On 25 Jan 2014 at 7:58, Laquita Belinfante wrote: > Just a question about the priest of St. Mary's the Less you knew. Could he > have been Father Tom Comber? It was indeed. Did you know him too? For those interested, there were 5 Anglican parishes in the old eastern suburbs of Johannesburg. St Michael & St George in Bez Valley -- down in the valley and the lowest of the low St Andrew's Kensignton - halfway up the hill, and moderate to low St Patrick's, Malvern - over the hill, and moderately high St John's, Belgravia - highest geographically and generally high church St Mary-the-Less, Jeppe - not quite as high geographically, but the highest of the high ecclesiastically. They were all within about 3 miles of each other, so people living in the old eastern suburbs might go to any of them depending as much on ecclesiastical taste as geographical proximity. And the trams to all of them passed pretty close to St Mary's Jeppe. So if you're looking for an elusive baptism or marriage and don't find it in one parish, you might find it in one of the others. About 50 years ago the Rector of Bez Valley was the Revd Jim Sexby. The other clergy in the area called him "Mr By" because they thought it safer to leave sex out of it. Those on the other side of the hill were Mr nothing, they were all Father something or other. -- Keep well, Steve Hayes Blog: http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/famhist1.htm E-mail: [email protected]

Thank you Steve, very interesting to know! Linda On Sat, Jan 25, 2014 at 10:01 PM, Steve Hayes <[email protected]> wrote: > On 25 Jan 2014 at 7:58, Laquita Belinfante wrote: > > > Just a question about the priest of St. Mary's the Less you knew. Could > he > > have been Father Tom Comber? > > It was indeed. Did you know him too? > > For those interested, there were 5 Anglican parishes in the old eastern > suburbs of Johannesburg. > > St Michael & St George in Bez Valley -- down in the valley and the lowest > of > the low > > St Andrew's Kensignton - halfway up the hill, and moderate to low > > St Patrick's, Malvern - over the hill, and moderately high > > St John's, Belgravia - highest geographically and generally high church > > St Mary-the-Less, Jeppe - not quite as high geographically, but the highest > of the high ecclesiastically. > > They were all within about 3 miles of each other, so people living in the > old > eastern suburbs might go to any of them depending as much on ecclesiastical > taste as geographical proximity. And the trams to all of them passed pretty > close to St Mary's Jeppe. > > So if you're looking for an elusive baptism or marriage and don't find it > in > one parish, you might find it in one of the others. > > About 50 years ago the Rector of Bez Valley was the Revd Jim Sexby. The > other > clergy in the area called him "Mr By" because they thought it safer to > leave > sex out of it. Those on the other side of the hill were Mr nothing, they > were > all Father something or other. > > > > > > -- > Keep well, > Steve Hayes > Blog: http://hayesgreene.wordpress.com > Web: http://www.khanya.org.za/famhist1.htm > E-mail: [email protected] > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to > [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the > quotes in the subject and the body of the message >