Long Street Methodist, Middleton, Manchester
On Saturday afternoon 23rd March, the Church hosted a community event with over 60 adults and children attending. Catering was for 50, but as with the loaves and fishes, there was plenty of food, and a lot left over. Various activities were on offer, face painting, bead threading, jig saws, quizzes to name but a few. Thank you to all who made this such a good afternoon and not a play station in sight!
The Edgar Wood Society has another year of interesting events ahead. From an outing to Liverpool and Briarcourt to an Art Nouveau talk. There’s something for everyone. Please have a look and get involved at www.edgarwoodsociety.org/events
Using the guide lines from All We Can (allwecan.org.uk) the Methodist overseas charity, the service was led by the Church Stewards.
There was a collection for All We Can and a packet and tin food collection for the local food bank, based at the Lighthouse project in Middleton. The link below will show that 55.1 Kg of food items were delivered.
MCFB Thank you certifcate 2023 – Harvest collection Long Street Methodist Church Sept 23
Coffee and tea is normally served after the Sunday service, but on 10 Sept. there was an extra special coffee morning in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support. Coffee (or tea) was vailable with a selection of cakes and various sweet delights. Thank you to Margaret and David for organising the event and all those for supporting the Macmillan Nurses.
A Memorial Service was held in the Church today at 4.00pm. The service was for the bereaved relatives and friends of those who had died during and since the start of the pandemic. This is usually an annual service, but owing to covid it has not taken place since 2019. It was a quiet and reflective service and members of the congregation were invited to light candles in memory of their loved ones.
Thank you Sharon
If you were in the Scouts, Guides or Youth Club in the 70’s at Long Street Methodist Church you may well rememberJohn Chamberlain and Katherine ….?
They were down from Yorkshire attending a reunion of the above and joined the morning service,talked about the ‘old ‘times, friends and had a walk around the building, remembering as it was and surprised about the changes following the restoration.
Thank you for coming and sharing your memories of time at Long Street.
On Monday afternoon 4th July, twenty two members of the Victorian Society in American Summer School visited the Church and Schools Rooms. This was their third venue of the day, following a hard hat tour of the Manchester Town Hall and the Victoria Baths.
They were relieved to soak in the atmosphere of the church and enjoy refrehments before looking around the building and learning about importance of the architecture of Edgar Wood.
The email received following their visit is as follows:
Many thanks to you and your colleagues at Long Street for hosting today’s visit for the Victorian Society in America, and also for your warm hospitality. The visit was greatly appreciated, and it was an eye-opener for the whole group to see such a masterpiece. They had not heard of Edgar Wood before, but now they will be spreading his fame. While I have visited the building before it is always such a delight to experience . What a wonderful architect he was!
With thanks and best wishes,
Ken
Two charities were supported at the Harvest Service on Sunday 3rd October.
A pew collection in aid of the Methodist supported charity, All We Can and for tinned and dried food for the local food bank at the Lighthouse Project based in Middleton.
The Church and School Rooms were open for five half days during this year’s HODs, attracting both local and visitors from the wider region. The walk around the Conservation Area and the Edgar Wood properties on Sunday 12th September was over subscribed. A pre booked group of 22 were divided into two groups and starting in opposite directions. The walk will be repeated in Spring 2022, so send an email if you wish to be informed of details nearer to the time (edgarwoodsociety@gmail.com).
Visit Long Street Methodist Church and the adjacent Edgar Wood Rooms to see the finest Arts & Crafts building in Greater Manchester. Guides will be on hand to answer any questions.
Friday 10 September 1 – 4pm Sunday 12 September 1 – 4pm
Sunday 12 September 2pm Leaving from the Church at 2pm a guided walk around the Conservation Area to view 9 listed buildings in the ‘Golden Cluster’. For full details: https://www.heritageopendays.org.uk/visiting/event/a-guided-walk-around-middleton-conservation-area
Wednesday 15 September 1 – 4pm
Friday 17 September 1 – 4pm Saturday 18 September 1 – 4pm
The gates were opened and It was good to be back for a service at Long Street although with a difference, for the first service in the building since 15th March, 2020.
To make easier to comply with covid protocols, the service was held in the hall of the Edgar Wood Rooms. The atmosphere was different, but a success all the same and will be repeated again next week. If you would like to book a seat phone 0161 6530512.
With all the interest in Arts & Crafts churches recently, two books being published on the subject, it is worth mentioning that religious Arts & Crafts work sometimes turns up in quite unexpected places.
A good example is St. Mary’s Church in Wigton, Cumbria. This is a large 1788 classical preaching box, miles from anywhere north of the Lake District. It’s a fine looking building. I went in with my ‘Georgian’ hat on and it certainly didn’t disappoint in that regard.
However, one of the aisle windows beneath a balcony caught my eye with its harmonious green tones and Arts & Crafts character. Looking more closely, a Crane signature marked it out as being by Walter Crane, who, as a metropolitan based socialist, is possibly the last person you would expect to see in these parts.
The window is quite formal – a nod to the classicism of the building, perhaps. It represents Christ as the Light of the World. The border has cherubs sitting on the branches of a climbing plant which grows around Christ as if sustained by his light – a nice blend of Christian and Art Nouveau ideas. The date is 1906, so it is a late work.
Wakter Crane was born in Liverpool and taught in Manchester in the 1890s. He was the first president of the Northern Art Workers Guild which was set up by Edgar Wood. While Crane and Wood knew one another it is not yet known how close their artistic paths coincided. For more information on Walter Crane click here.
The church gates were decorated yesterday for Pentecost and the first service since lockdown at Long Street planned for today, unfortunately had to be postponed, so it was back to Zoom.
We now look forward to the first service on the 13th June. Until then the Sunday morning and evening services will continue on Zoom. Details can be found on the Manchester Circuits web site. https://manchestermethodists.org.uk
The fourth and final talk by Dr. Alec Hamilton
The Title is: “Is it or isn’t it? A Field Guide to Arts & Crafts Churches.”
Alec says “It’s my attempt to answer the big question that constantly crops up: “What are the essential characteristics of an Arts & Crafts church?” Also expressed as, “How do I know it’s an Arts & Crafts church when I finally get into it?” (Another popular one is “There is a church near me. It has a Burne-Jones window. Why, oh why, is it not in your book?” And I have a soft spot for “Who was this William Morris bloke anyway
As this fourth talk is for VicSoc, I have to warn you it costs £5 to view. I know. A disgrace. But cheaper than Netflix and Curzon Home Cinema. And shorter. And VicSoc needs the money – rest assured, I do not get a bean. Meanwhile VicSoc has to carry on its work as statutory consultative body on planning matters, and keeping a sharp eye out for buildings under threat, despite the current unpleasantness. Whereas I am a diversion.
You can book here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/141162186901 (And, yes, it was awfully jolly to be asked back. And, yes, this is an all-new talk – 22 churches I have never lectured on before.)
For those of you who find my stern academic rigour intimidating – and quite rightly so: it is – there will be a Quiz at the end. Fun – even for intellectuals.
Leave them wanting more, I say…”
If you missed Alec Hamilton’s talk yesterday lunchtime, it is available on the Churches Conservation Trust’s YouTube feed. Just enter Churches Conservation Trust into your browser and you will find all the information.
Weekly lectures are free and are live at 1.00pm but you do need to register or sign into Facebook.
Dear Friends
Hey! Here’s an idea. A talk – but it’s “online”! You know, you watch it through your computer. Yes, I know. What a wacky notion. I bet nobody else has thought of it. It’s so modern.
Heigh ho. One can but try.
So anyhow…
Just in case you can’t spend nearly enough time looking at a screen, here’s more.
I am doing a talk (entirely new) on 11 February which may interest you.
It’s for the CCT (Churches Conservation Trust), and titled: ’Dreams, Distractions and Destruction: Britain’s lost Arts & Crafts Churches’.
It is at lunchtime: 1 p.m.
The talk is free and open to all. If you are interested, you can sign up here: https://www.facebook.com/events/147756693521434
Following a water burst last week, on Friday the damaged surface was being removed (revealing some of the original stone sets). Although the Church remains closed (Covid) details of online services can be found on the web site www.manchestermethodists.org.uk
On Monday 18th January starts A Week of Prayer for Christian Unity 2021. For resources follow the link, https://manchestermethodists.org.uk/a-week-of-prayer-for-christian-unity-2021/
