Holy Family

Introduction

Holy Family church in Freckleton dates from 1899, with the first regular Mass celebrated in a cottage on 27 November 1898.

History

Mgr Francis Gillow started the mission at Freckleton in 1899 and organised the building of the church. The church was built over the boundary in Warton on land belonging to the Clifton family of Lytham. The chapel was officially opened by Bishop Whiteside and Bishop Bilsborrow of Salford in September 1900. The church was registered for weddings on 19 August 1908.

In 1913 a screen was erected and the parish school was opened. Holy Family parish transferred from the Archdiocese of Liverpool to the new Diocese of Lancaster in 1924. The school was closed in July 1953, and the priest made a hen house from the old school cupboard and kneelers from the benches. On New Year's Eve 1953 a fire destroyed the sacristy.

In 1972 permission was given for a new school, completed December 1973, with first children admitted January 1974. Rev Joseph Roche was the first resident priest at Holy Family from 1907 to 1922.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of Accrington brick and accommodates 150 worshippers. The church was divided from the front by a screen, the position of which can still be detected. A chalice was donated to the church on 31 March 1907, inscribed 'Orate pro Jacobi Philippe et Noel Reynolds'. An American Memorial collection totalling £1044 was collected between May 6th 1944 and April 22nd 1945, intended for a memorial in a new church that was never built.

Music and liturgy

In 1932, the school seniors sang plain chant well, with correct rhythm and interpretation. In 1943, Fr Rawlinson noted increased altar wine expenses due to supplying the American chaplain. In 1952, Laurence Payne, who decorated the altar for Quarant'Ore, died in the sanctuary; a new large Marme Missal was bought in his honour for £14.

Parish life

In 1937 the parish responded generously to the Basque Children's Fund. In October 1940 a collection was taken for the men of the congregation who had joined the forces. The neighbouring military camps started a collection for the parish, contributing about 15 shillings a week. The youth of the parish collected £80 for the gold vestments, which remain in the parish.

Ernie Hunter was sacristan for many years and made several artefacts for the church. Throughout the First World War, at least one Mass a month, sometimes two, was offered for the soldiers and sailors. During the Second War the parish notices mention that the Te Deum Laudamus was said or chanted in thanksgiving for victories, for the liberation of Rome and the safety of the Pope. Mass was offered for the victims of the Freckleton Air Disaster in 1944.

Throughout the First World War Mass was requested by parishioners for their friends and relatives who lived outside the parish, many of them in the St Helens area. In December 1923, the noticebook records a “Whist Drive and dance in aid of this parish in the C of E school on New Year’s Day. The first school (1913–1953) was privately funded, with weekly collections helping to pay the teacher's salary and equipment. The school was regularly inspected by ecclesiastical inspectors, with reports dating from 1917 to the late 1930s.

For all its limitations the school provided a decent education and some children went on to grammar schools. In 1948 there were 12 boys and 12 girls at the school, another 22 children were attending aided Catholic schools. Three teachers have been identified: M O’Connor, Mrs Hurst, and Mrs Eccles, who retired when the school closed. Father GW Park's report 1917 noted the teacher had a most difficult task owing to the un-Catholic atmosphere surrounding the little ones.

The children came into contact with RAF and USAF personnel stationed at the nearby airbases in World War II. In 1953, the school had twenty-six pupils, seventeen boys and nine girls, all except one between the ages of five and eleven. Other children of the parish attend school at St Peter’s Lytham, The Willows, Kirkham, St John Vianney’s, Blackpool. Alice Agnes Shannon left a generous bequest to the Church and Ellen Gornall left her house in 1972. The parish was barely 15 years old when World War I began; the Mass book reveals Mass being offered for those dying and serving in the war.

Regular events

In 1923 the parish held a May Queen crowning ceremony, at which Miss Madge Dobson was to crown and the silk train was made into a vestment. In the Second World War, Mass was offered for the war dead, a forlorn hope for victory in Singapore in 1942, all sailors, deceased seafarers, a Polish pilot who was killed, those killed in war, men and women in the forces, and those killed in the war. In 1978, the Masses for Foundation benefactors were rationalised to five annual Masses in perpetuity for Mary Ann Gillow, twelve for Agnes Smith, and ten for Elizabeth Burrow. When the parish was linked with Westby, the number of Masses in perpetuity was reduced again.

Sacraments and pastoral care

Adults who have not been baptised and are interested in learning more about the Catholic faith are invited to contact the parish. Couples wishing to marry at Holy Family or St Annes Westby are advised to give at least six months' notice, preferably more, to complete civil and spiritual preparations. The parish asks to be contacted to arrange a funeral, with the funeral director handling all arrangements including payments for the church and music.