Huntly Express May 28 1915
MR AND MRS BENNET, PARKHALL, GLASS
INTERESTING PRESENTATIONS
On Monday afternoon a deputation of members of the School Board and Parish Council waited upon Mr and Mrs James Bennet, Parkhall and in the name of their friends and the parishioners generally, presented them with a handsome walnut sideboard, a sofa and two easy chairs, on the occasion of their departure from the parish to reside at Aberchirder.
Rev. W.G. Guthrie, The Manse, in making the presentation, spoke of the esteem with which Mr and Mrs Bennet were regarded and of the large amount of public service which Mr Bennet had rendered during his 44 years’ tenancy of the farm of Parkhall. He had occupied every public office which it was possible for him to hold, having been a member of the School Board since 1889, of the Parish Council since its inception, and previously of the old Parochial Board, a Justice of the Peace, and an elder of the Kirk. In all these offices, as well as in his more private relations, Mr Bennet had gained and kept the complete confidence and respect of the community and in all his good works he had been nobly assisted by his partner in life.
Other members of the deputation also bore testimony to Mr Bennet’s straightforwardness in business and to Mrs Bennet’s hospitality and kindness of heart.
Replying on behalf of his wife and himself, Mr Bennet thanked the deputation most warmly and through them all their friends in the district who had so kindly presented them with such valuable and useful gifts and said that wherever they went they would never find better neighbours than they had the good fortune to have in the parish of Glass.
ROYAL GIFTS
The company was afterwards entertained by Mr and Mrs Bennet and in the course of the evening had much pleasure in viewing a number of valuable gifts recently bestowed by the King and Queen and Queen Alexandra on Nurse Mary B. Bennet, of His Majesty’s Navy, in recognition of the splendid service she has rendered during the war. Included among these was the Royal Red Cross with which Miss Bennet was decorated by the King at a recent audience at Buckingham Palace. You can read more about Nurse Bennet by clicking here
The gifts presented to Mr and Mrs Bennet were supplied by Mr Anton, cabinetmaker, Duke Street, Huntly. The sideboard bears a plate with the following inscription:- “A parting gift to Mr and Mrs James Bennet, Parkhall, from their friends in Glass – 28th May 1915”