Dulverton film and photographs from 1950s feature in Congregational Church exhibition

A LONG-lost hoard of photographs of Dulverton families from the 1950s will be a centrepiece of a new exhibition highlighting the life and legacy of the town’s most famous son.

The exhibition, opening on Thursday, August 13, and titled ‘Young Man’, is the latest stage in Dulverton Congregational Church’s project to remember Sir George Williams, the Dulverton farm boy who founded the world’s largest youth organisation, the YMCA, and is buried in St Paul’s Cathedral.

As part of the August events there will be a special evening showing in Dulverton of a film of a stage play, entitled ‘The Soul in the Machine’, about the life of Sir George.

The film vividly tells the story of his youth in Dulverton.

Church secretary Jonathan Hunt said: “We recently received a wooden box, found in Chester, with dozens of slides taken in the 1950s showing church and Sunday school gatherings, involving many Dulverton families.

“These would have been shown once in the church hall and put away, never to be viewed again.

“We will also be showing a collection of cine films of Sunday school outings and church parties, taken between the 1950s and 1980s, with new scenes added to the original movie first screened 10 years ago.

“All this is part of George Williams’ legacy.

“Visitors will also get a chance to take a peek at the historic chapel, which is currently undergoing restoration.

“For local people, it is a chance to catch up on town history and, for visitors, a chance to find out the amazing story of Dulverton’s most distinguished son.”

Sir George helped create the YMCA when an impoverished youngster, working long hours for a London draper in London.

He went on to become a wealthy businessman but never forgot his home town, supporting both itsCongregational Church and All Saints Parish Church.

The exhibition will be held in the Sunday School hall, part of a substantial extension to the church he helped finance in the 1890s.

It will be open from 11 am to 4 pm on August 13, 15, 20, 22, and 24, while the film ‘The Soul in the Machine: the story of George Williams’ will be shown at 730 pm on Monday, August 17, in Dulverton Town Hall.

George Williams, born in 1821, began working on the family farm when he was 13, describing himself as ‘a careless, thoughtless, Godless, swearing young fellow’.

He was knighted by Queen Victoria and has a stained glass window in Westminster Abbey.

Mr Hunt said: “George’s legacy in Dulverton was a Sunday School which thrived for a century and a building that still serves the town.

“Just as he did all over the world, George took action for the young people of Dulverton and built facilities for them.

“Our exhibition will tell George’s story and the story of the century that followed.

“Many Dulverton children attended Sunday School under a large portrait of an elderly gentleman who is Sir George Williams.

“The wonderful portrait is still there.”