ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH

Southland Times, Issue 21428, 24 June 1931, Page 8

ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH

ANNUAL MEETING OF PARISHIONERS. VICAR’S REPORT FOR THE YEAR. / There was a large attendance of parishioners at the annual meeting of All Saints’ Church held in the Parish Hall, Gladstone, last evening, the vicar, the Rev. 11. D. Andrews-Baxter, presiding. Messrs Broad and Martin, church wardens, and the secretary, Mr H. Pierce, were also present. In presenting his review of the past year, the vicar said that it was now nearly 15 months since the last annual meeting and since he had taken charge of the parochial district of Gladstone. / In October of last year a Bill .was put through Synod which raised it to the status of parish. At a meeting of parishioners a new vestry was appointed and later the vicar was instituted into his charge by the Lord Bishop of the Diocese.

“In some ways the progress of the parish has been encouraging,” the speaker continued, “and on the other hand there has been much that is disappointing. Within the Church of England there is room for different schools of thought in some ways, but there is only one thought that must stand out and that is the thought of what is best for the parish as a whole. Consideration for the Church must come first.

“Regarding the building of All Saints, plans have been drawn up for its completion,” said the vicar, “but the depression caused the vestry to postpone carrying out these plans in the meantime. The work, we hope, will be gone on with. This would be made easy if the Church were sometimes remembered in the wills of her members. The late Mr MacKinnon has benefited the Church and the charitable work of the city nobly in this way. Perhaps in an annual report it is out of place to refer to such things, but it is true that wealth)’ men of Southland have died and left little or nothing to the Church of God. Their relatives have departed to live elsewhere and .the needs of that part of the world where their money was made are forgotten or remembered not too generously. In fact, on the whole, Southland has not benefited greatly from the legacies of her rich men.” t Continuing, the speaker drew attention to the need for effecting renovations to the interior of the church building and stressed the necessity for candles on the altar, All Saints being one of the very few churches possessing an altar not completely furnished. He referred to the improvement in the grounds and paid a tribute to the work of the verger. According to the report of the church wardens, the finances of the church were not as sound as they should be. Its income was less than £5OO a year and at least £7OO was required for different purposes. In this respect the vicar urged all parishioners to support the Church and not allow the burden to be borne by a few. After expressing his gratitude to the churchwardens and secretary for their splendid assistance during the year, the speaker made appreciative reference to the work of Mrs Skelt- (superintendent) and the other Sunday School teachers. There had been several changes in the choir and the vicar expressed regret that Messrs P. Webb and Holmes had found it necessary to resign their positions. More men and women were required to increase the numerical strength of the choir which was now under the conductorship of Mrs Skelt, who also carried out the duties of organist. The vicar stated that the Order of Sir Galahad, a club for boys, had been started and there was now a membership of between 30 and 40. The objects were to help the boys and to draw them into closer touch with the Church. The two sewing guilds were doing very good work and the recently-formed Badminton Club was in a flourishing way. He expressed thanks to the altar guild, mentioning the name of Miss Peggy Whyte for her decorative work. About eight months ago services were commenced in North Invercargill and very satisfactory progress had been made, land now having been bought for building purposes in that vicinity.

The vicar referred to the progress being made at Ryal Bush, stating that the Sunday

School there was under, the care of Misses Stevenson and Hamilton. The new church had been commenced and when complete would cost over £3OOO. In conclusion, he thanked Messrs Smythe and Waymouth for their assistance as lay readers and stressed the need for the formation of a men’s society to discuss matters of general interest to the parish. On the motion of Mr Robertson the vicar’s report was received. In speaking to the motion, Mr Robertson voiced the appreciation of the. meeting of the vicar’s work during the year. A motion was passed supporting the Bill for the Bible in Schools.

The meeting also passed a motion hoping that the present system of the ministers’ teaching in schools would not be abolished.

On the motion of Mr A.- Dix it was decided to place candles on the altar. The vicar explained the symbolism and use of the candles and Miss Rowley declared that an altar without candles seemed to be dead. “It is necessary that we should have outward help, even though we are conscious of the inward grace,” she said. The following were elected members of the vestry: Messrs Scandrett, Rowe, Myers, (>. Rice, Dix, Skelt, F. Waymouth, Kingsland, Meadows and Grantham. The appointment of a vicar’s warden was held over.