Parishioners at the Church of St James the Great in Darlington are celebrating keeping their church alive after losing its vicar and 55 congregation members to the Ordinariate, leaving 73 behind. Now services welcome 100 worshippers. David Warren, who became Parish Church Council Chair, said: “We knew for a year that they were going to leave and it was a difficult time. We were a congregation divided, some committed to St James the Great, some committed to leaving for the Ordinariate. What happened was difficult at an individual level because some friendships were fractured. Some relationships suffered.”