When Kirkby was expanding rapidly in the 1950s, it was felt that it needed to be served by more than one church. The first services on the new estate of Southdene were held in Cherryfield School, before moving into a barn, followed by the first church which was built on the current site in 1955 (pictured below).
Old St. Martin’s Church, now the First Step Centre
After a period of expansion, it was felt that a new church building was needed, and the current church building was built in 1964. The first building was deconsecrated, its spire removed, and was turned into the church hall. St. Martin’s was built as a sister church to St. Chad’s, and works together with St. Mark’s and St. Andrew’s as a team of churches, in what became a trailblazing way in the Church of England.
As St. Chad’s was built to showcase the very best of nineteenth century design, so was St. Martin’s built to showcase what was good in the 1960s. The current church building inside is full of light and space, with a wonderful atmosphere of prayer and worship. It had a Willis organ from the late nineteenth century, which when it was played, was a beautiful instrument, coming from the ‘Rembrandt’ of organ builders!
Sadly, not all was good in the 1960s, and the permanently leaky roof was finally replaced at the end of the century, leaving work to be done in brightening the exterior and installing new heating and redecorating inside the building. The leaky roof also took its toll on the organ, which needed restoration work to the tune of approximately £40,000 to restore it to its full glory.
At the end of 2005, we installed new heating, and we are now looking forward to a major refurbishment project in 2010, providing community space, kitchen, toilets, meeting rooms and new windows.
Building plans
St. Martin was a Roman soldier in the Imperial Guard, one of the highest positions in the Roman Army, when he saw a beggar freezing. He took off his military cloak, cut it in half with his sword and gave half to the beggar. Later he refused to take a bounty from the emperor himself, saying that as a Christian it was not lawful for him to fight. Having been thrown into prison, he was later released, and began to live very simply and prayerfully, focussing himself on God. As a bishop, his mission was in walking around sharing the good news of Jesus with the people around him, while standing up to all forms of oppression from the Roman authorities.
Jeremy Fagan is the Team Vicar of St. Martin's Church, Southdene, and the Children's Chaplain to the Parish of Kirkby.
I like the blog and also the idea of Kirkby Parish having a blog. Really cutting edge, wouldn’t be surprised to find it is a first for C of E – congratulations.
Hi, I like the blog. The links to the parish and individuals church news are great. Hope you get lots of bloggers.
This was enormous fun – the acting was superb – I am still not really sure whodunit!
this was quite a good day, it was very windy on the top of the cathedral like it shows in that picture(:
wowzzaaa
really like the new blog, nice layout i must say!
very interesting reading all the new & seeing all the photos, will be telling everyone to go on this!
Had a great night lots of laughes no I didn’t solve the plot and discovered the killer there was a twist in the tail. Looking forward to the next one.
This was an amazing day of peace and serenity. A very worthwhile and valuabe experience, I certainly gained alot from it and spending that time away just with you and God is something we should do on a more regular basis. I don’t know about others but God really spoke to me that day!
this was a fab day event the adults were exhausted by the end of it. The comments from everyone was how well behaved the children were. We even got to visit the crypt.
The right decision? For who? It doesn’t matter if the scheme created 7,000 jobs or just 1 job, the town of Kirkby needs investment to regenerate the area, and without big projects like the combined Everton Stadium and Tesco scheme its not going to be pull itself of the hole that it has been in since the early 1970s when all the big companies that existed on the Industrial Estate starting pulling out. At the moment, the town of Kirkby is simply not a credible place to live, work or spend any leisure time, especially with the lack of adequate retail facilities. There is an exodus of people at the weekend driving out of Kirkby every weekend going to the likes of St Helens, Maghull and Aintree. There were also the other potential benefits that could have fallen out of the project – a revival of the tram project that would give Kirkby access to a modern, fast and clean mode transport network. I really think the Governments decision is a real shame for the people of Kirkby and for the towns future, but what’s been said cannot now be undone. There is unlikely ever going to be the potential for a similar project like this, instead the town will continue to be at the mercy of the likes of Sonae polluting the environment, and continuing to ruin peoples lives with the filth that is pumped out of those factories.
I am personally not as negative about life in Kirkby as Tom Bradbury. I have found this a good place to live. I think we need to stop talking Kirkby down, have a little confidence, and work to bring about some improvements that will not harm the residential character of this town in the way that Destination Kirkby would.
Well I am overjoyed at the fact Destination Kirkby was rejected. Living close to the proposed site would have been a nightmare. I moved to Kirkby 5 years ago because I like the big open space around my new home. I have loved living here and would love to see the existing town centre, with the small business shops being regenerated just like Huyton has been. The residents of Kirkby have had this hanging over our heads for years now and I for one am so glad that Everton and Tesco will not be buiding on our green open spaces. Well done to everyone who helped and a big Thank you.
I am a little confused with the decision of the secretary of communities, he makes it quite clear that his decision was mainly due to the protest of the outlining boroughs regarding the size and the effect it would have on their communities, which prompted every Thom,Dick & Harry to jumping on the band waggon and slaging off groups such as KRAG for not getting this regeneration for Kirkby. Well i for one would like to put the record straight.Me being a minor member of KRAG,But had the courage and passion to speak against the project I would like to say to my councillors for old hall est, the elected leader that used my rate money to fund all the consultations and my Elected M.P. who because he never got his own way for the first time, is threating not to give our elected goverment his vote when needed ( Gorden Brown must be shaking in his boots ), where were you all when the Inquiry was going on , not one of you spoke, but you all are crawling out of the wood work and appearing in the Liverpool Echo saying it is very disapointing decision. I would like to quote a lady in the Liverpool Echo live letters when she said “why are people from kirkby complaining about Tesco when no one in Huyton complained about Asda in huyton” SIMPLE people from kirkby have KRAG, I will have to go now because i am still celebrating and I am just having the last glass of wine that i bought out of Somerfield in the Towny
I am thrilled that the ‘Destination Kirkby’ debacle has finally been put to rest. I have lived and worked in Kirkby all my life and although there are problems, our community is not as bleak as it has been painted in the media. I am frankly angry at the patronising and pompous language that has been bandied about by people who profess to care about Kirkby. I know our town is in need of regeneration but not at any price. To those officials who still try to argue the merits of the scheme I say this, would be so outspoken with your support if you had a property on the Grange estate? I think not. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank KRAG and particularly Reverend Tim Sheppard for their unstinting loyalty and support for the people of Kirkby.
So very sad to hear of the death of Alice Wharton.She was a cousin by marriage to Alan.I remember her always smiling and full of life: always busy running everywhere.Alan took her to visit their cousin Lily a few years ago and then took her to her old home on the estate which she had had to evacuate during WW2.The present owner invited them in and Alice was delighted to have a look around.A lovely lady. She will be sadly missed. R.I.P.
Alice Wharton is a great loss to Kirkby and St Chad’s. Her fund of fascinating stories are something I will never forget. When I was teaching the History of WW2 to students at Edge Hill University in Ormskirk I invited Alice to come to Edge Hill on several occasions to tell some of her stories to the students. The course had a 3 hour slot which usually was occupied by a lecture, break, seminar. Once Alice started talking the students wouldn’t let her stop,asking uestions and sitting on the edge of their seats waiting to hear her answer! Every year it was the same – it was the only time in my experience when no one wanted a tea break and if they could get her to continue after the 3 hours they did! Many of them would follow us into the cafe and continue to talk to her over lunch. Absolutely fascinating lady, born story teller, who should have been a history teacher or author!
Alice Wharton was a lovely lady She was a rare diamond and will be greatly missed by all who knew her With her sense of fun and talent for story telling our Mothers Union meeting usually ended in riotous laughter.Alice was a staunch member of
This was an excellent evenings entertainment. The band was great. The mulled wine and delicious mince pies went down a treat.
Looking forward to the same again next year!
Fab website- well done.
Who got a camera for Christmas then?
It’s always nice having a new toy to play with…
How beautiful St Chads looks.I shall have to attend again for a lovely service when I am home again.
We look forward to welcoming you back.
congratulations on all the hard work getting the funding to refurbish St. Martins I look forward to family fund day I hope the Sun is shining through the new window showing off your new church
I think people have found this very challeging and quite difficult at times personally I have enjoyed learning to pray in a different way taking into my everyday life.
I was in the choir at St Martins about 1956and went on a surprise trip to Chester.I sat on the grass by bridge and in 1976, I bought a house there. A lot of water has passed under that bridge since then. It,s now 2010. I have many lovely memories of Kirkby in the 50s and 60s.
I was in the choir at St Martins about 1956and went on a surprise trip to Chester.I sat on the grass by bridge and in 1976, I bought a house there. A lot of water has passed under that bridge since then. It,s now 2010. I have many lovely memories of Kirkby in the 50s and 60s.
Hei everyone, Happy Easter!
I think that the church looks beautiful but the welcome that you recieve isn’t all that great! I shall have to return to St Chad’s again because thats where I feel my heart belongs too. The website looks great Tim, you’ve done a great job. X
Hope to see you again soon Sally.
It was great looking at the pictures of Rome you had taken while there. As always your knowledge and enthusiam of showing us the pic’s where inspiring. I felt as though I knew Rome the way you shown us the pic’s,and I would love to go myself one day.
Re: Faith in the City
It’s nearly 25 years since the Faith in the City report was published with much controversy from the then Thatcherite Conservative Government of the 1980s, who said it was confirmation that the Church was run by a bunch of Marxists. The main criticism of the report by the Government then was that it was all about what the State should do to heal the wounds of poverty and exclusion in our inner cities and not very much of what the individual could do to help themselves, which no doubt harks back to Norman (now Lord) Tebbit’s comment of telling people to ‘get on their bikes’ to look for work. Now flash forward to 25 years later and we’re on the precipice of falling into a double dip recession, faced with all the same problems that we were looking at 25 years ago and the new ‘coalition’ Government is telling people that they should leave Council accommodation in one part of the country and move to areas where there are jobs (which to the majority of people means moving South and/or to London). Are we just hearing the same old rhetoric of Tebbit of telling people to ‘get (back) on their bikes’. Funny how things never really change.