New Page 1

My wife Rosamond and I were married at St. Peter's, Leckhampton, on 3rd September 1948. The Celebrant was Father Eric Cordingley, later to become Suffragan Bishop of Thetford. Fr. Cordingley and I were both prisoners of the Japanese between February 1942 and August 1945. Initially, we were together in Changi, but he volunteered for 'H Force' that worked on the infamous Railway of Death between Bangkok and Rangoon. I was transported, with hundreds of others, to work in the slave labour camps in Japan itself. We didn't meet again until just before Roz and I were married.

I am in the process of writing a book about my life as a prisoner, what happened after we were freed, and the rest of our married life together until she died most unexpectedly in May 2001. Roz had lived all her life in Cheltenham, but for me, only from 1947 until 1955. In that year we emigrated to Canada where I landed a job with the National Research Council in Ottawa. I was forced to take an early retirement in 1977 due to ill health - the end result of all those years in prison. Since then, I've lived in Victoria, BC. Ottawa is a beautiful city, but the summers are insufferably hot and humid and in the winter one can have up to 15 feet of snow and temperatures as low as minus 50 degrees. Neither of us had any idea of staying there longer than necessary, so we moved to the West Coast.

I am delighted that St. Peter's is still going strong. I have many most pleasant recollections of Cheltenham, and of St. Peter's. For the purposes of my book, could you please reply and let me have a few details of the Church, when it was built, consecrated and by whom?

For ourselves, we left the Anglican Church of Canada in 1987 because of their abandonment of Catholic faith and doctrine, and the ultra-liberal attitude on many matters. We became members of the Anglican Catholic Church of Canada (TAC) and have remained so until this day. I am still a Lay Reader and do quite a bit of preaching. In addition, I must be the oldest active Server in the TAC. now nearly 86. Some of my genuflections to the Blessed Sacrament are more in the nature of semi-controlled crash landings, but I don't make any mistakes.

Congratulations on an excellent site which I have used visited several times since arriving back in New Zealand last month. My visit to the church was once again a highlight of my five yearly visits back to Leckhampton which I left forty years ago after having been christened and confirmed there and a member of the choir and servers until I was 20 and left England. I particularly enjoyed meeting Paul Dack again who was curate just before I left in 1961 ( I think he preceeded John Homfray when John White was rector). It was marvellous to see the church prospering and the website reflects the vibrancy of the church. Would you please advise whether the Parish Magazine will be put on the site. I can well remember reading the Parish Messenger in the 1950's as a child. I think it was delivered Mrs. Okie to our house at 67 Charlton Lane. It was interesting to see that Boothroyds, Willoughby J. Moore and Trenhaille's still advertise 50 years later.

Messages