St Peter’s Catholic Primary School in Warrington have unveiled a permanent new memorial to remember former parish priest Father John Gildea.

Fr John served as parish priest of St Peter and St Michael in the Woolston area of Warrington from September 1998 until his death in October 2022 at the age of 84 following a short illness.

A bench has been unveiled in the prayer garden of the school to remember Fr John, who was just one year short of celebrating his diamond jubilee in the priesthood when he passed away. He was ordained in Upholland in 1963.

He also was the parish priest for St Agnes in Huyton (1963-1967), St Matthew in Liverpool (1967-1972), St Thomas of Canterbury in Waterloo (1972-1974), Holy Angels in Kirkby (1974-1978) and St Charles in Aigburth (1982-1998) before moving to Warrington.

The new parish priest for the area, Father Mark Drew, led the service and blessed the bench, which read: “Father John Gildea much loved and missed parish priest. He loved to hear the children pray and sing and we know he is watching over us.”

After the blessing, the children sang Our God Reigns, which was one of Fr John’s favourite hymns. They also sang the hymn at his funeral, which took place at St Oswald’s in nearby Padgate.

After the blessing, headteacher at St Peter’s, Helen Lea, said: “The children use the prayer garden for individual prayer, class collective worship and whole school collective worship.

“The children can now sit on the bench and remember Father Gildea.”

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