Through his marriage to the artist Annie Walke (July 6^th) Walke became close friends with the artists Dame Laura Knight (July 7^th) and her husband, Harold Knight (October 3^rd), Harold Harvey (May 19^th), Alethea Garstin (June 1^st), Ernest Procter (October 21^st) and Dod Procter (July 31^st) as well as social reformers such as Gerard Collier (October 17^th) and writers such as Filson Young (June 5^th). 

Walke was of a High Church persuasion and his introduction of Anglo-Catholic traditions were initially hated by, and confused, his low church parishioners. He replaced Morning Prayer with Holy Communion and initially acquired many new parishioners who, it transpired, attended out of curiosity.   His group of artist friends made works of art for the Church including a painting of Joan of Arc (Annie Walke), the reredos for the ‘Altar of the Dead’ (Ernest Procter), and paintings for the stalls (Annie, Dod and Ernest Procter, Gladys Hynes (the sister – in law of Colwyn Edward Vulliamy, June 20^th), Alethea and Norman Garstin and Harold Knight) whilst Roger Fry made a reredos for the main altar.

These decorations, which made the Church something of a shrine, were hated by a number of parishioners who applied to a consistory (Church)  court for their removal.   However Walke refused to accept the right of a secular court on spiritual matters and ignored the ruling.  On the night of August 8^th, 1932, a group of Protestant agitators from Plymouth broke into the Church and removed or destroyed the additions to the Church.

After the First World War, Bernard, always known as ‘Bern’  and Annie Walke organised for a number of Austrian refugee children to be accommodated in St. Hilary, including three at the Vicarage.  They converted an old public house ‘The Old Tinners’ into a childrens’ home for ten children (five boys and five girls) from London who were cared for by a matron.  ‘The Cornish Home For London Children’ remained open until 1939 when it was transferred to Walsingham due to anti-Catholic sentiments in the parish.  He also worked with Gerard Collier and a number of other social reformers to re-open a tin mine but the plans were abandoned when the government announced plans for the unemployed to be employed building roads.

It had been a tradition in St. Hilary that there would a Christmas play performed by the parishioners and, in 1927 Walke, wanting more an act of worship than a simple play but unable to find one he found suitable,  wrote his own, ‘Bethlehem’ which was broadcast live by the BBC.  He was assisted by his friends, Filson Young who produced the broadcast and Frank Baker (May 22^nd) who organised the music, played the organ in the play and who had contacted the BBC about a live broadcast.  This was the first live radio broadcast of a play and it was so well received that it led to the production of a series of plays, all broadcast live from St. Hilary, most notably one named ‘The Western Land’.