The Archdeaconry of Uitenhage   Some history of the early days of the CPSA. When a meeting in London decided to send a Bishop to South Africa, it was planned to send him to Uitenhage - with perhaps an Archdeacon to care for Cape Town - but when Bishop Robert Gray came out in 1847 he settled in Cape Town. An event of cardinal importance deals with the issues of weaning and establishing of the nomenclature of the Church in South Africa. On 12 December 1866, a meeting of the Church in Uitenhage was held in consequence of the Privy Council having decided that the Church in the Colonies was legally no longer a part of the Church of England. The Bishop had sent out a pastoral letter calling upon churchmen to unite for the purpose of forming themselves into a Church in the Colony in communion with the Church at home. The resolution was passed and thus was the Church of the Province of South Africa (now Southern Africa) born in Uitenhage. St Andrew, KwaNobuhle This Parish was granted a site in Kwanobuhle in March 1971, but it was only 13 years later that building commenced. There have difficulties with the building due to drainage, and clay problems, but these can be solved. The Parish looks forward to growth and stability in the future. St Francis of Assisi The Parish of St Francis of Assisi, Humansdorp embraces the Chapelries of All Souls, Blue Lilies Bush; St Boniface, Kruisfontein; and St Mary the Virgin, Graslaagte, set in the vast area of the Tsitsikamma. All Souls was founded in 1898 and when built it provided the only church and school in the whole Tsitsikamma. The Anglican Church has played a prominent part in the provision of schools in this region, and headmasters of Blue Lilies Bush have played a significant role in the development of the church. There has been marked growth in the past 30 years under the leadership of Mr L Taute, the Revd Bob Petersen (who was priested, becoming the first priest to live in the area) and currently Mr DAW Muller, headmaster and chapelwarden. St Boniface was started with a very committed group of people who met in a home years before the chapel was built in 1938. It was serviced by St Mark's, Humansdorp until it became part of the Parish of St Francis of Assisi. The chapel was extended in 1980, and again in 1994. St Mary, Blessed Virgin, was started when the site of the present school was secured in 1958, and both men and women joined together in making blocks on site and building the chapel. The congrgation also gathered together and built a beautiful Rectory which the present Rector moved into as soon as it was ready. Under his ministry the Parish has gone from strength to strength and the Chapelry was exteded in 1994 to house the enlaged congregation. St Katharine, Uitenhage St Katharine's, (dedicated to Katharine of Egypt, Saint and Martyr) was built of local stone in 1867, although services had been held as early as 1825 by the Revd Francis McCleland, Colonial Chaplain stationed in Port Elizabeth. The Revd Philip Copeman was appointed to Uitenhage in 1847, but it was only when the Revd William Llewellyn arrived in 1856 that the congregation grew large enough to justify the building of the church. A feature of the church in Uitenhage down the years has been the ecumenical outreach, fostered by the Anglican priests. A total of 41 clerics in holy orders have been associated with the parish. The Church Hall proved to be too small to cope with the growing parish, and a new complex, referred to as "The Abundant Life Centre", was built recently to make ample provision for any future growth. St Anne, Xaba, is referred to for the first time in 1907. It had been built on Plot 7 of the church's land, apparently at the top of Bishop Street, for the use of the coloured parishioners. In the course of time the coloured parishioners expressed a wish for a church of their own and this wish was substantiated in later years by the consecration of St Gabriel's Church in Sass Street, situated in the exclusively Coloured Township. St Gabriel's later became the Parish of St Simon of Cyrene in Rosedale. St. Anne's currently falls under the Parish of St Andrew. Other chapelries which fell under the ministry of St Katharine's included Jansenville, Bayville, Kirkwood, Redhouse and Elands River farming community. St Mark, Humansdorp The parish of St Mark, Humansdorp covers a huge area at the Western edge of the Diocese - a strip approximately 100km long and 40km wide. When the parish was founded in 1893, the Nederduitse Gereformeerde Kerk donated the land on which St. Mark's now stands. Services had been held in the town since 1870 when the then Rector of Uitenhage, the Revd W Llewellyn, used to trek in by ox wagon on a quarterly basis The church of St Mark's was built in 1898 and extended by the addition of the chancel and a tower as a memorial to those who fell in the Great War of 1914-18. In its 102 years the parish has now had 20 incumbents. During the apartheid era the original parish of Humansdorp was been divided into three parishes - St Mark's, St Francis of Assisi and St Patrick's -all serving the same area. The chapel of St Paul, was built in the farming community of Hankey in 1910 and was the smallest church in the diocese of Grahamstown. When the building and land were taken away by the Department of Community Development, a new, very attractive small church was built in its place in the town in 1971. The chapel of St Francis was built in Jeffreys Bay in 1938. This lovely church has served the community well. It provided a home for the neo-natal Methodist Church when they started a work in Jeffreys Bay, and is currently providing a starting base for the Presbyterian Church. St Patrick, Humansdorp The original Church was built in c1899, but the Humansdorp Municipality moved the Church to a new site in 1926. The Parish was served by a Catechist for many years and now has the limited services of a Priest from Port Elizabeth who visits the Parish each month. At one time the Parish had 11 outstations including St Paul, Goedgeloof and St Barnabas, Snyklip. St Simon of Cyrene, Gambleville This Church was built in the Thomas Gamble Township in 1978/79 to replace the Church of St Gabriel's. The Revd Cyril Mueller led the people's campaign to plan and finance the new Church which was dedicated on 29 April 1979. At that time St Simon of Cyrene was a Chapelry of St Katharine's, but in 1983 they became a Parish in their own right.