ARCHBISHOP IN RIVER
Archbishop rescued from Humber en route to service to re-dedicate parish church as city’s Minster
Since this is the City of Culture it is good to have a Minster in its midst. Archbishop of York Dr John Sentamu.
IT WAS a historic day – even if it wasn’t quite plain sailing.
The Archbishop of York had to be rescued after the engine of his boat was swamped as it tried to set off for Hull to rename Holy Trinity Church as Hull Minster.
The Archbishop, who was drenched up to his waist, was taken aboard the Humber Rescue boat before transferring to a back-up vessel in the Humber.
Back on dry land, and after a change of clothes, Dr Sentamu said it was “all good fun” and at least the symbolic lantern he was carrying from Holy’s Trinity’s mother church, All Saints, Hessle, was still burning.
The last six years have seen Holy Trinity coming back from financial dire straits, which threatened its very future, to raising £3.3m towards a £4.5m revamp.
After some dramatic changes inside and out including taking down the churchyard wall and felling a towering tree to create a new square and removing most of its Victorian pews, the church is now poised to become a major event space.
It will be hosting 90 cultural events between now and December on top of regular services, even though it is still in the throes of transformation.
Dr Sentamu announced in 2014 that it would be his gift to the city to re-designate Holy Trinity, stunning everyone – including vicar the Rev Canon Dr Neal Barnes.
On Saturday hundreds of people turned out in Trinity Square to hear the proclamation read out at an open-air service. Three cheers and a peal of bells marked the historic moment, before the Archbishop went inside to light the Minster candle.
Archbishop Sentamu said: “Minsters are places from which priests have gone to preach and teach and serve and care for people.
“Since this is the City of Culture it is good to have a Minster in its midst suggesting we are here for everybody and for the whole of Hull, and it will be a place of welcome, worship and service.”
Saturday’s celebrations had to be held outside because it’s still a building site. The nave is now a huge, bare space since being stripped of its Victorian pews and the floor with its new underground heating has only just been laid.
In future it will be used for banquets and corporate hospitality, as well as drama, exhibitions and for the increasingly popular beer festival in November.
Stephen Martin, the vicechairman of the development board, said the £3.3m funds – of which only £25,000 is public money – had been raised with the help of “a lot of very good friends.”
He said: “The eye is drawn upwards rather than to the forest of furniture. It feels wonderful to me.
“We will have events in here as well as for worship. It going to bring more people into the Old Town. People say it’s shame we haven’t got it finished for City of Culture year, but it is not just one year – this is going to be a great legacy.”
Dr Barnes said the day had been a huge success: “Anyone could rock up and join in as they wanted. We wanted it to be joyful, not just a holy huddle.”
Visitor numbers have rocketed and there will soon be a shop.
Dr Barnes said he expected the deficit to be cut this year, adding “I am really hopeful we have turned a corner.”