CHRISTCHURCH CELEBRATION

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26528, 17 September 1951, Page 6

CHRISTCHURCH CELEBRATION

MEMORIAL SERVICE IN CATHEDRAL

A service in the Christchurch Cathedral yesterday afternoon to commemorate the Battle of Britain was attended by personnel from the Royal New Zealand Air Force stations at Wigram and Weedons, members of the Territorial .Air Force, Southern Reserve Wing, the Air Training Corps, former Air Force personnel, and members of the public, including the Mayor (Mr R. M. Macfarlane, M.P.) and the Town Clerk (Mr H. S. Feast). The service was conducted by the Rev. K. Schollar. chaplain at Wigram, and the preacher was Archdeacon W. T. Williams, M.8.E., Vicar of Avonside. . The theme of Archdeacon Williams s address was that the men who flew the fighters in the Battle of Britain had a faith in the righteousness of their cause and that those in the Air Force to-day could best honour their memory by winning ar.d possessing faith in God and Jesus Christ and in His church in the battle between Christian and anti-Christian forces. Group Captain A. B. Greenaway, 0.8. E., the commanding officer at Wigram, read the lesson. After the service Group Captain Greenaway, the president ot the Christchurch Returned Services’ Association (Mr P. V. H. Maxwell) and a representative of the Christchurch branch of the Air Force Association laid wreaths on the War Memorial, while aircraft flew overhead. Yesterday morning a full station church parade was held at Wigram.