Wray Village Institute
Public meetings have been held here since 1923
© Janet Nelson
In the year April 1924 to March 1925, a new branch of the League of Nations Union (LNU) was formed in Wray, together with ones at Carnforth , Forton and Garstang according to the report at the Lancaster branch AGM in 1925. (1) These branches were in the Lancaster LNU District Council area. The foundation of the Wray LNU coincided with the arrival of a new Vicar, Rev. R. Redfern, who became a member. He may have influenced the Headmaster of Wray and Botton Endowed School, of which he was a Manager, to introduce the League of Nations to the schoolchildren. The first time a lesson was given to the children on the League on Armistice Day was in 1924 and in 1927, an outside speaker, Mr Hayes, visited the school to talk to the children on the subject.
The branch was still in existence in 1927 when it invited two experienced speakers, Rev. E. J. Lawson, MA, the Minister of the Centenary Congregational Church, Lancaster and Mr. Sowerby of the Bentham LNU to give an address to the members at one of their meetings held at a private house. Rev. Redfern took the chair. (1) To date, no more information about the Wray branch has yet been found.
References/Further Reading:
Lancaster Guardian, 21 Mar 1925 & 25 June 1927.