St Marys pioneers
Despite having a growing family and a congregation of their own at Penrith to attend to, Captains Neil and Dorothy Young remained steadfastly committed to establishing a thriving Salvation Army at St Marys. By then we had three children, one a baby, but one week I would do the Sunday night meeting at Penrith and take the two older girls with me and my wife would take the baby and do a Sunday night meeting at St Marys, recalls Lieutenant-Colonel Neil Young. The meetings grew in attendance we managed to get some spare brass instruments from corps from Sydney and a band was formed. In 1960, the programme was so full that THQ appointed an assistant officer. In 1960, St Marys Salvation Army was ministering to 180 people per week and The Salvation Army made a decision to declare it a corps (church) in its own right. Thus, St Marys Salvation Army was officially born, with corps officer Lieutenant Ray Palmer appointed to the ministry full-time.
