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Anthony Ekpunobi Mass times: 9. Blackburn "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school. Bolton "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school. Bury "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school. Calderdale "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school. Independent "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school. Lancashire "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school.
Manchester "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school. Oldham "Chair" refers to the Chair of Governors who should be contacted via the school. Late family members have been married here and I really want to. If you can get married on a beach, surely you can married anywhere you like, especially when your paying? Your email address will not be published. Need professional imagery solutions? Fully insured and BNUSc qualified drone pilot for aerial photography and video.
From weddings to surveys of historical buildings - get the best possible perspective. Click the drone to find out more.. Belgrave Chancel. South view of church with aisle and large chancel. Unusual South porch added in Belgrave Hall frontage near to the church is a museum open to the public. Parish History. Belgrave Hall. Georgy July 14, Post a Reply. Gillian Cecchini July 18, Alan Mounteney August 31, Regards Alan Mounteney Post a Reply.
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These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. The first recorded baptism took place on 4th September A later entry by Fr. Joseph's, Liverpool. We traced Mrs Weston in Grassendale, who reported that her late husband had left Aigburth at a very early age and had no memory of St. But we can record that their son became a priest and is currently placed at St. Alban's Warrington. The first recorded marriage here on 23rd.
The celebrant was a visiting Jesult priest. The early notice books give very detailed accounts of the parishioners' zeal in providing furnishings, vestments and other requisites, and include entries such as "The same gentleman who has provided oil for the sanctuary lamp has generously promised a black vestment". Another gentleman promised a beautiful statue of Our Lady, and another promised statues of St.
Charles, The Sacred Heart and a sanctus bell. On 26th November there is an entry "Thank you for the cope and veil. We now require a set of vestments to match". Details of other benefactors and their gifts appear elsewhere in this brochure but the love with which the congregation as a whole contributed is evident. Equally evident is the significance of this in the life of the parish.
Another important feature of parish life was the Charity Sermon. Notable preachers would visit and give the sermon for which there would be an entrance fee. The collection was in aid of the schools. Not all visitors were making special appeals however. Tickets were required and benchholders asked to be in their seats by Withln a few days the church was officially registered for Religious worship and on the 6th July was registered for marriages, the authorisation reading: "I hereby certify that a separate building named St Charles RC Church, situated at Aigburth Road in the Civil Parish of Toxteth Park in the County Borough of Liverpool in the Registration District of Toxteth Park, being a building certified according to law as a place of meeting for Religious Worship was registered for solemnising marriages therein being substituted for the building named St Augustine's Home, Aigburth Road, Toxteth Park now disused" It was signed by the superintendent registrar - J.
St John's, Wigan So the parish with its new church moved into the twentieth century; but what was parish life like at this time? It seems that before the advent of television, the church had occupied a much larger part of peoples lives. Fr D'Heurter had returned on a number of occasions such as the Feast of St Charles or the anniversary of the opening of the old church but acclaimed preachers continued to visit on most Sundays. The Apostleship of Prayer was established, members receiving monthly Communion together and the Third Order of St Francis soon followed.
There was an annual pilgrimage to Holywell. In addition to Midnight Mass, Masses at Christmas were at 7. In the Holy Week confessions were from 3pm to 5pm and from 7pm to 10pm. Holy Communion was distributed at 7. On Good Friday Mass of the Presanctified was at 10am with Stations of the Cross Sermon and Veneration of the Relic of the True Cross at 3pm It was an austere day, a day of fasting and abstinence with "meat, eggs, cheese, dripping and lard forbidden - and also milk and butter forbidden at the collation".
The choir was active and on 23rd September , the eighth anniversary of the foundation of the mission, they sang at the Solemn High Mass at the opening of the new organ and in the evening they sang Rossini's Stabat Mater and were rewarded with a collection in aid of choir expenses. Also active were the Church Society, which was in existence as early as , and the Altar Society.
Social functions took the form of concerts held in the Sefton Park Assembly Rooms, a theatre or concert hall at the corner of Tramway Road and Aigburth Road, which was later to become the Rivoli Cinema and in was acquired by the parish for social and educational purposes.
It was used frequently for parish socials until other premises were available. Parishioners were regularly informed of concerts elsewhere, for example, a concert in the Philharmonic Hall in aid of Homes for Catholic Friendless Youths and also lectures at St George's Hall or the Picton Hall.
Civic responsibilities were fostered when parishioners were encouraged to vote in the area election of Guardians, priests and lay, to safeguard the interests of those in the workhouse, in Brownlow Hill.
It is true to say, however that Aigburth was the home of many wealthy people, merchants, shipowners, business people and evidence of their generosity to the church appears in other sections of this booklet and in the church itself Mrs Kathleen Hamilton who worked in Lark Lane in the s who remembers servants coming to the shops in open carriages to collect orders for their employers.
Indeed Spanlsh people well represented in the parish and a Mass had been offered for the Spanish soldiers and sailors who had perished in the Spanish-American War and the beautiful marble and alabaster Sacred Heart Altar was presented in by the Spanish Community. Soon after this a change occurred which affected us all.
Pope Pius X pronounced his decree admitting little children to Holy Communion on attaining the use of reason. Lady Eileen Thompson recalls that as Eileen Smallwood of Tramway Road she was in the first group of children to make their First Holy Communion at the age of seven years: Her older sisters had been 13 when they received for the first time. Afterwards the children celebrated with a cooked breakfast in Fr Blanchard's dining room.
Then they were taken in open landaus to the country lanes of Hale for a picnic and Mr Mountford presented every child with a prayer book. According to the archives the children had their own times for confession and, at 3 pm on Sundays, instruction and Benediction, popularly known as Sunday School. Baptisms were at 2 p. Babyies were brought to church usually within the week after birth. Soon the country was at war and week after week, names appeared of those wounded or killed in action , but it was not until Pentecost that a Requiem Mass was offered for Corporal Francis Lindon, "the first of the congregation to be killed in action".
The name of Sergeant Raymond Purgold appears in followed three weeks later by that of his brother Second Lieutenant Louis Purgold who are commemorated in a stained glass window. But there were many others, most ranks being represented, the full list appearing on the memorial erected in the porch in Each year on Armistice Day a simple service is held when a wreath is laid followed by a short silence before the 11 a.
Mass when we remember those lost in the two world wars. About this time evidence of the first vocations was beginning to emerge. He died forty-one years later as parish priest of St Wilfrid's Gateshead. Although it was thirty years later when St Charles' hosted another ordination, that of Fr Bernard Bimpson of Dingle Lane and Birchtree Road, many other ordinations took place elsewhere, details being given by Mr Brian Plumb.
One interesting anecdote is related in the archives. Both these priests were frequent visitors to the parish, Fr Buckley, from the Nottingham Diocese, often celebrating Mass at 7. Other visitors included Fr Thomas Roberts S. We know the list of clergy is incomplete and would welcome any further information and particularly of women religious as these are not mentioned in the archives. In July the congregation was informed that St Charles' and one other parish were the only ones in the city without an S.
By September Fr Walsh had established a Conference of nine members. The Presldent was Mr Richard E. Morris, his son taking over from him and today his grandson Mr Tony Morris is a member of this active society. The third President was Mr Frank Myles who served for many years until his recent death.
No call for help went unanswered and on the 8th December the Bene Merenti medal was presented for his work and dedication to the church, an honour shared by his wife and family, by the S.
The societies continued together with the missions, the May and June processions and the annual pilgrimage to Walsingham, but many of these activities were curtailed by World War II In this war Mr Joe Hall lost two brothers and Mr Thomas Moran, husband of Mrs Lily Moran of Tramway Road, who married in , was killed in Italy in Other familiar parish names are lasted on a second memorial in the porch but one of the saddest entries in the archives is after notification of the banns of marriage of one couple - "killed in action before the marriage took place".
Fathers Walsh and McCabe followed Dean Blanchard who had guided us from the last century but it was Monsignor Chaloner, parish priest from , who cleared the church debt and on Wednesday 25th May had the church consecrated by Bishop Halsall, some forty priests attending.
Present at our celebration was Fr Chamberlain O. Many will remember the Guard of Honour, the solemn entry and the garden party which followed. It was Monsignor Chalonler who purchased the Rivoli Cinema in for educational and social purposes after South Grange, which had served its purpose from to , was condemned and demolished. Many parishioners look back nostalgically to the annual Bazaar and Sale of Work when a great corporate spirit developed during the' months of preparation.
By this time the new premises on the site of the car park and South Grange had been officially opened by Bishop Gray on 8th December The Parochial Centre was used by various groups, social and pastoral. The U. All these activities are still flourishing. Fr Mangan saw a time of great change in the church, particularly after Vatican II, and shepherded the congregation through the Introduction of the new English Liturgy, beginning here with the 4.
Mass in February , while in the new Rite of Mass was introduced with a greater involvement of the laity. In work began on decorating and re-ordering the church when the marble altars, rails, pulpit and font disappeared. The highlight of the year was 11th December when Bishop Augustine Harris consecrated the new altar.
A concelebrated Mass followed and a social in the new hall. During this time the men of the parish organised and carried out the Planned Giving Campaign and a major concern of Father Mangan was the pastoral care of elderly, sick and housebound parishioners.
There is no doubt, however, that the highlight of the century was the visit of Pope John Paul II in May when we were asked to provide a hundred men as stewards and Fr Mangan had a dais erected near Aigburth Road the better to see the Pope as he passed through the centre of our parish. It was not the first time the television cameras had featured St Charles' Church as they had been out in force in March for the funeral of George Formby, whose mother lived in the parish.
After the joy of the Papal visit, Fr Mangan, who was in poor health, announced, with deep regret, his forthcoming retirement at the end of the year and his plans to continue to reside in the presbytery after a brief stay in St Augustine's Home.
Sadly, it was not to be, as he died before the end of the year and Fr John Gildea took over the duties of Parish Priest rather earlier than anticipated.
So as we approach our centenary what is parish life like today? While it is difficult to imagine what our forebears would think of barbecues and car-boot sales many parochial activities continue and the parochial club is a pleasant venue for entertainment, especially on Saturday and Sunday evenings.
The Youth Club established by Fr Glldea in in the refurbished old school is popular, with separate sections for Juniors and Seniors. At the other end of the age span, care of the elderly and housebound has developed and dedicated helpers bring the older parishioners to Mass on Sundays since our own mini-bus was purchased; others bring parishioners in wheelchairs The Welfare Committe established by Miss Joan Dillon: works with the S.
We with them continued blessings in their th year. The following month there was a parish pilgrimage to Lourdes led by Fr Gildea.
As members of the Aigburth Council of Churches we welcomed our neighbours for the first time to a United Service in and more recently to a dramatisation of the Stations of the Cross by Miss Bernadette Egan performed by our young people and we frequently attend Ecumenical Services in the local churches. Today Masses are in English, Holy Communion is received in the hand and on weekdays also from the chalice and the Eucharistic fast has been reduced to one hour while the fasting and abstinence laws have been altered with a greater emphasis on other forms of penance.
Reconciliation services supplement individual Reconciliation. The long Benediction has disappeared to be replaced by a shorter form after the Novena to Our Lady of Perpetual Succour. Devotion to the Rosary continues nightly in October and every day after the mid-day Mass. This Mass itself is well attended by our own parishioners and by friends from neighbouring parishes, and on any day many of our parishioners attend Mass in the Blessed Sacrament Shrine in the city centre.
Their priests and others sometimes say our Masses, with Fr Harnett S. The parish has never been without a priest during holiday times and Fr James, whose relatives live in the parish has come from Ghana to spend some weeks with us.
For our Jubilee he has sent a vestment decorated in vibrant African colours to add to the beautiful chasuble with its salver embroidery, made by Mrs Ruth Ryan for Father's Silver Jubilee. Perhaps one of the most significant changes today is the Involvement of the laity in the various ministries in the church.
Parishioners such as Eucharistic ministers, Readers and those who help in the "Little Church" for the very young can be seen performing their duties, but others such as cleaners work behind the scenes. All are dedicated to service in the parish and this is significant when one recalls that in a church which once had two curates Fr Gildea is our only priest. He is not alone in his work however, as in Sr Veronica F. She was to make visits and help in various proJects within the parish.
It is a changing parish; we lost the Dingle section to St Finbar's in and the Southern section to St Thomas More's in but now Fulwood Village and the Riverside development have added considerably to the parish and while some twenty Nursing and Residential homes have been opened, many young families have settled in the parish. In preparation for our centenary Fr Harnett S. While our church is being decorated and the organ refurbished, our weekday services take place next door in St Augustine's Home at the invitation of the Little Sisters of the Poor to whom we owe an enormous debt of gratitude.
Not only were they the owners of the land on which all our parish buildings stand, but over the years they have welcomed us to their chapel as they did while we awaited the opening of St Charles' present church in and indeed since the foundation of the parish in We await with joyful anticipation our Centenary when at 7. No city or town in Great Britain and few in ireland contains so many Catholics within its boundaries as the city of Liverpool" With these words Alderman Thomas Burke commenced his famous Catholic History of Liverpool.
Published in , that book tells us much about the post-reformation period, the massive Irish immigration of the s and the great city-centre parishes that came as a consequence. But as Liverpool spread itself Catholicism travelled with it, so when in it was decided to begin a new mission in the Aigburth district, it was not something that happened by chance or in isolation. It was rather, a logical expression of what was happening to Catholicism both locally and nationally.
Every year, in Advent, he used to write a Pastoral Letter in which he would report on the spiritual condition of the diocese. He would express concern for areas where no facilities for the practice of the Faith existed, and give notice of places he considered ready for development.
Always of course, accompanied by an appeal for financial assistance. In he wrote "Many families are settling down in the suburbs of Liverpool to which large numbers of Catholics are constantly moving. We are told that our losses are not in the centre of towns where, as a rule, the people are known to the clergy, but in new streets where hardly anyone knows his neighbour".
Twelve months later he wrote of the new mission of St Charles "Although opened only a few weeks ago, between Sefton Park and the river it is already gathering a comfortable congregation". They were very active times for Catholicism.
Wthin the decade Liverpool had witnessed the largest ordination ceremony to take place in England since the Reformation. A model seminary had been built in rural surroundings at Upholland. Battles were fought and won to rescue Catholic children from workhouses. Orphanages, charitable institutions and new missions developed with unprecedented rapidity from Seaforth to Garston, while even the Vicar of St Cleophas, Princes Park, praised Catholics from his pulpit for the sacrifices they made for their schools and their zeal for their religion.
This was the background against which the new parish of St Charles came into being, and it came in the spirit of optimism, some may say of Triumphalism. Some of the early parishioners were rich and prosperous and have left their names on stained glass windows, altar plate or sacristy furniture Others more humbly shouldered the day to day expenses of church and school.
The result being a parish that increased from souls in to in , to in and about today. Before most if not all this area was part of the parish of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, established in and it was the senior curate of that church who was given the responsibility of opening the new mission.
In no time at all he had a temporary church erected on Aigburth Road. That first church was described as an "iron church" that is a mass-produced article, usually made in the West Midlands and assembled on site, in a matter of weeks.
Its outer walls were lined with corrugated sheeting painted green or ochre. To lend an ecclesiastical air windows were pointed like Gothic lancets and the altar was placed beneath what resembled an arch. With statues, brassware and Stations of the Cross they could be made very devotional both in atmosphere and appearance.
Old St Charles' was opened on Sunday 25th September Bishop 0'Reilly presided at both events. From the first Notice Book we learn of appeals for lamps, vestments and a crib. That original church served the parish for six years. When it closed in it was taken down and reassembled at Platt Bridge near Wigan, where dedicated to the Holy Famlly it survived until Through the courtesy of Miss Philomena A. Fagan, of Walthew Lane, Platt Brldge, we have secured photographs of both the exterior and interior of that inexpensive but time-honoured structure.
With the removal of the old church the site was cleared for the building of the present church and presbytery. In the interim Mass was celebrated in the school.
The Universe reported the laying of the foundation stone by Bishop Whiteside on the afternoon of Trinity Sunday, 28th May Clergy present were: Frs R. Blanchard St Charles' , J. Swarbrick St Sylvester's , J.
Fanning Toxteth Workhouse , E. Pyke Mount Carmel , J. Hughes Bishop's Secretary , W. Curates since Michael Egan, Augustine J.
Stirzaker, John J. Gildea, Brian Murphy. A layman proud of his powers of criticism once said to an archbishop "Why are the clergy so awful? A more moderate and far more accurate assessment of the parochial clergy is to be found in the statement that they are the creators and creations of the local church.
In beginning to write about the seven parish priests and the thirty-two assistants who have served St Charles' since its foundation in , one is conscious of the divide, good humoured or otherwise, that inevitably appears whenever one attempts to write or speak at length about the clergy. I once happened to remark to a woman whose cousin a zealous priest had founded a parish and seen it supplied with all the necessary buildings and all of superior quality, "He built that church didn't he?
Again, when centenary publications were being planned I have heard people say "And we don't want it full of things about the clergy". Well no such strictures were placed against me on this occasion, and as no parish could began to exist without a priest to offer Holy Mass and administer the Sacraments - all else no matter how worthy is secondary to this - no apology is offered for writing about the clergy of the century in some detail.
Over these years St Charles' has been served by seven parish priests and 32 assistants. But as two of the parish priests were already assistants here at the time of their promotion, the total number of persons is 37 not The Continent, Ireland, old Catholic Lancashire and of course Liverpool itself have been the sources of supply.
Of the 37, 16 were born in Ireland, eleven in Lancashire seven in Liverpool and three in Belgium. Apart from the founder, Fr D'Heurter who quickly removed to a country parish, and Mgr Chaloner who retired at the age of 71, all the former parish priests have died in office, never having sought better things elsewhere.
Both Fr Blanchard and Fr Mangan became Deans of the district and in the time of the former it was a very large deanery indeed, extending from the old pro-Cathedral to Garston. Of the curates several did not belong to the archdiocese but came here on loan, either from Belgium Kennis and Ausian or from Ireland Hurley, Rice and Kennedy Of the others all except Mgr Gibb and Fr Howard went on to become parish priests, and even if we are unable to point out any great mystics, martyrs or scholars although Fr Fleming was a seminary professor for a time we can ascribe to them all great steadfastness and fidelity, and given the events that the century in question has embraced, this is no mean achievement.
Fr Michael Egan was in the advanced stages of tuberculosis when he came here and died soon afterwards, greatly revered by the poor people in St Augustine's home.
Fr Bernard Hornby by contrast was an athlete and a very good centre-forward. A country bred priest from near Lancaster after the division of the archdiocese he returned north and died in retirement in after many years' service elsewhere.
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