FIFTY YEARS' WORK

Evening Post, Volume CVI, Issue 116, 13 November 1923, Page 5

FIFTY YEARS' WORK

TRINITY METHODIST SUNDAY SCHOOL.

A record of fifty years of good work among children now stands to the credit of the-Trinity Methodist Sunday School, WeUington South, the school jubilee and anniversary being celebrated by special services m Trinity Church on Sunday. It was m 1373 that the school, then known as the Adelaide Road Sabbath School, commenced operations with a membership of it . scholars. In tjie following yoar the roll number was more thau trebled and since then the Trinity School has made steady process, now having a main roll of 307, with infant and primary departments and Bible clases. In 1876, accordJnK an interesting history of the Sunday fachool s growth, the joint committee from the Adelaide road and Manners street churches agreed 'to an opinion that the school had earned the right to self-government. In the following year further important progress was made, the church removing from Adelaide road to its present site at the junction of Riddii, ,street and Rintoul street. Later the old church became the Sunday School, and with additions and improvements to meet the march of progress it remains us such to-day. Through all the fifty years successive ministers, teachers, and officers have played .a part in demonstrating the good involved in the faithful teaching of thousands of Fcholars who* have passed ■™ iUK'?. 'the scn°ol- "To-day Trinity sJWeUionist ..Sunday School sta.,ds as a memorial to the unfailing Christian courage and untiring efforts of the early Pionoers of the Church," says "A.E.P.," in _ a review, of tho activities which is being presented at the calehrations. The \F i.t Upel'intendent of tlle school was M ni 1' Jamps, and the first secretary, The special feature of the sen-ices hold on Sunday was the singing by the scholars and the choir, the excellence of which reflected much credit on the', work of Mr. 7C' i Crewes > conductor, in. preparing the scholars for the occasion. The voices blended well, and pleasing effect was given by using sections of the voices in parts, oplos and duets were also contributed. Large congregations at each service were uelighted with the singing. Miss L. E. lhawley presided at the organ. Solos Sir,.- ,?$ s were sun S t>7 Misses Mardell (2), O. Chappie, I. Bailey, Webb, H. Roberts, M'Lelland, and Barlow; Messrs. Martin and S. Sniith, and Masters Pritchard and Denby. lhe speakers were the Rev. J. F. Martin (morning service), Miss Boxall (afternoon), and the Rev. E. Drake (evening). . . ■ ■ , „ "Thb Healing of the Waters" (Kings n, chapter 2, vorses 19 to 22) was the subject of the Rev. E. Drake's acMreKs.at the evening service; The speaker referred to present-day healing and that of 2500 yeare ago, an Old-World story, fraught with im: mense meaning for today. Through the ground becoming barren human life had been endangered, and, in response to an appeal, Ehsha had gone to the Spring of Naught and cast in salt. That made the subject suitable for tho present occasion—the celebration of the. jubilee and anniversary of the Sunday School, Armistice Day, and World's Temperance Sunday (a subject of., vital*importance to parents and children). Armistice Day gave a reminder that the horrible war was ' made possible through social and national degenerdcy in all civilised countries. Especially was the war due to the fact that the children of Germany had been.trained for a, generation in the psychology of hate. The only cure for such a temper, said the speaker, was the inflow of the Grace of God into the springs' of life. It was pointed out by Mr. Drake that the moral arid spiritual well-being of the child, cultivated by the Sunday school, was on the spiritual plane as important as the work of the Plunket Society on the physical plane. "Given a generation imbued with the futility and inhumanity, of modern welfare, the way was open for a warless world.' The speaker also referred to the drink' question and its effect upon the' home. He pointed: but- that 1-the child was necessary to the continuity of the Church, and he made an appeal to consecration to< the work of the' Sunday school with a view, to good citizenship and a help to immortal life. • The celebrations are to be continued this evening and on_,Sunday. next.