A walk around St Aidan's
A tour of the church should leave the two main features; the mosaics and the organ, until last and start at The Pulpit made of Caen stone and a base of Bath stone with chief supports of Italian marble and alabaster adornments showing scenes from the life of St Aidan.
The Confessional was carved by Robert Thompson of Kilburn and his famous mouse trademark is on the left foot. Another piece by Thompson is the oak lectern in the Chapel of the Resurrection.
The Stations of the Cross are the work of Professor Josef Heu, an Austrian who fled his country just before the Nazis arrived in 1938. He lived and worked at Ampleforth Abbey in the North Riding.
The Redeemer Statue is also by him. It shows Our Lady presenting the Christ child as the world’s redeemer.
The Font was made at the Elswick Court marble works in Newcastle. A local newspaper described it as one of the ‘finest pieces of ecclesiastical sculpture’. It is made in Mexican onyx and green, blue and red marble and its bowl weighs a ton and a half. The counter-weighted cover was designed by local architect Sydney Kitson.
The Bishop’s mitres and crozier in the case on the west wall were presented by Bishop Samuel Mumford Taylor, who was the first vicar of St Aidan’s. The Lectern is of polished brass with supporting angels blowing out the gospel to the four corners of the earth.
The Rood was decorated as a memorial to the work of The Reverend Samuel Mumford Taylor at
St Aidan’s, at his request The inscription from John’s gospel reads: I, if I be lifted up, will draw all men unto me’.
The Chapel of the Resurrection is where daily mass is celebrated and the Blessed Sacrament reserved. It is essentially a chapel for prayer.
The moveable altar was made by a member of the present congregation, John Drake, who like Thompson, the designer of the lectern, has left his trade mark. Also in here is the war memorial and lists of the dead of two world wars. The newest piece in the Chapel is the free standing aumbry which houses the Blessed Sacrament.
Stained glass in the west apse, the south aisle and the Chapel are by Percy Bacon & Brothers of London.