Local historian JOHN W BROWN traces the history of St Philip's Church in Norbury, which celebrates its centenary this year.

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The first church to be built in Norbury is celebrating its centenary this year with a summer-long programme of special events and services.

Originally known as "the little church up the hill", St Philip's in Beech Road began life as a chapel of ease for Christ Church at Broad Green.

The land on which it stands was donated by Alderman G J Allen, a Norbury resident who was Mayor of Croydon in 1898-99. He proudly cut the first turf for the foundations of the church at a special ceremony held on May 4, 1901.

Two months later, in July 1901, the foundation stone was laid by Lady Edridge, whose husband Sir Frederick Edridge was Mayor of Croydon on five separate occasions.

Building work was completed in May 1902 when the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Natal. The church cost £4,000 and could accommodate 400 worshippers.

An early photograph of the building appears in Raymond Wheeler's book Images of Norbury, Thornton Heath and Broad Green, published by Tempus.

In 1912, St Philip's gained its independence when it was created a separate parish.

To accommodate its increasing congregation the church almost doubled in size in 1935 when it was extended to provide room for an additional 300 people.

Over the past century some notable vicars have served at St Philip's, including the Rev Arthur Fisher who, with his wife, was responsible for starting the first missions to the pygmies in tropical Africa.

In the 1930s, the Rev Kenneth Budd achieved fame by being the first parson in Britain to be secretary of a boxing club affiliated to the Amateur Boxing Association when he helped establish a boys boxing club at the church.

Today, St Philip's is best known for its choir called Libera. The group has sung throughout the country and has performed on numerous television programmes, including Top of the Pops.

They have also sung with a number of pop stars including Cliff Richard, Alvin Stardust and Grace Kennedy.

The choir has released a number of successful records and CDs and has been in the classical music top 10 charts in both the UK and America.

In 1990 they released a Christmas single with Blackadder star and Time Team presenter Tony Robinson called "Christmas Wrapping". This was co-written by the choirmaster Robert Prizeman.

Further recording success came in 2000 when Libera appeared on the Blue Peter TV programme to perform a song from their debut album, for which each member was awarded a Blue Peter Badge.

The album achieved worldwide recognition and soared to the No 2 spot in Singapore's pop charts within a couple of weeks of its release.

The choir's most recent success came last year when they recorded part of the soundtrack for the film Hannibal.

This sequel to The Silence of the Lambs was considered so frightening by the film sensor that its classification meant the choirboys who performed on the soundtrack were too young to see the film!

Images of Norbury, Thornton Heath and Broad Green costs £10.98 including postage and is available from Local History Publications, 316 Green Lane, Streatham, London SW16 3AS.