April's vicar's letter brought news of attempts to start a troop in Enderby; "Mrs. Lee of 'Crossways' Enderby, has given me a short article to insert in the magazine. It concerns the Girl Guide Movement, and Miss Lee is desirous of forming a Company of Girl Guides in the village. As the 'Brownies' under Mrs. Needham are flourishing so strongly and seem such a happy family, there is every prospect that the Guides, when they are established, will flourish in like manner."

The article was as follows;

"Girl Guides. The Aims of the Girl Guide Movement are the following - To develop good citizenship among girls, by forming their character; to train them in aspects of observation, discipline and self reliance; to inculcate loyalty and thoughtfulness for others; to teach them services useful to the public and handicrafts useful to themselves; to render them capable of keeping good homes. The method of training is to give the girl's healthy activities which, when giving them pleasure, will afford them an education outside the school. They will gain knowledge of hygiene and health through open air camping and games.

It is hoped to start a Girl Guide Company in this village during the month of April. Announcements will be given later in the Churches and Schools. Guides are for girls between the ages between the ages 11 and 16 years."

The following month's letter indicated that the Guides were a success; "I happened to 'look in' at the 'opening night' in connection with the Girl Guides, and was glad to see so many girls present which must have been a great encouragement to Miss Lee. I trust that all will go well with the girl guide Movement in the village, and that soon there will be a large and flourishing company of Guides. I wish we could find a suitable scoutmaster to take in hand a troop of Boy Scouts. I have made a few attempts, but, unfortunately, I have not been able so far to secure the right type of person to take charge."

A plea for better Sunday congregations

In June, Rev. Hibbert made a call for better attendance"May I make a plea for better congregations on Sundays!... If parishioners feel that they must spend Sunday evenings in going for walks, visiting friends, or patronising bus rides, cannot they come some other time to church? What about coming to Holy Communion or Morning Prayer? It seems to me a most peculiar kind of religion to limit one's churchgoing almost entirely to the winter months. The Sunday evening service is not of a long duration, lasting as it does very little more than an hour, and in hot summer evenings our church is about the coolest place in Enderby. Will you, therefore, please give this matter your careful thought and attention?"

London children have a holiday in Enderby

A little note in September's issue notes the hospitality of Enderby; "I hope that the London children who have been 'billeted' at various homes in the village have had a good holiday here and will go back with a good impression of Enderby hospitality."

Loyal advertisers

Times were not easy and advertisers were rare, but, along with Shipley's, who advertised themselves for "School clothing of character for all the local schools", the local section of the magazine had 3 advertisers all through 1934, shown below;

Leicester royal infirmary recognises the constant support from the church

Each year the church gave Harvest offerings to the Infirmary and a letter of thanks was printed in the magazine. This year, the house governor, recognize the solid support;

"It is with great pleasure and gratitude that I acknowledge the generous gift of 648 eggs and the helpful supply of fruit and vegetable which you have been good enough to send along for the use of this hospital as a result of Enderby Parish Church Harvest Thanksgiving.

I feel exceedingly grateful to your congregation for this helpful quantity of produce, and shall be glad if you will convey my sincere and cordial thanks to them for the indication of their interest of their needs of the Royal Infirmary and its patients. It is very pleasing to observe the regularity with which your congregation forward their Harvest offerings to us from year to year, and I do want them to realise that their support in this practical way is valued and appreciated.

With my thanks to you for your own assistance at all times in the cause of the Royal Infirmary."

When should Enderby's wake and village feast take place?

The vicar mentioned a controversy in one of his letters; "Several parishioners seem to have been annoyed that the wakes and village feast were held at the weekend, of which the Sunday was June 24th, the day of the Festival of our Church's Patron saint. In the minds of many villagers Feast Sunday should be held always on the Sunday after 24th June, no matter whether June 24th occurs on a Sunday or a weekday. One does not like to break away from a well established custom, if such it be, but I still maintain that if village feasts take their origin from the Feast of the Parish Church, then they ought to be celebrated when the church keeps her feast. Some suggested I wrote to the Rev. A Frewen Aylward, a former vicar of this parish who spent thirty years of his life here in the parish and who had taken a great deal of trouble in looking at matter respecting the date of the feast when the actual day of commemoration of the patron saint of the church occurred on a Sunday. I was led to understand that Mr. Aylward, who by the way sends his best remembrances to all old friends and says that he can never forget Enderby, and his reply bears out my own contention that the village festival should coincide with the Feast Sunday of the church. Of course, the 'Wakes people' who bring their stalls and so forth have to fit in other parishes to which they may be going and no doubt caused the village feast in the past to be held when it was, but the 'showmen' managed to arrange things this time so that the wakes and village feast could be held at the same time as the church was celebrating its festival. I hate controversy and do not wish to upset anyone, and as a matter of fact this 'trouble' will not arise again until 1945, eleven year hence."

The monk and the gossip

Little stories, poems, jokes were sometimes inserted into the magazine. In November a cautionary tale about gossip was included;

"A peasant with a troubled conscience went to a monk for advice. He said he had circulated a vile story about a friend, only to find out the story was not true.
"If you want to make peace with your conscience" said the monk, "you must fill a bag with chicken down, go to every dooryard in the village, and drop in each one of them a fluffy feather."
The peasant did as he was told. Then he cane back to the monk and announced that he had done his penance for his folly.
"Not yet" replied the monk, "take your bag, go the rounds again, and gather up every feather that you have dropped."
"But the wing must have blown them all away", said the peasant.
"Yes, my son" said the monk, "and so it is with gossip. Words are easily dropped, but no matter how hard you may try, you can never get them back again."

Pray for peace as dictators bring war

The Rev. Hibbert asked for prayer in October as the fascist army of Italy invaded Ethiopia;

"I have used prayers in Church for the peace of the world regularly every Sunday. The Dictator of Italy seems determined on war with Abyssinia, and it will need the very best statesmanship to prevent that war from taking place. We here in our village at Enderby may not have the power to do much at this time, but we can pray, and pray earnestly, in our Church and in our homes for peace."

Commenting, in December, on that year's remembrance service, the vicar returned to his concern; "I tried to stress the need of service and for doing all in our power to 'seek peace and pursue it'. It is the world's need today and a job not to be entirely left to statesmen, but for all of us in our several occupations to do our part in cultivating the spirit of peace and goodwill.. I also mentioned about having the peace of God within us for the origin of wars is due to the fact that men have not got God's peace, for where that peace is found in the heart of men, outward peace is more likely to abound."

A welcome to the Church Lad's Brigade

As you may have read in earlier years' magazines , Rev. Hibbert was very keen to have a boy's scout group. Finally, his prayers were answered in the form of the Church Lads brigade as he mentions in March;

"I am glad to welcome the Church Lad's Brigade in the parish. For a very long time past we have been in need of a boy's organisation and I hope that under Mr. K M Baldwin's leadership the C.L.B. will flourish."

The launch seems to have been a success and in November the vicar could comment; "There was a large congregation on September 29th, when about a hundred members of the Church Lad's Brigade paraded for our morning service. It was a great encouragement to our newly formed company in Enderby to have this parade and one hopes that a few more young men will join the C.L.B. Mr. K Baldwin deserves to be encouraged in this piece of really useful Church work. After the service the full contingent with a fine band paraded the village before returning to Leicester.

Enderby celebrates the Silver Jubilee

In May plans were in hand "The arrangements for the silver jubilee festival as regards Enderby are well in hand. I need not mention anything here as to what is to take place for that is already well known to you, but I feel sure that the United Service in Church on May 6th at 2pm, will be an inspiring service. Mr Drummond's present of the Recreation ground to the parish as a Jubilee gift is a very generous one."

In June's magazine the vicar was able to look back over events; "The weather for the King's silver jubilee was almost perfect and enabled all the celebrations and festivities throughout the country to be carried out "according to plan ". There was a special congregation at our church for a united service in the early afternoon. Afterwards the programme included an excellent tea for the children and older villagers, sports, concert, fireworks and bonfire.

The jubilee celebrations here at Enderby will long be remembered. There was an atmosphere of friendliness which was noticeable throughout the day, parishioners with varied ideas as regards religion and politics mingled together in real happy fellowship. This fact was commented upon by several of our parishioners. Behind it all was was the spirit of loyalty to their Majesties the King and Queen, who because of their goodness of heart and unselfish service on behalf of their subjects, have found a warm corner in our hearts which will not be easily effaced. May god bless them and preserve out beloved king for many years to come!"

Church finances worsen

"The balance sheet shows a deficit of £58, but we are not bankrupt for we have £50 or so in hand. . the deficit was caused partly through special repairs which we trust will not recur for some time to come, lopping trees, laying water (tank), repairing lightening conductor, being the chief items. But all the same there is need for an increase of income if there is not to be a deficit at the end of this year. I wish Church people could see their way to be a little more systematic in their 'giving'. Church expenses have to be met regularly but Church people do not give regularly.... I do think those that support the Church by their presence and their systematic giving, but there are a good many who come so seldom and give so little."

An affectionate message from one who has 'fought a good fight'

The June vicar's letter finished "The Rev. A. Frewen Aylward has just written to me and I publish elsewhere a letter to his old friends and parishioners. He is now getting on in years, as he writes, but still thinks about Enderby and sends his affectionate greetings. His letter rather reminds me of S. Paul's epistle to his friend Timothy: 'I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith'. It is a long time since many of us saw Mr. Aylward but we wish him a happy and peaceful time during his declining years."

The letter from S. Leonard's on Sea said "My dear old friends, A visit to us at S. Leonards of Mrs. John Orton, and long talks with her, has revived many memories of dear old friend at Enderby, and perhaps sad ones (Though it should not be so) of some who have fallen asleep.

It is more than half a century since I came to live and work among you; I am an old man now and my work is done. I am just waiting to join your dear ones and mine who have 'passed on'; but I want you to know I have not forgotten you, and to send you my love and blessing. Your affectionately, A Frewen Aylward."

A Romany Fayre

May's letter from the vicar started with the success of a fair that had been run to provide money for the tarmacing of the churchyard paths; "The Romany Fayre was a great success.... We had excellent 'opening' on both days and the gypsy playlet at the conclusion of the opening ceremony was most interesting and helped to send the 'gypsies' to their respective stalls and side shows in good spirits and hopeful results"

"Every thing went with a good swing, the helpers and stall holders were kept busy, and the entertainments were well patronised."

The Romany theme carried on in a dance which is mentioned inJune "The dance following our Romany fayre was a very happy affair. Everyone seemed to enjoy it and the few cinema pictures I was able to show on the screen. But the chief item was the announcement by Mr. Ernest Pole of the financial result which exceeded our 'great expectations'."