These are the history pieces which appeared in the Batley St Mary of the Angels and Birstall St Patrick’s bulletin during April 2025. 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 s separate parish until 1905. Prior to that it was part of St Mary’s.
03/04 May 2025
On Sunday 1 May 1949 Miss Moya Hill was crowned the first St. Mary’s May Queen since the wartime year of 1940. She wore a full skirted dress of white figured satin with fitted bodice and cowl at the back. Her embroidered veil was carried by her page boys Dennis King and David Preston, who wore white satin suits. Monica Kershaw, in white lace over satin, and with a wreath of pink and blue rosebuds, was cushion bearer. The procession was headed by altar boys led by cross-bearer Tom Brennan. Children of Mary came next, in white veils and preceded by their banner carried by Renee Kelly and streamed by Rita Kelly, Dorothy Levitt, Mary Woodhead and Winnie Rowe. Members of the Guild of St Agnes, in their pale blue cloaks followed – their banner, carried by Mary Rowe, and streamed by M. Travers, D. Heaps, J. Beaumont and N. Allen. The statue of Our Lady was carried by M. Prendergast, E. Sharp, K. Gooder and A. Moran. When the Queen had crowned the statue of Our Lady, the Benediction was given by Father O’Brien.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
10/11 May 2025
On 8 May 1878 Father Charles Gordon officiated at the Batley cemetery burial of St. Mary’s parishioner William Doogan, a 68-year-old Dublin-born power loom weaver. Around 15-20,000 people attended the service, with people lining the processional route’s streets, and the cemetery almost full to capacity. For on 25 October 1854 Private William Doogan of the 13th Light Dragoons had taken part in the Crimean War’s iconic Charge of the Light Brigade, and was one of the 600 immortalised in Alfred Lord Tennyson’s famous poem. The Light Brigade suffered catastrophic casualties that day. Of the 130 13th Light Dragoons who went into action, only 61 returned. After his discharge from the army, William settled in Batley.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
For more information about the life of William Doogan click here.
17/18 May 2025
On Monday 18 May 1953 Alderman Fred Walker was installed as Mayor of Batley. Pupils from local schools attended the Mayor-making ceremony. Harry Cain attended from St Mary’s Boys’ School, Patricia Bentley was the St Mary’s Mixed School attendee, and Peter Costello and Maureen McCarthy were the representatives from St. Patrick’s
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
24/25 May 2025
On 23 May 1955 schoolgirl Mary Harkin (14) became the youngest Mayoress in the history of Batley when her uncle, Councillor James (Jimmy) Harkin, was inaugurated as the first Catholic Mayor of Batley. A bachelor, he chose his niece as his Mayoress, when in March he accepted the Council’s invitation to become Mayor for the forthcoming year.
Mary was the eldest of Frank and Dorothy Harkin’s seven children, and lived at the Commercial Hotel, Clerk Green, where her father was the landlord. A former St. Mary’s pupil and parish May Queen in 1951, she won a scholarship for Notre Dame Collegiate School, Leeds, where she had been a pupil for the last three years.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
31 May/01 June 2025
On 28 May 1922 around 210 school children, members of the Guild of the Sacred Heart, Children of Mary, members of the Order of Foresters, and the congregation of St Patrick’s Church took part in the Birstall Roman Catholic annual Whitsuntide procession. Birstall Old Band headed the procession, supported by a flute band of Catholic boys from Halifax. The statue of Mary was carried by four young men. Miss Nora Costello, the May Queen, was attended by Masters James Higgins and Bernard Brannan as page boys. Miss Frances Lyons was crown bearer. Large crowds watched as the procession passed along Low Lane, Huddersfield Road, Bradford Road, and Kirkgate, back to the Church where Father Russell conducted the service.
Jane Roberts – Parish Historian, Website: https://pasttopresentgenealogy.co.uk
Past To Present Genealogy 