Centenary
Celebrating 100 years of Bournville Parish Church, St Francis of Assisi (1925–2025)
Bournville Parish Church stands at the heart of the Bournville Village. Throughout 2025 we have been celebrating our centenary through a variety of services, events and projects.
In one way or another, each of these reflect the following:
1. Forward Looking
That whilst celebrating the history of both the Church and the Community Centre within our local community, all that is planned will be forward looking and consider, what legacy and vision would we like our activities to offer to Bournville in the next 100 years?
2. Community Focussed
These celebrations are not only about St Francis Church and the St Francis Youth and Community Centre, but about Bournville as a whole and the church and centre’s place within it.
3. Health and Wellbeing
That any of the activities and celebrations must be mindful of the enduring impact of Covid-lockdown, the social isolation that many experience, and associated mental illness within this and any community.
4. Inclusion
That all activities and celebrations make a point of reaching as broad a range of people with our community as possible, be it relating to their age, gender, religious identity, health and wellbeing, sexuality or ethnicity.
5. The Environment
That our Centenary activities and celebrations acknowledge and highlight the opportunities we have as a community to care for the environment.
You can find out more about our centenary year below:
Centenary Commemorative Book
Bournville Parish Church has published a Centenary Commemorative Book, ‘Celebrating Bournville and the Centenary of St Francis’ Church’ by Julie Farr & Catherine Pinnock. Read more here…
Packed with touching memories, remarkable stories, and fascinating facts contributed by the diverse people of Bournville, this 126-page book with full colour photos and illustrations not only celebrates Bournville village and the Church’s centenary year but provides a new record of life within this unique part of Birmingham.
As part of our Centenary celebrations, this wonderful book was launched on Bournville Heritage Open Day. Learn more about Heritage Open Day.
A Window for our Centenary Year
In anticipation of our Centenary, Bournville Parish Church commissioned Catherine Pinnock to design and create a new stained-glass window to complement the Peace Window she designed in 2005.
We wanted as many people as possible from our local community to be involved in this project to help inspire the final design. Over 2000 local residents were involved in this project.
The window was dedicated by the Bishop of Birmingham on Sunday 5 October as we celebrated St Francis Day, and we exhibited all of the art work that the community had created as part of the journey.
Catherine organised several community workshops throughout the spring and summer of 2024 in the church. These were attended by over 400 people of all ages who had a great time creating design ideas with paint, collage and mixed media.
You can learn more about our stained-glass artist, Catherine Pinnock, here
http://www.englishstainedglass.co.uk/profile.htm
This commission has been made possible by the Westhill Endowment, the Laurence James Cadbury Trust and local donations for which we are very thankful.
Art & Soul
In 2025, it was our delight to host our stained-glass artist, Catherine Pinnock’s workshop based on her stunning installation ‘Art & Soul’.
Catherine gifted this installation to the Westhill Endowment, https://www.westhillendowment.org/ and it began its tour of venues with us! Within this interactive installation, there were 12 paintings to choose from, and viewers are asked to ponder the questions:
- How do I feel today?
- How do I react to life?
- What it’s the colour of my soul?
It was a pleasure to engage with Catherine’s art in this way and has planted a seed for future thinking about how we at Bournville Parish Church, St Francis of Assisi utilise creative art in our worship.
Ocean World
The musical Ocean World by Peter Rose and Anne Conlon detailed the journey of a mother whale and her calf. Ocean World was originally shown on Channel 4's Fragile Earth series and narrated by Sir David Attenborough.
This moving story depicted the intricate beauty of our vast oceans, whilst conveying timely warnings about the devastating impact of coral mining, whaling ships, commercial fishing, oil spillages, and domestic, industrial, and nuclear waste.
With outstanding performances from our choirs and orchestra, as well as fully inclusive Music and Art workshops enjoyed by the local community, Ocean World was a centenary celebration to be proud of!
Learn more about caring for our oceans.
We are thankful to Stirchley Neighbourhood Network Scheme for sponsoring this event. Neighbourhood Network Scheme | Birmingham City Council
The 20:25 to Assisi
For the centenary of our church, dedicated to St Francis of Assisi, a group has created a new play about him with original music. Our attempt is to describe the real, young, energetic man behind the popular plaster saint covered in birds. We tell, as much as possible in his own words, of his dramatic renunciation of earlier life and family and his embracing poverty as a positive central virtue enabling him to live closely with the marginalised and rejected, to travel in order to confront and try to persuade those involved in war between Christian and Muslim, to see God Creator in all things and to offer worship in every aspect of living. He founded Orders for men and women to live in poverty in the world and for others, living ordinary, secular lives who are called to follow his example.
Nave Altar
As part of our Centenary Celebrations, we commissioned the brilliant Joe Warbrick, to design and craft a new nave altar for our church. Joe writes, “Storytelling is key to my furniture-making. Firstly, there is the story of the tree, from which the timber comes, then the story of the person or community behind the commission, the story of the making of the piece of furniture, then how the piece goes on to tell its own story as it absorbs layers of meaning from the place it stands and the people who use it.”
It was a wonderful moment in our Centenary year to have Bishop James Langstaff dedicate this magnificent altar, which will remain part of the legacy of our church for years to come.
Find out more by downloading An altar for st Francis by Joe warbrick.
If you would like to find out more about the incredible work of Joe Warbrick explore the following links:
A Community Orchard for Bournville
In 2023, the Inclusion, Accessibility and Engagement Group at St. Francis suggested to our PCC that we consider planting a community orchard on the green spaces around our church. This chimed well, both with the work that has been done over many years on our beautiful garden and having recently being given a Silver A-Rocha Eco-Church awar.
It also resonates with our Centenary year aspirations of being ‘Community Focussed’ and seeking more opportunities to care for the ‘Environment’.
Unlike most factory owners of the time, unmoved by the poor working and living conditions of their employees, the Cadbury brothers were different. In building Bournville, George and Richard Cadbury set out to give people a better quality of life. This village became a blue-print for other model villagers in Britain. Many have credited it with laying the foundations for the development of garden cities and introducing the benefits of open space into modern town planning.
With careful thought to our environmental legacy, the people of Bournville joined together in November 2025 to plant this small community orchard outside our church, inviting individuals, families, groups, or organisations to join us in sponsoring a tree.
You can learn more about Fruit and Nut Village who have providing invaluable support and guidance throughout this project here: Fruit & Nut Village - Charity - West Midlands
Inclusion, Accessibility, and Engagement
As an inclusive church, we celebrate diversity in all its forms, and strive to welcome people of all backgrounds, cultures, ethnicities, genders, sexualities, neurodiversities, and disabilities.
Mirroring God’s unconditional love for all is a central part of our church’s mission. Contrasting worship styles seek to hold space for the many different people in our local communities. You can learn more about our different types of worship here: https://bournville.designpreview.app/worship/
Our Inclusion and Engagement Group strives to listen closely and grow in understanding about our local communities. We hope that Bournville Parish Church can grow in it’s ability to welcome everybody.
We are proud to be part of Inclusive Church and the work that they do. You can learn more about Inclusive Church here: https://www.inclusive-church.org/
Bournville Heritage Open Day
A real delight in our Centenary Celebrations was Bournville Heritage Open Day.
Highlights of this day of celebrations included the much anticipated unveiling of our new stained glass window design, our beautifully illustrated commemorative book, a glorious chocolate model of the church, crafted by Cadbury chocolatiers, a live steam floor-level railway layout showcasing a miniature Bournville Village, the incredible Acquisitions and Secrets Exhibition, featuring rare archival images and revealing untold stories about the church's past, a fantastic vintage car display, a decade-by-decade collection of wedding photographs, reflections from Bournville’s youth on life in the village, a community-wide survey exploring Bournville’s evolving identity, and, of course, delicious food and drink!
Bournville Heritage Open Day was the perfect way to rejoice in the rich past and vibrant future of Bournville Parish Church, St Francis of Assisi, and the wonderful community around us!
You can learn more about Heritage Open Days here: https://birminghamheritageweek.co.uk/