The Henson Journals

[139]

Monday February 24th, 1930.

We left the Bishop's House shortly after 9.30 a.m. and motored to Auckland Castle. All went well until we were nearing West Auckland, when the car began to make alarming noises. We crawled to the Castle, and arrived a few minutes before 1 p.m.

Moore, the assistant curate of Sedgefield, came to see me in order to discuss the difficult situation which the protracted absence of his Rector is creating. The parish is unvisited, the parishioners are beginning to grumble, and Moor himself is being over–worked. I authorized the closing of one of the Mission rooms, and I myself undertook to come to his assistance on Easter Day. Also, I wrote to Mrs. Sykes telling her that I thought we must face the unpalatable duty of resignation, that I could not sanction the absence of the Rector for an indefinite period, & that my legitimate acquiescence was reaching a term. These strange nervous collapses are extraordinarily difficult to hand, for the patient is always on the verge of recovery, and always, when it comes to the sticking–point, flinching from his task. The position at Sedgefield is complicated by the fact that Sykes has not quite completed the pension–yielding period of seven years as incumbent!

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