The 24th November 2021 marked a special day for St Mark’s Church, Wyke in Normandy, as it celebrated its 175th anniversary. Celebrations included a special service on the Sunday before the anniversary, a radio interview, an anniversary dinner, and the Bishop of Guildford presided over a second anniversary service.
Back in 1846, when Queen Victoria was on the throne, Robert Liston carried out the first operation under anaesthesia and the planet Neptune was first observed, a piece of land on, which a church was to be built, was donated by Mr Lannoy Arthur Coussmaker. He lived locally to where St Mark’s now stands at Westwood Place. Work started promptly on the building and the Church was consecrated on 24th November 1846 and completed the following year.
The cost of the building was recorded at £1,300, which was provided by Mr Coussmaker and his wife’s cousin Mr H A Halsey of Henley Park, as well as other donations from the Incorporated Church Building Fund and the Winchester Diocesan Fund. Links to the Coussmaker family didn’t end there, as the architect was Lannoy Coussmaker’s brother-in-law Mr Henry Woodyer. Henry was commissioned to design the church and went on to design many other churches in Surrey and neighbouring counties.
Back to the present day and Revd Canon Robert Cotton from Holy Trinity and St Mary’s in Guildford presided over the anniversary service. The service was followed by laying flowers on the Coussmaker family grave and a blessing of a cake specially made for the anniversary, with a hand painted image of St Mark's on, generously made for us by local artist and resident Robyn Horsburgh.
Earlier in the day BBC Radio Surrey interviewed Revd Canon Pauline Godfrey (who was Vicar of St Mark’s from 1999 to 2011) along with Clare Sherwood who has supported our church for over 30 years.
The following weekend, the St Mark’s events team created a delightful dinner. The attention to detail to make the evening a special occasion was very impressive from the beautifully decorated tables and hall, delicious food and the team of servers and people washing up behind the scenes.
While all the guests were special, they were particularly grateful to be joined by some parishioners who have either moved away or not visited St Mark's in a while. It was particularly lovely that Revd Canon Pauline Godfrey and Jacqui Coussmaker (descendant of Lannoy Coussmaker, who originally donated the land for the church) were able to join the celebratory feast. A firework finale was a fitting tribute to end of a lovely evening.
Jacqui Coussmaker commented: “It was lovely to receive an invitation from St Mark’s to join in their 175th anniversary celebrations. I am extremely proud that my ancestors were instrumental in the creation of the church. My parents and sadly more recently my aunt and uncle are buried in the churchyard, so my sister Jo and I visit on a regular basis. St Mark’s will always have a special place in our hearts.”
On Advent Sunday Bishop Andrew Watson presided over the service and continued the 175th anniversary celebrations. He also joined the congregation for a drink and a piece of cake from another very impressive painted cake of St Mark’s, also made by Robyn.
Church Warden Gill Nevin commented: “It has been a special few weeks for St Mark’s celebrating our 175th anniversary. We have come so far in our 175 years, and we are very much looking forward to a bright future as well.
Our celebrations wouldn’t have been able to take place without the hard work of so many people from our congregation and also our community, we are so very grateful for all their help. We are now very much looking forward to our Christmas celebrations and we hope that many of the local community will be able to join us.”
More information on the history of St Mark's can be found on the Normandy Historians webpage.