Extract from a letter from Mollie to Machi and Denden (the church is St. Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe) .....

27^th December 1967

I am sure our Christmas Church service was unique in the world. The priest as you may know is old and fuddy and never does the right thing, and his voice bellows, then goes lower and lower until you hear nothing. The young priest was in the chancel, Phil and I in the second row, and one man and one woman were in the last two rows. Hugo, Jennifer and Andrew were up in the gallery. Andrew either cried, or he talked a blue streak, depending Jennifer told me later, on whether she held him up so he could see what was going on down below, when he talked in a loud voice to Phil and me, or whether she, exhausted, put him on the floor which he didn't like. During the sermon (which they say he has read every year since they can remember and it doesn't make sense anyhow and he kept losing his place) if Jeffries talked louder than usual, the priest would go back and repeat the words in a sort of shout. There were two hymns, one we'd never ever heard, and one carol only. Jennifer came down for the communion, trip trip trip sounded at each step, in her high-heeled knee-length boots, black patent leather rain coat well above her knees, and black leather hood! Then trip trip trip trip back up all the stairs. At one stage Jeffries crawled quickly over to the organ, stood up, and pounded some of the keys before Jennifer could reach him. Hugo was singing and says he had a dreadful time keeping control of his laughter - and says it was the most solemn part of the service, but to tell the truth, neither Phil nor I noticed the difference. As we left, the little old woman addressed us to say she was sorry it was such a noisy service, but the little boy was the son of the organist and had to come! The little boy was the only thing that kept the service from being absolutely deadly. What a fool rule in the English church that doesn't provide for getting rid of senile priests. Lord Anglesey who is a warden told Ivor that he thought he would take his family to St Andrew's for the Christmas service; but Ivor said, for heaven's sake no.