AU34/21/7/16/26

Letter from R P S Waddy

13 December 1983

From: 1983 To: 1983

A handwritten letter from R P S Waddy (former Rector of St Andrew's, Ampthill) to Honora Grimmer, on headed paper from Maiden Newton, Dorchester, Dorset: "My dear Nora, And a happy Christmas to you both - did you know that the instant energy and strength stimulated by a Mars Bar is measured in kilojoules and kilocalories, so may your worship be full of kilojoy and your Yuletide with kilocalories. Sorry my writing is so bad: my eyes are not likely to get better, I gather, but thank goodness I can drive and preach, though not at night. The only trouble is that an enthusiastic dentist persuaded me to have a new set of teeth. I pictured myself with a new smile, like Edward Heath? but the new lot whistle and the dentist can only suggest that I pause before S in my perfect eloquence - would Isaiah have agreed to that? So I put back the old set for Sundays, after all, I am still preaching the old sermons! I spent a happy evening, when TV was not so attractive, reading all the Ampthill news of 1983: and much enjoyed it, especially Andrew's account of Rector Wilmot, and Simon's Bird of Passage, the curate F.C. Alderson who became John Keble's last curate in Hursley. Margaret's grandfather, Peter Young, was Keble's curate there for 17 years, as a deacon, because Bishop Sumner of Winchester refused to ordain him as a priest, as a way of 'getting at' Keble for his High Church views. He married the niece of Charlotte Keble, who was their adopted daughter: and Margaret's father was their youngest son - who went on from Haileybury to the new Keble College at Oxford (much to his disgust! his brothers had gone to Exeter College) and eventually married and - Margaret: now, like me, in her 80th year. It's curious how history links up. Margaret's father, F C Young, was ordained by Edward King of Lincoln, now the latest in the new list of Anglican saints: my father was ordained by Bishop Creighton of London in St. Paul's. (And I was ordained by Cyril Bardsley of Leicester, always and rightly known as 'the humble bishop' of his day - uncle of the more charismatic Cuthbert Bardsley of Coventry, my contemporary.) I did not know of Margaret Marringham's death. We were at her wedding in Millbrook, and I remember (I hope truly?) Canon Cotton coming to the Vows and handing over his prayer book to John and Margaret so that they could read them for themselves, rather than repeat them after him. I do hope (and pray) that the Lord Chancellor produces a good and faithful rector for Ampthill. It is really wonderful that the Church life has remained so active. (I recall a story of my curate days, of an indignant parishioner after a curatic sermon saying "I still believe in God in spite of Mr. Smith!") We shall be sharing Christmas with Havana and her (younger) grandparents on the other side of Dorset: I am celebrating at a Midnight Eucharist, largely for her sake because she longs to stay up - she is a staunch little Christian, and riotously happy at her prep school. Stacy Marking her mother is well dug in on Channel 4, and has a Today's History programme on children tomorrow, as well as appearing in some discussion on Thursday. They go off for a holiday to Bangkok and Rangoon after Christmas - Havana has already been twice round the world, or thereabouts, and this will be three times! Christopher is happier to be in England now, and has re-established himself in the City; and his three under-tens have now had every known childish disease except German measles, so that should be a good omen for the future. So there - all good wishes from us both. Pat Stacy Waddy

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Grimmer, Honora Patricia Annie,
Waddy, Richard Patteson Stacy,
Waddy, Margaret,
Underwood, Andrew,
Wilmot, John James Tall,
Houfe, Simon,
Alderson, F C,
Keble, John,
Young, Peter,
Sumner, Charles Richard,
Keble, Charlotte,
Young, F.C.,
King, Edward,
Creighton, Mandell,
Bardsley, Cyril,
Bardsley, Cuthbert,
Marringham, Margaret,
Marringham, John,
Cotton, Benjamin,
Marking, Havana,
Marking, Stacy,
Waddy, Christopher,
Waddy, Drusilla,
Waddy, Daniel,
Waddy, Jocelyn

CORRESPONDENCE, Christmas, dentistry, parish magazines, curate, Rector, deacon, Bishop, ordination, MARRIAGE, Oxford University, St. Paul's Cathedral, DEATH, weddings, church services, TV, television, programmes, holidays, travel, banking, AMPTHILL, Maiden Newton, Dorchester, Dorset, Hursley, Winchester, Lincoln, London, Leicester, Coventry, MILLBROOK, Bangkok, Rangoon, City of London