Memories of an Eastleigh Vicar's Son

RECOLLECTIONS OF EASTLEIGH IN THE EARLY YEARS OF THIS CENTURY
In 1902, when I was three years old, my father, Reverend Cyryl Herbert Thompson, was appointed Vicar of Eastleigh. At the time he was Minor Canon of Winchester Cathedral and Chaplain of the Hospital and of the Prison. His immediate main commission from Bishop Ryle was to complete the enlargement of the Parish Church initiated by Reverend R. C. M. Harv ey before his translation to the town of Dewsbury in Yorkshire. This was achieved in 1905, when on 29th April the completed church was consecrated by the Bishop. It was a curious structure, which involved an entirely new building added on the south side to the old and smaller church, which henceforth acted as a north aisle to correspond to a long and narrow south aisle in the new building.