Education And Faith For Holy Trinity.

A Memory of Darwen.

I attended Holy Trinity Primary School, Church of England, at Darwen in the year 1955, when I was six years of age. There was a spiritual bond between the school and the Holy Trinity Church, as it was then called.

On a certain day of the week the class of children I belonged to were given religious instruction. A picture still present in my memory, is that of the outline of the Holy Trinity Church, as drawn on the classroom blackboard by the teacher. It was explained that the outline shape was that of a cross on which Jesus was crucified and that the church was built in the same shape for that reason.

On religious days of remembrance, for example, Good Friday, all the children at the school would be paraded across the town centre and up the hill to attend a service at the church.

My grandfather was 23 yrs of age when he died, having succumbed to wounds he endured during the First World War at the Somme. He lived with my grandmother at 4 Entwistle Street which is immediately behind the church building.

My grandmother must have had some influence at the church as I can recall seeing a small stone let into the main wall on the east face which had my grandfather's name chistled into it. The stone was removed during the 1990's when some internal alterations took place.
Today there is a brass plaque, a Roll of Honour, let into the wall next to the altar which, along with many others, bears my grandfather's name.

There were many grave stones placed both horizontally and vertically around the ground surrounding the church. Sometime during the 1970's someone decided to make the area a 'lawn cemetery' and so the grave stones were removed. The idea of course was to make it easier for maintenance purposes. I trust the mortal remains of the deceased are still under the ground.

Usually on Sunday, all through my childhood and even to date the church bell has pealed with its sound travelling across the town. I often wondered what it must be like for the people living in the nearby houses when the bell peals. I imagine it is quite noisy to say the least! PSF20/11/10