THEY were of the Sunday School and of the old school, both called Mary but addressed universally as Miss Adams and Miss Perks. "Even the other teachers were a bit in awe of them, never mind the children," it was recalled last Sunday. "You sat still in Sunday School in those days."

They were both cousins and companions, lived together in Davison Road. Where one went, it was said, the other went also.

Mary Adams was a cashier at Trousdale and Stephenson, wholesale grocers; Mary Perks didn't work because of a heart condition but was 77 when she died in 1991, ten years after her cousin.

On Sunday, at St Mark's in North Road, Darlington, they were affectionately and appropriately acknowledged at the blessing and dedication of a new stained glass window in their memory.

"They were magnificent, remembered for their deep devotion, their love of children and their absolute dependability," said the Rev Kenneth Tibbo, St Mark's vicar from 1961-75.

Mr Tibbo, Vicar subsequently of Crook and of Hipswell, near Richmond, chose the hymn Angel Voices Ever Singing but considered that the Two Marys - as throughout the service they were identified - would have disapproved of some of the word changes from ancient to modern.

"They would feel as I feel that so many good Victorian things are being ousted and changed. We lose a lot if we leave all that behind."

Clearly something of a traditionalist, he is officially retired but has pastoral charge of Nidd, near Harrogate - a church which uses only the 1662 prayer book - and has caused a stir with a letter to the Church Times about last month's consecration of the new Bishop of Ripon and Leeds.

"It reminded me of a series of 'turns' in an entertainment, rather than an act of worship," he protested.

"And horribly politically correct," he added on Sunday.

St Mark's was formerly in Bowman Street, a few hundred yards away. Considered too small, it was finally replaced in 1958, at a cost of £29,000 and after 28 years of trying.

Maurice Harland, then Bishop of Durham, spoke at its consecration of "immense difficulties and cruel disappointments"; St Mark's folk told after the service of how they'd collect newspapers in an old wheelchair or buy "penny bricks" from the Sunday School teachers.

"I must have thousands of bricks in those walls," someone said, though heaven alone knows how many were laid to the account of the inseparable Miss Adams and Miss Perks.

"St Mark's people all their lives, absolutely dedicated to the church and the Sunday School," said Elizabeth Clark from Stockton, Mary Adams' niece.

"Very quiet ladies, but no one ever took advantage of them," said David Slater.

St Mark's itself appears to incline towards Anglo-Catholicism, though it has still greatly welcomed June Robson, the first woman vicar.

"A lovely, caring person," someone said and the vicar feels entirely the same about them.

June, Consett lass by birth, had qualified as a teacher in Darlington in 1965, became a member of Women Against the Ordination of Women, was herself ordained priest in 1995.

"It proves God has a sense of humour," she said. "If you ever want to make God laugh, tell him your plans for the next few years."

On Sunday she led a Songs of Praise service in the manner of Pam Rhodes, each interviewee choosing a hymn. We sang I The Lord of Sea and Sky, For the Beauty of the Earth and the present Sunday School favourite, One More Step Along the Road.

Alan Smithson, the Bishop of Jarrow, dedicated the window - "a beautiful piece of work" - Steve Collins, its artist, explained its symbols and its significance. "In lots of respects it's a window which defines the three Marys," he said.

A splendidly celebrated service ended with the hymn Ye Who Own the Faith of Jesus, with its rousing chorus "Hail Mary, Hail Mary, Hail Mary, full of grace." It couldn't have been more appropriate