Normally I should not be sending my next Report until the end of March next. However, because of the accumulation of photographs (which may be of interest to S.P.G., London) I am now sending an interim Report to go with the photographs and other enclosures herewith.

Our School motto which appears in Tamil on the front page is "Laborare est orare." [To work is to pray.]

This chapel was built to my designs and was completed in June of last year (1942). Since the Anglican connection of this college is C.M.S. I suggest that these three photographs be forwarded to Salisbury Square together with a copy of the following notes about the college - which may perhaps add interest.

The College was started in 1921. It is a university arts and science college preparing young men for university degrees. It is not only a union college but also a largely residential college, founded and managed by Indians themselves with the help and co-operation of British and American friends. In this respect it is the only indigenous non-Roman college in the whole of India. Its internal administration is in the hands of a group of workers who have constituted themselves into a fellowship.

The institution is of a union character in which the Orthodox Syrian Church co-operates with the Mar Thoma [Saint Thomas] and Anglican Churches.

The thought of the Syrian Church, with its beginnings lost in the mists of apostolic times, still flourishing, strong and healthy in a non-Christian land of 353 million people, thrills the imagination. Completely indigenous to the soil, adapted to its environment, with its faith orthodox and succession apostolic, the church is called to a witness for the Master not less important, I think, than that of any other church in Christendom.

It is a great joy to me personally to be linked with the Union Christian College by designing its Chapel. In itself its design is a synthesis of Eastern and Western styles. Eastern features clearly visible in the photographs are the Travancore gables of the tower roof, the form of the Cross both on the tower and upon the Altar and the pierced wooden (unglazed) windows. The centre window of the three east windows is visible in the photograph of the Interior and Its symbolism may easily be recognised. Charles Wesley's expression of the universal sentiment of all Christian artists is here given a central place, representing as it does the sentiment of the three uniting Churches which the Chapel serves:

"Those dear tokens of His Passion,

Cause of endless exultation

To His ransomed worshippers."

The Hammer (which nailed Christ to the Cross) is combined, to form a diagonal cross, with the Sword (which pierced His Side).

[Union Christian College, Aluva The Chapel is situated behind the Kacheri Malika. It is a place of worship that incorporates important aspects of both Eastern and Western traditions of Christianity. It is symbolic of the ecumenical tradition that the college embraces. The chapel was designed by Rev George Edward Hubbard in February 1940.]

The original design was somewhat fantastic, and I recommended (to the Bishop of Colombo) certain modifications which were embraced in the construction of the model and as the church was finally built.

This was made in the workshops of the Art Industrial School a few months ago. Since this photograph was taken, the Arms of the Diocese, carved on a shield, have been fixed under the Canopy. The Arms are a play upon the word Tinnevelly. Tinnevelly, strictly speaking, should be written Tirunelveli.

Tru means holy

Nel means rice and

Veli means a hedge.

Tinnevelly Town is sacred to Hindus and is hedged all round with paddy (rice) fields.

These show details of the work done in the school.

The church with the Tower is Kottayem Cathedral, Diocese of Travancore and Cochin. We are adding two side chapels, a vestry and Chapter-House. The whole fabric is also being most carefully restored and the interior modified in various ways.

Two photographs are of furniture and turned work recently carried out in our shops, much of this was sent to one of the big Bombay Stores for their Christmas trade.

The unfinished church is at Vickramasingapuram, Tinnevelly District.

The door of the tower staircase can be seen under the right-hand arch. A stone groined vault has been built to form the first floor of the tower. It is a novel form of construction in this part of the world - though familiar enough in our mediaeval English and continental churches. It was paid for by a special gift received by the Bishop of Tinnevelly. During the siege of Tobruk offertories taken there at Anglican parade services were collected and were subsequently sent to the Bishop of Tinnevelly by the Army Chaplain responsible, himself, a personal friend of the Bishop. The Bishop used this gift to pay for the groined roof, and a tablet under the tower will relate this story when the church is finished.

[Limited Googling: St. Peter’s Church, Vickramasingapuram (30.7.1950)]

The East end of the Chapel specially decorated for the occasion. An impromptu group of some of my boys and myself.

My tour of FIVE YEARS will end on the 15th February next and I have been offered extended leave of six months from this date. I shall be quite prepared not to avail myself of this offer and shall probably remain on in Nazareth.

Nazareth, Tinnevelly, S. India.

10th January 1943

[No photos were present with the archive at the Bodleian. I've used photos from father's photo album for the pictures of Vickramasingapuram Church and U.C.C. Alwaye above.]