St Luke’s Church, Caversham Road, 2010

“Saint Luke’s, Caversham Road, has always been, and remains, a parish church of the Church of England. But it has also always been in the ‘High Church’ or ‘Catholic’ tradition of the Church of England, being carved out of the older Parish of Saint John, Perry Barr, which had been in the forefront of the Anglo-Catholic movement from the 1850s. Many of the priests over the years have been called ‘Father’ including Father Edward Charles … who was the priest who introduced the use of vestments at the Eucharist. Saint Luke’s … has never been a Methodist Church – the Methodist Church is just down the road on the corner of the Kings Road.”

“I was born in 1936 and spent all of my childhood at St. Lukes Church … Directly opposite my front door was the old church Hall, and we then went down a small hill to the front door of the Main Church … it could have been described as High Church, cos there was incense burning. The church interior was very plain … I was confirmed … on 6th March 1948 by the then Bishop of Birmingham. I still have my little book, “The Hill of the Lord” signed by the then vicar Edward Charles, and stated as “Vicar of St. Lukes, Kingstanding”, and PG Smith, Lay Reader.”

“My Wife and I were married at St. Lukes Church on Nov. 20th 1948. I was just out of the RAF … At that time the Vicar was Edward Charles.”

“I too attended St Luke’s 30s/40s … I was a choir boy then … Did you ever go to church summer camps just after the war organised by Ruth and Edward Charles, and the youth club? P.G. Smith was in charge.”

“I was in the church choir in about 1949 or 1950 ish, Mr Charles was the vicar and he was a lovely bloke. The choirmaster was Mr Winson (or something like that.)”

“The Vicar was my father Hendrik Loysen … I was born in Kingstanding in 1958 and our family lived in the vicarage between 1957 and 1963.”

“My wife … and I were married at St Lukes in Oct 1961 by Rev Hendrik Loysen, a down to earth and loving man. My wife and I still recall that when we kneeled at the Altar behind the Rev he had big holes in his socks, as I had many holes in my socks in my growing up I related to the Rev as that the way it was after the war.”

“I remember the vicar Richard Butler and his wife who was our local GP for many years … they all moved away to London eventually and Malcolm Johnson took over as the vicar … my late parents went to the day centre for many years … does anyone remember the old banger mini bus that Mr Butler would take the local kids out in on Sunday after church, to Sutton Park.”

“I was a regular at St Lukes … I remember Father Loyson … my brother used to be a server … It was a lovely place to be very friendly we went on lots of outings to the seaside … I married at Saint Lukes in 1966, Richard Butler married us. I remember how disappointed I was because they had just started to modernise it and all the scaffolding was up on the inside of the church.”

“I … was a choir boy about 1958 [not because I could sing] but for the sixpence for the weddings. I remember when it changed to high church they had a candlelit Xmas service. We went on the allotments off Sidcup Rd consecrating the ground.”

“We went back two years ago on our Golden Wedding anniversary and was surprised to see that the front door is now the back door. Was sad to see how it had been modernised with chairs instead of the wooden pews.”

“Interestingly, anyone who remembers pews at Saint Luke’s is suffering from false memory syndrome. There were always chairs (dark wood, I seem to remember). The present light oak chairs are rather more comfortable.”

“St Luke’s is celebrating its 80th anniversary on October 15th this year.”