We had a short retirement holiday at Parcevall Hall, the Bradford Diocesan Retreat House, one of the most beautiful spots I know, and then got into an autumn's work almost as strenuous as before we retired. The change was that we could go to places together, which really does make all the difference. But the big event of the autumn was the return home on furlough of the Evans family from Buenos Aires. We were able to put them all up because we had spent the Church Commissioners' 'Golden Handshake' (at that time £1000) on putting two extra rooms and a second bathroom in the roof. It turned our property into a chalet bungalow, and four adults and three children were able to fit in quite comfortably. I had one of the upstairs rooms as my study/office, for I still had much correspondence in Simeon affairs. The four months' furlough was not all spent with us, and obviously David was away a good deal on deputation work, conferences, and helping in a mission to Oxford University. But we did see a lot of our family, and revelled in it all. We went to Heathrow to see them off, but I am not sure that this is the best procedure. On subsequent occasions we have said good-bye when they left for the airport. It happened that this time we could go straight on to Sheffield to the baptism of our youngest grandchild. Services for the flat-dwellers were held in the recreation centre, and little Deborah was baptized at an ordinary morning service in an improvised font. It was her own baby's bath, decorated with flowers, and the little mite was virtually immersed. Her father made the whole event into a powerful visual aid—as indeed every baptism should be.
I indicated earlier that the marriage of our elder son, David, was in difficulties, and that summer he brought the four children to us for the holidays. I need not go into sad details, but it was felt that it would be better for them all to stay on, so for the next three years we had David and family living with us. Four children between ten and four years of age are quite a handful, and I am sure I was not always as patient as I should have been. But Emily coped marvellously, and it has been a joy to watch the children develop over the years. David had been priest-in-charge of St. John's, Woodbridge, for five years — which I think might have been extended — but he chose to resign, and took a teaching post about 25 miles from here to which he travelled every day, including Sundays as he was school chaplain. From it all I think I learned the supreme need of compassion, and also the power of prayer. Retirement has given us more opportunity to pray together, and in that united prayer our children and grandchildren — nine of them altogether — have a very important part.
I thought that after retirement I should be more occupied in Locking itself, but invitations continued to come from further afield. I was pleased also when the Vicar asked me to look after a small old people's home in the village. One of my flock there was a lady of a great age (she was 107 when she died). A clergyman's widow, she had been a girl in Bishop Taylor Smith's Children's Service when he was a curate, and was converted under his ministry. Her daily regime was to read her Bible first thing, later to read a 'serious' book, biography or travel, and in the afternoon to read a novel. She was highly intelligent, well-versed in Christian doctrine, and a blessing to all who knew her. Her only complaint was: 'I am getting old!'
One of the interests I thought it right to lay down soon after retirement was St. John's College, Nottingham. I was for several years chairman of the Council, and even acted as a sort of stop-gap President while we were waiting for the Bishop of Liverpool (then of Woolwich) to take over this office. I have known 'the College' in three different homes and under six principals, and my relationships with it have been many and varied. I started as a student in 1 929 and became a tutor in 1 930. Soon after returning to England in 1948 I joined the Council. After a short while I became a visiting lecturer in pastoralia, and for a while in Christian worship too. When Talbot Mohan resigned as secretary of the Council, of which he had been a member since 1929, I was asked to take over. This was just at the time we moved to Northwood, and I had a good deal to do with the new college buildings there. As Vicar of Emmanuel I ministered to a considerable number of staff and students, and they in their turn were a great help in the parish. Eventually, after we had moved to Oxford, our son Robert became a student. One way and another the College was closely bound up with my life from 1929 to 1973, and even now I continue as a paid-up member of the Association.
One can see the great contributions made by each principal in turn. Dr. Gilbert had to tighten up discipline and improve academic standards, and he did all the work which led to the establishment of the A.LC.D. Dr. Coggan was in charge of the college 'in exile', and saw it rise like a phoenix from the ashes of the war years. It would be impertinent to try to assess the enormous debt owed to him. Hugh Jordan had the task of moving the college to Northwood, of expanding it to take in all who wanted to come, of building up a strong staff of very able young men, of pioneering the whole scheme of moving to Nottingham so as to be closely integrated with the university; but above all of being the counsellor of many men who looked to him for guidance. Michael Green saw the actual move to Nottingham and watched over many developments which brought St. John's into the van of theological education. Michael was still in the saddle when I retired from the Council. I cannot therefore write of the principalship of Robin Nixon, so tragically cut short by his sudden death, nor of Colin Buchanan, the present holder of the office.
In the old days the Council was a self-appointed body; now it is largely elected, and responsible to the Association. I do not think this has made a great difference to the way the College is governed. In my early days on the Council we were very careful in our selection of members, and we relied heavily on the guidance of the principal. I think the best service I did for the Council was to suggest names of suitable people to serve, notably Eric Starling, at that time diocesan surveyor of the Southwark diocese, who as an architect was invaluable when buildings were under discussion; and my old friend Wilfred Bobbins, whose legal knowledge and wisdom was so freely shared. I was sorry when the time came to move on, but I am convinced that it is right to make way for younger men. The College gave me a generous parting gift of a book token, and a garden token which I turned into flowering shrubs. Among the books I bought was the Oxford Illustrated Dictionary which I find invaluable in doing cross-words!
There had existed from time immemorial a body known as the St. John's Hall Clerical Union, more familiarly referred to as the 'Old Johnians'. It kept a link between former students and the College, and the annual Reunion was always a happy occasion. With the rise of the College Association the need for the Clerical Union seemed to fade, and it has now ceased to exist. It was not allowed to sink into oblivion unmourned, and a dinner was held in London in 1975 to mark its demise, as well as to honour Dr. and Mrs. Coggan who had recently moved to Canterbury. It came as quite a shock to me to realize that, from the standpoint of seniority in Holy Orders, I was the old man of the party. Perhaps for that reason I had been asked to make the final speech, and try to bring the light-hearted speech-making to a more serious closing note. I tried to convey something of our feelings for the Coggans, and the gratitude of the College for all it owes to them. On the principle of shedding the load gradually, the next thing to go was my involvement in the work of Simeon's Trustees. The story of Charles Simeon has been told again by Hugh Evan Hopkins in Charles Simeon of Cambridge, written to commemorate the 200th anniversary of Simeon's conversion in 1 779. The legacy he left to his Trustees was the duty of appointing fit clergymen to the livings he had acquired, and which had since increased to the number of 1 50. It was an honour to be asked to join the Trust, under the chairmanship of John Tiarks, at that time Provost of Bradford. When he became Bishop of Chelmsford, his burden as chairman and honorary secretary fell on me, and for eleven years I carried the responsibility. We worked as a team, and divided out the visiting between the five trustees and two 'assessors' that came to be the norm. We tried to adhere to Charles Simeon's principle of consulting only the needs of the people for whom we had to find an incumbent. I think we made some very good appointments. It might be thought that this was a work I could have gone on with for a little longer, and so relieved others of the task. But such considerations have to be weighed against the undoubted fact that with the passing of the years one tends to become less efficient. I was very happy to be succeeded in the chair by Canon (now the Venerable) Jim Roxburgh, and as secretary by Michael Rees who, as Vicar of Holy Trinity, Cambridge, surely has the best possible address from which to run Simeon's Trustees. I am thankful that the very able team that makes up the Trust is a united band of brothers whose one concern is to appoint 'gospel men' to the parishes for which they are responsible
I look back on the eleven years during which I was chairman and secretary of the Trust with gratitude, though I confess it gave me some headaches too. The livings in our gift were spread over thirty-seven of the forty-three dioceses of the Church of England. We made it a rule always to visit a parish when it became vacant, and to listen most carefully to what the churchwardens and others had to say. On the whole I found bishops extremely helpful and co-operative, and many of them, in their sermons at Institutions, would pay tribute to the thoroughness with which the Trustees did their work. No doubt we made our mistakes, but I believe that to a large extent we made the system work well for the furtherance of the gospel.
By the courtesy of the present Trustees my name is still kept on the list of 'assessors', so I am informed of what is going on. It was a privilege to be invited to a conference at King's College, Cambridge, to mark the bi-centenary of Charles Simeon's conversion. Over 200, representing more than half the 'Simeon' parishes, assembled for twenty-four hours packed with information and inspiration. Hugh Hopkins spoke of Simeon the man. Jim Roxburgh took the communion service and preached on the message which had brought peace to young Charles' heart two hundred years before. It fell to me to speak of Simeon's significance for today. There were tours of Holy Trinity Church with its Simeon treasures, and of the exhibition specially mounted for the occasion by King's College. Nor were we allowed to forget that Simeon now has a place in the new Church of England Calendar—13 November.
When all other duties which involved journeys to London had been laid down, I continued to serve on the General Committee, and the Candidates Committee of the Church's Ministry among the Jews. I continue to believe that, according to Paul's great argument in Romans 9, 10 and 11, the Jews have a vital part to play in the evangelization of the world. I am not concerned with details of interpretation, but with the broad facts. For too long the Jews have been neglected. Those who think that, because of their special position as the original People of God, they have no need of the gospel, have, I think, no conception of what the gospel is about. Obviously the Christian approach to the Jew calls for great wisdom and understanding, but it must be undertaken, and I believe the C.M.J. is as well equipped as any for such a task. Hence my devotion to its work, and my service on its committees, which I only laid down eventually because of my conviction that it is wrong for people in their seventies to keep out younger people who can do the work better. I have perhaps laboured this last point somewhat. By no means do I want to suggest that we should ever give up our Christian witness by every method that is open to us. It is the tendency to cling to office when one is past it that I think does so much harm. I have myself had a very full and active retirement up to the time of writing. I have found great joy and fulfilment in ministering the word of God both at home and further afield. Particularly happy have been parish week-ends, when a party from a parish goes away from Friday to Sunday evening, and one is invited to lead the sessions. Or again, I have been asked on a number of occasions to lead a teaching week. Though not called a mission, it amounts to the same thing, for evangelism which is not based on teaching can be very shallow, and teaching which does not challenge to a response is no true teaching. Max Warren once asked me to lecture to C.M.S. candidates on the atonement, and suggested that what was needed was 'doctrine with warmth". I like that description. In addition to constant attention to the ministry of the word, there are some other engagements I try not to miss. One is a monthly prayer meeting for the work of the C.M.J. It is not very well attended, but it is a gathering of people who know and understand the work, and it is a privilege to belong to such a group. Another is our local branch of the Retired Clergy Association. We meet only bi-monthly, in the house of one or other of the members, the host for the day being responsible for providing a speaker, either himself or someone else. It is a happy time of fellowship. A third occasion is a monthly meeting for prayer with a group of ministers and others whom I have met largely through the Weston-super-Mare Convention. I value the inter-denominational character of this group, and the opportunity it gives to share each other's burdens. Right on into retirement God gives us partners in our pilgrimage. The greatest partnership of all has been with my wife Emily. I have been conscious of her backing all through our married life, though in the busiest times there has not always been enough time to spend together. Now in retirement we have time for each other, and we find that in our marriage it is as it was at the wedding feast in Cana: the best wine has been kept till last.