When Brenda Barwick talks about Holy Innocents, Hornsey, she doesn’t speak about it simply as the church she attends.
“It’s my second home,” she says. “I don’t know how many times I’ve walked up Tottenham Lane thinking, ‘I’m going to Holy Innocents.’ It must be thousands.”
A lifetime at Holy Innocents
This year marks an extraordinary milestone. Baptised at Holy Innocents in August 1946 when she was just three months old, Brenda has spent 80 years worshipping, serving and growing in faith in the same parish church. In fact, she points out with a smile, she has now been part of Holy Innocents for longer than half of the church’s 150-year history.
Early memories of church life
Some of her earliest memories remain vivid.
“I was probably about three. I was so short that my mum would let me stand on the pew beside her so I could see what was going on at the altar. When it came to the sermon, we’d leave because she didn’t think her little girl would be able to keep quiet or sit still.”
She still remembers members of the congregation, including two elderly sisters who arrived every Sunday dressed in Edwardian clothes, and the parish priest cycling around the parish after serving as a wartime chaplain. It was also a time when pew rents were still available.
Faith was simply part of everyday life.
“We’d come to church in the morning, I’d go to Sunday School in the afternoon and then we’d often come back for Evensong. For me, that was normal. I wasn’t bored. I enjoyed it as my faith continued to grow.”
A life of service
That lifelong faith naturally became a life of service.
“I started by helping my mum deliver the parish magazines and on one occasion present the biggest bouquet to the local MP who had come to open the Christmas Bazaar,” Brenda laughs. “Then I was asked to help with the Sunday School when I was sixteen and many years later ending up as the Leader, and I never really stopped.”
Over the decades, Brenda has served the Diocese of London in many different ways. She spent 15 years as PA to the Archdeacon of Hampstead, served as PCC secretary and Deanery Synod secretary, became a Licensed Lay Minister in 2014, and continues to preach, lead study groups, visit parishioners, administer home communions and volunteer as a chaplain at the Whittington Hospital. She was also honoured to be invited to Windsor Castle to receive Maundy Money, a moment captured in the photograph alongside this article.
Her path to becoming a Licensed Lay Minister came after retirement.
“When I retired, I thought I’d do the Edmonton Christian Studies Course just as an adult Bible study. Then I realised God was calling me to become a Licensed Lay Minister.”
She admits she doubted herself.
“I hadn’t been to university or even got A Levels. I wondered whether I’d be up to it academically. But it turned out I was.”
A double thank you
One of the most significant moments in Brenda’s faith came after major spinal surgery in 2010.
“As I went into theatre, I prayed, ‘Not my will, but your will,'” she recalls.
The operation was successful, and afterwards Brenda wanted to give something back. She began volunteering as a hospital chaplain at the Whittington, describing it as “a double thank you” – one to God for bringing her safely through surgery, and one to the hospital that had cared for her. More than a decade later, she still spends every Tuesday offering pastoral support and bedside communion to patients.
Her ministry has also extended into her own home. Following her mother’s death, Brenda opened the upstairs flat to pastoral assistants and, more recently, to the Holy Innocents’ curate. Brenda looks upon these as part of her extended family.
She keeps what she affectionately calls a “family album” of everyone who has lived there, following their ministries, marriages and growing families long after they have moved on.
Fighting for the future
After eight decades, Brenda has witnessed enormous change. She has seen different vicars, changing styles of worship and a congregation that has become increasingly diverse. But one of the defining moments of her life at Holy Innocents came in the late 1980s, when the church faced the very real prospect of closure and demolition to make way for redevelopment.
“It was an exceptionally worrying time,” she recalls.
Rather than accepting defeat, Brenda and the congregation fought for the future of their church. They met with the Archdeacon and made an impassioned plea to keep Holy Innocents open.
“We pleaded and we pleaded,” she says. “‘Please give us another chance. We really will make it.'”
The following day, while attending the opening of a new church school, Brenda saw the Archdeacon again.
“He called me over and said, ‘We’ve decided to keep you open.’ I just said, ‘Thank you, thank you so much.'”
More than 30 years later, she still speaks about that moment with gratitude. Holy Innocents survived, welcomed new generations and continues to serve its community.
“Here we still are,” she says with quiet satisfaction.
Asked what has sustained her faith through it all, her answer comes without hesitation.
“I have a very personal relationship with God. We have conversations.”
At 80, Brenda remains optimistic about the Church’s future, encouraged by younger adults beginning to find a home at Holy Innocents.
Her advice to anyone starting their own journey of faith is characteristically simple.
“Enjoy it. There will be times of doubt, but pray, spend time with God as a friend and you’ll come through.”
After 80 years, Brenda’s story is about much more than remarkable longevity. It is the story of steadfast faith, quiet service and unwavering commitment to one parish church. From standing on a pew as a curious three-year-old to helping secure Holy Innocents’ future for generations to come, she has shown what it means to live a life rooted in faith. And, as she says with unmistakable affection, Holy Innocents has always been – and always will be – her second home.
