The Birth of St Michaels

Mr. Templeton proposed:

“That the action of the Special Vestry Meeting held on the 17^th day of July, 1975, declining to give it’s approval to the purchase of Holding no. 37, Weltevreden Park, be rescinded and that the aforementioned holding no 37, be purchased by the Johannesburg Diocesan Trustees at a purchase price of R26 000 and that such property be held for the benefit of the Florida/Maraisburg Parish with the ultimate intention of it’s being used for ecumenical purposes to the approval of the said Trustees and of the Rector and Churchwardens of the Parish.

That all steps be taken by the Rector and Churchwardens to date in connection with the aforesaid purchase be hereby notified and confirmed that that they be empowered to take such further steps as shall be requisite and necessary for the purpose of acquiring the said property.”

This was the proposal made to a Special Vestry Meeting, held on the 30^th July 1975, in the St. Gabriel’s Church Hall, which set in motion historic wheels, for that was the conception of the Chapelry of St. Michael’s and All Angels.

A Varied and stormy road lay ahead, unbeknown to all concerned and it is here that the story of St Michael’s and All Angels, Weltevreden Park must begin.

In 1975, the area of Weltevreden Park was truly in its infancy, by promised to expand in a short space of time, and this it has done.  The Rector of St. Gabriel’s Parish at that time, the Revd. Ronald Stribling Day, felt, and indeed knew, that there was a great need for a church to be established in the area.  Prompted by a commitment to seek unity between the Methodist, Presbyterian, Congregational and Anglican Churches, a Ministers fraternal was established in Florida.

Fr. Day, in close collaboration with the Churchwardens of St. Gabriel’s and the Ministers of the Methodist and United Church of Florida, investigated the buying of a suitable plot in the Weltevreden Park area.  Approval from the Diocesan Trustees was sought, and obtained.  Three sites in Panorama (an area of agricultural holdings adjoining Weltevreden Park) were investigated, and it was Holding no. 37 that was found to be the most suitable.

The original intention was that the Anglican, Methodist and United Churches split the cost 3 ways and build up an Ecumenical Centre.  However, at the time, the Methodist and United Churches found that they were not in a position to contribute, but hoped to do so at a future time.  Therefore, St Gabriel’s Parish decided to purchase the land themselves.

A bond was applied for through the Allied building Society for R16000, which was duly approved, and work began on the transfer of ownership.  The balance of the purchase price was taken from St Gabriel’s funds and a request was also made to the Diocesan Finance Board.  Matters were progressing nicely, thanks to the efforts of Mr. Tunnell, Mr. Ian Templeton, Mr. Rex Pearson and Mr. M J Morris.

The first hint of trouble came in February 19786, when the advice came that transfer could not be effected as the property was required for ecclesiastical purposes and had in fact been declared an agricultural holding.  There was some “polite talking” with the authorities and it was hoped that this matter had been cleared up – it hadn’t! but that was later!

Having acquired the land, a meeting was arranged between Revd R Alistoun, Dr Jack Delziel, Revd. Joe Wing and their representatives and Fr Day, Mr. Templeton Mr. Morris and Mr. Pearson with the view of drawing up a Constitution for a Trust to handle the Weltevreden Park project.  Ideas were thrown about, but nothing concrete emerged.

It was now June, and the matter of the Change of Title of the property was still unresolved, and John Morris continued his unstinting investigations.

In the meantime, a canvassing of the people of Weltevreden Park was undertaken by Mr. J. Montgomery, Mr. P Johnston and Mr. D. Jenkinson, to ascertain the general feeling of the people in the area.

During the period that followed, there was little progress.  It was discovered that there were mineral rights on the property, and this fact did not help the efforts of those trying to procure a change of title.  The economic climate brought development almost to a standstill, or at least \reduced the tempo of the urgency behind the activity.  Meetings of the Ecumenical Committee continued and in July 1977 it was proposed that a simple building be erected to suit the needs of each Denomination.  A draft of the Trust Deed was drawn up towards the end of 1977.

A second spanner was thrown into the works during May of 1978, when the Administrator requested that a township be created in order to change the Title before the property could be used for ecclesiastical purposes.  Many a heart sank very low – to declare a township would cost in the region of R100000, which amount was totally out of the reach of any of the parties concerned.

Application was made for the remission of assessment rates, and the necessary forms were duly received – together with an affidavit to the effect that the Parish did not support the World Council of Churches.  To sign, or not to sign – that was the question.  The matter was queried with the Diocesan Office, who informed Fr. Day that other Parishes had also signed this affidavit.  The forms were promptly sent off, and remission of assessment rates obtained.

By September, 1978, although there was not yet significant progress with the Weltevreden Park project, St. Gabriel’s had grown, and there was sufficient workload for the Parish to make a request to the Bishop to have a Curate appointed.

At the Annual Vestry Meeting held in March 1979, Fr. Day informed those present that

“We are making some progress as regards the Weltevreden Ecumenical Venture.  At the beginning of March, a Sunday School was started at the Panorama Primary School – staffed by the Methodists – and we are hoping that the number of children attending will steadily increase as it becomes better known.  All three participating churches have approved the draft constitution for the creation of a Trust which will have oversight of the project and we sincerely hope that within the year we shall have built a hall for worship and Sunday School purposes and classrooms for the individual classes.  This is a long-range scheme and its implementation will depend upon the development of the whole area and the response of the people living there.  We plan to hold a Family service on the last Sunday of each month, and I am hoping some of our people of Quellerina and even Florida Glen may give it their support so as to strengthen the Anglican presence there.  If and when we get a young man in the Parish, he will be able to devote time to visiting people resident in the wind spread Weltevreden Park Extensions.”

Ah Dreams? ……………

An average of 30 children attended the combined Sunday School to begin with, with Mrs. N. Sinclair as Superintendent.  From June 1979, regular family services were held each Sunday, conducted in turn by ministers from the Anglican, Methodist and Florida United churches.  A donation of R100 was made by St. Gabriel’s Parish to the combined Sunday School for the purchase of chairs.

Mr.Tony Olley now joined the battle, and began exploring the site and layout of the proposed buildings.  He also explored the possibility of linking Holding 37 with the township being planned immediately adjoining the rear of the property.  To this end, talks with the Municipality’s City Engineer and Gough Cooper Development were held.  The wretch fact was still the same – declare an independent township; and if anything was unacceptable to the powers-that-be in Pretoria, the premises would simply have to be vacated.  To crown a dismal outlook, Mr. Olley who had been acting so well on the Parish’s behalf, had been offered and had accepted a post with the Cape Town Technical College.

Disappointment after disappointment.  It seemed as if a thick black cloud had descended.  However, the project would not go down without a good strong fight.

Mr Barend du Plessis  (then MP for Florida) was invited to a Minster’s Fraternal meeting in order to discuss the Weltevreden Park Project with him.  Mr Du Plessis also liased with Mr Jan de Ridder (MPC) to enlist is aid in the changing of the title.

January 1980 – Holding no 37 were still vacant and still the Administration stood firm – “Proclaim a township”, he declared.  More meetings were held, with the other Churches involved  and with St. Gabriel’s Parish Council.  Feelings were that the plot be sold, or even swopped for another, but there was doubt whether the other Churches involved would be prepared to share the losses.  The pile of correspondence to and from the Department of Local Government, Roodepoort City Council and various Councilors and the Churches continued to grow.

Day-to-day matters regarding Weltevreden Park were now in evidence and in October 1980, a sub-committee to handle these matters was formed.  Mr. Louis Flint, Dr. Nic Gay, Fr. David Mullett, Mr. Michael Mullett, Mr. Ian Templeton and Dr. Bert von Rahden were appointed.

A glimmer of light at the end of a dismal tunnel was forming, however.  November 1980 saw the appointment of a Deacon in the personage of Mr. Stuart Mennigke, to St. Gabriel’s and was that a merry polka Fr. Day was seen to do?!

Lengthy discussions ensued.  Should the plot be sold? – divided, perhaps?  Oh, decisions, decisions!  Finally it was proposed that the site be kept and the decision to build be postponed for 6 months.  At that stage, a quote to build a hall to seat approximately 100 people, plus kitchen and toilets was R59000

Time marched on, and Mr. Ken Viljoen was asked to draw up sketch plans for a hall, Sunday School rooms, kitchen and toilets, which would allow for further extensions.  This was done and the cost was calculated at R250 per sq. meter, and a total cost of R70000 was arrived at.  Fr. Day, with his endlessly scheming brain, already had a scheme in mind for the funding of the building.  If, he reasoned, 300 people increased their Dedicated Giving by just R3 per month, or 200 people by R5 per month, this amount would meet the bond repayment each month.  Post haste he wrote to all St. Gabriel’s parishioners.  “Ken”, he said, “Get gong with those plans!”  By August, the building fund stood at R1300 and by September, R5500 with 4 loans of R1000 each.  With each day that past, building costs were escalating at an alarming rate.

Fr. Day summed up the past 8 years, the present and future like this:

“How good it is to see you all again.  You know, I thought that this was going to be for me a delectable afternoon.  I was not going to be asked to say anything, much less to preach – only to tap the Stone and say – ‘ declare this Stone to be well and truly laid in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen’ and leave everything else to others.  But it has been decreed otherwise and seeing I am a most obedient man – please ask my wife to confirm this – I shall proceed to do as I am told.

This is for me, and I trust for us all – a truly memorable occasion.  This is a day of rejoicing: a day of thanksgiving to God that at long last the dream we had in 1975 is now beginning to be fulfilled.  As many of you know, we have battled – and I mean battled – for six years or more, using various mans and various people, to persuade the Department of Community Development in Pretoria to give us permission to use this Agricultural Holding for ecclesiastical purposes.  It was only toward the end of last year that we were granted the permission we sought. Her e I would like to pay tribute to the strenuous efforts made on our behalf by the Late Mr. John Morris: the less strenuous efforts made by Mr. Tony Olley, now in Cape Town, and the ultimately successful and most strenuous efforts made by Mr. Errol Dengler.  We owe a deep debt of gratitude to them, especially to Errol.

Then I would like to express thanks to the people of the Parish who have provided – and hopefully will continue to provide – the finance for what we plan to do on this site.  I feel I owe you an apology that my vision was too limited and my estimate of your generosity too low, though I don’t know why this has been so, because I know you to be most generous people.  I thought that in the beginning we should be content to build the Church Hall, but now I hear you are going to build Sunday School accommodation and even a Rectory and I am extremely happy about this.

Finally, I want to say a word of thanks to Mr. Ken Viljoen who designed this Church Hall and I am so glad that you are entrusting him with the erection of the buildings here because I hallways felt we should do this.  From all I know of him and his work, I was fully convinced that he would give us of his best and in fact, all we could desire of him.  I am sure we shall not be disappointed with the end result.

Of course, our primary object is not simply to put up buildings here, our main objective is to create opportunities for worship – which if it is real and sincere, can transform our lives and give them a new dimension, direction and value, meaning and purpose: to bring into being a fellowship of the people of God in this place and to establish a Christian presence or witness here at Weltevreden Park and wherever its people may live out their daily lives

I have learned over the years that when people move into anew area or suburb however closely they may have been connected with the Church elsewhere, they often seem slow and reluctant to link up with a new Church and parish.  I know from the short time I have been visiting at the Sandton Clinic that there are many such persons here in Weltevreden Park.  We have the task of attracting and winning them back to Christ and his Church.  Then too, here as elsewhere, there are many people who have not time for God and so do not know the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ or our Divine Saviour and Lord.  We have the task of attracting and winning them for Christ – so to lift him up before men that he may draw all men to himself.  To us is given the calling to co-operate with God so that he may multiply the number of those who are being saved and sanctified: grafted into the Body of Christ, the Church and made heirs with him of the eternal kingdom of heaven.

All this is going to make heavy demands upon us – not simply upon our money, but upon our time, energy, gifts, prayers, love and caring.  There will be times when we shall cry “Who is sufficient for these things?”  Then let us be thankful that we can truly reply – Our sufficiency is of God.  If we do not fail him we can be sure that he will not fail us.  It is good to remember this afternoon that we are drawing near to the commemoration of the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Church.  Let us resolve persistently and fervently to pray – “Spirit of the Living God, fall afresh on me”

And now to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be, as is most justly due, all might, majesty, dominion and power, now and forever, Amen.”

A new era of this little fledgling Chapel of St. Gabriel’s had begun……

The full history file of the early years of St Michael's and All Angels is available for viewing at the Church office.