St Paulinus, Tardy Gate
Lostock Hall
History of the Mission
How St. Paulinus came into being is a very ordinary story. Two fields, adjoining the road leading from Tardy Gate corner to Brownedge, had been secured by Fr. Pozzi, O.S.B. the Rector of St. Mary's, Brownedge. Round about, much scattered, lived not quite two hundred Catholics—a sturdy band, never shirking the Sunday tramp, always found in their places in St. Mary's, cherishing it as the home of their childhood years, within whose hallowed walls they had received each Sacrament as youth ripened into manhood. They clung to St. Mary's. Yet looking back at those plucky few, more bold because they did not realize the burden, thinking of the failing limbs of their older members, we cannot but admire their repeated appeals for a Church of their own at Tardy Gate, nor the less wonder at the generosity wherewith the Mother Church answered their appeal taking upon herself responsibility for over £2,000 debt. The start was made in 1889, the contractor being Mr. C. Walker (R.I.P.) of Preston. You must pardon us the fabulous stories yet current of the mighty foundations: they echo the rejoicings of the time. In due course came the foundation stone: un-inscribed, it bears a simple cross. Claiming to share the honest pride of their brethren, St. Mary's silvery peal mingling with their joy, the flock at Brownedge swelled our little band; together they streamed forth from the Mother Church leading the Most Rev. Archbishop Scarisbrick, O.S.B., who laid the foundation stone. The walls rose too slowly for the impatient flock, yet by Christmas the simple and graceful designs of the Architect, Mr. C. Walker, of Newcastle-on-Tyne (now also of Liverpool), had taken material shape: a lofty main room 80ft by 80ft giving with a classroom a school accommodating 278 children, and they are surely coming. Artistic points are best noted by personal observation: guides will be in attendance on the 24th, 25th, 26th September. The opening was Lancashire, a feast and a merry reel: for the room was only a building, the school opened in the spring of 1890.
Fr. Athanasius Fishwick, O.S.B., remaining resident at Brownedge, was the pioneer: and it would be hard to parallel with resources so straitened, the work of the ensuing eighteen months. Hope with him was vigorous. Developments, new railway works, were in the air: it must lie added, they long remained there; what they inspired however remains and is substantial. His was no ordinary enthusiasm nor energy, and it was infectious: the flock at Brownedge never flagged in their support, his own spared no sacrifice, many friends at a distance found him skilful in giving point to their unstinted generosity. The workmen returned to build the apse, wherein reposes the Sanctuary with the roller screen separating it from the School. Within the Sanctuary Fr. Fishwick placed a fine stone altar, Hardman supplied the brassware, Regali the Statuary: there is a beautifully carved oak pulpit, massive mission Crucifix, simple altar rails—these voice the zeal of the pastor and people. Wearing vestments presented by Brown-edge, Fr. Fishwick sang the first Mass here on the 8th Nov., 1891, the Church being opened by the Right Rev. Herbert Vaughan, D.D., the Bishop of Salford, later Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, who preached on the occasion. In the' "following September the pastor left on sick leave, and was transferred to another field of labour—we wish him length of years. The work here was taken up by Fr. Adrian Beauvoisn, O.S.B. (R.I.P.). Not the less energetic because his task was the uneventful one of quiet building up. He was succeeded on 12th Oct. 1896, by Fr. Ambrose Turner, O.S.B. (R.I.P.) coming to his life's last labour. Plodding and waiting for the natural growth of members was the order of the day. To him we owe the turret with its powerful bc1], dulcet-toned: and of unwonted efficacy, bought from the " Adriatic " and erected and blessed by himself in July 1899. The Choir knew his assiduous labours; his musical trend was rather to the austere - the compositions of his more gifted brother, Fr. Egbert Turner, O.S.B. (R-.I.P.), we easily pardon him for preferring: the result was and is a well-trained choir with a sound tradition. Meanwhile the Mission ripened and on the 10th Jan. 1P03, Fr. Ambrose left Brownedge to take up residence here as the first Rector of St. Paulinus'.
His Rectory yields no inspiration. It was first a cottage in Lupton I Row, at a weekly rental of 4/6; then extravagance took grip and he moved Ins belongings across the way to Victoria Terrace, adding fifteen pence to his weekly expenditure. The furniture, in variety unblending, of Spartan simplicity, yet prized as the welcome from this cottage and from that: his flock spoke to him in his humble surroundings, and rightly, he lived and laboured only for them. One other treasure he had, his harmonium, never idle, disdaining the mundane: —in trepidation, reverentially, I commend it as a relic to that Diocesan Commission on Church Music on which he sat. Allow me to note an ambition: the strength of a man, in deadly earnest, with an empty purse, with no room obtainable, to gather men and youth around him, for recreation, it is true, yet always with the one dominant purpose of saving and building up the Catholic youth, of uniting the men in combined effort—a work of first importance, at least in Missions such as this. He hired a cottage in the "Three Story" the weekly rental 3/9—a fearsome venture 1 and the only one possible— and all went gay as marriage bells till the more youthful spirits declined to be so cabin'd, cribbed and confined: things ended disastrously, and what was left of the cottage was dolefully restored to the landlord. The mantle of his ambition clothes his successor: help me to a happier issue.
Restless and striving too were the flock: their aim nought less than a Presbytery \ They had struggled from the day of his coming, in those silent, strenuous and ingenious ways, nature's grit in a Lancashire flock, and their hoards of coaxing wares were ready: —a fancy fair ensued, henchmen were Fr. Ignatius Harris and Richard Holden, Esq., K.S.G., and in Oct., 1905, the flock had gained their point, the fund was there. Two months more and life's energy was spent: —in the solitude of retreat, in the Abbey of Ampleforth, the home of his youth and of his early monastic life, on Dec. 2nd, 1905, Fr. Ambrose rendered his soul to God, his memory an inspiration.
The stay of Fr. Maurus Carew, O.S.B., was far too short. All regretted when health compelled his sudden departure, and it is a pleasure to thank him for the substantial balance, not a fortune, he left as a nerve tonic to his timorous successor. I have no right to intrude my affection for St. Mary's, Warrington, where I had laboured during nine years of chequered toil with countless gratifications. The warmth of my welcome here smoothed the rough break: I came in March 1906. The felicitous designs by Fr. Ambrose of his hoped-for Presbytery were at my elbow as countless warning angels, yet I must confess to a building innocent of art, nor gable nor draught, mere useful, set square to the four winds, a tribute to the economy of the firm of Mr. C. Walker, of Preston. Richard Holden, Esq., and K.S.G. laid the foundation stone in June: I entered in Dec. 1906.
A famour institution was meantime growing in strength. Within a month of my coming, the men of the Blessed Sacrament Guild held a meeting—magnetic now: we formed a provisional committee to hunt for a room that did not exist. The door was opened by one of the flock placing at our disposal " the old cattle shippon " long on the pension list. It was a wee bit rickety. The catladder behind the cattle stalls was no easy ascent to the dark chamber above, mercifully, though dimly lit, by a brick out here and there, the roof grimly suggestive of the open-air treatment, the floor completing the current of ventilation. Snape, our village genius, came to the rescue. From some old cottages in course of demolition he secured flooring boards, staircase, door—number 39—fanlight window frames, and in a fortnight the Shippon Hall was opened, one room up and one room down, with a full-sized billiard table by Bayliff, of Liverpool! The cynic would remark that "Bayliff" is a word of unhappy omen. Grit conquers; the Blessed Sacrament Guild has mastered the rough and tumble, awaiting the more felicitous.
In the following Spring, helped by many outside friends, the congregation erected the handsome rails and gates; the latter designed by my friend Mr. Jos. Richardson, of Warring-ton the work executed by Mr. Holt, of Chorley—Marsden our village blacksmith (and Nestor) pronounces the whole "bonny." They were opened by the Rev. H. Butterfield, S.J., Mr. Holden, the constant friend of the Mission being with us.
Shippon Hall could be no finality. We thank Reginald Tatton, Esq., J.P, of Cuerden Hall, for seasonable aid and generous assistance, yet there must be a time limit even to his patience, and Shippon Hall must fall before "development." We held another meeting called for by the flock: this time of all the adult members of the Congregation. They assembled in their separate Guilds in our School-Chapel in the afternoon of the 7th Oct. 1906. Be indulgent of a big name, we only sought a passing from the Shippon to permanent rooms for the-youth of both sexes, and affection for Fr. Ambrose Turner, acquired the name " The Turner Memorial Hall." To argue the good it will do in forcing an open door: our one room for all purposes is School and Church. The question I wanted answering was, did the whole flock want it and would the whole flock shoulder the burden. For this purpose each one present received a bean meaning yes, and a pea-no. By Ballot, they gave me beans, to a man. On the Anniversary of Fr. Ambrose's death, the '2nd Dec., the weekly subscription began —I made it low, they have stuck to their word.
Responsibility for the next step must be mine. Their's the honour of loyalty under a severe strain. They are all spinners and weavers; yet land obtained, possibly a trifle suspicious of my mental health, they dug out the foundations for house which we would build and " sell’, another step forward to the Turner Memorial Hall. A reckless dream 1 Mr. James Seed of Farington gave us the send off with bricks: seasonably Michael Durkin turned up from Preston with his trowel, Ins popularity bringing a host of "brickies "—The Nook stands vender, the work of many hands and many hearts, to each and all my grateful thanks—the ranges by Booth of Preston are a treat.
Yet another laborious work. Pick, spade and hammer, are dardly laid aside from '• pitching " of over three hundred square yards of the Schools grounds: in whose darksome cinder rills the innocent spirits have so long reveled to improve complexion. This task has involved, amongst other trifles, the breaking with seven pound hammers—the gift of Slinger of Preston—of some three hundred tons of large stone blocks— cottage relics, peace to the departed shades they sheltered: and all this labour was done by toilers after an ordinary day's work!
Of all these burdens pastor and people have borne the brunt together—and cheerfully. But there is another burden, which is discordant music and paralysing: hence the appeal we venture to make to you. Recall the small number of our wage earners, youth and adult and what can be done whilst the debt stands at £1,4001 Tried friends have pressed me to-build a Church: it is my cherished hope. Many are the reasons: the child cannot easily distinguish the Sunday Church from the week-day school of furtive romp, reverence weakens and all that reverence means is the child's future; the unavoidable use of the very Church itself for all our Social gatherings; not least the pastime of bench moving, solid dead weights: these and many other reasons make me lean to generosity at other folks' expense, to build and let others pay the bill. Let facts be taken, however, build the Church and so treble the debt, and tell me how three hundred wage earners, old and young, could even pay the interest on £4,000. The Room we want has indeed many things in its favour: —souls are the living stones better than the quarried, here they will be gathered, preserved, strengthened, built up for their own future and for the Church: the Room will be the centre whereto will convey all the forces we may possess for united effort: —these and other gains reckoned, there yet remains one equally as substantial, for the Room will be the shortest cut, and a sure one to the building of a Church. In a few years at latest the new Church will be imperative, when that day comes if we have no other resources than now, the new Church will be as now impossible. But given this Guild Room, our very recreations will melt the ice-belt of debt, gradually form a Building Fund and make whatever debt may then be unavoidable at least not beyond our strength. "Punch" has much to answer for and I see ascribed to him " He gives twice who gives quickly, for he is sure to be asked again ": has wisdom has gone astray.
Peter cuthbert mercer, O.S.B.,
St. Paulinus', Lostock Hall, Preston.