Redgrave Mission Room By Jean Sheehan |
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| The All Saints Church, Redgrave, formerly The Mission
Room, will be consecrated on September 7th by the Right Revd. Bishop
Nigel Stock, the new Bishop of St. Edmundsbury and Ipswich. I recently
found the following article in part of an old Hartismere Deanery
Magazine, date unknown, but probably November 1897, which I thought was
appropriate for this occasion. The Annual Meeting for Foreign Mission will be held at 'the Mission Room' Redgrave on Thursday Nov. 25th. A Deputation from the Parent Society will be present and give an address. Meeting to commence at 7.30 p.m. An American Organ was provided for 'the Mission Room', but as Mr. Pursehouse did not find it powerful enough for the room, a more powerful instrument has been procured – this entails an extra cost of some £5 – which must be paid before the end of the year as all previous funds have been exhausted. The lamps and the chairs are paid for – and for the furnishing of the room at present there only remains this debt of £5. The Mission Room was actually first used on August 8th, 1897 (before it was fully finished) for 2 classes of the Sunday School. This was the ‘first time’ that 'prayer and praise' was offered to God in this room, and therefore the Rector wishes to record the fact. The names of those present on this first occasion are therefore given that they may be preserved: Louisa Buck, Edith Day, Annie Kemp, Lilian Orves, May Potter, Dulcie Reynolds, Leonard Kemp, Victor Orves, Reginald Payne, Paul Potter, Charles Reynolds and John Rolfe Reynolds – twelve children in the two classes, 6 girls and six boys. There were also two Teachers present, namely Agnes Sterry and Bertha Pawsey. The Rector was also present and opened the room with prayer. The first hymn sung in the Room was this one commencing “We are but little children weak”. The Rector notes these facts as, in years to come, it may be instructive to recall who were present on this first occasion. The other classes of the Sunday School were at that time held in the National School-room and at Mr. David Flatman’s, Fen Street. The first ‘Service’ held was, as stated in a previous Magazine, the Children’s Service on the afternoon of September 12th, five weeks after it had been first used for Sunday School purposes. We believe Mr. Pursehouse is about to arrange for a concert, or concerts, towards raising the amount to pay off the debt on the new organ at 'the Mission Room'. The Rector at this time was the Rev. Thomas Holt Wilson, who built the Mission Room. He was the second son of Thomas Daniel Holt Wilson, rector of Redgrave, and was born in Hinderclay in 1843, his grandfather was George Wilson Esq. of Redgrave Hall. Thomas was Rector of Redgrave from 1881 until 1904 and then Rector of Brayesworth (sic) until 1907, as well as Rural Dean of Hartismere from 1893-1897, of South Hartismere from 1897-1904, and North and South Hartismere from 1904-1907. Emily, his first wife, died in 1880 after ten years of marriage, leaving three children. Alice was his second wife whom he married in 1882, but she only lived about six months after the wedding and died in 1883. Mary was his third wife whom he married in 1890 and she had five children. The Rev. Thomas Holt Wilson sailed for Canada in 1911, to settle two of his sons into farms, and for his younger children to be educated in Canada, but two months later he died suddenly in Toronto, probably of a heart attack, aged 68. |
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| © Jean Sheehan, Redgrave Parish Magazine, August 2008. | |||