The Waterbury Democrat., 1946-07-31
Dr. Walker Breaches h Scotland Church
Second Congregational Pastor Describes European Itinerary; Headed for Italy With Wife

The Rev. Dr. John c. Walker, Second Congregatio Church pas tor now on photographic trip in Europe with his wife. recently had the pleasure of preaching in the Elgin Place Congregational Church in Glasgow, Scotland, a famous edi- flee in that part of the world.
 In a recent letter to all his par ishioners here, sent from London, England, July Is, pr. Walker wrote:
 You are very often in our thoughts these days even if We are long, long way from home. We have travelled a good many miles these last three weeks and Mrs. Walker has taken, nearly 5000 feet of film We have been blessed with an unusual amount of sunshine for this part of the world and We have tried to make the most of it. Like the farmer, we have to make hay while the sun shines
 18-Hour Trip
 As many of you know, we did not get away on Monday. June 24, as had been hoped. We were put off frmo day to day until Thursday. Even then we had no confirmation or reservation-all we had was a place on a waiting list for the plane to Brussels. The flight was Sched- uled for l P. M. and we weighed our baggage at 12:40 without anything more than a fond expectation. We'll we got the word finally and our papers were stamped just in time to get our baggage on the plane. AL most literally at the last minute we were switched back to our original deStination-that is, London, and we were soon on our way. However We had another surprise in store. On account of bad weather in New foundland we were diverted to La brador and landed at an American Army Air Base there at 6:15 The next morning early we were Waken- ed for coffee-it was 3 o'clock by our New York time-and by noon London time we were at the Lon don airport. The total time from take-off to arrival was 18 hours.
 From that first FTiday afternoon until today we have been at work. This is the first day we haven't taken any pcitures-We have waited quite a while for our rainy day rest. Of course we have had show CTS and a hit of scotch mist and drizzle now and again but in the main we have been most fortunate in the way of good weather and we are duly grateful.
 The London office has done a marvellous piece of work in arrang- ing our trips around London and our itineraries farther afleld. Every where we have gone we have found ourselves in the hands of ministers and laymen who have shown us every courtesy and put themselves to no end of trouble on our behalf. Over and above making the rounds of London we have visited Folkes- tono, Dover Canterbury, Sandwich, RamSgato, Hoarno Bay, Coventry, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Swanson, Car diff, Gloucester, Birmingham, Ply mouth and Exeter. The only trouble has been that such good arrange ments have been made in most places that we have had a hard time keeping up to schedule In Edinburgh I had three minutes in my favorite bookstore and l wanted to finger for hOursl
 1000 At Services
 The first Sunday we went to hear Dr. Leslie Weatherhead at the Friends Meeting House, Huston Road. There were a thousand people present! That speaks well for the City Temple congregation which was bombed out five years ago The sec ond Sunday we went to hear pr, Donald O. Soper, KingsWay Hall. Last Sunday I had the pleasure of preaching in Elgin Place Congrega- tional Church, Glasgow, a famous church in that part of the world
 Surprisingly enough we have kept up our Second Church associations even though far from Waterbury. We saw Dr. and Mrs. Coe the day after they arrived from France and travelled about with them the bet ter part of a week. We have made two pastoral calls for Second Church this last week, one outside Glasgow and the other in London. We had a most delightful visit with MT, John Surgener and his daughter, Mrs Blair in KirkintillocE We may tell you more about that visit some day Suffice it to say meantime that MT Sggener, in spite of his 84 years, is one of the keenest and finest men we have met in many a day and his flower garden is perfect gem. Last might at Covent Garden Opera House we had the pleasure and honor of seeing the American Bal