officially in the paper in
1937. Rosamund Essex, who was to become the editor in 1950, was
already a member of staff in the '30s, and launched (and often,
largely, wrote) the first regular "Children's Page".
She introduced a character,
Buffie the elephant, who was to lend his name to Buffie's
Book, a less-than-successful attempt at a children's spin-off,
in 1938. Unfortunately, the children's page was a victim of war, as
paper restrictions during the Second World War cut the size of the
paper.
The feature made a return in
1952, during Miss Essex's editorial reign, and the page was looked
after by Anne Francis Potts, from 1954 to 1971, and then by Joan
Selby Lowndes, under the heading "Young Readers", until 1989.
Strip-cartoon series made
regular appearances, initially eschewing the use of speech bubbles
and employing the more literary technique of printing descriptive
paragraphs under each picture.
"The Adventures of James and
Jemima" in the 1950s followed the exploits of two children whose
quest was to find their way to the "Great House of the Hidden
Power", fighting evil on the way. In their task, they were aided by
James and Jemima Angel, their guardian angels.
These remarkable celestial
assistants thought nothing of bursting through the doors, wielding
revolvers, in order to rescue their young charges.
In the '60s, younger readers
of the Church Times were treated to "The Prince of
Dreamers" - a contemporary take on the Old Testament story of
Joseph, the spoiled son of Mr and Mrs Jacobs. Joseph sported a
multi-coloured scarf rather than a technicolour dreamcoat, and used
a scooter instead of a more traditional form of transport.
In the '80s, "Rex the
Rectory Dog" - a kind of ecclesiastical cross between Lassie and
Rin Tin Tin - wagged his tail for younger readers. Rex, a
well-meaning hound, was as likely to eat his master's sermons as
capture a thief intent on purloining the takings from the
collection boxes.
But the page was not all merry japes. There was a great deal of
overt instruction. In 1988, for example, childen were invited to
make a cardboard cut-out vicar, and dress him appropriately. Sadly,
those days of make-and-do are long gone.
