Photo-a-Day  (Friday, 20th January, 2023)

One of the more pleasant views in Scholes

Used to be packed around there on Sunday morning. Not anymore …it’s a beautiful church inside and out… apart from the graffiti around the back unfortunately.

This church always reminds me of St. William's in Ince at first glance. I grew up next door to St. Williams and, although I am not Catholic, it holds happy memories for me. I know two of my friends on photo-a-day have equally happy memories of St. Patricks and I hope this lovely photo brings them pleasure.

Wouldn't you think the Friends of Scholes village would get their act together and start a campaign to get the missing bell replaced.

Internally the most beautiful church in wigan with its unique three alters- but I am biased
And as regards Micks plea for the 'missing bell' - as far as I can recollect there has never been a bell in that tower - the massive church bell used sit in a yard to the rear of the church adjacent to what was Mc.Cormick street; but I stand to be corrected

https://youtu.be/Y0zCguxWHkY A video of the inside of St Pats

Half . You are absolutely correct. Also there used to be a brick wall around the yard..

Malc. You are absolutely correct. Also there used to be a brick wall around the yard..

Scholes Malc, I am old enough to remember that small bell before the massive one. It used to ring before every Mass when the parishioners walked in droves to church. The big bell was one of Fr Lappin’s mistakes. When it rang all the terraced houses roundabout used to shake . I also recall taking silver tops off milk bottles into school which for some reason helped to pay for it! I don’t know how but that’s what we did as well as taking money in.

It used to be packed to the rafters on a Sunday morning, 70 years ago. Me and my brothers used to wait for my Uncle to come out and he gave us sixpence. Then he went into the pub across the road.

Veronica, I recall taking silver milk-bottle tops to school to "for blind dogs", which I thought was actually for dogs who were blind....children take things so literally! It was actually to raise money for guide dogs, so I imagine the milk bottle top were weighed as scrap and raised money for various causes. They must have had to have an awful lot of tops to raise money! My Uncle used to collect the silver paper from cigarette packets and had a huge silver ball of it on the sideboard. I imagine it was for the same sort of thing.

It’s very strange how a photo can set off various memories Irene. Just seeing the one today reminds me of a Friday afternoon when we finished school about 15 minutes early and we walked in Crocodile to church for Benediction. I stayed at the back and spied my chance of sloping off home at the first opportunity. I was never caught thankfully.

I remember taking the silver paper out of cig packets to help to buy a blind dogs
Ozy just got home and the numbers say 888,79,just a short ride needed now to make it 888, 88 just in time for Chinese New Year.

I think you mean 8,887.9 don’t you Mick ? and you really shouldn’t have made that public .

A Jewel in Wigan's Crown.
St.Patricks Parish.
Tom Walsh.

Miss Egan , long time head teacher of the boys school and a lifelong parishioner. her entire school life was devoted to the parish spending 38 years at the school ;she always referred to St Patrick's Parish
' A Jewel in Wigan's Crown ' others would describe it as ' Thee Parish ' . However it is described there is no
doubt that ' St. Pats ' is much loved parish with a fearlessly proud congregation. This became apparent
when in the resent past the parish was part of consultation on the reorganisation of the parishes of Wigan . Thankfully , St Patrick's was spared , the steadfastness of congregation played no little part in its survival and under the outstanding leadership of Fr. O' Shea the parish goes from strength to strength.
Josh Marshall was also inspirational in the dark days.

It is difficult for people with no connection to the parish to understand how all consuming the parish family was to every aspect of life , everything seemed to revolve round parish life; particularly so before television and other means of entertainment.The social side of life also was taken care of by ' The Club ' with its 2 billiards tables , concert nights , and of course bingo ' The Nolan's ' were regular artists when they were at the outset of their careers .
When the club first opened it was a Mens only club , when the new club opened that rule was relaxed and women were 'allowed in ' at weekends . Later ' The Mother's ' would hold social evenings they raised many thousands of pounds for the parish . Father Lappin often was bowled over by the amounts they donated to the parish

I have recently been given access to the minutes of the club 1946 - 1960 they make fascinating reading .an example on 5th of June 1955 - The committee decided to buy the piece of land in Wellington Street for £20 allowing the the new club to be the full length of the spare land , incidentally the minutes were scribed are signed by John Mc Dermott headmaster of the school and the voice of Rugby League in Wigan , older readers will remember him as an outstanding commentator on Wigan's matches.

After the the tumultuous events of the past few years it was felt that a potted history of the parish would be appropriate . I have relied heavily of the research carried out by two stalwarts Colin Blake and Gerald Fairhurst R.I.P. and all the contributors to the wonderful and well written book ' with the sub title ' it's warmth undiminished ' published in 1997 to celebrate 150th anniversary of its foundation .

In the forward to the book Fr. William Naylor P.P. writes " As for you dear readers, may I invite you to take some pride in this story but not to stop at that. History continues day by day . Your forefathers made you what you are; your children's children will be what you make them. Treasure your Faith , that they, too may enjoy ".I think his words are well worth repeating .

St Patrick's was not a parish when it was opened in 1847, it was a church of ease served by the clergy of St Mary's Mission ( until a change in Canon Law 1918 Catholic Parishes were referred to as Missions )
The then parish priest ,Fr. Middlehurst died only two months after the opening of St. Patrick's .He was succeeded by Fr. William Wells and entires in notice books of the time show St. Patrick's was still under the auspices of St.Mary' s. In October 1848 St Patrick's baptismal records begins ; it is reasonable to assume that this was when it became a parish in its own right .

To digress briefly , from being a church of ease at its inception, St. Patrick's 110 years later had plans to build a church of ease itself . The longest serving and much loved Parish Priest Fr.James Lappin ( 1953 -1985 ) applied for planing permission to build a church on land adjacent to Lamb Street ,Whelley . A tentative name had been chosen ,St. Bridget's, in the end the plans floundered, as things transpired it probably a blessing that they did.

Father Nugent a curate, at St Mary's was promoted
to become first parish priest , he was to go on to found the Nugent Care Society , which still carries out invaluable work today. The work that he carried out among the poor of Liverpool is impossible to overstate . I think it's fair to say that Wigan's loss was Liverpool's gain. He died 1905. A statue of Fr. Nugent can be found in St.Johns Gardens Liverpool . After Fr Nugent's short tenure St. Patrick's, was once again fortunate by the appointment of his cousin, Fr. Huge Mc. Cormick who would serve the parish for 26 years , he saw the parish through difficult days of the cotton famine 1862-1865. He was held in such esteem that when the new girls school was built in 1928, 53 years after his death the school was dedicated to his memory . An unusual aspect of the 'new' school was the senior girls playground was on the roof, it was designed thus because of the lack of space; it was certainly a novel use the land available . A street that ran parallel with the church also bore his name ; I was fortunate to spend my childhood in 'McCormick Street 'and whilst they were basic houses, outside toilets etc ,I would have not wanted my earlier years to be spent anywhere else in the world ! In Wigan Cemetery there is a very impressive memorial to this obviously well respected priest , it was funded by public subscription ,which must have taken a herculean effort in those straitened times.

Including the present incumbent St.Patricks has had 15 Parish Priests, the people of the parish are rightly proud of all the holders of the office. A particular place in older members memories is held for the longest servicing ,Fr. James Lappin, who was a curate for 4 year before his 32 tenure as Paris Priest.The parish has also been blessed with well over 75 curates, the longest serving of these was Fr. Thomas Carney (1912-1928). It would be remiss not to mention Fr. Joseph Burns (1977-1986) the last curate ; he worked closely with Fr Lappin ,they could fairly be called ' The Dream Team ' so well did they work together.

St Patrick's has rich history and has provided Wigan with many Councillors and Mayors . In the WW1 Wigan's ( Wigan Brough) only recipient of The Victoria Cross was a former pupil os St. Patrick's School, Thomas Woodcock V.C. The parish lost many parishioners in both world wars , May they Rest in Peace .

The Darkest Day in its 172 years existence was undoubtably 18th August 1908 , The Maypole Pit Disaster , 75 men were killed , 20 of whom were members of St. Patrick's congregation, many of these were part of the Irish Diaspora . One of the three survivors was also a member of the parish , Mr. Edward Farrell , many of his descendants still live in the community today.

On the Sunday following the disaster a Requiem Mass was said for the dead . Dr. O Dohaghue delivered the address. His remarks echo down the decades, he spoke of " THE VOICES OF THE DEAD CRYING OUT FOR PRAYERS " who could not be have been moved to tears by such a sermon !

On a brighter note the parish boasts many achievements ; building six schools , the present primary school received OUTSTANDING on its last Ofsted inspection . Also building the largest church in Wigan which opened on the 18th March 1880 at a cost of £8000. (£905,000.today's equivalent ) this in the difficult times of the late nineteenth century no mean feat .

Many sporting successes not least the wining The Daily Dispatch Shield in 1926 ( I ought to declare an interest, both my Dad and Uncle were part of that team ) which laid the foundation for ' St. Pats. ' Rugby Club which has a 'rugby worldwide' reputation, known from Fiji to Australia to New Zealand. The parish is rightly proud that the present Chairman of Wigan RLFC Ian Lenagan is a former pupil.

Please God St Patrick's celebrates its bicentenary in 2047. I would like to attend although I would be 102, highly unlikely , but you never know !

Very interesting, Tom. Just a point about the Scholes miners who died in the Maypole Pit Disaster....here in Abram many of us light a candle or lantern in our windows every year at then past five (the time it happened) on the anniversary of the 1908 disaster. We each chose a name from the list of the miners who lost their lives that day to commemorate them individually as well as collectively. Mine is a man of only 32 who lived just round the corner from where I live now, leaving a wife and three young children, but some Abramers will have been given the names of the men from Scholes, so I assure you they are not forgotten.

The church to me is the last link to my past. The last proud bastion of old Scholes and it still rings a bell for me anyway and any day.

Irene, what a lovely gesture, I hadn't about it . I will highlight at our next meeting . Thank you Irene and all the people who take part in this act of remembrance.

Tom, I have been asked to invite you to join Facebook's "Abram Heritage and History Group". I have told them that I am not sure whether or not you are on Facebook but if you are the group would like you to join,