Now when you set off on one of your “essential walks”, the chances are something will turn up and surprise you.
And much the same happened to me today when Barbarella sent over a series of pictures from her walk through West Didsbury.
She was drawn to that old church on the corner of Burton Road, and Northern Grove.
I have had a stab at researching its story.
I know that back in 1903 it was the Christ Church Mission Hall with a Sunday School of the same name beside it.
And I also know that eight years later it had undergone a name change, so while the Sunday School was still Christ Church Sunday School the Mission Hall was now known as St Luke’s .
But that is pretty much it, except for the war memorial which has featured on the blog before*.
What I didn't know until today is that the memorial had been moved from St Mary’s Church, and for that I have to thank a site which has researched all the names on the memorial.**
Leaving just one reference to the church on the Church of England Heritage Record.***
But undaunted there are always the little bits of stories which offer up something interesting.
Since 2017 the building has been the office of the British Mountaineering Council, which was formed in 1944, has 75,000 members and briefly flirted with a name change to Climb Britain but dropped the idea just two months after it announced the rebrand in the face of stiff opposition.
And in the absence of any detailed information on the church I thought that was it, but, no, there is more.
In 1941 the building was designated one of the “33 rest and feeding centres for the reception of homeless people”, who had been “bombed out”. According to the Manchester Guardian “considerable progress has been made of late in the securing of necessary beds, bedding and equipment in centres which are centrally heated and possessed of the necessary lavatory and other accommodation requisite where large numbers are congregated”.****
On a happier note, seven years earlier the Sunday School Hall had played host to The West Didsbury Dramatic Society who were “a recent formation but whose ambition is high”.**** The play was The Rising Sun, which recounted the struggle of a family run shop in the face of competition from the “big store”.
And despite the grimness of the plot and the lack of stage space and equipment, the newspaper’s critic commented that it was a success.
All of which means that the next time I pass the old church building, I shall ponder on it’s current use and the part it played in Didsbury’s history.
Location; West Didsbury
Pictures; Burton Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
* Stories from a Didsbury war monument, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/03/stories-from-didsbury-war-monument.html
**War Memorials, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/warmemorials/st-mary-s-church-school-t5140.html
*** Church of England Church Heritage Record; https://facultyonline.churchofengland.org/church-heritage-record-west-didsbury-st-luke-624171
****Manchester’s Rest and Feeding Centres, Manchester Guardian January 3, 1941
*****Heijerman’s Rising Sun at Didsbury, The Manchester Guardian, April 9, 1934
 |
| The former church and war memorial, 2020 |
She was drawn to that old church on the corner of Burton Road, and Northern Grove.
I have had a stab at researching its story.
I know that back in 1903 it was the Christ Church Mission Hall with a Sunday School of the same name beside it.
And I also know that eight years later it had undergone a name change, so while the Sunday School was still Christ Church Sunday School the Mission Hall was now known as St Luke’s .
But that is pretty much it, except for the war memorial which has featured on the blog before*.
What I didn't know until today is that the memorial had been moved from St Mary’s Church, and for that I have to thank a site which has researched all the names on the memorial.**
Leaving just one reference to the church on the Church of England Heritage Record.***
But undaunted there are always the little bits of stories which offer up something interesting.
 |
| The home of the British Mountaineering Council, 2020 |
And in the absence of any detailed information on the church I thought that was it, but, no, there is more.
In 1941 the building was designated one of the “33 rest and feeding centres for the reception of homeless people”, who had been “bombed out”. According to the Manchester Guardian “considerable progress has been made of late in the securing of necessary beds, bedding and equipment in centres which are centrally heated and possessed of the necessary lavatory and other accommodation requisite where large numbers are congregated”.****
 |
| One of the 33 Rest & Feeding Centres, 1941 |
And despite the grimness of the plot and the lack of stage space and equipment, the newspaper’s critic commented that it was a success.
All of which means that the next time I pass the old church building, I shall ponder on it’s current use and the part it played in Didsbury’s history.
Location; West Didsbury
Pictures; Burton Road, 2020, from the collection of Barbarella Bonvento
* Stories from a Didsbury war monument, https://chorltonhistory.blogspot.com/2019/03/stories-from-didsbury-war-monument.html
**War Memorials, https://www.tapatalk.com/groups/warmemorials/st-mary-s-church-school-t5140.html
*** Church of England Church Heritage Record; https://facultyonline.churchofengland.org/church-heritage-record-west-didsbury-st-luke-624171
****Manchester’s Rest and Feeding Centres, Manchester Guardian January 3, 1941
*****Heijerman’s Rising Sun at Didsbury, The Manchester Guardian, April 9, 1934
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