Holy Trinity Anglican has long history

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This article was published 29/05/2017 (3266 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Headingley has withstood a tornado in 1884 and a storm that destroyed the bell tower in 1919.

Located at 5335 Portage Ave. since 1950, a battered wooden cross displayed inside the church is a symbol of congregation members’ perseverance over the years. The cross was rescued after the tornado struck at the church’s original location near the church cemetery and Assiniboine River.

The lot, on the north side of the Assiniboine River, was granted to the church by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Congregation member Ray Colley discovered an old property agreement that shows the church had allowed the municipality to use some of its land to reach a ferry crossing.
Originally built in 1854, the first church’s roof failed to keep out the rain and a second church was erected in 1876. It was this structure that was demolished by the tornado.

Another fixture of Holy Trinity is a bell that arrived in Headingley in 1865. A gift of Bishop Anderson, it weighed 276 pounds and was cast by the A. Fulton company in Pittsburgh. The church’s parishioners paid the bell’s freight from St. Paul, Minn. to Headingley, according to church member and local historian Jean Ammeter. The bell’s peals signal the start of the Sunday church service and the end of a wedding service.

The current congregation, of about 35 regular members, is served by two retired Anglican priests from Winnipeg, but a layperson will lead the 10 a.m. service when needed.

The members work in volunteer ministry groups responsible for the church’s worship, pastoral care, education, music and other activities.

Music ministry leader Diane Trenholm leads members who sing and play keyboard, guitar, banjo and flute.

“Some services have contemporary music and some have a mixture of traditional hymns and contemporary music,” she said.

Trenholm, who is also cemetery manager, is working to record the names and personal information of those buried in Holy Trinity’s cemetery and identify the location of graves to create a database that will be useful for anyone checking on their ancestry and also provide information on new burial plots.

The church’s main annual event is its popular Old Fashioned Christmas service that’s held on the first or second Sunday in December. The service features music and costumes reflecting the styles of 1885 when the church was rebuilt after the tornado.

For more information on Holy Trinity Anglican Church, see www.holytrinityanglicanchurchandcemetery.com

— Staff