CHURCH JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS

Southland Times, Issue 25513, 6 November 1944, Page 2

CHURCH JUBILEE CELEBRATIONS

MATAURA ANGLICANS REVIEW PROGRESS Old associations and old memories provided the material for reminiscences at the sixtieth jubilee celebrations of St. Saviour’s Anglican Church, Mataura, on Saturday night. More than 150 persons attended the banquet held in the Horticultural Hall. Among those present were the vicar of the MatauraWyndhjm parish, the Rev. L. D. C. Groves, who presided, the Ven. Archdeacon J. A. Lush (Invercargill), Canon W. W. Powell and Mrs Powell (Gore), the Rev. A. J. T. Fraser (vicar of Gladstone), the Rev. F. Waldron (curate of the Gore parish), Mr J. Henry (Mataura) , the oldest person attending, Mrs G. Moore, Mr Henry’s eldest daughter, Mrs J. Walker, the oldest church member at Mataura, the deputy-Mayor and Mayoress of Mataura, Mr and Mrs M. Walker, and the Mayor of Gore, Mr A. T. Newman. In extending a special welcome to those who had come from a distance, the chairman said memories of church membership were of an intimate nature and there were indications that interest in St. Saviour’s was very wide indeed. He read greetings and messages of goodwill from formei* vicars and members and present vicars of other parishes. STAND FOR PROGRESS In proposing the toast of The Church, Mr C. H. Hargest said that in all forms of human nature there was a form of worship. The Anglican Church always stood for progress and loyalty to King and country. Those who had been before the marriage altar would always carry in their minds the sanctity of the bond given in the church. Members and workers of the church should always remember the example set by the first Anglican missionary, the Rev. Samuel Marsden. A plea to think not only of the church at Mataura, but of the church as a whole, was made by Archdeacon Lush in replying to the toast. Those in the Church of England were helping to build up thinking people. This country had been the least touched by the awful conflagrations in the rest of the world. We did not know what it was to want.

“I am quite certain this condition cannot last in this easy way,” he said. “It does not matter what people say to catch votes.” One of the problems was the relation between Church and State. We should think of the Church, not as an institution, but as a divine creation visible to the world. Tn this country there was a tendency to think that salvation lay in the State. It was only by establishing the right relationship between the Church and the State that the country would grow into something healthy. “I am an absolute diehard Anglican,” he said. “I suppose no Church has been so little understood and so much criticized. We have some very keen Anglicans who know their job and don’t talk about it.” EARLY ASSOCIATIONS

The toast of St. Saviour’s, Mataura, was proposed by Mr Newman, who recalled his early associations with the Church at Mataura. His active association, he said, went back to 1907, when he was appointed a lay reader. “I have been an Anglican all my life,” said Mrs J. A. Walker, who was given the key to open the first Anglican Church at Mataura by the late Rev. J. Hobbs 60 years ago. Mrs Walker said she little thought she would be present at the jubilee celebrations 60 years later. She praised the co-opera-tion received from Mrs H. M. Wheeler in her work for the advancement of the church at Mataura.

Other toasts honoured were as follow:—The Clergy and Layreaders (Mr L. G. Thomson—Mr Groves and Mr H. F. Hicks); Office-bearers (Mr M. W. Turner-—Mr J. K. Valentine); Women’s Organizations (Canon Powell —Mesdames C. D. Taylor and F. H. Bryant); Absent Friends (the Rev. F. H. Waldron); The Chairman (Mr W. Armitage) . i Recollections of the early days were given by Mr G. White, of Dunedin. Items were given by Miss I. Knowles, Messrs W. D. Shelton and L. G. Thomson and Master G. Eades.

DEBUTANTE’S BALL A feature of the celebrations was a debutantes’ ball held in the Horticultural Hall on Friday night. This was the first function of its kind to be arranged at Mataura. Decorated with green shrubs, ferns and white ribbons, the hall presented an attractive scene. The matron of honour was Mrs H. G. Walsh, of Mataura. Thirteen girls, one of whom came from Timaru and one from Dunedin, were presented to the Bishop of Dunedin, the Rt. Rev. W. A. R. Fitchett. The official party comprised the Deputy Mayor and Mayoress of Mataura, Mr and Mrs M. Walker, the Vicar of the Mataura parish, the Rev. L. D. C. Groves, and Mrs Fitchett. The girls presented were Misses I. Knowles, M. Hargest, Daphne Perry, O. Nunn, J. Velentine, I. Bromby, Alfreds Perry, I. Sleeman and A. McKelvie (Mataura), A. Mill (Otamita), M. Fisher (Timaru), S. McDonald (Dunedin), and I Horrell (Wendon Valley).