My Great Grandfather and the Rechabites

This afternoon I was reading the local papers for the year 1942 when I stumbled across an account of my great grandfather's funeral:

From the County Herald, April 1942.

I recognise many of the names present at the Flint funeral, and I can just about remember the Feather Street address where my great grandfather lived. It was later demolished to make way for the tower blocks that now dominate the sky line of Flint.

There is a reference in the account to my great grandfather being involved with the Rechabites. In fact he appears to have been a leading member of the so-called 'Flint Tent'. The Rechabites were essentially an anti-drink association that took their inspiration from biblical writings (thus calling each branch a 'Tent'). It is unlikely that they met in a big tent somewhere in Flint, but you never know. The Rechabites were much more than an anti-drink movement as they provided insurance and welfare for their members in the days before the welfare state that we have today.

The Rechabites at their next meeting paid tribute to Thomas Ellis Erasmus, my great grandfather, for his devotion to the cause of temperance. According to the news account of their meeting he has been a member for over 60 years and had been the first 'juvenile' in Flint to be 'initiated' into the movement. His life time of anti drink had been prompted by his father (my great great grandfather) who delivered malt to the local breweries in North Wales and got rather too fond of sampling the final product.

I thought earlier that I would raise a glass to the memory of my great grandfather, but then I decided not to, as he certainly would not have appreciated it.