Oldham all set for Whit walks

OLDHAMERS across the borough are preparing to celebrate Whitsunday which commemorates the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles.

Greenacres Independent Methodist Church; St Barnabas, Clarksfield; and Holy Trinity, Waterhead; will join together for a service at Trevarrick Court, Greenacres, at 2.30pm.

Churches in Lees will meet at Ashbourne House residential home at 1pm before marching down Hartshead Street, along Thomas Street, Spring Lane and West Street and heading to St Thomas’s Leesfield Church for a service and band concert.

St Paul’s Church, Hathershaw; and St Thomas’s, Werneth; will be joined by Right Rev Mark Davies, the Bishop of Middleton, for their walk at 10am. They will march along Schofield Street and Windsor Road before stopping at Coppice Care Home for hymns and prayers. They will continue marching along Stuart Street, Wellington Road, Lee Street, Ashton Road and Broadway Street before hymns and prayers at Boston House care home.

North Chadderton churches will meet for a service at Chadderton Hall Park at 3pm. South Chadderton Methodist, Christ Church CE, St Saviour’s CE, Emmanuel CE, St George CE and Crossley Christian Centre will set out at 1.30pm taking in Block Lane, Coalshaw Green Road, Turf Lane and Long Lane before finishing on Eaves Lane with accompaniment from African and Brazilian band 4U.

Reverend David Jones will lead a special service at St Paul’s Church in Rochdale Road. Shaw. While St Paul’s, Royton, will leave church at 10.45am for Church Street, Middleton Road, Rochdale Road and Sandy Lane, where they will be joined by Trinity Methodist Church. St Paul’s will then host lunch before a benediction service at 2.30pm.

The congregation at Holy Trinity, Bardsley, will set off at 1.45pm and join Keb Lane Methodist Church, Bardsley. They will walk to Hathershaw with a brass band and return to their churches for a service at 3pm. In Failsworth, six churches will meet at Hope Methodist at 2pm and proceed to St Mary’s Church for an open-air service.

The Association of Hollinwood Churches includes Limeside Methodist Church, Hollins Methodist Church, St Margaret and St Chad’s Church, Beulah Baptist and United Reformed Church, and Hollinwood United Reformed Church. Each church will make its way to the Netto car park in Hollins Road at 12.30pm for a joint 30-minute service.

Woodhouses Church will set off at 9.10am and Tottington Silver Band will provide the music.

In the town centre, Oldham Parish Church will set off at 10.30am with the United Reformed Church and the Unitarian Chapel. They will stop for a service outside Spindles and continue to Oldham Baptist Church.