Here is a 'poignant tale that occured recently atthe Toc-H in Looe.

In the best traditions of Old Cornwall Societies gathering fragments and the museum policy of gathering stories from the past to put flesh on the bones of history, the following tale is offered.

Neil Birchwood-Harper, on duty in the TocH hall recently, was given a box of books for sale, whilst sorting through the selection to put them in the right section of the shelves, he noticed a small black Bible, and, as Looe TocH always gives Bibles rather than selling them, he put it to one side.

Looking at it later, he found it was one of many given to the children of the Board School in Looe on the occasion of Queen Victoria’s Jubilee in 1897.

Two more surprises awaited, the Bible had been presented to a Leonard Fletcher, a member of a well known Looe family, descended from Thomas Fletcher, a coastguard from Ireland, who settled in Looe in the 1830s & who, it is rumoured, later turned to smuggling. As Leonard’s grandson is a good friend, Neil set it aside to be returned to the family. However, on closer inspection, there was a further surprise, tucked inside were a few sheets of paper, written in pencil, from one of Leonard’s brothers, probably Alfred, to his mother in the First World War. One was part of a letter being written whilst Alfred was under shell fire by the River Jordan, it was unfinished, but he survived the encounter, and the war. The other letter describes the soldiers passing through the Holy Land, past several notable Biblical sites & even taking photos of Jerusalem and the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Bible is now with Leonard’s son, Frank, aged 91. Finding the Bible and contents, one can imagine them being carefully treasured by the mother and now it is equally treasured as a valuable snapshot of family and social history.