Patricia Returns to Cathedral She Helped to Build

A 92-year-old care home resident has paid a personal visit to the cathedral she played a small part in helping to build more than 70 years ago.

Patricia, who lives at Colten Care’s Chichester home Wellington Grange, was on a minibus trip to Guildford Cathedral when she told carers of her contribution.

As a 20-year-old student in 1954, she took part in a national buy-a-brick campaign designed to raise funds for the place of worship’s construction.

She recalled travelling from her family home in Farnham to deliver her sponsored brick, engraved with her name, while it was a building site.

Her visit with Wellington Grange was the first time she had actually entered the cathedral itself.

Patricia said: “My daily routine as a student at Guildford College in the 50s took me past the cathedral as it was being built. I observed that activity every day but never imagined I would personally become part of it.

“One day a brick arrived at my family home engraved with my name. It was a complete surprise, and a gift under the buy-a-brick campaign.

“I was so honoured and proud when my family went with me to deliver the brick to the cathedral authorities.

“In the years since then I have passed by many times but it is only now that I have stepped inside.

“I was absolutely delighted by the beauty of the building. It was a moving moment for me, with a sense of history.”

Lana, Companionship Team Leader at Wellington Grange, said: “This began as a cultural and spiritual visit but soon became a very special journey down memory lane.

“Patricia has passed the cathedral many times throughout her life since she delivered her brick, but this visit marked the very first time she had stepped inside.

“Although no records confirm the actual position where her brick sits inside the cathedral, its presence has pride and meaning for her.

“Even without photographs to capture the moment she delivered it, the memory has stayed with her for decades.”

Guildford Cathedral is one of only three cathedrals built in the 20th century in the UK.

Planning began in 1928 with recognition that Guildford’s Holy Trinity Church, the town’s longstanding place of worship, was steadily proving too small.

An architect was appointed but due to the Second World War all work stopped and there was little progress for another decade or so. Finally, after wartime restrictions were lifted, efforts to complete the cathedral restarted.

Fund-raising began again, this time needing to secure four times the original estimate of £250,000, hence the idea of a national buy-a-brick campaign.

Launched in 1952, it saw more than 200,000 people buy a brick for 2s 6d (12½p) with the opportunity to have a name inscribed on it. The bricks were made from clay taken from Stag Hill on which the cathedral stands.

Subscribers came not only from the Diocese of Winchester but across the country.

Groups of school children clubbed together to buy a brick, some were bought in memory of loved ones and others were contributed to mark wedding celebrations.

A note on the cathedral website reads: “To this day, many people feel they have a personal link with the cathedral because of the scheme.

“Completion of the building was only made possible through the campaign’s success and the generosity of the brick-givers.”