Edward McCarthy Support Services

If, like the cricket pitch, your grass is burnt entirely brown with not a blade of green grass, don't worry. And don't waste water on it! I assure you it will recover full greenness very quickly once we get some rain.

Fantastic evening for Jo’s Dance Class tonight, over 60 children under 10years old, from around Liverpool, plus assorted parents, grandparents and siblings. My kind of chaos. The dance class are back in September. Safe holidays for all. God Bless.

Next Church walk.

A trip to Crosby Marina, beach and gardens with Conor, today. A healthy lunch followed with a couple of games at Pulse in the Concourse in the afternoon.

WiganschurchesWednesday
St. Peter’s, Hindley
St. Peter’s Day is celebrated on June 29th and in Wigan we have a fine church dedicated to the saint. St. Peter’s church in Hindley, with its fine tower and spire, is a real focal point, standing as it does on the crossroads at the heart of the town.

The church was consecrated on 15th October 1866 and the report in the Wigan Observer about the service makes fascinating reading. It tells us that the scholars of All Saints School in Hindley met on Chapel Green at 10am where they were soon joined by a number of clergy and friends. About 10.30am they formed a procession to the new church led by the band of the 61st Lancashire Rifle Volunteers, the local Territorial Army Company. A ‘fine flag’ was carried ‘upon which was a representation of the new church’ and an inscription recording the date of the laying of the Foundation Stone and of its Consecration. On the reverse were written the words ‘Ye Shall Keep My Sabbath and Reverence my Sanctuaries’ taken from the Bible, the Book of Leviticus.

The article continues ‘The march of the children through the principal streets of Hindley was watched with much interest by large numbers of inhabitants who also thronged the entrance to the church and waited patiently until they were allowed to enter.’

Hindley has always loved a procession. We read with real happiness that its Walking Day, complete with brass band, took place a couple of weeks ago.

The Consecration Service was led by the Bishop of Chester, Rt. Revd. William Jacobson. Afterwards there was a celebratory luncheon in the School Room on Chapel Green. ‘It is only necessary to state that the caterer was Mr. Lynn of the Waterloo Hotel in Liverpool to give assurance amply sufficient as to the quality of the viands and the wine.’ Nearly 150 people sat down to eat. Mr. John Leyland (whose legacy funded Hindley’s Leyland Public Library) proposed the toast to Edward Paley, the architect, who was in attendance. He congratulated Paley saying, ‘I esteem the architecture of St. Peter’s highly.’ The church, he says, is ‘so great an ornament to the neighbourhood’ and so it still is today.

In the evening there was a Tea Party in the Public Hall for the scholars of All Saints to celebrate the opening of the new church. ‘About 600 (!) scholars and teachers sat down, the hall being decorated by Mr. S Greenough assisted by members of the management board.’ Oh, to have a time machine!

St. Peter’s is undoubtedly one of the finest of Wigan’s Victorian churches. We have visited the church, and it appears on our website. We are aware, though, that there is much more to say about this much loved church and will return to it soon.

There is also an active St. Peter’s church in Bryn and we will mark its history and its now demolished building in due course.

https://whobuiltwiganschurches.co.uk/churches/st-peter-hindley/

St. Peter's Church, Hindley

There are around 170,000 charities in England and Wales, but funding is far from evenly distributed.

Small, local organisations make up 96% of the sector, yet receive just 17% of total income, despite often delivering better outcomes for the communities they serve.

🔗 Read more: https://cfmerseyside.org.uk/news/small-charities-week

Sean had a great time at Bubble Planet: An Immersive Experience in Manchester.

Lovely walk in Parbold lots of tiny 🐠🐋🐟 fish in the canal.