JUBILEE SERVICE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume XLV, Issue 10386, 4 May 1925, Page 8

JUBILEE SERVICE.

METHODIST SUNDAY SCHOOL. SCHOLARS TAKE PART. A special jubilee and thanksgiving service in connection with the Baring Square Sunday School was held in the church yesterday afternoon. I here, was a large attendance of scholars and teachers. The Rev. T. W. Vealie presided. , ~ On the platform were representatives of the early days of the school's history, Messrs G. W. Andrews F. H. Steel, W. D. Beaumont, A. H. Vesty, M Priest, Mesdames W. H. Collins, W. D. Beaumont, P. Dixon, G. W. Andrews, Misses Andrews (3) and Moody. ... , The proceedings opened with the singing of the hymn " Summer Suns are Glowing," Miss D. Higgins presiding at the piano. Mr C. F. Hornll led in prayer, and Winston torbett read the lesson (Psalm 146). Mr Vealie, on behalf of the Sunday School, accorded a hearty welcome to the past officials. He asked a number of the scholars to present the ladies with a bouquet of flowers and the gentlemen with a buttonhole. The collection was taken up by Minnie Moses, Rona Armstrong, Ernest Beauvais, and Percy Dixon, grandchildren of the early officials and teachers. , . .. Mr G. W. Andrews spoke of the . progress of the school, and impressed upon all the children to keep in touch with the work of the Sunday School and church, and cherish its teaching and to strive for its ideals. Mr F. H. Steel, the school's first secretary, mentioned that very many of the scholars who had passed through the Sunday School were now occupying high positions of trust in various parts of New Zealand. Tbje lessons they had learned as scholars, and the characters formed, had merited the respect and confidence of their fellow-citizens. He urged the children to be loyal to the high ideals that had been set before them. Mr W. D. Beaumont referred to the fact that he was the oldest male scholar present, and spoke of the advance made since his first experience as a Sunday School scholar, when \ B C classes were provided for. He recalled that ten years after the establishment of the first Sunday school in Britain, in 1780, by Robert Raikes, 300,000 scholars were numbered on the roll- v u Mr Priest (now of Pareora) who was superintendent of the school 29 years aco, stressed the importance and value of the Sunday school as a force for the upbuilding of,. Christian character. Specially chosen hymns were heartily sung. The pleasant and auspicious ■occasion in the history of the school was brought to a close by the pronouncing of the Benediction by Mr Vealie.