RAF Calshot’s Chapel (St George’s Church)
If you’ve ever been to Calshot, you can be forgiven if you missed this rather plain looking building at the roadside as you approach the road into the spit. It was a very basic chapel built for the servicemen and women based at RAF Calshot, with construction completed probably in early 1919.
Known as St. George’s church, it had its first service in June 1919. I believe it was the first ever RAF chapel to be built.
A journalist attended the first church service, and reported on the day for the Hampshire Advertiser. I’ve transcribed the words of the 1919 news report, which appeared in the paper on Saturday 05 July 1919. I think it’s fair to say that journalists don’t write like this anymore. The written words are evocative, and certainly conjure up a scene beautifully.
BISHOP OF WINCHESTER AT CALSHOT: RAF Church Dedicated
Nestling in tree-sheltered corner of one of those numerous small townships which during the war have sprung all ever the country like many mushrooms, a little church of concrete, almost in-distinguishable from the “huts” surrounding it but for plain cross of oak above the porch. The neatness its exterior impels one to enter and see more of its simple beauty.
Acting upon this impulse, you cross the threshold of the porch and gaze with wonder and admiration at the sight which meets your eye. As outside, the walls inside are of concrete, only here they are better finished, being smoother end having a painted dado. The floor, too, is concrete, covered places with carpeting, and at the top of the little church a beautiful altar, in keeping, as regards size, with everything else of this place of worship.
Today it is covered with prettily embroidered green antependium frontal, and a plain brass cross is flanked by vases of red blooms, tastefully arranged. On the right hand is a carved wooden lectern, and on the left a harmonium. A feeling of quietude and repose pervades the atmosphere of this little building, which is unmarred by the busy world with its hum-drum life going on outside.
Perhaps almost involuntarily you kneel in front of the little Holy of Holies and breath a silent prayer – you hardly know why – the very “atmosphere” compels you to. Rising, you walk down the nave, and upon emerging into the open air you are struck by the contrast which imprints itself on your mind.
A long green car slips you, carrying officer clad in a blue uniform, with the wings of a pilot in the Royal Air Force above the left-hand pocket of his tunic. WRAF’s and men the Air Force hurry continuously, and in the distance, you hear constant hammering, and see coatless workmen engaged in the erecting of another of the huts which meet your gaze three directions.
In the fourth, between some trees, you can see the shimmering silver of Southampton Water, with several seaplanes oscillating on its surface at anchor. A low droning denotes the presence of one these denizens of the air above you.
From this description, residents in South Hampshire will easily recognise the Air Station at Eaglehurst, Calshot, where on Thursday the Lord Bishop of Winchester (the Rt. Rev. Edwin Talbot dedicated the new little church in honour of Saint George, England’s patron saint. At the church were assembled representatives of the RAF, WRAF, MBR, and WRNS, and also a number of visitors.
Brigadier General C. Longcroft, CMG, AFC, RAF. OC, SW area, Colonel A.W. Bigsworth. DSO, RAF, and Colonel D. Evill, DSC, AFC, RAF, OC Calshot, were also present. One and all alike joined fervently in the beautiful service, which was conducted the Chaplain of the station, the Rev. G. H. Collier, assisted by the Revs. H. D. L Viener. M.A. (Chaplain-in-Chief), R. E. Vernon Hanson. M.A. (Deputy Chaplain-in-Chief, S.W area) – Rev. (Chapain, Lee-on-the-Solent), and C. H. Gould (Rector of Fawley).
The Service
The service opened with the processional hymn “When God of old came down from Heav’n,” followed by the Lord’s Prayer and Psalm 84, “O how amiable are thy dwellings: thou Lord of hosts”. The Lesson, taken from I. Cor. 3, 9-23, was read by the Deputy Chaplain-in-Chief, and then the bishop pronounced the words of dedication, “. . . In the Faith of Jesus Christ, we dedicate this building to the Glory of God and in honour of His Blessed Servant (Saint George), in the name of the Father and of the Son and the Holy Ghost… Here let true faith, the fear of God. and brotherly love ever remain. This place is set apart for prayer, and for the praise of the most Holy Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, whoever liveth with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God, world without end. Amen.”
The Chaplain-in-Chief preached a truly soldierly sermon, taking his text from a prayer appointed to be used a sea “… with the fruits of our labours, and with a thankful remembrance of Thy mercies”.
They were just beginning to enjoy the fruits of their labours, he said, for the darkest clouds had passed away, and the gigantic and colossal struggle between the nations of the world was over. He would like to remind them of the great part Great Britain had played in the war. They had been the deciding factor; they had helped to obtain speedy and more complete victory. The speaker paid a high tribute to the Navy, who had mainly been the cause of the bloodless surrender of the second greatest navy in the world; the Army, particularly the immortal first seven divisions; the Air Force, the youngest of all the forces, which started with but a small handful; and lastly, the industries, converted so speedily from the arts of peace to the arts of war. When they thought all this, he declared, how proud they should be of being Englishmen.
Adding word of consolation to those who had lost close relatives or friends in the struggle, the Chaplain-in-Chief told them to rest assured, for these men had fallen in the greatest cause it was possible to fall in.
Continuing, he said the policy of the Air Force was to maintain a small force, but an efficient force. To do this they must rest on a solid foundation – the foundation of the commandments of God. Their church was the sort thing they wanted to set in all their stations, and he hoped when things settled down, they would do so. They hailed the existence of the church there because of the opportunity it gave them observing religious practice. “Do not be ashamed to pray”, he exhorted them in conclusion; “those who have been confirmed come here for communion, and chose who have not been, offer yourselves to your chaplain for preparation. Your country wants men – in the best sense of the word – who are godly men.”
The bishop briefly spoke of the very great pleasure it gave him come down there to dedicate their church. “We all admire,” he said, “the services of the Air Force – the pluck, the courage, and dash of which they have given a new example. But the courage which faces the deadliness of the guns has a higher form of moral courage.”
The National Anthem and the Blessing concluded the short but singularly impressive service, and the men and women left the little church – their very own – with feelings of deep joy and thankfulness to take up the threads their occupation where they had left them an hour before.
The RAF Calshot chapel / St. George’s Church can be found at 68 Calshot Close, Calshot, Southampton, SO45 1BP.
On 29 October 2024, the chapel was re-opened after an extensive refurbishment project by the New Forest District Council (NFDC). One of the rooms was named in honour of one of the Tristan da Cunha evacuees who arrived in Calshot in 1962. Here’s film I took on the day.