Joy as items from memories exhibition rescued from Greenisland fire

Monday September 2nd 2024

The Rev Chris Bennett, second from right, and the Rev Isy Hawthorne-Steele, standing, back left, with parishioners and items of memorabilia rescued from the fire which devastated the Church of the Holy Name on Sunday night.

For a time this morning, it was feared 70 years of documented history had gone up in flames in the arson attack on the Church of the Holy Name, Greenisland, on Sunday September 1.

But amazingly, many of the photos, old certificates, maps, plans and other personal memorabilia telling the story of seven decades of worship in the parish were rescued by the Fire Service from the blaze with destroyed the church hall – just hours after it was buzzing with life and joy as the parish celebrated its 70^th anniversary.

The Rev Chris Bennett, Community Chaplain in Greenisland, lives near the church and was on the scene in Station Road soon after the alert was raised by members of the adjacent Baptist Church who were finishing up their Sunday evening service around 9pm.

He said the Fire Brigade was already there. When he arrived, he would see the bins at the back of the church hall were alight.

“I just thought we were going to have a few melted bins, although the smoke was coming thick and fast so there would have been some smoke damage too,” Chris said. “But all of a sudden the fire seemed to spread all over the roof and take hold.

“It was very emotional to watch the building crumbling, the roof caved in – it was a fierce, fierce blaze.

“The parish centre is gone. Thankfully we have a little courtyard between it and the church which seems to have stopped the fire from spreading from the parish centre to the roof of the church.

“The church roof is damaged, the church is soaked, but fundamentally it is still standing. Twelve hours after the fire, we have not been allowed in – the roof is quite fragile and there is a lot of smoke and water damage. We have a huge challenge ahead of us.”

Chris said that thankfully the church and hall were empty at the time. “The building has never been fuller than it was over the weekend when we had the most unbelievable 70^th anniversary celebrations. It is hard to think back 24 hours. This time yesterday (Sunday) we were on cloud nine.

“Today, there is so much grief. It is incredible how much people’s lives are bound up in the building where they have been baptised and married.”

Speaking on Monday morning, Chris said: “For me, a huge heartbreak is that we had asked people to root around in their attics for memorabilia relating to the church – baptism and marriage certificates, old photographs, we even had a Brownie uniform a lady had worn when she was six-years-old.

“We had found the original architect’s plans and original photos and all this was included in an exhibition telling the story of the past 70 years. These are irreplaceable items, irreplaceable memories. That brings home the fact that the church is a repository of memories.”

But the good news, as shared by the parish at lunchtime on Monday, was that items from the memories exhibition had indeed survived.