THE CHAPELS OF ST.HILDA’S CHURCH

The Lady Chapel

In 1922, the church was finally extended to complete the original plan as drawn up by the architect, and Father John Hindley as the first vicar of St.Hilda’s created the side chapel as a memorial to those who had fallen in the Great War. This chapel was created for the daily eucharist and for the reservation of the Sacrament with an aumbry located in the outside wall. In 1922 St.Hilda’s was the first church in the Prestwich area to have reservation, and the chapel was called ‘The Morning Chapel’. The Rector of Prestwich gave two candles and a cross for the new altar and these are now the candles on the War Memorial.

In 1935, Father Carter renamed ‘The Morning Chapel’ as ‘The Lady Chapel’ because the Mothers’ Union banner was kept there. Then in 1955, Miss Rigby, headmistress of the school, donated two images to the church – the Blessed Virgin Mary and St.Hilda. When the Diocese of Manchester granted the faculty for the two images, it stipulated that they should both be fixed to the wall, although Father Carter wanted the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Lady Chapel.

In 1965, Father Ramon Parker removed the images from the wall to where they are now, with the Blessed Virgin Mary being adjacent to the Lady Chapel, and St.Hilda against the opposite pillar, though previously she was where the present Sacred Heart image is, on the north wall.

In 1995, Miss Rigby died and left £50,000 to the church, and this legacy saved the church as it had been found to have dry rot in the roof. However, there was enough left to pay for the mural erected in June 1996 in the Lady Chapel, in memory of Miss Rigby, which was dedicated in November 1996 by John Gaisford, Bishop of Beverley. This mural done by an Italian artist from Liverpool, has within it images of Heaton Park and the Church. At the same time, the communion rail was gilded to match the high altar.

The present candlesticks on the Lady Chapel altar are in memory of Miss Booth who was a faithful member of the church that came to the daily mass

The Chapel of the Holy Souls

In 2000, the Church of Our Lady of Mercy and St.Thomas of Canterbury in Gorton, became redundant. As this was the church where Father Croft had been brought up, he asked for certain items when the church was finally closed. The nave altar from the church had been given by Renee Parsonage in memory of her husband Frederick. Frederick had been organist at the church, and he was responsible for bringing Father Beaumont’s 20th Century Mass setting to Gorton. Father Croft brought the altar to St.Hilda’s and placed it on the opposite side to the Lady chapel as a Requiem Altar. Father Croft also obtained Father Royle’s chalice, the statue of St.Anthony and a pair of acolyte candles.

In 2008, Andrew Teather and Andy Aspey raised the altar onto a plinth and on Epiphany Sunday 2009, two new icons of Our Lady of Mercy and St.Thomas of Canterbury were blessed in memory of Bernard and Lily Frost.