The Minster Church of

Bishopwearmouth in the 1950s

A 'Blast from the Past'. I was fascinated to read in the January 2008 issue that a letter had been received from Canon Roland Meredith, a curate at this church and this brought back many memories of my early days at 'Bishopwearmouth' as we all knew it. At this stage, I will not go into too much detail, but he was a curate in the late 50's, during the Rectorship of Canon C L P Bishop ( I never knew that the Rector was known as 'Jim' as Mr Meredith referred to him).

This was at the time when the parish - mainly members of the Youth Club- used to take a weekly holiday annually at Dalmahoy, just outside of Edinburgh (and known to golfers countrywide), staying in the Parish Holiday Centre which was run by the local Parish priest. We spent happy breaks, involving participation in sports, and various other activities including trips to local beauty spots such as Thriepmuir reservoir and the hills beyond ( I have very distinct memories of these and wonder if Mr Meredith does likewise. Among names he may recall are Billy Dryden, Alan Hodgson and Richard Bainbridge.

I also well remember that he had a motor scooter with him, on which I enjoyed trips to the local village, and a trip into Edinburgh where he introduced a couple of us to St Mary's Episcopalian Church, (a cathedral which I enjoyed revisiting only about three years ago, thus jogging my memory) before calling for tea with his aunt who lived nearby. I well remember being particularly impressed when asked which tea we would like - Indian or China ?!

In his recent article in the Messenger, also mentioned other members of the clergy of the time, including Rev. Clive Wyngard and Rev. Eric Zachau. Mr Zachau also joined us at Dalmahoy and the image (below) is of the two, again taken in the grounds of our holiday home.

A great time was enjoyed by all, and I would like to hear of anyone else who remembers those days, which at the time seemed to be so firmly based to be unchangeable !

As Mr Meredith said, there were three main services on the Sunday at Bishopwearmouth, not counting the 8am Communion. Parish Communion was held at 9.00am, after which most of us retired to the Blackett Institute to share the "Parish Breakfast" of sandwiches (usually two kinds, Chopped Egg & Tomato and Sardine. After this break, it was time to prepare for the Choral Matins (we had a choir of up to thirty Men and Boys in those days), and returned to sing Choral Evensong - the largest congregation of the day.

Unfortunately, the non-communion services appear by now to be seen as something of an irrelevance, which is a pity because therein are to be found some of the most glorious texts in the English language, especially when they are enhanced by readings from the King James version of the Bible which, happily, some of us are still able to enjoy at the 8am Holy Communion.

Now (May 2008), sadly, we learn of the recent death of the Rev'd Eric Zachau, a very popular priest while at Bishopwearmouth, who went on to serve a parish in Northumberland (Beadnall) as vicar for very many years.

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Page updated by David Herring October 2006