Old Parish Magazines

of St James A. & M.

Issue No 

BAPTISMS
"Suffer the little children to come unto Me, and forbid them not: for of such is the Kingdom of God."-S. MARK, x, 14.

June 9- Alice, daughter of Edward and Susannah Elizabeth Saturley , Bream's Woodside, carpenter.
June 9 - Atlay Lilian, daughter of Henry and Eliza Preest, Mill Hill, collier.
June 19- Evelyn Gertrude, daughter of Henry and Harriet Carter, Bream's Meend, labourer (private).
June 24 - William, son or Cornelius and Rose ???????, Bream, show proprietor.

BURIALS
"Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come."- HEB., 13; 14

June 13 - Thomas Batten, Sun Green, Bream, aged 75 years.
June 17 - Richard Phipps, Pillowell, aged 78 years
June 17 - Arthur Morse, Bream's Eaves, aged 21 days.

SPECIAL NOTICES
July 25-Feast of S. James the Apostle. 7 a.m., Holy Communion. 11 a.m., Morning Prayer and Litany. 7 p.m., Evening Service, The Vicar has pleasure in inviting parishioners-especially those who are Communicants, or Churchworkers, or who are interested in Home and Foreign Missions- to tea in the Vicarage garden at 5 o'clock, and he begs that all will kindly understand that it is difficult for him to send a special letter of invitation to and will feel that they individually will be welcomed as though separately invited. As usual, there will be a collection; at least opportunities will be given for making offerings, either in Church alone or both in Church and at the Vicarage. The offerings throughout the day will be given to the great Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign parts, which has now entered upon the 200th year of its history.

PARISH CLERK AND SEXTON.
The Vicar, having, undoubted right of appointment to both these offices as incumbent of a new parish, wishes it to be known that he has appointed George Thomas Batten parish clerk and sexton of Bream, in his father, Thomas Batten's place.

OBITUARY
On Trinity Monday, June 11th, Thomas Batten, our parish clerk and sexton departed this life after a very short illness. He made his last Communion at the Parish Church on Whit Sunday, and was well enough to take a leading part at the S. James Sick and Burial Society's feast on the following day. On the Wednesday he had intended being present at the School bazaar but was not well enough to do so, and grew worse until the Monday following when the spirit left his body. His mortal remains were laid to rest in the ????? ….. the Vicar, assisted by the Rev. H. E. Dandy ???? …. followed by many friends and sympathisers ???? ….. house to the churchyard gate by the Churchwarden and Sidesmen and met there by the Clergy and full choir, who preceded it into the church while the organist (Mr. J. Kidson) played " O rest in the Lord." Hymn 401, " Now the labourer's task is o'er", was sung after the Lesson, and then the mournful procession again wended its way to the graveside, the organist playing the " Dead March".
On Sunday morning, June 17th, the Vicar, in his sermon, spoke most feelingly of the loss sustained to the Church and the village by the decease of our old friend. We quote from the sermon as follows ;- " As we knelt together on Whit-Sunday morning at the Holy Table of the Lord, which of us imagined it likely to prove the last Communion of him who was our eldest, our father of the laity of the parish?. Or when we saw him apparently so hale and hearty at our Whit-Monday gathering at the Schools, which of, us thought that within one week he would have passed for ever into unseen worlds?. "There are many in Bream who feel a sense of loss today when they think that Thomas Batten will never more be seen in Church or Churchyard here. It is as though some old familiar landmark had been swept away, and men in years to come will date events from this. For Thomas Batten has been for years the best known figure in the place, a man of honour and integrity. To myself he has been a trustworthy and a trusted counsellor, and if ever he and I have differed in opinion our mutual esteem for one another has still remained intact. We always told each other clearly what we thought, and this plan, I think, tended to the increase rather than the diminishing of the affectionate nature of our friendship.
" Let me lay before you some facts which will show the grasp that Thomas Batten had upon the history of this Church and parish, and made him so trustworthy a guide.
" Born 75 years ago, in 1824, he might have witnessed, as an infant the consecration of the Chapel of S. James, after its restoration Henry Poole. In those days his grandfather Thomas Batten was chapel clerk and sexton, to which office he was appointed in 1791. In this double office his grandfather Thomas was succeeded in 1833 by his father, George, and Thomas Batten himself succeeded his father, George, in 1847, 53 years ago. The three generations of the family have therefore, occupied the same position in Bream for nine years over the century. Then for Thomas Batten himself. He was in office seven years before John Baverstock was made first Vicar of Bream, when Bream was made a separate parish in 1854. He has witnessed the admission of five Vicars into this Church.
" Thomas Batten was a man of good business habits and capacity, true and just. I cannot remember his ever speaking unkindly of anyone. He was justly respected in the parish, and reverenced and loved in his own family. And on his death-bed it was as a penitent sinner that he looked for salvation through the Saviour's merits only.
" The place of such a man, my brethren, will not easily be filled, and I should like to say today that in my opinion some lasting monument to his memory should be placed in this church, where he served and worshipped so faithfully and so long. It is well that we should be reminded often in this way of the dignity of service -of the great dignity of Service In God's House.
" In addition to the facts mentioned above it may be added that Thomas Batten was Lay Representative of the parish on, the Ruri-Decanal Conference for 15 years from 1872 to 1886, and a Sidesmen of the Church for 10 years from 1886 to 1895. For many years he was also the Secretary of the S. James' Sick and Burial Society, and a member of the Flower Show Committee.

SCHOOL BAZAAR
The Bazaar was held according to notice on Wednesday and Thursday, June 6th and 7th, but it was, for many reasons, not so successful as we had hoped it might have been, and it was certainly not supported as it ought to have been by the parents of the children who attend the School. We missed also Sir James Campbell, who was unable to attend. The Vicar wishes to express his sincere thanks to all workers and stall holders, especially to Miss Baynes and Miss Eyre (dramatis) and Miss Sims (grammaphone), who came as helpers from outside the parish, and to Mr. Mullan, who took great trouble in organising and arranging things, The following summary of the receipts at the Sale may be taken as accurate as far as it goes, but the expenses are not know, and it is possible some more small sums of money may come in:-