Berkshire and The War: the "Reading Standard" pictorial record. Volume 4. p 929

THE 1st BERKSHIRES'€™ HOME-COMING.

THANKSGIVING SERVICE AT ST. MARY'€™S, READING.

It was singularly unfortunate that the very moment for which the arrival had been timed of the 1st and 1/4th Royal Berkshire Regiment at St. Mary's Church on April 13th should have been the signal for the commencement of a drenching downpour, especially as the weather both in the morning and evening was perfect. However, in spite of this untoward circumstance, large crowds assembled in the Butts and seemed in no wise daunted by the soaking rain. Inside the church there was not a single vacant seat, the greater part of the area being almost entirely filled with troops. The service was one of thanksgiving in commemoration of the return of the 1st and 1/4th Battalions of the Royal Berks Regiment, and no more fitting venue could have been chosen than the grand old church of St. Mary-the-Virgin, so redolent with historical associations and rich in military reminiscences. The service, too, was eminently appropriate to the occasion, of a simple and straightforward character calculated to appeal to the soldiers, while the direct and manly words of the Vicar, the Rev. R. Wickham Legg, went straight to their hearts.

Every kind of troops was present, and a striking contrast was afforded by the attendance of the veterans, at whose head Sir Percy Sanderson made a stately figure, in company with the Reading Cadet Battalion, amongst whom were many of the tiniest little fellows. Nor was the opposite sex unrepresented, for a party of W.R.A.F.'s paraded and presented a striking appearance in the blue dress uniform of the Air Force. The Volunteers and Comrades of the Great War were also in attendance.

The Mayor and Corporation and other officials, after robing in the Church House, advanced into church in procession. There were present the Mayor and Mayoress, Mr. and Mrs. S. Hayward, the Deputy Mayor, Mr. F. A. Sarjeant, the Deputy Town Clerk, Mr. C. S. Johnson, the Head Constable, Captain J. S. Henderson, the Clerk of the Peace, Mr. A. H. Sherwood, Aldermen Bull, Brinn, Parfitt, Mason and Cox, Councillors Sparks, Rainbow, Philbrick, Rudland, Turner, Norris, Short, Tyrrell, Winter, Morley and Butler, the following magistrates: Messrs. H. M. Wallis and S. R. Whitley, Mr. H. T. Pugh, Clerk to the Education Committee, Mr. W. Barnes, Reading Electric Light Company, Mr. Hall Mancey, representing the Board of Guardians, Dr. Holden, hon. curator of the Pneumismatic Section of the Museum, Mr. H. Wright, Inspector of Weights and Measures, Mr. W. H. Oliver, clerk to the Board of Guardians, Mr. B. Sharpe, clerk to the Pensions Committee, Mr. C. E. Keyser and Mr. H. D. Barkas. Miss Moxhay, Mr. C. G. Field and Mr. H. S. Cooke were also in the congregation.

Welcomed Back from the War.

The clergymen who took part in the service were the Vicar, the Rev. R. Wickham Legg, Canon R. P. Newhouse, Rural Dean, Archdeacon Ducat, the Revs. F. J. C. Gillmor, H. Elton Lury, R. S. Stoney and Harper. The hymns were of a forceful character and were sung with great fervour. They were "Onward Christian Soldiers", Fight the good fight", "Through the night of doubt and sorrow", and "œPraise the Lord, ye heavens adore Him". A collection was taken in aid of St. Dunstan's Hostel for Blinded Soldiers. In the course of his address the Rev. Wickham Legg said that Armistice Day had been a day of great national thanksgiving; to-day was a Berkshire festival and they sounded a more personal note. They thanked God for those near and dear to them who were returning to their old life and to their homes and families. That was the thought that was uppermost in their minds as they met there that day. And so they bade them welcome, for themselves, with reverent thankfulness for all they had done. They welcomed them, too, as representatives of those that were not present to-day. Amongst them first and foremost were the men that gave up their lives and whom they would presently commemorate in their prayers. On this Palm Sunday he would quote them some words used from that pulpit some six months ago: They shed their blood in a death not unlike the martyr's death, as worthy as any mere human death could be to be compared with the death of Christ on the cross in its objects, its self abnegation, its bitter pain, its deadly conflict with the powers of evil, and its everlasting reward.

[photo, group, exterior] THE MAYOR (Ald. S. Hayward), ALDERMEN AND COUNCILLORS ENTERING THE CHURCH. [Photo by C. E. & A. May.]