7 DECEMBER 1945, Page 12

CHURCHES UNITED

SIR,—In an age when there is more talk than action about Church unity, it may interest your readers to know of an effort which has been launched in Bromley.

In the blitz of 1941, on one night, Bromley lost five churches and halls— the old Parish Church, its daughter church, the Congregational Church, the Methodist Central Hall, and a hall used by the P.S.A. Movement. Three and a half years later three more churches shared the same fate, two Anglican and a Presbyterian, this time as a result of the flying bombs. Only one of the eight has been restored sufficiently to be usable. Instead of making eight separate and competing appeals, the "Eight Bombed Churches of Bromley " got together, and after careful preparation have this day issued a single united appeal to the whole town for £46,000, the sum reckoned to be necessary over and above what may be reasonably expected from the War Damage Commission.

It remains to be seen whether their faith will be rewarded, but as to the rightness of their action none of the eight churches has any second