Tiptree in my childhood was a grim,
joyless existence, which is why I have left it to the end tell you how wrong you are. For those who grew
fruit and seeds for a living it was a somewhat precarious living, dependent upon the weather conditions
throughout the year and particularly at harvest time, and also on the state of the market - too much fruit
there on a particular night, and perhaps some of it did not sell at all, and the grower was seriously out of
pocket, having spent money on baskets, pickers’ wages, and dispatch. Knowing that the income from the
harvest had to keep the family for the whole year until the next harvest-time made the growers very dependent upon the goodness of God.
For us as children, there were no such worries. We grew up secure and happy with loving parents, and other
family members as our nearest neighbours. Because outings and treats were limited, a bus ride to Maldon
to spend a few hours on the prom, paddling in the lake, building sandcastles, perhaps having a donkey ride,
an ice cream or a shrimp tea, was a treat which gave us great pleasure. A relative of ours had a car, so I was
occasionally taken for a ride with my cousin to Mersea - that was a treat too - but the real highlight of the
summer for me was the annual Sunday School outing to Walton, about which I intend to write in detail
later.
The rest of our free time we were never bored. Dad’s field was a source of never-ending joy to me. I loved
its colours, smells, sounds and tastes. No man-made perfume, however exotic and rare, could compare with
the scent coming from a field of wallflowers or sweet peas in full bloom on a warm evening. I used to walk
across the field inhaling deeply. We couldn’t pick them, of course, but even the weeds growing in the field,
against which Dad waged constant war with his hoe, gave me pleasure. Those I could pick, and did - the
delicate pink and white flowers of land-bine, buttercups, dandelions, daisies, poppies, and other rarer ones
which may well by now be endangered species, chemical weed killers having done their worst.
16
Round the grass verges our Grandad had planted other flowers which we were also allowed to pick - heathers, periwinkles, foxgloves, and there was also a ditch where primroses bloomed every spring.
In spring and summer, the air in the field came alive with sound - the low hum of innumerable bees, the
flapping of wings of birds and butterflies - there were many different coloured ones, none of which I have
seen in Tiptree for years. Birds nested in the surrounding hedges and trees, and sometimes we even found
a skylark’s nest among the plants in a bed of strawberries. Every summer a cuckoo sat on the electric cable
which ran across the field, and ‘cuckooed to the fruit pickers. Whether it was the same bird each year we’ll
never know. On the ground there was wildlife too. We often saw little frogs hopping about, and there were
small mouse-like animals that Dad called rannies - I think they were shrews, also hedgehogs - plus lots of
‘creepy-crawlies’.
When we were not playing in Dad’s field we often played with a relative in the gardens of our relations - we
had three gardens to play in besides our own. Hide-and-seek was a favourite game, with so many places
where we could hide. We also played with balls, skipping ropes, marbles and sand, and in winter with board
and card games, and we had books, dolls, teddies, and clockwork toys, and a bag full of adult clothes in
which we enjoyed dressing-up games. We had parties at Christmas time and birthdays, and were invited to
other children’s parties too.
Tiptree was a safe place, and we could wander freely through the country lanes and footpaths, gathering
primroses and bluebells in spring and blackberries in autumn. In ‘wellies’ we paddled in brooks and water-filled ditches and gathered frogspawn and tadpoles every spring.
Well, this account of life in Tiptree in the 1930s has turned out to be longer than I originally intended.
For me it has revived some very happy memories and no bad ones. I hope I have presented a true picture,
and that it will show the background of the people who belonged to Tiptree Congregational Church in the
1930s, who represented a cross-section of the local population.
17
18
Chapter 4
Church Buildings - Changes Over the Years
The Church
The church has undergone many changes over the years. I feel that I should mention that many of the items
which have been bought were gifts in memory of people who served the church in various ways in their
lifetime. I have not mentioned any by name, or the names of the donors, in case I make any mistakes or
omissions, but be assured that everyone who has served this church in the past is remembered with gratitude, and the fine building in which we now worship is in itself a memorial to all who have gone before us.
Now a bit about the building, which has been deemed worthy of Grade II listing. Seen from the air, the
church was built in the shape of a cross, with the vestries at the top, and the two ‘wings’ forming the crossbeam. Typical of Victorian chapels, the central and most prominent feature at the front is the pulpit, emphasising the importance that our ancestors placed on the reading of the Bible and the preaching of God’s
word, which should still be central to our life together as a family of God’s people. As a matter of interest,
in later years, when the elders were dealing with building experts concerning our building scheme, one
pointed out to us that our church is filled with symbols of the Holy Trinity, i.e. windows arranged in threes,
trefoil-shaped holes and patterns in the gallery, and three fleur-de-lis designs on the pulpit. This must surely
have been intentional. Perhaps we should have named our church Trinity Church.
In my youth, the smaller organ mentioned by Mrs Wilks was still in place, and someone had to pump the
bellows by hand or no sound emerged when the organ was played (as it was for every service). That organ
was replaced by the one now in the organ loft, which is powered by electricity, and was bought as a memorial to men associated with the church who were killed in World War II, and bears a memorial plaque. I
remember those men.
19
A communion table, narrower than the present one, stood on the platform, plus two wooden benches and
some rush-seated chairs for the choir members. Later, the present communion table replaced the old one,
and a chair for the minister’s use at communion services was added. There was no lectern until the present
one was made and given to the church by a former organist/pianist, Peter Hardy, who died soon afterwards.
The wooden baptismal font was given to our church by a church in Romford during the ministry of Rev
Adrian Wells (the Romford church being the church in which he grew up).
Until this century our church was furnished with pews, arranged in three blocks with two aisles. The floor
under the pews was of bare boards, and the aisles, at a slightly lower level, were of flagstones. The two side
wings were also originally furnished with pews facing the sides of the platform, and the gallery was then, as
now, also furnished with pews. It had no floor covering, cushions, or guard rails.
Until the 1970s the platform and pulpit steps were carpeted in drab blue, and the aisles were covered with
strips of fawn coconut matting. As the gallery, pews, and other woodwork (of which there is a lot in our
church) were all stained the dark brown so beloved by the Victorians, the church in my earlier years had, to
my young mind, a rather gloomy appearance, which was greatly improved when a blue and cream colour
scheme was adopted in the 1970s, with carpet of a rich shade of blue covering not just the platform but
the aisles as well, and matching velvet curtains were donated which could be drawn around the wing on
the left side of the church, from which the pews had by then been removed. Shelves of books (which could
be borrowed) lined the front wall, so that area (which is now used for serving Sunday refreshments) came
to be known as the Library Corner. After numbers attending Sunday evening services dwindled, they, and
sometimes other meetings, were held in that cosy ‘room’ or in the other wing of the church for some years,
instead of in the body of the church. The wing on the right side was also refurbished to make it a more
comfortable area for small gatherings.
Over the years, the church heating system changed two or three times, the solid fuel system being replaced
by electric bar and radiant heaters, and later, gas central heating.
In the 1980s, when the old plaster lining the roof of the church began to crumble and fall in lumps onto
the pews below (fortunately, when the church was unoccupied), we took advice from an expert and had
the inside of the roof sealed with heavy duty plastic to prevent any further plaster falls, and a false ceiling
installed at a lower level. This reduced heating costs but obscured some of the light, and spoilt both the
appearance and the acoustics of the building. I was sad that the rather attractive roof beams could no longer
be seen, and thought that they had disappeared from view for the rest of my lifetime at least, until, after
a few years, the plastic sealing the inside of the roof perished and more plaster fell, crashing through the
false ceiling onto the pew below, fortunately, like the first time, when there was no one in the building. The
false ceiling then had to be removed, and, in a major refurbishment of the church, the old roof plaster was
removed and replaced with new.
Further alterations were made in recent years to steps leading into the church, and also to the front steps up
to the platform. Rose-coloured carpet was laid over the area previously carpeted in blue, and after the pews
had been removed, carpet of a toning colour was laid over the rest of the floor, where there had previously
been bare boards. This, and the replacement of the dark-coloured pews by chairs of light-coloured wood and
rose-coloured upholstery, has given the church a lighter and more welcoming appearance.
Finally, the vestibule (which was previously very cramped) was enlarged by the removal of the brick dividing
wall, which was replaced with a new partition wall of wood and glass.
The church seating can now be arranged in two blocks with one central aisle instead of three blocks with
two aisles as previously, and this compensates for the small loss of space from the back of the church. The
enlarged vestibule area is a great improvement.
20
The gallery is still reached on one side by the original well-worn stone staircase, and on the other side by new
wooden steps leading from the lobby which now gives access to both the church and the hall.
The church originally had two vestry rooms, one for the use of the minister and the other for the choir.
Some years ago, after the choir had ceased to exist, kitchen furniture was fitted in the former choir vestry,
and has since been replaced by new units. The photocopier, formerly also housed there, has now been relocated.
Two toilets adjoined the vestries, with doors opening outside the building, one into a small lobby. These
were originally of the same primitive kind as most people were used to at home, but were connected to the
sewer when it was laid in that area of Tiptree, probably in the 1950s. In the 1980s, Rev Jeremy Priest turned
these two toilets into one large one, bricking up the outside doorways and making a new inside entrance
door from the vestry area, tiling the walls and floor himself, and a friend of his did the plumbing. At that
time, the church had no other toilet facilities, so their help was much appreciated.
Now equipped with up-to-date audiovisual aids, and having transformed our Victorian building into a
worship centre which meets the needs of the 21st-century, we must now turn our attention to outreach, not
being content until we see our fine building full, as it used to be in the past, with people worshipping our
Lord Jesus Christ, for we must never forget that it is His church, not ours.
The Manse
Until the 1960s a large brick house stood next to the church on the site now occupied by our halls. This was
surrounded by a garden, and was the manse where ministers of the church and their families lived. I believe
there was a walkway at the rear which connected the house with the vestry area of the church. By the middle
of the 20th century, the house had become very damp, and when this was investigated it was discovered
by experts that the house had been built without a damp course, and although damp-proofing could be
injected into the walls there was no guarantee that this would solve the problem. The church had at that
time recently received a large legacy, and the church meeting therefore decided to use this and supplement
it with a loan to buy a house.
A nearly-new house named ‘Twynhams’ in New Road was subsequently purchased for (if my memory
serves me correctly) about £6,500, and slight structural alterations were made to provide the minister
with a study/interview room, and Rev Adrian Wells, his wife Sheila, and their four young children moved
in. The old manse was then demolished, and the site grassed over until our halls were built on it in 2003.
‘Twynhams’ was used as a manse by Rev Adrian Wells and subsequent ministers, the last being Rev Audrey
Proffitt and her husband Chris.
Rev Harold Bignell and his wife Virginia were the first occupants of the new purpose-built manse, which
was erected at the same time as our halls in 2003. ‘Twynhams’ was then sold.
Before World War II, the church and the original manse were fronted by iron railings and gates, which I
assume were confiscated by the government to be melted down and turned into armaments.
21
The Schoolrooms
As mentioned in Chapter 1, these were located in a yard (which served as a car park) on the site of houses
opposite the entrance to our present car park in Chapel Lane. Throughout the years that the schoolrooms
were in use, Chapel Lane was an unsurfaced road, which was often muddy and rutted, with deep puddles
and not well lit, so a little hazardous for pedestrians going to events in the schoolrooms, particularly on dark
nights, but we were all used to it, and undeterred. The lane was eventually surfaced as far as the entrance
road to the car park when our halls were built.
My first acquaintance with the schoolrooms was when I began to attend Sunday School in the 1930s. It
was around that time that a third hall was added to the original building which had been a day school, and
I have very dim memories of attending an event which I think may have been the official opening of that
hall when I was about six or seven.
The new hall was smarter than the other two rooms. It had an entrance porch, a folding wooden partition
which could be used to divide the room into two when needed, and at the front it had a high platform. The
walls were plastered and painted and the floor of wooden parquet tiles. The adjoining older room and the
smaller room at the back had unplastered painted walls and floors of bare boards. All three rooms were heated
by solid fuel ‘tortoise’ stoves.
There were originally no
kitchen facilities, and the toilet, accessible only from outside, was of the ‘bucket’ kind.
The schoolrooms were the
venue for church activities of
all kinds, and I have memories of many times of happiness and blessing spent within those walls.
Over the years there were
changes, the biggest and
most advantageous being
Schoolrooms
the building of the kitchen
and improved toilet facilities,
leading off the small room. It is hard to imagine now how events involving catering could have been held
there when there was no kitchen, yet I remember when food had to be prepared in the small room, kettles
filled from an outside tap and heated on the stove, and washing-up done in baths and drained on trays.
After the ancient wooden floors in the two oldest rooms became rotten and people’s heels began to make
holes, we held fundraising events, and when we had raised enough money we replaced the wooden floors in
those rooms with concrete topped with lino tiles, and suddenly those rooms looked much smarter.
In the latter years when Age Concern asked to hire the school rooms for a day centre, the platform was
removed from the newest hall, and toilet facilities and a tiny kitchen were installed in its place, thus making
that room into a self-contained unit for their use, the pre-school playgroup having use of the rest of the
building.
After the time in the 1980s when we first began to plan to build our new halls, only minimal amounts were
spent on necessary repairs to our schoolroom and yard, and as the years dragged on and we encountered one
setback after another with our building scheme, both the schoolrooms and the yard became very dilapidated. They nevertheless continued to be used for all church functions, and to be hired by Age Concern and
the playgroup right up until the time when our new buildings were ready for use.
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2003: ‘Goodbye’ to our Schoolrooms ~ 2004: ‘Hello’ to our Halls
If you joined this church only in the last few years, you have probably admired our halls and read the plaque
in the lobby stating that they were opened in January 2004, but possibly you have not heard the saga of the
preceding 20 years, when excitement, hope, anticipation, and a lot of prayer alternated with disappointment, annoyance and much frustration, when God allowed our patience to be tested repeatedly as plans after plans were rejected or had to be abandoned, while all the time our schoolrooms were falling ever further
into disrepair because of our reluctance to spend more than the minimum on their maintenance, hoping
that they would soon no longer be needed.
Our first plan, early in the 1980s, was to build our halls, kitchen, etc. at the rear of the church, incorporating our vestries and extending out over the area which has since been developed as our Garden of Remembrance. We were dismayed when our plans were turned down by Colchester Borough Council’s planning
department, not at that stage anticipating further setbacks. Other plans providing for an extension all along
the right side of the church were also rejected.
A radical suggestion that we should have our church converted into a two-storey building, with the worship
area upstairs and the halls below seemed worthy of consideration, especially as this would have released
more of the surrounding land for other building. All our elders (including myself ) travelled all the way to
St Ives, Cambridgeshire, on a Sunday morning to see a church which had been converted in this way at a
time when all the rooms would be in use, so that we could assess the feasibility that this might meet our
needs. We attended their morning service held in the upper worship area, while their Junior Church met
downstairs. We liked the worship area, but less so the lower rooms. Nevertheless we thought it worthwhile
to find out about costs etc. After investigation, however, this possibility had to be rejected, mainly because
of the astronomic cost of installation and ongoing maintenance and running costs of the large lift which
would have needed to be installed to make such an arrangement workable.
We were enthusiastic about one scheme which would have included the building of retirement housing
(and the possibility of a nursing home on church land was also mentioned) as well as our halls, until suddenly and inexplicably the housing association which had shown interest withdrew, so we were back to
square one again.
By this time it was seeming as if we would have to
abandon all hope of building new halls in the foreseeable future, and spend
a large sum of money on
our schoolrooms before
they fell apart completely. I had by then given up
hope of our halls being
built in my lifetime.
When the planning department
eventually
passed the plans for the
halls which have since
Drawing of the new Church Halls
been built, I think we had
all become so used to disappointment that receiving the go-ahead came as a pleasant shock. We were all elated, but in typical British
fashion we simply said a prayer of thanks and then set about arranging for building to begin as soon as
possible. Reflecting on this, it occurs to me that in some other cultures there would have been ‘Hallelujahs’
in the aisles and dancing in the streets.
23
From then on all went according to plan, and even the weather was kind throughout the building period,
when it was exciting to watch our halls and manse taking shape.
A social gathering and final service was held in the schoolrooms on a Saturday in 2003, before the doors
were closed for the last time - sad day for some of us, yet also filled with anticipation of future blessings in
our lovely new halls. The schoolrooms were sold, demolished, and houses built on the site, which for me
and countless others had been the scene of so much happiness and blessing.
We’ll never know why God chose to test our patience for so long, but we can be thankful that our schoolrooms continued to meet our needs and those of our hirers for as long as they were needed, and those of
us who remember the trauma of those years of waiting will never cease to be thankful that our patience (or
should I say impatience?) was rewarded in the end with the fine buildings we now enjoy. May God help us
to use them to His glory!
The Endway Mission Hall
In my younger days I remember mention being made in the church notices of services and women’s meetings being held in a mission hall owned by the church in the area on the west side of Tiptree, known as the
Endway. I know that there was also a Sunday school held there, run, I believe, by members of the Watts
family who belonged to this church. Apart from what I have written I know nothing about the Endway
Mission, except that it closed in the 1960s.
Land
In the past, the church received other gifts of land, some of which has benefited us in more recent years
when we have been able to sell it for building, and use the money to finance schemes of our own. The
church still owns some of the land which was donated in the past, and which is classed as agricultural land
and rented out – also our graveyard and car park. I believe our church still owns a plot of land at Endway,
which was probably the site of the Mission Hall.
24
Chapter 5
Children’s Work
As my first introduction to this church was via the Sunday School, that would seem to be as good a starting
point as any, so here are my memories of Sunday School in the 1930s.
The Primary Department
I was about six or seven years old when my friend Joan invited me to go and see her perform in a play at the
Chapel Sunday School (as it was always called). (Although this was my first introduction to this church, of
which my Grandad, Edward Chaplin senior, was a member and former deacon, it was not my first introduction to Christianity. Credit for that must go to St Luke’s day school where hymns, prayers, Bible stories
and catechism were an important part of each day’s schooling. As my mother was Anglican, I had also been
baptised as a baby at St Luke’s, and had briefly attended their Sunday School. To both the school and St
Luke’s church I am very grateful.)
My aunt took me to see the play, which was performed on the platform of the church. Watching from the
back gallery I was enthralled as children dressed in the costumes of different countries told of how missionaries had visited their lands and told them about Jesus.
Later that week, a teacher visited my home and invited me to the chapel Sunday School which met in the
schoolrooms at 2:30pm. The following Sunday, I went with Joan to her Sunday School and was placed in
the primary department. My memories are of rows of children of a similar age to myself sitting on small
chairs facing one end of the room, boys on the right and girls on the left of the central aisle. Every week,
a kindly lady led the first few minutes, when hymns were sung (‘Jesus bids us shine’, ‘Jesus loves me, this
I know’, and ‘Praise him’ come to mind, also ‘Little modest violet blue’ and ‘Give, said the little stream’),
and prayers said. When it was collection time all the children lined up, one child was selected to hold a
collection box, and then we all marched round singing –
Hear the pennies dropping, listen while they fall,
Every one for Jesus, He shall have them all.
- dropping pennies in the box on the way. When the last of the three verses and choruses had been sung,
and Jesus’ pennies were safely in the box, I wondered how he would spend them!
After this came story-time, for which the children moved our chairs into small groups, each with our own
class teacher, who told us the Bible story for the day and we crayoned pictures. Each child was given a paper
to take home with the story on one side and a picture on the other. We were also given an album in which
to keep the whole year’s papers.
Shortly before home time we rearranged the chairs and the lady in charge said a prayer, after which we always finished with the same hymn, the words and tune of which I soon knew by heart, and remember until
this day:
Jesus, tender Shepherd, hear me, bless Thy little lamb tonight.
Through the darkness be Thou near me; keep me safe till morning light.
All this day Thy hand has led me, and I thank Thee for Thy care.
Thou hast clothed me, warmed and fed me. Listen to my evening prayer.
Let my sins be all forgiven. Bless the friends I love so well,
Take me when I die to heaven, happy there with Thee to dwell.
25
There was something really reassuring about that hymn, and I went home happy and confident in the
knowledge that Jesus was watching over me. Yes, I enjoyed Sunday school, and liked the teachers. The seeds
of faith had been sown and were beginning to germinate.
The Intermediate Department
I think I was eight when I moved up from the primary department into
the adjacent new room. Also there the leader led the opening worship,
where we sang hymns, said prayers, and sometimes learned a Bible text,
and then went into smaller groups with our class teachers where we
spent time thinking about a Bible story, and if time allowed, sometimes
did some drawing. During my childhood there was a strong emphasis
in both the church and the Sunday School on missionary work overseas. In common with other Congregational churches our church supported the London Missionary Society, and Sunday School children in
Congregational churches were encouraged to donate ‘ship’ halfpennies
(halfpenny coins with a galleon on the ‘tails’ side) in support of the
John Williams VI missionary ship which regularly visited islands in the
Pacific Ocean. Most years the teachers would train a group of children
to rehearse a play with a missionary theme, which was then performed
in church on the day of the Sunday School Anniversary each year
(about which I intend to report separately). (It was one of those plays
Sunday School circa 1938
Back row: Gwen Vince, Sybil Harrington, that was my first introduction to this church, as previously reported).
Pansy Wilks, Doreen Self
Middle row: Joan Parish, Brenda Vince,
Winnie Bocking, Stella Harrington
Front: Peggy Chaplin
I still enjoyed Sunday School and liked my teachers, particularly a
young man called Mr Arthur Powell, who came along shortly before
I was old enough to go up into the Bible Class. Mr Powell was soon
appointed superintendent, and served in that capacity for many years.
When recalling my Sunday School memories, the clearest are of the hymns we sang. The words really inspired me, and are still firmly fixed in my memory, so I will type some of them below and pray that their
message will reach someone’s heart and evoke an answering response, as they did in me. The seeds of faith,
planted and nurtured by my teachers and Christian friends, were growing into a sturdy plant, and the words
of the hymn-writers helped me to put into words the thoughts and prayers of my own heart, and make their
words my words. Here then, are some of the hymns that inspired me:
Just as I am, Thine own to be, Friend of the young, who lovest me,
To consecrate myself to Thee, O Jesus Christ, I come.
In the glad morning of my day, my life to give, my vows to pay,
With no reserve and no delay, with all my heart, I come.
I would live ever in the light, I would work ever for the right,
I would serve Thee with all my might, therefore, to Thee I come.
Just as I am, young, strong, and free to be the best that I can be
For truth and righteousness and Thee, Lord of my life, I come.
God make my life a little light within the world to glow,
A little flame, that burneth bright wherever I may go.
God make my life a little flower that giveth joy to all,
Content to bloom in native bower, although the place be small.
God make my life a little song that comforteth the sad,
That helpeth others to be strong, and makes the singer glad.
God make my life a little staff whereon the weak may rest,
That so what health and strength I have may serve my neighbours best.
God make my life a little hymn of tenderness and praise,
Of faith which never waxeth dim in all His wondrous ways.
26
These, and other hymns we sang, were from ‘The Sunday School Hymnary’. I have quoted the words from
memory, so they may not be complete or accurate. Some other hymns which we sang with gusto were the
missionary hymns ‘The whole wide world for Jesus’ and ‘I hear ten thousand voices singing'. In those longago days I could never have dreamt that in my lifetime Christianity would be rapidly growing in some of
the countries to which our missionaries were sent, while here in my homeland so many have forsaken the
faith of our forefathers.
The Bible Class
The Bible Class, which catered for teenagers, met in the church at the same time as the younger children
were meeting in the schoolrooms. The leaders were Mr and Mrs Smith, who had a teenage son, John.
For the joint worship sessions at the beginning and end we all sat together in the central block of pews, after
which boys and girls separated, the boys going to the left wing of the church with Mr Smith, and we girls
went to the right wing with Mrs Smith. Because at that time both wings of the church were furnished with
pews, we could not gather around our teachers as we had done in Sunday School, so we sat in rows and our
teachers stood facing us. This, and the fact that Mrs Smith had been a day school teacher, gave this teaching
session a ‘school-like’ less relaxed atmosphere, although the Smiths were a kindly couple who made a great
effort to befriend all the young people, making us welcome in their home at Tudwick for Christmas parties,
and in the garden for games in the summers. Their Christian teaching was sound, and they applied it to life
issues.
In the joint worship sessions we used a different hymn book from that used in the Sunday School, and I
learnt some different hymns and choruses. The boys favoured those with a ‘marching’ tune, the favourite
being ‘Hark to the sound of voices’, which had a rousing chorus ending ‘We march to the fight in our armour bright at the call of the King of Kings’. Another favourite they often chose was ‘Stand up, stand up
for Jesus’, which we sang to an unusual tune which I’ve never heard since my Bible Class days. The quieter
devotional choruses really spoke to me Let the beauty of Jesus be seen me,
All His wondrous compassion and purity.
Oh, Thou Spirit Divine
All my nature refine
Till the beauty of Jesus is seen in me.
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim.
In the light of his glory and grace.
I thought those were some of the most beautiful words I had ever heard - and the best thing was that I was
coming to know that they could be true for me. The seeds of faith, planted and nurtured throughout my
childhood, were bursting into blossom. Jesus was my Lord.
The Order of Christian Witness (OCW)
In my youth, some young men (I believe they were students in training for the ministry) used to come to
our church each October to lead a weekend of mission aimed at the young people (of whom I was one). I
enjoyed their visits, which were more fun than the formal and (to me) off-putting title of their organisation
suggested.
27
The Scripture Examination
An age-graded Scripture examination set by the National Sunday School Union formed the basis of Bible
teaching in both the Sunday School and the Bible Class, and all children were encouraged (though not obligated) to sit for the examination each year. The papers were marked at a local level, and those gaining high
marks were sent for national competition. In later years, Stella Ranson, a member of our Sunday School,
gained a national award in this examination.
Parties were held at Christmas for the Primary and Beginners and also the Intermediate Departments. Also
books were awarded for regular attendance.
The Beginners’ Department
When I was about 16 and was one of the oldest members of the Bible class, as younger teenagers had come
up from Sunday School, I was asked and agreed to help in the Beginners’ Department, which catered for
the under-fives. I enjoyed doing this, as I love young children. We told them Bible stories, did action songs,
and played with a sand tray, flannelgraph, dough, crayons and plasticine. I eventually took over the running
of the Beginners’ Department when Mrs Powell was ill, and continued for a number of years. Two songs
stick in my head from those days:
Two little eyes to look to God
Two little ears to hear His word
Two little feet to walk in His ways.
Two little lips to sing His praise
Two little hands to do His will
And one little heart to love Him still.
Now Zacchaeus was a very little man, and a very little man was he;
He climbed into a sycamore tree for Jesus he wanted to see,
And when Lord Jesus passed that way he looked into the tree
And said ‘Now Zacchaeus, you come down, I’m coming to your house for tea.
Easter Conferences
For several years after the end of the war it was customary for our church to send one or two of our Sunday
School teachers to an Easter conference for teachers. These were arranged by the Methodist Church, and
were held in boarding schools. Usually teachers went to a place called Culford, but the year (I think it was
1949) when I went with another young teacher from our church, we went to Canterbury. It was a really
enjoyable and worthwhile experience.
The Sunday School Anniversary
No account of what Sunday School was like in the 1930s (and on into the 1940s and 1950s) would be
complete if it did not include a special mention of the Sunday School Anniversary, which was undoubtedly
a highlight of the year for the teachers, children and, I believe, also for the adult congregation. It was always
held in the spring or summer. The children were encouraged to attend, not just in the afternoon, but the
morning and evening services as well, and to invite family members and friends. There was always a big
congregation at those services. Seats were arranged on the platform for the children to sit facing the congregation. Buttonholes of flowers were given to all the congregation on arrival at church, and the church was
festively decorated with flowers.
For weeks before the ‘big day’ the children had been learning the hymns which would be used on that day,
and the services always had a joyous theme of praise and thanksgiving to God for His goodness and the joy
of following Jesus, and at the afternoon service the children often performed a missionary play which they
had been rehearsing. Although in some respects the services resembled concerts presented by the children,
as they included choral and solo singing, choral reading of a passage of Scripture, and recitations by the
28
children, as well as hymns for everyone, prayers, Bible readings, and an address by a guest speaker who had
a rapport with children, they were most definitely acts of worship and not just entertainments. They made
a deep impression on me.
A carbon copy of the order of service for the Sunday School Anniversary held on 11th July 1948 has come
my way. This was a decade later than my childhood anniversaries, and a different hymn book was in use
(‘School Worship’), but the pattern of worship was the same, so I have set it out below. There appears to
have been no missionary play that year.
Tiptree Congregational Church
Sunday School Anniversary
11th July 1948
Afternoon
Morning
Introit: God is good
(Unison, children and choir)
Hymn: All the beauty I behold
All
Hymn: Fill Thou my life
(All, 1st and last verse unison)
Recitation: Michael Fogg
Prayer
Solo: Kenneth Winger
Solo: Ann Cropton
Hymn: All things praise Thee
Ist and last verse unison
(Children and Choir)
Reading: Choral speaking –
Children – Psalm 24
Prayer
Hymn: Let the whole creation
cry
1st and last verse unison
(Children and choir)
Presentation of certificates etc.
Evening
Hymn: Angel voices ever
singing
All
Prayer
Solo: Pearl Powell
Hymn: Father God, we come
before Thee
(Children and choir)
Reading: Children (1 Cor. 13)
Solo: John French
Hymn: O Son of man
(Children and choir)
Recitation: Margaret Gudgeon
Notices and collection
Solo: Mr A Powell
Hymn: All creatures of our
God and King
(Children and choir)
Hymn: All things which live
below the sky
(Alternate verses unison)
(Children and choir)
Reading: Children
Recitation Joyce Powell
Hymn: Let all the world
(Children and choir)
Hymn: God speaks to us
(Last verse unison)
(Children and choir)
Hymn: Primary and beginners
Address
Notices and collection
Address
Hymn: The Lord’s my Shepherd
Children only (Descant v. 2
& 5)
Hymn: Angels holy, high and
lowly
(Children and choir)
Notices and collection
Recitation: Miss J Barrell
Hymn: Hark to the sound of
voices
All
Benediction
Unison song: Soft falls the
night
(Children)
Hymn: All
Benediction
Reading: Children
Hymn: Glory to Thee , my
God, this night
All
Benediction
Vesper: Ere we leave Thy
presence
(Children and choir)
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The Sunday School Outing
The Sunday School outing, always to Walton-on-the-Naze, took place on a Saturday in summer, and was
eagerly anticipated and enjoyed enormously by me, and I am sure by all the children, for whom it was
one of the highlights of the year. We travelled there in buses with our teachers, some of the mothers, and
some other people from the church, and were set down close to the beach. Every child was given a safety
pin with a coloured ribbon attached, to be worn in case we became separated from our group. There were
always other groups, wearing different coloured ribbons, each group occupying a section of the beach. My
memories are of the sheer joy of jumping over the waves, digging in the sand and perhaps competing with
other children in a sandcastle competition arranged by the teachers - such fun! The mums all sat together
in deckchairs, and at lunchtime all the packed lunches came out. The sandwiches sometimes had a gritty
texture, having ‘picked up’ some sand - I thought that was why they were called sandwiches! We spent our
precious pocket money on ice cream or ‘pop’.
At 4 o’clock we all gathered at the pier café for tea - my memory is of freshly-caught shrimps, followed by
jam doughnuts. Then came the fun of filling our buckets with shells and seaweed to take home to remind
us of that magical day at the seaside. At 6 o’clock it was time to leave Walton, but there was still one treat
in store, for at the place where we boarded our buses there was always a man with a little monkey wearing
a cute jacket. I think people could pay to have their photo taken with him, but no Tiptree people did that.
Nevertheless, I looked forward to seeing the monkey, and one year he was eating grapes and threw the pips
at us - another lovely memory from my childhood.
It never rained when we were at Walton - had it done so, that would have seemed like a major disaster.
Sadly, our outing in the summer of 1939, was the last until well after the war, when eventually outings were
resumed, but by then I had grown up and somehow Walton never seemed the same again. Thank you, Lord,
for sea and sunshine, and all the joys of childhood!
The Witham and District Sunday School Union
For a number of years our church was affiliated to this union of Sunday Schools from most of the free
churches in Witham, Maldon and the surrounding villages. Some of the village chapels were very small, and
have since closed down, but in my youth there were a lot of Sunday Schools belonging to this union, and in
the post-war years an Eisteddfod used to be arranged every year, based at one of the churches in the group.
Sunday Schools and individual children competed for cups and shields for choral singing, vocal solos, and
recitations, choral reading (of a passage of Scripture), and there was also a class for church choirs. This
became quite a big popular event each year, and, although competitive, was a very happy event bringing
people from a lot of churches together. The venue was a different church each year, and I remember that at
least once it was held in our church. All the adults and children had tea together in our schoolroom after
the event.
Goodbye to Sunday School: Hello to Junior Church
It was in the 1960s, during the ministry of Rev Adrian Wells that we heard a lot about other churches
making radical changes to their children’s work in order to bring the children and the adult members of
the congregation together on a regular basis as a family church. After a lot of consideration, it was decided
to close our afternoon Sunday School and change over to the system which is still in operation, i.e. that
the children attend the first part of the morning service, and then go out with their teachers for their own
teaching session, while the adults continue their worship in church. This was a step of faith, because we
realised that it could result in us losing a lot of the children belonging to our Sunday School. Because of the
distance between the church and schoolrooms, it would not be easy when the weather was bad. We feared
that children might ‘go missing’ and decide to go home instead of going to the schoolrooms. All our fears
were unfounded. The switch to family church went smoothly, and we only lost one or two from the registers. It was at that time that we decided to adopt the name Junior Church for our children’s work instead of
its previous name (Sunday School), hoping thus to encourage both the children and the adults of the church
to see the children as a section of the church family and not a separate unit as they had appeared to be when
they met at a different time and place from the adult congregation.
30
When this transition was first made, we had a good number of children of all ages, but sadly the numbers
declined over the years, though we are still pleased to have a few in our congregation. The decline has followed the general trend, which is probably accounted for by the number of counter-attractions now taking
place on Sundays.
We must pray for guidance concerning how to reverse the trend, and in the meantime, the numbers of
children who attend Messy Church give us cause for rejoicing and hope for the future of children’s work in
our church - and we hope the numbers attending Junior Church will build up again.
Junior Church circa 1980
Back row: Joyce Wilks, Margaret Warren, Hilary Mitchell, Jean Shead, Lesley Blight,
Elsie Ash, Marylin Watts, Deeta Bolt, Teresa Hendersaon
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32
Chapter 6
Youth Work
The Brigades
When I was a child in the Sunday School I was given a notice to take home, inviting me to join the Girls’
Life Brigade company that was being formed at the church. I had, by that time, already joined the Brownie
pack run by the wife of the rector of St Luke’s, therefore I stayed with Guiding throughout my childhood
and teenage years, and was never a member of the GLB, but no record of our church in the 1930s and 1940s
would be complete without mention of the GLB and Boys’ Brigade companies, which drew large numbers
of young people to the church for a number of years. The Boys’ Brigade had a band. Sadly, some of their
former members were killed during the war.
Pilots
A Pilots Company, a missionary organisation which catered for both boys and girls, also ran for a few years
in the 1950s, after the Boys’ Brigade and the Girls’ Life Brigade had been disbanded.
Monday Club
Monday Club was held in the 1980s, catering for children from our Junior Church and their friends - an
opportunity for children and helpers to become better acquainted, and for the children to feel ‘at home’ on
church premises.
Teenagers
Clubs for teenagers have existed from time to time over the years, to help them to have a better understanding of the Christian faith and its application to life issues, and to form friendships and have fun together.
These have all flourished for a few years until the members started work or university and could no longer
attend the meetings.
The Congregational Youth Council
When I was in my late teens or early 20s, I was asked to represent our church on The Colchester and District Congregational Youth Council, which was being formed to arrange joint activities for the teens and
twenties belonging to the churches in and around Colchester. The meetings were held in Colchester in
the evenings, which was convenient for me as by then I was working in Colchester. It was through these
planning meetings that I got to know a number of young people from the Colchester churches, and some
from other places. I was appointed secretary of the group. Ministers of the Colchester churches attended
the meetings and were very supportive, and I particularly appreciated the help given by Rev John Weller
and later Rev Kenneth Sainsbury of Lion Walk, and Rev Grosvenor of Harwich Road churches. During the
years when I was secretary we arranged annual youth weekends based at one of the Colchester churches,
and other smaller joint events for teens and twenties from the churches we represented. A group of us once
spent a weekend staying in the home of a member of Brightlingsea Congregational Church. We also once
held a youth service at a church in Clacton.
Occasionally I had to attend a planning meeting of the Congregational Essex Youth Council, where I met
the secretaries and treasurers of youth councils similar to the Colchester one, which arranged local events in
their area of Essex - Chelmsford, Southend, Saffron Walden. The purpose of the meetings which brought
us all together was to plan a weekend conference which took place every year at a youth hostel. I attended
two or three of these at Thaxted, and one at a remote place called Wicken Bonhunt. Although the name
‘conference’ was given to these events, and the programme for the weekends always included some serious
talks and discussion on a Christian theme, there was always a lot of fun, and I really enjoyed them.
I remember once attending a national gathering of youth from the Congregational churches, which was
held in Westminster Chapel, London.
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I found all these youth gatherings so enjoyable that, when I was 22, I spent a week of my two weeks annual
leave at a youth conference in Reading arranged by the Congregational Union and a youth department of a
similar Swedish denomination. A group of Swedish young people came over, all of whom spoke fluent English. We had wonderful times of fellowship and fun and more serious sessions of teaching and discussion,
and went on outings together to Windsor and Oxford.
At the time of which I am writing, there were young people a few years older and others a few years younger than me in our church, but no-one of my age, so it was very encouraging to have these contacts with
young Christians from other churches. Congregational churches in Lion Walk and Headgate, Colchester
(the latter of which later became Christchurch URC, which shares a building with Anglicans in Ireton
Road) had large youth groups, but for us from the village churches such events were needed. Teenagers
from our church were able to attend the events held in Colchester, and at least one youth event was held in
our Tiptree schoolroom. It was lovely for our church to host an event for young people from all around the
Colchester area.
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Chapter 7
Tiptree Congregational Church:
The Congregation in my Childhood and Youth
Having already written a lot concerning the Sunday School and matters relating to the young people of the
church, I realise that I have still to describe my impressions of the church when I was young.
In Chapter 3 I wrote at some length about life in Tiptree at that time, and I make no excuse for having
done this because a church consists of people, not bricks and mortar, and to a very large extent the character of any body of people is moulded by their environment and lifestyle. This church had (as it still has)
in its congregation a cross-section of the local community, for whom life in my youth was tougher than
ours today, who brought to their churchmanship an acute personal awareness of their daily dependence on
God, gratitude for His faithfulness, and shrewdness in managing the affairs of the church as His stewards.
Many of the church members were staunch teetotallers, and in the church there was strong support for the
Temperance Movement.
Sunday Worship
Services were held on Sunday mornings and evenings, the evening services attracting the larger congregations. Although as a child I attended Sunday School very regularly, I was not a regular attender at church
services, though I did go occasionally with my Dad or Grandad on a Sunday evening, never in the morning.
After I reached my teens I began to attend evening services regularly, with my Dad or a neighbour.
So what were church services like then? One thing that stands out in my memory is that, although the
people were friendly, there was much more formality than there is now. It was, for instance, an unwritten
expectation that everyone would dress up to go to church, even the children. My ‘Sunday best’ dresses were
made of velvet for winter and silk or taffeta for summer, and with them I wore black shiny patent-leather
shoes. My Sunday hats (obligatory) were often trimmed with flowers. ‘Mature’ ladies were soberly dressed
in dark colours, and hats (of course!), and men wore three-piece dark suits, stiff collars and ties, and often
pocket watches with chains attached to their waistcoats. Some wore flowers in their buttonhole, and one or
two carried bowler hats.
On arrival at church, and again on leaving, a lot of handshaking went on. Christian names were used only
when greeting close friends. I have clear memories of dear old Mr Hills, our church secretary, raising his hat
and greeting me with “Good evening, Miss Chaplin”. I was 15 at the time, and no-one had ever addressed
me as Miss Chaplin before. He was easily old enough to be my grandfather, so his old-world courtesy
touched me. Suddenly I didn’t feel like a kid any more - he had treated me as a lady.
The minister always stood at the church door and shook hands with every member of the congregation after
the service. He always wore a black gown when conducting worship, standing in the pulpit, and coming
down only to receive and dedicate the offertory during the service. From the pulpit he could see and be
seen by nearly every member of his congregation, of whom there were a good number, some sitting in the
gallery. God was always addressed as ‘Thee’ or ‘Thou’, never ‘You’, and Bible readings were from the King
James translation (there were few modern translations available at that time).
A four-part choir of men and women (not boys as in Anglican churches) led the singing, which was always
accompanied by the organ. The choir did not wear robes. Hymns were all of the traditional kind, worship
songs such as we often sing now not having been composed. When I was young we used a hymn book
called ‘The Congregational Hymnary’, later changing to ‘Congregational Praise’ soon after that book was
introduced.
35
Often the choir sang an introit at the beginning of the service, or an anthem in the middle, or someone
sang a solo. As congregations were larger, the choir sang in harmony, and the organ was used, the general
standard of singing was, I think, better than it is now. The Lord’s Prayer was always sung (not said) by the
choir and congregation, to a tune which I have not heard for years.
After Jack Wilsher became our choirmaster, he composed the words and tune of a vesper which everyone
sang prayerfully at the end of every service. I shall never forget the words:
Lord, we ask Thee for Thy blessing
As we leave this house of Thine,
All our sins to Thee confessing
At Thy holy shrine.
Help us, keep us, guide and guard us
As through life we go.
We are Thine and Thine for ever,
Till we reach Thy glorious throne.
During, and for a few years after World War II, the congregation on Sunday mornings and evenings was
enlarged by a sizeable group of children, accompanied by their carers. These were the children under the
care of the Children’s Home and Mission (now known under the name ‘Mill Grove’, with whom the church
has an ongoing relationship), who found refuge from the London blitz in the comparative safety of Tiptree,
living in a big house called ‘The Grove’ which used to stand opposite the lake in Church Road - a plaque on
the wall of the Asda car park now marks the site. (If you can, do read Keith White’s book ‘A Place for Us’ - a
thrilling true story about the origins of the home, the Christian faith of its founders and their descendants,
and of God’s unfailing faithfulness).
Communion Services
On the first Sunday morning and the third Sunday evening of each month the Communion service was
held after the main service, and separate from it. Although an invitation was given to ‘all who love our Lord
Jesus Christ’ to stay and share in the service, in practice it was normally only the church members who
stayed. During that service a second collection was taken for the Communion Fund, which was distributed,
at the discretion of the minister and deacons, to anyone who was going through a hard time. Every church
member had a little book of numbered tickets to place in the Communion offertory to register their attendance at Communion, which was then recorded in a register. I do not know whether non-attenders were
followed up.
It was at a Communion service on the evening of Whit Sunday 1949, when I was 21, that I was received
into church membership, along with two other people. We had previously attended some preparation classes
led by the minister, Rev E. Lawford-Jones, and studied a book called ‘Upon This Rock’, about the Christian
faith and the Congregational form of church government. We were required to make a statement of faith,
and to promise to be faithful in attending worship and church meetings, in prayer and in giving to the work
of the church. The service was ‘low-key’, with only the church members present, but very meaningful to me.
Church Flowers
It was the custom for many years for the flowers which had been in the church on Sundays to be taken by
the lady deacons on Sunday evening to someone who was sick, or bereaved, or celebrating some happy event
such as an anniversary, a birth or a baptism. The flowers were accompanied by a label wishing the receiver
‘the love and cheer of the church’. This gesture was much appreciated by the recipients, who were not always
people belonging to our church. After I became a deacon, when in my 30s, this job became my regular
Sunday evening task (shared with other lady deacons) after the evening service.
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Midweek Services
These were held in the schoolroom on Wednesday evenings, and after I had become a church member, I
felt that I should attend. They were not like the Sunday services, but were actually prayer meetings. Every
week the same people, all men, offered prayers, some of which lasted a very long time, and covered a wide
range of subjects. The deep faith and earnestness expressed by these godly men impressed me greatly. One
man prayed so fervently that his whole body trembled. The language used was different from that used in
ordinary conversation - for instance, a prayer for God’s blessing on Tiptree would be worded something
like - “Oh gracious Lord, pour out Thy abundant blessing upon this corner of Thy vineyard”. We don’t pray
using such ‘ecclesiastical’ language now, and it would seem inappropriate in the 21st century, but maybe we
need to recapture the fervour of our Christian forefathers - something to think and pray about.
Congregationalism
Although by the time I became a church member Tiptree Congregational Church had become affiliated to
the Congregational Union of England and Wales, it, and every other church in the union, maintained its
independence, ordering its own affairs under the guidance of the Holy Spirit in accordance with its own
constitution, and employing its own minister. Our church had elected deacons (initially all men, but later
including women), and also (as mentioned by Mrs Wilks) a finance committee of men with expertise in
financial matters to help the deacons. The deacons brought every matter which required a decision to be
made before the bi-monthly church meeting.
Then, as now, ministers were called by the decision of the church meeting, having first led worship and met
the church members. Although moderators acted as advisers, they had no authority over the local churches.
Despite each church remaining independent, local churches enjoyed a very good relationship with other
local churches. There were a lot of chapels in surrounding villages with which we shared fellowship. I remember that for a while a group called ‘The T Set’ was set up, comprising chapels at Tiptree, Tolleshunt
D’Arcy, Tolleshunt Major, Tollesbury, and Totham. Sadly, the chapels at Tolleshunt D’Arcy and Tolleshunt
Major have since closed, and that at Tollesbury opted not to stay in the United Reformed Church.
The Church Anniversary
It was the custom throughout the years when ours was a Congregational church for our church anniversary
to be celebrated each year, and this was an occasion to which friends from the other nearby chapels were
invited. They also celebrated their anniversaries, so people from the chapels who were free to do so, did the
rounds of the anniversaries, and thus friendships were formed.
I remember when I was very young going with my Grandad and Aunt to one or two of our church anniversary teas. In those days there was always a tea in the schoolroom, followed by a service, with a guest speaker,
in the church. Our anniversary was still celebrated each year during the war years, but I do not know whether it was possible for the celebration to include a tea - probably rationing put an end to that.
My memories of the teas I attended as a child are of long trestle tables spread with white cloths and laden
with sandwiches, Victoria sponges, fruit cakes and buns. Ladies, wearing dark brown or navy blue crêpe
dresses, and straw hats which appeared to be a permanent fixture on their heads (for I had never seen
those ladies without hats) dispensed tea from a large urn at the end of the table, into cups bearing the
crest ‘Tiptree Congregational Chapel’. Round the table sat men and women, all ‘dolled up’ in Sunday best
clothes (although it was a weekday). However hot the weather, it would not have been ‘the done thing’ for
any man to remove his tie or his jacket. A lot of friendly chatter went on, about the state of the crops, and
the excellence of the cakes (“Please may I have the recipe - this is delicious!”). (I agreed - the cakes were
lovely!). Then there were speeches - and more speeches - all a bit much for a little girl!
I can’t remember anything about the services which followed the teas, except that the same hymns, praising
God for great Christians of the past, were always sung.
37
When it was our church’s tercentenary in 1964 I remember that we celebrated with a whole week of special
meetings, the programme for which I seem no longer to have. It was a very special, happy occasion, during
the time when Rev Adrian Wells was our minister.
Harvest Festivals
As was to be expected in this predominantly agricultural community, harvest festivals were occasions for
great celebration, particularly if the season had been a good one. The business of decorating the church on
the Saturday involved an ‘army’ of volunteers for several hours. People arrived with loads of choice produce, home-grown in their fields, garden, or greenhouses, pushing it in barrows or prams, or balanced on
the seats of bikes. Every year apples were polished and arranged around the ledge of the gallery, and trestle
tables were erected on and in front of the rostrum, and loaded with a delicious array of fruit and vegetables.
The pulpit, pillars, and windows were lavishly festooned with flowers, berries, and
foliage, sheaves of corn propped up against
the pulpit, and old Mr Everitt’s dahlias, the
size of dinner plates, lovingly cultivated by
him especially for this occasion, made a
bright splash of colour. The decorating of
the vestibule - the first area seen by people
on arrival - was always the responsibility of
the members of the choir, who each year
chose a theme for their display. I remember displays representing the harvest of the
sea, minerals (coal, rocks, precious stones),
wool, wood and music (sheet music, instruments and records). The vestibule disHarvest Festival Display circa 1950
plays always attracted admiring attention
even before worshippers entered the church, where their nostrils were immediately treated to a delicious
aroma of ripe fruit and vegetables.
Congregations were always inflated on Harvest Festival Sunday by some local people who never set foot inside the church the rest of the year, but always ‘did the rounds’ of harvest festivals at St Luke’s, the Salvation
Army, and the Chapel (as they called it). Did their ‘inner voice’ prompt them to come and give thanks for
God’s goodness, or was it just the scents, sights and sounds of harvest that drew them? Only God knows.
The congregation and choir were always in good voice when singing the traditional harvest hymns, and as
they ‘let rip’ and the organist pulled out all the stops, often the vibrations caused an apple or two to fall
with a ‘plop’ from the gallery ledge to the aisle below. ‘We plough the fields and scatter the good seed on the
land’ seemed so much more meaningful when the
congregation contained so many people for whom
those words were literally true - and they knew the
truth of the rest of the words as well.
No harvest festival in our church in the days of my
youth would have been complete if the choir had
not sung the anthem ‘Oh Lord, how manifold are
Thy works’ at at least one, if not both of the services. That seems to have been a tradition.
The Sunday school children brought their harvest
gifts in decorated baskets on Sunday.
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Harvest Festival Baskets
After harvest gifts had been distributed to those in need, the residue was sold by auction on Monday evening. Nothing was ever wasted - even the sheaves of corn provided a treat for someone’s lucky chickens,
who were able to peck the grains straight from the ears of corn, and many families dined on ‘the fat of the
land’ that week.
One thing that I have no recollection of ever happening in my youth as a part of the harvest celebrations
at our church is a harvest supper. That is a little surprising, until I remind myself that, with no kitchen, it
might have been a little too difficult to arrange.
In later years, however, harvest suppers arranged by the Bible Society Action Group have been held, some
of them in our schoolrooms, for people from the local churches, including ours.
One year long after I had grown up (probably in
the 1970s) Tiptree Carnival was held on the day
before our church’s Harvest Festival, so we took
advantage of the opportunity to invite people
to come to our harvest services by having a float
laden with harvest produce and people singing
harvest hymns. Across the top of the float was a
banner proclaiming ‘Yes, God is good’, and our
service times were displayed on the sides. I can’t
remember whether more people came to the services, but as we drove round Tiptree, we noticed
many of the bystanders joining in the singing of
the (at that time) well-known harvest hymns. Sadly, I doubt whether many non-churchgoers would
know them now.
Tiptree Carnival circa 1970
Harvest Festival Float
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40
Chapter 8
Tiptree Congregational Church:
World War II – 1939 -1945
Although much of what I have already written concerning the church as it was during my early childhood
applied also throughout my teenage years (of which my memories are clearer), the war, which began when
I was 11 and just about to start at Colchester County High School for Girls and continued until my school
days were ended, affected the lives of every individual, the local community, and our church in so many
ways that I feel this special chapter is needed.
Its impact was swift. Men received calling-up papers. Everyone feared air raids with gas attacks, so gas masks
had to be carried everywhere (even from room to room at school as we attended lessons, which were frequently interrupted by a quick dash to the shelters). Blackout regulations were imposed, and - perhaps the
biggest change to the lives of the children in Tiptree - suddenly Tiptree was ‘invaded’ by hordes of strange
children who spoke with an unfamiliar accent and knew nothing about country life. These children (and
some expectant and nursing mothers with babies) were evacuees from the Stratford district of London, and
they were billeted on local families. I believe anyone with spare rooms in their house was required to take
these people in. Many of the children came from the same London school, and were accompanied by their
teachers.
Our church schoolrooms were immediately taken over during the week to be used as a day school for these
children, but were still used by the church for Sunday School and evening meetings.
I can’t remember how long this arrangement lasted, but eventually most of the evacuees ‘drifted’ back to
London and their Tiptree school closed. The few who remained in Tiptree were accommodated in the
Tiptree schools, and eventually became ‘countrified’. I wonder how many of the others survived the blitz.
Blackout restrictions caused a ‘headache’ for householders, who had suddenly to improvise ways of ensuring
that no chink of light was showing from their windows after dark. My memory fails me regarding how this
was achieved at church - as a schoolgirl that was not my concern - but I can’t imagine how the church windows, particularly the high triple window in the rear gallery, could have been blacked out - yet they must
have been, because Sunday evening services continued to be held in the church throughout the war.
By comparison the schoolrooms were easy - I remember large wooden shutters being clipped in place on the
outside of the windows when I went there to evening meetings.
As Tiptree had never enjoyed the luxury of streetlights, people were used to walking around with torches,
but now, with no friendly glow showing in the windows of the houses, and no welcoming light on arrival at
the church, it was sometimes a somewhat eerie experience on moonless nights, when the glow of a cigarette
was sometimes the only indication that someone was approaching. Nevertheless, Tiptree remained a safe
place, and there were no reports of anyone being attacked.
Even if the faces of the shadowy figures in the vestibule who greeted people arriving for the service were unrecognisable, their handshakes were warm and welcoming. I don’t remember air raids ever occurring when
I was at church - they tended to occur later in the night.
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Tiptree Congregational Guild
During the war years there was no public transport into or out of Tiptree in the evenings, so, with few people
possessing cars, and petrol rationing restricting the movements of those who did, the only means of transport out of Tiptree was by bike or on foot. The ‘wireless’ programmes entertained people in their homes, but
for those who wanted to go out in the evenings, local events such as dances and whist drives or amateur concerts put on by local groups
(the Guide company I belonged to staged some pantomimes and variety shows)
drew far more support than
could otherwise have been
expected. It was against this
background that someone in
our church (I imagine it was
Mr Powell, who, coming from
a Methodist background, had
had experience of the Methodist Guild), started Tiptree
Congregational Guild which,
throughout the war, and for
some years after the war had
ended, met on Monday evenings from October to March
Guild Outing to Flatford circa 1948
Back row: Mr & Mrs Powell, Mrs & Rev Lawford-Jones, Peter Willman in our schoolroom. This was
highly successful and drew
Front row: Peggy & Barbara Chaplin, Pearl Powell,
large numbers of people from
Antony Lawford-Jones, Joyce Powell
the local community as well as
those who attended church services. I believe there were 100 or more registered members, and the extraordinary thing about these meetings was that they brought together people of all ages, from teenagers to those in
their 80s, and were greatly enjoyed by all. I joined the guild as soon as I reached the age of 13 (the minimum
age), and remained a member until it eventually ‘wound up’ well after the war years, by which time I was
an adult. With evening transport out of Tiptree reinstated after the war, and more counter attractions, the
Guild meetings had by then lost their appeal for some former members.
It is fortunate that I kept some of my Guild membership cards, on which are set out the programmes of
meetings to be held that season, so I will photocopy them. As you will see, the meetings were arranged by
different sections, and the subjects varied widely, not all being overtly Christian, but whatever the subject
for any particular meeting the evening always included a ‘God slot’, reminding us that God should be in every part of our lives, not just the times we spend at worship. The Guild meetings helped me, in my teenage
years, to feel ‘at home’ in the church family, with people of all ages. I seldom missed a meeting, unless I had
an overload of homework to complete when my examination year was approaching.
Although Guild meetings did not take place in the summers, after the war a Guild outing was arranged each
year to some local place, on Whit Monday. I remember outings to Flatford, Beeleigh, and Mersea with the
Guild - much enjoyed by all.
Below is a copy of the Guild programme of meetings arranged for the 1944/45 October - March session. I
apologise for the poor quality, but I hope it will be readable – the card has been around for a long time! The
outside of the membership card gives the following information:
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The Tiptree Congregational Guild
Presidents: Rev J. Harris-Smith (who was our minister at the time)
Secretaries: Mr A Powell and Miss C Lawrence
Treasurer: Mrs Wager
Sectional Secretaries: Mr E Smith - Devotional
Mrs W. Smith - Literary
Miss J Barrell - Social
Miss J Humphreys - Christian service.
Miss J Goodman - Musical.
Mrs E. Smith - Refreshments.
Guild motto: ‘The best is yet to be’ (Dr Dimsdale T Young)
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When ‘The Deep South’ came to Tiptree
The most unusual phase in our church’s history that I can recall occurred soon after the United States had
entered the war. All around Essex, the US Air Force had established small airbases, the nearest of these being
Birch airfield between Tiptree and Colchester. I think there were only a few planes kept there, fighters not
bombers. The personnel who manned the base were accommodated in huts built under the trees in Pods
Wood on the Colchester Road. The men and their vehicles soon became a familiar sight in Tiptree, and
there was fraternisation with local people. To avoid racial disputes the USAF authorities separated the men
according to their skin colour, basing white men at one camp and coloured men at another. At first, Birch
Airfield was manned by white men. My bus to school in Colchester passed their camp every day, and one
day I noticed that coloured men had taken over the camp.
On the next Sunday evening when I was in church and the service had begun, suddenly a group of coloured
Americans came in. After the service people welcomed them and invited them to the Guild meeting the
following evening. They came, bringing some of their colleagues, and all were made warmly welcome to our
church, and invited by some of the church members to visit them in their homes.
These same men were stationed at the base for several months, including one Christmas and Easter, and
during that time the people of the church got to know them personally and really took them to their hearts.
I got to know all their names, but the one I remember best was called Rufus Turntime (a name that sounds
Dickensian, I think!).
As a schoolgirl I was absolutely fascinated by these men, who, with their American deep-south accent, and
in every other respect, were so vastly different from anyone I had ever met in my short life. In contrast to our
formal ways, these men had quite a relaxed attitude to church, thinking nothing of slipping outside once
or twice during the service to have a smoke, and then back in again, perhaps in the middle of the sermon.
Despite this, there was no doubting the sincerity of their faith. This was their Father’s house, where they
felt free to behave as naturally as if at home. I’m so glad that no-one voiced a complaint, which would have
spoiled the relationship immediately.
A group of them had formed a choir, and some sang solos, and during their time with us they presented
some concerts, and also sang items during Sunday services. Although I was only about 15 at the time, I’ll
never forget the look of wholehearted personal conviction on their shiny black faces, and the sincerity with
which they sang their spirituals, some of the words of which took root in my memory:
Sometaams ah feel discouraged and think ma work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit revaaves ma soul again.
Ah may not preach laak Peter; Ah may not pray laak Paul,
But ah’ll tell the lerv of Jesus and say he daad for all.
Claamin’ up the mountain, children,
Lord ah didn’t come here for to stay
Brother, if ah never more see you again
Gonna meet you on the Judgement Day
And of course:
Were you there when they crucifaad ma Lord?
Were you there when they crucifaad ma Lord?
Oh.....sometaams it causes me to tremble, tremble, tremble
Were you there when they crucifaad ma Lord?
No white choir could sing spirituals with such heart-wrenching feeling - and no one who heard Rufus pray
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could ever forget his prayers. Rufus had the blackest skin I have ever seen - but I’m sure his heart was as
white as snow. He didn’t come to church in a jeep with the others because he had a bike, of which he was
immensely proud. He called it his wheel. He must have been at least 10 years older than me, but when he
prayed it was like listening to a small child. Not for him the rhetoric and flowery phrases sometimes heard
in church. His prayer went something like this:
Lord, aam gonna praise you, and aam gonna thank you for ma wheel
And aam gonna ask you Lord to bless this church
And aam gonna ask you to make me a better man
And aam gonna thank you that you daad for me
And aam gonna pray for everyone here
And aam gonna ask you to forgive ma sins
And aam gonna........
And on and on it went, every phrase beginning ‘Aam gonna...’
One of our Christmas services that year (I think it must have been 1943) was led by their chaplain, who
preached a sermon about ‘The three Waas Men who followed the star’, and their choir sang the carol ‘Go,
tell it on the mountain’- an American carol which I had never heard in England until that time. If ever I
hear it now, my mind goes back to the first time I heard it.
When those men left the base they were really missed in our church. The encounter had left a profound
impression on my young mind, which has stayed with me through the years. I don’t know whether they
later took part in the liberation of Europe. I hope none lost their lives. I know Mr Powell stayed in touch
with some of them for many years. Maybe, as the words of their spiritual predicted, I’ll see them again on
the Judgement Day.
How Tiptree Congregational Church became Tiptree United Reformed Church
If you are a long-standing member of this church or another Congregational or Presbyterian church, you
may wish to skip reading this chapter,, but it occurs to me that some people who read this may wonder
how this church with its Congregational foundation, is now part of the United Reformed Church, so I will
attempt to explain what I remember about the process.
I believe it was in the 1960s when someone (I do not know who it was) suggested that it would serve the
cause of church unity and be to our mutual advantage if the member churches of the Congregational Union
of England and Wales were to unite with the Presbyterian Church in England to form one denomination
in the reformed tradition. Although it was agreed that the suggestion was worthy of consideration, there
was a problem in that, as a loosely bound union of independent churches rather than one church with denominational leaders able to act on behalf of all, no one would be able to enter into negotiations with the
Presbyterians and draw up a suggested Basis of Union.
The member churches of the Congregational Union of England and Wales were therefore asked if they
would agree to covenant together to form the Congregational Church in England and Wales, which could
then appoint representatives to liaise with the Presbyterians on this matter. This proposal was then put
before our church meeting and agreed, thus signifying our willingness to become a member church of the
Congregational Church in England and Wales, knowing that by so doing we were also showing a willingness for the possibility of union with the Presbyterians to be explored.
The majority of member churches of the former Congregational Union voted to enter the Congregational
Church in England and Wales, but a minority voted to remain independent, thus severing their connection
with other churches with which they had previously been in union - an ironic and regrettable outcome of
what was intended to be a move towards fuller unity. A service to celebrate the ‘birth’ of the Congregational
Church in England and Wales was held in London.
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Representatives were then appointed by our new denomination and by the Presbyterians to draw up a
proposed Basis of Union. As each section of this document was prepared, in true Congregational fashion the draft proposals were sent to all the local churches for ratification or comment. Each time one of
these drafts was received the proposals were carefully considered by our church meeting. Some parts were
straightforward and were approved without hesitation, but others gave rise to a lot of discussion and sometimes disapproval, which was duly registered. Some parts of the Basis of Union were amended several times
before the final wording was voted acceptable by the churches. Congregationalists had always based their
distinctive form of church government on the principle of ‘the priesthood of all believers’ (see 1 Peter 2:9),
and this freedom under the Holy Spirit was held very precious. (Perhaps this is understandable when seen
in the light of the history of the persecution of non-conformists). Thus all Congregational churches were
determined that within the system of the proposed united church the authority of the local church meetings
to decide their own affairs under the guidance of the Holy Spirit should not be compromised. The Presbyterians were equally concerned that the ordained eldership should be retained.
Eventually, after all the disagreements had been aired and amendments made accordingly, the final document for the Basis of Union was sent to the churches for approval. Although the whole process had been
tedious and at times boring, we were nevertheless glad that the local churches had had the final say concerning the new denomination we were founding. With just one dissenting vote our church meeting voted
to become a member church of the United Reformed Church, which came into being in 1972. Sadly, at
this stage a further minority of Congregational churches voted to remain independent, and a few others,
including the Chapel at Tollesbury, having initially entered the United Reformed Church, withdrew in the
first year.
An inaugural service was held in London, and others throughout the country. With others from our church
I attended one of these which was held at Lion Walk Church, Colchester.
Although it is regrettable that unanimity could not be achieved, it is good to know that those churches
which voted to remain Congregational did not have pressure put upon them to enter an amalgamation
which they did not feel was right for them.
Sometime after the formation of the URC, an application for membership was received from another small
denomination called The Churches of Christ. This was dealt with in the same way as the original Basis of
Union, some amendments being made which I believe mainly concerned baptism. (The URC practises and
recognises the validity of both the baptism of infants and believers’ baptism). Our church meeting gave its
approval to the amended Basis of Union and acceptance of The Churches of Christ into membership of the
United Reformed Church.
Having been a member church of the URC since its inauguration in 1972, we have noticed many changes,
the first being that, to comply with the agreed basis of union, our church had to have an ordained eldership.
This was achieved by the people who had already been elected to serve as deacons, all being ordained by the
laying on of hands and an ordination prayer at the next Communion service, after which they continued to
serve the church exactly as before, but were from then on called elders. Ordination to the eldership occurs
only once in an elder’s lifetime, but elders are elected and serve for three-year periods.
The other big difference that being a part of the United Reformed Church has made relates to ministry.
In our Congregational days our church called and paid our own minister, a happy situation which, sadly,
could now no longer apply, not only because our church now pays into a central fund from which ministers’
stipends are paid, but also because of the acute shortage of ministers, which is exacerbated as ministers retire
and fewer candidates are being trained for ministry.
Since the formation of the URC, our church first shared a minister with a church at Dedham - an unsatisfactory grouping because of the distance involved and the fact that the minister could not drive. A rota
of volunteer drivers from both churches made this arrangement workable until it broke down for another
reason, and the Dedham church closed down soon afterwards.
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Another grouping of Tiptree, Kelvedon, and Great Totham churches lasted a number of years, until Great
Totham was grouped with Maldon, leaving the present grouping of Tiptree with Kelvedon. Between ministries, we have spent long interregnum periods during which we have been thankful for the help of retired
and non-stipendiary ministers, interim moderators appointed by the URC, and lay preachers who have led
worship.
A new pattern for the deployment of ministers is being sought. Meanwhile, perhaps this is God’s way of
challenging His church to discover the real meaning of the title ‘the priesthood of all believers’.
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48
Chapter 9
Mission and Outreach to Others
Second only to the worship and service of God, this is the most important reason why our church exists.
Every member plays a conscious or unconscious part in the mission of the church by our daily interaction
with other people, and how they perceive our church and the Lord we serve is positively or adversely influenced by what they see in us - a sobering thought. At worship and other church events I hope we do our
best to make visitors and newcomers feel welcome.
The Friendship Venture
From time to time over the years special efforts have been made to reach out into the community. The first
of these efforts, in which I was involved in the 1950s was called The Friendship Venture. Although Tiptree
had a much smaller population at that time, this was quite a big undertaking because people from the
church, working in pairs, visited every house in Tiptree, including Tiptree Endway (except where people
were known to belong to another church). As the title implies, this was to offer friendship, prayer, help if
needed, and to invite people to come to church. The reaction we received was mixed, but mainly good. We
gained some children for the Sunday School, and made contact with some people with past Chapel connections, including house-bound elderly residents who we continued to visit afterwards.
Billy Graham’s Visits
When Billy Graham visited London in the 1950s our church took coach-loads to the meetings in Haringey
and also Wembley Stadium. When he came again in 1984 for Mission England our church took a coachload to one of the Ipswich meetings. Prior to all these occasions we visited all the houses in roads near our
church and offered free seats on the coaches to the meetings, but I don’t recall that we had any ‘takers’.
Mission England was preceded by a programme of preparation meetings in Colchester and in our church,
and there were also follow-up meetings. Some of us attended Christian Life and Witness classes and meetings to consider ‘Is my church worth joining?’. Barbara and I attended choir practices in Colchester and
took a week’s holiday to enable us to sing in the choir at the Ipswich meetings. After the evening sessions
there we helped in the office to process the cards completed in respect of each person who had responded to
the appeal to ‘get up out of your seat’, travelling home afterwards in the middle of the night with Andrew
Hatton, who had helped as a counsellor. The whole experience was faith-boosting and unforgettable.
Carnival Floats
At least three times in the fairly distant past, we took advantage of Tiptree Carnival as an opportunity to
draw attention to our church by entering a float. One, in David Livingstone’s centenary year, had that as its
theme, with people on board representing Dr Livingstone, and adults and children blackened to represent
African natives, including a witch
doctor. Our harvest float has already been mentioned in Chapter 7, and on another occasion
we had a float suitably decorated
to resemble a ship, with adults
and children dressed as sailors on
board, and a banner bearing the
invitation –
For Worship, Friendship, and Fellowship Come Aboard our Ship
Mission and Outreach
Special weekends of mission and
outreach have twice been held, led
by students from Cliff College.
Tiptree Carnival 1973
David Livingstone Centenery Year
Back row: Peggy Chaplin, Peter Barker, Peter Humphreys, Barbara Humphreys
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Alpha 2000s
In the 1990s and 2000s Alpha group meetings have been held from time to time on church premises and
also some in people’s homes, and at least one series of these was arranged jointly with Kingsland church, in
our hall.
Coffee Mornings and Men’s Breakfasts
Monthly coffee mornings and men’s breakfasts (October - March) provide opportunities of offering the
hospitality and friendship of the church to visitors, as well as for meeting our church friends.
Showing Love and Concern for our Neighbours
This involves caring for anyone in need of support including family members, our church friends and others, especially the sick, housebound and bereaved, and entails prayer, visiting, practical help if need be, and
sensitivity.
In addition to this, here is a summary of the ways that in the past and now we respond to other’s needs:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Bible Society: we have an annual envelope collection and also support events arranged by the Tiptree Action Group.
Christian Aid week: we have an envelope collection and often a poverty lunch.
Compassion: we sponsor a boy (Biruk).
Friends of Essex Churches: we support the annual ‘Ride and Stride’.
Kenya: volunteers from our church helped with a building project at a school.
Mission Aviation Fellowship: some people have collection boxes or give donations.
Night Shelter for the Homeless: we donate cash and food from our Harvest Festival. Some people have given practical help or taken part in sponsored events.
Tear Fund: we send donations instead of sending Christmas cards to church friends.
The Royal British Legion: our church buys a poppy wreath each year, we host the annual parade service on alternate years, and buy poppies.
Water Aid: we donate at our Harvest Festival.
Our church’s World Needs Fund: we set up this fund into which we can donate at any time, so that a sum of money is available to enable our church to make a quick response whenever a disaster appeal is launched. On such occasions we also take a special collection to aid the victims.
Bring and buy stalls are sometimes held at our coffee mornings in aid of various good causes, and we sponsor one another for taking part in charity events.
In addition to the above list, about each of which I could have written in much more detail, I have chosen
a few of the good causes our church supported, or still supports, to write about in greater detail.
Firstly, the Christmas Toy Service. During my childhood and for many years afterwards, a special service
was held around Christmas time, to which the children of our Sunday School/Junior Church brought some
of their own toys to be passed on to other less fortunate children. For years these were sent to the Shaftesbury Society, and later given to the Red Cross for distribution. This continued until fairly recently.
Since that arrangement ceased, and the number of children in our church has sadly declined, our church
takes part in the Operation Christmas Child scheme, whereby participants fill a shoebox with gifts for a
needy child in another land, or donate items to be included in shoe boxes.
The Egg and Flower Service. Throughout most of my life, the children of the church have brought eggs
and flowers to a special service around Easter time each year. When I was young, the eggs came from their
families’ own chickens, and the flowers from their gardens. Each year, an egg or two ended up as a sticky
mess on the church floor, but the rest were donated, I believe, to children’s homes - the one at The Grove,
Tiptree, and later Dr Barnardo’s Infants’ Home in Kelvedon, and then latterly to the Red Cross for distribution to needy families.
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The flowers were sent to Crossways URC near the Elephant and Castle, London, from where they were
distributed to people with no gardens. Over the years, getting the flowers to Crossways while they were still
fresh became a problem.
Two or three times groups of people from Crossways visited our church. They were shown around Tiptree,
given tea in our schoolroom, and once shared an evening service before leaving for London, all the ladies
clutching a bunch of the flowers that had been donated, with which they appeared delighted.
Once a group of us visited Crossways URC on a Saturday, where we were served a meal and shown around
the area, including a visit to a flat in one of the high-rise blocks which were home to most of the people of
the church. This brief insight into the lifestyle of the people and the role of this urban church, and that of
an Anglican Church with which they work in close partnership, gave us much to think about.
Eventually the arrangement ceased not many years ago, I think because of our difficulties in getting the
flowers to them, and theirs in distributing them while they were still fresh. Since then, the contact between
our church and Crossways URC has lapsed, which is a pity after it had flourished for so many years. Maybe
it would be mutually beneficial for it to be re-established.
Mill Grove - formerly The Children’s Home and Mission
The presence of this children’s home in Tiptree throughout and beyond the years of World War II, has already been referred to in Chapter 7.
This work on behalf of needy children and families, founded and run entirely on the Christian faith of its
founders and their descendants, continues in South Woodford, now on different lines, but still with the
same aims, under the direction of Keith White, grandson of the founder, who, on a Sunday in May each
year, now conducts worship in our church, and friends from Mill Grove, some of whom lived at The Grove
as children during the war years, attend the service and we entertain them to lunch in our hall. This has now
become an annual event in our church calendar, enjoyed by us as well as the Mill Grove friends. On that
Sunday our church collection, enhanced by donations, is given to Keith for the ongoing work at Mill Grove.
A Tiptree URC/Polish/Jewish Encounter
It was, I think, in the 1980s that Rev John Wood and his wife Joy joined our church when they were living
in Tiptree, and John was teaching RE in Colchester secondary schools. John became an elder, and was very
helpful to us at a time when we had no minister.
After his teaching job ended and they had moved to Stanway in the 1990s, John, who had a great understanding and interest in Judaism as the root of the Christian faith, and a love for the race who have a special
place in God’s heart and His eternal plan, worked for the Church’s Mission to the Jews. As a friend and visiting preacher he frequently continued to lead services in our church, often dressing up in biblical costumes
himself, or dressing children up and then talking about the work of a character such as a scribe, or an eastern
shepherd, or explaining the meaning of some obscure Bible passage, or the ritual associated with weddings,
funerals or Jewish festivals. He had the knowledge and the ability to pass it on an interesting and informative way. One Maundy Thursday he led a Passover meal demonstration in our schoolroom, explaining the
meaning of everything we ate and finishing with Communion. This was very meaningful.
CMJ had been given a lot of ancient Jewish artefacts, and costumes and models with which he put together
an exhibition of life in Bible times, which he took and set up in different places around the country. For one
memorable week John set up his exhibition in the Catholic Church in Tiptree. Groups of children from all
the Tiptree schools were taken to see it, and to hear about the exhibits and listen to some of John’s costume
talks. It was open to the public, and I think most people from the churches visited it - I hope other people
did too.
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John also led tours to the Holy Land. Barbara and Beverley went on one of them. It was through him that
our church was introduced to a quite incredible Polish Protestant Christian known as Sister Alice, who
had founded a ministry by Christians to their Jewish neighbours, most of whom were survivors of the
Holocaust, broken in body and spirit, having lost their loved ones, homes and possessions, and suffered
horrendous persecution in Nazi prison camps. Sister Alice and other Christians inspired by her example,
were caring lovingly for these people’s physical and spiritual needs and gently leading them back to faith in
the God of their forefathers, and recognition of Jesus as their Messiah and Saviour.
John invited this great lady over, and she addressed meetings in our church on two occasions, and on two
other occasions two of her co-workers came and talked in our church about their work. Several people from
our church and other churches promised prayer and financial support for this ministry by Christians to Jews
in Poland, which has now spread into neighbouring countries. Now that most of the Holocaust survivors
have passed away, the ministry continues to their descendants, who are very poor, and subject to anti-Semitism in their countries. Only a few of us who pledged support for this work remain in our church, but we
receive quarterly prayer letters and still pray for this growing and expanding ministry, and send occasional
donations.
In 1994 John Wood arranged for a group from this and other churches to visit Poland and stay with him
and Joy at the hostel set up by Sister Alice on a farm near Warsaw, where Jewish adults and children spend
‘Holidays with the Bible’. We met Holocaust survivors and visited synagogues and sites connected with the
Nazi persecution of Jews in Poland, including the notorious Auschwitz extermination camp.
Sister Alice, now in her mid-90s, frail and nearly blind, lives in a care home. Rev John Wood passed away
in January this year. Those of us who knew him benefited from all that he taught us, and I am particularly
glad to have had the opportunity of meeting Sister Alice and visiting Poland to see some of the results of her
efforts. I thank God for both of their lives of service.
It is good to know that in this country and abroad, ancient rifts between Christians and Jews are being
healed by love, and Jewish people, some still children, are coming to faith in Jesus, their Messiah. That must
surely gladden His heart.
British Aid for Deprived Children
Some of you may recognise this as the title George Mills gave to his caring ministry on behalf of suffering
children and families, mainly in Eastern Europe.
It was at the time when civil war was raging between ethnic groups in former Yugoslavia late in the 20th
century that the efforts of George and Marion Mills and their helpers on behalf of suffering refugees there
first came to our notice. At that time, George, at great discomfort and personal risk of injury or death,
was driving lorry-loads of life-saving aid across Europe and into that country to the victims of the conflict,
irrespective of their ethnic background - supplies of food, medication and the basic necessities of life, without which many of those people would have died. The contents of his lorry had, as a result of his appeals,
been donated by caring people in this country. Touched by the plight of the suffering people, and inspired
by George’s efforts, our church pledged its support, and for a long time the front right-hand wing of our
church became a collection point for items to stock George’s lorry. As he kept us informed of the current
needs, we supplied the goods, and gave cash gifts to help with transport costs and taxes which sometimes
had to be paid when crossing borders. Church people regularly delivered loads of donated goods to George’s
home near Saffron Waldon.
After the troubles subsided in former Yugoslavia, George turned his attention to the area of Ukraine near
Chernobyl, where radiation, the aftermath of the nuclear explosion which occurred there, was (and still is)
devastating the health of the population, including the children being born there. We continued to donate
goods, which George now took to Ukraine, and we supported his ambitious plans, in consultation with
Ukrainian medical staff, to establish there a rehabilitation centre where these severely sick and disabled chil52
dren could be treated, and their desperately poor families given much-needed support,. Thanks to George’s
untiring efforts to raise funds in this country, and the support he received from churches, Women’s Institutes, firms and other organisations and generous people who donated or raised the money, George’s dream
was able to become a reality, and is now an up-and-running medical establishment staffed by experts who
are able to offer these sick children the best treatment available for their conditions, and their parents the
emotional and material help they need. Sadly, most of the children are too sick to ever recover. Some babies
are even born with thyroid cancer, which will be terminal, but George does his best to help the children
to enjoy their childhood by arranging visits by entertainers and laying on parties and games for them. He
even arranged for Arsenal football team to visit the centre and play with the children who were well enough.
George is elderly now, and no longer in robust health, so his visits to the centre are less frequent, and he
goes by air. The food items and everyday requirements which formerly had to be transported by lorry from
England can all be bought in the Ukraine now and at a cheaper price than in England, so the current need
is for cash donations rather than goods. As well as helping with the daily maintenance and running costs
of the rehabilitation centre, gifts of money are often given to help the children’s poverty-stricken families.
Whenever George or any of his helpers visit the centre, they hand out sweets and small gifts to the patients,
and the children, though sick, put on an entertainment for them. The children, their families and the staff
at the rehabilitation centre all need our continued prayers and support, as do George and Marion Mills and
those who help them in this caring ministry.
At the time when I’m writing this, there is much political unrest in Ukraine. My prayers are that the troubles
will not escalate, for these poor people have suffered enough already.
I thank God that through the efforts of George Mills our church has been able to help these children and
their families. May our compassion for God’s suffering people, wherever they may be, never fail.
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54
Chapter 10
Church Groups and Special Events
The Women’s Pleasant Hour.
No historical record of this church would be complete without a section about this organisation with an
archaic-sounding name, which was set up in 1915 and ran for an incredible 87 years.
As well as their afternoon meetings, held in the schoolroom from October to March each year, where they
had a guest speaker, hymns, prayers and time to socialise over a ‘cuppa’, these ladies worked tirelessly at
home all through the year, knitting and sewing items to be sold for church funds at the annual Christmas
bazaars, where they manned some of the stalls, including one laden with cakes, also baked by them. They
also held rummage sales at least once a year on behalf of many good causes.
As society slowly changed, during and after the war few young women were free to attend afternoon meetings, so the WPH eventually became a group of elderly women, some of whom were disabled, and most
were unable to serve the church as they had done formerly, and as they became increasingly frail and unable
to attend the meetings, sadly the WPH eventually had to close in 2002. A commemorative plate was given
to each lady who was a member at that time.
As I was never a member of WPH I think it’s appropriate to add a word of appreciation of the service these
ladies rendered to this church over the years. They are now receiving their reward in heaven.
A Ladies’ Club, which catered for younger women who were not free to attend the afternoon Women’s
Pleasant Hour meetings, began in the 1960s and ran for 15 years, meeting monthly in the evenings.
The Family Fellowship was a weekly meeting held in the schoolrooms from October to March in the 1950s
after the Guild closed. I think these meetings were mainly, as the name suggests, for fellowship, but sometimes had a particular theme, for instance missionary work abroad.
The Chrysanthemum Society was set up, I think, by some men from the church before or during the war,
and held an annual Chrysanthemum Show every November. This attracted other enthusiasts from outside
our church. Trophies were awarded for the best blooms. Every year each child in the Sunday School was
given a small chrysanthemum plant to nurture and later display in the show, and cash prizes were given to
the winners.
In the 1970s, monthly home group meetings were held for fellowship, and members took turns leading,
by talking about their current or former daily work. This was far more interesting than it sounds, and we
felt we knew one another much better afterwards. We later had another series of meetings where we invited
members of other Christian denominations to speak about their churches’ ‘brands’ of Christianity - another
interesting and informative exercise, leading to a better understanding at a time when churches did less
together then we do now.
The Fellowship Meetings for Bible study and prayer which began in 1983 in preparation for Billy Graham’s ‘Mission England’ visit, have continued ever since.
Summer special services, which appeal mainly to the young and the young at heart, are now a regular annual feature, having taken the place of the Sunday School Anniversaries of my youth, described in Chapter
5. In recent years we have had a Christian magician or a group of puppets singing Christian songs to lead
the services, and afterwards a barbecue or bring and share lunch. How I would have enjoyed that when I
was young!
55
Nativity Play circa 1980
Nativity services during Advent, with children taking part, have been held for many years. I cannot remember when these began, but they did not happen in my childhood or youth.
In the 1980s we twice held sunrise services on Easter Sunday, the first on Tiptree Heath and the second on
Mersea beach - where I think our group of people worshipping God in a lively way amazed people walking
their dogs. After both services we returned to the schoolroom, where we were joined by a few other people
for a fried breakfast, followed by Communion at the breakfast table. For those who had the energy and
will-power to get up at the crack
of dawn, this was a lovely way
to begin Easter celebrations.
A film club ran for a couple
of winters, attracting, I think,
fewer people than had been
hoped for.
Our men’s breakfasts, held
from October to March, are
well attended by men from
within and outside this church,
who, besides enjoying a substantial fried breakfast, hear
Christian speakers on a wide
range of subjects. Occasionally,
Easter Sunrise Breakfast circa 1980
when the subject was equally
relevant for ladies as well as men, they have kindly invited us. Just once we held a ladies breakfast, when
Tessa Perrin reminded us of women’s role in the church.
A mothers’ and toddlers’ group which began meeting in the schoolroom weekly in the 1960s continued
for some time, after which there was a lapse until another group named Happy Bunnies was set up, which
continues to meet weekly in our hall.
56
Two special events held in the schoolroom on Sunday afternoons some years ago, stand out in my memory.
On both occasions a mixed group of adults and children first had lunch together before an afternoon of
activity.
On one of these occasions we followed a programme arranged by Tear fund, involving some of the group
assuming the identity of a particular character living in a native village (each having been given a script to
read about that person’s lifestyle and position in the community), and acting out a situation which existed
there, for which they needed Tear Fund’s help. The other people played the parts of the Tear Fund team sent
there to find out why they needed help, and then decide what to do for them.
It was not half as difficult as it may sound, and I think everyone enjoyed this role play, which was a brilliant
way of bringing home to us the plight of the people of that community, whose culture was very different
from ours, and taught us to use our brains to devise the best ways of helping them, within the limits of a set
budget, as Tear Fund and other charities have to do. At the end of the afternoon we could in imagination
share the joy of that community after Tear Fund had solved their problems.
The other memorable event, on a Sunday in the 1990s when Lesley Blight, Schools Worker for Scripture
Union, was living in Tiptree and belonged to our church, was the day when SU’s National Director (at that
time), David Cohen, was spending the day with us.
A crowd of adults and children shared lunch together in our schoolroom, and then split into four groups,
each in a corner of the room, where each group had to decide how to act or portray a section of the parable
of the prodigal son. When each section had been prepared, we all came together to ‘stage’ the production.
The part I shall always remember is the auction sale, when the father had to sell off his farm animals by
auction to enable him to give his son the inheritance he was demanding - which brought home to me an
aspect of the story I had never thought about before - the sacrifice the father had to make right from the
start to meet his son’s request, all because he loved him.
I hope the children who shared that day (now all adults) remembered it and took to heart its message.
Our Vision Group meetings for Bible study, prayer and fellowship, are held most weeks, having begun in
the 2000s. Also in the 2000s, after our Sunday evening services had ceased because of poor attendance, Rev
Leonard Phelps led Sunday evening Bible study meetings, which lasted three or four years, during which
time the group read through the whole Bible, finishing the last section after he had left.
Other special events held over the years have included church outings on summer Sunday afternoons to
Danbury Park and to Mersea, flower festivals, concerts (including one in the 1980s with Marilyn Baker blind Christian singer and composer), and some by Tiptree Choral Society.
Messy Church, which we introduced in 2013, attracts a good number of fairly young children and their
adult escorts, and gives us encouragement for the future. We have a team of very committed helpers, who
need our prayers.
Friday morning meetings for praise and prayer are held each week, at which the prayer needs of the
church, the community, the world and specific individuals are remembered, including anonymous requests
posted on our prayer board.
Throughout the years we have had to hold some events for fundraising, the major event in our church
calendar until recent years, being the Christmas Bazaar, which until a few years ago was held on a Saturday
shortly before Christmas, originally in the hall at Wilkin’s Jam Factory (kindly loaned free of charge), and
later (after the Factory Hall closed) in our schoolrooms. We had stalls of many kinds (I have already mentioned the Women’s Pleasant Hour stalls), Father Christmas selling gifts for the children, refreshments, and
sometimes a children’s fancy dress competition, but never any raffles or games of chance, and no alcoholic
57
drinks for sale. This was a popular local event, but attracted fewer customers after it had to be held in the
schoolrooms, because of our church’s location a long way from the centre of Tiptree.
It is a few years now since we held a bazaar. I don’t think we have held one in our hall, but we have occasionally had a bring and buy stall for church funds at our monthly coffee morning in November.
A few years ago a concert using local talent, some fashion shows and an auction were held to raise money
for our building fund.
Gift days: for a number of years in the 1970s, Jack Wilsher (our choir-master) and the choir-master of
Kelvedon Chapel got together to arrange a choir concert, with performances on autumn Saturday evenings
in each of our churches. In readiness, Jack recruited extra members for our church choir (including myself )
from within and outside the church, and I think the same was done at Kelvedon. After each choir had practised the pieces for a few weeks, we had a final practice together. Tony Percival, a well-known organist in the
Colchester area, was our accompanying organist and also contributed an organ recital to the programme,
which included solos by Jack and other choir members.
In Tiptree no admission charge was made, as the concert was performed as a ‘thank you’ to those who had
responded to our church’s annual gift day appeal, which had previously been sent, together with envelopes,
to church members and friends of our church. The envelopes containing the gifts were received and dedicated during the concert.
After presenting our concert in Tiptree and Kelvedon churches, we were always asked to repeat it in other
churches. We usually went to Southminster and Little Waltham, and once we went to Chappel - Tony Percival’s home church. We enjoyed taking part in these concerts each year, and being invited to give these extra
performances made the efforts of the choir-masters and singers seem really worthwhile.
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Chapter 11
Other Inter-church Joint Activities
When Great Totham URC was grouped with Tiptree and Kelvedon churches, on more than one occasion
our three churches united at Great Totham for a Maundy Thursday simple meal, with Communion served
at the table. On another occasion we were invited to St Luke’s for a meal and Communion, and on yet
another Maundy Thursday the churches of our joint pastorate shared a Passover meal (like that which John
Wood had led previously at our church) at Kelvedon URC, followed by Communion in the church.
To share in a meal similar to that which Jesus shared with his disciples on his last night with them, made
the Communion service seem particularly meaningful.
A Bible Society Tiptree Action Group (originally called an Auxiliary) has existed as far back as I can remember. Certainly it was a flourishing group when I was appointed to represent our church as a member
of it, and it was at that time the first interdenominational group in Tiptree working together for a common
cause. I was appointed secretary of the group in the 1960s, and continued for 44 years until Teresa Henderson took my place. In all those years the small group worked very harmoniously together, and we arranged
and held many fundraising events, which over the years must have raised thousands of pounds for the Bible
Society. Jumble sales were for years the most successful fundraiser, and we also had stalls, games evenings,
a Bible names competition, harvest suppers and harvest lunches, as well as encouraging people to have collecting boxes or to give donations for Bible Society - and to read and study the Bible themselves.
The group still exists - please support their efforts for Bible Society. The funds are as urgently needed now
as ever.
Another ongoing annual event bringing the churches together is the British Legion’s Annual Remembrance Day Parade Service, held in St Luke’s and our church alternately.
In the 1970s an ecumenical group met monthly at St Luke’s church (before their extension was built),
hosted by the then rector, Rev Timothy Thompson, who was very keen on church unity, and did his best
to promote it in Tiptree. We had speakers - I remember a rabbi from a Reformed Jewish synagogue telling us about their faith and practices, and we had a vicar from a charismatic church where there had been
miraculous healings. We visited the Anglican retreat house at Pleshey, and also the convent which was at
that time in Kelvedon, and one of the nuns talked to us about her vocation, saying that she was a ‘nun who
nurses’ and not ‘a nurse who happens also to be a nun’ - and, she said, there was a big difference. I think I
understood what she meant – her religious vocation came first. I can’t remember the subjects of the other
meetings, which continued for some time. All were interesting, and helped to unite the people from the
different churches.
The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity in January has been observed in Tiptree for many years, by each
church and the Orthodox monastery hosting an event.
We also unite for a carol service in Advent, a service on the Women’s World Day of Prayer in March, a
series of Bible studies in Lent, and an act of witness to the shoppers in Church Road on Good Friday.
In the past, some of us have joined with St Luke’s choir to sing Passion music, and also Graham Kendrick’s
‘Make way for Christmas’ and ‘Make way for the cross’.
A Passion Play was once produced and performed in St Luke’s by an ecumenical group of actors from the
local churches. No-one who saw it could forget Harold Kennington’s performance as Satan, from time to
time popping his head up over the edge of the pulpit to say his lines in a diabolical tone. He must have been
so cramped crouching on the pulpit floor all through the play!
59
A few times, people from the churches, mainly St Luke’s and ours, have got together to run children’s holiday bible clubs, with varying degrees of success. The one which had a ‘Scarecrows’ theme attracted a good
number of children.
A few times over the years groups from our church attended Spring Harvest at Minehead and Skegness.
Oasis Christian shop has, over a number of years, done a lot to bring the people from the local churches together, as well as supplying Christian books, cards, and other resources which churches and their members
need, and, as its name implies, providing an ‘oasis’ of peace and refreshments for shoppers. Volunteers from
our church are among the team of voluntary workers who staff the shop, which now caters for customers
who come from quite a wide area, as other Christian shops have had to close.
TYPO (Tiptree Young People’s Outreach), with which our church is involved, is the body responsible for
employing Tiptree’s Christian youth worker, Stuart Keiller, who, since he commenced his employment in
2012, has been doing very good work among the young people of Tiptree, as chaplain in Thurstable School,
and by his involvement in other clubs and sporting activities. An ecumenical youth club named CITY
(Churches in Tiptree Youth) has been started by him, and now meets weekly, bringing the young Christians
together for Bible study and prayer and fun activities, and outings to join other young people at Christian
events.
The Pink Elephants Holiday Bible Club. No one who was a child in Tiptree in the 1970s could fail to
remember these events which took Tiptree by storm for a week each summer for a few years.
With the full cooperation of the local churches, a sizeable group of students from university Christian
Unions descended upon Tiptree and led an exhausting programme of children’s activities which attracted
large numbers of children.
The students had bed-and-breakfast in the homes of members of the local churches, and a rota of volunteers from the churches prepared and served other meals to them throughout the week in our schoolrooms,
which they used as their base.
Daily activities began at 7.00am with games on the Grove Road playing field, where many of the other
activities also took place throughout the day. These included lots of fun activities, interspersed with Bible
teaching and the teaching of Christian action songs. The teenagers, some of whom helped with the children’s activities during the day, had their sessions in the evenings.
As I was working in Colchester every year I could not help or witness all the things that were going on.
But, having heard all about them, one year I came home in time to attend the ‘grand finale’ on the Friday
evening.
60
Scarecrows Holiday Club circa 1990
Hordes of children, all dressed as biblical characters, processed to St Luke’s Church, stopping at intervals
on the way to sing one of the Christian action songs they had been learning. Among the curtain- and tea
towel-clad throng a few with different attire stood out - angels with tinsel-trimmed wings and halos, and a
teenage ‘baby Moses’, wearing a bath towel for a nappy, carrying his mother’s linen basket, suitably trimmed
to represent his floating cradle, and accompanied by his much smaller sister, representing Moses’s sister Miriam. Another bizarre and gruesome one was the boy who had chosen to represent John the Baptist’s severed
head on a charger, his neck suitably surrounded by lashings of tomato sauce.
St Luke’s was packed for the final service with children, team members, parents, helpers and people like
me, curious to share in this unique service. I doubt whether St Luke’s has ever seen the like of that service
again - joyfully noisy - the fitting ending to what must have been for the children an unforgettable week.
Those children are all adults now. Sadly, with so many counter-attractions, holiday Bible clubs don’t hold
the attraction they once had - or perhaps God needs to raise up among us some people with the Christian
enthusiasm of that bunch of students.
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62
Chapter 12
People
Ministers of the Church
George Burchett1728
Samuel Stockell
1729 – 1743
Thomas Catmore
1747 - 1750
Joseph Picknett
1762 - 1780
Morgan Jones
? - 1810
Charles Lowe1808 - 1838
Charles Riggs1840 - 1860
Thomas Sowter1861 - 1870
Henry Hagell1871 - 1886
Edmund Lovell
1886 - 1891
Arthur Cook1893 - 1900
Stanley W Bawtree
1900 - 1906
George F White
1906 - 1915
Walter W. Watts1915 - 1924
Rennie J Brown
1925 - 1939
Thomas W Mason
1939 - 1944
John Harris-Smith
1944 - 1947
Ernest Lawford-Jones
1948 - 1954
John E K Moss
1955 - 1962
Adrian J Wells1964 - 1971
Ronald F C Ruffell
1974 - 1980
Graham N Hallett
1983 - 1987
Samuel Silungwe*1992
C Ruth Haward
1992 – 1994
Audrey M Proffitt
1996 - 2001
Jeremy Priest (non-stipendiary)
1997 - 2010
Harold D Bignell
2002 - 2007
Leonard Phelps (non-stipendiary)
2007 - 2011
Kenneth Thom2012 *Rev Samuel Silungwe
Samuel was a minister from Zambia, who had spent some time in England working alongside ministers in
various churches. For his last six months here we were offered his services, as our pastorate was vacant at the
time. Tiptree and Great Totham churches took up the offer, and he was duly inducted and served our two
churches for six months. Furniture and other living necessities were lent, and he lived first in our Tiptree
manse, later moving to Great Totham so that work could be done on our manse in readiness for the next
minister. During his ministry we learnt a little about the Zambian culture and church life - an interesting
experience. Just before he was due to go back to Zambia we met his wife Evelyn who came over for a holiday, and they travelled back together.
63
People in Memoriam
I have come nearly to the end of my mixture of memories, and I am very conscious that only a few of the
past faithful servants of this church have been mentioned by name. I feel I want to correct this omission,
and have been wondering how to do so. Having searched my memory I have produced a long list of people
remembered personally who once worshipped here and are now enjoying their reward in God’s nearer presence. If you too knew any of these people (or any others that I have omitted, as I am relying on my memory
which may not be totally reliable), I invite you as you read each name, to pause as I am doing, remembering
all that they were and did, and thank God for their lives.
Let’s also, all of us, give thanks for the lives of the many others who, in their time, served God here, whose
names are known only to Him, but whose faith lives on in us. Let’s pray that we may be equally faithful in
passing it on.
Ministers I Remember
TW Mason
J Harris-Smith
E Lawford-Jones
JEK Moss
RFC Ruffell
Other Preachers
G Balls
Rev R Banham
G Barrell
Miss J Humphreys*
A Powell
A Savill
Mrs J Savill
Miss J Savory
A Warren
J Wheatley
Rev J Wood
Church Secretaries
W Hills
G Humphreys
G Balls
Miss J Savory
Musicians
Miss W Arnold: Organ
P Barker: Guitar/Singer
Mrs I French: Organ
P Hardy: Organ
P Humphreys: Guitar
Miss J Humphreys: Piano/Choir
Mrs J Savill: Piano
Mr A Savill: Organ
Mrs F Watts: Piano
J Wheatley: Accordion
J Wilsher: Singer/Choirmaster
Mrs S Wilks: Organ
64
Deacons/Elders
G Balls
P Barker
D Beeton
S Bottoms
E Chaplin (Snr)
A Everitt
F French
Mrs A Harris
W Hills
Miss J Humphreys*
G Humphreys
A Parish
Mrs G Radley
Miss J Savory
J Turner
Mrs Turner
Miss M Warren
G Watts
J Wilsher
E Wilks
F Wilks
Mrs J Wilks
W Wilks
Rev J Wood
Teachers
G Barrell
Mrs Dice
Mrs Everitt
Mrs Fido
Miss G Hilder
P Humphreys
Miss J Humphreys*
Mrs M Ince
Mrs K Mynott
A Powell
Mrs T Powell
F Shead
Mrs J Shead
E Smith
Mrs M smith
C Warren
Miss M Warren
Mrs J Wilks
Mrs S Wilks
Church Treasurers
F French
G Humphreys
D Beeton
Youth Workers
P Barker: Youth Group Leader
Miss J Humphreys: Pilots Leader
Mrs M Moss: Pilots Co-leader
Mrs Mason: GLB Captain
Mrs J Savill: Youth Group Leader
G Watts (Snr): Boys’ Brigade Captain
G Watts (Jnr): Boys’ Brigade Officer
Mrs S Wells: Mothers’ and Toddlers’ Leader
Mrs J Wilks: GLB Captain
*After the death of Mrs Madge Moss, Joan Humphreys became the second wife of Rev. John Moss.
The following also worshipped here, and some helped in a variety of ways eg. as choir members, WPH
members, refreshment helpers, gardening helpers, decorators, group leaders, brigade members, bazaar helpers, cleaners, drivers, sick visitors - or in other ways not mentioned:
Mrs E Ash, Mrs E Barrell, Mrs B Bartholomew, Mrs J Beeton, Mrs E Bell, Mrs L Bottoms, Mr K Bowers,
Mrs E. Campbell, Mrs P Challis, Miss E Chaplin, Mrs M Chenery, Mrs M Day, Mrs J Dellow, Mrs Dice,
Mr and Mrs Everitt (senior), Mr and Mrs L Filmer, Mr and Mrs Fido, Mr Firmin, Mr G Gray, Mrs M
Hall, Miss S Harrington, Mr and Mrs Harrington, Mrs Harris-Smith, Mr L. Harris, Mr and Mrs G Havis,
Mrs Huggins, Mr and Mrs C Hills, Mr C Hull, Mr and Mrs P Hull, Mrs F Humphreys, Miss M Hustler,
Mr and Mrs A Johnson, Mrs Lawford-Jones, Mrs Lawrence, Mrs Manning, Mrs Marchant, Mr D Mason,
Mrs Newman, Mr M. Playle, Mrs E Pudney, Mr and Mrs J Redpath, Mrs R Redpath, Mr and Mrs D
Ravenscroft, Miss B Ravenscroft, Mrs Rawlinson, Mrs L Redgewell, Mrs T. Rowe, Mrs D Ruffell, Miss G
Runacres, Mrs Runnicles, Mrs E Sale, Mrs Searles, Miss O Shead, Mrs Staines, Mrs I Turner, Miss E Warren, Mrs G Watts (senior), Mr L Watts, Mrs Wheatley, Mr, Mrs and Miss White, Mrs Edie Wilks, Mrs Eva
Wilks, Mrs V Whyatt, Mrs J Wood.
Killed in World War II
Derek Mason (Minister’s son)
Colin Hull
Leslie Watts.
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Chapter 13
My Memories of the Past 80 years:
An Overview
Before I began to set my memoirs down on paper, I wrote in my foreword that I hoped to prove that the
statement ‘We are treading where we’ve always trod’ is untrue. I think everything I have written provides
ample proof that at no time during the last 80 years has this church been ‘static’, and anyone with a preconceived idea that church life is dull would have to think again when faced with so much evidence of an
ongoing bustle of activity.
The one thing that has received little mention, though it is the most important of all, is that every Sunday,
throughout all these years and still today, here on this spot hallowed by the prayers of generations of Christians of the past, we meet together as a family of God’s people, redeemed by our Lord Jesus Christ, and
united by our common faith, to express our love to God in prayers and singing, and to listen to the Bible
and to preachers who help us understand it, and here God regularly re-empowers us by His Holy Spirit,
and sends us out to live as His people in a world which seems to be becoming increasingly indifferent and
sometimes hostile to the truth of the gospel.
When viewed in the light of all this, I wonder how God regards all the energy and effort that have been put
into the programme of additional church activities which have gone on throughout the years. Do we have
a faith which really makes a difference to our lives, or is our church simply a place where we enjoy meeting
our friends, just like any social club?
We can only really know the answer to that question after our faith has been put to the test, and over the
years God has certainly tested the faith of our church family, and especially of individual families, including
my own, particularly by a series of early deaths. As a church family we grieved with Janet and George Gray
and their children, Ian and Andrea, over the loss first of baby Gary, aged 20 months, followed later by that
of his twin brother Kevin, a member of our Junior Church, when he was six years old; also for the families
of two other Junior Church members - Duncan Findlay who I think was about eight years old when he
died, and four-year-old Grant Playle killed in a road accident. The real test of faith became personal for me
when our church, and my family in particular, were shaken by the death at the age of 45, after a two-yearlong illness, of my brother-in-law, our church secretary Gordon Humphreys, followed five years later by the
sudden death of his son Peter, aged 16. To my own grief at the loss of my precious only nephew was added
a great surge of love and compassion for Barbara, Marion and Beverley, and a huge question ‘Why?’. Peter
was a committed Christian and a Junior Church teacher, and belonged to our church youth group, and one
of his friends, also a teenager, showing a maturity of faith and discernment beyond her years, wrote a poem
which I feel moved to share here with a prayer that it may be of comfort to anyone else who is living with
that question ‘Why?’ which will never be answered this side of heaven. It reads:
When the Lord called you home on that February day
We were angry and puzzled as to why you went away
When your life was so young; we couldn’t make it out
Why the Lord wanted you. What was it all about?
But when we stop still and think for a bit
We know there’s a purpose; we have to admit
There’s a reason for everything; though we can’t see
Why it had to be you, so young and so free.
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The Lord holds our lives in the palm of His hand;
Not a thing happens to us that He has not planned
Our future and destiny; of this we are sure,
With God in control, who should ask for more?
So because we don’t know what He wants for the rest
We’ll trust and obey Him; He knows what is best;
But we’ll never forget the YOU that we love,
Who’s now living so freely in heaven above.
So God bless you and keep you safe till we meet,
For we’ll all be together one day at Jesus’ feet.
That poem was written mainly to comfort and encourage Peter’s friends in the church youth group, which
at that time was being led by a young elder of this church, Peter Barker, and his wife Lesley. Just a short time
later, our church, the youth group, and especially Lesley and their children Dani and Ellen, suffered another
devastating shock when Peter Barker suddenly died. The question ‘Why?’ loomed large again, for his family,
the youth group and indeed for our whole church.
How did our faith stand up to these hard tests? I cannot answer for other people, though the fact that all
our church life continued undaunted suggests that it did. For myself, all I can say is that at the time when it
might have been hardest for me to hold onto my faith, it was my faith which held onto me. When it could
have been weak, God brought to my mind faith-strengthening words of Scripture, written by Paul (whose
own faith was tested in numerous ways, yet remained firm).
‘He (God)) said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” ‘
(2 Corinthians 12:9)
And from Romans, Chapter 8:
‘And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose...
If God is for us, who can be against us...?
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?... I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels
nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else
in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.’.
And Jesus’s own words:
“In this world you will have trouble, but take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)
At my nephew Peter’s funeral, which I had dreaded, anticipating that it would be a terrible ordeal, we sang
the hymn ‘Fairest Lord Jesus’, one verse of which (poignantly relevant for the occasion) reads:
Fair are the flowers, fairer still the sons of men
In all the freshness of youth arrayed;
Yet is their beauty fading and fleeting;
My Jesus, Thine will never fade.
(From Congregational Praise No 175)
I was able to sing those words with deep conviction, knowing them to be true. God seemed to be saying “All
is well - just trust me”, and I knew my faith had passed the test.
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As well as God’s comfort, we felt uplifted and supported by the love and prayers of friends, particularly our
Christian friends in this church and St Luke’s (our mother’s church). Never has the support of the Christian
community of Tiptree meant so much as at times of bereavement. I just hope and pray that the same was
so for other bereaved families.
While writing this I have been struggling to explain how it is that my faith, far from being weakened by
having been put to the test, is now firmer and stronger than before, but I can’t explain it in words - I just
know it to be true. In this world I shall never know the answer to that question ‘Why?’, but it seems less
important now. Only God knows, and I’m content to leave the answer with him.
This church is a community of faith, and I am sure that I am not the only person who has found here the
spiritual strength needed to cope with all the ups and downs of everyday life, and to withstand life’s hard
blows; but it’s not just in the bad times that we need God. My faith, and belonging to this church, has given
me a deep-down joy and satisfaction for which I want to thank God, and thank those of you who are its
present-day members.
I wish I could report that during my lifetime this church had experienced a great spiritual awakening like
that which occurred in 1862. Sadly that has not been so, but over the years many people have found here a
faith to live by, some have found healing of body or of damaged emotions, and I like to believe that many
have found within our church a family.
It would have been good to be able to leave my narrative there, but honesty compels me to mention that
twice in my lifetime, in the 1980s and again in the 1990s our church fellowship was torn apart by disunity
and division. In the 1990s, when peace and harmony gave way to anger, well-intentioned actions were misunderstood, hurtful words spoken, and some dear friends and fellow workers departed, our church was left,
humanly speaking, at a low ebb. For me, the loss of those people felt like another bereavement, the pain of
which I still feel acutely, although in the intervening years a lot of healing has since taken place. How much
greater must be the pain in the heart of God when His church is split apart! Like the psalmists, we cried
out to God in our distress. Lacking people to take on positions of leadership, I am sure everyone left in our
church was praying for God’s help. At that time, three of us met weekly to pray for our church, and our
prayer was specific and urgent - that God would direct into it some committed Christians with experience
and gifts of leadership, and some with musical ability.
God began to answer our prayers very soon, and has been doing so ever since, enriching and strengthening
our fellowship by the addition of some lovely Christian people, whom I now count as friends. If you are
one of those people, who perhaps did not even know how it was you came to live locally and be part of this
particular church, I want to thank you now for being God’s answer to our urgent prayers, and to thank God
for you.
Thus God has been building His church here for 350 years. From the days of those pioneers who were prepared to face death rather than disobey their conscience, and through the ages to the present day folk have
worshipped Jesus here, who is the same yesterday, today and forever.
I hope that my ‘mixed memories’ have presented a fairly accurate picture of the last 80 years of our church’s
life - ‘warts and all’.
My last words must be ones of gratitude to Him for His never-failing LOVE, His FORGIVENESS of my
many failures, His enduring PATIENCE, and all the JOY I have known in my life.
I am glad that He has allowed me to live to finish this. God, who has blessed this church throughout its long
history, will continue to do so as we enter the unknown future. TO HIM BE GLORY FOREVER!
Peggy May 2014
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OUR FATHER, BY WHOSE SERVANTS OUR HOUSE WAS BUILT OF OLD
WHOSE HAND HATH CROWNED HER CHILDREN WITH BLESSINGS MANIFOLD,
FOR THINE UNFAILING MERCIES FAR-STREWN ALONG OUR WAY,
WITH ALL WHO PASSED BEFORE US, WE PRAISE THY NAME TODAY.
THE CHANGING YEARS UNRESTING THEIR SILENT COURSE HAVE SPED,
NEW COMRADES EVER BRINGING IN COMRADES’ STEPS TO TREAD;
AND SOME ARE LONG-FORGOTTEN, LONG SPENT THEIR HOPES AND FEARS;
SAFE REST THEY IN THY KEEPING, WHO CHANGEST NOT WITH YEARS.
THEY REAP NOT WHERE THEY LABOURED; WE REAP WHAT THEY HAVE SOWN;
OUR HARVEST MAY BE GARNERED BY AGES YET UNKNOWN.
THE DAYS OF OLD HAVE DOWERED US WITH GIFTS BEYOND ALL PRAISE;
OUR FATHER MAKE US FAITHFUL TO SERVE THE COMING DAYS.
BEFORE US AND BESIDE US, STILL HOLDEN IN THINE HAND,
A CLOUD UNSEEN OF WITNESS, OUR ELDER COMRADES STAND;
ONE FAMILY UNBROKEN, WE JOIN WITH ONE ACCLAIM,
ONE HEART, ONE VOICE UPLIFTING, TO GLORIFY THY NAME.
George Wallace Briggs
(From Congregational Praise No 665)
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Appendix
Body Building
Among papers I have kept I found this draft of a leaflet about an exercise which our church undertook in, I
believe, the 1980s when I was a serving elder. Did we all take up weight lifting or, like Popeye, go on a diet
of spinach to build up our biceps? No, this exercise was aimed at strengthening our church. I think the best
thing I can do is copy the self-explanatory leaflet which was sent out to everyone in our congregation at that
time, together with a slip for them to sign if they were willing to be interviewed.
I think everyone co-operated, and over the next few months the team of volunteers visited them, by appointment, and chatted to those who had agreed to be interviewed. I I haven’t a copy of the questionnaire
we completed, but we were amazed at how much previously unknown information we discovered about
people’s natural aptitudes and acquired skills, their interests, experience, and in some cases, jobs they had
done in previous churches they had belonged to.
It helped us to compile an inventory of the body parts which together formed this church at that time, and
helped each person recognise how they fitted in and could use their own strengths to build up the body of
our church.
A long time has passed, and we now have different people in our church, so maybe it would be useful to
repeat our bodybuilding exercise from time to time. Why not now?
Body Building - Which part of the body are you?
Here are some verses written by Paul about the church as a body:
The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts... So it is with
Christ. For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body.... If the
foot should say ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,
it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body... God has
arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted
them to be. If they were all one part, where would the body be?... The
eye cannot say to the hand ‘I don’t need you’ and the head cannot say
to the feet ‘I don’t need you’... God has combined the members of the
body, and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that
there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have
equal concern for each other. If one part suffers, every part suffers with
it; if any part is honoured, every part rejoices with it. Now you are the
body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
(I Corinthians, Chapter 12).
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your
bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God - which is your
spiritual worship... Just as each of us has one body with many members, and those members do not all have the same function, so in
Christ, we who are many form one body, and each member belongs
to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given
to us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith; if it is serving, let him serve;
if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of
others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently, if it is showing mercy, let him
do it cheerfully.
(Romans, Chapter 12)
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Q. Body Building – what is it?
A. It is the title that has been chosen for an exercise with the aim of helping the church to make full use of
the talents and resources of its members, and the members to use their gifts in the service of God, and other
people.
Q. Why is it called Body Building?
A. The verses printed on the back of this leaflet, taken from Paul’s epistle to the churches at Corinth and
Rome, will explain. They are well known, but it would be good to read them, or the whole chapters from
which they are taken, again, and think about them as they apply to the people who make up this local fellowship, or, as Paul describes it, body.
Q. What does Body Building entail, and shall I be involved?
A. In the near future we hope that you will agree to be visited for a friendly chat. The visitors will ask you
some questions about the things you feel you do best, and any particular jobs you do, or feel you could do,
to help in the church or in the community. You will also have an opportunity to offer comments or suggestions, to ask questions, and to say if there is anything you feel the church could do for you.
Q. Maybe you’re thinking, I’ve been a church worker for years, and don’t feel there is anything more that I
could do. I don’t need to take part in Body Building, do I?
A. You don’t have to, though we hope you will. We do appreciate the faithful service of many people, and
if you are already fully committed you will not be expected to take on extra work. Your faithfulness is an
example for which we thank God, and it would be a pity if it did not receive a mention in the Body Building
survey records.
Q. Or possibly your reaction is, I’m just an ordinary person, not clever at anything. There’s nothing I can
do, is there?
A. Everyone can do something! Jesus has always used ordinary people like us to help with his work - fisherman, tax collectors, housewives, even children - think of the boy with the loaves and fishes! The parable of
the talents reminds us that we are not equally gifted. All that is required of us is that we make the best use of
the abilities that we have been given. You may be surprised to discover how many things you can do - here
are just a few of the many things we have thought of: cake making; sick visiting; transporting people to
church; serving meals; grass cutting; painting and decorating. You may also be able to help by lending tools
or equipment when required - that’s why we would like to know if you own certain items of equipment.
Or you may be willing to offer hospitality to a visiting preacher, or for a meeting to be held at your home.
There are so many ways of helping, and you may even think of something we haven’t listed!
Q. Will everything I say be written down?
A. Your visitors will have a questionnaire which they will ask you to help them complete, but if you wish
anything you say to remain confidential, and say so, your wish will be respected.
Q. What will happen to the information after the survey has been completed?
A. It will be collated and stored so that whenever anyone is needed for a particular job it will be easy to
find out who has volunteered. For instance, if someone needed transport to hospital, we could soon contact
someone who had offered to provide it. The same applies to any other job - even if your help is not needed
immediately, the important thing is that we will know who to contact when the need arises. On the other
hand, there may be a job that is waiting to be done by you right now.
Q. Is there any other way I can help?
A. Yes, there certainly is. It is most important of all, and it is something that everyone can do, and we hope
you will. To function properly the parts of the body must be under control. Likewise, we who form the body
of this church must be controlled by the Holy Spirit. Will you therefore please pray, firstly that anyone who
is unsure of his or her part in the body may be helped through Body Building to find it, particularly if that
person happens to be you? Secondly, will you also pray that Body Building may live up to its name by being
a means of strengthening and enriching the lives of this fellowship, and of each member?
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With grateful thanks to Tessa, Beverley and Stephen,
without whose help my writings and pictures would
never have been printed and bound.
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