These are the history pieces which appeared in the Batley St. Mary of the Angels and Birstall St. Patrick’s bulletin during February 2026. As the parishes are jointly administered and a single bulletin produced, the history pieces are not solely focused on St. Mary of the Angels, although St. Patrick’s was not formed as a separate parish until 1905. Prior to that it was part of St. Mary’s.
As part of the St. Mary of the Angels One-Place Study I have written in more detail about some of these events, and where this is the case the link to the fuller piece is included.
07/08 February 2026
On Wednesday 13 February 1952 a coffee supper and social, organised by members of the Children of Mary, was held at St. Mary’s R.C. school hall. The main feature of the entertainment was a programme of square dancing. A dance involving eight couples in a square formation, this was a rage which had swept America and was now becoming popular over in England, after being greatly enjoyed by the then Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip on their 1951 tour of Canada (she acceded to the throne on 6 February 1952, only days before the St. Mary’s gathering). The St. Mary’s event marked the dance’s introduction to Batley.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
14/15 February 2026
This week in 1950, former St. Mary’s schoolboy, footballer and parishioner Private Martin Leech, of the Ox and Bucks Regiment, was a working as a telephone orderly at the Helmstedt check-point (Checkpoint Alpha), on the demarcation zone between British and Soviet occupation zones of Germany. His job also involved checking British and Allied vehicles travelling to and from Berlin, over 100 miles away. Only 100 yards from the Russian controlled zone, Checkpoint Alpha was described as one of the loneliest postings in the British Army of the Rhine. A former window cleaner, he had continued in the regular army after serving during the Second World War. He was in Berlin throughout the Russian blockade, from June 1948 to May 1949. Now housed in a hunting lodge surrounded by pine forests, he spent most of his spare time hunting, and on a recent expedition brought back 148 hares, some of which were given to the German authorities and the rest used to supplement British Army rations.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
21/22 February 2026
On 23 February 1934, James and Mary Ann Walker of Birstall celebrated their Golden Wedding. The couple married at the old St. Anne’s Cathedral, Leeds and came to Birstall at the turn of the 20th century, being associated with St. Patrick’s from its establishment as a parish in 1905. Born in Leeds, as a boy James won many medals for swimming. He was also a well-known gymnast, travelling with Pablo’s Circus on an eight-month tour of England, performing on the horizontal bar and trapeze. Famous in the Victorian era for its extraordinary shows, its proprietor Pablo Fanque (born William Darby) was Britain’s first black circus owner. There is a Blue Plaque for him in Leeds, a city with which he is very much associated. A Pablo Fanque circus poster was the inspiration for the Beatles song “Being for the Benefit of Mr. Kite”, from their 1967 Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band album, and Pablo is immortalised in the lyrics. James’ circus career with them was ended in an instant when he awoke one morning with his arms locked with rheumatism. He went on to work as an iron moulder until his retirement in around 1928. The couple had five surviving children.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
28 February/01 March 2026
At the beginning of March 1860 Father Timothy O’Connell, of the Batley St. Mary’s mission, wrote to Catholic papers about the unclaimed numbers in the raffle organised to raise funds to build a Catholic church and school to serve the area. At this point the nearest church was in Dewsbury, so local Catholics in Batley, Birstall and surrounding areas were celebrating mass in makeshift accommodation. Neither was there a school building. The raffle was intended to be drawn at Christmas 1859, and was advertised in the Catholic press nationally. With prizes including a gold watch valued at £12, ticket demand was so high that the draw did not take place until February 1860. Father O’Connell announced that it had made a profit of £130, or over £16,000 at current values.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
Past To Present Genealogy 