There are 111 names on the memorial, with rank, regiment and year of death. From this, and by looking at microfilm of old local papers and internet websites such as the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, it was possible to find further information for nearly all the names. Many of the addresses still exist and the present occupiers were invited to the commemoration service.
Several men on the memorial served in the King's Royal Rifle Corps, most of them in the 16th Battalion which was formed at the beginning of the war for men who were in – or had been in – the Church Lads Brigade. A century ago there was a flourishing branch of the CLB attached to our church and, when war was declared, members readily volunteered for service; consequently, it can be seen that the service numbers of some of these men are very close to each other.
One of the men in that CLB battalion was Sgt Frederick Thomas Hyatt (service no. C/633) of Red Lion Street – very possibly no. 22 where there was a Hyatt's gift shop. A letter which he wrote to his family appeared in the Bucks Examiner of the 17th December 1915 – and it was included in our commemoration service. It seems to be very much of its time; despite the horrors he was seeing – including graves of other K.R.R. men – Sgt. Hyatt's tone was quite upbeat. He seems to make light of German “whizz-bangs”, rain-sodden uniforms three or four times their normal weight and two feet of mud meaning three or four goes to get one foot in front of the other. He also said that his thoughts at 11.00 on a Sunday were of morning service at Chesham Parish Church; and he concluded with a P.S. saying that he and his comrades “...... had the pleasure of being the first men in this Battalion to enter the firing line, and we look upon it as a great honour”. The following month, Sgt Hyatt was killed.
Several of Sgt Hyatt's (C/633) C.L.B. comrades were killed six months later at The Somme, in an action known as the Battle of High Wood. On 15 July 1916, at least four Chesham men were killed in that action; one of them was James Barnes (C/631). Another Barnes, John (un-related) was the great-uncle of Daphne Paxton; he died from his wounds on his 24th birthday at Netley, near Southampton. Another was Frank Gomm (C/636), my great-uncle. Following High Wood, the Divisional Commander was stripped of his command and charged with “wanton wastage of men”.
For a few months prior to the Centenary, people had been invited to come forward with any relevant information and a particular example was that of Private Frank Sabatini who lived in Townsend Road and was only 18 when he was killed. A relative got in touch, provided a photograph, explained the slightly different spelling of the surname on the memorial and mentioned that his father was, at one time, caretaker of our Church School Rooms. How appropriate that the photo of Frank Sabatini, with his relevant details, should be chosen for the front of the order of service for our commemoration on Sunday, 3rd August 2014.
G.C. Reynolds
The Friends of St Mary’s
Chesham
Newsletter No. 34
November 2014
OFFICERS AND COMMITTEE - 2014/15
President Rev Simon Cansdale
Chairman and Mr Martin Paxton
DCC Member 16 Lindo Close
Chesham
HP5 2JP
Secretary and Mr Tony Molesworth
Membership Sec Staddlestones Barn
Pednor Road
Chesham
HP5 2JU
Treasurer Mrs Avril Sherratt
Homefield,
Brays Close
Hyde Heath.
HP6 5RZ
Publicity Dr Martin Graham
DCC Member Miss Sarah How
Additional members Mrs Brenda Forty
Mrs Nita Summerfield
Mrs Eileen Way
(The above are provisional and subject to re-election at the AGM)
All officers and committee members are standing for re-election again at the Annual General Meeting on Saturday 15 November 2014 except
Mrs Maureen White who is standing down this year.
There are still vacancies on the committee and nominations may be proposed and seconded by any member of the Friends of St Mary’s. Nominations must be received in writing by the Secretary prior to the AGM and signed by the person nominated, the Proposer and Seconder.
Treasurer’s Report 2013/2014
Financially speaking it’s been a relatively good year for the Friends of St Mary’s. Receipts were £6133 and payments £6227 of which £5000 was paid to The Clock Fund Appeal and the rest went on expenses at various events and general running costs. This has meant that our net income for the year was in fact a small loss; £94, but we have finished the year with a healthy bank balance of £5275 of which £2542 is in HSBC and £2733 in The Charities Foundation Bank.
Ironically our most successful fundraising event was the Andrew Earis concert where we made a profit of £1012, despite problems with the organ. No one asked for their money back, which speaks well of our members and the rest of the audience. Subscriptions were down from the previous year but we were able to compensate for this with such events as Beating the Bounds which raised £341 for our funds and a generous donation of £500 from Mr & Mrs Kerwood .
There are no big calls on our funds for the next financial year as yet but we are ready if approached to help with smaller requests should they be proposed and agreed by the committee.
Avril Sherratt
Treasurer
St Mary's and World War One
As the Friends contribution to the commemoration of the outbreak of World
War 1 we are very grateful to Fred Reynolds for providing this article.
The beginning of August saw the centenary of the outbreak of World War 1 and it was extensively commemorated in the town – including our own Parish Church.
For several reasons, it's all but impossible to know exactly how many Chesham men lost their lives in that awful conflict, but the figure of nearly 200 on the town memorial in The Broadway is surely not far out.
In our commemoration, there was obviously a focus on the Roll of Honour on the north wall of the Church. This had been unveiled and dedicated on Wednesday 31 March 1920 in a service which received much coverage in the Bucks Examiner two days later.
FINANCIAL REPORT FOR THE YEAR ENDING 30.09.2014
These accounts were signed off by the auditor
a signed copy will be distributed at the AGM
Friends of St Mary’s Church Chesham
Registered Charity No 296084
Year ended30.9.13 / Receipts / Payments / Net Receipts-
Payments
606 / AGM / Tickets / 583.00 / 0.00 / 583.00
107 / Raffle / 115.00 / -3.29 / 111.71
118 / Bar / 102.00 / -86.17 / 15.83
-235 / Expenses / (172.51) / (172.51)
596 / 800.00 / (261.97) / 538.03
1660 / Subscriptions / 1,444.00 / 0.00 / 1,444.00
110 / Donations / 531.00 / 0.00 / 531.00
10 / Church History Sales / 13.00 / 0.00 / 13.00
-1 / Bank Charges / 0.00 / 0.00 / 0.00
9 / Deposit Interest / 3.72 / 0.00 / 3.72
335 / Tax Refund (Gift Aid) / 331.18 / 0.00 / 331.18
0 / Andrew Earis Concert / 1,235.00 / (222.36) / 1,012.64
369 / Organ Recital / 0.00 / 0.00 / 0.00
Beating the Bounds / 341.00 / 0.00 / 341.00
221 / Market Stall / 245.35 / 0.00 / 245.35
0 / Oxford Trip / 670.00 / (540.00) / 130.00
-55 / Bell Foundry trip 2013 / 304.00 / 0.00 / 304.00
146 / Tower Opening / 215.07 / -12.98 / 202.09
-65 / Insurance / 0.00 / (65.00) / (65.00)
-38 / Office Expenses/Misc. / 0.00 / (125.00) / (125.00)
3297 / 6,133.32 / (1,227.31) / 4,906.01
-10450 / St Mary's: / 0.00 / (5,000.00) / (5,000.00)
-7153 / 6,133.32 / (6,227.31) / (93.99)
398
12124 / ……B a l a n c e s b r o u g h t f o r w a r d…… / 5,369.11
5369 / …….B a l a n c e s c a r r I e d f o r w a r d……. / 5,275.12
Composition of Balances as at: / 30.09.13 / 30.09.14
HSBC Bank / 4,952.12 / 2542.38
Deposit - CAF / 2,732.74 / 2732.74
Cash in hand / 0.00 / 0
£ / 7,684.86 / £ / 5,275.12
AGENDA
Annual General Meeting – 7.00pm, Saturday 15 November 2014
1. Welcome
2. Apologies for absence
3. Minutes of previous AGM
4. Chairman's Report
5. Treasurer’s Report
6. Appointment of Honorary Auditor
7. Amendment to Constitution
8. Election of Officers and Committee members
9. Members suggestions & questions
Following the meeting, a hot supper will be served costing £10.00. Please obtain tickets in advance from committee members.
GUEST SPEAKER
We are delighted that Tim Yates has accepted our invitation to be this year's After Supper Speaker. The title of Tim's talk will be: “Reflections of Charles Boultbee – Rector of Chesham 1884 – 1921”.
Tim Yates has lived in Chesham with his family for more than 25 years. Heis well known to many in the Church and townthrough his time at St Mary's as Church Warden, at Emmanuel as Curate, as Minister at St John's Bellingdon, and through the Chess Valley Archaeological and Historical Society, of which he was recently President. Timstudiedand worked in archaeology before changing to researching buildings and buildingmaterialsfor new and historic buildings.He's used his backgroundin archaeology and history and his interest in the churchto researchsome of the rectors ofChesham in the19th Century and in particular Adolphus Aylward and Charles Boultbee as well as looking at the history of Bellingdon from 1550to 1900and Chesham in 1600.
CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Dear Friends,
Another year has all but flown by and so it is good to be able to take this annual opportunity to pause, reflect and take stock.
We have, undeniably, enjoyed some very good events this year - and raised some funds as well. Not that all events went to plan! We had our most (un)forgettable organ concert ever in March when the organ decided to misbehave in some style – leading to the abandonment of the concert. Fortunately, our performer, Andrew Earis was extremely understanding and very accommodating and, in place of the second half of the Concert, provided a fascinating insight into his life as Director of Music at St Martin-in-the-Fields. Paradoxically, this event was our biggest fund raiser of the year – raising over £1,000!
Thankfully, things then settled down as we held three very different events over two weeks at the end of May / early June. On BH Monday, 26 May, thirty-four wonderful people participated in walking part/all of the Parish Bounds on what will, surely, rank amongst one of the wettest days of the year. It was therefore something of a relief that, by contrast, the sun returned for our Market Stall in June – which raised £245 – the most ever. Squeezed between the two was a full coach trip to Oxford Cathedral which included a guided tour by two very colourful guides, a lovely tea in the Great Hall and a splendid choral evensong.
Over the weekend of 13/14 September we were pleased to join with the National Heritage Weekend when, together with other local historic buildings, we opened the Church. For the first time in some years we brought back the Parish Records from Aylesbury County Records Office as an additional “attraction”. The weekend generated a lot of interest as we welcomed around 200 visitors during the two days. Finally, in October we were very grateful to Richard Ogden for providing an excellent and enjoyable Quiz.
So, my thanks to all those who have supported the Friends in many and varied ways this year. Firstly, to the Committee who have, as usual, worked very hard to ensure the smooth running of the Friends and who ensured all our activities were well organised. A particular thanks to Maureen White who, after many years, has decided it is time for her to stand down. Maureen has been a regular and faithful Committee member who will be missed by us all. Thank you, also, to those who have provided additional support by offering to help in various ways and being prepared to be called upon as and when required; this has been a great help. Finally, thank you to you, our members, for all your support this year. I am constantly heartened and encouraged by your immense warmth, goodwill and generosity; thank you all.
Looking ahead to next year there is, as always, an ongoing need to continue to raise funds in order to be able to support future projects. A glance at the end of year Accounts shows that, although our finances are much healthier than they were this time last year (it would be very worrying if they were less healthy!) there remains an ongoing need to raise more money and so plans are well in hand for events next year. The 2015 Programme Card will be available at the AGM when we will also welcome further ideas for events.
Finally, I do hope you have a note of this year's Annual General Meeting and Hot Supper on Saturday 15 November at 7.00pm in the Church Rooms. In this centenary year of the outbreak of World War 1 – and further to the excellent article provided by Fred Reynolds elsewhere in this Newsletter - we are very pleased to have the opportunity to consider St Mary's life around that time as Rev Tim Yates shares with us some reflections of the Rev Charles Boultbee – Rector of St Mary's during World War 1. I do hope you will be able to be there.
Martin Paxton
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY’S REPORT
It is a pleasure to report another successful year for the Friends of St Mary’s although there has been a slight reduction in the number of members over the year. However we have 106 entries on the database covering some 152 individuals. I must emphasise that we never disclose these details to anybody else and the database is held on a secure computer, with the details only available to the Secretary and Treasurer.