South Yorkshire Times, November 13th 1943
Tibetan Monk’s Hospitality
Wombwell Soldier’s Tea with Butter
The Rector of Wombwell, Canon J. St. Leger Blakeney gets many newsy letters from old boys of the Parish Church serving with the Forces, and an interesting one has just come to hand from Driver George Cutler (24). In this there is a vivid impression of a visit to a Tibetan temple, Driver Cutler is serving with the Frontier Forces in India.
He says, ““While I was on my last leave, I had a very queer experience. The place where I was staying was a hill station, and while I was out riding one morning I came to an old Tibetan monastery. In its own way I suppose one would call it a very beautiful place. It was one mass of gold and silver, with thick carpets on the floor. All around the walls in glass cases were somewhere around two dozen “gods.” There was a god for this and a god for that, some with two arms and some with a thousand arms. In front of these glass cases were a number of small brass bowls, some with food and some with water. These, I was told by the head Lama (monk) were for the gods in the cases to come and eat when they thought fit. They had a band which comprises one bass drum and countless cymbals. These cymbals, by the way, ranged from a small pan lid to a huge solid brass one. And what Is even more strange they have music for every tune they play.
After having a good look at the inside, we inspected the outside. All round the garden were very high poles, maybe twenty or thirty feet in height. Starting about five feet from the bottom and going right up to the top were strips of cloth all a foot wide with weird and wonderful writing on. The idea is this, when the wind blows it will blow all the prayers up to heaven. These prayer flags save quite a lot of time for them. When the old monk had done showing us round, he asked us if we would like a drink of char (tea). Well, we thought this would be all right, so we gave him the O.K. First of all, he made the tea black-strong with heaps of sugar, which by the way is a thing I hate. Anyway, we thought this tea would not kill us. But the tea was not made yet. He had to put a big lump of butter in! Well as you will know this was more than any stomach could stand. So, we made great pretence of drinking it. Anyway, luck came our way. The old monk was called from the room, so through the window the tea went—which made a very good end to an interesting three hours.”
Driver Cutler mentions several other Wombwell lads he has met while serving in India, among them being Phil Kaye, of Wright Crescent, and Norman Barrass, He says his mother sends him the “Times” every week, and he is thus kept up to date with church news. Driver Cutler is a son of Mr. and Mrs. G. H. Cutler. of Gate House, Wath Road, Wombwell. He joined Wath Territorials as a bandsman at 14, was called up at the outbreak of war and has been in India two years, His brother, Bandsman John Cutler (28), is serving in the Royal Scots Fusiliers. Both were members of the choir of Wombwell Parish Church.