St Mary’s Church in Cleator Moor has just celebratedits150th anniversary.

That takes it back to Victorian times which is not even middle-aged in this country of beautiful buildings heading back hundreds more years than that.

It makes St Mary’s no less important to its parishioners, however, an,indeed, St Mary’s has appeal that goes beyond its own parish borders.

It has been a destination of annual pilgrimage thanks to its Grotto - a place to worship and be still, but is also a place where the material needs of people dovetailed with the spiritual focus for pilgrimage from all parts of the diocese.

Hit by high unemployment, the community of Cleator Moor, as well as towns and villages around it, were suffering severe deprivation.

Parish Priest, Father Clayton, bought some land adjoining the church and asked for volunteers to build a replica of the grotto of Lourdes.

The volunteers were paid in vouchers for food and clothing.

The grotto was opened in 1927 and has become a place of pilgrimage for the faithful.

The powerful story makes it all the more shocking that, in 2009 vandals damaged the plinth, which held a stone from Lourdes. The vandals would not have know the significance of the grotto, but it must have devastated the parishioners who knew both the religious and community history of the grotto which would have given many much-needed food, clothing and probably even hope.

The photos on this page would seem to show that this is a resilient community where faithful continue to believe and to worship no matter what.

They have marked and mourned successive Popes. They have seen priests come and go. They have celebrated the Christian calendar with 150 years of Easters, Christmases, Pentecosts, Harvest Festivals and more.

And now they are celebrating150 yeas of hard times and good times, of changing seasons and changing fortunes - and they are doing it in style.

They started with an art exhibition which celebrated local talent but also a special gift from Conrad Atkinson who is originally from Cleator Moor, but has since received world wide recognition for his work.

There was also a gorgeous flower festival - a reflection of the art and, hopefully, the joy of this church.