St Paul's Church, Whitley Bay
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St Paul's Church is the parish church of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, United Kingdom. The church was founded in 1864. Strictly speaking, the church's official title is 'St Paul's Church, Cullercoats', however because it is in the town of Whitley Bay it is more commonly known as the latter.
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[edit] Management
Father Gavin Gilchrist of Kingston upon Hull is the resident priest, Derek Carberry of Dunfermline is the curate. Ann Laing and Martin Bass are the Churchwardens. There is also a church council, a newsletter and parish magazine. A Summer fair is held annually as is the St Nicholas fair and festival. The Sunday Club meets every Sunday morning. It is run by Ceri Finn and Sarah Teoh.
[edit] Music at St Paul's
The music at St Paul's is quite phenomenal, judging that the 15-strong choir is unpaid and almost all of the musicians play for pleasure. The master of music is Terry Mason. Terry is also the organist at the church. The reserve organist is June Gibbon. There are also two 15 year-old students learning to play; Nicholas Graham and Richard Payne. The choir conductor is Celia Temple. Celia also plays guitar in the church music group along with Ann Laing who plays keyboard instruments, and occasionally several students; Sarah Collin (flute), Andrew Graham (violin) and Joy Laughlin (flute).
A former organist, John Percival Forster, was killed in the Battle of the Somme on July 1 1916. He was aged 28 at the time. He was organist at St Paul's for 6 years between 1912 and 1916 and there is a commerative plaque to the right of the altar.
[edit] St Nicholas Festival
The church is well known in the region as the starting point of the annual St Nicholas Festival in December. It was started by the then Vicar, Reverend Norman Aidan Banks.
[edit] Vicars of St Paul's
Canon R.F Wheeler 1861 - 1885
Reverend E. Smith 1885 - 1916
Reverend F.L Cattell 1916 - 1924
Reverend F.J Burt 1924 - 1928
Reverend F.M Dowland 1928 - 1933
Reverend J.E Jenkins 1933 - 1941
Reverend F.R Hedley 1941 - 1955
Reverend R.H.C Henwood 1955 - 1963
Reverend J.H Chicken 1963 - 1972
Reverend R.O Stroud 1972 - 1977
Reverend P.V Rendell 1977 - 1989
Reverend N.A Banks 1990 - 2002
Reverend G. Gilchrist 2002 - present
