A sad farewell was given to the All Saints complex in Lumsden on Sunday 22 September at 5pm. Jenny Campbell reports on the occasion...

Final Service

• Order of Service attached at the end of this article

• Watch a photo compilation video)

On Sunday 22 September, over 30 people who had associations with All Saints Lumsden gathered to farwell this place of worship on a bright spring day.

People were asked to bring a bunch of flowers from their gardens to decorate the Church beautifully, remembering with thanksgiving all the happy and joyful memories they had experienced related to the Church and other people they met there, alongside sadness for losses over that time. They were reminded of the hope for the future by Vicar General Jan Clark and for the possibilities to continue worship, pastoral ministry and mission outreach in the area through Rural Chaplaincy.

Dot Muir (nee Menlove) told the story of her grandparents and many other Anglican families  in Northern Southland, followed by their descendants, established the former building. They then went on to raise more funds to build the new church. She listed all the clergy who had ministered to local people (see below, She also talked of those who travelled further afield to take services such as at Te Anau and Milford Sound, as Lumsden was seen as the centre of a Mission District then.

Eric Swift recounted stories about the more modern era in the "new" (1966) church and how the area had become the Waimea Plains Parish. This meant that the local Vestry became part of searching for and appointing Clergy along with the Bishop. Boundary changes meant some of the smaller churches came in and out of the Parish: Mossburn, Athol, Balfour were always in Waimea Plains, while Kingston, Riversdale, Waikaia & Dipton were subject to changes.

At one stage (more recently) there were 12 Lay Ministers across the Parish with three local Priests, including Rev’d Rosemary Waller in Riversdale & later Rev’d Gillian Swift and Rev’d Vivienne Galletly from Lumsden being ordained.

We were reminded that the Katene whanau lived in Lumsden and were regular worshippers at All Saints. Ngarahu Katene, Manager of the Lumsden Bus depot ( when Lumsden still had rail and many bus services centring on Lumsden) went on to ministry in Tikanga Māori. He was made Pihopatanga  Bishop of Te Manawa o Te Wheke, centred in Waikato area, in 2005.

Vicar General Jan Clark read the secularisation section of the service, from Bishop Ross Bay,  Commissary for the Dunedin Diocese in the absence of a bishop. A group photo was then taken. Most people went to the Lumsden Memorial Hall to enjoy soup and cheese rolls followed by cutting of a thanksgiving cake by Eric & Rev’d Gillian-Mary Swift.

Telling More Stories

Story telling and greetings followed refreshments, with Rev’d Gillian- Mary Swift passing on best wishes for the future and thanks for the past ministry there from previous Dunedin Diocesan Bishop George Connor.

Gerald Harley spoke about the wonderful generous financial and caring support both he and Maureen received while they were doing mission work in Nepal after leaving Lumsden. Several years of second-hand book sales were run by the Parish to assist their outreach. Gerald remembered especially Rev’d Lachlan McKay’s brother-in-law, the famous All Black rugby player Sir Michael  Jones, speaking at the men’s dinner in Lumsden  to raise funds for mission and ministry there.  

Parishioner Maureen Soper (aged 92), remembered her life-long association with the church through her parents and godfather especially. She was baptised, confirmed and married in the old church. Her parents were married there too. On her way home from school she used to bike past her godfather who worked on the railway : as she pushed her bike over the railway line, he would call her over and ask her where she had been on Sunday, if he had not seen her at Church. It was a growling, and she knew she could not get away with being absent.

Rev’d Philip Robinson wrote  of his memories:

‘Waimea Plains was my first parish from March 1973 - July 1978. Adrienne and I  made many lifelong friends while there. In 1976 a lay readers training day produced approx 6 lay readers for the parish, several of whom later were ordained. 

The Kingston Flyer  and Lumsden Centennial were highlights as was the Mens’ Dinner of 1973 when Rob Muldoon came to speak. 208 men attended and the women catered. 

The August 1975 windstorm created havoc for many farmers.

Our 2 youngest children Grant and Vaughan were born at Lumsden. Aaron remembers the big hedge and the sheep we kept in the paddock. 

The vicarage was modernised in 1978 after a lamb drive fundraiser.  The best 10 lambs were given by Ian Gilkison and George Ruddenklau. Each lot were equal in weight and were valued at I think $614  for the 10. A lovely coincidence.

The district and people of those times will always be in our hearts.

God bless you all.’

Rev’d Vivienne Galletly from her role as a Chaplain at Dunedin Hospital also wrote

‘ I send my greetings and apologies to the gathering in Lumsden tomorrow, as I am on duty at the Hospital. I obviously have special memories of the Lumsden Church and the people of the Waimea Plains. I became a Lay Minister in 1989,   sharing leading  my first service and reflection with Eric Swift.  I was Deaconed there in  January 1995 with Gillian- Mary Swift and  celebrated at  my first  Communion service in September 1995. I have a photo of All Saints' on my living room wall  which reminds me of the 21 years I spent teaching in Lumsden and all the faithful people I met there and the influence they  had for good on me and my relationship with God. ‘

Many memories were shared of AAW gatherings, with the women always raising money from cake stalls and the like, for things needed for the church or for many different missions.

Sunday Schools set many people on their faith journeys , along with Youth Group activities, family camps and Sunday picnic services often up Dunrobin Valley. The cattle scheme was one of the big fundraisers  which local farmers contributed very generously to this.

Vicars (Reverends) across the years were:

• 1891 TS Stanley,

• 1892-1897 FE Watson,

• 1904-09 Wood,

• 1910 W Uphill,

• 1912 H Bathwayt,

• 1916 A Button,

• 1920 C Webb,

• 1922 G Lawrence,

• 1932 E Wilson,

• 1936 H Fallows,

• 1939 B Plumb,

• 1942 S Wood,  

• 1948 J Smith,

• 1952 W Hartley,

• 1958 John Greer,

• 1962 Les Steel,

• 1969  Blair Robertson,

• 1973- 1978 Philip Robinson,

• 1978- 82 Ken Light,

• 1983-86 Graeme Nicholas,

• 1987- 89 Lachlan MacKay,
  1989-2009 Chris J Rodgers.

Media Release

Diocesan Registrar, Andrew Metcalfe (sadly unable to be there) gave the following information to media inquiries:

"The decision to close any church building is never taken lightly but does happen when the (Anglican) faith community around it is no longer able to sustain it. There is a particular process we follow to do this, which includes (not necessarily in this order) any local faith community requesting that they be wound up and a Property Commission being formed to look at what the options for any buildings and other assets could be. The commission reports back to our Diocesan Council and Trust Board with recommendations that both groups consider and then act on.

 

In this case, there has been considerable deliberation, as some identified that Lumsden does have a strategic Anglican physical presence, but we were swayed by locals who said very clearly that they were unable to maintain the church buildings any longer. We are currently looking at what to do with the church and hall contents before readying the buildings and land for sale. In this situation (as with any closure) our rules stipulate that any sale proceeds “ …all property under its (the parish or church) control shall pass into the Diocese to be available for its general purposes, and shall be committed in the first instance to the Bishop to allow such arrangements to be made as will, in the opinion of the Bishop, carry out the mission of the Church in that area.” (Statute 3 clause 99).

 

It is sad to do this, unfortunately it a sign of the times, especially in many of our rural and isolated areas (and follows a similar pattern of the loss of other organisations and resources here). All Saints Lumsden was one of the last local churches that once made up the Waimea Plains Parish, with St Mary’s Waikaia being the last remaining place of Anglican worship. On a more positive note, we have been moving into developing a rural chaplaincy network and have found so far that this has attracted new people from a variety of faith contexts who are willing to support rural areas in new ways. We have also been supporting smaller congregations through a monthly on-line worship service called “the Church of the Scattered People of the Good Shepherd”, with  Lumsden Anglicans being part of this since its inception and also connecting to other online services.  

 

See also https://www.calledsouth.org.nz/making-tracks/ which gives some of the processes that we follow around any closure or faith community dissolution."

Other news articles from Allied Press and Stuff News:

Church for sale after 125 years: A final farewell has been held for an institution that has been part of the Lumsden community for about 125 years. A thanksgiving and secularisation service was held at All Saints Anglican Church on Sunday (The Ensign, 26 September 2024). Article also has a brief video.

Lumsden Church Farewelled with stories, flowers and ceremony: The decision to close Lumsden’s All Saints Anglican Church was both an emotional and practical one for the handful of remaining parishioners. The four were joined by more than 40 supporters and Christians from other denominations on Sunday to farewell the church and its almost 120 years of ministry in Northern Southland (The Southland Times, 24 September 2024). 

The original Church (wooden hall) at Lumsden was consecrated in 1890, and the current Church building was consecrated in August 1967.