Moonbrand Publications

22/06/2024

Here's a new, quite short blog from Steve, that includes a request, so do have a read if you can.

https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/2024/06/22/rogerum/

07/06/2024

It's new blog time from Steve, and this one looks at the Toc H London Sports Club.

By Steve Smith When I set out on this blog, I tried to think of any sport related activities I had ever done in the name of Toc H. Those who know me will be aware I left my sporting days behind, at…

22/04/2024

Steve's new Toc H blog looks at Tubby's connections to Orkney. Steve has unearthed some great new photos to go with this blog so it's well worth a look.

By Steve Smith Today I want to look at the connections Tubby, and then of course Toc H, have to Orkney, the archipelago off the north-east coast of mainland Scotland. You will find that this blog n…

24/03/2024

In the newly published, second part of his blog on Toc H's Birthday Festivals, Steve looks at the post WWII celebrations up to the 2015 Centenary in Poperinge.

By Steve Smith This is the second part of our look at Toc H Birthday festivals. Once again, I have uploaded many programmes and other related materials to the Internet Archive and links to these br…

16/03/2024

Today sees a new exhibition, Fishing and Faith, open at Sheringham Museum. Central to the exhibit, which runs until October, is a Toc H display which Steve has helped put together. To go with this, his new blog, Linked here, offers A Potted History of Sheringham Toc H. Please do try and visit the exhibition if you are anywhere near Sheringham or North Norfolk this summer. As well as the current exhibition, the museum is home to several former Sheringham lifeboats and many displays about the sea, fishermen, and other things of local interest. It is right on the seafront and offers spectacular views as well as a permanent exhibition about the Sheringham Shoal Windfarm.

https://www.sheringhammuseum.co.uk/

By Steve Smith This blog has been specially written to coincide with the Faith and Fishing exhibition at Sheringham museum. The exhibition runs from March to October 2024. When, in post-war Britain…

28/02/2024

Here's a new short blog from Steve, which looks at the life of the legendary Jock Brown

By Steve Smith The subjects I choose to write about in my blog, are chosen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes, it is a request for information from a family member that sparks my interest. This bl…

12/02/2024

Well it's been a while but Steve has finally got around to finishing his latest research. You can read part 1 of his Toc H Festivals blog here.

By Steve Smith This blog looks at the Birthday Festivals of Toc H. It has proven to be another mammoth undertaking so I have decided to break it into two parts. This first piece looks at the Festiv…

19/07/2023

It's time for another Toc H blog and it's a fairly visual one this time as Steve looks at some Toc H postcards

By Steve Smith I have in my Toc H collection, a rather large selection of postcards, and felt it was time to share one or two with you. Several of those I own relate to Talbot House and these deser…

29/06/2023

Here's Steve's new blog which was inspired by the unveiling of the Dor Knap film in May. The subject of this blog, Alec Churcher, was very involved with the centre in the Cotswolds.

By Steve Smith Often, we come across men and women in these blogs, who have given over their whole life to Toc H. People like Barclay Baron, William Musters, Stuart Greenacre, and Alison Macfie – t…

07/06/2023

Time for a short and sweet Toc H blog from Steve. This one takes a quick look at Toc H logos over the years.

By Steve Smith Since Toc H have just released a new logo, I thought it was an apposite time to look back at the logos Toc H has used over the years. This is based on a short document I put together…

28/05/2023

Finally, Steve has finished the blog on Toc H with BAOR, that complements last year’s essay about the War Services Clubs. However, as a reward for your patience, you get a double dose as we are also publishing a guest blog from Cynthia Hare, who worked at one of the Toc H clubs in BAOR, in the 1970s. The personal viewpoint always adds flesh to bones of dry fact. Steve is also very grateful to Tim Day and John Burgess for their assistance on this blog.

https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/2023/05/28/those-orrible-coffee-houses-toc-h-in-baor/

https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/2023/05/28/my-time-with-baor/

By Steve Smith In a blog last September, I looked at how the war-time services clubs were starting to morph into something else in occupied Germany. Here we pick up that thread but first we need to…

07/12/2022

Wow, so soon after the his last lengthy blog, Steve has produced a short and pithy blog. This time he looks at those who tried to pull wool over the Movement's eyes - the Toc H Conmen!

By Steve Smith It’s hard to believe that a Movement for good might find itself at the mercy of confidence tricksters, and yet Toc H did, many times. Now we are not talking about complex scams worth…

03/12/2022

It's time for a new Toc H blog and in this one Steve examines the life of Charles Wakefield, a great benefactor to many and the man who returned Talbot House to the Toc H Movement.

Enjoy

By Steve Smith To say Charles Wakefield made his money in ‘black gold’ and spent it on fast cars and fast planes is true but misleading. He was essentially a successful motor-oil merchant, not quit…

21/10/2022

A new post on the Yarmouth blog - the first in a while - in which Julie looks at the life of beachman Samuel Brock.

By Julie Smith Since the dawn of time man has depended on the sea to provide food for survival but equally so, the sea has taken lives leaving families bereft of husbands, sons, fathers and brother…

20/10/2022

A new Toc H blog from Steve looks at at the Movement's connection with the Borstal lads in particular the march to Lowdham Grange in 1930.

By Steve Smith I recently read a biography of Alexander Paterson, written by one Harry Potter (How his life must have been dramatically changed when J.K. Rowling found success). Regular readers of …

23/09/2022

It's time for the latest Toc H blog from Steve and this time he looks at the War Services Clubs that Toc H opened during World War II

https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/2022/09/23/back-to-basics-the-resurgence-of-talbot-houses/

By Steve Smith The original Talbot House – which opened its doors in Poperinge on the 11th of December 1915 – was almost certainly the best-known soldier’s rest club of the First …

31/08/2022

After putting a few finishing touches to his new blog whilst out at Talbot House, Steve is now delighted to publish the story of Paul Slessor, a man who did so much for that very house and garden.

By Steve Smith Out of everything he did in his life, Paul Slessor will always be remembered for the work he put it in to ensure Talbot House became a jewel in Toc H’s crown. When Lord Wakefield agr…

05/08/2022

Finally we end Steve's epic Toc H on Tower Hill series with this Tower Hill people blog. We hope you have enjoyed this exploration of the Hill and how Toc H inhabited it

By Steve Smith This blog is the final part of the recently published blog telling the story of Toc H on Tower Hill. It complements it by looking at the biographies of a few of the major Toc H chara…

16/07/2022

As you probably know Steve has been working on an epic blog about Toc H on Tower Hill. We are happy to say that today it – or rather they – have been published. Here’s Steve Smith to tell you about them

So finally I have reached a point where I am ready to publish my blog about Toc H on Tower Hill. I’m actually posting two parts today and next month I will publish a third blog which will be entitled Tower Hill People. That one looks at some of the characters in the story and supplements the already posted blogs on Arthur Pettifer, George Moore, Lancelot Prideaux-Brune, Geoffrey Batchelar amongst others.

Today though you get the main blog about Toc H on Tower Hill and also a spin-off on The Development of Nine Gardens which is not really Toc H related but will be interesting to anyone who knows the area. Both are lengthy and get complex but I have filled them with fascinating photos so do have a skim through even if they are too long to read.

I hope you enjoy them and welcome your feedback

https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/2022/07/16/toc-h-on-tower-hill/

https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/the-development-of-nine-gardens/

By Steve Smith Introduction Some years ago a party of friends from Poperinge Toc H came to visit London and I agreed to show them around Tower Hill. I was ably supported by John Burgess and Ken Pri…

14/06/2022

Steve says his Toc H blogs can be a bit like buses in that you wait months for one and three come along in the space of a fortnight. This is the story of George Moore, another of the great figures from Tower Hill. Steve says he was waiting for some copyright clearance but is now able to publish.

https://tochcentenary.wordpress.com/2022/06/14/george-moore-the-scout-on-the-hill/

11/06/2022

Another new Toc H blog whilst we await the Tower Hill epic. In fact, Steve says this particular essay spins off the Tower Hill one as it is the story of Arthur Pettifer, Tubby's batman who was so well-known on Tower Hill.

By Steve Smith The name of Arthur Pettifer is forever entwined at the heart of Toc H, from its very beginning and long after the owner of the name joined the Elder Brethren. Pettifer – and I …

30/05/2022

It's been a little while since Steve last posted in his Toc H history blog. This is mainly because the Toc H on Tower Hill post is taking a lot longer than anticipated. So to keep you entertained, he has put together a short blog on the old house at Hoddesdon.

By Steve Smith Hoddesdon is not famous for much I guess. I think the predecessor of the Black and Dekker workmate was designed and built here in a tiny workshop; Hugh Paddick – should you know his …

15/02/2022

Steve is deep into his research for what promises to be another epic Toc H blog later this spring, so to keep you ticking over, he offers us this short insight into some of the more intriguing members of Tubby's family.

By Steve Smith You can’t write about the history of Toc H without looking at Tubby as a person as well as the founding father of the Movement, and as a genealogist, I can’t look at a person without…

14/01/2022

After too long an absence Steve is back with a new Toc H post. This one concerns the trip to the recently acquired Talbot House in December 1930 to start the World Chain of Light. It was quite an adventure for the 47 Toc H members who travelled there from London. The blog also tries to identify all of the party.

By Steve Smith I suppose this particular blog ought to have appeared in December but sometimes things just don’t work out the way they ought to. It was only over Christmas when I was tidying up som…

25/05/2021

A new Toc H blog that looks at some of the people who helped establish Toc H by forming the very first governing body of Toc H, the Executive Committee

By Steve Smith When researching and writing for my blog, I am never ceased to be amazed by how Tubby was able to attract the ‘great and the good’ to the Toc H cause, particularly in the earliest da…

14/05/2021

A short, new Toc H blog from Steve for those looking for some reading suggestions.

By Steve Smith Finally got a holiday planned? Need something to read on Bognor beach when the wind dies down, or will your staycation take you no further than the back garden? Today’s brief blog fe…

04/05/2021

Steve is currently working on a special project that is keeping him busy so he is not expecting to update the Toc H blog very much in the next few weeks. Instead he thought it was time to publish an index to the articles previously published. Please click the link here

12/04/2021

In response to a request, Steve has put together a very short blog about Operation Daffodil, the scheme to send flowers to London hospitals that featured twice on TV over Easter. So here it is.
https://tochcentenary.com/2021/04/12/operation-daffodil/

By Steve Smith Twice on television over Easter, eagle-eyed folks spotted a Toc H mention on TV and both related to the same project. Firstly, in an archive clip on Countryfile, a Toc H Collection p…

07/04/2021

A new blog from Steve about Tubby Clayton's time as a Curate at Portsea

https://tochcentenary.com/2021/04/07/tubby-at-portsea/

The life story of Phillip Thomas Byard Clayton, known widely as Tubby, has been told in some detail in three well written biographies; his time at Talbot House and with Toc H documented in many dif…

26/03/2021

Today marks the 50th Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence by Bangladesh. You may know that it was in the Toc H house in Notting Hill where they established their UK High Commission and to this day the old Mark remains part of the Bangladeshi Community. Here Steve unravels the story of the times that led up to this.

How Mark I reinvented itself By Steve Smith In telling the tale of Toc H’s UK Marks, I promised that I would come back and look in more depth at the story of Mark I in its final days as a Toc H hos…