WEST PATIENCE LAKE (S’toon) — A landmark heritage Bishop Lloyd Church, Christ Church West Patience Lake, welcomed over 90 visitors to an open church and barbecue Fundraiser on July 18, where $3,800 was raised.
This event brought the community and the church together for the cause of the little heritage church and attests to the generosity of those who attended. Special for the open church event was a display of posters, photographs and other documentation that showed the life of the church over the decades and the history of the original gifts from England to this mission church.
People came to the open church and barbecue from the local RM of Blucher, nearby RM of Aberdeen, and Saskatoon, with special visitors from Saskatoon’s sister church of St. Matthew’s and the Rev. Peter Coolen, archivist for the Diocese of Saskatoon and honorary assistant at Christ Church, Saskatoon.
The attendees were a wide range of ages, with many young people curious about this pioneer church built in 1908.
Rich in documented history
Christ Church West Patience Lake was originally part of a three-point charge along with St. Helen’s East Patience Lake and St. Matthew’s, Sutherland. Sutherland was then a town near, and to the east of, Saskatoon and west of Patience Lake.
Christ Church, West Patience Lake was the smallest of the three sizes of Anglican “ready to build” wooden churches. A generous British sponsor, Mrs. Jesse Roberts, paid for the church materials, organ, and complete furnishings, dedicating the church to her late husband as the Walsham Memorial Church.
The Griffiths family homesteaded in the Patience Lake area. The father contributed to the building of both of the Patience Lake churches and young ‘Joe’ Griffiths, namesake of Griffiths’ Stadium and first professor of athletics at the U of S, organized races and ball games for the church picnics of the joint St. Helen’s and Christ Church’s congregations. Scratch the surface and there is a story.
An early minister to this church was Rev. Hedley Holmes, later the rector of St. George’s, Saskatoon. He was one of the first 40 student ministers (the so-called “Fifty”) recruited in England by Rev. G.E. Lloyd, (the namesake of Lloydminster, minister to the Barr colonists and principal of the College of Emmanuel; later the College of Emmanuel & St. Chad).
The Rev. Holmes and his son, the Rev. Arthur Holmes, maintained an active interest in the little rural church and its early history. This is where the Rev. Hedley met and later married his wife, Elsie Lawley. Elsie’s brother Alan, a young apprentice who worked on St. John’s Cathedral, added the distinctive chancel to this, his home church, in 1913.
Hands on heritage
As soon as you enter the oversized wooden door, the original wood-panelled interior lit by natural light streaming through the side and chancel windows, lined with coloured glass, past the hand-carved sets of dark wood pews, sets a scene from over 100 years ago.
There is no electricity here, but the “pump” reed organ still plays hymns. The lectern with a special large-print Bible, the minister’s prayer kneeler, the wooden altar decked in heavy green liturgical cloth and the carved wooden bishop’s chair all contribute to the ambience.
A new foundation and more needed
Located at a very prominent location at the crossroads of highways 5 and 316 resulted in the church having to be moved off its original stone foundation to make way for a service road in 1969. Now, the replacement concrete blocks of that newer foundation are cracking and the repair work required has a modern price tag.
The committee that oversees this designated heritage property (partly composed of members of St. Matthew’s Parish) hopes to raise funds to make sure the old church once again has not only a firm foundation, but also a repaired turret, fixed leaks from the weather and some outside restorative carpentry and paint on the siding and turret.
It was originally estimated that this repair work would cost $57,000 and exterior painting an additional $5,700. Since this estimate was completed, the committee has found that an engineering plan for the work is required before foundation work can begin; the cost of this is estimated at $4,000.
The delay caused by getting the engineering plan done has meant that getting the foundation work accomplished this year is becoming increasingly unlikely.
Interior repair, which was to begin the second year, was estimated at $29,000. With the setback for the foundation work, the committee has decided to go ahead in 2026 with the turret repair, siding and leak repair and the painting of the exterior while the church remains on its old foundation
The quest goes on as the committee attempts to get as much work done this year as possible, grateful for this initial response. Anyone wishing to contribute to this cause will be issued a charitable tax receipt for their donation as long as name and address are clearly spelled with the contribution.
Donations can be received by either cheque to Christ Church Patience Lake mailed to Box 285, RR9 Saskatoon, SK S7K 1P3 or e-transfer using the email [email protected]. Or to the Canada Helps website at https://www.canadahelps.org/en/dn/148384. A GoFundMe Community Heritage Building page also exists.
All donations are gratefully received in the cause of preserving this landmark church.