DIAMOND JUBILEE OF ST. MARK’S CHURCH

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 200, 21 May 1936, Page 5

DIAMOND JUBILEE OF ST. MARK’S CHURCH

To Be Celebrated To-day HISTORY AND GROWTH OF PARISH This morning ami evening special services are to he held in St. Mark's Church, Dufferin Street, to celebrate the diamond jubilee of the church's consecration. St. Mark’s was consecrated on May 21. 1876, by the Rt. Rev. Octavius Hadfield, six years after lie became the second Bishop of Wellington.

The celebrations will begin to-day with Holy Communion at 7.30 n.m. and 10 a.ni. and with festal evensong conducted by the vicar, the Rev. N. F. E. Robertshawe, M.A., M.C., at 7.30 p.m. On Sunday a Communion service will be held at 8 a.m. and at 11 a.m. the Rev. D. J. Davies will conduct short Matins and Holy Communion. At 7 p.m. evensong will be conducted by Canon Percival James, of St. Paul’s Pro-Cathedral. On Tuesday evening the celebrations will conclude with a social reunion in the parish hall at 8 o’clock. An Offshoot of St. Peter's. St. Mark’s was an offshoot of St. Peter’s parish, and the first records of the church go back to 1874. when a joint meeting of tlie standing commit-

tee of St. Peter's and St. Paul's was held to consider the provision of increased church accommodation in the parish of St. Peter's. A small committee was set up and the present site of the church was purchased for £2Bl 0/6. while the boundaries of the new parish were defined as between 'the cricket ground , (the Basin Reserve) and the harbour, later extended to the whole of the town east of Taranaki Street. Plans were prepared but were later modified because of the cost of building, the original church being erected for £l5OO The Rev. E. 11. Grainger, formerly of the diocese of Dunedin, was placed in charge of the parish. He conducted services in a schoolroom at the corner of Taranaki and Dixon Streets for a few months, but resigned before the now church was built. The parish records proper began with a meeting on May 8. 1576. when provisional wardens and vestry were appointed. The following were chosen : Clergyman's warden, Mr. Kenneth Wilson; parishioners’ warden, Mr. Herbert Gaby; vestry, Captain A. Crowe. Messrs. S. Brown. R-. C. Hamerton, F. Stevens. G. E. Tolhurst and J. E..FitzGerald. Mr. Fitz Gerald was unable Io act ami his place was taken by Mr. J. A. Plimmer. the only surviving member of the pioneer officers of the.church. Early Work and Progress. Until late in 1877. St. Mark's remained nominally part of St. Peter's parish. Steps were then taken to constitute the new parochial district. The first vicar was the Rev. Richard Coffey, B.A. In 18S8, the congregation having outgrown the original building, the church was enlarged, a debt of £3OO being thus increased to about £l9OO. In spite of

tliis, the church was able eight years later to be free from debt. A similarly happy position was reported after the lapse of a further seven years, notwithstanding heavy loss caused in tlie interim by tlie destruction, of the schoolroom by fire and the consequent necessity for rebuilding. Early in 1897, tlie growth of the settlement was such that the parish was divided into two districts, the southern portion of the district embracing Newtown being dedicated to St. Thomas. St. Mark’s still remained a large parish, having two branches — namely, Kilbirnie and Roseneath, where services were conducted regularly in All Saints’ and St. Barnabas’s Churches respectively, the former being constituted a separate parish in 1905, and the latter in 1915. History-of (he Change. Tlie Rev. Mr. Coffey died in 1907. and his place was taken by the Rev. A. M. Johnson. Four years later he was followed by the Rev. C. F. Askew, who was vicar for 11 years. The Rev. 11. E. K, Fry became vicar in 1923, and he was followed by the present vicar in 1933. Mr. Robertshawe is a native of New Zealand and has had the additional advantage of experience in England. He served as a chaplain during the Great. War and went to England shortly after the war. He was asked to accept Hie charge when Mr. Fry became vicar of Lower Hutt in 1930 and returned to Now Zealand to do so, St. Mark’s also has a day school, which was the first to be opened under the Church School Board, a start being made in 1917 with 37 scholars. Since then the school has progressed until its present roll numbers some hundreds.