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On Saturday, 1st July 1978, the Golden Jubilee celebrations of the Church of Our Lady and St. Charles took place at Keswick. His Lordship the Bishop presided over a Thanksgiving Mass which was celebrated by Bishop Pearsan along with priests of St. Thomas of Canterbury Deanery (which embraces by far the greater part of the Lake District) and others from further afield.
Originally Mass was provided in the Drill Hall by the Benedictines of Cockermouth, and a start was made to a new church in 1927. Unfortunately the money ran out before the design could be completed, and for more than thirty years the church had to make do with a temporary wooden facing at the entrance. It was blessed at its opening on 1st July. 1928. and the extensions were blessed on 9th May. 1965. The work which had been started by Father W.S.Dawes,.OSB., had been completed by Father S. Whiteside when he was parish priest of Keswick. The consecration took place on 4th November, 1972. In his Golden Jubilee address Bishop Pearson said "It is no wonder that today, July 1st 1978, fifty years after the opening of the church Monsignor Buxton, his parishioners, and the Diocese of Lancaster give thanks to God for a unique development in one of the most beautiful places in the land.” In the account written in this Directory following the completion of the church it was written. "The statement that a thing of beauty is a joy for ever may be rightly quoted in its application here, for you have now a Catholic church at Keswick matching the everlasting beauty of the Lakeland setting in which it is placed". and the late Monsignor Smith wrote in his own powerful descriptive style, "This is sheer joy! It is a corner site where the roads meet, and likely to become even more open when a roundabout is constructed on the demolition of some houses opposite. The church will never be crowded by other buildings. It stands free. It has space to breathe. The style is simple and strong, Norman in inspiration. Not only is the church built of local stone, but the interior walls are of the same material unplastered, unadorned. Proportion is the keyword. How grace is allied to strength. One can look, and look again with increasing certainty that everything is right It is an outstanding example of beauty in form ... it is undecorated beauty, which never becomes commonplace".
Outside the church a spacious car park provides an amenity so necessary for visitors. and an asset these days for every church, and the grounds have been planted with Lakeland trees, shrubs and plants. Part lawn, part flowerbeds, the surrounds themselves lend the whole vista an aspect of remarkable beauty. And there the church stands, a tribute to its countless benefactors from many parts of the world who have contributed towards its completion. The list is an impressive one and the Book of Benefactors has representatives from the old and new world.
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