CHURCH JUBILEE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19148, 3 November 1927, Page 7

CHURCH JUBILEE.

—^_. — ALL SAINTS. BURWOOD. . The jubilee of All Saints' Church) Burwood, was celebrated this week. On Sunday special services were held in the church. The Rev. C. A. Tobin was the preacher at Matins, while Archdeacon Taylor at evensong. At both services the seating accommodation was taxed to its utmost. I On Tuesday evening a re-union tea was held in the Parish Hall, when 170 people, pas' and present parishioners, sat down to tea dispensed by the Women's Committee.\ A dainty jubilee cake, the gift of an old resident, Mrs Kerr, was cut by her daughter, the first child to be baptised in the church. Addresses were given by the Rev. 0. A. Tobin. Rev. J. 2P. Coursey, and the Rev. W. F. Knowles. The following musical programme was well received:—Pianoforte duet, Miss Tobin and Mi- Georgt Tobin; song, Mr George Tobin; violin solo, Miss Thehna Cusack; duet, Mrs Bowker and Mr George Tobin; song, Mrs Bowker; Welsh song, Rev. C. A. Tobin; duet, Mrs Bowker and Miss Tobin.

History of the Church. Burwood, fifty years ago, was known as New Brighton, the modern town by the sea being then non-existent. The older books in the library still bear the legend "New Brighton Library."' The name Burwood was given by the late Mr George King, after the name of his old parish .at Sydney. Over sisty years have passed by since service was first held in the district, at first in the house of the late -Mr D. Hamilton, and then for a time in the old Burwood School. Mr Hamilton's daughter, Mrs J. Kerr, now an aged lady, is still with us. The population then w sparse and scattered, and the services were conducted by lay readers, amongst whom were the late Messrs Twentyman, Hill, and Haywood, all of these Synodsmen. and well known in the diocese. They did very good and much-apprcoiated work. The vicars of Avonside, Mr Glasson, and subsequently Oanon Pascoe. used to walk out and administer the sacraments there. to 1877 the site of the church and churchyard was a huge sandhill, its -base" lapped by the waters of the Avon. This was levelled, and the church built, and opened on September 7th of the same year. Amongst the many who worked ' hard in getting it erected were the late Messrs H. Inwood, D. Hamilton, and Corser. The building waß dedicated by Bishop Harper, and at the-open-ing service Mr Kerr's daughter, Margaret, received the sacrament of baptism. The first couple to be married were the late Mr and Mrs Hawker. In the churchyard nigh three nnndred lie at rest. The Sunday School, an old institution, was started by Mrs Rogers fifty-six years ago, and though in her eightieth year she is still an active member of the teaching staff. In 1904 the church was enlarged to' accommodate the girls then in residence at Te Oranga Home.

The parish was first ministered by the Rev. w. Dunkley (for many years Cathedral precentor), and Rev. Mr RadcHffe. The first vicar was the Rev. F. Inwood. who toot charge in 1889. He now lives in retirement on the Cashmere Hills, having just completod the jubilee of hig ordination. The present vicar, the Rev. C. A. Tobiri, is well on in his eighteenth year of office. The fine stained-glass window was the gift of. Mr E. Beale. of Burwood, and there are in the church brass memorial tablets to the Burwood boys who fell in the Great War, and to the late Sir John Campbell, who was verger for forty-three years. The Communion service still in use in the church is a relic from the Jane Seymour, which wag one of the first.four ships.to bring colonists, to Canterbury. It is'proposed to place a permanent memorial of the jubilee in the Church in the*shape of a brass lectern.