About

St. Peter's Church

The first Catholic Church in Hazel Grove was a mission chapel in Commercial Road formerly a Mount Zion Chapel and opened in 1897. Hazel Grove was part of the parish of St Philip and St James in Edgeley (this became Our Lady and the Apostles in 1905). Priests served the parish from Edgeley on a Sunday and the nucleus of an identifiable community was formed.

Numbers grew and eventually means were found to finance the building of a more permanent home for the independent parish, which was founded in 1923/24. A plot of land in Green Lane, on which to build a church and school was purchased for £4,500.

The Rt. Rev. Hugh Singleton, 5th Bishop of Shrewsbury, blessed the site of the altar and laid the foundation stone for the new church dedicated to St Peter on the 23rd August 1930. The building was completed in April 1931 and was designed by Edward Kirby of Liverpool and built by Daniel Eadie & Son of Stockport. Messrs Shepherdsons of Great Moor made the pine furniture and the parishioners donated the statues of Our Lady and the Sacred Heart.

The official opening took place on the 12th April 1931 when Canon McGeever of Our Lady and the Apostles, in the presence of the Bishop, Fr Kirby the former rector and Fr. James Kelly, the Rector at the time, celebrated a solemn High Mass.

The late fifties and sixties saw an increase not only in the Catholic population but in Hazel Grove generally and the church was enlarged in the mid sixties to accommodate the expanding community. Further internal alterations were made during the seventies to reflect the liturgical changes of the Second Vatican Council and the latest alteration, which was completed and blessed in April 2006, has been to re-order the sanctuary and erect a new permanent altar.

St. Philip's Church

The first Catholic Church built in Stockport after the Reformation was dedicated to two apostles, Philip and James. This church stood at the top of Old Chapel Street and on the corner of King Street West in Edgeley and in 1905 was replaced by Our Lady and the Apostles on Shaw Heath.

When Fr Tom Osbyrne, parish priest of Hazel Grove built a new church in Offerton in 1967 it was dedicated to the apostle Philip and so provided a link with the old church. St James re-appeared with the dedication of the new High School in Cheadle Hulme in the 1970’s.

The church hall had seating for 320 and two sacristies. It was built in downing rustic brick and the reredos, altar and two lecterns were made of teak. The cost of the building was £12000 and, at first, it was only used for Sunday Mass and the rest of the week as a social centre.

The first priest to take over the new parish was Fr Robert Abbott who bought 123 Marple Road for use as a presbytery. He was followed in 1972 by Fr Brendan Hoban who was responsible for building a primary school on Half Moon Lane and in 1977 a new presbytery adjacent to the church. The school was extended in 1986 under Fr Kevin Daley.

Parish Pastoral Team

The Parish Pastoral Team (PPT) consists of Fr. Peter Sharrocks, Rachel McKay, Terry Thiele, Anne Rogowski, David Small, Alison McGarr, Anne-Marie Bailey, Clare Allen and Sam Panjeta.

Click here for the minutes of the last meeting

St Peter’s Parish Centre

The Parish Centre is a valuable asset in the life of our Parish, located in the Church car park minutes from the A6 and Hazel Grove Train Station. It is well used by many Parish Groups and other local community organisations. The Centre is available for private events of any occasion, birthday parties, weddings, charity events, meetings etc. There are a number of facilities available; a meeting room, kitchen, stage, large dance floor, bar, space for a large number of seating and side rooms for buffets or small events.

Booking are made as follows:

For an event on Monday – Thursday, phone Helen Lyons on 07854 928072
For Friday – Sunday bookings, phone Rita on 07483 114783.
If you would like to book the Meeting Room, please contact Helen Lyons as above.

Hospital Chaplaincy

St Peter’s looks after the spiritual care of Roman Catholic patients at Stepping Hill Hospital, whose catchment area covers parts of north Derbyshire, Cheshire and south Manchester. Visiting of patients on the wards is undertaken on a bed-by-bed basis by an ecumenical team of chaplains and volunteers. For reasons connected with the Data Protection Act 1998, chaplains are no longer provided with ward lists. Therefore, if you are going into hospital, please let us know directly so that a visit can be arranged. Kindly give as much detail as possible, such as your name, date of admission and ward (if known). You can either contact the Chaplaincy Office or St Peter’s. In an emergency, the clergy can be paged from the hospital switchboard.

Contacts:
Chaplaincy Office – 0161 419 5889 for general information & requests for Holy Communion
In an emergency: call 0161 483 1010 and ask for Catholic Chaplain

Schools

St. Peter’s and St. Philip’s have a number of schools under their care. Catholic education is available for those who wish their children to be educated in a Catholic faith environment. We are lucky enough to have three primary schools – St Peter’s, St. Philip’s & St. Simon’s – in the area. We also have a number of secondary schools, the principal two being Harrytown Catholic High School and St James’ Catholic High School. There is also a Catholic sixth-form college, the largest in the country – Aquinas College. All these educational establishments are served by staff committed to their Catholic faith, and who have a spiritual input into the lives of the schools/college. All have a priest chaplain or lay-chaplain. Chaplains support the staff in delivering a catholic education to our young people and are involved in leading the school’s/college’s liturgical life, as well as being available for advice, help and the pastoral care of staff and students.

Primary Schools	Headteacher	Telephone
St Peter’s Catholic Primary School	Mr K Platt	0161 483 2431
St Simon’s Catholic Primary School	Mrs Rachel Crisp	0161 483 9696
St Philip’s Catholic Primary School	Mrs Emily Cahill	0161 483 0977

Secondary Schools	Headteacher	Telephone
Harrytown Catholic High School	Mr Keith Turmeau	0161 430 5277
St James’ Catholic High School	Mr Anthony Pontifex	0161 482 6900

Sixth Form College	Principal	Chaplain
Aquinas Catholic College	Mr Danny Pearson	0161 483 3237

Local Pastoral Area

St. Peter’s and St Philip’s are part of the Local Pastoral Area 20 under the patronage of Mary the Mother of God. Together with St. Peter’s and St Philip’s; St. Vincent’s (Bramhall), St. Ambrose’s (Adswood), Our Lady’s (Shaw Heath), St. Joseph’s (Stockport) and St. Bernadette’s (Brinnington) make up the LPA. Throughout the year there are many LPA events such as Mass on New Year’s Day (Solemnity of Mary Mother of God), Marian Songs of Praise & Reconciliation Services.

Sunday Mass times in our LPA:

Church:	Saturday Vigil:	Sunday:
St. Peter's	6 pm (in Polish)	8.30 am, 10 am and 6 pm
St. Vincent's	–	9.30 am
St. Philip's	6 pm	–
St. Ambrose's	5:30 pm
Our Lady & the Apostles	7pm	11am
St. Joseph's	5pm	11:30am
St. Bernadette's	–	10:30am

History

St. Peter’s Parish Priests

Canon James Kelly, 1929 – 1946
Canon Joseph Quinn, 1946 – 1953
Fr Fredrick Walsh, 1953 – 1963
Fr Thomas Osbyrne, 1963 – 1970
Fr Joseph Russell, 1970 – 1981
Fr David Peters, 1981 – 1987
Fr John McManus, 1987 – 1988
Fr John Rafferty, 1988 – 1996
Fr Patrick Munroe, 1996 – 2006
Fr Peter Sharrocks, 2006 –

Curates –

Fr John Quinn, 1934 – 1935
Fr Owen McBennett, 1935 – 1940
Fr Thomas Sheerin, 1940 – 1944
Fr John Corcoran, 1944 – 1946
Fr John Lyons, 1946 – 1950
Fr Cormac McGonagle. 1950
Fr Thomas Hurley, 1950 – 1953
Fr Robert Fallon, 1953 – 1954
Fr John Roper, 1954 – 1963
Fr Denis Marmion, 1963 – 1970
Fr Anthony Elder, 1968 – 1974
Fr Denis Maher, 1970 – 1972
Fr Paul Sidoli, 1972 – 1978
Fr Patrick O’Brien, 1976 – 1980
Fr John Dooley, 1978 – 1982
Fr William O’Riordan, 1980 – 1982
Fr William Mellor, 1982 – 1983
Fr Paul Lawrence, 1983 – 1988
Fr Robin Sutton, 1984 – 1989
Fr Edward ‘Ned’ Wall, 1988 – 1993
Fr John Thompson, 1989 – 1994
Fr Philip Atkinson, 1993 – 1995
Fr Peter Wright, 1994 – 1996
Fr Philip McGovern, 1995 – 1998
Fr Johnathan Leach, 1998 – 2002
Fr Francis ‘Frank’ Waters, 1999 – 2005
Fr Jonathan Mitchell, 2002 – 2005
Fr Jonathan Brandon, 2005 – 2009
Fr Bernard McDermott, 2009 – 2013

Deacons –

Deacon Steve Pomeroy, 1997 – 2006
Deacon John McKay, 2021 –

St. Philip’s Parish Priests

Fr Robert Abbott
Fr Brendan Hoban
Fr Kevin Daley
Fr Tony Leonard Snr.
Fr Michael Cupit
Fr Bernard McDermott SSC