Leeton's St Peter's Anglican Church to mark 50 years since the laying of its foundation stone

On Friday, March 3 the parish will mark the golden jubilee of the laying of the foundation stone of the church.

The foundation stone was laid at the "new church" in 1973 when it had become clear there was a need to construct a church building to replace the unusual mud brick original church.

That building was opened in 1915 and had been deemed unsafe for many years.

However, finding funds to build the new church was one of the major hurdles.

After many years, construction finally started and, in 1973, the new church started to take shape.

One of the major milestones happened on March 3, 1973 when Bishop Hunter laid the foundation stone.

Father Robert Murphy was looking forward to celebrating the 50^th anniversary of this occasion.

"We'll be having evensong on Friday, March 3, Bishop will be here and we will be having refreshments afterwards," he said.

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"Everyone is invited to attend. It's the first of our celebrations for our jubilee year.

"Our second celebration will be in November when we mark the dedication and the opening of the church 50 years ago.

"We have some parishioners who remember that day almost 50 years ago, it's living history for some of them.

"It's in living memory. The interesting thing is that even though it's now almost 50 years since the church was constructed, so many people still refer to it as the 'new church'."

The church building was designed by renowned ecclesiastical architect Louis R Williams.

"He was based in Melbourne and began his career in the 1920s, finishing in the mid-1970s," Fr Robert said.

"There are Louis Williams buildings in the area - places like Griffith, Hillston and Coleambally.

"However, St Peter's in Leeton is the last church he designed that was built in NSW."

The event will take place at St Peter's Church on Friday, March 3 at 6pm. RSVP to stpetersleeton@bigpond.com or call 0428 544 164.

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