TOC-H

When we were in Batlow we went for a walk of the streets before dinner. It's a good time to explore a small town: the commercial crowd (such as it is) have gone home, and there's virtually nothing to stop you just criss-crossing the road at random. Looking at a map suggests that Batlow has three parks in the middle of town, and a wander around a park is always nice, so off we set.

Now I appear to digress...

The TOC-H is a Christian organisation founded in 1915 at Poperinghe, Belgium as"an alternative for the 'debauched' recreational life of the town". It was named Talbot House after the birthplace of Gilbert Talbot, brother of one of the senior chaplains in the British Army who was sponsor of the scheme, who had been killed in battle. First known as TH, it became TOC-H in the phonetic alphabet in use at the time by the British Army.

As well as its headquarters in Poperinghe, there were little TOC-H rooms across the trench system. Outside was a lamp, only just bright enough to be seen if you were close by, but not bright enough to attract the attention of the enemy. 

I have no idea why my Mother's family had an expression "As dim as a TOC-H lamp", although it appears to have been in fairly common usage in the UK at one time. As a child I never understood why any random act of silliness brought forth such a condemnation, it just was. I later researched (a little) and discovered the explanation of the lamp but never went any further.

So you can imagine my excitement (not shared by anyone else on the walk, I hasten to add) when I saw this:

TOC-H hall is now the Girl Guides hut.

The organisation still exists today, working mainly in the field of education.