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Church dignitaries at the reconciliation. Michael Pulvermacher is in the middle.

Recollections of St. Mary's Reconciliation

By Michael Pulvermacher

Quite by accident I came across your web-site and its contents when I was reading the report of the Glamorgan Archivist on a completely different matter.

I was interested in this because when Dr. Simon reconciled the church after its rebuilding on the 22nd.April 1961 the Diocesan Registrar was unable to attend the ceremony and as it is customary to have many of the acts of a bishop witnessed by a notary public I was the notary public who attended to witness the reconciliation in place of Mr. R. E. Horley, the then Diocesan Registrar. A full note of the reconciliation was I expect written into the Bishop's Act Book but I made an official note in my own Notarial Act Book and in case it is of any interest to you I am attaching (I hope !) of the entry on page 1 of volume 1. I am afraid the ink is fading and my handwriting is not very clear, so in case it is illlegible it reads:

22nd. April 1961, Cardiff
Attending at St. Mary's Church Caerau / in place of the Diocesan Registrar when the Right Reverend William Glyn Hughes Lord Bishop of Llandaff did reconcile the said church after repairs had been made necessary owing to damage by vandals and the Sentence of Reconciliation having been first read to the congregation by me was signed by the Lord Bishop in my presence.-----------------------

I had not seen the photo at the end of Father Jones's article before, I am the person in the middle flanked by Dr. Simon on my left and the Venerable Gwynno James, the Archdeacon of Llandaff on my right, I had considerably more hair in those days! I can remember the occasion reasonably well because it was the first of several occasions I accompanied the bishop on ceremonies.

I am sorry to learn of the subsequent decay but it is nice to know that the church on the hill is not without its friends.

If you would like any further information please ask, I might remember.

Yours sincerely,
Michael Pulvermacher,
Notary public,
Somerset
(very nearly in sight of Caerau on a clear day when Port Talbot and Aberthaw are not clouding the Bristol Channel with fumes!)