Sun, September 11th, 2016

150th Anniversary of the Dedication of the new St Augustine’s Church

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On 11th September 1866 the newly built Butterfield church that replaced the little mediaeval church was dedicated in a very well attended service.

On Sunday, 11th September 2016 at 10.30am a large congregation of parishioners, invited guests and other interested people, including  a couple who had been married in St Augustine’s over 40 years ago, attended  a special service to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Dedication.

The service started with the architect Mr William Butterfield, ably played by Mr Christopher Williams, giving us the background to the building of the church in 1865-66.

The Archbishop of Wales, the Most Reverend Dr Barry Morgan, presided and gave the address.  This was Bishop Barry’s last visit to the church before his retirement at the end of next January.  The organist, Robert Court, composed an anthem for the occasion of the 150th anniversary and dedicated it to Bishop Barry.

The church looked magnificent with the carved oak altar frontal on display and beautiful flower arrangements on the altar and all around the building. The flower arranging team, led by Mary Cole worked hard on Saturday and their efforts were appreciated by all.

At the end of the service Bishop Barry cut the cake, made by Ann Lush, which celebrated 150 years of Christian worship in the church.

To round off the celebration at 3pm our bellringers rang an open quarter peal. Their intention was to create a new bellringing method and name it Penarth Surprise Major in honour of the occasion.

The Friends had put together a number of boards with details of different aspects of the life and history of the church and these proved of great interest.

We were also given a unique photograph of St Augustine’s by Martin Gossage of the Friends of Belle Vue Park.

We are fortunate to have many talented and dedicated people tin the parish and they all worked together to make this an occasion to remember.

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