In the summer Church services were held on the village green

ALTHOUGH Wethersfield was well served in many ways, there were unavoidable gaps. Braintree Hospital was seven miles away and being designated a cottage hospital, was very limited in some areas.
We had no dentist in the village. Again we had to go to Braintree. If this visit involved the use of gas for extractions and fillings, our doctor had to be present.
There was no N.H.S. and the doctor had to charge the wealthy enough to cover visits to the poor and to the vicar and family, which by long established custom also had free treatment. The doctor, when we arrived was Dr. Harkness who lived in the Hall. There was one son, Robert, slightly older than my sister. When Mr. Walters retired to Braintree, the doctor became a replacement churchwarden. But it was not long before he retired and moved away. His successor was able to buy the “Bronte”

Wethersfield Green
An outdoor service held on
the village greeen
house opposite the church. The Bronte Society came once a year to visit the house where Mr Bronte lived for the short time when he was curate to Wethersfield church.
 My father had no curate, but he had a full-time Lay Reader who lived with his wife in a small cottage near Blackmore End church for which he had special responsibilities. The Reader’s name was Mr. Sugden.
Very few people came to the 8am Communion service. The main service was Matins with a large choir and a large congregation. The evening service was also well attended with a fair number of domestics. In those days, the over-ruling occupations were working as maids for the girls, and working as gardeners for the boys. After the war, this changed, and the “landed gentry” were hard pressed to attract a small staff.
The organ was hand pumped by a rota of choirboys. The pump handle was in the Vicar’s vestry, and the choir robed in the belfry. On one occasion when I was on duty as the pumper and the organist was playing the Voluntary with a classical piece of music, it suddenly came to an out-of-breath halt. I was busy looking out of the window at two rare birds. My father was not well pleased! But Handel, and a brilliant organist needed me. A first lesson in mutual interdependence!
The organist was a Mr. David Taylor. His mother had succeeded Mr. Walters as head of the village school.

Churchgoers group
Worshippers at the Church;
centre, Rev Walter Smith

 My father introduced ladies into the choir against a few grumbles. He did not risk including girls. There was no mid-week Communion service, but on Fridays, the Litany was said with a congregation of up to 20 people. In the summer the services sometimes took place on the village green. The great occasions were Harvest, Christmas, Remembrance Sunday and Easter. Ash Wednesday attracted more support than Whit. Sunday. Harvest was a kind of horticultural show with an opportunity for the gardeners from the big houses to reveal their splendid achievements. There was no Christmas Eve Midnight service. My father would not allow carols before Christmas. On Christmas Eve at midnight the augmented Cricket Club began their carol singing for their funds. It was lovely to be awakened by their singing. They toured all the big houses and finished at the Manor House for a splendid feasting.
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