Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 3rd February, 2012)

Read all about it here.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-manchester-16851972

Well done Rev! A beautiful clear photo a a well known Wigan Landmark. Let's hope they do rebuild it!

Being born within 50 yards of that church it always had a certain pull to us as youngsters.
I remember to the left of the entrance door, just around the corner, there was a massive stone (from up above!) We were told, as kids, that during the construction of the church, the stone fell from high along with a black worker who was killed instantly. The stone was left in its fallen position in memory of that man. It remained there for many years but now it is gone.
Does anyone else remember this stone or story or did I drink too much ovaltine as a child?

Thanks for the link Mick. You'd think the BBC would have checked the spelling of the Saint's name!

Does anyone know why there are numbers on the stones around the outside of the entrance and along the coping stones of the curtilage walls, are they grave plot references or something else?

Keep us updated. Brilliant

message to standisher , whats your name , i worked at the bda for many years ,

Born in the st near by also 4 generations married there.Sang in the church with others and went to St Catherines school. They did my daughter proud when they painted the church inside, just prior her getting married, and it was so beautiful. Saw the local papar where some funding is going towards the restoration work.People of Wigan have had a leaning tower of scholes for quite some time. The newspaper shows trees growing in places on the steeple. It is such a lovely old land mark. Will be glad to see it repaired. Has anyone else noticed the different spelling for Catherine along the street nearby??

That spire has had a lean for a long time. I did hear at one time during WW2 that the German bomber pilots where told to look out for the spire, this is probably an old war tale.
My wife Betty ( nee Williams) and I were married there in 1954

I listened to this story on GMR this morning and it was so interesting.

I was once told that the lean was made worse due to a Zeppelin bomb falling nearby during the well documented "Top Place" air raid in WW1, does anybody know if this is true?

St Catherines was leaning from the first day it was built, If left would probably go on leaning for the next two hundred years, what a waste of money,

The congregation at St Catharine's would be only too pleased not to have to raise scores of thousands of pounds as their share of the cost of the works, which tests have shown to be unavoidable (read the site quoted above). As for the history - look at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Catharine's_Church,_Scholes

I attended St Catharines in the early 1950's when Mr Shenton was headmaster and Eddie Rudd our form teacher along with Miss Wilcox. I do remember a story about a man who was working on the spire falling to his death but can't corroborate your story Scholes Malc about the stone.

i live at 4,lorne st and seen the construction take shape every day,really enjojed watching it,i was married here 18-6-1983 my pearl anniversary this year,