John Groser, priest
25/11/2004
"John Groser was a good speaker. He gave a good straight sermon on Ephesians, then, when he had the meeting where he wanted them, in the last five minutes, he delivered words on socialism.
Nowadays no-one knows what is meant by socialism. Is it what they had in the Soviet Union, or is it Tony Blair?"
Mr Watt, Headmaster of St Paul's School
25/11/2004
"I had the arranging of the plaque in the School. The lettering is by Ralph Beyer, who did the lettering in Coventry Cathedral, and is beautiful. I included T E Watt, Headmaster and R G Kirkby, Vicar. I know Mr Watt was upset. He wanted his MC (Military Cross) recorded, but I was determined to have it absolutely plain.
Mr Watt had a sort of wisdom. If he had to tell a boy off, he would afterwards ask the boy to do something for him. In his old-fashioned way he was a good headmaster.
He came at 8am, and was away by 4pm, when he had done his day's work. No after-school activities. But he ran the school well. He started very strict with staff and pupils. After a while he could then afford to relax and still maintain discipline.
He was a magistrate; so he was away from the school on Tuesdays carrying out this duty. But he had everything under control. "
Fr Thornton - A Brilliant Lecture Remembered
24/02/20005
Fr Gresham spoke of Fr Thornton, a tutor at Mirfield when he was there, who was brilliant but shy and so didn't have much conversation. But Fr Thornton could be humourous, and once, when Fr Gresham told him he was going to Gloucester, advised him where to get the best pint.
Fr Gresham went back to Mirfield for a conference with the Methodists and Baptists at which Fr Thornton gave a lecture. The Methodists and Baptists were astonished at Fr Thornton because he quoted verbatim and without notes, extensive Old Testament and Gospel passages.
In the lecture he started by saying that the writing on the Cross was in three languages, Hebrew, Greek and Latin, and that these were three original strands of Christianity. "The Hebrew gave a sense of God acting in history, of events having a meaning and working out God's purposes for humankind. We lost this strand; it had died out by the second century AD.
The Greek strand was the questioning of everything, the working things out, and flowering in the formulation of the Creeds, including the Athanasian Creed." (The Athanasian Creed - God the Father is incomprehensible, God the Son is incomprehensible, God the Holy Ghost is incomprehensible, yet there are not three incomprehensibles, but one incomprehensible, ....etc.) "This traditionally was said at (?) matins on six or eight festivals a year, though it has almost died out now. It is sometimes said in a shortened form as the (?) 'Song of the True Faith', especially on Trinity Sunday."
"This Greek strand died out in the 4th or 5th century, when the Eastern Church stopped thinking." (In the notes I put a question mark (?) after this to indicate maybe I was not sure if Fr Gresham said this. Whether or not he did, I think this is a funny statement in itself, perhaps disagreed with by the Eastern Church.)
"So we are left with the Roman Church, which has a legal emphasis. So we are left with an emphasis on laws. It influences the way we understand the Gospels and the Letters. We understand the New Testament today with the minds of modern society."
Winnie, Vicarage Housekeeper
25/1/99
In his homily, at the bestowing of the icon of 'St Paul with St Luke', at St Paul’s church, Bow Common, Fr Gresham told us it was given in memory of Winnie, his former housekeeper. He remembered when Winnie showed love, as she ministered to an alcoholic woman who called at the vicarage late one evening.
"When we look at the Icon," he said, "we are to remember Paul & Luke in prison. It was designed for a gloomy place/corner, so it doesn't need special lighting." He added that, "Objects are made sacred by the use to which they are put."
"The conversion of St Paul was the second most important event, after Pentecost, in the Church’s history. It allowed Christianity to break out, through Paul’s journeys and teachings, of Judaism and become the religion of all nations."
(2025 note re icon:- The Icon has "Winnie Wyatt loved this place" written as a tribute to Winnie, visible on the frame. It was put up on the wall near the back left corner of the church, viewed from the altar, which is a dim area of the church. Fr Gresham discovered, after his time there, that a small spotlight had been set up to illuminate the icon. But he was no longer in a position to do anything about it.
Now, in 2025, that corner of the church is filled with bundles of merchandise for the longstanding and regular Tuesday bazaar, which carries on from Fr Gresham's time ("it can be a sort of out-reach" he commented when I was there), and was run by Mary McKenzie and Isabel Rowe. The lady who runs it now said the spirit of those two, Mary and Isabel, lives on, and indeed the Church is today a friendly and welcoming community.
But in Fr Gresham's day the Tuesday bazaar goods were stored in the church hall. I may be wrong, but I don't think he would have stood for them being in the church.
So, regarding the icon, it has been moved out of that dim corner, and is placed near the entrance by the font, a lighter spot. It is also a busier spot that you tend to walk past with the interior of the church drawing your eye, so perhaps it won't foster prayers or devotion in this new position?)
Stanley Evans' concern for local people
24/02/2005
"Stanley Evans wrote a booklet about a pilgrimage he went on. It was called, "To Jerusalem in Evening Dress". It was humourous, but his point was that pilgrimage parties have no thought for the society into which they go; they don't care about the local people, but he was more concerned about the local people, than about holy places."
Some Bishops of Stepney
25/11/04
Robert Moberly
"Bishop Moberly was a good Bishop of Stepney. You would receive a post card saying he would visit you on such an afternoon. He would turn up on the day of the visit and ask you how you were getting on. It was all done without any fuss. He cycled round the East End all the way through the Blitz. He loved the East End." (Bishop of Stepney from 1936 - 1952)
Cosmo Lang
"It was said he lived and entertained in a high style that went down well in the East End. He held open house on Tuesday evenings, at which he gave his guests sherry. He said we got by on sherry and prayer." (Bishop of Stepney from 1901 - 1909)
Trevor Huddleston
I raised the name of Trevor Huddleston as he was a famous priest. Fr Gresham replied by saying that his heart was in South Africa. (Bishop of Stepney from 1968 - 1978)
Richard Chartres
I was a lodger in St Paul's vicarage when Richard Chartres was made bishop of Stepney. I remember Fr Gresham, after meeting him, commenting approvingly to a few of us that Bishop Richard "has no 'side' to him, you see".
A number of us went to a crowded service or meeting at another east London church to see the new Bishop of Stepney, Bishop Richard Chartres. Amongst other things, he boldly and sternly told us to rejoice if we had been hurt, because it is through our wounds that the Holy Spirit can enter us. I forget the context now, but I thought it was a good message, well delivered.
After the event, in the evening dark, on a footpath outside the venue, Fr Gresham caught up with his small group of parishioners. Mary MacKenzie, a church warden, straight away asked him something, to which he replied that he had told the Bishop that we have mass on Tuesday mornings and .... I couldn't catch what else he said, but I understood that Mary had asked Fr Gresham if he had invited Bishop Richard to come to St Paul's Bow Common. Evidently Fr Gresham had; and Bishop Richard did subsequently, other engagements permitting, regularly attend the 7.30am Tuesday morning mass at the church.
(Richard Chartres, Bishop of Stepney, 1992 - 1995)
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