Holy Trinity – Timeline/History
(Compiled by Ken Turner with information from Willenhall History Society).
Page Three
Away from the church, a C of E School was opened. It was named Rosedale St. Giles after the church’s first incumbent. This was later shortened to Rosedale.
Following all the activity Rev. R J Taylor left the Parish in 1967. Rev. Basil Peel took over. He was a bachelor and was given no Curate to help him. His tenure was a period of consolidation although he did concentrate on the church’s heating system and carried out some improvements to it.
After Basil Peel left it was decided to move to a team Ministry. This was in order to help control the population explosion. There was a series of Team Ministers. Rev. Frazer Williams 1979-1988, Lay Reader Sheen Kay Rev. Francis Buxton 1989-1996 and Rev. Brian Prentice 1998-2005. There were Rev Mark Hathorne and Rev Carol Hathorne; also countless other priests, deacons and lay readers who seemed to arrive from time to time without any coordination. There didn’t seem any obvious planning.
At the end of it all, the clergy moved on leaving Rev. John Deacon alone to run the Parish plus that of Emmanuel Bentley.
John continued to run the church in a casual but organised unflappable manner. He had to deal with a problem with the roof of which he completed Phase One.
Rev. John Deacon left the Parish at the end of 2019 to take up a post at New Cross Hospital. This left Holy Trinity without a priest’s leadership. Then in 2020 the Covid 19 Pandemic struck and depleted the church going members. Holy Trinity was impoverished by this and was also robbed of a lot of its income.
This is the Holy Trinity timeline to the present day. A church rich in local history which has been here 175 years and in which many local people have been Christened, Married and also held their funerals. We cannot lose this historical building. We must find a way to finish the roof repairs and get our finances back in order. Lichfield has failed to give us a vicar and offered us very little help so we have to do it ourselves.
We do have some dedicated people. Our Church Wardens, Polly and Betty have done a sterling job and Gill Oplocky has been the Stalwart of the cause.
We must make sure that this is not the end of Holy Trinity and the 175 years’ timeline is extended. Our historic church, so rich in local history continues to serve the Parish of Short Heath for the service of all its people.