St Marie’s Heritage Group would like to invite you to a talk from local historian Bob Roach at 2.00pm on Saturday 6th April titled

“How the Town of Widnes Developed because of the Alkali Industry”.

This talk will describe how the alkali industry changed the landscape of the town from rural villages to a growing industrial town and consider the living and working conditions encountered by the thousands of people who migrated to the area.

Bob has spoken a number of times at St Marie’s and always makes the subject interesting and enjoyable.

Please join us for a couple of hours, there will be free refreshments and you are encouraged to book a place by emailing heritage@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk or calling 01928 592 405. The only reason we ask you to book a place is so that we can manage numbers.

If for any reason you can’t let us know you’ll be attending please just come along on the day

The volunteers of St Marie’s Heritage Group were delighted to welcome over 160 visitors to St Marie’s on Tuesday 5th December (a record attendance for St Marie’s) for our annual Christmas Carol Concert.

Guests enjoyed free mulled wine, hot drinks and mince pies (kindly donated by Judianne at Tesco) before enjoying a wonderful performance from The St Wilfrid’s Parish Choir, led by the always amazing Frances Atherton at the piano.

The packed to capacity room sounded magnificent and everyone joined in to share the Christmas Spirit. We are incredibly grateful to Frances and her Choir for making the evening such a special event. We’re also very grateful to everyone who attended and helped raise money through the raffle and sale of St Marie’s Timeline booklets. Your generosity will help to maintain and improve St Marie’s church.

The St Marie’s Heritage Group did a fabulous job decorating the Altar & tree and the event couldn’t have taken place without the help and support of the staff of Halton and St Helens VCA.

Huge thanks to everyone who came along and joined in – we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did.

Finally on behalf of St Marie’s Heritage Group we would like to wish everyone a Happy Christmas and prosperous and peaceful 2024.

Please note that all available places for our upcoming Christmas Carol Concert with the Parish Choir of St Wilfrid have now been reserved. Places have been distributed on a first come first served basis. We apologise to anyone who was hoping to attend the event but had not yet booked a place.

If you have booked a place but can no longer attend please let us know by calling 01928 592405 or by emailing heritage@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk

Huge thanks to everyone who has booked their place. We look forward to welcoming you to St Marie’s on Tuesday 5th December. The first Carol will be sung at 7pm. The building will be open from 6pm.

What could be more magical than gathering in a warm St Marie’s on a brisk December evening to join family & friends in singing some Christmas carols and songs?

We think it’s the perfect way to start the Christmas season.

The St Marie’s Heritage Group are delighted to welcome back the wonderful Parish Choir of St Wilfrid who will be leading attendees in a Christmas singalong on the night. The choir will be choosing their favourite traditional Carols and songs and we will provide copies of the words for anyone who worries about forgetting the next line. The choir will be positioned in front of the beautiful St Marie’s Altar and attendees will sit facing them on the pews and other chairs. We think that when we all sing together it will sound magnificent.

There will be mince pies, mulled wine, hot drinks and our usual array of fabulous biscuits. We will also have copies of our Timeline booklet available after the last print run sold out and of course a raffle. There will be plenty of time to chat and catch up with old friends after the Carols have been sung and it promises to be a great night.

It’s free to attend but please book in advance.

To reserve your place, please call (01928) 592 405 or email heritage@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk

St Marie’s Heritage Group were saddened to hear of the sudden death of our dear friend Christine Lewis. Christine was a “St Marie’s girl” attending both the school and church and in more recent years working at the school when it became St Gerard’s.

Christine was a valued member of the St Marie’s Heritage Group, helping to organise our events and always enthusiastically getting involved in whatever needed doing. She was always reliable, supported by her husband Charlie, and was never without a smile and her wonderful sense of humour.

We will miss her very much and send our love and condolences to Charlie, Karl, Jenny and all her family and friends.

Saturday 16th September at 2pm.

St Marie’s church is just one of a number of beautiful buildings that make up architect Edward Pugin’s body of work.

As part of Halton’s Heritage Open Days St Marie’s Heritage Group are delighted to welcome eminent Pugin expert Dr Gerard Hyland to talk to us about the work of Edward Pugin and specifically the design of St Marie’s church.

You are all welcome to join us for this event, learn more about Pugin and St Marie’s and catch up with friends over a hot drink and biscuits. 

There is no need to book for this free event, just come along.

St Joseph’s, Penketh, Centenary Year Founders Walk Of Witness Saturday 2nd September

In 1923 Fr Barry, the parish priest of St Marie’s took out a loan of £1,300 from the Archdiocese to purchase land to create a mission in Penketh and this was the beginning of St Joseph’s Parish. To commemorate the Parish beginning and the generosity of the people of Widnes and St Marie’s there will be a walk from St Joseph’s to St Marie’s commencing at 10.00 am and arriving at St Marie’s for refreshments at 11.45 am. There will be a short service and prayers at St Marie’s at 12.15 pm.

All are welcome to join in the walk or to simply meet at St Marie’s later.

This is a Warrington and Widnes Deanery collaboration.

Come and join us on Saturday 8 July 2pm to 4pm at St Marie’s, Lugsdale Rd

St Marie’s Heritage Group are very proud to present a Heritage Talk at St Marie’s by Bob Roach entitled “Local Legends. – the Story & the History”

Legends are an important part of our heritage, not least because they often merge with established history. Using photos, images and description this presentation will illustrate three of our local legends & the history related to them. There will be the usual free hot drinks and biscuits and a raffle. We look forward to seeing you there.

To let us know you’ll be coming along please call (01928) 592405 or email heritage@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk or simply just attend on the day.

Memories of working life

Do you have memories of working in the chemical industry in Widnes or Runcorn? If so, we would like to hear your story.

Catalyst Science Discovery Centre & Museum have been awarded a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund to update their heritage exhibitions. 

We are running a Memories and Memorabilia event on Saturday 27^th May, 1-4pm at St Maries church, Lugsdale Rd.

Come and chat to us about your memories of work. Bring along photos and other items that remind you of your working life and experiences.

For further information please contact Ruth at ruth.darling@me.com or phone 0779 648 6647

Spring into Summer with St Marie’s Prize Bingo 2-4pm Saturday 20th May at St Marie’s church, Lugsdale Rd, Widnes.

All are welcome to join us for a fun afternoon catching up with friends old and new with free hot drinks and biscuits. You never know, you might win a prize or two as well. Email heritage@haltonsthelensvca.org.uk or call 01928 592405 to let us know you’ll be coming along.

We look forward to seeing you.