The Temperance Queen & the Whitsuntide Procession

Hanham Road Congregational, Kingswood, Bristol

In my young days one of the highlights of the year was the Whitsuntide Procession which took place in Kingswood every Whit Monday. The Procession, 10,000 strong, made up of the congregations of local churches and chapels marched behind massive banners embroidered with colourful Biblical scenes to “bear witness”. These banners were held aloft on poles slotted into leather pouches which were carried by the strongest and fittest men of each group. The parade was led by the Evangel Mission Band, of which my Uncle Joe Comley was a sometime member – he played the cornet – though by 1948 he paraded in the uniform of an RAF officer at the head of the local battalion of the Air Training Corps. My brother Colin Pillinger and I marched with the Hanham Road Congregational. People often asked “Where do you belong?” Everybody was expected to belong to a regular place of worship.

This postcard dates from 1925.

The crocodile assembled near the Lord Rodney pub at Two Mile Hill and gained components as the rest of the godly organisations joined in with more bands, the Boys’ Brigade, the Salvation Army, and the Scouts, who led contingents of Girl Guides, Brownies, Wolf Cubs, Church Lads’ Brigade, Young Men’s Bible Class and so on. Those who were not in uniform of one sort or another, even children, were expected to appear in a new “Spring rig out” which then became our Sunday best. The appearance of a few regular “fashion plates” was eagerly anticipated, particularly once clothes “came off coupons”. The parade culminated in Kingswood Park, where a brief service was held after which the people went home to dinner (dinner was always midday in those days.) In the afternoon we assembled once again at our various places of worship for the annual “Chapel Tea”.

Tableaux, carried on lorries depicting various Good Works enlivened the parade. Among these “The Temperance Queen” and her retinue drew gasps of admiration. She was a good-looking young woman who had “Signed the Pledge” – a promise to abstain from intoxicating liquors. The “Queen” in a bridal gown, wore a tiara and her train was carried by more young women and girls in bridesmaids’ dresses, some with spectacular bouquets of flowers. A boy might be roped in as a page. In the photo the boy appears to be carrying a cylindrical object. Did this contain a scroll with “the Pledge”? Was he teased at school ever after? Did he ever get over it? The “Temperance Queen”, was chosen annually. She and her attendants paraded again through Kingswood the following Saturday in an event wholly given to Temperance. Did her reign last for a year with personal appearances as with modern Beauty Queens?

In the late 1930s, my cousin Joyce Comley of Burchell’s Green Road, Two Mile Hill, then aged nine or ten, was chosen as one of the Maids of Honour.

In the ensemle picture at the top of this blog, Joyce is on the far right. Do you recognise anybody?

Joyce Comley, age 10 and Joyce Ashcroft, age 92 in Cambridge.

Joyce (Mrs Ashcroft) died in Cambridge in 2016 in her 98th year. She never drank more than a tiny tot of sherry in her lifetime. She was a very determined person. She declined a funeral and left her body to medical science. The only person I know personally who made this admirable gesture.