We continue our narrative around the war years. First recall that C E Damen and Sons had staked out the site as required by the conveyance (see their letter on page 8). From 1939 to 1945 the country was engaged in war and it is unlikely that minds would have been exercised in thoughts of a new church but in 1945 an interesting description of the parish exists. To see it please follow this link to our archive page then use your browsers back button to return here.

So we are still very rural but the first stirrings of the onslaught to come are starting. We also have the first indication of the access problem the unsatisfactory resolution of which is with us to this day (2007), how long do you have to wait to get out of St Marks car park onto New Road at busy times?

Whilst, strictly speaking, this should be a history of how St Marks Church came about, it seems a shame to overlook the fashions of yesteryear. So then, the meetings of the Parochial Church Council took place in the Rectory, specifically in the "Rectory Room", a room permanently set aside for parish committee meetings. The minutes were taken and kept in the 'Minute Book'. This would be a bound notebook quarto size (9" by 12" or 23cm by 30 cm, roughly the size of most modern magazines) with the minutes written in manuscript using a steel nibbed pen you dipped in the ink contained in an inkwell. Unless of course, someone had given the secretary a fountain pen for Christmas. Because there was effectively only one copy of the minutes (as written in the book, photocopiers were not known at that time) the minutes of the previous meeting were read back to the committee, who then agreed (or not) that they were a true record. This was a time consuming process and where no contenious discussion had occurred previously, the chairman would propose that the minutes "be taken as read" and passed as a true record, thereby saving time. Hence the saying "I'll take that as read" meaning to take on trust without examination.

In the spirit of the preceeding paragraph the minutes of the meeting of the All Saints West Parley Parochial Church Council held on the 16^th March 1946 are reproduced below. They start towards the bottom of the page.

	A Meeting of the Parochial Church Council was held in the Rectory Room on Sat 16 March 1946 @ 3 pm Present The Rector Rev F C A C Griffiths in the chair, Miss d'Auvergne & Mr F Canning (Wardens) Mr & Mrs Harth, Mrs Barrell
	Mrs Cumberland, Mr J J Sansom & Mr W N Harrison (Hon Sec) Apology from Miss Askell Referring to Mrs Cumberlands notice re Organist brought forward from last Meeting, she emphasised that it was only in case it was necessary to pay for a Deputy Mr Canning reported an Application from Mr Sansom for increase in his pay to a flat rate of £1 per week to include all present duties. It was stated that Mr Sansom had been offered the Post of Caretaker of the Cemetery @ West Moors under the Burial Board & that if his total remmuneration from that & from this Council & from Part time Fire Sevice could be made to a satisfactory figure, he would cease to work for Messrs D Stewart & Son Ltd & be able to give some additional time to care for our Churchyard Resolved that both these matters be considered when Resolution of 20/4/45 was reconsidered The A/Cs for the year ended 31/12/45 were
	presented, duly audited. They showed a small surplus on General Expenses which was considered quite satisfactory as for 4 ??? there was only one service each Sunday. It was decided that Summary of a/cs should be inserted in Magazine & that a/cs be approved for presentation at the Annual Church Meeting. It was expected that Collections for Outside Objects would not be so numerous. The date of AGM was considered 14 days notice of revision of Roll was necessary before Meeting. The very earliest date possible would be Apr 20 but as this was day before Easter, it was resolved that this date be Apr 27 in Rectory Room @ 3pm The Rector was asked to consider whether he would like increase in Number of Council to operate from 1947. Resolution @ AGM for 1946 was necessary. It would appear that the present quota is 7 plus wardens & Representative on RDC or 10 in all. The site for New Church in New Rd was considered. It was understood that the conveyance
	stipulated that site should be fenced. At present there are only Posts at Corners & one of these is broken off. Building of Bungalows is started on adjoining land to South & as County Council had apparently prohibited Vehicular Access to these from New Road under Ribbon Development Act, enquiry had been made from which it appeared we should have to obtain Vehicular access from a Road which is planned from Woodlands Walk. The Site is one acre & this would not be sufficient for a Rectory also. It was suggested that a Site be obtained before the most suitable ones were taken up. Other items for AGM were considered e.g. Inventory & Report on Procedings of Council. The state of Prayer Books in Church was considered. Mr Canning had obtained price for new supply with name of Parish stamped thereon Mr Harrison suggested an abridged book which was obtainable which contained all portions in regular use & omitting all the Occaasional Offices. Enquiry to be made
	if supply was possible. The Rector reported that Col. Drew had a considerable amount of material available for a new Hand book of Church. The Rector was authorised to issue part of existing Stocks with Magazines shortly. Desirablility of proper scheme of numbering graves in Churchyard was considered. At present it rather depends on Sexton's memory. ?ff????l will consider what is possible. signed F.C.A.C. Griffiths July 15th 1946

The dynamism of Col Drew is missed. Here we have 1 acre of land, unfenced, with developments proposed or commencing in its vicinity and nothing is done other than to consider that another parcel of land be purchased for a rectory. Rectory's were bigger in those days but not to fit on 1 acre??? The saddest part is the inaction over the access problem which will be a recurring theme as we go on.

In reference to Site for New Church in New Road, attention was called to way in which land adjoining site was being developed & Rector was asked to interview local Estate Agents & consider where would be best site for Rectory. It was considered that there would be no risk financially in trying to secure a site.

The above is taken from a meeting about 2 months from the March meeting. Still the thoughts of the committee lie with a new rectory. This is probably because the existing one was in a bad state of repair. At that time the upkeep of the rectory was the responsibility of the parish, and as we know, it is a relatively poor country parish. The observation "no risk financially" is because the sale of the old rectory was a real possibility which would, of course, fund the new. It is a pity that concentration solely on this diverted attention away from the access problem, to our everlasting detriment.

Go to Page 10

Go to : 7 : 6 : 5 : 4 : 3 : 2

Footnote : The reference to Woodlands Walk on the fourth page is currently a mystery. The local A - Z does not list this road in the immediate vicinity. It is always possible that this was intended to be the name of a road but an alternative name was selected when a name became necessary on building taking place. For a map see map
For readers entirely from the Internet age, it is with a certain smugness I draw your attention to the use of the '@' symbol in the minutes. The symbol was in use in England long before computers were ever thought of though its meaning was the same. Its origins lie in the accounts ledgers of ancient times and simply meant "at" for example "6 doz boxes @ £1-13-6 = £120-12-0. Now tell me how much in todays decimal currency.