Bradford's Ukrainian Orthodox Church on 60 year anniversary

The Ukrainian Orthodox Church was bought through funds raised by Ukrainian families who came to work in the city’s booming textile industry in the 1950s.

Following the Second World War, around 35,000 Ukrainians came to the UK as part of the European Volunteer Workers scheme. 

This was set up to address labour shortages by providing jobs in industry and agriculture.

Found in Eccleshill, the church - along with a cottage and hall - sold for the price of £3,800, two shillings and a couple of pence. 

The Very Rev Michael Hutorny leading a Sunday service on the August 9, 1964, shortly after the church was purchased (Image: UGC) The price was agreed by the former Methodist worshippers who wanted the building to remain as a church.

While the congregation is smaller than it was in previous decades, it remains a home to many Ukrainian Orthodox families across the district and beyond.

The congregation during a recent service (Image: UGC) In fact one of the church’s priests travels from Rochdale for Sunday services. 

The building has not changed since Wasyl Hutorny was a young boy, watching his late father lead services and celebrations as a priest.

“My parents and other local Ukrainian people came to England around 1948 after the war,” said Wasyl, who lives in North Wales but regularly makes the 200-mile journey for special church services.

An old archive photo of the church in days gone by (Image: UGC) “A lot of them were stuck in Germany and England took a lot of people in, America did, Canada did.

"My parents met in Bradford, they didn’t come together.

“The start of the church, the parish was founded in 1949. At that time they didn’t have the money to buy anything so they rented a church.

"It was called Mary Magdalene. At the time that was a Church of England church. On a Sunday there’d be an English service then the Ukrainians would have it for two hours.

"It stayed like that for roughly 15 years. Then the Methodists had moved out of the large church at Eccleshill and they were keen to sell to a church. They wanted it to be a church, not just a warehouse or housing.

“It was a community affair. Everybody wanted to play a part in buying the church. 

“They got it at a very reasonable price - at the time you could just about get a detached three-bedroom bungalow or about £3,000 and we got a church, a big hall, and a cottage.”

Speaking about memories of his dad, he said: “He wasn’t a priest when he came to England. I was about six when he got ordained. We didn’t have the means to keep priests so our priests worked. They had two jobs basically.

“My dad was very popular, not just in the Orthodox church but in Bradford. There’s Ukrainian catholics and Ukrainian Orthodox. 

“It was a very big community. We had a lot of people come to church. There was Sunday school for children except it was on a Saturday!

"Celebration, church events, there’d be plays, choirs singing in the hall.

"The hall held 150 people sitting down for a meal. We had a big stage at the front. There were concerts, all sorts of things.

"If there was a wedding the chances are the wedding feast would be in the hall. It was totally different to what it is now, it’s much shrunken because most of the older people have passed away. 

A feast held at the church recently (Image: UGC) “Back in the day there were services every week, now a service can be once every two weeks. 

“Back in 2005 the hall, we had some damage done - young kids broke into the hall and caused fires. The damage was beyond us really.

"We decided we don’t really need a hall anymore so the hall was sold to a developer, it’s now flats. We had to sell the cottage as nobody wanted to be a caretaker so the cottage got a bit disrepaired. These finances have helped us survive.

“For those of us that are left, it’s a piece of the past that’s still with us. You can feel the presence of the people we used to know there. 

“I don’t have a crystal ball. A lot of people didn’t think we could go this long and we’re still there.

"Our children went to university, they didn’t come back to Bradford area, this is the case in a lot of communities. They end up working in other places. Around times like Easter and Christmas we do get my son, my nieces, everybody will congregate back home.”