Gerald Barnett: ex POW and SVP

GERALD Barnett, whose Requiem Mass and funeral took place in his parish church of St Mary's East Finchley, in North London, on Thursday 2 April, was educated at St Ignatius College, Stamford Hill, and became one of the youngest members of the London Stock Exchange.
He was a keen member of the Territorial Army and joined the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. Sir Anthony Eden, Secretary of State for War, sacrificed 3000 British troops, including his old regiment, the KRR, by ordering them to defend Calais on May 25, 1940, against the advancing German Panzer Divisions of General Guderian, in order to assist the evacuation of 330,000 men of the BEF from Dunkirk.
It was a memorable resistance, and after a 4 day battle, Calais fell in flames in a last ditch stand. Gerald was for some considerable time posted as "Missing, believed killed in
Monsignor's trust fund
Dr. Henry Will, Chairman of the Mgr Tomlinson Appeal, writes, "on March 13 last the late Monsignor George Tomlinson would have celebrated the golden jubilee of his ordination to the priesthood. In his long and fruitful ministry as Headmaster of The Oratory School, Woodcote, Catholic Chaplain to London University, Administrator of Westminster Cathedral and Rector of St. Jame's, Spanish Place, Monsignor Tomlinson won the affection and admiration of many, among whom must be a considerable number of your readers.
They will,. I feel sure, be glad to learn that a representative Committee has been formed to raise a permanent trust fund in his honour to be known as the' Tomlinson Memorial Trust, the income of which will be used for charitable purposes associated with Monsignor Tomlinson's life and work. Further details of the Appeal may be obtained from me at the address below."
Greystoke, Northville Road, Kingsbridge, Devon TQ7 1AZ.
St Albans Youth
HIS Eminence Cardinal Basil Hume OSB, spoke on "Spirituality in Youth Work" to 30 youth workers at the Diocese of St Albans recent Youth Service Forum held at the Retreat Centre in St Albans.
A similar event, organised by the Catholic Youth Service, will be held in the autumn. action".
Much to the relief of his friends in Britain and in Ireland he turned up some months later as a Prisoner of War in a Stalag in Poland. He survived the prisoner of war years, and the long march of escape before the advancing Russian Armies, to return to the City. After the war he sent food parcels and clothes to his former camp guards in Germany.
All his life he had a great understanding and love of Ireland and spent annual holidays on Achill Island. He befriended Hienrich Boll, the German Catholic novelist and Nobel Prize Winner for Literature, who had a holiday home in County Mayo in the mid 1950s.
Gerald was an active member of his parish of St. Mary's in East Finchley and quietly and unobtrusively was a leading member of the local branch of the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.
His passing will be mourned by his many friends in Britain and in Ireland.
His like will not pass this way again.