BERKELEY. The Christmas decorations are this year very beautiful. There is one feature in them which is particularly pleasing, and that is that there are more texts used than usual-round the Font, "Baptized with the Holy Ghost;" on the base of the Screen, "Unto us a Child is born" &c.; over the Screen "Behold Thy King cometh;" over the Altar, "His name is called the Word of God; and round the church, "Behold, I bring glad tidings," &c. The Screen was this year for the first time very effectively decorated with moss and everlasting flowers and wreaths of box. The bouquets in the vases on the Altar were most lovely, and were made of hyacinths, tulips, Christmas roses, and maiden-hair fern: the Cross on the Altar was made of variegated ivy, Christmas roses, and poinsettia; there was also a very beautiful Maltese Cross on the pulpit, made of Christmas roses and berried holly, and the fine pointed arches of the nave were wreathed with evergreens. The list of subscribers to the Purton Church must be again postponed. The Wick School-chapel will probably be finished by Sept. 30, 1874. Mr. Blandford's tender has been accepted. During the year there have been 46 burials, 96 baptisms, and 25 marriages. Nine of the baptisms took place at Wick, seven at Purton. The now coal club has been a great success. The poor readily put in their small sums weekly, and received in return their own savings with 1/6 added. The tickets were given out the week before Christmas. The following is a statement of the account: £45 17 0 CHURCH REGISTER. BAPTISMS. Nov. 30-Lucy, daughter of Robert and Lucy Barge, Peddington. Dec. 3Sophia Lætitia, daughter of James and Sophia Parslow, Breadstone. 7-Kate, daughter of William and Elizabeth Palmer, The Lynch, Breadstone. Elizabeth Rosa Jane, daughter of Charles and Hannah Georgina Organ, Wick. Dec. 21-William Henry, son of William & Hannah Webb, Hainses. Sarah Catharine, daughter of William and Eliza Nelmes, Pitbrook. Ernest John, son of William and Caroline Price, Purton. 25-Sarah Ann, daughter of Richard and Charlotte Arthurs, Mobley. Annie, daughter of William and Emma Taylor, Berkeley 28 Mary Ann, daughter of Richard and Charlotte Maria Knobbs, Sharpness Point. Albert Daniel, son of William and Ann Long, Ham. MARRIAGES. Nov. 27-William Hatter to Elizabeth Bell, both of Berkeley. 30-James Adams, of Sharpness, to Elizabeth Nelmes, of Peddington. Dec. 2-John Fryer to Susan Browning, both of Berkeley. BURIALS. Henry George Virgo, aged 5 months. -00 COALEY. The Evening Service on Wednesday, December 3rd, was fairly attended. The same may be said of the other services during the Advent Season. The Clothing Club members received their tickets on December 1st. They had their choice of the shops of Mr. Owen and Mr. Kemp. Admission to new members closed on the last of December. Subscriptions will be solicited for the Coal Fund during the present month. As the price of coal is so high this is the best way of helping the poor, who find a great difficulty in meeting the advanced price. It is proposed to supply them this year as last, at a charge of 6d. per cwt. It is expected that the Rev. B. M. Kitson will visit Coaley during this month, and advocate the cause of the Additional Curates' Society. Perhaps this Society does more than anything else towards meeting the charge that England has more benighted spots than any other civilized country, where thousands of her poor are living and dying without any knowledge of Christ, and who, though within the sound of Church bells, never enter a place of worship or utter a private prayer. This is no overstatement, as those who work among the dense population of London and other large towns can testify. The best way to correct this is, to send into the streets and lanes of our cities, men who will talk to the poor in their own houses and awake in them a sense of their ignorance and danger. The result shows, that when this has been done success has been great; Children have been sent to school, Bibles have been bought, and Churches filled. But the labour is very great to reach the poor in the first instances and many times the Clergy meet with a cold reception, and the door is often shut against them. But yet by perseverance a footing may be gained even in these cases. The Society has been better supported of late years, and has increased the number of its Home Missionaries. Coaley will send up a much larger contribution this year than before, from the sale of needlework done by the ladies in the parish. Dec. 21-Collections for Lighting the Church, £1. Os. 5d. CHURCH REGISTER. BAPTISM. Dec. 11-Edward William, son of Thomas and Eliza Townsend. Dec. 28-John Cartwright to Elizabeth Hancock. -00 DURSLEY. The amount collected at the Offertory on the Day of Intercession for Missions, (Dec. 3,) was £3. 6s. 11d., which has been paid through Mr. Tyers, the local Treasurer, to the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the first and oldest Society in the Church of England, established in 1701. The Coal Fund was opened on Friday, Dec. 12, and will be continued through the depth of the winter, as long as the amount of subscriptions will allow. The poor people of the parish are allowed 1 cwt. of coal per week to each house at half the cost price, but even this is nearly if not quite as high as the full price two years ago, so that the utmost which the fund does is to prevent the people being worse off than they would have been without any help at all before the enormous rise in price. The winter hitherto, with the exception of a few days, has been providentially very mild. But if severe weather come on, the dearness of fuel will very seriously affect not only the comfort but the health also of the poor. As regards the Parish Church, the chief wants are a Painted Glass East Window and a New Organ. Towards either of these donations are earnestly invited. But as the glare of the East Window, when the sun is bright, is very unpleasant, and, as above £200 have been already either paid or promised towards a Painted Glass Window, and, as the Old Organ, with considerable patching up, may last for two or three more years, it is proposed to make the Window the first object to be accomplished in 1874. The total expense will not be less than £300. One of the partitions in the Almsbox will shortly be appropriated for donations towards this object, or any sums given at the Offertory may be especially appointed for it. The Collections for the Additional Curates' Society, which have generally been made in January, are postponed till February, when rather longer days and finer weather may be hoped for. The amount collected this year from all sources has been very fair, but cannot exactly be stated till next month. |