Mum – Went to Synod. Leslie Dye picked me up at 8.40 then we called for Rev Sugden & Sister Mary Randell. Got to Yarmouth about 9.30. Bumped into Enid Tickle & spent day with her. Had lunch on sea front. Very interesting (after first rather confusing hour). I thoroughly enjoyed it & wish I could go every time. 2S.
Roger – It is Patricia’s birthday soon and I’ve got to get her a present. A very ordinary day at school played a little football but nothing much else, hope to go swimming tomorrow. This evening watched the European Cup Winners Cup Final between West Ham Utd and Anderlecht of Belgium. Anderlecht won 4-2. The Unions have agreed to a policy which restricts pay increase to a maximum of £4-a-week, an average of about 4%. There will be tax cuts in return.
Notes
Synod
Mum usually worked on a Wednesday, see Chapter 121, but she must have had a day off to allow her to attend the District Synod in Yarmouth, see Chapter 124.
Leslie Dye picked her up and also Rev Sugden and Sister Mary Randell. They got to Yarmouth about 9.30 am. Mum bumped into Enid Tickle and they spent the day together. Mum noted having lunch on the sea front.
In her diary, mum noted that Synod had been very interesting although she found the first hour confusing. She said she had thoroughly enjoyed it and wished she could go every time.
Topics Covered
While mum did not comment on the topics covered at Synod, some of these are mentioned in local news coverage of the event.
Declining Membership
It was reported that membership had declined by 2,400 in the previous ten years and this accounted for one in seven members. There were also concerns over ageing membership with 40-50% of members said to be over 60. The report stated that “in many cases the church had got its priorities wrong putting maintenance of buildings before bringing in new members and saving souls“. However, an experimental campaign in 23 circuits was said to be beginning to work.
Ecumenical Experiment
Synod discussed plans to bring the Methodist, Anglican and United Reformed churches closer together in Loddon and Bungay. Concerns were raised by Rev Walter Jinks of Gorleston that approving the proposal would lead to the destruction of Methodism. However, those in favour of the proposal explained that they would only affect the two locations in question and reflected what people wanted locally. The proposal passed with 195 in favour, six against and two neutral.
Age of Consent
A motion opposing any lowering of the age of consent for either homosexual or heterosexual sex was defeated in favour of an amendment by Jack Burton which referred the whole subject to the Synod’s social responsibility committee. He pointed out the inconsistency of having different ages of consent for heterosexual and homosexual sex.
Leslie Dye
Born in Norwich, Leslie Dye was educated at Eaton (CNS) School. He was a local preacher and church and circuit steward. He was active in the Boys’ Brigade and was also Secretary of the Norwich and District Union of Sunday Schools and Treasurer/ Administrator of Cromwell House. In November 1983, he died suddenly aged only 61.
Rev Leonard (Len) Hubert Sugden
Born in 1915 in Garforth Leeds, Rev Leonard (Len) Hubert Sugden originally qualified as a pharmacist and entered the Methodist Ministry in 1942. In 1962, he became the Minister at Rosebery Road and, when he retired, in 1965, he remained in Norwich. So, at this point, he was a retired Methodist Minister who mum knew through St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church. He is mentioned fairly frequently in mum’s diaries. He was extremely active in St Peter’s Drama Group writing some of the plays they performed. In 1992, he died in North Walsham. He was married to Dorothy.
Sister Mary Randell
This is the only time Sister Mary Randell is mentioned in the diaries. However, I have found news articles about her, particularly details of speaking engagements, from 1933 to 1963 in various places including Reading and Scotland. In 1946, she was working at the Tollcross Methodist Mission in Edinburgh. There is a photo of her from 1939 and quite a detailed account of her, in 1936, when she was leaving Clapham to go to Edinburgh. This explained that she was from Yarmouth from a Methodist family. She trained for the Wesley Deaconess Order in Ilkley and then worked at the Leysian Mission, Middlesbrough and Bermondsey, South London. In Bermondsey, she started a boys’ club and, in Clapham, she started a similar club for girls and a primary play hour. She also led the women’s meeting.
Enid Tickle
Enid Tickle was a member at St Peter’s Park Lane Methodist Church. She worked as a primary teacher. From at least 1989 to 1991, she taught the reception class at Tuckswood First School. In 1992, she was acting head at Frettenham County First School for six months. Concerning church activities, in 1969, she was a founder member of the church’s playgroup. In January 1981, she was part of a panel in Diss with Rev Lemmon and the visiting President of Conference, Kenneth Greet. In October 1994, she was one of five speakers at a “People on the Move” event. She spoke on the topic of “One World, One People”. There is a video of her and Ken Tickle speaking on the occasion of the church’s 50th anniversary on YouTube.
Senokot
Mum took two Senokot (S) presumably for constipation, see Chapter 116. Senokot is a senna-containing medicine for the treatment of constipation.
Tricia’ Birthday
Patricia refers to my older sister who I have always called Tricia. Although her birthday was still ten days off, I noted that I needed to get her a present. It was a significant birthday for her that year as she was turning 18, see Chapter 122.
School
I noted that it had been a very ordinary day at school, see Chapter 118. I had played a little football but nothing much else. The next day, I was hoping to go swimming.
European Cup Winners’ Cup Final
In the evening, I watched the European Cup Winners’ Cup Final between West Ham and Anderlecht at the Heysel Stadium in Brussels, see Chapter 123. It was shown on BBC1 from 8.05 pm with a ten-minute break at 9 pm for the news.
Note on the European Cup Winners’ Cup
This competition was for domestic cup winners and it operated from 1960-61 until it was abolished in 1998-99. British winners include Aberdeen, Arsenal, Chelsea (twice), Everton, Manchester City, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and West Ham United. This season, West Ham qualified for it having won the FA Cup in 1974-75.
West Ham’s Route to the Final
West Ham reached the final by beating Reipas Lahti of Finland, Ararat Yerevan of the Soviet Union (Armenia), Den Haag of the Netherlands and Eintracht Frankfurt of West Germany.
Anderlecht
The Belgian team Anderlecht are based in part of Brussels. They qualified by beating Rapid Bucureşti of Romania, Borac Banja Luka of Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Wrexham and Sachsenring Zwickau of East Germany.
Heysel Stadium
A major stadium in Brussels infamous for the disaster which happened there later, in May 1985.
Anderlecht Won
Anderlecht won 4-2. West Ham took the lead after former Norwich player Graham Paddon crossed the ball and it was headed on by Billy Bonds for Pat Holland to score. Anderlecht equalised after a catastrophic error by Frank Lampard and then took a 2-1 lead in the second half. Keith Robson then equalised before Anderlecht scored the two winning goals, the first from a penalty and the second in the last five minutes as West Ham pressed for an equaliser. Anderlecht’s goal scorers were Rob Rensenbrink (2) and François van der Elst (2).
Pay Deal
I noted that the government and the unions (the TUC) had agreed a pay policy limiting pay rises to a maximum of £4 per week which was said to be an average of about 4%. I commented that there were to be tax cuts in return, see Chapter 129.
This deal was covered in some detail in the local press. The main purpose of the deal was to try to curb high inflation. The new policy was to be introduced from the beginning of August and also contained provision for a minimum rise of £2.50 per week. It would replace the limit of £6 per week that was in place. Agreement on this pay policy was a condition for certain tax cuts announced in an earlier budget.
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