IN LOVING MEMORY

Franklin Times, Volume XVII, Issue 73, 29 June 1927, Page 4

IN LOVING MEMORY

MEMORIAL TABLET UNVEILED. AT ST. JAMES’ CHURCH. In spite of the inclemency of tin', weather on last Sunday evening, a congregation that filled the building assembled’ in St. James’ Church. The purpose of the occasion" was the unveiling of a memorial tablet- erected to perpetuate the memory of the men of the parish who had paid the supreme sacrifice in the Great War. The Rev. A. MacDonald, 0.8. E., C.F., occupied the pulpit. The service opened with the National Anthem. The lesson was taken, from the Book of Ecclesiasticus, chapter xliv. Suitable hymns were sung, including “For all the Saints,” “0 God of Bethel,” and “Now the labourer’s task is o’er.” The Rev. A. MacDonald, taking for his text Exodus xxvii., 20,/preached an eloquent sermon, during which he related many of his experiences with the lads, both in the trenches and in the hospitals. Tllte address, which was full of sentiment and pathos, will be long remembered by all who had the privilege of listening to it. The choir, whose numbers had been reduced owing to the prevalence of sickness in the district, rendered with fine expression and appropriate sympathy the anthem “Who are these in white robes?”

After the sermon, Mr. MacDonald called upon the Rev. S. Nixon to relate the steps leading up to the unveiling of the tablet., Mr. Nixon mentioned that in 1917 a roll of honour had been unveiled, but .it was only a temporary measure, as they had looked forward to a more permanent memorial. He spoke, of the men who, many of them born in (heir community, and having been scholars in the Sunday school and members of Bible classes, went out bravely to die that we might live in freedom and in peace.

Mr. Nixon then called upon Mrs Watkin Robinson, of Pukekohe East, to unveil the memorial. Mr. Nixon mentioned that during the Maori War the late Mr. Gomrie, Mrs. Robinson’s father, took an active part in the defence of the little Presbyterian church in Pukekohe East.,. Mrs. Robinson could remember, though' only a girl at the time, many, pi the incidents of. those thrilling days. During the intervening years she and her family had; rendered signal service to community . in the gpod. work which she, biter! had carried on in 1 the * how historic little church. ' : Like •many pt our brave mothers, when the bill' came, she willingly gave two Of her : sons to the Empire, t one of whose names appears on the memorial she was about to unveil. , , Mrs. Robinson then drew aside tlie. Covering’ flag with these words: “To ' tlie Glory of God and to the sacred, memory of the men who laid down ! their lives) for home and country in the Grbat War, I now unveil this me- , morial tablet." t