St Columba’s

St Columba's origin can be traced back to 1864 when the curate at Halswell was put in charge of Prebbleton, Templeton and Islington, and these were formed into a parish in 1866. Services were being held in the freezing works library in Islington. 

A Sunday School was added in 1889. In 1899 a formal arrangement was made to provide for the spiritual needs of the Hornby/Islington residents; Hornby was still nominally part of Upper Riccarton Parish. 

The first meeting of the Hornby/Islington committee was on 1 June1899 to consider purchasing an organ for the sum of £18. Land between Islington and the present site had been given in 1891, but due to the growing size and importance of Hornby area, the Islington land was sold in 1902 and the present site on Main South Road in Hornby acquired instead in 1904, where the church stands today.

In 1905 the boundaries of the Riccarton Parish were adjusted and Hornby became part of the Parochial District of Prebbleton and Templeton. A special meeting held on 23 January 1906 decided to proceed with the building of a church, having raised £300, and to borrow £100 from Church Property Trustees. A tender for £395 from T Davies was accepted and seven months later, on 19 August 1906, the church was opened and blessed by the Bishop.

On April 6th 1906 the foundation stone of Hornby Church was laid, with about 100 persons present. The service was conducted by the Ven. Archdeacon Averill, attended by the Rev. J M Whitehead (Riccarton) and Rev. Gordon Biddle. Bad weather delayed the completion of the building, eventually opened on 19 August 1906 and blessed by the Bishop.

A parish room was added in 1910, electric lighting installed in 1916 but the depression of the 1930s had an impact. At the end of WWII in 1946, a part-time worker commended, and by 1948 thoughts were towards Hornby becoming a parish in its own right. 

A central vestry meeting in September 1954 decided that the costs of maintaining the Prebbleton vicarage was were coming unacceptable and that if parishioners were willings now was the time to think about a new vicarage in Hornby. Fundraising was done and the new vicarage was opened and blessed on 6th July 1957. Interestingly, one of the builders of the new vicarage was one of two babies baptised at the opening of St Columba's Church in 1906.

Parish boundaries changed again in 1956 and the Parochial District of Hornby was formed with St Columba's (Hornby), St Saviour's (Templeton) and St Paul's (West-Melton) Churches.

A curate joined the parish staff at the end of 1965. Large Sunday School rolls meant the Iona and Hinba rooms were added in 1977. Then the old St Columba's church was turned around and relocated.

At about 8:30pm on 27 November 1978 a fire was noticed in the church and in spite of all efforts to contain the fire, the old timber building burned fiercely. Soon the church and the hall were reduced to a charred ruin. But the firemen prevented any damage to both the vicarage and neighbouring houses. The fire resistant properties of the new toilets and lounges revealed their worth and, apart from the water and smoke damage, were relatively untouched. The fire appeared to have started under the curtains on each end of the alter, but the cause remains a mystery.

The next Sunday (3 December) an open air service was held on the lawn where parishioners marched around the ruins, singing songs of hope for what lay ahead. 

A decision to rebuild was made, and after fundraising and loan of $20,000, the new church was opened on 6 April 1980 - just 18 months after the fire. With the loan being repaid early, the new church was consecrated 13 years later. Hornby became a parish in its own right in 1981.

St Columba's Church celebrated one hundred years of service to God and the community in 2006.