Alumni Wedding at Fusehill Chapel

An alumni wedding and a first for the Chapel?

The wedding of alumni Carl Sowerby and Rowena George took place in the chapel at the Fusehill Street campus on Saturday 14 September, and the occasion was a first, not only for the university, but quite possibly for the chapel.

Chaplain Matthew Firth explains: “Having looked at the records for the parish in which the Fusehill Street Chapel sits (St John the Evangelist, Carlisle), this is certainly the first wedding that has taken place in the chapel both since the university was created in 2007 and during the time of St Martin’s College. Records which I have seen, which go back to 1955, also indicate that no wedding took place during the period 1955-2013.

“And given that weddings in either hospital chapels or work-house chapels are extremely rare, (the chapel has been a work-house chapel, a hospital chapel, a college chapel and now a university chapel), it is likely that this wedding was actually the first to have ever been conducted in the chapel (although I would need to do a further search of parish records to confirm this). So, since the chapel was built in 1901, this could well be the first wedding to have taken place.

“I was thrilled to conduct this wedding for Carl and Rowena, and would be very happy to work with current or former students and members of staff who would like to consider a Church of England wedding either at the Carlisle Fusehill Street chapel or the Lancaster St Martin’s chapel.”

For more information about the University of Cumbria Chaplaincy and contact details please visit our Chaplaincy webpages.

Posted on Thursday 31 October 2013