By Geoff Barnes

GOLFING is seen in parts of the world as a religion in itself. But when a Wirral minister consented to the inclusion of a golfing image as part of a stained-glass window he unleashed a furious backlash from the local community.

With the approach of the Open Golf Championship at Hoylake this summer, St Nicholas Church, opposite Wallasey Golf Club, is coming under international scrutiny because of the controversial window.

Today it attracts flurries of mild interest. But when it was constructed 80 years ago, following an anonymous donation from a golf club member, the reaction from parishioners and other local churches was one of shock.

The window depicts Christ 'at leisure' walking in cornfields, with a smaller panel showing three golfers.

Some critics were unhappy at sacred images of Christ being portrayed in the same window as the golfers.

Vicar the Rev Jeff Staples, said: "At the time there was quite a furore, not only because of the window but because the then Canon Stanley Roscamp was seen as having the audacity to open up the church for golfers to attend service before going off for a game of golf."

In the days before main highways were built golfers would pass the doors of the church after driving off from the first tee. The Rev Staples explained: "Rather than have them walk past the church Canon Roscamp decided to invite them to an early morning service which became known as the golfer's service. Other people could attend but it caused a lot of controversy locally and among other churches".

The canon felt under pressure to defend his decision and he did so in a letter to a local newspaper. He wrote: "This section of stained-glass window which, we are told, shook the religious conscience of Wallasey, is nine inches long and four inches wide and is so unobtrusive it can't be seen from any seat in the church - except one pew when a person had to be standing to catch a glimpse."

The Tourist Board has been in contact with Mr Staples with the aim of featuring the window in their championship literature and an American journalist has also shown an interest.

He said: "The window is part of St Nicholas's history and our association with golfers. We are still known as the golfer's church and morning communion is still known as the golfer's service.

"The good thing about the service in the early days was that the golfers who attended raised a lot of money for the old Wallasey Hospital."