The
situation must have deteriorated for in May 1944 the ‘Echo’ reported
a sermon by the Vicar of Holy Trinity Churcwhich
reflected the contemporary debate about the Beveridge Report.
The
headline was provocative:
“TEWKESBURY VICAR ON MORAL DECADENCE
Decline in National Righteousness.
It
was of little use for the Government to make plans for social security if a
man found his home broken up through the unfaithfulness of his wife.
NATIONAL EVIL
...among young girls the habit of drinking threatened to be a national evil.
When he heard that of
32
births registered in Tewkesbury last quarter, 19 were illegitimate, he
trembled for the future of the country.”
