Much-loved church to close after 125 years
ACHURCH in Barry is set to close after 125 years – despite opposition from its congregation. St Paul’s will hold its last service at 10.15am on New Year’s Eve – with people from all the Anglican churches of Barry joining the local congregation for the farewell.
The church was built in 1892 on land given by Lady Jenner, of Wenvoe Castle, and was the first Anglican church built for Barry.
St Paul’s contains a war memorial to all those who lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars, as well as a memorial for the Korean War.
It also has a flag from the steamship Trevessa, which sank in the Indian Ocean, and was rescued by a cabin boy from Barry and presented by his mother, Mrs Dora Phillips.
The church also has a memorial window to the captain and the crew of the liner Royston Grange, destroyed by fire after a collision in the river Plate in 1972. All the crew lost their lives, and the captain, Captain George Booth, was from Barry.
The decision to close the church was made last summer, much to the disppointment of locals who have attended for decades.
One family who have been a part of the church for three generations are the Sylvester family.
Terry Sylvester’s grandparents, John and Louisa Sylvester, attended the church when they moved from Taunton in Somerset before it officially opened, when it was a “tin church”, known as the Iron Room, built to satisfy the urgent need for churches in the area.
Their sons, John, Albert, Victor and Arthur, were all choir boys, and now John’s son, Terry, who has been a regular member at St Paul’s for more than 40 years, has carried on the family tradition.
The 77-year-old said he was saddened by the decision to close the much-loved church, but that won’t stop the celebration on Sunday.
Terry said: “All the congregation are very sad about this. But rather than fade away we thought we should celebrate the good things that have been done.”
After the farewell service an exhibition will be held with memories from past and present church members – including photographs, parish magazines dating back to the 1950s, and a CD recording of the choir when they sang in London at the Festival of Britain in 1951.
The church will remain open on Sunday until 1pm.
St Paul’s rector Father Robert Parrish will continue to serve in the area at Merthyr Dyfan Church and St Mary’s, where services will continue every Sunday.
Father Ben Andrews, the rector of Barry, said: “The church has been falling down for as long as I have known it. We decided to put the church on the market because the money can be reinvested, particularly into Merthyr Dyfan.”