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Reaching out St George’s Anglican Church may be 150 years old, but its parishioners are determined to find new ways to keep the landmark location relevant to the Thames community WORDS: N I CO L A M ART I N • I MAGE RY: A MA NDA T RAYE S
8 Hōtoke • Winter 2022
Pop your head in the door of St George’s Anglican Church on McKay Street in Thames on any day of the week and you may not always find the traditional church service underway. Instead, you might see locals Steve Darwall or Paul Jennings climbing along scaffolding or up ladders within the church’s cavernous walls. The Revd Brendon Wilkinson, who joined the parish in 2017, might be there lending a hand alongside other congregation members. With hammers, chisels and paintbrushes in hand, the group is dedicated to maintaining the Category 1 historic place. The church celebrated 150 years in January, and while Revd Wilkinson is credited with transforming its relevance to the community, Paul, Steve and many other parishioners have connections to the building spanning multiple generations. “My great-great-grandfather installed the windows in the apse and worked on the steeple. I’m the fifth of seven generations of our extended family to walk through these doors,” says Paul. Steve says the church building is part of him. “My family has always been involved. My dad was baptised here, and my grandmother attended church here from when she arrived in New Zealand from Australia in 1910,” he says. The original St George’s was built in 1868, but the rapid influx of people during the Coromandel goldrush meant a new church was needed. The Gothic Revival-style building that cuts an imposing figure with its towering spire was built in 1871. Back then the church held three services a day: an early service at 8am, a family service at 11am, and an evensong at 7pm, with up to 900 people attending each one. Today attendance is much reduced and the total congregation numbers around 80. Services are held on Thursdays at 10am and Sundays at 9.30am, and Paul says the church has had to evolve to
Heritage New Zealand
