MEMORIAL TABLET UNVEILED AND DEDICATED

The evening service at St. Aidan’s Church on Sunday last took the form of a War Memorial service, the silver tablet bearing the names of the members of the congregation who fell in the war, being unveiled and dedicated. This tablet has been affixed to the front of the handsome oak pulpit which the pipe organ has been placed along with in the Church as a Memorial. The organ was opened in the end of August last year by Dr Ross, Edinburgh, and is one of the latest type, with an exhaust pneumatic action, which gives the greatest effect and makes the touch on the keyboard of the detached console very light. The pulpit was dedicated a few weeks later, and now that the tablet has been added, the memorial is complete. On Sunday the pulpit was draped with black and purple hangings, and a vase of white chrysanthemums placed between graceful palms on the table in front lent an added artistic touch.

During the service, the Rev. J. M. Miller gave a short address, based on words “It was at Jerusalem the feast of the dedication, and it was winter, and Jesus walked in the temple in Solomon’s porch,” taken from John 10, verses 22 and 23. St. Aidan’s had, said Mr Miller, given 20 men in the sacrifice for freedom that we might go about in comfort and peace. That was a great contribution, which we and generations unborn, would greatly appreciate. The tablet was unveiled and dedicated by the Rev. J. M. Miller, who before reading out the names, removed the covering Union Jack. Then followed the “Last Post,” sounded from outside, followed by an interval of two minutes’ reverent silence broken by “Reveille.” The congregation remained standing throughout the unveiling ceremony, and after joining in the National Anthem, listened to the “Dead march in Saul” rendered in fine manner by Mr Marshall, organist of the Church.

The names on the tablet are :- Robert Bell, Robert Bremner, Christopher Burns, Thomas Crosbie, George Henry Evans, James Evans, Adam Gladstone, Thomas Grieve, William Grieve, Thomas Heslop, William Heslop, George Hogg, Thomas Logan, George Macleod, Thomas Laing Robson, John S. Scott, Richard Scott, Strafford Wilson, Hugh White, John R. White.

The tablet is of polished silver mounted on oak, and the inscription reads: – “St Aidan’s English Presbyterian Church, Berwick-on-Tweed. To the honour and glory of God, and in proud memory of the men of the congregation who fell in the great European War, 1914-1919, the organ of this Church is dedicated.” Afterwards follow the names, and at the foot are the words;- “Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori.”

FELLING A RAILWAY BRIDGE AT BERWICK STATION

On Sunday morning about 8 o’clock, the old bridge over the railway at Berwick Station which has been stripped lately ready for felling to make way for the new bridge which is being erected was reduced to a pile of stone and mortar. The news that the key-stones of the bridge were going to be pulled by the St. Margaret’s crane having leaked out, there were large crowds of townspeople near the bridge when the operations commenced.

The initial work was gone through smartly and at ten minutes to eight, when the big railway crane had drawn the key-stone on the arch over the north lie, the structure came down with a crash, which shook the houses situated in the High Greens, Garden City, and Railway Street.

The “piling cranes” erected at each side of the bridge immediately got to work with their heavy steel rammers, knocking down the portion of arch which still remained, and a large gang of workmen were engaged meantime in clearing up the debris, which was trimmed into steel buckets and raised by the cranes to be tipped into wagons.

All day long the work continued, the traffic being run on the single line system. The 8.20 p.m. express from Edinburgh was brought down the “lie” behind the station and shunted back to the platform. The lines were clear in the early hours of Monday morning, but workmen were still busy trimming off the broken masonry from the side pillars.

DR PHILIP MACLAGAN ON “HOUSING AND TOWN PLANNING.!

Members of Wallace Green Literary Society were privileged on Monday night to have the subject of “Housing and Town Planning” explained to them by the Medical Officer of Health for the Borough. Naturally there was a large and interested audience. “The fact of the matter is, “said Dr Maclagan, “that the housing question is by far the most serious matter before the country at the present moment , and I am afraid must remain so for many a long day. The size of the question may be indicated by the example of Northumberland and Durham. In 1901, there were in the two counties 20,928 one0roomed houses and 99,156 of two rooms. Again, of 70,000 working-class houses in the same area, nearly 5,000 were occupied by two or more families. When one realises the size of the rooms and the type of house so occupied, the effect on the health, comfort, and morals of the community may be imagined. I have no hesitation in saying that the main cause of the labour unrest and of the deterioration in moral character, which has been so evident during the last few years, is largely to be found in the unhealthy, uncomfortable, dark and inconvenient houses of the working classes. To a certain extent, the people who live in them make the houses what they are as regards dirt and lack of comfort; but, on the other hand, anyone who is constantly in the houses of the poor will be struck by the great, and more or less successful effort which many of these people make to render their homes habitable. What can you expect the housewife with a large and growing family to make of some of the small dark rooms of the closes and alleys of Berwick?”

“In any housing scheme, it will be necessary to ensure that the houses are of sufficient size, are comfortable, easily worked, light and well ventilated. If unlimited financial means and unlimited space were available, the question would be easy. All that a Local Authority would have to do would be to build sufficient houses on a new site, then close and demolish all the unhealthy houses in their area and rebuild at their leisure.”

SCREMERSTON

The second of a short series of lantern services was held in St. Peter’s Church, Scremerston, on Sunday evening, and was as largely attended as on the previous Sunday night. The subject of the lecture was “The Message of the Church Bell,” the various aspects of worship, prayer, thanksgiving, penitence, meditation, and praise all being dealt with.

The illustrations were explained, and their suggestive appeals voiced by the Vicar, who spoke not from the pulpit but from among the congregation. The varied scenes shown were very clearly depicted, and included both reproductions of great paintings, representing the Gospel story, and also scenes from common life, on which the subject of the lecture threw an interesting and helpful light. Tissot, Millais, Plockhorst, T. Faed, de la Roche, and Pettie were some of the artists represented. Suitable hymns were shown on the screen and sung by the congregation, whose interest in the service was evidenced by the excellent order maintained throughout the night.