Our Story

This presentation was made to Nigel McCulloch, Bishop of Manchester, when he visited the parish on the Feast of the Ascension, 2009, as part of his pilgrimage 'Running the Race'.

Our history - In 1868, a meeting of local dignatories took place to consider building a church in Fallowfield. Land was given by Lord Egerton and the foundation stone laid on the 4th June 1870. Two years later the church opened for services and was consecrated on 28th December 1872. The parish was formed from part of St Paul's, Withington, and part of St James, Birch-in-Rusholme. And the majority of the new congregation at Holy Innocents' would have lived in the parish.

When the church was newly opened, there were gates at the end of Wilbraham Road. Fallowfield was a leafy suburb of Manchester, populated by an influx of the middle classes moving outward to avoid the city grime. Amongst them were, Sir Joseph Whitworth, engineer and entrepreneur; C. P. Scott, Editor of the Manchester Guardian; and Alfred Waterhouse, architect of Manchester Town Hall, and much more.

In our almost 140 years, we have had 11 incumbents. The Rev. John James Twist, the curate of the neighbouring parish of Birch, who had served on the building committee of this church was invited to become the first Rector. He built up the congregation and set high standards for worship – it’s our inheritance. It was our third incumbent, Harry Lockett, who, in 1915, first established the daily Eucharist. Perhaps the most well known is John Moorman, Franciscan scholar, English Divine and later Bishop of Ripon. But each of them, in his own way, has left his mark.

In 1954, the church building was so badly damaged by fire that it was closed for a year and the congregation worshiped next door in the church school. The intricate interior decoration was not restored.

In 1978, the new parish of Birch with Fallowfield was formed, and when St James, Birch-in-Rusholme was closed, it became clear that the remaining church building, Holy Innocents', would have to be adapted to form an appropriate base for the new Christian community. This was an opportunity to make the building serve the liturgy and other aspects of our life together, and we embraced the idea enthusiastically. This time, we were determined that the work on the building would not close the church. We worshiped amongst scaffolding, piles of wood and dust for many months, not knowing which way we would be facing each Sunday morning.

In 2002, Owen’s Park became the Athletes’ Village and St James’s school was host to ‘Sports England’. Seven years later, the baton has returned to the parish.

Our life together – The Eucharist is central to the life of this community, it’s what gathers us here, in this place. The former Rector, Bill Wilson, re-established the pattern of daily Eucharist, by example, through prayer, preaching and encouragement. He used to say that anyone who was missing on Sunday morning was also missed. It’s true. Since Christ is revealed to us through the celebration of the Eucharist our daily pattern of worship is our key stone.

We have heard that we have a reputation in the diocese, that of being very exacting in our liturgy. We don’t deny it, because we believe that the liturgy, which is to the praise and glory of God, should be the best that it can be, second best won’t do. We understand that some people find this a bit daunting, and for that we’re sorry, because it’s not our intention and it means we are misunderstood.

Public and private prayer is also an important aspect of our life. Interestingly, this is silently revealed to our visitors; who frequently say they can feel the prayers coming out of the walls of the church. Does this mean that we are a congregation of Marys? No! The same people can also be found collecting for Christian Aid, preparing shared food, digging in the church grounds, and decorating church for Christmas and Easter.

Despite being a gathered congregation, we have a strong sense of community and I think each of us, at some time, has been supported by the love, prayers, and care, of the congregation as a whole, and by individuals here.

Our work – We’re not sure what our predecessors thought about our dedication, but it troubles and challenges us today. Our last curate went as far as to write part of his doctorate on the subject.

For a decade we supported an orphanage for children with HIV and AIDS in Poland, more recently the Lazarus Home for Girls, in Bethany. We have a strong commitment to social justice, being involved in the Jubilee Debt Campaign, Make Poverty History, and almost anything that involves sending a postcard to our MP or the Prime Minister. In this respect we are not allowed to boast, because our most active campaigner is likely to tell us that our efforts are disappointing.

Members of the congregation continue to support Adela Mahoro in her campaign to remain in the UK and we pray that her case will be resolved soon.

Since re-ordering the building we have shared our space with a range of groups, including: the Mar Thoma church, various choirs and orchestras, and the civic society. The University caving club practices in the tower, but not on the same night as the bell ringers.

We have also responded to God’s call by organising ambitious events, including the flower festival; a number of art festivals; for our 125th Anniversary, a year of events ending with the then Archbishop of Wales preaching and presiding on Holy Innocents’ Day; the most recent project, ‘Singing the Psalms’. Forty people contributed commentaries from three continents.

Our continued ministry – Tom Kennaugh, our seventh Rector, said ‘We were called upon to live dangerously and that is why we were placed here, at these cross roads.’ There have been times when we felt we were living on the edge, and in order to survive we would need to act boldly. The area has seen rapid change since the 1960s; there are barely any shops in Fallowfield now; the population is transient, and the number of residents in the parish is halved outside of university term-time.

In this Deanery only 49% of the population identify themselves as Christian, there are significant non-Christian faith communities and a substantial young adult population with no religious background. These demographics are reflected in the church school where we continue to have an active role, with people serving as governors and working as teaching assistants.

Our challenge is to anticipate and respond to the needs of this rapidly changing community and at the same time continue to meet the needs of the congregation who gather for worship. Not any easy vocation, but, with God’s help we will.

We continue to seek opportunities to expand our community reach, because, while our main purpose is as a worshiping community, some people may need another reason to cross the threshold for the first time.

We would like to complete ‘Our Story’ by giving praise and thanks to God for all the blessings he has bestowed upon us, and for the richness of our lives together, with the words of the final Halleluiah psalm, No. 150. This completes ‘Singing the Psalms’, on Sunday we start at the beginning again!