 In 1915, he was involved in the setting up of a Church Tent for assistance in the nearby encampment of 5,000 soldiers at Penny Pot.In 1916 as a trustee of the Parish Room he was involved in its temporary conversion into a Soldiers' Club for the same men.On Fridays in the 1920s, the village school children were marched into the church for a service, and since headgear was mandatory in church, the girls had to wear knotted handkerchiefs on their heads.