Lidgate – Lidgate Star and Any Questions in 1957
I’m always intrigued as to news articles about the Star and in the Bury Free Press on 21 June 1957 it was reported:
“History was made in Lidgate on Thursday when a panel of parsons visited the Star Inn in Lidgate to conduct an “Any Questions” session. This was quite an innovation in the village and the room in which it was held was well filled. The questions referred to the difference between the denominations, varying dates of Easter, the right age for confirmation and the untidyness of some graveyards. Major General RH Dewing was questionmaster”.
I’m not sure which room they were in, but I like the idea of the religious debate that would have taken place in the pub. Major General RH Dewing (1891-1981) was an interesting character and his service history was:
1931-09-05 – 1933-10-01 General Staff Officer 2 Southern Command
1934-XX-XX – 1935-XX-XX Attending the Imperial Defence College
1936-04-03 – 1937-09-30 General Staff Officer 1, War Office
1937-10-01 – 1939-09-04 Instructor at Imperial Defence College
1939-09-05 – 1940-10-26 Director of Military Operations & Plans, War Office
1940-10-27 – 1941-06-20 Chief of Staff Far East Command
1941-11-14 – 1941-12-19 Specially employed
1942-02-22 – 1942-07-26 Head of the British of Army Mission Washington
1942-07-27 – 1942-10-21 Senior Army Liaison Officer in Australia
1942-10-22 – 1944-09-01 Head of Army-RAF Liaison Staff Australia
1945-XX-XX Head Supreme Headquarter Allied Expeditionary Force in Denmark
1945-XX-XX Member British Military Commission in Berlin
1946-05-06 Retired
There’s a much longer detail of his life at http://www.badwellashheritage.co.uk/badwell-ash-soliders/dewing-richard-henry/, I imagine that he would have been an interesting chair and questionmaster of the meeting. I doubt that the Easter question will ever be settled, the complexity of it is explained well at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dates_for_Easter. Even at a location as auspicious as the Star, it would be unlikely to get any agreement on changing the current system.
