Piddingworth Greg Benton |
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| 'Piddingworth...where St. George's Cross is not yet banned.' --Mark Steyn |
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| Thank you very much for your support! |
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| Honour all men. Love the Brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the King. (1Peter 2) |
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| Trust in the Lord and He will give you the strength & courage to do your Duty... Rose West Leonard |
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| FAMILY |
| There are families that are called 'great' because of their lineage or because of the historical achievements of their ancestors. Others are noted for their wealth, or power and influence. My family is 'none of the above'. Indeed, the 'greatness' that I attribute to certain members of my family is something that is shared with many others and perhaps yours...by their love and example and character they showed in living this life; whether poor or rich, sick or well, in trouble or at peace. Lives centred upon those virtues of decency, loyalty, duty and service, the things that are the very glue that affords each individual person a context in which to grow and make one's way in this 'tough old world'. These things were not only more prevalent in the generation to which my grandparents belonged, but revered and celebrated. The standards held up and to which all were expected to fulfil, provided a social cohesion to a common cause for the advancement and well-being of society. It is, of course, not as though the ills and warts, ugliness, vulgarity and corruption that we know so well to have always been present in the human condition did not exist for them. Indeed, it could be said that they were more aware of these corrosive and sad realities than we are in this coddled generation. Those numbing words in the hymn Abide With Me: 'Death and decay in all around I see' were very real to them. They knew it, not only on far away battlefields, but in places very near and at home. What was once kept firmly at a distance and behind the veil of public life has so thoroughly broken into the light, is often embraced and accepted. So much of what was 'good' and 'right' is now regarded as 'oppressive' and 'insensitive' and 'puritanical' whilst much of what was once known to be disgusting, menacing and destructive is not only promoted but, 'in all around I see, is now imposed upon us. The current culture is awash at it's core in decadence and decay. The institutions, including and especially Marriage and the Family, that have been the foundation of our common life and civilisation, have been rent asunder. Innocent life is being discarded as is the protection of innocency of life itself. Perverted science excites those whose ambitions are impure and warped. Many lies have been enshrined as 'rights'. The beginning of the resolution to these challenges before us rests with a mother, a father, a family; committed in love, loyal, dutiful and enduring. Sanity, holiness and wholesome life can be known and advanced but it begins at home. Each of us makes our own choices but the options that are presented to us require a firm and defining human community that owes it's obedience to the higher things: to God and the venerable truths revealed to us in Christ and His Church. The existence of 'Piddingworth', is owed, not just in name, but in character, to some of my family; especially to my mother and her mother and father, Rose West and Ernest Leonard, my dear grandparents. What has most shaped my life was moulded in the faith of the Church, service in the Army and the example of family life that we once had. Having for years taken for granted the precious but important factors that lead to one's happiness, I awoke in a quiet and poignant moment as I stood in the ruins of Piddingworth to appreciate the profound importance of the faith, of family, one's duty, and loyalty. From the example of my grandmother Rose, I have been able to discern more acutely the simplicity and depth of life's purpose. This comes, not only because of the foundation of faith that she acquired at Piddingworth, and her life at Stanmer, but by her humble manner, strength of character, tireless devotion, and the quiet courage she showed in the face of much suffering and loss. Rose's 'history' emerged from my memory, her words, and beyond her brief life and as another witness to the enduring truths that God has so lovingly placed in the hearts of those who 'hear his voice'. Hers was a life of 'whispered' virtue and the kind that Christ Himself advocated when he said: 'by their fruits shall you know them'. The 'Nana' that I had known as a boy, soft and warm to touch, soft and sweet to hear, even as I sat or stood beside her over tea, I have come to realise latterly as a woman of considerable strength whose influence to those who really knew her is well marked; as a daughter, sister, wife and mother. I have listened carefully to my mother's stories about Rose and then as I was permitted to see and read her personal notes and letters and reflect upon her chosen treasured keepsakes, I discovered a 'saintliness' with no great or apparent faults. Indeed, hers was a life overwhelmed by Christian virtue from which she is regarded by those who knew her as having had a special place and particular 'love' within the family. All of this led me on a 'pilgrimage' of sorts to the home from which she emerged the woman she had become: Piddingworth. Her husband, Ernie Leonard, my grandfather, also has an enormous share in this story, not only from the graces shown him in his life with his beloved Rose, but by virtue of his own good character and example formed within the family in Plymouth. Little could I have known in the 1950's that the Grandad that I had known as a boy, who cheerfully played with my brothers and me, told stories about hunting rabbits, showed us his war wounds, and with whom I sat and learned about oil painting, was very much a 'hero'. The example of 'manliness' that was fostered in our lessons at home, school, church and the boy scouts was embodied in him. A superb athlete, he played the sport of football with some distinction. Handsome, strong, and talented, his sister Olive once told me that 'all the girls in Plymouth' were 'after' him! When war came, he dutifully left his football team, 'The Devonians' and joined the army. For three years he fought in the fields and trenches of France and Flanders, was wounded at the Somme and in the mud of Passchendaele. His experiences in the war and their painful memory would remain with him forever. A loving, devoted and disciplined father and brother, with Rose, he endured the calamities of war and hardship and then war again. In the midst of it all he found succour at home, with his family, his chums at work and with his old comrades with whom he had fought. Through his talent in oil painting, he was able to 'escape' onto great ships at sea or in the beauty of the forests of Muskoka. My mother said that he gave his paintings away to people, 'if they would just cover the cost of the frame'. A few years ago I was contacted by a woman who had visited this website and the EM Leonard pages. She advised me that she possessed one of Grandad's paintings and invited me to buy it, which, of course, I did. It had belonged to the lady's father, a man from Guernsey who was a veteran of the Great War and a patient at Sunnybrook Hospital for Veterans where my grandfather had subsequently worked. Undoubtedly, Grandad had given him the painting and the gentleman from Guernsey may or may not have paid for the frame (who knows?) but certainly, this was very typical of him. Generous to a fault. His character and disposition, loyalty and ultimate sense of duty, dignity and decency shone through his son and daughters. Still, it was the love of his dear Rose that sustained him and afforded a 'healing' to the inner wounds that the trenches inflicted. Her presence and comfort afforded him an enjoyment he otherwise might never well have known. In spite of all that is going on around us or of what may be happening to us, the foundation of our personal and societal happiness begins with the family and those who choose to be a family. It is never too late. |