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St Barnabas Church Erdington

Ironically, I received a newsletter from Gary O'Brien who runs a website for Erdington and the Goosemoor Lane area https://www.geocities.com/goosemoorlane/ He states in his newsletter that in his opinion the church should not be rebuilt because someone is bound to burn it down again. He rekons the church was not protected by CCTV cameras. Is that what life in Erdington has come down to if you get what I mean? Firstly, nothing has been announced that it is arson that caused the fire but the above statement about not rebuilding because it would be burned down again is very troubling to me. I know the Bishop of Birmingham has announced that the church will be rebuilt but hopefully security cameras will be installed in the new building.

Here is a links extension to the above site for Erdington and other areas of the city re Community Info: https://www.geocities.com/goosemoorlane/links.htm
 
??? "Someone is bound to burn it down again"??

The church was 150 years old.
How many times has it benn burnt down........
 
Mrs. T...In several years I have been in contact with Gary O'Brien after I discovered his Erdington website when there was no other in the area, I have yet to figure out a lot of what he says. He is an ex-policeman. Gary is very knowledgeable on very many subjects and genuinely tries to help people out. He keeps a good eye on the area where he lives and reports all kinds of suspicious activities that the Council don't know about such as.... the traffic lights that are not working, the street lights that have languished too long without replacement bulbs and other problems that occur with ASBO type offenses in his area and reporting criminal activities, etc.

I suppose some people would call him a gadfly type but he does make it his business to try and have things that should be put right by Council workers in his area done within a reasonable time, which often they aren't.
However, he does hold some strong opinions about members of the Birmingham Council and the British Government in general He has many theories about all kinds of civic subjects as well and ties his opinions in with Formula One Motor Racing tactics and other types of historical approaches to dealing with overall civic problems. If you can follow along he may have some good ideas but it's not easy at times.
He has given many groups and associations in the Birmingham area a space to post their websites on his own website as well. Which, in my opinion, is very helpful as there is a huge selection of helpful associations and the like.

Perhaps because of his involvement in grassroot neighbourhood problems
in Erdington and other parts of Birmingham he has a closeup view of what is happening and comments on matters from his own point of view.
I know he was assaulted on his way through Aston Park a couple of weeks ago and had to go to the hospital. His injuries were not serious but it was a frightening ordeal as he was just walking through. As you can see from the photo on his website Gary is a black person.

Hopefully, Gary doesn't believe that the church should not be rebuilt because of the reason he mentioned. That is very pessimistic.
 
Thanks for the update Mariew. Hopefully, someone will come forward with some leads. The police will have their work cut out solving this.
 
St.Barnabas

Does anyone remember a couple of years ago the vicar or whatever he was, said that all the alcoholics in Erdington who had been banned from drinking in the street were welcome to use the lychgate to do their drinking there when they liked?I'm not saying it was one of them but it makes you wonder!!!!
 
Carol service at fire-ravaged St Barnabas church in Birmingham Dec 3 2007


By Mark Cowan, Birmingham Mail



9F3BA22D-F05E-2BE4-E6F38BE0D258CBA5.jpg
A FIRE ravaged church returned to the heart of a Birmingham community as it formed the backdrop to a traditional Christmas celebration.

More than 1,000 people gathered outside the charred remains of St Barnabas Church, in Erdington, for an open air community carol concert.
And they were treated to a light spectacular when the surviving stained glass window and church bell tower were bathed in colour.
The church, which dates from the 18th century and is a Grade II listed building and famed for its stained glass windows, was gutted in a suspected arson attack in October.​
But Erdington town centre manager Graham Kay arranged for the church to be a focus for the Christmas lights switch-on.

People gathering outside the church at 3.30pm on Saturday were treated to a Christmas carol concert by schoolchildren.​

Song sheets were handed out to the crowd packed into the High Street and they joined the children with rousing renditions of Away in A Manger, Hark the Herald Angels Sing and Silent Night, backed by the City of Birmingham Brass Band.​

Young children, perched high on the shoulders of their dads, watched on in wide-eyed amazement when Father Christmas arrived for the Big Switch On, and a CD of church bells rang out over the load speakers.​

Coun Robert Alden (Con, Erdington) said: "It is so good to see the church alive again.​

"The community suffered a loss of the church to fire but we want to reassure people it is going to come back.​

"It took alot of organising but it looks spectacular to have the church lit up. The whole point was to demonstrate to people in Erdington that the church is still at the heart of the community."​

Church leaders have pledged to rebuild St Barnabas and insurers have already said the burned out building will rise from the ashes within two years.​

Detectives are investigating the cause of the blaze. Forensic tests are believed to have shown that the fire was started deliberately.​
 
Mrs. T. many thanks for posting the article about the Carol Service in front of St. Barnabas in the High Street and the photo to go along with it. I remember attending many Nine Point Carol Services at the Church. It's great to see so many people out in support of the Church.

Last night I was working in my office and listening to Sunday Half Hour on BBC Radio 2 as I often do when working on Sunday, listening to "Sunday Half Hour", I heard my name mentioned by Father Brian D'Arcy, the host of the programme. A few weeks ago I sent him an e-mail briefly stating about the arson fire at St. Barnabas in Erdington and how shocked the parishioners and citizens of Erdington were by this awful happening. Father D'Arcy read out most of my e-mail and was I very pleased since so many people had attended the Church and were married there, many now living all over the globe and tune into this programme.

You can hear the reference at https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/listen/ under
Sunday Half Hour on the list. It comes l5 mins approx into the 30 minute programme.
 
My Grandmother and Grandfather are buried there and I've visited their grave on a number of occasions. Last year I intended to meet one of the Churchwardens who told me that I could research the graves' index as there were several other graves of other relatives. Of course I kept putting it off and attending a meeting at the BMSGH at the Midland Institute was told that the Church had been burned down 2 days previously! Luckily BMSGH had indexed all the records so I was saved even if the Church wasn't. It shows how important it is for the Genealogical Societies to do this excellent work. (Now I've volunteered to help similar transcriptions)
 
Latest news.

Members of fire-ravaged St Barnabas Church are preparing to celebrate its 150th anniversary this Sunday.

While work continues to resurrect the historic Erdington church, its congregation has refused to give in to the arsonists who destroyed it last October by vowing to celebrate with pride this landmark birthday.Parish secretary, Margaret Hunt, said while plans have had to be 'trimmed down', it is important the date is acknowledged.

"It is sad it can't be in the church but it is nice that part of it is still there and we can still celebrate it," she said.


"It won't be as big as it was going to be, and we debated whether to have it at all, but we decided we need to be positive and we need to acknowledge it.

"We will have to wait until the church is rebuilt and we are back up and running and then we will do something really special to say right, we're back."

St Barnabas' dedicated team of bell ringers will sound the chimes this Sunday to welcome people to the special Eucharist service beginning at 10am at the High Street church.

The congregation will then walk to the church school in Spring Lane where the service will be concluded and cakes handed round in celebration.

Despite its 'low-key' status, the event is expected to be well supported by local people.

"It is hard to guess how many people there will be, we will have to just wait and see, but we are hoping a lot of people will turn up, many have been coming here all their lives," said Margaret, who herself has been a member of the church for 30 years.

She explained the church has now been 'bubble wrapped' and a temporary roof put on to protect it while a new roof is built.

But the bell tower, which, along with the church walls, remained intact, has still been made use of by the bell ringers on special occasions.

"The builders have got to replace one window frame in the tower which had to be removed to assess the damage but once that is done and we have cleaned it up we will start ringing the bells regularly," said Margaret.

"We did ring them on Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday and they will be rung this Sunday."

The plans for the church's interior are currently being drawn up by an architect in consultation with the congregation.

"It might be a bit different but we would like to keep it as near to how it was originally as we can," she added.

While the work continues, St Barnabas has been holding its regular Sunday services at the church school in Spring Lane while weekday services have been accommodated at the Six Ways Baptist Church.

"We have had good support at the school, people are getting used to going there on Sundays and at the other services which are now held at the Baptist Church," said Margaret.

While there has been no further news on the culprits of the fire, she said donations to repair the damage are still coming in and it is hoped an official appeal to help finance the work will be launched alongside the arrival of the church's new incumbent, Rev Freda Evans who is expected to join St Barnabas in June.

A celebratory concert at St Mary's Pype Hayes will also be held on Saturday, April 12 at 7.30pm, performed by the Vaughan Singers.

Any profits will go towards the church rebuild.

On April 6, 1858, St Barnabas became a parish in it's own right, after having been a Chapel of Ease to Aston Parish church since 1824.

The church was designed by Chatwin, with a tower and wrought-iron framed windows - the present nave was part of the design.

Throughout its century and a half as a parish, the church has never stood still - three of its four daughter churches have become parishes in their own right - St Etheldra's Moor Lane, closed in 1936.

The Reverend Hyla Hoden Rose, (who was buried next to the path leading to the west doorway), was appointed the first vicar of Erdington, having been Curate in Charge since 1839.

He was incumbent for the next 39 years during which time a major extension was built, consisting of two transepts and a chancel.

At the same time two statues from either side of the old east window were moved to be situated in the porch, (Angel and Barnabas).

The only window to have survived the fire last October was 'The Good Neighbour' which was installed in memory of Rev John Hold Harrison and was added to the church in 1863.

It was moved to it's present position in 1913 when it was replaced by the 'Widow's Mite' memorial window.

For almost 50 years, Cannon Swindell was vicar at the church and further additions were made including the peal of eight tower bells, the large pulpit, the reredos (last supper carving) and the hammer beam ceiling.

And during the time of Cannon Rodney Whiteman, came the new church hall and meeting rooms and the organ pipes were moved in to the north transept (where they melted in the heat of the fire).
 
I wish them all well and i hope they have a wonderful day i have been to many weddings there so i have some happy memories of the place. Thank you for that Mrs T...Cat:)
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Thanks for posting this article Mrs T. Hope they have a big turnout for
their l50th Anniversary.
 
Hi Fiends ,
Does Any body Knows What The State Of Play Is With St Barnabus ,s Church Is ?. Have They Made Any Progress With It, Regarding
The Rebuilding Of The Church, And Is There Any Kind Of Appeal To Help With
Getting Any Fineancial Help Or Any Public Donations Being Excepted ,?.
And If So How Does One Go About Donating To The Funds Towards
The Building As I Live In Worcestershire I Don,t Get To See Or Sometimes
Hear What Progress If Any Is Being Made ,
I Don,t Suspect They Have fOUND The Culprits Whom Was Responible For It
Yet ,And I Don,t Surpose They Will Not After All This Time ,
I Would Really Appreciate Any Info , On The Progresss Being Made From Any body On The Site , I Know Our Wendy Is Involved With The Churches
On The Forum , I Look Forewarded To Hearing From Any-body On This Topic
Have A Nice Day Friends And Be Care ful Out There , Best Wishes Astonian ;;;
 
HI 500 Miles
many thanks for replying and giving me the webb page ,iwill down load the site
and have a look at it
once again many thanks again for replying best wishes astonian ,''
 
Hi Astonian:

There is also a lot of video of the rebuilding of St. Barnabas on
YouTube; Have a look at this and follow other links.
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMI2Gnv73tM&NR=1"]YouTube - From the Altar Steps 19 March 2003[/ame]
There is some interesting video with Morris Men dancing close to altar a few
years ago. One of the videos with the building progress is wrongly dated as March 2003. It should be March 2008.

My friend Margaret lives off the High Street and has told me that you can't see anything from the High Street since the whole site is covered but the You Tube videos give you an idea about the rebuilding. It is so devastating to see the church this way since I knew every detail of this building when growing up.

They have a new Vicar since June, a female clergywoman. The first for this Church.
 
HI WENDY , OR ANY ONE
Can Any body Tell Me As There Been Any Progress
On The Rebuilding Of The Church Yet ,?. Or Is The Collections For The Church Still On Going , And Have They Apprended Any -body Yet For The Fire
AS I Will Be Travelling Down There On Sunday Afternoon To Check Out My Grand Parents Grave , , Whilst On The Subject Of Erdington I Would Asked Any Of Our Long Term Members , And Freinds Of Pete Dolly Feet Does Any Body Hear From Him , He s Also A Freind Of Mine And I Lost Is Telephone Number It Was Thanks To Pete That He Found Or Stumbled On My Grand Parents Grave Whilst Searching For His Family Grave , I Used The Word Stumbled , Because That What Actualy Happenend He Said He Fell Into It
The Head Stone Had Actualy Sunk Into The Ground Createing A Hole And He Fell Into IT , He Eventualy Picked Himself Up AndHe Actualy Took A Picture Of The Head Stone Inscription As To What Was Written On It ,IHave Treasuerd
That Ever Since , Pete IsA Smashing Guy , Thanks Every body Astonian ,;;
 
Astonian I beleive the work on St Barnabas's restoration is going well with a lot of local support. Mrs T might know more. I remember Pete (Dollyferret) very well and met him a couple of times. I tried to contact him but had no luck. I suppose sometimes people move on to other things. I really miss his brilliant photo's.
 
Astonian
It depends where the grave is. If it's outside the fenced off area you're OK. My Grandparents are neaz to the church itself so I contacted the church and arranged for someone to meet me and they unlocked the gates and let me in.
Good luck.
I think it's going to be another 2 years before the restoration is finished, I don't think it starts until later in 2009.

David
 
I'm really looking forward too the scaffolding to come down, be a couple of years yet though.
I found this video- The date must be wrong
[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMI2Gnv73tM&feature=related"]YouTube - From the Altar Steps 19 March 2003[/ame]
 
I was very sad to learn that Erdington Parrish Church had burned down.
My marriage banns were called there in 1953.
Several of my family forebears are burried in the churchyard.
In 1938/39 I used to go for piano lessons to a professor Terry (he lived in Church road), he was the church organist at that time. A couple of times as a kid, prof Terry let me play the church organ too ..... but he quickly took over again after one or two of my mistakes.
 
there are some videos of St Barnabas not very good quality on youtube here is one of them [ame]www.youtube.com/watch?v=yWSczbYYTSg[/ame]
 
My Grandfather is buried at St. Barnabas Parish Church in Erdington. Attached is a image of it in its heyday, such a shame that it burned a while back. It was already getting run down but the fire could be the last straw!Also attached is an image of Josiah Mason's Orphanage, my Father and his younger brother both went to the school there back in the 20's.
 

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Eutrino said:
My Grandfather is buried at St. Barnabas Parish Church in Erdington. Attached is a image of it in its heyday, such a shame that it burned a while back. It was already getting run down but the fire could be the last straw!Also attached is an image of Josiah Mason's Orphanage, my Father and his younger brother both went to the school there back in the 20's.
Click to expand...


Good pictures, What road are welooking down on towards the Orphanage?
 
Nor me, it says invalid attachment. I've noticed this on other threads when the pic doesn't appear as a thumbnail on the post but as a clickable link, "attachment". Maybe it's how you try to attach your pic?
 
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