NEW ANGLICAN CHURCH.

Taranaki Daily News, 29 June 1923, Page 8

NEW ANGLICAN CHURCH.

ST. ANDREW’S, INGLEWOOD. THE FIRST SERVICE. OFFICIAL OPENING ON SUNDAY. Architecturally worthy of the high purpose for which it was erected, St. Andrew’s, the new Anglican Church at Inglewood, is about to be taken out of the builders’ hands, ana yesterday the first service to be held in the new building was conducted by the Rev. R. J. Stanton (vicar of the Inglewood parochial district). Owing to the wet weather, the official opening service was postponed until Sunday. “It is very hard to enter into all that this means to the parish,” said the vicar, in the course of a short address. Those who were accustomed to old world churches knew that the places where the faithful had worshipped for hundreds of years held sacred associations. To erect a House of God was one of the grandest privileges and responsibilities, and he prayed that God would be pleased to enter into it so that all should feel His presence and realise that this was a House of Prayer. The church should become the nearest approach on earth to God and a happy meeting-place, where a congregation could gather together as brothers and sisters of one great family. He prayed that God’s richest blessing would be upon the church and the people. At such a time one remembered those, who through sickness, could not be present; one’s thoughts turned too to those 140 men whose blood had been poured forth, the men who had “gone west” during the war. It was «i time to feel God’s presence and to go forth with His splendour in thoir hearts. The service was a communion one, 28 members partaking of the first sacrament to be administered in the new church. The hymns, in keeping with the occasion, were: “Lo, God* is Here,” “O Valiant Hearts” (a tribute to the fallen) and “0 Love, Who Formedest Me.” The service of dedication Will be conducted in August by the Bishop of Auckland (Dr. Averill), who laid the foundation stone on St. Andrew’s Day (November 30) last year. Sunday’s service will be conducted by the Ven. Archdeacon F. G. Evans. x, A PEACE MEMORIAL. The church has been erected as a peace memorial, a tablet on the wall bearing the names of 138 men from the Inglewood district who paid the Supreme Sacrifice in the war. Another tablet bears this inscription: “To the greater .elory of God and to the memory of the men who gave their lives in the war, the chancel -and transepts of this church were erected by the prayers and freewill offerings of the parishioners, 1923.” This tablet, like the foundation stone, was hewn from the hills of Bethlehem from the quarries where the stone for the oldest Christian church in the world—the Church of the Nativity, Bethlehem—was obtained. Before being despatched to Inglewood the stones were taken to St. George’s Cathedral, Jerusalem.

Designed in the early Norman style, the new church of St. Andrew’s is arranged cruciform, and consists of chancel, nave, north and south transepts, with porch, clergy vestry, and organchamber. At a later stage it is hoped to install a pipe organ, the chamber having been built so as to allow for this. In length the church aneaaures 88ft. and is well buttressed to carry a stately roof, reaching to a height of 36ft. The’ Church has been built in reinforced concrete, the walls'being finished externally in cream Atlas cement, with a deep base of rough cast. Internally the walls are plastered, the lower portions being finished in Atlas cement and the upper portion in a grey tint. The roof of the nave, transepts, and chancels has principals and curved sweeps of Oregon and the panels between the purlins and the principals, stained dark, are lined with oiled rimu. The nave is divided from the chancel by a bold semi-circular arch, supported on two massive Norman columns, the roof being finished in red tiles of the Marseilles pattern. The windows are glazed with cathedral glass and diamond panes. GIFTS AND MEMORIALS. In the south transept has been fixed a beautiful stained glass window, which occupied a position in the old church as a memorial to the late Rev. Handley Brown, who was prominently identified with the early days of the Anglican Church in Taranaki. In the east window a stained glass window is to be placed as a tribute to the memory of the late Henry Brown, who was for over 20 years a lay reader in the church. His memory is already perpetuated in the gift by Mrs. Brown of a handsome brass lectern, formed 'in the shape of an eagle with outstretched wings. The font near the main entrance is the gift of the Inglewood branch of the Girls’ Friendly Society. As a memorial to the late Mrs. a. A. Bracegirdle, her children have presented the altar for the new church, while the brothers and sisters of the late George Victor Duffill have given the altar cross. Altar lights have been presented by Mr. J. Tilley. The interior fittings of the church arc almost complete and the building will be handed over to the church authorities by the builder very shortly., The church was i&iilt to the’ design of Messrs. Messenger, Griffiths and Taylor, of New Plymouth, by Mr. A. O. Brown,, of Wanganui, the cost being slightly under £3300.