Wrexham County Borough 103 - Standing with my eyes closed / Rememberence Poppies /The Friends of Friendless Churches

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If I had not got a heavy cold I perhaps might have enjoyed standing outside in the Autumn sunshine with my eyes closed a lot more . Coughing and spluttering don't help . I was just standing there smelling the Autumn all around me . Have you done that ? There is an earthy damp smell about this time of year . Slightly smelling of decay as the leaves gently fall from the trees . I cannot see the leaves falling but in my mind I can imagine them . I can hear them dropping like raindrops on the fall . The sun is shining . Whilst it is not hot the highs out to the east of us are bringing in settled weather . Pale blue skies , drifting clouds and light breezes . They keep at bay the lows that come in from the Atlantic . That dull , wet and misty weather we associated with Autumn . I can hear an airplane high above me taking passengers to their holiday destinations . I can hear the Jackdaws and Crows noisily squabbling amongst themselves . There is the low moo from a cow and a cackle from some hens . Even with a cold it is nice to just stand still and listen . I can stop thinking about the accident for a while . Nothing to report there and we have started to think of 2023 holidays . The first time we have to organise a holiday without Gabby. Our home from home coming with us . Everything we need to hand and more things than we ever need stored inside her . I resist the temptation to wonder where she is right now . It is of no concern .

My plan is to hitch a lift to Worthenbury the next village to us, have a look at the display of Rememberence Poppies and then walk home . However , with this heavy cold walking is less appealing and I get in the car to drive there . I feel a fraud but sometimes you have to just ditch the idea of walking in favour of driving . I pull up at the church and find myself a bit of on road parking . Ziggy should be fine there . Her dents looking rather sad in the sunlight . The gates are shut and a wreath is hung from them . The church at first looks empty but then I see the lights on inside .

I had always wanted to go inside but every visit before had been unsuccesful as the doors always appeared to be locked . That was despite being part of the Welsh Open Churches Network . As I pushed the door I realised that maybe the doors were open all the time but were tightly shut due to damp causing them to swell . Perhaps I never pushed hard enough .

I could hear voices inside and two ladies who were overseeing the event were talking amongst themselves . The church is an interesting one . I particularly love a good old Gothic masterpiece and am not overly fond of the plain interiors of Georgian churches . One thing they do have though is an openess lacking in a medieval church . No arches or column to hold up the roof . Nothing between the congregation and the High Altar . No medieval rood screen and a clean look . Like them or not they have a certain charm . Some more so than others . I rather liked St Deiniols at Worthenbury . From the outside to the interior it was worth a visit .

The church is part of the wider Bangor Monachorium circuit which once was made up of this church, the mother church of Bangor Is y Coed, Marchwiel and a small 1930's church at Eyton . Eyton had closed some while ago and I was to find out today that Worthenbury was going the same way with only a congregation of 8 souls . The village was tiny and the church too large to continue to stay open . The cost of heating and lighting had gone through the roof . Sadly St Deiniols was going the way of many churches in the UK .

The church was described as the best example of a Georgian church in Wales with its complete set of boxed pews. So what would happen to the church once closed ? Inside on the walls I found death hatchments for the local Pulestone family . In the middle of the back wall an old but dirty coat of arms of one of the Georgian kings . Sad that it needed a coat of conservation work that would probably never now take place . A few vases and displays of poppies were set up at this end of the church . A testiment to the love of the local flower arrangers . Behind the vestry and the steps to the ringing platform for the bells above .

The box pews are intact . Smaller ones to the rear . Large family pews at the front . With space for the whole family including the ladies in their large dresses the pews contained fireplaces . No need for the gentry to feel cold whilst the curate preached from the three decker dark wood pulpit . Lessons were probably read from the lower sections of the pulpit . Rare features that either never were used in parish churches or were taken out during restorations . Along my way were displays of knitted poppies on the window ledges. On a table items from the First World War - a Christmas box from the Queen , Trench art and other items that had been donated to make a display . Knitted purple poppies made up a horse head complete with eye and reins . Telling the story of the use of horses in the First World War . Glenns grandfather had been in the Horse Regiments and he still has his spurs .

There were memorials scattered around on the walls on the church . All marble and light in colour in keeping with the lightness of the church . No high clerestory just plain glass in the majority of the windows letting in light . Two windows did take my attention . One came from nearby Emral Hall. What looked like a cross between a medieval knight in full armour and St George or an archangel in armour . It was stunning as was the window above the altar . The ceiling white was gilded with a golden starburst and within it a golden dove . To the side pretty tablets painted with the Lords Prayer and the Ten Commandments . I was rather falling in love with this Georgian church much to my surprise .

As I walked back the two ladies told me that they hoped people would come to see their display . They were proud of the old rugged cross rescued from Eyton when it closed . Presented by a mother who had lost her child to the war in France it was roughly carved . I wondered if it had come from the battlefields of the First World War . It was draped from top to bottom with poppies which spread out like a long wedding veil .

Just before I left I spoke to a lady visiting from Northern Ireland . She came regularly . The ladies told me that they had seen 5 people since opening . They were pleased with that and I thanked them for all their work . A donation made to the church and to the Royal British Legion . As I left they told me the bad news . With a congregation of just 8 the decision had been made to close their church . The congregation small as it was dispersed to other churches . I felt a sense of community lost . What was to happen to the church ? I asked this question in light of the listing . I could not be realistically knocked down or turned into a house . They smiled and said it would be left to slowly decay but would be open for private prayer . It had been saved by the Friends of the Friendless churches .

I felt a little sad that churches become friendless but at least someone cares enough to look after them .

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Comments

[Home and Away]

Very sad...
to see a church die, especially one so beautiful. Unlike in the USA, it seems that few attend church in the UK. Such a loss to community.