Prague Journal—09.07.15 (England)

This morning cousin Andrew and his wife Heather took Uncle John and me into downtown Manchester to the cathedral.

Our grandfather was a “joiner” and worked for a company of craftsmen that produced and installed (among other things) carved wooden decorations in churches. They did a magnificent carved oak organ screen in the parish church here in Wilmslow. Uncle John said they also did a lot of work in a side chapel in the cathedral dedicated to the Manchester Regiment. Andy had never seen it, so we decided to go have a look.

The chapel is beautiful. My granddad and his colleagues build cabinets to contain books in which are inscribed the names of the men of the regiment who, going back into the 17th century, had perished in one battle or another. The pages are turned on a regular basis, so that all the names are on display during the course of a year.

The interesting thing about this installation is that having done all the work in about 1936, the cathedral was hit by a German bomb in 1940, and the chapel was largely destroyed. So after the war, the same men came back in and did all the work over a second time!

The oak panelling is a gorgeous, warm brown. The chapel is still used for weddings, baptisms, and memorial services by the members of the regiment.