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85.25 Kg Weight of Food Donated to the Food Bank
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.
To Long Street Methodist Church : Email from the Lighthouse Project
Thank you for your kind donation yesterday. It will help a lot of our Foodbank users in these ever increasing difficult times.
The weight donated was 82.25kg and I’m sure there will be more donations from your congregation and other generous people.
I will keep a check on the donations we receive from yourselves and give you the total weight after the Harvest Festival has ended.
Many Thanks
Sue Jackson
Project Coordinator – Foodbank & Pantry
The Lighthouse Project, unit S6 b/c Middleton Shopping Centre, Limetrees Road, Middleton, M24 4EL
Tel: 0161 643 1163
The Lighthouse Project is a community work of Inspire Middleton registered charity 1126093
Heritage Open Days Come to a Close for Another Year
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).
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Visit the ‘Arts & Crafts Church’ on Heritage Open Days
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
Re-pointing of the Chimney Begins
David from Conservation Services North West, is in charge of the chimney repointiong and was smiling yesterday morning from the top platform of the scaffold. Blue sky and sun is a bonus of late and the weather is going to be settled for the next few days. 
Scones, Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam
The first event in the Arts and Crafts Church hall (Edgar Wood Rooms) since the easing of the lockdown, organised by the Edgar Wood Society was a cream tea this afternoon. The hall was set up and awaiting the first guests at 2.00pm.
Edgar Wood Rooms back in use
The First Live Service Since 15th March 2020
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.
Up, Up and Away
Laurie of RescueStationCIC had a 7.00am drone flight from the garden on Tuesday 23rd June. Conditions were ideal, the air was still and the sky was blue. The ground crew were briefed and had their instructions to inform passers by that they were within a 50 meter radius of the flight. The filming was on behalf of the Heritage Trust North West, a closely associated Trust who provide services for the GMBPT.
The filming of Long Street Methodist Church and the Edgar Wood Rooms will feature on the HTNW web site together with other heritage property in the HTNW’s portfolio.
Walter Crane in Wigton
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.
Services on Zoom Continue
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 Congregation are Still Active
A Date For The Diary – 30th March
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…”
Dreams, Distractions & Destruction: Britain’s Lost Arts & Crafts Churches
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.
Dr. Alec Hamilton – Talk on 11th February at 1.00pm
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
Long Street may be closed but not the Church community
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/
Blooming Early
Lecture – 1900: Lions and Lambs – the Irresistible Rise and Bashful Demise of the Arts & Crafts Church
Alec Hamilton author of the recently available book ‘Arts and Crafts Churches’, published and available from Lund Humphries, gave an excellent lecture last evening for the SAHGB (Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain). With over 400 illustrations taken from churches across the country, showing a wealth of both variations and similarities of what can be said to be examples of the Arts and Crafts Church.
The ‘icing on the cake’ for me was the mention of, and images of Long Street Methodist Church, together with the plug for the website www.artsandcraftschurch.org
A recording of a previous talk by Alec on ‘Arts and Crafts Churches’ is available on the Victorian Societies website www.victoriansociety.org.uk or try the link Arts & Crafts Churches – Crowdcast