"Rushden Park Road Baptist Sunday School - Work and Workers of a Hundred Years 1810-1910" by Herbert Lack (p54)
 |
|
Mr W R Gross
|
About the middle of the 19th century, after spending the earlier part of the day in unremitting activity at Rushden, Mr. William R. Gross began to open his house at Caldecot for services on Sunday evenings.
A regular congregation was soon formed, and Mr. Gross then provided a meeting place on more neutral ground by adding a wing to one of his cottages in the village of Chelveston. Here, assisted by various local brethren on Sundays, and refreshed and stimulated by frequent visits from Mr. Bradfield on week-days, a vital cause was established.
In 1889, Miss Bayes suggested the formation of a Sunday School. The matter was promptly taken up by Mr. J. T. Colson, our present Church Treasurer, who, after Mr. Gross's death had taken over the management of affairs; Mr. Thomas Wilson, one of the home School Teachers; and Mr. Charles Thew; the School being opened for the first time on September 22nd. Mr. Wilson was appointed Superintendent, and the attendance varied between 40 and 60 at each of the two sessions. The education of the children was in a deplorably backward state, and the work was only maintained at the cost of infinite patience and pains to the Teachers. Mr. Wilson went to reside at Chelveston for a time, and altogether his heroically self-effacing service in this obscure station extended over eleven years. Since 1900, Mr. John Mayes and others have continued the work.
|
