I have such treasured memories of my time there. Not just the Baldwin's, but the whole church family and community. Flo's piano playing. The kids who would run up to the car when I parked on the road alongside the church and promise to look after it whilst I was doing whatever I needed to do. (Having a few young minders was a good thing!) Remembrance Day services when there were 5 or 6 war widows in the congregation who lost their husbands in the Second World War. The gentleman who every Remembrance Day service would take me aside before the service and say, 'Now don't give us any crap about lives being given. They weren't given, they were taken'.
During the war years Liverpool had been blitzed by the Nazi war machine. Memories of those dark years still ran deep for many. The effects were long lasting as I discovered one morning when I was late for a service because an unexploded bomb had been discovered along the route I took from the manse to the church!
I remember the Brigade Parade Sundays. Even got to serve for a while as a District Chaplain and we marched with other groups in the city. Singing "At the Name of Jesus" to the fiesty tune! Not to mention "Will your anchor Hold" Even one time one of my own songs on the guitar for a Girls Brigade service, "If you want to be beautiful, really, really beautiful, Here's what you must do. look after your body, look after your mind, but most of all take care that you're beautiful inside", and how for weeks after the kids would sing it back at me in their rich and beautiful Scouse accents.Only time I ever used that song (which is almost cringeworthy corny) but oh my!
There were sad times. The Harvest service when they decorated the church so beautifully, only to arrive in the morning and found someone had broken in and taken the offerings and food baskets. Some were so ironic they made you laugh in disbelief. Like the time we passed the collection plate around and the last person took it, and then legged it out the door taking the money with him. In the elders meeting later in the week, they were cross... not because of the money, but because they hadn't been able to get the plate back!
Other sad times. The funeral for the lady who lived there all her life and had never locked her door. But some lowlife barged their way in and knocked her down the stairs ending her life. Wonderful people in the church and community who left us way too young. It was such a close knit community. Folk would greet you with 'Hello love' no matter who you were. Small, closely packed, terraced houses, inhabited by people who never had much in the way of worldly wealth but would give you the shirt off their back if they thought you needed it.
That was then.This is now. Springwell Road opened her doors in 1902 and was the first church to be built in Orrell, Bootle. By 2008 the church had declined to only 16 people with £200,000 needed for renovations to keep it open. As you can see from the picture, it is not just the church that has been closed down, the whole community is slated for redevelopment.
Probably just as well they didn't spend all that money renovating! It breaks my heart to see the way the area has gone. Hard to believe that what once was thriving, living and active is now no more.
I'm sure there is a lesson in this somewhere. You can't say that they declined because of any lack of commitment or faithlessness on the part of the members and leadership. There were no church splits, doctrinal disputes or falling outs. They were a wonderful congregation.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot". I was privileged to have enjoyed sunny days at Springwell Road.
I now serve a church, on the other side of the Ocean, in a town called 'Baldwin.' Whilst it's not named after the saints of Springwell Road, Frank and Mary, it's still hard to say 'Baldwin' without thinking of them and the community associated with their congregation. Life goes on. We have to make the most of the moment, because we never know what the future may hold. At least while we are of sound mind we still have memories to treasure and some great stories to reflect upon.
There is no doubt in my mind that God blessed Frank and Mary Baldwin and through them the church at Springwell Road and the community they served. Maybe the best we can hope for is that the seasons of our own lives may also be a blessing to somebody :-)
