Rev. A.E.Forrest was Vicar of Mathon from 1929 to 1943. He was a High Churchman and he set about transforming the village church paying for some of the work out of his own pocket, and without consulting anyone at all, or obtaining the faculty which is necessary before starting any work on the church. The altar was removed and in its place was set up a tabernacle and baldachino, a lady chapel was constructed and many other alterations which changed a Herefordshire village church into something one might find in a Catholic country in Europe. At least that was the opinion of some folk, though others thought it a great improvement, and perhaps, needless to say, clergy and laymen were included in each group, those for and those against.
As a result some village people stopped attending, but others came to services from Cradley, West Malvern and other places. When Mr. Forrest left, his successor, Rev. Philip Thorburn refused to be inducted before the church was restored to its former state. A huge fund-raising effort was required, and this enabled the work to be completed. A full account of all this has been made by Mr. C. L. Danks entitled “Matters of Interest” and is in Hereford Record Office.
Peter was the vicars son. He was a firm friend of Archie James, and lives in Colwall, so they are still able to keep in touch. They are both now in their eighties. Peter was educated at home by his father, and this probably gave him a fair amount of free time, which enabled him to become an unpaid extra labourer at Church Farm, and he accompanied Fred Layton in hedging, ditching building ricks and thatching them and having a swig from the small barrel of cider that Fred took with him. Church Farm was run by Charles Powell, his two sons, and several other men including Jim Botfield and Frank James, the cowman. There were 3 horses, Prince, Blossom and Violet.. Peter and another boy, Ernie Botfield, were using a Blackburn Oil Engine to cut chaff, when Ernie had a miraculous escape from death or serious injury.. His jacket was caught in the machine, but mercifully it was stripped off his back and chewed up and he was unharmed.
At lunch time, the boys organised football games on the glebe land behind the church, or had a run up the wooded Rowburrow Hill.A favourite game was to throw pebbles at the school bell and Peter found a catapult useful for this. He also liked to accompany Jervie Jones when he followed the hunt, and learned how to set a snare. He never caught anything, and attributes this to the fact that the strong-smelling carbolic soap which was popular then , and with which he washed his hands, could be detected by the rabbits on the wires. He got into serious trouble at home one night when Jervie had taken them so far from home (Crumpton Hill probably) that Peter did not know the way back and had to wait till Jervie was ready to go
Peter used to ride the James’s family mare round their field and sometimes borrowed the Pugh’s donkey. The church tower made a good point from which to take pot shots at birds with his Diana air rifle and there were so many birds then that every boy thought a few would not be missed.
In 1932, an advertisement appeared in the “Church Times” for a “Trojan” motor car for sale to any country parson for £10. The address was in Babbacombe, Devon, so after a family conference they set off to buy it. This was a remarkable car which was originally advertised as “Can you afford to walk?” It had a 4 cylinder 2 stroke engine started by pulling an internal lever, the chassis was pressed steel, the gearbox 2 speed and the bonnet housed the petrol tank and carburettor. The engine was underneath the front seats. Trojan became more famous for their vans than their cars, and the Brooke Bond tea van, in bright red, was seen in most villages.
Peter learned to drive this car at the age of 13, traversing the gravel in front of the vicarage. “When I got tired of going forward, I did it in reverse”. He now began to collect churchgoers from other villages, and bring them to Mathon for the service. In church he swung the censer, sometimes delighting his young friends by rotating it through a full circle, “to liven it up”
He also drove the car to Bromyard, when someone had to be taken to the workhouse, and to Folkestone where the family took their annual holiday.
When not farming, following the hounds, or rabbiting he found time to pummel a punchbag with Tom Richardson for hours on end. His friend, Archie James had a motorbike, so in the field they rigged up a contraption with petrol tins and planks to make a ramp to ride the bike up and down.
Peter has visited the village frequently and some years ago, he encountered Mrs. Minton. After a long hard look, she said “I know you. You’re Peter Forrest, and what a little devil you were !”