Celebrating 100 years

On Sunday 12th November the White Church celebrated the recent 100th birthday of our oldest Church Member and Choir member – Jim Crossan.

At morning worship Jim was presented with a birthday card and the congregation sang ‘Happy Birthday’. After the service everyone celebrated by sharing a lovely birthday cake that was specially made for him; Jim was also presented with flowers and a cheque.

Jim is somewhat of a celebrity being one of the oldest Japanese Prisoner of War veterans still alive. In 2013 he undertook an emotional pilgrimage organised by the British Legion to Singapore and Thailand to visit the Japanese Prison camps where he was held during the Second World War, a visit he repeated in 2015.
Also in 2015, on the 70th Anniversary of VJ day (Victory Over Japan) Jim attended a memorial service at St Martin-in-the Fields and had the honour of laying a wreath in Westminster Hall gardens in London in commemoration of his fallen comrades.
When the premier of the film ‘Railway Man’ about Eric Lomax, a fellow prisoner of Jim’s, was shown at the Leicester Square Odeon in London, Jim was invited to attend. He met the star of the film: Colin Firth, who told him what a great privilege it was to meet him, insisting that he had a photo taken with Jim.

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