Many come together to celebrate Scandinavian heritage for the 70th anniversary of Hull's Danish Church

A community which has developed in East Yorkshire around the oldest overseas Danish Church in the world came together in Hull to mark a special milestone anniversary.

Many people wishing to celebrate their Scandinavian heritage were joined by friends and former colleagues from Denmark at the Danish Church at the corner of Ferensway and Osborne Street to mark the building's 70th anniversary last week.

Consecrated on May 9, 1954, the church was built after the original church (St Nikolaj Danish Seamen’s Church), built at the same location in May 1871, was bombed and destroyed during a German air raid on the night of May 9, 1941 - the eve before its 70th anniversary.

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The current church is home to a seven-branched candelabra, which was retrieved from the rubble of the old church and then restored. Another relic is a small rosette of red glass which was also salvaged from the bomb site, and now takes pride of place in a window in the new building.

Services were held to mark the 50^th and 60^th anniversaries of the current building as well as celebrations for 125 years of ministry, but plans for a 150-year celebration in 2021 were abandoned due to the Covid pandemic. Pastor Arne Kristophersen, who served at the church in Hull from 2016 until 2019, returned from Copenhagen to conduct the latest service.

Amazingly, a man called Hans Christian Andersen, an academic and broadcaster, was also present at the event, where he read a modern fairy story to guests.

Anders Ellebaek served as an assistant in Hull and returned to Denmark in 2009, where he was ordained and has served as a pastor ever since.

He said: “Unfortunately I had to leave Hull because Danish Church UK didn’t have enough funding for me to continue but I enjoyed my time here assisting the pastor. It was a varied role, sometimes driving Danish and Swedish seafarers around the area, cooking, gardening and painting.

“It was shame when the 150th anniversary celebration was cancelled but that made this event doubly special and I’ve been looking forward to it very much. There have been some big improvements to Hull, especially around the marina and I’ve enjoyed taking a look around.”

Hanne Hamilton, who lives in Beverley, has been visiting the church since 1968, and reunited with old friends at the event. She was accompanied by fellow Beverley resident Ingrid Roe, who came to East Yorkshire from Norway as a child and is a regular visitor to the Scandinavian Christmas Market – a highlight of the events programme at the church.

Hanne said: “We no longer have a pastor here permanently so it is very important that we celebrate our milestones when we can. We used to get a lot of small fishing boats here from Iceland and the Faroe Islands, and a lot of Danes emigrated from Esbjerg but the shipping and fishing industries died.

“This church has been everything in my life. I come from the island of Samso and I was very homesick when I moved to Hull so the church was a godsend. Both of my children were confirmed here and I have been involved for a long, long time."

Bodil Fossing was the wife of Henrik Fossing, who was pastor at the Danish Church in Hull for eight years until 1982. She travelled from Copenhagen with one of her daughters, Christine. Her second daughter, Birgitte, was born at Hedon Road Maternity Hospital while the family lived in Hull.

Bodil said: “I used to live in the house next to the church and I come back every year. It’s still like home and it’s nice to see all the people coming back to the church and celebrating together.”

Peter Aarosin, a prominent businessman in the Humber region and a trustee of the Danish Church, said: “We tried to celebrate the 150 ^th anniversary of the Danish Church in Hull but due to Covid we couldn’t do that.

“The original church was bombed before they could celebrate its 70^th anniversary and it’s therefore very important that we have a really good celebration now for the 70^th anniversary of the old church, the 70^th anniversary of this church and the 150^th anniversary as well.

“One of the things we have really got to do is pull together, look back at our history and remember that at the same time we are making history today so people can look back at us when they celebrate 200 years.”