Sunday refreshments
Every Sunday, the Friends of St James and other members of the Church family serve refreshments as a means of fellowship and outreach to walkers and those tending graves and as an opportunity to raise funds for the upkeep of the Church and Churchyard. Homemade cakes are offered from March to October and homemade soups during the winter months.
On the fourth Sunday of each month, 7:00-8:00 p.m., a prayer meeting is held, offering intercessions to God for his intervention and blessing and in the silence listening to God’s word to us.
Community Use
Community groups use this facility as a venue for small meetings. If interested in more detail, contact the Office ( 01279 506753.
History
From Canon Procter’s Church Guide we learn about the history of the Church Room. http://www.friends.stjames.btinternet.co.uk/Canon_Procter_Guide.pdf
He writes: ‘ Towards the north-west corner of the Churchyard used to stand 3 cottages, which were built during the Incumbency of the Rev. William Browne, 1784 -1798.
About the year 1860, the cottages having become dilapidated, the Rev. F. Vander-Meulen obtained the permission of the Patron of the Living to pull them down, and in their place he built the present Church Room.
The School
Until the Education Acts of 1870 and 1873 the only provision made in the Parish for education were Dames’ Schools. One of these Dames’ Schools was held in the cottages which used to stand in the Churchyard on the site of the present Church Room. Another was held in a room, altered by Mr. George Frere for the purpose, in one of the cottages which stood originally on the site of the present Parkside Cottages. Mrs. Jackson kept this School for many years. While a third was held in an old cottage, now pulled down, near Rumbold’s Farm.
At a meeting of the Ratepayers held on January 19th 1874, a School Board was formed, and on November 29th 1875, the present School (now Thorley Scout HQ) was opened. Four years later the Class Room was built to give additional accommodation.
The School continued under the management of the School Board until the Education Act of 1902, when it passed under the control of the Herts County Council.’
So, although the Church Room was not itself used as a school, the site has clearly been a centre for the community for hundreds of years, and continues to be so.
On the wall inside the Church Room hang some historic boards, taken from the Mission Hall, formerly in Twyford????
Thee is also a schematic plan of the graves in the Churchyard, drawn in 2001 at the time a working party transcribed all the legible monuments in the Churchyard. These transcriptions, a useful source for genealogists, can be found on the Friends of St James Website
http://www.friends.stjames.btinternet.co.uk/Churchyard_Survey.htm
and has attracted truly global attention, with visitors from South Africa, Canada, Australia and many others using the information to trace their family histories.
