The St Marie’s Heritage Group are a team of volunteers who organise and deliver heritage events and activities in St Marie’s (formally St Marie’s Church) on Lugsdale Road in Widnes. The group are supported by the staff of Halton & St Helens VCA (the organisation which owns the building).

Their Mission Statement is as follows:

The St Marie’s Heritage Group deliver heritage events & activities which honour our beautiful building and the lives of all the congregation who came here to worship.

 We want the role the Church played in our community to be remembered & celebrated and the bond between congregation members renewed.

From Left: Matthew (VCA), Pat, Peter, Maeve, Jane, Roger & Christine.

The St Marie’s Heritage Group have organised and delivered many different heritage events & activities inside St Marie’s since the building re-opened to the public in 2014.

We have organised reminiscence events on topics such as May Walking Day and the St Marie’s Primary School Rugby team where former parishioners have enthusiastically shared memories. We’ve arranged for Historians (both national & local) to come in and deliver talks on wide ranging, but relevant, topics such as Edward Pugin (the architect behind St Marie’s) and the local chemical industry. Our annual Christmas Carol Concert has become a tradition in itself and to many in our community, it is the start of Christmas.

At any of our events you’ll see old friends catching up, people laughing & chatting and the finest array of free biscuits & hot drinks in Widnes.

Halton & St Helens VCA is an infrastructure organisation that provides advice, information and development support services to voluntary, community, not-for-profit and faith organisations and volunteers in the Boroughs of St Helens and Halton.

From 2011 to 2014, Halron & St Helens VCA worked with a number of partner organisations on the redevelopment of St Marie’s and turned a derelict building into a vibrant heritage centre and office space. You can learn more about the redevelopment process (and the vital role partners played) in posts on this website.

For more information about the VCA, please visit www.haltonsthelensvca.org.uk