TOO FEW MARRIAGES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20384, 12 October 1929, Page 3 (Supplement)

TOO FEW MARRIAGES.

VICAR'S WEDDING CRUSADE.

The vicar of Williugham, Lincolnshire, Rev. T. Walkinson, is alarmed. The young members of his flock, lie says, are not the marrying sort. Apparently they never have been,-because the church register shows an average of less than two marriages a year since tho register was opened in 1329. Something had to be done, and Mr, Malkinson has done it. He has offered as an inducement to devote half the funds of his parish, magazine to'the provision of wedding presents for parishioners who marry bcfoie tiie end of tTlis year. , Marriage in Willingham during the past six years has definitely declined. Last year there was only one wedding.' The rector's explanations is that Willingham is such a delightful place that, as soon as there is a house to let, it is taken up bv some elderly couple from a neighbouring village, " and; in consequence," he says, " our juvenile life shows a marked decline. Our day school has decreased in numbers from 100 to 30, and our Sunday school from 50 to 20. My choir boys.were onco a dozen; now they ate" three. ' " It is a village of elders," the rector concluded • despondently