An historical overview

 With sincere thanks and appreciation to Denis Barker for the history of 

 Dean Joseph Barker 1910 – Founder of the Parish of Umzinto

All the earlier marriages, baptisms and funeral services were recorded at the Church at Umzinto Lodge, Lower Umzinto. James Arbuthnot’s name is the second entry recorded in the burial register. One has only to look at the older tombstones in the graveyards, or scrutinize the marriage and baptism registers to realise how implicated Joseph Barker was in the spiritual and social life of the district during those 27 years of his incumbency of the Parish of Umzinto. In 1887 Reverend Joseph Barker transferred back to Ladysmith

ST PATRICK’S CHURCH

Denis Barker’s story continues……

Following the departure of Reverend Joseph Barker, the next incumbent was E S Kendall. In 1889 the Revd G E Pennington followed. He was a forceful character, an entomologist of repute and a skilful carpenter. The coastal village of Pennington was named after him. Several of his sons distinguished themselves in the field of education, and one, the Rev E F Pennington was at one time Sub-dean of St Saviour’s Cathedral. Mr Pennington made and carved the pulpit and altar that are still in use at St Patrick’s today. Work in the parish continued to progress steadily along the foundations so ably laid by Pennington and Barker, whose combined labours had extended over a period of 33 years.

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A distinguished scholar in Arts and Science followed Truscott. He was the Revd A H Cullen and although here for only a short time, left his mark on the parish. Interestingly, he married the sister of Mr Gordon Waller, who was one of Umzinto’s outstanding personalities over many years, and was Centenary Churchwarden in 1961. Revd Cullen was destined for high preferment and subsequently became Bishop of Grahamstown. His successor, Revd W C Dew was an entirely different type of man, quietly carrying on his work until moving on to St Mary’s in Durban. Revd J D Packard was here for two years.

The Revd F H Harper came to St Patrick’s in 1928 but was soon destined for higher office. After only three years he left Umzinto to become successively a Canon, Archdeacon of Durban and then Archdeacon of Maritzburg. He was the first to introduce a regular Sunday evensong, and so there were now often three services each Sunday – early morning Communion at 7-30 am, mid-morning worship at 10-30 and then evensong at 7-30 pm. It must have been a busy Sunday for the hard working rector. Very significantly he also christened me at what I gather was an eventful occasion for the Barker family in September of 1930! In that year Umkomaas became a separate parish with the Revd A F Cox as its first vicar.

The Revd C T Stanham was the next minister. Beginning in 1932, he ministered for five years before leaving for Australia in 1937. He was the first Anglican minister I can ever remember as I began my first association with St Patrick’s Church. It was a long winding drive down from our Tanhurst farm at Dumisa, yet we often attended church as a family. I clearly recall Revd Stanham dressed in his long white robes gliding down the aisle of the church to begin the service.  Dressed in my Sunday best, including the familiar grey veld hat, I recall sitting in the same pew with my sister Shirley between my mother and father, fascinated by the beautiful stained glass windows reflecting the bright morning sunlight rays down onto the altar.

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During the evening service at St Patrick’s, the church lights would be dimmed in dramatic fashion as he began his sermon, and with the pulpit under the beam of a single spotlight, we would all sit riveted to our pews listening with rapt attention.  No preacher before or since has left such an indelible impression upon me.  Don Martyn was still young enough to participate in the sporting activities of the district and often played for one of the Umzinto cricket teams.

I well recall us frequently returning from Sunday cricket matches when many of the team would join him at his evensong service. In 1947 a memorial plaque was placed on the western wall of the church, opposite the First World War plaque, to commemorate those who had given their lives in the 1939-45 War.  A Minshall organ was also purchased as an additional memorial with a suitable plaque placed upon it.  The Revd Canon T G Vernon Inman, very well known in Natal ecclesiastical circles, preached a very successful mission in 1947, one that was have its full impact when St Patrick’s went through a difficult period a short time later.

St Patrick’s Indian School, erected years before on land donated by one of the Reynolds family, had served generations of Indian children.  Mr Samuel, a member of the congregation, was its principal to the end. His daughter Betty Samuel, former head mistress of the Indian Primary School, was a regular attendant at St Patrick’s. She died in February 2007.

The old school became superfluous with the construction of the Indian High School, so the building was demolished in 1948 and the materials sold. A minute of the Vestry meeting of 5^th May 1950 reads: “A Parish Hall shall be built from the proceeds of the school and land – carried unanimously.”  This project was only brought to fruition some forty years later. At the same meeting it is recorded that: “Mr R H W Philips with a few graceful words presented Mrs H D Archibald with a gift as a token of the love and esteem in which she is held by the members of St Patrick’s Church and as a mark of the many and varied services she has rendered for many years.”  One of my abiding memories of a service at St Patricks is that of Gladys Archibald at the organ during the singing of the hymns.  She played with such verve and determination.  The Archibald family was certainly synonymous with St Patrick’s.

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The hall as it is today (2012) 

On the other hand times do inevitably change. In Don Martyn’s place came Bishop T W Stainton, formerly assistant Bishop of Bloemfontein.  The Venerable T G V Inman, Archdeacon of Durban, instituted him as Vicar on 4th February 1951. It could not have been easy to follow in the footsteps of such a charismatic predecessor and he came at a particularly pulsating time in the immediate post-war period. Business was booming and the life of the community had changed dramatically. Bishop Stainton was the ideal rector for the parish at the time and proved equal to the task. He endeared himself to many who became close friends and he participated in the many varied aspects of community life. I recall his particular interest in cricket, where he was a regular spectator at the Umzinto Cricket ground on Sunday afternoons.

The centenary of the Diocese of Natal was celebrated in 1953. It is recorded that in response to an appeal for the Natal Diocesan Centenary Thanksgiving Fund (quite a mouthfu1!), “the parish excelled in contributing a sum of £412, well above the target set of £234. Basil Barker and Lionel Tedder worked very hard to secure such a splendid response”.

During Bishop Stainton’s ministry, parquet flooring was laid in the nave, and various families donated magnificent teak pews in memory of their loved ones, at a cost of over £600. These pews today, in our present inflated times, would cost at least R50000!  To this day on my occasional visits to St Patrick’s, as my father did before me, I still sit in the pew donated in memory of Dean Joseph Barker.

Various other memorials were contributed in the years after the War. The cross and candlesticks on the altar were presented to the Church by Mrs Ella Gooding as a memorial to her great friend who was none other than my mother Gertrude Marion Barker who died on 27^th September 1951 at the early age of fifty.  The centre light at the east end of the church represents the Crucifixion and was placed there in memory of Lewis Reynolds by his wife and his sister Molly. Lewis was the son of Sir Frank Reynolds who had died in 1940 after becoming seriously ill at a military camp in Ladysmith.

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In retrospect, forty years later, can we not perhaps now query whether problems here at St Patrick’s today are not immeasurably greater than those of the past?! Bernard Greenwood sadly died of a heart attack in 1964 after ten years of consistently hard work for the parish. The Revd G T Mostyn replaced him. The Revd Louis Moore had immigrated to South Africa from Ireland after the War and was a vastly different personality from his predecessors. He had a decidedly Irish accent and his sermons were often long and sometimes somewhat controversial.  I remember him, somewhat irreverently yet humorously, for the way he used to pronounce, “ascended into heaven” in the Nicene Creed. He made it sound exactly like “ass-ended into heaven” and this became a standing joke amongst many of his parishioners!

Revd Moore was transferred to Richmond in 1970, and for two years the Revd W H Webb was acting minister at St Patrick’s.  However Revd Moore returned after a somewhat controversial spell in Richmond, and was the incumbent for another seven years.  Canon T H Harris replaced him in 1979 at a time I personally had relocated to Selborne Park at Pennington, which was much closer to Umzinto.  Tom’s father, Canon Heywood Harris, had been the Anglican preacher at Kearsney College during the war years. There he was affectionately known as “Shotgun Harris” by the boys, and had actually prepared me for my confirmation.  He had also, as a young curate, been closely involved with Dean Joseph Barker and had been the military chaplain for the BMR at the start of the First World War, where he first became acquainted with my own father.  With a common affinity, and also because I enjoyed his services, I found myself again attending more often at St Patrick’s.

Canon Harris was followed by the Revd N G Kirby (1982 /87) and Revd Robin Beck (1987/90). The Revd Kevin Reddiar became the first Indian incumbent of St Patrick’s Church in 1990 and proved to be a most caring and highly regarded Anglican priest.  If the idea that he would gain an extensive following of what was now almost entirely an Indian community in Umzinto, then I think the outcome must have been somewhat of a disappointment.  For it would seem that the general trend of most young people these days is toward the charismatic movement.

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During interregnum Revd Rupert assisted with all the Pastoral care duties in the Parish of Umzinto.  Some years back small groups of worshippers would attend the retreat at Green Pastures, in Pennington.  Over the years as the numbers grew, a group was formed and they moved to the dining room at the Umdoni Retirement Village for worship. The first services were held there on the last Wednesday of every month.  Sunday services were started in the new hall from February 1994.  From July 1997 and to this day, regular services are held every Sunday in the Umdoni Chapel.

In 2007 Reverend Margaret Silva recognised the need for a worship centre in Pennington and a group of six worshippers started Sunday Services in the Pennington Library.  By Easter 2008, as the group grew, Revd. Margi secured the Chapel on the Selborne Estate.  The numbers there now regularly exceed 20 worshippers at a Sunday Service. This past Christmas over 90 people celebrated the Christmas Eucharist in the Chapel. Besides the regular communicants attending, there are also many visitors, from the hotel and homes on the Estate, who attend the Services.