Day 34: Praying for Rhyl (1907)

Join with Salvationists of the Wales Division for day 34 of 150 days of prayer.

• ‘Join with me to tell people that the Lord is great! Together we will make his name famous’ (Psalm 34:3, EasyEnglish Bible). 

1907

William Booth was willing to try anything that might extend God’s Kingdom. Every year from 1904 to 1908 he undertook tours of Britain in his famous white car. The timetable was demanding, so when one village in Wales placed chairs on the road, trying to force the General to make an unplanned stop … the motorcade swept past! A similar attempt later in the tour met with success. In later years many would recount their story of seeing and hearing the world-famous General in their community.

Readers of the 10 August War Cry were told about the 1907 motor campaign visit to Buckley, where ‘the General held a big morning meeting in the spacious Primitive Methodist Assembly… One of The General’s Welsh chairmen… moved a vote of thanks. Chairman: “Ladies and gentlemen, he is a most marvellous man!” The General: “Hear, hear.” (Loud laughter.) Chairman: “His vitality is perfectly mysterious.” The General: “There must be some Welsh blood in me.” (Loud and prolonged laughter and applause.)

The report then moved to other visits: ‘A proper wayside was Mold, with a lorry turned into a hustings … as the white car stealthily left the hustings and penetrated the immense crowd, 2,000 in number, up the hill on the road to Denbigh. A magnificent meeting was held in the great Methodist chapel.

‘But if there was enthusiasm at Rhyl, the Welsh religious fervour at Colwyn Bay, and a touch of spiritual fire at Llanddulas, what shall I say of the scene at the foot of the Great Orme’s head at Llandudno?

‘An enchanting experience was, however, to be added to the spectacle just described – none other than the General speaking in the skeleton remains of the banqueting fall of Edward I in Conway Castle.

‘Llanfairfechan was next reached and here there was a civic welcome, and address, and a meeting in the Public Hall.

‘At 6.45pm we set off for Bangor, another Welsh city set on a hill… The language of the people being Welsh, and intensely Welsh, the opening proceedings led by Staff Captain Russell, were in that language.

‘The next scene of interest was right under the shadow of the stately and awe-awakening Carnarvon Castle, a structure the influence of which seems to dominate this old town… Following an enthusiastic greeting the mayor presented an address, as did the Good Templars and the Free Church Federation.’

The 10 August War Cry reported on the tour’s progress in South Wales, ‘Among Welsh mountains and valleys’.

‘Great demonstrations at Carmarthen, Swansea, Llanelly and Cardiff. “What does it all mean?” asked the General of the densely packed square in the heart of Newport. In a silence that could be felt, he said: “I will tell you. It means that this people are at heart religious. They believe in it. It is there. Nothing can remove it… I have concluded that, despite the worldliness and materialistic tendency of modern Christianity, the people, the people, the common people admire the man or the woman who stands up for God. This is a new revival.”

After making an unplanned stop due to the insistence of the local folk, Booth stated: ‘“Your zeal, your enthusiasm, your cheerful faces, your salutes, and flowers show that you are interested in me and the work I am trying to do, and I wish I had the time to stop and tell you dear people a little about it. But I have only a few seconds”… The General is no sentimentalist; but when the sweet refrain of the Welsh hymn rose on the air as the white car left Llanon behind, something like tears bedewed his eyes.’

Prayer

• Pray for the corps and community of Rhyl.
• Pray for the new projects that The Salvation Army is managing in the town.