Special services were held in connection with Tobermore Presbyterian Church on Sunday, when an organ was dedicated and a marble tablet unveiled, commemorative of the members of the congregation who laid down their lives for king and country and those who served in the Great War. It is a glorious reflection that in no village of its size has there been greater response to his Majesty’s appeal than the loyal village of Tobermore.

DEDICATION OF ORGAN.

At the morning service Rev. W. McNutt, B.A., C.F., Hillhall, Lisburn, in dedicating the organ said, they had assembled to dedicate the instrument to the memory of those who had gone from the congregation to the late war, and who by their service, sacrifice, and heroism had preserved their liberties and those of the Empire and the world. Mr McNutt, having offered up the dedicatory prayer, Mr W. Reside, organist, Lisburn, played a voluntary on the new organ. Afterwards, Mr McNutt preached an elegant sermon from the text, “O worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” Concluding the service, he said-I should like to express how gratified I was to hear of the generous way in which the congregation responded to the appeal for the erection of these memorials to those gallant men who served bravely and honourably in the late great war. They are worthily of your undying praise, having faced the most terrible dangers on your behalf, both by night and day. I should also like to express to you my pleasure in seeing your sanctuary so beautiful this morning. Those who are responsible for the adornment of this house of God have done the work in a worthy and creditable manner. Mr McNutt expressed his great pleasure in coming to Tobermore, as he remembered most gratefully the worthy way in which his good friend, Mr Cowden ministered to his congregation during his (the speaker’s) absence in the war. At the evening service Mr. McNutt preached at touching war sermon from the text, “Greater love hath no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

MEMORIAL UNVEILED.

Mr. H.P. Wilkinson, B.C.L., in unveiling the memorial, said-I am here tonight on behalf of my father. It is not necessary for me to tell you how much he regrets that he is unable to be present; that he cannot bear the strain. He is no longer young, and is still busied in many affairs. I will try to express to you some of the thoughts which I know are in his mind as to this ceremony. First, it is thanks to your minister and to yourselves for asking him to unveil this memorial. Second, my father’s appreciation of the reason which led you to ask him. It was not because he is High Sheriff. Some war memorials are unveiled by distinguished people who have been engaged in the field of battle or work at home. This congregation wished that the unveiling of this memorial in Tobermore Presbyterian Church should be, as it were, a private affair. That it should be unveiled by someone long connected with the congregation, by a member of a family which has sat, as many of your families have been setting, side by side in this church for generations. Few of you will remember my grand uncle, William Wilkinson. I hope there are some here who do remember him. Many of you remember my uncle Richard, especially, I think, those of you, now men and women, who attended the Sunday School here week by week. My Father knows, I know, and you know that this memorial is being unveiled in this way because it brings us all nearer, but, in addition to that being so, I need not say how I appreciate the honour of representing my father in this matter. Now, this is one of many memorials of the same sort, for the same purpose, which have been erected and unveiled in the Christian churches in Great Britain. It is well that these memorials should be in the churches, as what they are to commemorate is self-sacrifice by members of the various churches, denominations, and congregations which go to make up not only the Protestant, but other Christian churches. The security enjoyed here in Ireland all through the war, as regards the material matter, greater, perhaps, than in any part of the Empire, was due to the continued sacrifice of those who fought and died, and of those who fought and came back. We have a right to be thankful, and especially to honour those who went from Ireland, because had not been for the way in which they responded our present position here would not be so secure as it is. As to the men who fell belonging to this congregation, their sons, their relatives, are here still. Those men who have fallen will always have their names here on this memorial tablet as a record. Now, those who went and came back were not any less ready to make the supreme sacrifice. You have heard of the tiring monotonous work in the trenches, as described in the able and eloquence sermon you have been just listening to. Your children, when you see those who came back from the war, can say, “There’s so and so; he is my brother, or he is my cousin.” You must not say it to themselves, but you will doubtless say it to each other. You will see a returned man just doing his duty to God, to his neighbour, and that will enable you to understand that being a hero means really doing one’s duty as it comes along. If you only watch for what may be a great opportunity it may never come, and if it does, you will not be able to meet it unless you do your duty day by day. Now, the great war is over, so far as concerns us here, we hope. We know perfectly well that other dangers, other wars, and, perhaps, the worst kind of war, threatens us in that it would be civil war, and I think it right when I have the opportunity to speak to you here that I should tell you that you can all help to stave such a calamity off by quietly doing your duty, by being ready, and by charity, that is, kindliness towards those who differ from us in politics, recognising the fact that they, too, are Christians, who, politically, may be misled.

The inscription on the tablet is as follows: –