1905
21 September 1905
New Church of England at Running Stream.
Foundation Stone to be Laid by Archdeacon Dunstan.
The hon. sec. of the trustees writes: -
"In a recent issue you were kind enough to publish a paragraph with mention to the new church being built at Running Stream, and my reason for now troubling you is to place a few facts relating to that church before you.
In the first place, I might say that Running Stream is situated on the Mudgee-Capertee road, 10 miles from the latter place, and 42 miles from Mudgee.
The church at present in use was built about 35 or 40 years ago, of wood, and is now past all repair. At a meeting held in May last it was decided to build a new church. Mr. D. R. Howard, J.P., of this place, had purchased a small block of ground (2 acres) adjoining his orchard and fronting the main road, which he gave to the people of Running Stream (free of all charges whatever) for religious purposes on condition that it was vested in the local trustees, and would be used by all Protestant denominations. This has already been done, and worked commenced on the building.
The land was covered with a luxuriant scrub. This has been cleared and half of the land has been stubbed, while the immediate site for the building has been levelled ready for the base course.
The stone for this portion has been quarried by the residents of this district, under the charge of Mr. Alfred Davis.
The carting of the stone, as well as other carrying required, is being done by Mr. David Brown.
The expense to the committee so far has been practically nil.
It is the intention of the committee to call tenders for the erection of the walls shortly, which will be duly advertised.
As the district is only a small one I'd I think they have done exceedingly well as shown above; they have also raised about £25), the committee would be pleased to receive any help from outside the district to help on the work, as they think that God's house should be the best in a district.
The foundation stone (as per advt.) will be laid on Wednesday, 28th inst., by Archdeacon Dunstan, and on the same day there will be a tea-meeting and concert in aid of the funds.
The Church will be built of rubble, with squared facings, with a porch in front. It will be 35ft. long by 20ft. wide, inside measurement: the porch ? by 6ft1
.
1906
18 September 1906
RUNNING STREAM.
The opening ceremony in connection with the new church at Running Stream took place on Thursday, the 6th inst., in the presence of a large gathering of friends from the surrounding districts. The event was celebrated by a tea and public meeting.
The Venerable Archdeacon Dunstan, of Mudgee, officiated.
The day previous to the opening, willing workers met on the church grounds for a bee, and made preparations for the function next day. By noon on Friday quite a crowd had gathered, and after tea, served at noon, the people wended their way up the hill to the church, where the public meeting was held, the building being taxed to its utmost capacity. Mr. W. J. Galagher, of Capertee, presided. In his address he dwelt at some length on the progress which the Running Stream people had made in respect to the building of their new church, and congratulated them upon the beautiful building they had erected.
Mr. D. R. Howard, hon. secretary to the trustees, read a financial statement, also letters of apology from Revs. E. P. Lowe, J. H. Harris, A. D. Robertson, W. J. Dunstan, E. H. Walker, Stuart Wright, Dean Marriott, Messrs. J. Hurley, M.L.A., Joseph Cook, M.H.R., and T. Jessep, M.L.A. The list of subscribers was next read. The financial statement showed the total cost of the new church to be £180, irrespective of free labor being given by the residents for quarrying and carting stone, also sand and lime. The total receipts up to date (exclusive of this day's takings) were £110, leaving a debt on the building of £70.
Mr. Dean, of Mudgee, congratulated the Stream people upon the work they had carried out in building such a beautiful little church, and offered some good advice respecting the use of the building and the keeping of the Sabbath day.
The Rev. A. Brown, of Rylstone, gave a telling address. He congratulated the people upon the building of their hand some stone church, which would be as a monument handed down to future generations. He was glad to know it was a church the doors of which were to be thrown open to all Protestant denominations, which would increase its usefulness.
(Parts of the next two paragraphs were illegible)
The ceremony of opening and dedicating the church was now proceeded with by the Ven. Archdeacon Dunstan. Special psalms, hymns and anthems were sung by a strong choir. Mr. H. Howard presided at the organ. Rev. A. Brown read the lesson taken from 1 Kings vm, 22-62 from an ancient Bible which was printed in 1772, in old English line, and was lent for the occasion by Mrs. H. Nevell of "Chester," who is the owner of the book. This Bible was used at the opening of the first Church of England at Kelso, also at the opening of St. John's Church of Mudgee.
The Ven. Archdeacon Dunstan preached an impressive sermon from Lev. xix, 30 v.. | ill lie- course of which he said he mil j very t'l'.n i bed and hullo lire I t le-ing ask- j C(l ' to open their beautiful little church, f ,. .11 -W.aajii.'J. upotl t-.WotVe Tte,ie.thJi.. ego that he laid the foundation stone of that i-luiture, and now it was completed and was asked to open and dedicate it. He hoped the church would be the spiritual birthplace of many souls, and he heartily congratulated the Running Stream people upon their noble work of self-sacrifice, labour, and love in building God's house.
Before the close of the service a collection was taken upon behalf of the church debt, during which time members of the choir rendered a quartette entitled. 'Beautiful Golden Gate." The Archdeacon closed the service with prayer and benediction.
Tea was again served in the marquee, at 5 p.m., which closed the day's proceedings. The whole affair passed off most successfully, which was most gratifying to all concerned. The takings for the day amounted to about £25. The ladies of Running Stream, Mesdames D. R. Howard, R. Clifford, A. C. Davis. D. Brown, E. A. Howard, F. Mansfield, H. D. Howard, W. Leighton, jun., G. Tindall, J. Oliver, H. Stephenson, provided the tea and refreshments free of charge.
Following is a description of the church: Dimensions, 35 x 20 clear inside; walls, 11ft high, 16ft to ceiling: windows and doors, true Gothic, with neat porch at eastern end; walls built of freestone, dressed facings; roof built of Oregan timber; corrugated iron covering, patent steel ceilings; the furniture, 14 seats, 8ft long, are of Maryborough pine, varnished; reading desk and Communion rails of same materials; the Communion is furnished with table, two chairs, carpet, table-cloth, the aisle with cocoa-fibre matting, the west-end windows (3) are of stained glass, and look very neat, the side windows (6) are of tinted cathedral glass, pretty in design. The west-end windows, Communion table, chairs, carpet, cloth, and matting, were gifts to the church2
.
1909
26 April 1909
RUNNING STREAM.
(From our own Correspondent.)
The annual harvest festival thanksgiving service took place in St. John's Church on Tuesday last. The. Rev. H. G. Chivers, of Rylstone, officiated. The church was beautifully decorated with flowers, evergreens, fruit, and vegetables, corn, wheat, etc. A special feature was an offering of a dressed sheep, also dairy produce. All the offerings were disposed of by bruce auction at the close of the service. The proceeds amounted to £7 odd3
.