Tubby Clayton The original ‘TOC H’ was a house in Poperinge, Belgium. It's address is:

  TOC H - Talbot House, Gasthuisstraat 43, B - 8970 Poperinge, BELGIUM

The house was opened at the end of 1915 by Rev. Philip `Tubby' Clayton, an army chaplain, as a homely club for the troops passing to and from the battle lines of the Ypres Salient. It became known by its initials T.H., which were ‘TOC H’ in the signallers language of the day. At the back a former hop store was converted into a Concert Hall for recreational purposes.


  “He's as dim as a Toc H lamp”

The TOC H symbol is an oil lamp called the ‘Lamp of Maintenance’ and featuring the cross of Ypres. Every year on Tubby Clayton's birthday the Lamp of Maintenance is lit in the Upper Room at Talbot House for 24 hours, from 9pm on the night of 11th until 9pm on 12th December. This is the start of a series of lamp lightings in all the TOC H branches around the world.

The people who used the house came from all sorts of civilian backgrounds and army ranks, each having particular abilities and the skills born of experience or training. In that situation (with the life expectancy of an officer being less than 10 weeks) differences became less important.


 A sign above the chaplains door proclaims:
 ‘All Rank Abandon, Ye Who Enter Here’.




Tubby Clayton TOC H is not - and never was - an ex-serviceman's organisation.As the sign outside Talbot House rightly says, it is 'Everyman's Club'. TOC H has developed into a world-wide body which has chooses to operate at the grass roots level of communities. It is now a movement of men and women who demonstrate their belief in breaking down the barriers that can divide people from one another. TOC H is a Movement concerned with Christian values. There is no credal test for membership or volunteering, but TOC H from the day of its foundation, has made no secret of its Christian basis.

Today Toc H is not as big as it was - but there are still 150 Toc H groups and 50+ projects. There is also still a network of houses - Talbot Centres - that offer a range of facilities, often oriented to activity breaks and residentials. The original Talbot House at Poperinge is open both as a residential and conference house and as a museum.

http://www.tochparticipation.co.uk/