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Alice
When the children were quite young, a lady pastoral missionary called at the house to discuss religion and churchgoing with Eileen. As a result we both thought it a good idea to let the children go to Sunday School. We sent them to a Scottish Presbyterian church where they continued to attend for a little while. Eileen and I never actually went into the church services at any time, although we did attend some of the social functions.
Again our visitor called, and it then became obvious that we had become involved with the wrong church. She represented the Seacombe Congregational Church. The children were switched; Eileen got herself involved, and I myself began to attend occasionally. The minister in charge was a Miss Platts, and we were promptly and firmly informed that it was considered infra-dig to address her by her Christian name of Alice but because she had a younger ward with her named Margaret Platts, to avoid confusion we tended to refer to the minister as Alice behind her back. However, Alice did her work well and finally persuaded me to become a church member along with Eileen.
The ceremony was timed for Easter Sunday, 1953, but because my commitments to the house building group began that same weekend, I made history by joining the Congregational Faith on the understanding that after my initiation I would never attend church on a Sunday. Alice, however, was nothing if not determined. The church calendar was adjusted to accommodate a short evening service each Tuesday, my only free evening.
Later that summer a holiday camp was organised in conjunction with the Berkeley Street Congregational Church in Liverpool. I was persuaded to join in and off we all went by private coach to Barnston Dale. On arrival I discovered that, apart from myself, the brothers Cook were the only males. John Cook, the elder of the two, was a minister in his own right and a bachelor. Jim, the younger was more down to earth, but his wife Alma, although very genuine and a hard worker for the church, did like to dominate Alice. ``Alice and I'' ``I always call her Alice, you know''. And so on. I thereupon decided that the building of the houses took priority and left Eileen in charge of the children on the Monday morning. I think the neighbours fed me for the rest of the week. Early the following year we moved into our new house in Leasowe. Number 282 Twickenham Drive. The house still lacked a lot of outside completion work and we arrived with our furniture as the building inspector was smoking the drains. What we should have done if the Certificate of Habitation had not been granted I shudder to think. However, all the ladies of the church, including Alice, rolled up to scrub, dust and polish. They were a grand lot.
During that summer Eileen and the children went with Alice and the rest of the church group to Ffestiniiog Youth Hostel. The weather was dreadful. Alice broke her leg and everybody had a wonderful time. Of course, being in a new house, Eileen took the only back-door key with her as well as her front door one. I was working on the site alongside the full group since we had agreed to put in a week of our holidays into the houses together. I wore my wellington boots and was obliged to use the front door every time I went in or out across the bog that was to become our front lawn. When Eileen returned she put in another week cleaning the new carpet on the hall and stairs.
By 1955 the building group agreed that whether or not we put in a holiday on the site, every man should have one week's rest. The church decided to organise a holiday in Llangollen and we booked a large white house overlooking the park and the river with a splendid view of Eglwyseg mountain and Castell Dinas Bran. We all travelled by train from Seacombe to Llangollen and took with us a Mrs Shirley of Berkeley Street as cook. All the children had daily jobs to help with the housework. Eileen and I organised the walks each day and we all had a pleasant, if energetic week.
Just before this holiday Alice had accepted an invitation to preach at some other churches, but it was when we returned that she dropped her bombshell. She was leaving us. Alice had accepted a calling from a church in Hinckley, near Leicester and was to be inducted there within weeks. A bus trip was organised and about thirty of us drove down to see our dear Alice take over her new congregation. We wished her well and sadly returned home.
After months without a minister we accepted an offer from the reverend Clifford Vincent to act as our interim moderator. We bravely organised another camp at Llangollen for the following year. This time there were four men, Jim Cook, (his brother, the reverend John, had by this time died in a diabetic coma) Emlyn Jones, Owen Davies and myself. However, just before plans were completed we were fortunate to secure the services of a very Welsh minister, the Reverend Bowen. I say fortunate as a matter of form. We bought a house in Birnam Road to adapt as a manse and the men of the church fitted it out. I rewired the electrical installations and fitted power sockets everywhere. The Reverend Bowen quickly emptied the church. Eileen and I attended one of his bible classes and he read incessantly. At a convenient pause for breath I asked what a certain expression meant. He put down his Bible, cleared his throat, folded his arms, and then explained that he did not wish to be interrupted during the lesson. This was not for us.
The holidays plans were completed but he did not wish to come with us. However, his teenage daughter Sally did come with us and she certainly quite enjoyed herself.
The church, which Alice had worked so hard to rebuild, was now doomed. The congregation dwindled, the debts piled up, and finally the Reverend Bowen was forced to find another living outside of his church. Very quickly the building fell into decay, was demolished, and the site cleared and occupied by a petrol filling station.
We see Alice every once in a while, and still find her company spiritually uplifting.
Next: Industrial Change Up: The diary of a Previous: Reflections on Building a Contents Index Ben Staniford 2006-03-29