Parish to mark key anniversary

LET'S celebrate . . . Father Peter McKie at St Herbert's RC Church

A CATHOLIC parish whose first mass was held in a Conservative club is celebrating its 100th anniversary.

The Bishop of Salford, the Rt Rev John Arnold, will lead a special mass at St Herbert's Church on Broadway in Chadderton at 7pm tomorrow to celebrate the centenary.

He will be joined by priests who have served there over the years as well as those from Oldham Deanery.

The parish of St Herbert, Chadderton, was founded in the middle of the First World War ­- a time when only four new parishes were formed in the Diocese of Salford ­- to serve the 550 Catholics living in the Busk area.

They were a considerable distance from a church and included 100 children, 40 of whom were attending non-Catholic schools.

Father James Lawless, a curate at Corpus Christi, Chadderton, was authorised to organise the new parish covering north and central Chadderton and Westwood. A diverse area, it included terrace homes interspersed with cotton mills, rural fields and the town centre with its new town hall, baths, library and police station.

The first mass was held on July 2, 1916, in the upper room of North Chadderton Conservative Club, now known as The Blue Club. The room, which could hold around 300 people, was full and worshippers included Irish, Canadian and New Zealand soldiers.

Hire

Parishioner Michael Lawson, secretary of Chadderton Historical Society, has written a book to celebrate the centenary.

He said: "Father Lawless would travel each Sunday from Corpus Christi in a horse and cab, bringing with him the requisites for Holy Mass. The hire of the clubroom was 10 shillings (50 pence) per hour."

At the time people were required to fast from midnight until receiving Holy Communion so mass was celebrated at 9am.

Mr Lawson added: "This enabled the parishioners to commute without too long a fast."

Father Lawless soon rented a house opposite the town hall in Middleton Road, which became the presbytery, and the disused Empress Ballroom in Westwood, which became the parish hall.

A temporary church ­- which eventually lasted 40 years ­- opened in October 14, 1917, but Mr Lawson explained: "The cost of the building had increased four-fold during the war years."

The new Broadway arterial road opened alongside the building in 1925 while raising money for a permanent church proved "long and arduous" during the mass unemployment and economic depression of the 1920s and 1930s and then the Second World War. Work started in 1955 ­- the temporary church re-erected on adjacent land to accommodate construction ­- and the opening and blessing was eventually held in May, 1957. The parish school followed on 1964.

Father Peter McKie, appointed in 1996, is the sixth parish priest at St Herbert's and its second longest serving. He said the parish was thriving, adding: "It is wonderful to be the parish priest during the centenary and a great honour. It is a very good community."