What a wonderful evening celebrating 180 years of St Mark’s Church for their Summer Soiree. The evening unfoldered with Shelfield Male Voice Choir entertaining us with a delightful selection of songs. Our local Reverend Marie addressed the congregation, which reflected on the fellowship and faith of a loving community. Our own Chairman Gary Smith, spoke about the history of the church and how it came to be in Great Wyrley. As at the time it was undecided if the stone church in Early English style would be in Great Wyrley or Cheslyn Hay. The foundation stone was laid April 23rd 1844 and the new church at Great Wyrley was opened and consecrated on July 22nd 1845. The first baptism took place on the same day. St Mark’s was the first church to have a South Asian vicar of any Church of England parish, Shapurji Adalji. He was vicar of the parish of St. Mark’s from 1876 to 1918. Two years previous Shapurji married Charlotte Stoneham in 1874. Their first child was George, born in 1876, followed by Horace in 1879 and Maud in 1882. The story went on to George Edalji, Shapurji Adalji eldest son, that became infamous in Britain when he was convicted in 1903 for the mutilation of a horse and for writing a number of malicious anonymous letters in the parish of Great Wyrley.
We had a walk down memory lane of how the area was back in 1845, with only dirt roads in and out of the village. It was lovely to see a video montage of photos gathered over the years. We had also found out a collect of photos that was displayed on a board, that we have in our archives, which anyone can see at our coffee mornings, Third Thursday of each month.
It was lovely to hear from our local Parish Councillor, Kath Perry, with the delights of what’s happening now around the village. Tom Baylis did a talk about “Why do I worship here?” he explained how wonderful it was being part of a church and community with so much history and that has joined hundreds of couples in marriage, baptised thousands of children and brought so much enjoy to families in and around the area.
