1885 to 1888

Rev George Newman Wilmer M.A. - 1885 to 1918

Mr Wilmer was born in 1850 at Portsea Island, Portsmouth, Hampshire. The family later emigrated to Austrailia before moving on to New Zealand. He married Emma in Christchurch, New Zealand on 15th December 1871. They came to this country in 1874 so that he could study and take his degree at Balliol College, Oxford. He was the senior curate at Stockport, in charge of the Offerton mission and school between 1883 and 1885.

His first duty after his installation on the 12th November 1885 was to attend upon the Bishop of Chester (Dr William Stubbs) at the consecration of the half-acre extension to the churchyard.

Commeorative plaque erected in Norbury Church in 1942 to mark the 33 years as vicar at Norbury.

School Extension and Social Life

In January of the following year the large room at the rear of the original school building was opened, which was capable of holding some 400-500 people. It was erected on orders from the Education Authority, to hold 276 children allowing the statutory six feet space to each child. This brought the capacity of the whole school up to 500, although the average attendance at that time was only 250.

This extension brought about a great change in the social life of the parish, for after the purchase of a stage that could be assembled and dismantled to suit the various requirements, and the gift of a good class piano, various groups soon came into being. The Amateur Dramatic Society, the Opera Society, the Youth Orchestral Band, the Drum and Fife Band, the School Cantata and the ever popular lantern lectures were only a few of the activities carried on there.

When the physical culture craze hit the country in the early 1890s, the room was soon filled with 170 male enthusiasts who wished to improve their physiques, whilst the gentler sex contented themselves with folk and ballroom dancing. It proved a boon to the younger members of the Sunday School, who found themselves less restricted as they indulged in 'innocent games and pastimes' at their Christmas party.

The choir now invited their friends to their Christmas party and held a dance. One year they aroused everyone's curiosity by keeping their goings on a secret. This annoyed the local reporter, who not only remarked upon it in the next issue of the Advertiser, but also a few weeks later, in his report of one of their concerts, instead of the usual superlatives severely criticised every item.

The changes were not all confined to indoor events, for on the 8th April 1888 the Norbury Sunday School Cricket Club, which had previously played on the ground at the rear of the Rising Sun Inn, played its first match on the newly laid-out ground behind the School. With the Hazel Grove Band in attendance, they displayed their prowess to a large number of spectators, who also witnessed a rather amusing incident. It appears that a Mr Fallows had agreed to lay the ground with turf on a down payment of half the agreed cost, the remainder to be paid on the day of the first match. The members, not being satisfied with the work, refused to pay the balance, where upon Mr Fallows commenced to pull up the turf and continued to do so until he thought fit to stop. How the matter was settled we are not told.