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This is a very long shot but at various times local newspapers ran regular reviews of church services on similar lines to their theatre reviews. It could be worth a search on the British Newspapers Archive site if all else fails.
Correction Rev Arnold Bellwood’s wife was Janet
Can anyone supply me with a detailed typical service with Hymn choices etc from around WWI era . I’m writing a novel and I’m really struggling to come up with this information. The chapel I am featuring in my novel is the one on Princess St that was bombed
I remember Rev Arnold Bellwood .I was a young child in PortTalbot during WWII..People loved him and the chapel was filled every Sunday .He had a bulldog named Bluebell …..it allowed her full name to be Blue Bell Woods . His daughter was my friend .I remember when he had to move on to his next placing everyone was heartbroken and the day he came back to visit the chapel was filled to overflowing ..His wife Jane had a wonderful voice and she would sing solo at each service ……something his Welsh congregation truly appreciated. His hero was Rev Donald Soper .
Christmas morning about 1964, the BBC broadcast live its Christmas morning service from Brunswick Methodist Chapel, possibly for the World Service. Our school choir, Lawnswood High School , was invited to lead the singing of the Christmas hymns. The choir’s conductor was Agnes Clayton , who had strong Methodist connections. Many of us choir members had some difficulty reaching the church from our homes in the suburbs , as there were no buses, being Christmas .I had never been in such a large church with upstairs seating before. At the time , many people who formerly lived in Little London were being rehoused by Leeds corporation on the edge of the city, so there were not many local people to swell the congregation. The part of the sermon I remember was the minister reaching out to his world wide audience my mentioning Millie, a Jamaican whose song My Boy Lollipop was currently in the top ten.
The late Reverend A Hanley Smith was the secretary of the Handsworth College Committee when he passed on February 11, 1949. He even spent 2 years of his ministry training at Handsworth. Do you have any photos of him? He was also the youngest son of Gipsy Rodney Smith, the Evangelist. He is a distant cousin of mine and I’m trying to find more photos of him.
In 1940 the accommodation consisted of a chapel measuring 80 feet by 43 feet and containing 400 sittings on the floor plus 100 in the gallery, all in pews, three halls, 60 feet by 29½ feet, 41½ feet by 24½ feet and 30½ feet by 18 feet and fourteen vestries and classrooms. There were two blocks of buildings separated by a road. The chapel on the south side of School Lane continues to be used as a Methodist place of worship. The Sunday school building on the north side existed as early as 1884 and was probably originally used in conjunction with the Silver Street chapel. Sources John Rylands Library University of Manchester, DDPD1/687 Methodist Church Buildings: Statistical returns including seating accommodation as at July 1st 1940 25 inch OS Northamptonshire XXV 10
I can remember playing football on and around the old burial ground I the 1960‘s it was in a poor state then with some graves unfortunately exposed and foxes had taken up residence I had often wondered until the present about the people buried there and their importance to the community. I can only commend the efforts people have made to retain this piece of Victorian Bilston and the conservation of the Church although I don’t live in the area any more I always hark back to these days of innocence with nostalgic fondness.
You just made me smile – looking online for information about the 50 Not Out London Weekend and saw the photo of me (jester) and my friend Paul Crew in your photos – super !! Thank you. Brightened my day !!!
Sister Olive, a wonderful, saintly woman. Today she’d have been a minister and probably President of Conference,. And Sister Betty, also a great friend to many Sylvia (nee Johnson)
Does anyone remember the Saturday MAYC in about 1960/1 The mass choir sang a hymn written for Inters Guild by our youth leaders. Miss Ailsa Guy and Mrs Ivy Manley. Mrs Manley was our church organist and wrote the music for the hymn., she was also blind I am trying to think who the Male singer was on that day. Can anyone help? Pat Gale, Taunton but grew up in Axminster
Fantastic Memory. Became a Christian this weekend in 1988. So grateful for the event. Thanks for the memory.
The names on this Roll of Honour are very similar to some of the names on a Roll of Honour recently discovered at Brampton Parish Hall. All but three of the names above appear on the Brampton list which also lists men from the area who served and came home. See my blog post here: https://commemorationremembrance.blogspot.com/2020/02/brampton-parish-hall-roll-of-honour.html I have referred to your post on my blog. I am still trying to find out where the Brampton Parish Hall RoH came from. Apparently a previous Parish Clerk found it in his papers a few years ago.
I was baptised at the Brunswick Chapel and also went to the Sunday School, which was at the back of the church. My sister also attended Girl Guides there. It’s a shame that it had to be demolished, I think the weight of the snow on the roof caused damage. It had some beautiful stained glass windows inside.
Thank you Chris for this explanation. I have just found a medal with 6 bars 1943 – 1948. Gosh that must have been a feat to raise the money during the war years!
Thank you for publishing this. Frank (or Faj to his pupils) was a major influence on my life, and that of many others.
Hello Brian Sorry, I have only just seen your comment left last December. Thank you for your memories of Ivor Calvert and his son Christopher. I may try and search for the latter! Thanks again.
FATAL RESULT OF BICYCLE ACCIDENT An inquest was held at the Library, Parkhurst Barracks, on Tuesday, by the Deputy Coroner (F. A. Joyce, Esq.), on the body of Lance-Corporal H.R. Burgess, D.C.L.I., aged 24, who died at the Military Hospital there as the result of internal injuries received in a bicycle accident at Arreton on Saturday afternoon. —Mr. W. D. Peachey was foreman of the Jury. C.Q.M.S. Joseph Willmott. of the D.C.L.I., Golden Hill. Freshwater. identified the body as that of Lance-Corp. Horace Richard Burgess, D.C.L.I., His home WW1 at Pick-Hill, Tenterden, Kent, and he was a watch-maker’s assistant. John Henry Bignell, of 7 Town-lane, Newport, stableman and cartman in the employ of Messrs. James Thomas and Co., Ltd.. said that on Saturday afternoon he was driving a pair of horses attached to a miller’s van from Sandown to Newport. Between 2 and 2.30 he was going up the Arreton-shute, and when near the top, about 11 yards from the corner, with the horses going at a walking pace. he saw deceased coming round the corner. He came straight into the pole of the van. When witness saw him coming he pulled the horses up short and put the brake on. The effect of that would be that the pole would be pulled up and go down again. Deceased’s body struck heavily against the pole. His bicycle struck the horse’s front leg almost simultaneously. Witness got down, and deceased got up and walked across the road. Witness freed the bicycle from the horses. and went to deceased to ask where he had hurt himself. He said below the stomach, and seemed in great pain. Deceased asked witness to lay him down, and he got the loin-cloth out of the van and did so. He undid his clothes, but could not see any injury. Witness called a boy and asked him to go to the White Lion and tell someone to come. He asked the man who came what to do, and he told him to take him to the first doctor he came to. Witness took him to Dr. Thompson, who advised his removal to Parkhurst, where witness took him. The pole was iron clamped, it had a piece of iron at the end of it. His van was on the left-hand side of the road, close to the gutter, when the accident happened, two or three feet from the left-hand side. The van was 6ft. wide, all but 2in. Deceased had about 12ft, in which to pass. When witness first saw deceased he was about 2ft, from the hedge on his right-hand side. He did not ring his bell. He was on his wrong side. He was 11 or 12 yards from the corner when witness first saw him. He seemed travelling fast. The road was wide there, and there was no other vehicle about. Deceased must have assumed that the road was all right. By the Foreman: Deceased was coming down hill. He had sufficient room to pass. The Coroner said the deceased appeared to have taken the corner as if there was no obstacle. but found one there. If the witness’s statement were correct there was no reason for anything like blame attaching to him. George Cross, a lad belonging to the Boys’ home, Arreton. said that on Saturday he was at Aretton-cross sitting on a gate at the top of the hill, giving a view of the road down to Arreton. He saw the horses and van, driven by the last witness, coming up the shute. They were close to the hedge on the left side. Later on the boy gave a rather contradictory account of the position of the van. and the Corner expressed the opinion that his evidence did not help the Jury. Gr. John Edward Urry, R.G.A., landlord of the White Lion, Arreton, said he went to the scene of the accident because the boy came for him. They had had heavy rain, and he could trace the track of the van up the hill quite plainly. He found the track 10 or 18 yards from the corner, on the left-hand side of the road. The wheel was about 8ft. from the gutter. You could see where the bicycle came round the corner. Practically speaking. the van followed the same track all up the road. Another van could have passed it. The width of the road there was about 20ft. Insp. Sibbock said the road was 21ft. wide where the accident occurred. The Coroner said he thought Gunner Urry’s evidence very helpful. It had cleared up the position, as far as the driver of the van was concerned. As far as he could judge, the deceased took the risk on himself. Gunner Urry: He was on the right side of the road. The Coroner: He must have taken the corner flying. Capt. Richard William Ely Rae, R.A.M.C., stationed at Parkhurst, said he saw deceased on his arrival there. He was suffering from shock. There was only a slight abrasion of the skin on the lower part of the abdomen; you could hardly call it an abrasion. He had had a blow across the abdomen. He said he was on a bicycle and ran into the van. He died the next evening. He was in great pain until he became unconscious. The Coroner said he thought the evidence, which was quite clear, exonerated the driver of the van from any blame. It was obvious, as he was going up a rather steep ascent, that he was not likely to have gone up it at a very fast rate. The deceased took the corner in a way he should not have done. He thought the verdict of the Jury would be to the effect that he died from injuries sustained through an accidental collision with the van, and that the driver was entirely free from any blame whatever. The Jury returned a Verdict to this effect. Isle of Wight County Press 25 Aug 1917
We used to go to an open day at the College years ago. Seem to remember getting little blue cartons of salt as a prize in games.
How lovely to read about your memories, Sally. I am currently trying to fill in a few gaps in my family history and came across this site, which is proving very helpful and interesting. During the ninteenth / early twentieth centuries a Whitworth ancestor of mine was, I believe, a lay preacher at Ompton Methodist Chapel. I think it may have been Arthur Whitworth but I’m not sure. My Smith family of Norfolk also had strong connections with the Methodist Church and attended the chapel in Pot Row, Grimston. Another of their relatives, by the name of Claxton, held a meeting at his house in Wolferton.
This Margaret Shaw was the sister of past President of the Conference (in the 70s) Rev B. Arthur Shaw and her sister Mary was Headmistress of the Methodist school, Edgehill in Devon.
I wonder if this Margaret Shaw was the same one who was my Sunday School teacher in that very year (1953) at Marlborough Road Methodist Church St Albans. She was a school teacher and I seem to remember her father may have been a minister (retired) and he and his wife had been members in the years of the war and following. I collected for JMA myself and have a medal and several bars from the 40s and 50s.
Cookham Rise Wesleyan Methodist Chapel, Berkshire In 1940 Cookham Rise Wesleyan Methodist Chapel seated 207 people in pews. There was a school hall and two other rooms. This is a quite remarkable building. The prominent bargeboard and the very unusual tower reflect current trends in architecture but the buttresses and the lancet window in the tower suggest that the architect had not quite thrown off the tyranny of the Gothic Source John Rylands Library University of Manchester DDPD1Methodist Accommodation returns, 1940/110110 Site visit 7.10.2015
Charles Creek was not the only son he had two brothers Arthur and Walley
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