Chapter 22
"Mr.Bates, have you heard about the Wells organisation?" Without any preamble Mr.Bolt sprang this question upon me after the weekly choir practice.
I had heard about this American fund raising group which had recently started to work in this country but I really hadn't given them all that much thought.What I did know was that our neighbour parish of St.Mathew's had recently had something they called a Christian Stewardship campaign which the Wells people had organised for them and.I had also heard vague rumours that as a result St.Mathew's had more than doubled their income even after forking out quite a large fee for the services of these professionals. I had also heard a variety of rumours about people getting upset by high pressure salesmanship but otherwise I really had little idea what a Christian Stewardship Campaign was all about. I said something on these lines to Mr.Bolt who then informed me that he had got one of the Wells people coming along to talk to our Parochial Church Council so that we could learn all about them.Anything that would double a church's income seemed to me to be worth hearing about so I looked forward to the next P.C.C. meeting and I think most of the P.C.C. members looked at it much the same way although there were some who were sure they knew exactly what the Wells organisation was and did not approve.All of us however expected some very high pressure American style salesmanship.
When the representative came he was exactly opposite to what we had been led to believe and he didn't try to talk us into anything at all, in fact he hardly seemed to care whether we employed his company or not. He simply went through the basic principles of Christian Stewardship saying that everything we have comes from God and we cannot give to God we can only give back to Him that which he first gives us.This is a way in which can show our thanks to Him for all that we have, and indeed all that we are, and we give a thank-you present to God of our time, our talent, and our money, so that the teaching of the Gospel might never flag or fail. That was about it and he then let us ask as many questions as we wished but mainly left us to talk about the whole idea ourselves.
The practicalities of how we were to put these principles into practice were quietly brushed aside or ignored beyond confirming that it would cost quite a lot for their fee and there would be some substantial expenses as well. When he left us we were all quite unimpressed and I, for one, felt that Wells didn't think we were a suitable parish for them to take on. I saw nothing wrong with the principles of stewardship which were always a part of Christian teaching but which, in those days, was pushed far too much into the background of church life but as far as paying someone to run a campaign, I just wasn't too sure. Before leaving us the Wells man made the final point that they would not run a campaign unless there was a very substantial majority of the P.C.C. in favour and invited us to vote there and then. We did so and there was an almost unanimous vote against a campaign, which he accepted and without further ado wished us goodnight and left the meeting.
To talk about money as a gift from God was not a usual thing to do; one could talk about food being a gift, the air we breathe, etc, etc but the connection to money was never pushed. The fact remains, however, that money is a gift from God or, has become representative of God's gifts. Because we are alive we are able to work for money and exchange it for a crust to eat. Money, in a real sense is food, money in a real sense is the roof over our head, and money is essential therefore to life in present day society.
These ideas became more and more a part of the Sunday sermons as the next two or three months went by. We had Christian Stewardship almost coming out of our ears until the time came when Mr.Bolt got in touch with another company called Planned Giving Limited which had been formed in the United Kingdom by some people who had gone through Wells and similar campaigns in the United States and who had tried to tailor the system to be more suitable for this country. The sheer professionalism of Wells had been largely responsible for putting many of our people finding them unacceptable and the vote of the P.C.C. had been very much influenced by this but Planned Giving Ltd. seemed more acceptable. Although they charged a substantial fee for their work they were non-profit making and gave anything they did make towards charities or to help struggling parishes. Eventualy a visit from Planned Giving Ltd. was arranged by Mr.Bolt although not without some opposition
Their man was listened to very attentively and with much more sympathy than the man from Wells had received and rightly so because he went out of his way to be informative. We got a re-hash of stewardship principles and because we all knew more about these because of all those sermons we were able to discuss these more knowledgably. The representative didn't stop there however and gave us more information about the actual work involved in a campaign. Those who were opposed to the whole idea had also been in touch with friends at St.Mathew's and had come well prepared but although they fired one question after another at our visitor he never batted an eyelid as he answered them and showed us all that many of the more unacceptable practises of the American companies had indeed been changed for the better or, in the worst cases, taken away altogether. At the end, when the vote was taken, many of the waverers had obviously been convinced and there was a reasonable majority who were now prepared to try this controversial thing called Christian Stewardship. We would still be forking out a lot of money but, hopefully, it would be a good investment and at least it would not go to line the pockets of an American who already had too much anyway. Nevertheless, in spite of all the discussion and the care with which the decision was made, there were many of us who might have voted differently if we could have seen into the future.
These days most dioceses have their own stewardship training programmes and volunteers with the know how to direct campaigns. It is also usual to expect a near unanimous vote in favour from the P.C.C. beforehand because otherwise a campaign can prove to be quite disruptive. But because we were only the second parish to conduct a campaign in the Burnley Deanery we were moving into virgin ground and, although we had already learnt from St.Mathew's mistakes, and Planned Giving had learnt from Wells' mistakes, there was still a great deal to learn as we soon found out. Today, of course, it’s a much different ball game.
We had expected controversy but we hadn't expected it to be such as to cut down our available manpower as much as it undoubtedly did. There were some whom one would reasonably have expected to be most active who opted out completely and others who gave less than their best. The hard fact is that pioneers always travel a hard trail and the ones who come after them benefit from their pathfinding. The brash American style was not liked and although Planned Giving had softened the system there yet remained much that the Church of England character could not live with. It is not my intention to give a blow-by-blow account of that first campaign or to re-write any training manuals there might be, but let me pick out a few salient features.
After an initial meeting of the P.C.C. with the professional directors present the front room of a house central to the parish was rented, office equipment was hired, and a typist engaged. The juggernaut began to roll and members of the P.C.C. were appointed to various positions, a dinner chairman who had to attend to all the catering arrangements, visitors chairman who had to get the men together, hostess chairlady who was to get the ladies together to be hostesses for the meal, and so the list went on.
As visitor's Chairman the first thing I was asked by the professionals was where there was a suitable pub with a room big enough for a meeting.I told him of one but couldn't help asking why we should pay for a room when we could have the church extension free or if that wasn't big enough we could evn use the chuch itself.The director insisted that if we were to achieve the atmosphere he wanted we must get away from the church and so the first visitor's meeting for the men was held upstairs in The Junction Hotel.
Maybe the novelty of the church having a meeting in a pub had something to do with it or perhaps more likely the hard work the professionals put into persuading people to attend had a lot to do with it but,be that as it may,there was quite a good attendance.There were men there who I hadn't seen in church for years and there were even men there who had publicly and forcefully expressed their intention to have nothing to do with St.Mark's ever again because of some fancied slight or insult from years past.Then,as always,there was that sprinkling of stalwarts who always turned up to help no matter what was asked of them.
Although I was in the chair I remained quite ignorant of how the meeting was to proceed but I opened the meeting with prayers from Mr.Bolt and introduced the directors and the company they came from then let the professionals get on with it.They,for their part, covered much the same ground as they had covered with the P.C.C. and talked about the aim of buiding a church,in what way everyone was being asked to help.They spent some time making the point that the way we responded by the giving of time,talent,and money towards the work was a measure of our faith and again,in much the same way as they had done with the P.C.C. they let everyone talk it through for a while.
The debate became quite heated and clearly there was a great deal of opposition to a whole number of things so much so that I began to feel that maybe Wells had known something about the people of St.Mark's which Planned Giving had overlooked.When the time came to find out who was and was not prepared to help the whole thing went wrong.The question put to the meeting was,"Who is not prepared to help?"rather than,"Who is prepared to help?"I have been told since that some people felt they were being pushed into a public denial of faith and some felt they had been put into some kind of psychological trap.There were quite a few men who went out of the room there and then and I too felt that the question was unfairly put in view of the fact that the directors and Mr.Bolt had been pushing the idea over and over again that the giving of time,talent,and money was a measure of our faith.
Another meeting which sticks in my memory is one during which the procedure which has become known as 'card-throwing'took place.First of all we were confronted by cards bearing the names of all the people we were to visit which were laid out neatly upon a table and were asked to go through them making an estimate of what they could afford to give based on what we knew about them.We then threw the cards into various piles ranging over sums from half-a-crown up to five pounds.Now Americans may see nothing wrong with this but I assure you that many of us did and I am sure that,as a result, the whole exercise became meaningless.This procedure has long been discarded in Church of England stewardship campaigns and a good thing too.The actual potential of income measured by this method came to something like œ80 and this was seem as giving a boost to our efforts when we did our visiting but none of us believed the figure anyway so it was irrelevant.More meetings were held,invitations went out,hostesses followed up the invitations,and the Parish Dinner at last took place.Speeches were made,the visitors were introduced to everyone and then a day or two later the men went out knocking on doors.It was six weeks later after the visiting officialy ended that the reckoning was made.
The rise in our income,which you will remember had occasionaly peaked at £25 per week,was minimal.but this was difficult to assess properly because of the nature of the Free-will offering scheme we had been running before.The number of envelopes taken by people fell dramaticaly in fact but only because many of those who had been giving token payments of one or two pence gave over altogether when they knew their envelope would no longer be collected but would have to be brought to church.Some others had accepted stewardship principles to a degree but balked at signing a promise card for a definite amount every week and in the end these people were given envelopes to use weekly anyway.There were,however,a considerable number who had put their giving on a firmer and more regular basis and that minimal increase in our peak income became an average income which carried more of a guarantee that it would be maintained.But the expected dramatic rise which had been predicted did not materialise and we were going to have to be satisfied with only a very limited success.
Personaly I have always believed that that first campaign revealed a potential in time,talent,and money which has still to be realised in full even as I write this some thirty-five years later.I believe that this was the time when many of us first stopped treating our committment to building a church as if it was only a hobby to be pursued when we had nothing better to do.
St.Mark's has had a campaign every three years since that first one which have been directed by volunteers from the diocese on a couple of occasions but more usually on a do-it-yourself basis.They seem to have worked most of the time and each one has led to some improvement in church finance.At this present moment,however,it is some four or five years since the effort was made,principaly because those who have conducted campaigns in the past are less able to do so by reason of age or infirmity.The church income is falling as I write and I ask how long it will be before the lesson is learnt that God is completely on our side but He does like us to do at least a little bit for ourselves.
Chapter23
Although most of the social events we planned were done with an eye on the money we would raise for the new building,there were a number of events which were purely and simply social affairs.From time to time the Men's Society or the Mother's Union would arrange coach trips to seaside venues or to places of historical and religious signinficance.One such outing was organised by the men's society and arose largely because the membership of the branch was quite small.
Because mini buses were unheard of at the time the smallest available coach was about a twenty eight seater which made it necessary for the men to invite their wives along so as to make up the numbers but they mentioned the trip at the next Mothers' Union and some of them asked to come with us so they were invited too.Then the whole thing snowballed until so many people wanted to go that a thirty six seater coach was filled and the outing turned into a full blown coach trip.
We had booked in a Manchester theatre for an evening of variety and top of the bill was Ken Dodd.Those of us in the men's society whose idea the trip was were well aware of this of course and indeed we all thought that everyone on the trip was going because they liked his brand of humour.But there was just one exception to this and that was Jesse,the wife of Linton Jackman our treasurer,who was persuaded to come along because there were other acts on the bill which she did like.Principally,however,she came along because she felt duty bound to support her husband,who was largely responsible for the organisation of everything.Comedy is very much a matter of one's own particular sense of humour and the same applies to comedians.One person's meat is another one's poison and Ken Dodd's brand of comedy is the kind which you iether like a lot or do not like at all.Jesse Jackman came well and truly into the latter category as we found out that evening.
We had quite good seats in the circle and were seated in two rows one behind the other.Florence and I,who were seated in the next two seats to Linton and Jesse,had always been great fans of the theatre and during our courting days, and for some time afterwards,used to make a regular weekly visit to the Victoria theatre in Burnley either to a play or a variety show according to what was on offer.The 'Vic' had recently closed and there wasn't another local theatre so this trip was a real treat for us.Well pleased with what the artists had dished up before the interval we now looked forward to the rest of the show.Florence wasn't a particular fan of Ken Dodd although she enjoyed him well enough,but personaly I find him iresistable even today.We bought our ices and,as we ate them,we commented on the artists we had seen already and looked forward to the second half of the show which was to be largely taken up by Ken Dodd's act.
If I remember rightly there were no diddy men in those days but his act did include his own unique version of the songs,'On the road to Mandalay',Boots,boots,boots,boots',etc.,and also on offer were all the marvellous jokes and innuendos associated with his famous tickling stick.I was in stitches and it was some time before I noticed the nudges which Florence was giving me in order to get my attention.When I turned to her I realised that she was almost helpless with laughter but not from the antics Ken Dodd was up to but from something going on further along the row.By now speechless and choking from the attempt to hide her laughter she called my attention to Jesse who was next to her.
There in the half-light reflected from the stage she sat,arms firmly folded across her ample bosom,directing her most piercing stare at the stage.Clearly she meant it when she said she didn't like Ken Dodd and her whole attitude emphasised the fact that there was no way she would allow him to make her laugh.Florence leaned forward giving a nudge to the person in front of her and I nudged my next door neighbour and it wasn't long before every member of our party was turned towards Jesse.Then,as you would expect,some of the other people around us became curious and began craning their heads to see what was going on.So determined was Jesse not to enjoy Ken Dodd that she was completely unaware of the attention she was getting and was oblivious of the fact that her facial and bodily antics were providing an alternative entertainment for the people around her.
As we returned home in the coach she was careful to let us all know how she had enjoyed the show apart from Ken Dodd but I remain convinced that far from not enjoying him the opposite had been the case and her facial antics were the inevitable result of suppressing the belly laughs which were trying to get out.Be that as it may the whole thing ended in the traditional manner as we queued up for fish and chips at the first available chippy on the way home all of us having found something we liked during the evening out..
Chapter 24
The P.C.C. meeting was extraordinarily well attended and the atmosphere was electric with anticipation as it's members waited for proceedings to start.To find out why this should be so one only had to look at look at the agenda where,immediately following the apologies for absence,was the item,'The plans of the new church will be submitted for appraisal and approval.'
We sat impatiently through the preliminaries and then Mr.Bolt rose to his feet and unrolled an impressive looking drawing on one of the largest tables.Everyone crowded round to have a look but it soon became obvious that many of the council were completely mystified by what they saw.An architect's drawing is not the easiest thing to read for anyone without some understanding of such things and even those of us who were used to engineering drawings had our own mental adjustments to make so that we could make sense of the plans.The buzz of questions and answers flying to and fro across that table went on for some considerable time but even so there remained many who were still unable to picture how the building would look.
After a time Mr.Bolt called us to order and asked us to move to our seats,whereupon with a grin and a flourish he produced yet another drawing of the new church.I think he had been having a little joke with us by holding this second drawing back,for here was what everyone really wanted.A picture of the building,coloured for effect, and with a few of those weird humanoid figures,which architects use to show the scale of everything,scattered around.Now we could all relate to that which we had before only been able to imagine.Our project,our dream if you like, was getting closer to being realised.Then with a flourish like a magician pulling a rabbit from a hat,Mr.Bolt unveiled the last piece in the jig-saw by diving into a large box he had previously placed in a corner of the room out of our sight and producing an actual scale model.
The concept was very modern and there were some who were unsure about the shape and design, but although no one chose to reject it out of hand,it became an entirely different matter when we were told how much the cost was to be.We had asked that the architect keep the cost in the region of œ20,000 because we felt we could get that amount from various sources but instead we were given a provisional figure of œ25,000.
The sharp intake of breath from everyone when this was revealed almost created a vacuum in that small room.Dare we,as a responsible body,accept such a large extra cost?Could we possibly expect to raise such a sum from the grants we had been promised and from our own resources?Dare we indeed leave the new parish church with such a large millstone of debt hanging over it's future?A further meeting was arranged so that ample time might be given to discussing all these things but in the meantime the architect was given the authority to appoint a firm of builders so that a firmer estimate might be arrived at and we could then make a final decision.
Some three or four weeks later, as I passed the site, I saw a number of lorries and a lot of men there who were working with great gusto on what were clearly intended to be the foundations of the church.I was very surprised to see this but,as it was some days since I had talked to either Mr. Bolt or the churchwardens,I assumed that something had happened to make a start possible which I didn't know about.In any case there was a choir practice the following evening when I would be able to find out what was going on.After telling Florence what I had seen, I dismissed it from my mind.
Almost before I had time to say hello to Mr.Bolt the next day he broached the subject himself and went into quite a story about getting up one morning and looking across from the vicarage to see all the equipment arriving."I was absolutely flabbergasted."he said, shaking with indignation."Yes,I noticed it myself."I said,"What's going on?Has somebody left us a fortune?Well of course no one had.Somehow the builders had got it wrong or the architect had not been clear in his instructions and they had jumped the gun.The work had obviously to be stopped before it got too far and, in any case,we had not yet decided whether or not we wanted to take on such a massive debt.Perhaps it wasn't all that bad a thing that this should have happened because it forced us to bring forward the date of the next P.C.C. meeting where it was decided to ask the architect to think again and design something much more basic which we could afford.
In his next sermon Mr.Bolt told the congregation what had happened and using the analogy of a brand new car had to be run in and treated gently for it's first few hundred miles( a procedure which modern technology has largely rendered obsolete).After this initial period it gradually became possible to ask more and more of the vehicle until at last everything was running well.Sometimes an over-eager driver would make demands upon his new car too early in it's life and the result could well be a lot of damage and expense.Mr.Bolt, our 'driver', clearly felt the 'engine' of our new Christian community was not yet 'run in' and it would be best to wait a bit longer before 'letting things rip'.There were some who said the driver was more at fault than those he drove but be that as it may there was no getting away from the fact that we had to build according to our means and the time had not yet come when we could allow the builders to start work.
It wasn't very long after that sermon,however,before new plans were submitted and were accepted,although there would still be more than œ20,000 to find.The only way anyone could see a way forward was that the Lady Chapel would have to be left to be added at a future date.Anyone who looks at St.Mark's today will readily see that the plan view was intended to be the traditional cruciform shape but that there is one arm of the cross missing.On the other hand,so sure was the P.C.C. that the whole church would eventually be completed,that above and behind the choirstalls a concrete lintel was fitted as a support for the wall when it is opened up in the future for the Lady Chapel to be built.A contribution of one generation towards easing the burden they had to leave for another generation of Christians.It is interesting to note that to build the chapel at the moment this is being written would cost almost as much as did the church itself..
I think back to that original design which we had to set to one side and have re-designed and then I look at the design we had to settle for with it's missing arm and often it seems that God knew was right for us.It could well have been that we would have found the original design far to expensive to maintain and the amount of glass included in it might well have been a bit of a temptation to certain elements who are around today.God doesn't always answer our prayers in the way we think best but it is surprising sometimes how much better what we get is,when we compare it with what we might have had.I do not doubt either that when the time is right for it the church will be finished and the Lady Chapel will be built.
Chapter 25
On three occasions we went to the site of the new church as it was being built.The first of these was to unveil the cross we erected to mark the site and to advertise the fact that we were working to raise money and the second occasion was the laying of the foundation stone which seemed to take place amazingly quickly once we were able to give the architect and the builders authority to start work.
The Bishop of Blackburn conducted the ceremony and we all processed from the old building up to the new one together.All the organisations were represented,Mothers'Union,Men's Society,Choir,SundaySchool,Scouts,etc. but there was no 'dressing up' such as we used to have for a Procession of Witness although we were,of course, in our 'Sunday Best'.
The site itself had been tidied up a for the occasion but only in the area around the sides of the porch and the doorway, which had reached a height of about two feet.The foundation stone had been prepared beforehand and was suspended by unusualy shiny chains from a polished set of block and tackle which appeared to be brand new.I suppose builders keep special pulleys and chains for these events and certainly the ones supplied for the Bishop didn't appear as if they had ever been near brick and concrete dust before.Also supplied by the builder was a workman dressed in suit and bowler hat to do the hard work.
The actual ceremony as I remember it was a very simple affair.Almost too simple in view of all the work which had been done by so many people in order to get the project to that stage.It was almost an anti-climax as,with a few short congratulatory words and some prayers from the Bishop,a rattle of chains from the hoist,and a final tap from a stone-mason's hammer,the stone was put in place and everything was over.Before leaving we sang the hymn,'Christ is our Cornerstone' with greater fervour than we had ever done before(in spite of being unaccompanied) then we turned and processed back to the so-called 'Tin Tabernacle',sure at last that we would not have to put up with for very much longer.
Promises made during the stewardship campaign were made to cover a three year period but when they came to an end the company had agreed to come back and help us to do what they called a 'follow-up' during which promises would be renewed in order to keep the income on a stable footing.As chairman of the stewardship committee I found I was expected to do much of the organisation of the follow-up although this wasn't quite so onerous a task as might at first appear.I was first treated to a meal by their company representative during which he told me what was needed and then he kept in contact with me whilst those few of us who were still available got on with the job.
The stewardship committee had become seriously depleted in numbers but with a lot of pushing from Mr Bolt,one or two other helpers,and I,somehow we did manage to get through the follow-up without difficulty and,much to everyone's surprise,there was even a small,but definitely noticable,increase in the weekly giving.This was certainly sufficient to keep our heads nicely above water for the time being but about a year later,as costs rose yet again,it became painfully obvious that still more would have to be done.
Although another campaign seemed to be the only way forward yet there was little,if any,enthusiasm for one.Planned Giving Ltd.,even thouigh they were a non profit making organisation,were still too professional for our liking and indeed for Mr.Bolt's liking as well..There was much that they would have to change before we could be persuaded to use their services again.Another factor had also come into play because the diocese now had it's own stewardship service and also had a number of trained volunteers which parishes could now call upon for help.After some intense discussions and one or two stormy meetings of the P.C.C. we were more or less forced by financial circumstances take avantage of the help offered by the diocese and run another fully fledged stewardship campaign but although this help was invaluable we still had to take on a lot of hard work ourselves.
Nevertheless we certainly gave that volunteer director a hard time of it.He had run a campaign for his own parish with good results and another somewhere else in the diocese with excellent results but he was soon to find out to his cost that a stewardship campaign in an established parish was one thing but a stewardship campaign at St.Mark's was a different kettle of fish altogether.He could have had little concept of the sort of criticisms he was going to have to answer, many of which were a direct result of the professionalism of the first campaign.There were many who still couldn't accept that the cost was simply an investment.All the old arguments were bandied about once more."Why send all this paperwork out?"."Why have proper invitation cards?"."Why?Why?Why?",and the inevitable,"If we're short of money why give a free meal?""Who is paying for it all?".But at least we had got the biggest one out of the way because we were no longer paying the professionals.With diocesan help the paperwork costs were enormously reduced and we got many items from existing diocesan stocks either at cost or entirely free.
The campaign was a much more laid back affair than the other had been but we still had to work hard for what our harrassed volunteer director thought was very little gain,even though we attempted to reassure him that we ourselves felt he had done very well indeed.What if we had bent a few rules about signing(or not signing)promise cards all the expenses had been comfortably met and we had pushed up the giving quite a bit besides?What did it matter that we could have done better?We certainly could have done a lot worse as we well knew by painful experience but in spite of all our assurances we never quite convinced him that he had done all he could have done and had indeed conducted a reasonably successful campaign.
When the building work was coming close to completion.the weekly offerings began to fluctuate alarmingly once more.It was as if people now felt that the project was coming to it's end and there was no need to bother as much about giving a regular weekly amount.If it came to the crunch,of course,no-one would have allowed the work to grind to a halt for financial reasons, especialy now that the work was so far advanced,yet the possibility of another hiccup was there and had to be faced up to;this led once more to us all coming together in the partly built new church.Since Mr.Bolt had never been one who would let the grass grow under his feet or under anyone else's for that matter, the next thing I knew was that he was asking me to say a few words at a meeting he was going to arrange for all the congregation but it wasn't until he announced the meeting the following Sunday during the Eucharist,that I realised his intention was to hold the meeting in the half completed shell of the new church itself.
There was no seating and the bare concrete of the floor held all sorts of equipment which had been roughly moved to one side to give us room to stand.The raised concrete platform where the sanctuary would eventualy be was to serve as a platform for those of us who had been persuaded to speak.It was a bit draughty too because there was no glass in the windows nor were there,as yet, any doors.Mr,Bolt was quite sure that curiosity would ensure that we had a good number of people present.Those of us who passed there frequently were always being quizzed about how the work was getting along so he might well have had a good point there.On the other hand it soon became clear what else he had in mind and that we were due for a good talking to so this may well have had a balancing effect.Be that as it may we had a reasonable attendance.
Mr.Bolt gave us the now familiar hard words about stewardship principles and pointed to the alarming consequences of not having a reliable income.I put in my twopennyworth and so did the churchwardens and that was about it but we could not do much more because it soon became quite dark and we had no lighting.The gloom that had descended on the building may have affected me but I felt quite despondent afterwards.I was talking to Fred Bland,our Vicar's Warden on the way home and we both seemed to be in much the same mood,"How much longer could this continuous harping on about money continue?How much longer before the work was done?",were amongst the many questions we asked each other.
Fred never used to say a lot and just did his job as treasurer and churchwarden to the best of his ability but,to my surprise,he took the trouble the following Sunday to take me to one side and tell me that the income was up for that week.Then after a few more weeks he again sought me out and took the trouble to tell me that the income had settled itself again.He seemed to be trying to boost my spirits and to some extent he succeeded.I was pleased that the meeting had achieved it's intended purpose but then,only a couple of days later,I got a greater boost still when I heard the really good news via both Fred and Mr.Bolt that we had found a benefactor!
Mr. Bolt had been talking to a parishioner about the new church and all the problems we faced when this person suggested,quite casually that we should get in touch with a local retired industrialist who was looking for good causes which he could help.The man's name was Mr.Thompson and he was,it seems,more or less without living relatives and wanted his money to be put to good use.A letter to him resulted in an invitation to tea for Mr.Bolt and an offer to pay the money which we were still needing for the church.The money was in fact first offered as an outright gift which Mr.Bolt saw fit to decline on the grounds that it would be better for the people of St.Mark's to work for the money themselves but he accepted an interest free loan.
There were many of us who questioned the wisdom of that decision and still do.However shortly after giving money to build the Thompson Centre in Burnley and making a substantial contribution to Blackburn Cathedral Mr.Thompson said he didn't see why we should be the only ones to have to pay him back and changed the loan to a gift,but this didn't come about until we had been using the new building for a while and after Mr.Bolt had moved to another parish.
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”-Chapter 26
The bricklayers had finished their work and the carpenters and decorators were hard at work putting the finishing touches the church ready for the dedication service which was to take place in two weeks time.I waited amidst all the noise of hammering and sawing for the new organ to arrive.
The choice of organ had not been an easy one and money,as always,dictated what we could do.We had been advised that it would not be a good option to renovate the old one and as an alternative had been offered one from a recently demolished church to replace it but this was far too big for our requirements and was entirely unsuitable.Then the firm of organ builders who had struggled to keep our existing instrument going for us over the last few years suggested that we might be idealy suited if we bought a Wurlitzer electronic organ with a view to replacing it with something more traditional at a future date.They invited us to see one they were using at a church in Mythomroyd in Yorkshire and the P.C.C. accepted the invitation appointing Ernie,Linton,and I to report on it's suitability.At the time I was the proud owner of a new Bond three-wheel car which was really only designed for two adults plus two small children in the back but it would carry three adults for short journeys at a pinch.Because Mythomroyd is not too far from Burnley and neither of the other two had a car of any sort I said I would provide the transport.
Ernie settled down in the back where he seemed content enough as we got on our way and he acknowledged that there was more room than he had expected.It was better that Linton should be in the front with me because he often travelled into Yorkshire where he had a number of relatives and could point out the way. He also had a good idea how to find the church itself so that we had no trouble getting to our destination in good time to meet the organist as arranged.
I was surprised to find that rather than being taken into the church we were led across the churchyard into the school where one or two people were busily engaged in setting up scenery on the stage and others were putting out seating.The organ had been installed in front of the stage and the organist told us it was actually on hire to them for use in a amateur production of a Gilbert and Sullivan operetta and he volunteered the further information that we would not be disappointed in what we were to hear.Indeed he himself wouldn't hesitate to replace their own church's organ with a Wurlitzer such as we were about to see should it ever get beyond economic restoration.
He gave a short demonstration and then invited me to have a go and I must say I was very well impressed.There was a magnificent array of voices compared to those of our own worn out old instrument and,of course,everything worked!Linton and Ernie went to the back of the hall to listen and after a short while I followed them whilst the organist played a few more short pieces to allow us all to make our own judgement from there.The sound was certainly very impressive and as near to a pipe organ sound as we were likely to get for the money.There and then we agreed to recomend that the P.C.C. buy a similar instrument.
We walked back to the car as we discussed our decision and squeezed in again to start our journey home.The whole thing had taken much less time than we had expected so I suggested we might call in a pub for a bite of supper and a drink on the way home or perhaps go somewhere for Fish and Chips.Linton came up with a another idea and asked if we would like to visit a relative of his who had an Off-Licence in Halifax and had just stocked up with wines from the cask for Christmas.This,we agreed, was a much better idea and without further hesitation took the next turning for Halifax,even though it meant our journey would be lengthened by at least an hour.Following Linton's guidance we could later have been seen entering an interesting shop full of all kinds of drinks and other Christmas fare where we were at once made very welcome and invited to go through into the living room.
Our arrival turned out to have been times extraordinarily well for,as well as being offered the predicted range of wines from the cask,we had arrived just in time for supper and were immediately invited to share a variety of sandwiches and cakes.It was unfortunate that I was driving and at first I felt unable to accept anything to drink other than a cup of tea to go with the sandwiches,but eventualy I allowed myself to be persuaded to take just one glass of sherry.This,of course,led to the offer of a further drink before we left for home but this had to be my limit.On the other hand I was certainly not allowed to restrict my food intake and had a very good supper to compensate.In such pleasant company and in the face of such hospitality it was difficult to drag ourselves away but all too soon we had to squeeze back into the car and start the journey home.
Ernie in the back no longer had the remotest kind of trouble fitting into the children's seat and again remarked how much more room there was than he had expected and how comfortable it was once you were used to it.Linton,for his part,was quite happy next to me and settled himself well down into his seat.Mind you they had both had rather more than their fair share of the sherry,as well as tasting more or less all the wines which were available from the cask, so they would have been comfortable anywhere.I wasn't too sure of the way home but when I later turned to Linton for directions he had dropped off to sleep and Ernie couldn't see where we were anyway from the back so,rather than disturb them,I decided I could find my own way.What I did wrong I don't know but that journey which should have taken no more than an hour stretched to over ninety minutes and it was very late when we got home.Ernie lived some distance away whilst Linton and I lived on the same street so wasting as little time as possible I dropped Ernie off first and then Linton before putting the car,and myself,to bed.
It was Sunday morning before I next saw Linton who couldn't wait to tell me that he had been 'in the doghouse'since our night out.Florence was quite used to me arriving home late because I did a little piano playing in the local pubs from time to time so she accepted my lateness without undue concern; neither did Ernie have a problem with Emily once he had explained what had happened;but Linton,it seemed,was very much in trouble.I don't think Jessie really trusted that little car of mine,or perhaps it was my driving she didn't trust;but either way she had apparently had a mental picture of all three of us lying in a heap of mangled wreckage on some lonely, deserted, moorland road.
At their next meeting the P.C.C. accepted our recommendation that the Wurlitzer be bought but there was really no other choice,it was the best we could afford.We had quite a bit of leg pulling to put up with about taking the long way home and "losing ourselves in an off-license". Linton was asked to report on the state of his marriage at which point he described Jessies reaction most colourfully and told everyone he had been on "silent meals" for a week.Jessie,for her part,simply said,"Oh we're speaking again now, but please send someone else with Bill if you want another organ inspecting!".I said nothing!I was getting enough of the blame already.
So there I now stood amongst the debris which was still lying in heaps on the floor of the new building waiting for the organ people to arrive and go about their business of setting up the new instrument.I had taken some music with me in the expectation that I would have the opportunity to have a practise but it was quite some time before the tuner allowed me to sit on that shining,new,organ bench.I tried first one,and then another of the voices,and he made a few more adjustments until at last he pronounced himself satisfied, got back into his van,and left me to try everything out for myself.The conditions were not ideal however;the carpenters and decorators were still at work in the vestry and there was still an enormous amount of hammering and banging going on.I had taken a day off work just to be there from the very first moment the organ gave voice but I soon realised I could not compete in the face of all the noise and returned to work for the afternoonLater in the week however, when things had quietened down,I took another day off which gave me the opportunity to be there on my own without having to contend with all the noise and you can be sure I had a glorious time trying out all the voices of that new organ..
When weekend came I played for the very last service in the old "Tin Tabernacle" but not without some feelings of sadness.It was almost as if the old organ was aware that this was to be his "swan song" and that within a few days the organ builders would be stripping out his various parts to salvage what they could.He played for me as perfectly as his many infirmities would allow and I almost began to regret that financial strictures meant that we could not afford to save him but by the following weekend all such sentiments were put to one side as I played for the service of dedication in the new St.Mark's..
So busy was I with the music indeed that I am afraid much of the actual ceremony escapes my memory.I know that the Bishop had to perambulate around outside the building for some reason and had to knock on the door for admittance but further than that I hesitate to commit myself.What I do remember is that the almost electric atmosphere of the densely packed congregation seemed to waft itself in waves towards the altar and to be thereby enhanced and returned a thousandfold.It was as if the the Christian community was willing God to take up residence in His newest and latest house and He was indeed sending His blessing and His Holy Spirit upon the building and into each and every one of those present.
There was also a great remembering!A remembering of some long ago P.C.C. meeting of the Parish of All Saints which had first been inspired to build a temporary mission church at the far end of their parish.A remembering of many years of endeavour when,unfortunately,the early hopes for growth became pushed into the background by two world wars,and by the day to day struggle to survive through the years between.A remembering of how the concept of building a new church,which had become little more than a dream, became a vision once more.A remembering of how a Christian community had at last been priviledged to build a centre for Christian worship in a new parish.A remembering of a priest who pursued that vision with the single minded dedication which alone could make it possible.
The Lady Chapel was left to complete at a later date and because there still remained the debt we owed to Mr.Thompson the church was only dedicated and not fully consecrated but nevertheless a permanent church was there where none had been before.