| Admin History | ['Toc H' is an abbreviation, based on an Army signalling code, of Talbot House, a building in Poperinghe, Flanders, converted by Army chaplains in 1915 into a recreational centre for Allied soldiers at the Front. After the war the work expanded into an international voluntary organisation of churchgoing men devoted to fellowship and to charitable works in their local communities. For accounts of its origins, see D/EX1802/3. The Newbury branch was at Talbot House, Alma Place, Bartholomew Street, Newbury, and opened in 1932.
The Lamp of Maintenance was the symbol held by every branch, granted to a unit only when it had given 'convincing proof of its spirit of fellowship and service, and may be withdrawn if that spirit fails' (D/EX2224/1/2).] |