A CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH ZEPtLIN RAID

Grey River Argus, 12 April 1916, Page 2

A CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH ZEPtLIN RAID

DEMOLISHED. The Congregational Church at was demolished by a bomb thrown by' the Zeppelin raiders who flew over the ' Midlands early in February. The fine! building is now in ruins. The minister of the church gives the following description of the occurrence: — "I had just, left a meeting of our Junior Missionary League at 7.50 and was walking towards the Presbyterian Church to keep a lecturing engagement, when I heard an explosion in the distance. That it should be a bomb from a hostile airship never occurred to me, and I walked on and gave my lecture. I was just finishing when some of my own young men rushed in and told me our church was in ruins. It was too true. The havoc was past all description. The roof being thrown in all directions as if was gone, the principals supporting it whole place was torn and twisted in they had been pieces of firewood. The the most grotesque fashion. The organ was shattered. The windows (some of them' valuable stained glass windows) were completely gone. The front of. the church had been hurled forward in a deplorable heap of debris, while all ' round the great stone pinnacles had buried themselves in the paths. "At the moment that the bomb dropped on the roof — exactly eight o'clock—our Primary Leader was just opening her Teachers' Preparation Class in the Church Parlour, about 20 young teachers being present. She from the roof, and hmh kfig kfikqq tell? me that she saw something fall terrific crash. The girls started off down the passage and encountered some fallen timber. This delayed their escape for a moment or two, and probably saved them from being buried under the falling masonry." "There is no doubt the bomb was meant for the. hospital, 50 yards behind our church. The Germans would see the lights flaring out for a long distance and think ilve building a large factory. As it was they dropped an incendiary bomb in the quadrangle, which was soon extinguished by some wounded soldiers. It is difficult to estimate the full extent of our damage. If the walls will stand we will get off for £3000, but if not.it will be nearer to £7090. We were not insured against hostile aircraft. And, indeed, very few people were in this unproclaimed area."