The first Anglican service in Ridgetown was held on November 3, 1878. The following Easter, a Vestry was organized and named the Church of the Advent as suggested by Bishop Baldwin. The cornerstone was laid in July 1884 and the Church officially opened on July 5, 1885. Please note that the Church was completed in about 9 months that included the winter.

Morning attendance at the official opening was 400, with 200 at the afternoon service and another 450 at evensong. The Rectory was built in 1900 and the first family to live in the Rectory was Reverend and Mrs. F.M. Baldwin. How many of you have heard or felt the ghost of Mrs. Smith in our Rectory? In 1907, the Church basement was excavated and made into a Sunday School room as well as an all purpose meeting room. This remained the meeting room until the 1940’s when the old gymnasium was purchased from the High School and moved to its present site as our Parish Hall. The first organ was purchased for the Church in 1898 and it required hand pumping. Electric lights were installed in the Church in 1914.

We have had the children of 5 rectors go on to become ministers in the Anglican Church. They are: Reginald Scott, Stuart Brownlee, Howard Hamilton, Derwyn Jones and Robert Bennett. For the record, 2 of these gentlemen have gone on to become Bishops in our Diocese as did former Rector Carman Queen.

Our Church is filled with many memorial gifts but perhaps the most lasting memorials are our stained glass windows. In 1955, Canon John Smith designed a scheme of windows that depict the life of Christ. The center panel in the East window depicts Christ Teaching. The north panel is of St. John and the south panel is of St. Paul. The other windows show the Nativity, the Resurrection, the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus in the Carpenters shop, Jesus blessing the little children, the Baptismal window, the Sower’s window and the Good Shepard window.

The Church was first redecorated in 1947 and 1948 and this lasted until 1996 when it was done again. This time, the walls were removed and insulation placed in the walls before drywall and painting was completed.

The first recorded baptism in our Parish was that of James Presling. The first recorded marriage was that of John Savage and Fanny Medcalf on December 3, 1884. The first recorded marriage in the Church was between Charles Bruce Kelly and Lottie Vanderlip on June 4, 1891. The first baptism in the Church was Mabel Irene Kennedy on August 17, 1886.

Our ministers up to the formation of the Parish of the Transfiguration have been: Rev. Wm. M. Shore, Rev. A.B.B. Burt, Rev. Wm. E. Scott, Rev. Edwin Lee, Rev. F.M. Baldwin, Rev. W.F. Brownlee, Rev. A.L. Murray, Rev. A. Shore, Rev. T.J. Hamilton, Rev. S.S. Hardy, Rev. P. Powell, Rev. Wm. Wallace, Rev. Walter Jones, Rev. J. H. Geoghagen, Rev. Carman J. Queen, Rev. Douglas Henry, Canon J. H. Smith, Rev. Dennis Ewald, Rev. Lewis Dixon, Rev. Wm. Bennett, Rev. Gary Oldridge, Rev. John Marsh, Rev. Stephen Oldham, Rev. Rob Skirving, Rev. David Pickett, Rev. Jim Carr, and Rev. Heather Robinson.

…by Allen Ure

Ron Bolohan (Warden)
Jenny Tscharke (Warden)
Carol Knight (Treasurer)
Jane Baldwin-Marvell (Parish Officer)
Gail Baldwin (Parish Officer)
Elaine Bolohan (Parish Officer)

Jenny Tscharke (Organist)
Gail Baldwin (Organist)