By Canon Roy Arnold.
Bright sunshine and a clear blue sky made it a perfect day for Photographer Terry Heathcote to capture the Closing Service at Holy Trinity Church, Kerridge on September 20th 2009. Dedicated in 1898, Holy Trinity originally served jointly as a Church of England School and a Place of Worship but ceased to function as a School in 1905. For more than 100 years, weekly service and occasional Baptisms, Funerals and many memorable social events made Holy Trinity a busy and popular local centre of activity, although it was never licensed for Weddings. Its closure in September was a sad day for many, but those who attended the Final Service (taken by Canon Roy Arnold) still enjoyed the worship, the special cake and the flyaway balloons which carried with them so may happy memories, out of sight but not out of mind. On the following Sunday a new chapter opened for the Anglicans of Bollington as they met – for the first time – as a single congregation at St Oswald’s Church, Bollington Cross. It was not (as reported) falling numbers of shortage of funds which led to the closure of Holy Trinity, but – in a changing world – it was felt right to re-organise the work of the Church of England in Bollington and concentrate it at one place of worship and meeting. Although these are early days, so far the experience of “One Family under One Roof” has been a good one, under the leadership of the Vicar of Bollington, the Revd Veronica Hydon. The main Sunday service at St Oswald’s is at 10.30 a.m. and every Thursday Morning there is Holy Communion (and Coffee) at 9-30 a.m. Everyone is welcome.
December 8th, 2009 at 10:03 am
I remember singing my first public solo in this church when I was nine years old. That would be in 1958.
The hymn was “Dear Lord and Father of Mankind” and I sang alone the verse that starts “In simple trust like them who heard”.
My Dad was sitting next to me and I felt very grown-up.