In December 1918 the Rev C W Chastel de Boinville, who had also served as an army chaplain and been awarded the MC came to the parish. He is recorded as living the North wing of the Palace rather than the vicarage next to the old church. Much to the regret of any local historian he discontinued the Parish Magazine, noting at the time that it was losing £15 a year due to lack of support. This sum can be put in context by noting the income that the church was handling as well as the great concern about the poverty of many Anglican clergymen. The Poor Clergy Aid Fund was firmly supported by the parish, despite not being especially well endowed itself. In this period there were between 120 and 160 communicants at Easter and Christmas when offerings would be between £3 and £6. By 1920/21 the Churchwarden’s accounts show a turnover of nearly £400 which included donations to charities of around £44 and the Vicar’s Easter offering of £21, organist’s fee of £30, cleaner’s payment of £14-19-0, coal £22-8-0 and gas £3-16-3.
Financial worries come to the fore after the end of the war. Finance committee meeting minutes tell us that in the 18 months after the Armistice people had been giving less towards the Church Finance fund and there were worries that the cost of running the parish church were rising. Numbers of communicants at the main festivals were down somewhat from pre-war. In what we think of now as true Anglican tradition, a letter was sent out to all on the electoral role from the Vicar and Finance Committee asking for signed pledges of regular giving! The Rev Crawley upset some of the Finance Committee members who had been running things whilst he was at war and Rev Gibbs in charge, by wanting to renew the Freewill Offering Scheme that had lost so many of the smaller subscribers during the war and suggesting that the church needed to keep in contact with a wider range of people.
The 1919 Vestry Meeting discussed and approved the proposals for church “self-government” and hoped that they would be able to cope with the new system. The first Parochial Church meeting as we know them, was on 12 April 1920, drew 30 parishioners and was followed by quarterly PCC meetings. Business included dealing with the organ which needed cleaning and repairing and trying to decide who owned the grass in the churchyard – which I suspect was already looking untidy and certainly had not all been levelled! The PCC elections show that women were becoming involved in church government at parish and Ruri-Decanal conference (the forerunner of our Deanery) level. The meeting of 31 April 1921 carried a proposal supporting the feeling that it was time to change the system of endowment of parishes which still led to serious poverty amongst clergy in the less well-endowed parishes and without private income. Any current PCC member will be familiar with the opinion expressed even then that the Diocesan Quota increase was “more than the offertories could uphold”! By 1922 an envelope scheme was proposed to increase the income and it was suggested that the vicar announce the amounts of collections in services!
The development of regular freewill offering schemes led to the PCC finance committee producing an annual budget. In 1924 the committee budgeted £350 for 1925 and managed to have balance of over £90 from which they could transfer grants of £25 to each of the Fabric and War Memorial funds. By 1925 the vicar was explaining that the church was even going to have to pay a premium towards the Vicarage “Dilapidation”. Annual collection totals at this time were between £150 and £200.
In 1923 the discussions began in PCC that, together with the Parish War Memorial Committee, led to the completion of the main path and war memorial with the walls, steps and oak gates that were dedicated by Archbishop Lang in March 1925. The oak gates had rotted badly and were unusable by 1999. They were replaced and rehung in 2004.
The 1922 Vestry and Parochial Church Meeting in the schoolroom were attended by 40 out of the 216 on the church electoral roll. At this time the vicar and his wife lived in the north wing of the palace and PCC meetings were held there.
The widening of PCC discussions by 1922 led to decisions to make more of the Patronal Festival with a special service and social event, also a village fete was planned in the Palace grounds and “a strong ladies committee” formed, no doubt to handle social events, though the sides men and male members were to form the committee to organise the fete!
The choir was a source of worry even then! Attendance by the boys was poor at practice and services and their robes in poor condition. A proposal to pay the choristers did not get far initially, though members of the PCC did agree to visit the school and choir practices to encourage the boys. In 1924 the PCC agreed that girls should be allowed to be probationers in the choir, however, standards had not failed completely, and they had to sit in the south aisle whilst the ladies choir was overflowing into the Lady Chapel. Mr Stanley Johnson was organist and choir master during this period. In 1928, when his father Mr Walter Johnson (always identified as “builder” to differentiate him from the W Johnson “market gardener” was presented with a prayer book for over 60 years as member of the church choir, he too had already served in the choir for 30 years. He was organist from the age of 16 until he died in 1950
At the April 1923 meeting there was discussion of the objectives of the PCC, when members were reminded that their responsibilities went beyond the church finances to spiritual matters, and the importance of supporting each other and service to the village. The vicar in a somewhat prophetic mode, commented on the advantages of living in a village rather than a town. This theme was taken up again 3 years later when Archbishop Lang, preaching at the annual service on the site of the old church, hoped that the growth of the village would not destroy the village tradition and spirit. The archbishop obviously felt that the site of the old church was an important symbol of this tradition; however he was not entirely backward looking as he understood that the village must develop.
The rate of growth of the village was soon to increase after 1925 when the builder W J Simpson was to start making his impression on the village with the 60 houses of Myrtle and Coda Avenue and Acaster Lane. Later came building on Sim Balk Lane and the Lang Road – Copmanthorpe Road area. By 1931 the village population had increased to 779 and in 1933 the parish declined an invitation to be included within the York City boundary, preferring to stay as Bishopthorpe Rural District, later to become part of Tadcaster RDC! Middlethorpe which is part of the ecclesiastical parish of St Andrew Bishopthorpe did become part of York. The population of the village reached nearly 1000 by the mid 1930’s, and the church electoral roll was up to 450. Mr Simpson’s firm alone is noted as having built 98 houses in the village between 1932 and 1935, so was responsible for most of this growth.
The minutes of the February 1924 PCC meeting were signed by the new vicar, Rev Canon F L Perkins who arrived in the parish that spring. The Rev and Mrs Perkins moved into the Old Vicarage, whilst Rev A S Crawley returned to the Palace as the Archbishop’s chaplain living his family with in the North Wing.
Canon Perkins is perhaps best remembered for his play; “The Bishopthorpe Play”, first produced in 1928, which was based on Canon Keble’s book. This was the first performance of the play that was to later to be developed into the Bishopthorpe “Pageant “ and be produced and performed by the community many times over the next 50 years. The first performance of The Play was in June 1928. Held in the Palace grounds it was produced by Rev. J A Hughes Warden of The York Settlement and involved a substantial part of the local community. About £150 was raised for village organisations including reading room, cricket, bowling and tennis clubs.
By 1924 the PCC was discussing the decaying stonework of new church especially the gables of the vestry. The church council consulted Professor Kendall, an eminent geologist at Leeds University, for advice on preservation of the stone surfaces as well as asking for a report from the architect Mr Brierley who was also involved in the war memorial completion scheme. As always, it seems, schemes needing major expenditure pile up! The war memorial completion looked like costing the church around £200 and Mr Brierley’s gable restoration scheme another £260. The memorial scheme got priority, it cost over £400 in the end, whilst the vestry gables were submitted to tests and the architects proposals deferred. This is the first mention of the restoration problems that have recurred due to the easily weathered limestone that was used as a facing on the church. Restoration of the church building becomes a recurring issue in PCC meetings from this time. By 1925 money was being set aside to renew the boiler.
In PCC meetings of the 1920’s the prayer book revision was also an important topic of discussion, with winter study groups being formed and visiting speakers invited. Discussions also revealed various forms of what was referred to as social work being proposed and action taken by the church including a boys’ club, girls’ club, men’s club, scouts, cubs and guides, choral society. Much effort was put into supporting the village Church school. The church was certainly playing a very active part in the life of the village.
An indication of the different tradition of worship at this time which is noticeable to our eucharistically centred church is Rev Perkins decision 1925 to form a communicant’s guild with meetings to be held before the major festivals when most of the congregation would make their communion. The church council agreed and a preparatory service was held just before Christmas 1925.
The creeping influence of the outside world on the village continued to worry the church council. Lengthy discussion and the special subcommittee needed to consider who could be buried in the graveyard, re-elected the increasing mobility of the community. The council also readily agreed to the erection of notices to deter river pleasure boat trippers from landing and picnicking on the old churchyard!
Canon Perkins died in 1932 and The Rev H C Warner was appointed by Archbishop William Temple in his place. He was also to serve the archbishop as Chaplain for 5 years.
In the letter from Archbishop Temple asking Rev. Warner if he would be interested in the post, is a description of what he saw as central traditions to St Andrew’s church at that time.
“…. we have an Eastward position and 2 candles, coloured stoles and frontals; choral celebration once a month. This suits the people here admirably. It would be a great mistake to introduce vestments or to stop monthly choral celebration. The house is charming, but very likely too large and the village is quite prepared to see it let or sold.”
Coming from industrial Luton to rural Bishopthorpe gave the Rev and Mrs Warner somewhat of a shock. They did move out of the old vicarage and lived on Main Street, which must have been quite a shock for the village. As Mrs Warner put it “… had he not stepped down from among the Big Houses ….” The present vicarage was planned and built during this period, but first occupied by the next incumbent.
The Warners’ description of the village in retrospect provides us with a period view of the congregation and village in the 1930’s:
“On one hand there was “the village” with its feudal division into the Big Houses, who occupied the front pews in church, and the farms, market gardens and cottages, many of them having some connection, past or present, with “t’palace”, and fully persuaded that Bishopthorpe was the hub of the universe. On the other hand, there were “those uppish new villa folk”, as a very old villager tartly and most unfairly described them, who occupied the new housing estate growing up around the village as a business dormitory of York”
(With thanks to Mrs Warner’s biography of her husband.)
This young man, only 2 years ordained and somewhat of a protégé of Archbishop Temple, did not always please the older members of the congregation, but he certainly encouraged young people in the church, starting and running a group called “The Young people’s Own” for teenagers. He was criticised for running a mixed youth club; he was apparently “asking for trouble” according to some sections of the village. Rev Warner made an impact on the young people of the village!
Anyone concerned with choosing hymns for services would recognise the discussion in a 1933 PCC meeting in response to the question; “ … on what system are our hymns chosen?” asked at 10.30pm after a long meeting! The English Hymnal had been introduced in Canon Perkins time, the “known” hymn list was short and there were worries about “too many new hymns”. Promises were made that there would be “never more than one new hymn on any one Sunday and suggestions that there should be a hymn rehearsal to which the congregation should come! The Rev. Warner was also a great believer in the updating of the language of the liturgy, promoting and defending the 1928 prayer book vigorously and he was not averse to reordering the service when he felt it made sense.
Perhaps influenced by the presence of the Archbishops as Lords of the Manor and as employers and with a Church Village School, the village was mainly Anglican but the Rev Warner also made links with Roman Catholic families in the village apparently worrying that they had nowhere to worship locally and offering support. He was also a keen advocate of marriage preparation, and marriage guidance, and seems to have shocked some of the village with his very forward approach!
In 1939 The Rev W R Railston-Brown was appointed to the parish and moved into the new vicarage on Back Lane, and war broke out!
By the late 1930’s the growth of the village was reflected in the totals of Easter and Christmas communicants. Easter communicants in 1937/38 had increased to around 300 with about 250 at Christmas. During the war years there was a noticeable decline in these figures and in the post war years the totals of communicants at the main festivals stabilised in the low 200’s.
Easter 1938 services included communion at 6, 7 and 8 am as well as 11.15 after matins which along with evensong was the main service.
In 1945The Rev P J S Russell became vicar of Bishopthorpe serving the village until 1955.
Mr Taylor, who had served on the committee that oversaw the building of the new St Andrew’s, died in 1946 aged 83. He obviously had made a good job of the finances for he had been given the honour of choosing his seat in the new church. In the parish magazines of the 1890’s he was more likely to be mentioned for his cricketing than financial skills!
The 1951 census records show that the population of the village was 1182 and by 1961 up to 1263. The rapid growth of the 1930’s had been replaced by a lull before the next period of rapid growth from the middle 1960’s. The service registers at this time show Sunday by Sunday communicants to be around 20. The main festivals still drew communicants to take their Easter, Christmas and to a lesser extent their Whitsuntide communion with numbers at around 200 to 240. Producing a collection of about £15 at Christmas and at least double that for the vicar’s Easter Offering. The annual income of the church from collections through the late 1940’s to early 1950’s was between £350 and £400.
Some vicars often add notes in the margin of the service register. Whilst this often goes no further than excusing a small congregation with a comment on the bad weather, it can be a source of interesting information:
On Easter Day 1942 Archbishop Temple took evensong as William Ebor, on the Second Sunday after Easter he celebrated communion at 8.00pm as William Cantaur.
A delegation of the Russian Orthodox Church visited St Andrew’s Church in June 1945, their signatures take up half a page of the register.
On Sunday March 23 1947 the village was flooded above even the 1892 level.
On the first Sunday after Easter 1949 the objective of the offertory was the Electric Lighting Fund, things were progressing!
The first record of a broadcast from St Andrew’s is Christmas Day 1949 when Archbishop Garbutt and Rev Russell celebrated communion on the radio. Most of the parish took their Christmas Communion at 7.00am that day! In the early 1950’s the Midnight Communion was introduced. At Christmas 1955 it was noted that this service had proved popular and the plans were to continue with it. Another Christmas event mentioned in the Parish Magazines of January 1955 and 1956 was the Christmas “Mime”. This event, held in church involved people whose names crop up regularly over the next 30 or 40 years. Carol Woollcombe was involved in the production, John Graham was assembling staging and Raymond Richardson was congratulated for his musical accompaniment. Royal Air Force Acaster Malbis provided much needed hardware, staging marquees, music and muscle for events like the mime and the village fete, a reminder that the airfield was still operational. The Pantomime in winter 1955 was in St Andrew’s Hall (the Village Hall) to fund the Children’s Party and help with the completion of the playing fields which were due to be in use by the summer.
Early in 1956 The Rev R L H Lloyd started in the parish as vicar, from Coxwold and newly married.
By 1961 the condition of the fabric of the church was giving so much cause for concern that a brochure was published with photographs showing the poor state of the stonework and emphasise the urgency of the situation.
The cost of maintaining St Andrew’s in 1961 was more than £1,100 per annum (over £3 per day) whilst the income was less than £20 per week – half of this coming from collections and freewill offering scheme – the other half from special efforts, e.g. coffee mornings, garden fetes, etc. Christmas Day 1961 with 192 communicants produced a total collection of £19-11-1 whilst the Easter Offering had been £38-10-4 (for the vicar). A glossy brochure which included a message from Archbishop Michael Ramsey was produced to try to double that weekly amount to £40. Excess of expenditure over income in 1960 had been £62!!
The finances of the church, however, were soon quoted as being in “a most satisfactory” condition after the Christian Giving Campaign.
By the end of the Rev Lloyds time in the parish the pattern of Sunday worship still centred on Matins and Evensong. Holy Communion was usually at 8.00am. (6.00 and 7.00am communion services had been common at Festivals!) except once a month and on special occasions when there would be sung Parish Communion at 9.00am. “Children in Church” was a separate service at 10.00am. In his November 1963 parish letter, in the run up to Christmas, the vicar still felt it important to discuss the way the congregation should prepare for their Christmas communion, again reminding us that most people did not attend communion every Sunday (there were about 30 communicants on any “normal” Sunday) and that the major changes in worship pattern were still to reach Bishopthorpe.
At this time, the link with the Palace was still strong. For example, the tradition was that on the 4th Sunday in Advent the evensong congregation processed across the road, “after the 3rd collect”, to sing carols. A service was broadcast from St Andrew’s on New Year’s Eve 1961, this time a BBC television Watch Night Service with Archbishop Coggan giving his New Year message.
In January 1964 the first pamphlets of Mr Brayley’s “Annals of Bishopthorpe” were published. These pamphlets, often bound into a booklet, remain the starting point and a very useful source of information and ideas about the history of Bishopthorpe up the mid 1960’s.
In March 1964 Mrs Alice Forth, involved in the Sunday School since 1913, died. Her obituary in the Parish Magazine gives some indication of Sunday School activity in the Parish over the 50 years she was involved. In Rev Pennyman’s time she had worked with the Infants groups and in Canon Perkin’s reign had produced the Sunday School Concerts, becoming “active in the dramatic life of Sunday School”. During the incumbency of Rev Warner when “almost every child in the parish went to Sunday School”, Mrs Forth and 2 assistants took the infants Sunday classes in the day school. During the Second World War Sunday School moved back to the church where infant’s classes were held in the morning and the primary and senior classes in the afternoon. After the war all the classes were amalgamated operating in church on Sunday mornings. At this time there was no separate space for Sunday School as the first church room had yet to be built.
After a thankfully short interregnum of 4 months The Rev Canon M Green, also with an MC to his name, was appointed as vicar and Honorary Chaplain to the Archbishop. He was instituted and inducted to the parish on April 7 1964. A particular feature of his time in the village from 1964 to 1972 was the surge of change in the church and village.
When Canon Green came to the village he made a “statement of intent” in which he declared his determination to develop the links between church and community and to keep an “open vicarage”. A feature of church life during his incumbency was the focus on drawing in younger people and the new villagers. Canon Green demonstrated the importance of supporting youth work, putting great effort into communicating with young people beyond the traditional Sunday School. There were Sunday night youth meetings for the over 14s called Pathfinders with a good response, if the December 1964 Confirmations of 13 boys and 9 girls were any measure! The choir also experienced an upsurge in chorister numbers (boys), though they did start to get quarterly payments! The choir also developed a winning football team. Young men, and their parents, from this era remember the choir camps and mountaineering trips for older boys after Easter or even Christmas and the minibus driven by the vicar.
“The bulldozers are at work”, is a quotation in the September 1964 Parish magazine as the church faced up to the next big change in the village; the growth of the “Bradley” estate. There was a determined effort by the church to make what was seen as inevitable change, “for the better”. Welcome teams were set up and leaflet produced and all the new families were visited using volunteers from both Methodist and parish church over the next few years. Involvement with the church was encouraged by holding new residents coffee mornings and by starting a Young Wives club and establishing street representatives. An impression of the rate of growth can be seen by the 100 families that moved into the village in the second half of 1965.
Towards the end of the decade St Andrew’s in conjunction with Bishopthorpe Methodist Church ran “Contact 68” and “Contact 69”. These schemes, combining house to house visiting, Lenten Services and house group meetings with visiting Missioners from the Community of the Resurrection at Mirfield continued the attempt to cope with the growing village
It was in the late 1960’s that the form and focus of worship in the church began to change markedly. New forms of service Series 2 and 3 were being tried out and the introduction of Communion at 10.15am as the main service every Sunday replacing matins or the First Sunday in the month 11.00am Sung Eucharist from Easter 1968. There was a noticeable increase in the number of weekly communicants with the new arrangements, by that November numbers had climbed to about 80 on a normal Sunday.
In 1967/68 there was another major development, with the building of the first hall and car park next to the church. This was seen by many in the congregation as a bold, foolish and expensive move, likely to spoil the view of the church! However, a small building went up to begin with and the extension followed. It did mean among other things that the congregation did not have to trek around to St Andrew’s Hall on Main Street for coffee after a service, and there were toilets at last for all! The hall was dedicated by Archbishop Coggan after matins on 4 February 1968.