In 2022 Holy Trinity Church Nice, Europe’s oldest Anglican chaplaincy, celebrated its bicentenary; Morag Jordan looks back at our celebrations.
In 1820 a group of British winter residents applied to the King of Sardinia (who then ruled Nice from Turin) for permission to establish a protestant place of worship in Nice.
This permission was granted and the foundation stone was laid in September 1821. The building was completed the following November, and on condition that it looked like an ordinary house; the first service took place on Advent Sunday 1822, performed by Rev. Lewis Way who was also the driving force behind the construction of the now world-famous Promenade des Anglais.
This first church in time became too small and was replaced by the current church, which was consecrated by the first Bishop of Gibraltar on 22 December 1862. Our building was officially classified as a monument historique in November 2020 and as such is part of the City of Nice’s rich cultural heritage for which the town was awarded Unesco World Heritage status in July 2021.
2022 marked the bicentenary of the founding of Holy Trinity Nice and of 200 years of Anglican worship in Nice. Holy Trinity celebrated this landmark with a series of events which started on the second weekend in June, the Feast of the Holy Trinity. These celebrations began with 2 chamber concerts given by Margi MacDuffie and Joe Voelker in the presbytery, all proceeds from which were donated to Ukraine.
That weekend there was also a Scottish-style ‘Tea & Dance’ in the church gardens. Tea was followed by an apéro with light entertainment including a 'Bicentenary March' specially written by Holy Trinity’s secretary Bob Tonkiss; the ceilidh dances were greatly enjoyed by all the generations present.
On Sunday 12 June, the service for the Feast of the Holy Trinity was celebrated by Rev. Peter Jackson and attended by Christian Estrosi, the Mayor of Nice, and other dignitaries.
Afterwards, guests and parishioners enjoyed a sumptuous buffet prepared by parishioner Joëlle Paterson and served outdoors in the church grounds.
Tragically though, all sense of celebration was abruptly extinguished when our chaplain Rev. Peter Jackson passed away very suddenly at the end of August.
The church was open for the Journées Européennes du Patrimoine for the weekend of 17th / 18th September during which160 visitors visited our church and were introduced to its history.
Then later in the year on 23 November, our resident historian and church warden Richard Challoner gave a fascinating illustrated talk on the early years of Holy Trinity in our recently refurbished parish hall. His informative presentation was very much appreciated by everyone present.
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On Saturday 26 November our bicentennial celebrations returned with an exhilarating concert given by Brass Band Méditerranée which was received with rapturous applause. The concert’s second half comprised music specially arranged for the evening and conducted by Roy Terry, a longstanding member of our congregation.
The 200th anniversary of Holy Trinity's first service in 1822 was celebrated on 27 November, the first sunday of Advent, and was jointly officiated by Rev. Terry Winrow and our Archdeacon Peter Hooper. Members of our sister church St Hugh’s Vence also joined to celebrate Holy Trinity’s bicentenary. This anniversary service was followed by a special buffet provided by parishioners.
2022 was indeed a memorable year for Holy Trinity Nice. The joy of worshipping together after the easing of Covid restrictions and of celebrating our bicentenary had been tempered by the huge and tragic loss of Rev. Peter Jackson; nevertheless the wardens, the church council and all our congregation rallied together to ensure that Holy Trinity Nice’s bicentenary was suitably commemorated.
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