For the Indian Relief Fund a sermon was preaced(sic) in the St. Leonards church on Sunday, June 14th, by the Rev. J. Birch, which realised about ten pounds.
For the Pastoral Aid Society, on the evening of the same day and at the same church, a little over £5 was collected after a sermon by the Rev. G. Despard, association secretary.
Anniversary Sermons were preached at the Hollington Wesleyan Chapel on Sunday, August 4th to full congregations by Mr. Streeter, of Hastings and Mr. Thompson, of London. A public meeting was also held on Monday.
The Wesleyan Sunday Schools at St. Leonards had sermons preached on their behalf on Sunday, Sept. 1st, by the Rev. S. J. Pigott, and, as usual, a meeting was held on the following Monday, at which there was a good collection.
Sermons by the Rev. J. Fleetwood, of Tunbridge Wells, were preached on Sunday, September 22nd, to inaugurate the opening of a Primitive Methodist place of worship in Gensing road, St. Leonards. A meeting was also held on the following day, at which addresses were delivered and money collected. The Additional Curates’ Aid Society had a sermon preached on its behalf at the Trinity Church on Sunday the 15th of November by the Rev. C. B. Penrice, and a public meeting was held on Monday in the St. Leonards Assembly Rooms, at which meeting W. D. Lucas-Shadwell, Esq., presided and £9 6s. was collected in addition to annual subscriptions of £5 5s.
For the Infirmary sermons were preached in the St. Leonards Church on Sunday, Dec. 22nd, by the Rev. W. Tilson-Marsh, and an offertory of £32 collected.
A Sermon by the Rev. Archdeacon Otter was preached at Silverhill, St. Leonards, on Thursday, May 16th, on the occasion of opening a new church built at the cost of the Rev. J. Cumerlege(sic) and dedicated to St. Matthew.
(For special sermons at Hastings see next chapter)
Opening of St. Matthew’s Church.
The opening service of this church took place on Thursday the 16th of May, in presence of a crowded congregation, including many of the local clergy. The service was read by the Rev. J. Cumberlege, minister of the new church, and the sermon was preached by the Venerable Archdeacon Otter from Acts IV, 32. Miss Emma Hume presided at the harmonium, and the choir was composed chiefly of young ladies connected with the church of St. Mary Magdalen. A second service was held in the evening, when the sermon was preached by the Rev. J. Cumberlege. A collection was made towards the expenses of conducting the services, which amounted to the liberal sum of £52. Mr. Cumberlege, who was not a strong man died on the 6th of March. 1869, and his widow, twenty years later, March 19th, 1889, both at Tilsworth Lodge, adjacent to the church.
