Name |
Alan Sidney WILLIAMS |
Born |
4 Nov 1934 |
Blackburn, Victoria, Australia |
Gender |
Male |
Electoral Rolls, Australia |
1977 |
Chatswood, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia |
- Australia, Electoral Rolls, 1903-1980
Name: Alan Sidney Williams
Gender: Male
Electoral Date: 1977
Electoral Place: Chatswood, North Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
Residence Address: 46 Ashley St, Chtswd 2067
6568 Williams, Alan Sidney, 46 Ashley street, Chatswood, 2067, manager, M
6596 Williams, Zillah Mary, 46 Ashley street, Chatswood, 2067, hd, F
|
Story |
1980 |
Chatswood, New South Wales, Australia |
The Heritage of Faith. by Alan Williams |
- An early memory that I have of my mother Violet Nicol Williams, was sitting around her knee on a cold winter afternoon, in front of a cherry wood fire, as she sang to my sister Loris and me some of her favourites from the old Presbyterian hymbook which she had brought with her when she moved from Camperdown to Melbourne, I am sure I was prejudiced, but I thought her clear voice one of the lovliest sounds I had ever heard.
By the time she was married and living in Blackburn she was no longer a regular churchgoer herself, though she did insisted that we children attend Sunday School. I was the first to be old enough, and went for a time to the Methodist Sunday School, the Presbyterian being too far away. For reasons which I cannot quite remember, I was transtered to the Church of Christ Sunday School, then situated on the corner of Albert Street and Whitehorse Road, Blackburn. I was eight, and therefore put into the "big" school, while Loris began as a four-year-old, in Kindergarten.
We became involved in that church and in 1950 I made my "decision" and was baptised by the Minister of the day, Stan Neighbour. Later I did a part of the MInistry training course of that Denomination at the College of the Bible, Glen Iris. Mum and Loris began coming to services regularly on Sunday evenings and a year or two later they also went forward and made confessions of faith and were later baptised by immersion as I had been.
Mum always got up first in our household each day. The first chore was to get the kettle boiling for the numerous cups of tea it took to get my father started in the mornings. But now another task was added. While all was quiet , she would sit down at a large kitchen table, get out her Bible, and have eher private devotions. She never spoke much about it, but I know that time each day meant a tremendous to her.
At that time our families spiritual pilgrimage was, as far as I could see, an isolated Occurance. It waas not untill later that I began to realise that there is quite a heritage of Christian belief in the Errey family. Not so many years ago my Aunt Erica Harlock, wrote out for me, as she had done for several members of the family, a copy of Benjamins Errey's diary, written during during the three- months sailing ship "Colonial Empire" in 1870. His deep faith is evidentin his writings. For example, on 10th July he wrote: "Going well, see hundreds of flying fish, they fly out of the water in shouls, fly a fe wyards and drop into the water again. They look the soze of a small trout. We experience something of what the Psalmist speaks of in 107 Plalm. They rertainly did. Bouncing around in that little ship, completely shut off from the rest of mankind, they were in a perfect position to reflect on the God who "Commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof", but who also"bringeththem(that do business in great waters) unto their desired haven."
When I was around the age eight or nine, I would spend a few weeks on my Christmas school holiday seach year at Doncaster orchard whick my father worked as manager and chief labourer for almost all of his working life, and which was owned by his parents.
My fathers mother, Gertrude Amy Toogood, was also relatted to the Errey family, being the daughter of Sarah Barrow, Benjamin Errey's step daughter. She, too had a strong christian faith. I discovered that she dearly loved the Lord and cherished His word. In fact, it was she who, as much as anyone, turned my steps towards Him In those long evenings of Summer I can remember the light in the garden faiding, and the shadows lengthening on the bedroom curtains, as she sat on the end of my bed and read to me out of the Bible. or told me old farmiliar Bible stories.
I am sure that many of my readers will also remember with deep affection the Christian devotion of other members of the family whome have not had the priviliege of knowing, or even hearing about, But what a rich heritage those dear ones have left us.
Alan Williams
Freelancs Writer
|
Died |
12 Jul 2013 |
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
Obituary |
17 Jul 2013 |
Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia |
- United States Obituary Collection
Birth, Marriage & Death
Name Alan Sidney Williams
Spouse Zillah
Children Dianne and Heather and father-in-law
Sibling Loris
Birth 4 Nov 1934
Death 12 Jul 2013 - Age: 78
Publication 17 Jul 2013 - Canberra
|
Name |
Wombat Williams |
Person ID |
I2021 |
Errey Family |
Last Modified |
27 Apr 2023 |