In the 1920’s, the part of Cheadle Hulme which now comprises the parish of St. Andrew’s was a quiet, rural area. The larger farms were Orrishmere Farm, where “The Mere” now stands, Hankinson’s Farm, where North Downs Road runs, Burrow’s Farm, near the Conway Hotel, Bradshaw Hall Farm, near Emmanuel Church and Leather’s Farm on Ladybridge Road, which is the only farm still surviving.
The latter half of the 1920’s saw the start of the modern
housing estates in this part of Cheadle Hulme, beginning with Grange Avenue,
followed by the remainder of the Grange estate, and, in the 1930’s, the start
of building along Turves Road and the Ryecroft estate. The new homes brought new
families, many with young children, and Queens Road Primary School was opened in
1932. The need for a Sunday School was clear, and the first Sunday School class
was started in Hankinson’s Farm in the mid 1930’s by one of the curates of
St. Mary’s Church. The Rector and P.C.C. of St. Mary’s decided to build a
daughter church in this rapidly expanding part of Cheadle Hulme, and the first
St. Andrew’s building was dedicated in 1937, built on land given to St.
Mary’s by Mrs. J. Porritt of Bruntwood Hall.
New building developments included the Orrishmere estate of
nearly 700 homes, the Neodox development near St. Andrew’s, and many new
houses in the Turves Road, Etchells Road area. Once again, new schools were
needed. Three primary schools were built in the parish, in addition to the Manor
secondary schools. Accommodation in the old St. Andrew’s Church was stretched
to the limits on Sundays, and it was necessary to hold two evening services, one
after the other each Sunday. On Sunday afternoons, the Sunday School filled the
old church, and every room in the curate’s house in Maple Avenue was used for
teenage Bible Classes. It was this situation, already urgent by the mid 1950’s
which led to the building of the new Church of St. Andrew’s.
In 1937 a new curate joined the staff of St. Mary’s
Cheadle, he was to start his work in the Cheadle Hulme area. As a daughter
church was to be built later that year.
The Bishop of Chester arrived one evening in the summer of
1937 and cut out the first piece of earth and the church was then built, that is
the building which was demolished, after being damaged by fire in 1976. The
church itself was opened in December 1937 and the work carried on and the
congregation increased so much that plans had to be made for a larger building
and the fine church we now have was built and we became a parish of our own.
On a chilly, misty morning in January 1958 a small group of
St. Andrews people met before breakfast in the field where the Church now
stands. After a short service, the first turf was cut, and the waiting earth
movers and contractors started work.
The Bishop of Chester laid the foundation stone in March
1958. The building was completed by May 1959.
In a two hour service attended by some 600 people, who took Holy Communion, the Church was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester, and St. Andrew’s was constituted as a separate parish on the following Friday May 15th. The Rev. R. H. Sargent, formerly curate at St. Andrew’s when it was a daughter church of St. Mary’s Cheadle, was instituted as the first Vicar.