I saw a good deal of my three successive Vicars, for I was Vicar’s churchwarden for a period of nearly twenty years, and was treasurer of the fund for the restoration and enlargement of Badsey Church.  My first Vicar had held the living for over thirty years when we decided upon this important undertaking; and not wishing to be burdened with the correspondence which the work would entail, he invited me to act for him.  I was pleased, because I have always been interested in the architecture of old buildings, especially churches, and readily undertook the post.  I had the constant and intimate co-operation of my co-warden, Mr. Julius Sladden, of Badsey, and I may say that no two people ever worked together with greater harmony.

The restoration had been debated for many years; the ancient church was sadly dilapidated, and disfigured by an ugly gallery at the west end of the nave, which obscured the finest arch in the building, leading into the tower; and the incident which brought the matter within the range of possibility was romantic.  The Vicar succeeded quite unexpectedly to a large inheritance; the news reached him and his wife, who was away from home at the time, simultaneously.  The letters they wrote to each other on their good fortune crossed in the post, and characteristically each wrote “Badsey Church must now be restored.”  Soon afterwards the Vicar came to my house and, sitting down at my table, wrote me a cheque for L500 to start the fund.

On the advice of the patrons of the living—­the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford—­we invited Mr. Thomas Graham Jackson, now Sir Thomas Graham Jackson, R.A., to undertake the duties of architect.  His work was well known at Oxford at the time, as the beautiful New Schools had just been completed from his designs; we were also most fortunate in obtaining the services of Mr. Thomas Collins, of Tewkesbury, as builder.  Mr. Collins was devoted to church architecture, and the financial consideration of such work was to him quite secondary to the pleasure he experienced as a connoisseur in restoring to the dignity and beauty of the past any ecclesiastical building of distinguished interest.  The first estimate was, I think, L1,500, exclusive of architect’s fees, but when the work was completed we had expended in all a sum of over L2,130.  We did not finally clear off the debt until 1894, nine years after the reopening of the church, and since then a considerable further sum has been expended in rehanging the old bells and adding two new ones to make up the full peal of eight.

It was delightful to experience the willingness of everybody to help; subscriptions, large and small, came in readily at the very outset, and this part of the work never became arduous until the last few hundreds had to be raised.  Most of us experienced the truth of the proverb Bis dat qui cito dat, but in a different sense from that which usually commends it, for many who gave quickly not only literally gave twice, but three times or more.  Bazaars, concerts, and entertainments of all kinds were undertaken by the parishioners, a sum of L376 being raised by these means.  Among them a bazaar at Badsey realized L130; another, later, at Aldington in one of my old barns, L80; and two concerts—­afternoon and evening—­at Malvern, organized by my wife and her sister, Miss Poulton, L100.