And the Point Is ...?

My predecessor left me a letter detailing various things she thought might be helpful to me, including calling my attention to a vast pile of paperwork in the garage/stable which she'd never tackled. I can't resist piles of neglected archives, so I thought I would try.

On the top was a bag of miscellaneous crap left by my predecessor's predecessor (don't worry, it gets worse). This included bits of old appointments diaries, his application to be vicar of Bridgnorth, and papers relating to his own curacy a good eight years before he even arrived in Swanvale Halt. Next layer was a box of files from the period his predecessor spent as Chairman of Governors of the local infants' school. Below that was another box of old copies of Crockford's Clerical Directory, some appalling Christian paperbacks (nothing dates so quickly as religious literature), and strange bits and pieces including a folder of (sadly blank) forms for incumbents to write down the inhabitants of their parish and details of their Christian activity, or lack of it. I'd seen some of these at the church where I used to worship, where a 1950s vicar had scrawled 'Bad family' and 'hopeless' next to most of the names, it seemed. A few of these documents are of the remotest use or interest - papers relating to the repair of the organ, for instance - but most of them are archival poo. Thankfully I am an historian, so I have no compunction in chucking out vast wads of old paperwork. What I wonder about is why twenty-five years of incumbents of Swanvale Halt have not dealt with this before, just added to the pile.

At the very bottom, like Hope in Pandora's box, was something rather nice - the old Rectory address stamp, rusty and dirt-encrusted, but a necessity for the early twenty-first century clergyman.