FOREWORD

It is said by some, that "history repeats itself", or that "it travels in cycles". As I sit here at my desk in St. Stephen's Rectory in Chester, having read this small but important booklet, I can feel that I was part of such a cycle. The Rev. Richard Payne came to Blandford from this parish, and now, Blandford has sent its rector here.

But this history of the Parish of St. Barnabas is not, thankfully, a record of the comings and goings of its clergymen, for that would make very dull reading indeed! Rather, it is as it should be, a record of the Church People of Blandford, whether Clerical or lay, and how they contributed in various ways to the establishing of St. Barnabas church as a living witness to Almighty God.

Mrs. Cecil Gates is to be commended for her painstaking work in gathering this material together from very scant sources, and presenting it in so readable a form.

If the history of St. Barnabas Church "repeats itself" during the second century of its life in the same terms of the service, devotion, and dedication of its past members, then the future augers well. My hope and prayer is, that under God's guidance, even greater things will be accomplished by the people of St. Barnabas Church, Blandford.

St. Stephen's, Chester.

R. E. Bourke.