CHAPTER X
A CLOSING WORD
[Kindly written by Colonel E.G.F. Macpherson,
Senior Chaplain to the Forces (Church of England).]
The completion of Mr. Kennedy's account of his work at Boulogne was not finished ere he entered into his rest. As the senior under whom he served during the latter part of his term with the Expeditionary Force, I have been asked to add a few concluding remarks, relative to his labours from the period his own narrative ends.
Part of Mr. Kennedy's sphere of work lay just outside the Base at a certain place. Here was erected a camp of wooden huts, occupied by a considerable number of A.S.C. Dock Labourers. In this camp there was no building where the troops could pass a pleasant and innocent evening, nor was there a church within reasonable distance of the place. This, of course, was naturally a great disadvantage to any chaplain in his endeavours to get a hold upon the men. Mr. Kennedy felt the need; with him to think was to act.
He came to me and requested that I should write a letter to him, asking him (as he was going immediately on short leave to England) to do what he could to influence friends at home to supply what we both recognized was a crying need.
Although Mr. Kennedy was only away about a week, he returned with between two or three hundred pounds, to start the erection of a Hut for recreational and religious purposes.
The next thing to do was to obtain a suitable site, preferably in the midst of the camp.
Mr. Kennedy obtained the consent of the Base Commandant, and that of the officer commanding the camp; the latter especially rendering all the assistance in his power—particularly in obtaining for us the services of a competent architect.