Book review, Using history to inform future

A review was conducted after the trek and recommendations recorded for the guidance of any future treks that might be planned. Topics covered in this report included leadership, personnel, financing of a trek, programme, literature, personal counselling training as well as lists of suggestions from Waite and Laskey. Waite also sent his own report to Commissioner A. J. Gilliard. In this, Waite highlighted a number of weaknesses in the organisation of the trek. He noted that the Hodderville Farm was unprepared for their arrival, that no arrangements had been made at Rotorua for motor camp meetings and that the ban on open-air activity in Rotorua took them by surprise, all these despite letters being sent ahead asking for such assistance. Waite also pointed out that despite these set-backs, the team rallied and as the days progressed, they clicked together as a unit, were much more practised and assured and consequently their ministry overall was very effective.7

Cover of January 1962 SASF Trek Report8

Christmas-New Year Holiday Trek – 1962 – 1963

Another trek was held from 28 December 1962 to 2 January 1963, this time to Waimate and Temuka during the annual Christmas-New Year holiday period. A planning sheet prepared by Alan Cook (leader) set out the arrangements for the trek and invited applications from SASF students.9 Students were expected to pay for their own keep, travel by either bus or train and they could take bicycles for local travel. They were to take sleeping bags and lilos and would sleep in Salvation Army halls, boys in the band room and girls in the primary. Hall kitchens would be used for meals and Elizabeth Reid would order supplies and arrange menus. A common fund would pay for film fire, printed material and publicity in local papers and on billboards. A basic programme for the trek would be: morning – domestic duties, item preparation, bible study; afternoon – children’s hour, stories, games, recreation; evening – film shows, barbecues, community singing, coffee shops, drama, hymn singing, gospel meetings. They would have books for sale, children’s texts to give away, a sing-along song sheet with sacred, secular and popular songs

7 Letter, John C. Waite to A. J. Gilliard, (19 February 1962), New Zealand Salvation Army Heritage Centre & Archives, Upper Hutt. 8 Cyril Bradwell Papers, SA Heritage Centre & Archives, File SA Archives, File A2008.036.115. 9 Alan Cook, SASF 1962-3 Trek “planning sheet”, n.d., SA Heritage Centre & Archives.

and choruses, flannelgraph stories and puppet plays. Equipment would include 16mm movie and 35mm slide projectors, a loudspeaker and a puppet booth. The overall aim was to “work for Christ first and foremost” and to this end, uniform would not be worn in the belief that “people [were] often suspicious of denominational projects”. The team would meet weekly on Monday nights at Christchurch Citadel for preparation and any sightseeing would wait until the end of the trek. Alan was to be assisted by a committee comprised of Margaret Major, Laurence Hay and Carolyn Suter. Major John Waite, Divisional Young People’s Secretary for Canterbury-Westland was officer adviser in the lead-up to the trek. On the actual trek, the members of the committee were joined by Elizabeth Reid, Digby Gudsell, Margaret Richardson, Anne Skilton, Graeme McMurdo and Peter Home.

The war cry of 26 January 1963 published a full-page report on the trek which showed that what finally happened differed somewhat from what had been proposed in Alan Cook’s initial “planning sheet” . 10 Originally the team had planned to visit Waimate from 27 December to 1 January and Temuka from 2 – 4 January but these dates differed slightly in reality. The team arrived by car at Waimate around midnight on Friday 28 December and Saturday 29 was spent preparing for trek activities including rehearsing songs and writing a puppet play. On Sunday 30 January, the team attended the corps prayer meeting, conducted a morning open-air service in the motor camp at Victoria Park and the morning and evening meetings at the corps. At 8.30pm on Sunday evening, the team presented a programme in Victoria Park using the open-air stage and seating already erected for Waimate’s holiday carnival. The team showed films interspersed with community singing, vocal items, a testimony, a bible reading and an appeal. An audience of several hundred attended, having been advised of the event by announcements during the Saturday evening carnival programme and through personal contact on Sunday afternoon.

The team’s next engagement was at 10:00pm on New Year’s Eve (Monday 31) in the Waimate Corps hall, after the completion of an athletics meeting in the park. The team served coffee, ran a book stall, showed two Billy Graham films and conducted a watchnight service. The team returned to the motor camp on Tuesday morning (1 January) where they presented a programme for the children and interested adults. After this, the team travelled to Temuka where they stayed overnight at The Salvation Army’s Temuka Boy’s Home. They presented a programme of songs and puppets in front of the Temuka Motor Camp’s kitchen on the Tuesday evening but not having a movie projector, they were unable to show films. The team returned to Christchurch on Wednesday 2 January, feeling that though there were things that could be improved another time, the trek had been “a time of usefulness, blessing, fun and fellowship.”11 In reflecting on the trek, one member said, “I wasn’t too keen on it … at first, but I was thrilled with the experience. I’ll certainly go next time.” A review after the trek gave a detailed report on the trip together with suggestions for another time.12

10 The war cry, (New Zealand, 26 January 1963), 5. 11 The war cry, (New Zealand, 26 January 1963), 5. 12 Anon, “Reflections on the 1962-3 Trek”, Typescript, n.d., SA Heritage Centre & Archives.

The Christchurch SASF conducted an Easter trek to the top of the South Island under Captain Brian McStay's leadership.13 Besides Brian, the trek participants were Bob Best, Glynda Howells, Howard McDonald, Elizabeth Reid, Laurence Hay, Lorna Johnson, Margaret Major, Graeme McMurdo and Harold Hill.

Visitors’ book of the Ross family signed by some participants in the 1963 Easter Trek14

The team left Christchurch at 7:00am on Good Friday, 12 April 1963 and drove to Motueka via Blenheim where they conducted a Good Friday meeting at night. After a rehearsal at Motueka on Saturday morning 13 April, they drove to Kaiteriteri Beach where they presented a programme with songs, testimony and puppets in the afternoon and a film in the evening. On Sunday 14 April, the team conducted an open-air and holiness meeting at Motueka. This was followed by a beach meeting at Tahunanui and a youth tea at Nelson. In the evening, the team divided into two groups and conducted open-air and salvation meetings at Richmond and Nelson. They combined again at 8.45pm to show a film at Tahunanui before retiring to billets for the night. The group returned to Christchurch on Easter Monday 15 April and concluded the weekend with a social evening at the Phillipstown School. Of this trek, Brian McStay wrote, “A SASF team went on a trek to Kaiteriteri Beach. [They] presented a puppet show for the camp children, showed a ‘Fact and Faith’ film using a roll-up screen atop a car and generally had Christian fun. They conducted meetings at the Nelson Corps on the Sunday; Brian led and Harold Hill spoke.” McStay remembered that Hill was highly entertaining.15

Christmas-New Year Holiday Trek – 1963 – 1964

Another holiday trek was held from Saturday 28 December 1963 to Monday 5 January 1964.16 This was a joint effort by five students from Wellington and nine from Christchurch and involved repeat visits to Waimate and Temuka. The team consisted of David Daley, Anne Frew, Pam Jones, Henry Raethel and Brian Thompson from Wellington with Beverley Graham, Digby Gudsell, Rosemary Gudsell, Laurence Hay, Robin Hill, Margaret Major, Elaine McDonald, Howard McDonald and Elizabeth Reid from Christchurch.17 The group of fourteen was “under the guidance and spiritual counsel” of Laurence Hay.18

13 A Trek – Easter on Campaign 1963, Christchurch SASF Branch, n.d.; The war cry, (New Zealand, 11 May 1963), 8. 14 Courtesy of the Ross family. 15 Letter, Brian McStay to Kingsley Sampson, (1 January 2020). 16 Dates have been deduced from trek reports and calendars of the time. 17 Laurence Hay, “The Trek”, Battlepoint, Vol. 1, No. 3, (March 1964), 11, SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 18 The war cry, (New Zealand, 14 March 1964), 5.

On the first full day of the trek, Sunday 29 December, the team conducted the meetings at Waimate Corps. This was followed by four days of outreach among the children and adults at the Victoria Park Motor Camp. The team had some very accomplished musicians and timbrellists and a portable puppet show.

SASF timbrellists play for motor camp audiences19

After Waimate, the team moved on to Temuka where they held a similar series of meetings at the Temuka Motor Camp and led the meetings at Temuka Corps on Sunday 4 January 1964.

The war cry reported that the trek was “a great success”20 but in a Battlepoint reflection, Laurence Hay was more thoughtful. 21 While agreeing that the trek “was in many ways the most successful so far”, he offered the view that “in other ways [it] was disquietingly pedestrian”. He wondered if the team had been lacking in initiative given that their aim had been “to explore the lunatic fringe of evangelism, to be avant-garde”. Laurence mused that being “almost respectable” and reasonable may have prevented them from achieving any “great breakthroughs” . In concluding his reflection, Laurence felt that despite the above, the greatest value of the trek was that it allowed the team members to discover that the true essence of evangelism relied on ongoing person-to-person friendship as against simply conducting public evangelistic activities.

Children watch puppet theatre at SASF motor camp outreach22

19 The war cry, (New Zealand, 14 March 1964), 5. 20 The war cry, (New Zealand, 14 March 1964), 5. 21 Laurence Hay, “The Trek” Battlepoint, Vol. 1, No. 3, (March 1964), 11. 22 The war cry, (New Zealand, 14 March 1964), 12.

Three team members of SASF Trek taken at Temuka, 1963 – 1964 Brian Thompson, Anne Frew, Pam Jones23

Reactivating the SASF 1971 – 1972

By the late 1960s, regular SASF activities had largely ceased but a new territorial commander, Lt. Commissioner Harry Williams attempted to reactivate the SASF in 1971 – 1972. In his letter to all officers announcing his decision, Williams stated that he had appointed Captain Brian McStay BA, men’s side officer and later chief training officer at the training college as vice-president and CSM Cyril Bradwell MA, BCom, ACA as SASF Advisor. Along with his announcement, Williams circulated a new constitution which quickly created controversy and as will be shown below, was discussed fully at the 1972 national conference. Williams also thought that SASF might be a formal religious group on tertiary campuses. McStay saw his role as encompassing several tasks: (a) to support the establishment of branches in main centres in New Zealand, (b) to organise a national SASF conference, (c) to initiate vacation beach missions and a trek to Fiji. He thought that a SASF run in a New Zealand way would follow previous lines with informal get-togethers from time to time, visiting speakers, treks and capping celebrations. There was to be one difference though; this time graduates were to be excluded except where they were appointed as branch advisors. This change was not well received given that previously the SASF in New Zealand had consisted of students, graduates and even other interested people. Later, Ken Dawson, Christchurch SASF branch secretary wrote to McStay to ask, “Do those who framed the constitution realise how restrictive and exclusive it is?”24 In his defence, Williams had earlier responded to this criticism by saying that he thought that “a predominating influence of graduates, sort of permanent members” had contributed to the SASF being seen as an elite and this he wanted to avoid.25 In an undated SASF ‘ideas’ sheet but thought to date from the latter part of 1971, McStay recorded that “Wellington, Palmerston North, Dunedin and Christchurch have all had meetings” and that “Hamilton and Auckland have been in contact.” However, from records available it could be thought that McStay was putting a very positive spin on embryonic SASF activities throughout the country.

23 Courtesy of Brian Thompson collection. 24 Letter, Ken Dawson to Brian McStay, (17 April 1972), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 25 Letter, Harry Williams to Robyn Jackson, (10 August 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives.

While one or two meetings may have been held in the named centres, it would seem that the continuation of SASF activities was more problematic. Writing from Palmerston North in September 1971, Robyn Jackson expressed concern that an exploratory meeting with McStay in August had been taken to mean that an active SASF branch had been established.26 Captain Rodney Knight, Southern Division DYO reported that judging by a seminar held in 1969, “there was little support [in Dunedin] for anything more extensive than the occasional get-together [and that] all our students are very actively involved in corps programmes. ”27 Further, Les Boswill of Hamilton queried the wisdom of trying to set up another religious group on campus given that it could become something in opposition to existing student-oriented Christian groups.28

Reactivating the branches

For Wellington students and graduates, the reactivation of the SASF was signalled by Lt. Colonel Wesley Simpson, Wellington Divisional Commander who invited a named group of 27 students and officers to a fellowship dinner at the Wellington People’s Palace to be held on Monday 5 July 1971. The dinner would be followed by an informal meeting where the reactivation of the SASF would be discussed, office bearers chosen and the territorial commander, Lt. Commissioner Harry Williams would speak.29 The aims of the fellowship were the same as those stated in the 1966 The war cry advertisement printed in part one of this study. It is not known how many attended the event. The reactivated Wellington branch continued under Captain Brian McStay’s leadership with Raewyn Padman (later Grigg) as local SASF secretary. One event of this reactivated group was when Professor Lloyd Geering spoke at Max Cresswell’s invitation at a Post-Examination House Party on Friday 10 December 1971.30 Brian McStay wrote that Geering spoke for about 40 minutes or so debating with himself from history, theology and science as to Jesus rising from the dead, something which he himself denied. In the ensuing discussion, McStay challenged Geering on his multidisciplinary approach, suggesting it would be more feasible to settle the debate in only one of the disciplines, namely history. Brian also challenged Geering on selectively and subjectively choosing those historic sections which bolstered his view and ignoring others due to a prior judgement about the miraculous. Geering stated he was not guilty of what Brian had alleged. Lloyd Shearman and other Salvationist students from Palmerston North also attended this gathering which was held at Cresswell’s house. Lloyd particularly remembered Cresswell’s very generous comments when thanking Geering for his talk but said Cresswell finished by saying “I have to confess that I couldn’t make head nor tail of it.” After this, the evening concluded with Scottish dancing.31 Thinking about this years later, McStay felt that some of the students present could see the fallacy of Geering’s views.32 In a follow-up letter to Geering, McStay noted that there had been

26 Letter, Robyn Jackson to Brian McStay, (20 September 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 27 Letter, Rodney Knight to Brian McStay, (29 June 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 28 Letter, Les Boswill to Brian McStay, (8 September 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 29 Letter, Wesley Simpson to Wellington Students, (14 June 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 30 Professor Sir Lloyd Geering (1918- ) is a New Zealand theologian and religious studies scholar. His views about the resurrection and other orthodox Christian beliefs while he was principal of Knox Theological Hall in Dunedin led to him being charged with “doctrinal error” and “disturbing the peace of the [Presbyterian] church” in 1967. Acquitted by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand, he later was Foundation Professor of Religious Studies at Victoria University of Wellington (1971 – 1984). He was knighted in 2009. Lloyd Geering, (Wikipedia, 26 July 2020), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lloyd_Geering accessed 30 July 2020. 31 Telephone interview, Lloyd Shearman with Kingsley Sampson, (22 May 2020). 32 Letter, McStay to Sampson, (1 January 2020).

“several late-night sessions when we have debated with varying degrees of heat some of the ideas you put forward.”33 Reactivation of SASF activity in the Southern Division was begun by Captain Rodney Knight, Divisional Youth Secretary in September 1971. Fourteen potential members from Dunedin to Invercargill were identified and an inaugural meeting was held on Saturday 11 September 1971 at Balclutha, a mid-way point in the division. 34 As well as a general discussion about the SASF, this meeting considered that a Southern Division SASF branch might consider such activities as running camps for Salvation Army and underprivileged children, open-air ministry in Queenstown and a seminar for Salvationist secondary school pupils.35 The next year, Professor Vernon Wright, Professor of Rheumatology at the University of Leeds, England spoke at a meeting at Dunedin Fortress on 24 February 1972 organised by the Dunedin Branch of the SASF. Wright’s topic was entitled “The Relevance of Christ in a Scientific Age.”36 This was followed by a combined SASF/Salvation Army Nurses’ Fellowship evening on 9 March 1972 at which the territorial commander, Commissioner Harry Williams spoke.37 These meetings were organised by Rodney Knight’s successor, Captain Rex Wong Too and at the time of writing, no further records of SASF activity in Dunedin or the Southern Division have been found. In Christchurch, 11 people attended an inaugural meeting hosted by incoming divisional youth secretary, Captain Rodney Knight. This meeting was held on 2 March 1972 and was followed by a committee meeting on 16 March.38 No further records have been sighted and it is thought that this attempt faded out soon afterwards. Also apart from the exploratory meeting in August 1971, it seems that no further meetings were held in Palmerston North.

National SASF Conference, February 197239

A key event of the reactivated SASF was a national conference held from 18 – 21 February 1972. This was a new departure for the SASF in New Zealand. There had been an attempt to organise a national SASF conference a decade earlier in 1961 or 1962 but it did not eventuate.40 Instead some of the Wellington SASF seminars in the 1960s had the appearance of national seminars (or conferences) when students from other centres came for the weekend. Upwards of thirty officers, graduates and students attended the 1972 conference at which a constitution was to be ratified and other matters discussed. Most resided at Wallis House, Military Road, Lower Hutt for the weekend; a few were non-resident. Meals were prepared and served by the Wallis House staff but delegates were required to help with the dishes. Max Cresswell hosted the initial session on Friday night on the topic of “Why a Students’ Fellowship?” Points discussed covered the need to clarify the definition of a student, the value of a SASF to the Army in New Zealand and whether keen non-student Salvationists should be included. Saturday’s programme included talks by Williams on the spiritual implications of drug addiction,

33 Letter, McStay to Lloyd Geering, (20 December 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 34 Brian McStay, SASF Papers, SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 35 Terrence Aitken, “Inaugural Southern Division SASF Meeting Minutes, 11 September 1971”, SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 36 Professor Wright also spoke to Auckland SASF members on 17 February 1972 at Newton SA Citadel. 37 McStay, SASF Papers. 38 McStay, SASF Papers. 39 For a more detailed account of this conference, see Kingsley Sampson, “Report on the Salvation Army Students’ Fellowship Conference, 1972”, Battlepoint, Vol.9, No.4, (June 1972), 13 – 15. 40 The war cry, (New Zealand, 13 May 1961), 6.

Brigadier Lavinia Benson (The war cry editor) on “Education and Africa” and Captain Wesley Rabbitts (TYS) on territorial youth ideas. There was also discussion on the proposed Fiji trek, the role of Battlepoint and a business session at which the draft SASF constitution was debated at length. Sunday morning began with a discussion on what activities a SASF might be involved in, after which the conference concluded with a time of worship led by Captain Brian McStay and a final meal. Not on the official programme but undertaken nevertheless was a very lengthy walk around the adjacent golf course late on Friday night, this being a SASF tradition for Wallis House events. According to the official conference minutes, the weekend event involved fun, fellowship and some excellent discussion. Arising from the discussions during the weekend, the following points were made regarding the revitalisation of SASF and the proposed constitution: • The SASF has proved of great value to many Salvationist youth as a place to freely discuss faith and ethics; • The proposed constitution could be seen as recognising an intellectual elite among Salvationists, an outcome which most delegates rejected; • There should be no academic barrier to membership of any fellowship within the Army; and • A revived fellowship would be welcomed but not exclusively for students. In light of these points, the conference endorsed the creation of a Salvation Army Renewal Fellowship open to more than just students, realising that this proposal would require the endorsement of the territorial commander.

After the conference

As it turned out, the territorial commander did not endorse the conference’s proposal and the alternative idea of a Salvation Army Renewal Fellowship lapsed. Instead, Williams tried another tack. He believed that the conference was not a true reflection of student opinion and directed Captain Brian McStay to hold a referendum of all Salvation Army students in New Zealand. It is not known how many referenda were distributed but responses were received from 28 students and 13 graduates, giving a total of 41 people. The table below summarises the options and their responses.

Option 1. Continue with a SASF with membership open to all undertaking tertiary study 2. Have ad hoc meetings of SA students from time to time as required 3. Have no specific provision at all for SA tertiary students 4. Have a free forum of discussion with an open membership Students Graduates

14 4

5 0

2 0

7 9

Totals 28 13

These responses confirmed the territorial commander in his opinion that the February conference had not been representative of the views of active Salvationist tertiary students. For him,

the reactivated SASF as constituted would continue with any future constitutional amendments being handled by procedures as set out in the constitution. In light of this, in an undated SASF circular but thought to be around July 1972, Brian McStay urged students to be active in the SASF and restated the aims of the SASF, namely it was to be a body which would provide fellowship for Salvationists undertaking tertiary study, be a source of strength during their study years and a means of self-expression within the framework of The Salvation Army. He saw the task as “clearly one for students themselves to see to, if [the] SASF is to function at all in the future.”41

In the long term, nothing came of this challenge despite McStay’s claim that there were active groups in Dunedin, Christchurch and Hamilton and some interest in Auckland. The initiative was also hindered by other developments. For much of 1972, McStay was heavily occupied with his regular training college responsibilities plus the additional workload involved in preparation for the August Fiji Trek. Then Commissioner Harry Williams was transferred to the Australia Eastern Territory in late 1972 and McStay, together with his wife Beverly and their children went to start The Salvation Army in Fiji in February 1973. After the departure of these two key leaders, no other Salvation Army leader took up the SASF cause and this, coupled with the less than enthusiastic response to the constitution and faltering local branch activity, meant the impetus was gone. Remnants of SASF activity continued with the 1972 Fiji Trek and the ongoing publication of Battlepoint but apart from these, the 1972 conference effectively marked the end of the SASF in New Zealand. In reflecting on this outcome, Harold Hill recalled that when Commissioner Gilliard was asked about a constitution, he advised against it because he believed it would kill the SASF which is certainly what happened in 1972.42

Reflection

In his 1970 Salvation Army Year Book article, Caughey Gauntlett stated that “the original aim of the [Students’] Fellowship was two-fold: to unite Salvationists students at universities and colleges in Christian fellowship and service within The Salvation Army, and to undertake evangelistic work in such centres of learning.”43 In practice, this varied somewhat in New Zealand. The SASF certainly helped bring New Zealand Salvationists students together for fellowship and service as well as fun but no attempt was made to establish a competitive Christian evangelistic group in universities and colleges, one which would fragment Christian witness in such institutions. Rather one of its main values, to quote Gauntlett again was as a forum “to freely express personal views and opinions frankly and forthrightly in an Army setting.”44 As such it helped to create “a freer atmosphere for candid and critical comment” in the Army and often served as an outlet for youthful frustration and impatience with perceived outdated emphases and thinking in Salvation Army life.45 This was not always appreciated by other Salvationists who saw the SASF as being critical of Salvation Army policies and theology. Ken Geard felt that while there was encouragement from Salvation Army leaders, there was also “a wariness of articulate young students who engaged in non-

41 Brian McStay, SASF circular letter, Brian McStay’s SASF Papers, SA Heritage Centre & Archives. Letter presumed to have been written around July 1972; this assessment being based on other content in the letter including information about the forthcoming Fiji Trek. 42 Email, Harold Hill to Kingsley Sampson, (23 December 2019). 43 Caughey Gauntlett, “Whither now?” , Salvation Army Year Book 1970, reprinted in Battlepoint, Vol.8, No.1, (September 1970), 6. 44 Gauntlet, “Whither now?”, 5. 45 Gauntlet, “Whither now?”, 5.

traditional thinking.”46 The 1960s were a time of theological ferment and Salvationist students were grappling with many ideas that challenged what they may have previously heard or believed. One example of institutional wariness was exemplified in an incident recalled by Brian Pauling who remembered the visit to Auckland Congress Hall of an officer from the UK.47 The officer presented a “long but well-crafted sermon” clearly influenced by “the secular theology of Harvey Cox and Bishop John Robinson.” For Brian and other SASF members, “it was riveting stuff” not previously heard from an Army platform and a hastily organised after-church gathering continued the conversation with the visiting lieutenant, the discussion going late into the night. Enquiries to the UK after the event revealed that the visiting officer had actually been removed from officership for his “unacceptable” ideas and the organisers of the SASF after-church meeting were summoned to divisional headquarters and chastised for arranging a “non-approved” gathering using Congress Hall facilities. Pauling felt that this reaction triggered a somewhat uncomfortable relationship between the local SASF and divisional headquarters that had a negative impact on future relations between SASF event organisers and DHQ. This “uncomfortable relationship” can also be seen in other correspondence on file at the Salvation Army Archives. In 1964, Captain Tom Cross, Central-North Division DYS stated that he was opposed to a SASF group being formed in Palmerston North if it functioned “in just the same way as it has in other centres.”48 Unfortunately, there is no clue as what exactly he was taking exception to. Later in 1971, when the reactivation was being attempted, the Southern Division DYO wrote that his divisional commander “has little tolerance for the unacceptable behaviour of some SA students.”49 As I had been a student in Dunedin for several years prior to 1971, I have no idea what was being referred to nor does this track with the DYO’s previously recorded comment that “all our students are very actively involved in corps programmes.”50 About the same time, another DYO wrote that there was a reaction in Palmerston North “against the setting up of the SASF from a few who remember what trouble there was in Christchurch and Wellington a few years back.”51 But again, there is no clue in the correspondence that explains what the “trouble” was being referred to. Some Salvationists regarded the SASF as an exclusive group and an oft-heard complaint was that if students had their own fellowship, why wasn’t there one for Salvation Army tradespeople. Cyril Bradwell noted in his autobiography that while the SASF was criticised in some quarters as elitist and divisive, it “served a positive purpose in providing a forum and a platform for a number of thinking young Salvationists who rightly felt that they had something fresh and worthwhile to contribute to the Army in a rapidly changing world.”52 The SASF Auckland Branch also discussed this matter in 1963 and minuted the following resolution:

The SASF (Northern Division) does not divide SA young people into two opposing sides. The SASF exists that it might provide a means whereby young Salvationist students and nurses can come together to discuss problems peculiar to the student mind and enjoy the company of likeminded young people.53

46 Email, Ken Geard to Kingsley Sampson, (20 May 2020). 47 Brian Pauling, SASF Memoir, (26 July 2020). 48 Letter, Tom Cross to Ernest Elliot, (16 June 1964), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 49 Letter, Rodney Knight to Brian McStay, (29 June 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 50 Letter. Knight to McStay, (29 June 1971). 51 Letter, Harold Harford to Brian McStay, (10 August 1971), SA Heritage Centre & Archives. 52 Cyril Bradwell. Touched with splendour: A 20th century pilgrimage, (Wellington, NZ: Flag Publications, 2003), 145 –146. 53 Northern Division SASF Minutes, (22 February 1963), SA Heritage Centre & Archives.

The magazine Battlepoint as a SASF publication also attracted criticism. Brian McStay noted that Battlepoint was seen “a splinter in the hindquarters of Headquarters” and Harold Hill remembers that during Brigadier Ernest Elliot’s term as TYPS, Ken Iremonger of Wellington City was asked to start up and edit a rival publication for more loyal young Salvationists. One issue may have been printed. Hill also thinks that Commissioner Charles Davidson may have wanted to suppress Battlepoint during his time as territorial commander (1965 – 1968). The SASF was never numerically strong in New Zealand. With members scattered over four or five centres, it seems to have had a national membership of around 100 – 110 people at any one time during the late-1950s and the 1960s. Further, it wasn’t just confined to students undertaking tertiary level study. It also attracted graduates and others interested in a forum for discussion and fellowship. In a 1972 Battlepoint article reviewing SASF membership following the abortive attempt to reactivate the SASF, Brian Thompson pointed out that from 1955 to 1972, “the largest proportion of Salvationists attending Fellowship meetings have not (his emphasis) been ‘students doing tertiary level study’” . 54 To support this assertion, he presented a table analysing active membership at selected events. This table showed that the 1956 SASF Annual Meeting in Wellington attracted seven tertiary students, six tertiary graduates and three others, the 1965 Wallis House SASF Seminar attracted eight students, 13 graduates and six others while a 1967 SASF Seminar in Auckland had 13 students, five graduates and two others. All up, the total attendance at the six events from 1955 to 1968 mentioned in his analysis ranged from 16 to 28, an average of 21.5 and with graduates and others outnumbering students on a ratio of 3:2. The reasons for the demise of the SASF in New Zealand are not easy to determine but the following are suggested. Firstly, the SASF’s decline may have simply resulted from the natural progression of life as the students of the sixties completed their tertiary studies and became involved in work, careers, marriage, family and community. They were in their mid to late twenties and often had different interests or perspectives from what they had had as students ten years earlier when they were in their late teens or early twenties. By the 1970s they were graduates, some were doing postgraduate studies while others were employed in professions such as education or medicine. Some had gone overseas, some had become Salvation Army officers while others had severed their links with the Army. Secondly, the lack of suitable patrons or mentors may have been a factor in the demise of the SASF in New Zealand. It is significant that in their heyday, both the Christchurch and Wellington branches had significant patrons. In Wellington, Commissioner A. J. Gilliard (Territorial Commander, 1960 – 1964) and Colonel Dr A. Bramwell Cook (Chief Secretary, 1954 – 1963) were very supportive. The support of Gilliard was invaluable and he endeared himself to a generation of SASF members, so much so that when he was promoted to Glory, several tributes to his understanding leadership were published in Battlepoint. 55 Yet even his support was not without controversy. Cyril Bradwell recorded that when the commissioner and his wife spent a whole weekend with students at Spencerville in 1962, it was not appreciated by some officers and soldiers who had tended to look down on the SASF as a “snob outfit” . 56 Major John C. Waite provided strong support for a reactivated Wellington SASF after his transfer there from Christchurch in 1963 and he was followed successively by Captain Harold

54 Brian Thompson, “The New Zealand fellowship only for ‘Educational Drop-Ins’?” Battlepoint, Vol. 10, No. 1, (September 1972), 5. 55 Battlepoint, Vol. 11, No. 2, (September 1973). 56 Bradwell, “Some notes”, n.p.

Harford57 and Brigadier David Scott. Strong support was also given by such graduates as Max Cresswell and Brian Thompson and by Corps Sergeant-Major Richard Sharp of Wellington South. In Christchurch, as well as Cyril Bradwell, there was Major John C. Waite (1959 – 1962) and Captain Brian McStay (1963 – 1967). About the demise of the Christchurch branch, Bradwell recorded that he was extremely busy in 1967 and couldn't devote much time to the Christchurch group. This coupled with a sympathetic but new DYS grappling with a new appointment meant that the Christchurch group was virtually in recess for the year. Then Bradwell moved to Wellington in 1968 and the group faded until the abortive attempt to reactivate in 1971 – 1972. Harold Hill suggested a further reason as to why the SASF died out in New Zealand. As more young people were doing tertiary study of some kind by the 1970s, Salvation Army students weren’t considered such rarities, needing to be conserved and protected against the potentially corrosive influences of higher education.58 In other words, Salvationist tertiary study and students became more common and less threatening and perhaps this also contributed to the failure to reactivate the SASF in the early 1970s. Salvationist students were no longer such a small cohort and the expanding opportunities for tertiary education meant they could no longer be labelled as an “elite” . It could also be suggested that the SASF met a need for Salvation Army students in the 1960s when more liberal theological views and “God is dead” were becoming more widely known and that this need may not have been the same in the 1970s and later. On this point Ken Geard has commented:

The value to me of the SASF was that it was a place to meet with people who had gone or were going through the process of sorting out their beliefs in a time of considerable ferment in the community overall and in religion. We were exposed all the time to views that did not fit with Salvation Army beliefs and somehow had to make some sense of the substantial conflicts.59

For David Daley, the SASF in Christchurch served two principal functions. One was the “supporting and nurturing [of] members during a period when questions of faith and theology were increasingly under serious critical debate.” The other was that the SASF offered the companionship of other Salvation Army students with social connection and shared experiences [as he was] a student from the North Island with no family or social network in Christchurch.60 Whatever the reasons, by the late 1960s, the SASF was largely inoperative in New Zealand. Its best days seem to have been 1959 to 1966 – 1967 and it appears to have served a distinct purpose for Salvationist students of that era, particularly in Auckland, Wellington, and Christchurch. While this had faded by the early 1970s, the memory of the SASF was retained by some through the pioneering trek to Fiji in 1972 and Battlepoint magazine which continued to be published until 1988. It is also significant that two informal SASF reunions in 2019 and 2020 showed that friendships made or reinforced through the SASF remained strong more than fifty years later.

57 The war cry, (New Zealand, 15 January 1966), 9. 58 Email, Hill to Sampson, (23 December 2019). 59 Email, Geard to Sampson, (20 May 2020). 60 Email, Davis Daley to Kingsley Sampson, (19 May 2020).