CHURCH CENTENARY, 1982
In 1982 the church celebrated its centenary with a series of special events. One of the highlights was a three-day flower festival held on September 11, 12 and 13.
In that month’s edition of the church magazine Outlook, one of the main organisers Ada Morrell wrote: “We are hoping for a full church on September 12 when our special preacher will be our former minister the Rev Douglas J Ford. Meals will be available each day and it would be a great help to the Catering Committee if meals can be ordered in advance. Mrs Joyce Wright is in charge of catering and would be pleased to receive your order in good time.
“We hope you will encourage your friends and acquaintances to come along. The aim of the flower festival is to show our gratitude to those who during the last 100 years, worked for the church we love, and have now passed to their reward.”
Mrs Morrell ended her article by appealing to anyone to lend a bucket or large container to help store the vast array of festival flowers.
A souvenir guide helped visitors to follow the 34 arrangements in sequence. Two of the first displays paid tribute to William Turner, builder of the church, and Jabez Wright, the founder member who suggested starting a ragged Sunday School.
Arrangement No 8 thanked Arthur Corrall for stoking the coke fired boiler and “doing his best to ensure that the church was adequately heated during the winter months.” His wife Mary was also thanked in flowers for her interest in the church and having been a “worthy member of our Sisterhood.”
Among others acknowledged in the arrangements were Mr and Mrs Wright and their daughter Mrs Elsie Sheldon; Mr and Mrs Baumber (Cyril’s parents); former Sunday School superintendent and one time choirmaster Arthur Southgate; Arthur Hickingbottom, who served as a teacher, treasurer and secretary of the Sunday School for 30 years and Mrs Gladys Spensley, described as an indefatigable worker in the church and a loyal choir member, noted for singing duets and solos.
Arrangements were also dedicated to Mr and Mrs A Bonser and founder members Mr and Mrs John Bettle and family. They were staunch Primitive Methodists – John, who was Wollaton Road’s first Sunday School superintendent, refused to attend railway union meetings on Sundays.
Other floral tributes acknowledged the loyal service of Mr and Mrs E Hodgkinson, who were caretakers of the church for a number of years, and the Willmott family (when the centenary was held in 1982 the current members were Mrs Phoebe Willmott and her daughter Mrs Barbara Brown).
John Corrall was one of many who praised the flower festival. In the October edition of Outlook, he wrote: “Many weeks of careful planning culminated in a final presentation of which I am sure the whole church is justly proud. The impact created by the various arrangements as one entered the church was truly magnificent and how professional each arrangement looked.”
Paying tribute to Ada and Harry Morrell for “masterminding” the large-scale operation, he revealed that during the festival the couple had slept on the premises to ensure the displays were not subject to vandalism.
A month before the flower festival took place, the then Wollaton Road minister the Rev U Ba Ohn and his wife returned In Burma. Taking over in September, 1982 was a young minister, the Rev Fred Ireland.
Other events to celebrate 100 years of Wollaton Road included a strawberry tea, a harvest thanksgiving service led by the Rev David T Jones (son of the late Rev Tom Jones) and a centenary exhibition of historical items. This was followed by a celebration party for nearly 200 people when a centenary cake, bearing a picture of the church, was cut. The preacher at a centenary thanksgiving service on November 15, 1982 was the District Chairman the Rev Brian Greet and prayers were led by Rev Edgar Nicholson.
The successful programme of centenary events attracted people from near and far, including a surprise visit by the Rev Eric Drakeford, who dropped in on his way from Canada to Chesterfield.
Centenary year also boosted funds, enabling the church to buy a new piano and allocate money to clear and landscape the land at the rear of the church.
The year 1984 brought a disastrous fire which completely destroyed the Swiss Mill factory and presented a real threat to Wollaton Road Church. The end wall facing the road – and directly opposite the church – became unsafe and was in serious danger of collapsing. Had it fallen outwards it would almost certainly have demolished the front of the church, which was continuously drenched with water from the fire hoses to cool it down. As it was, the paint on the doors was badly blistered and cracks were caused to the brickwork. It was by the grace of God that the church was spared.
A dramatic photograph, showing the blaze at its height, was presented to the church by the Chief Fire Officer Peter Wilson. It is displayed in the church lobby.
Members of the Junior Church were involved in an outreach effort in 1995, handing out leaflets near Sainsbury’s and inviting shoppers to bring youngsters to church on Sunday mornings.
Early in 1996 the Rev Richard Atkinson, then minister of Wollaton Road, announced that an Alpha course would be run after Easter.
During that year the church also decided to allocate a £2,000 bequest from the estate of the late Gladys Simpson towards the cost of the kitchen and schoolroom refurbishment.
In 1998, a recipe book launched by Junior Church sold like hot cakes and a farewell presentation was made to the Rev Richard Atkinson, his wife Louise and their children Ben and Frances before the family moved to Clitheroe, Lancashire.
A service, led by the Rev John Hudson, was held to welcome Deacon Geoff Tamblin and his wife Carol to Beeston. Geoff would be working with the Rev Mike Cassidy as part of a team ministry involving the four Beeston churches, including Wollaton Road.
Work went ahead on a £45,000 scheme to upgrade toilets and refurbish the kitchen under the able stewardship of Cyril Baumber, John Corrall, Terry Cox and Colin Sharpe. A celebration lunch was held to mark the completion of the project and a £640 boost towards the development came from a successful auction with 170 lots going under the hammer in three hours.
In 2000 the Rev Stuart Burgess and his wife Elizabeth received a warm welcome when the President of the Methodist Conference made a return visit to Beeston.
That notable year brought another highlight in the life of church – the Beeston Bygones Millennium Exhibition, which attracted more than 1,000 visitors to Wollaton Road over three days and raised £1,200 towards vital repairs to the church roof.
Opening the event, broadcaster and local personality Colin Slater paid tribute to the vast amount of work put in by exhibitors and helpers to stage such a wide-ranging exhibition.
Guests at the exhibition included the Mayor of Broxtowe Councillor Roger Collins and his escort Wilf Hastings and the chairman of the Nottingham and Derby District the Rev Wesley Blakey.
In a thank you letter to the team of support staff, John Corrall said: “For me the highlight was to see so many faces we hadn’t seen for many years and to listen to the buzz which was all around the church from the moment we opened to when we closed.”
In March 2002, a grand concert, arranged by Terry Cox and Ray Key, saw Wollaton Road filled to capacity to hear special guest organists and Harmony Incorporated play and sing to celebrate the inauguration of the church’s new digital organ.
In November 2001, the church took the first steps towards transforming a rather shabby approach to the entrance by giving the go-ahead for a new landscaping/gardening scheme. A committee, led by Cyril Baumber, co-ordinated the £10,000 project to relay the drive and ramp the fire exit. They were helped by Amanda Blicq, of Groundwork Greater Nottingham, who drew up the original plans, which were subsequently modified to create the much-admired final design seen today.
Cyril recalled: “Having just spent nearly £60,000 on refurbishing the kitchen, toilets and schoolroom, plus replacing our electronic organ, we felt it was a tall order to ask our church members to meet the cost of the project. So we decided to approach a number of local organisations to request funds and this proved most successful.”
Grants were received from WREN Waste Recycling, the Co-operative Wholesale Society, Broxtowe Communities Fund, Broxtowe Area Forum, Beeston Rotary Club and private donations.
In August 2002, a group of church volunteers cleared the site of the old slabs and removed the existing shrubs. The following month the contractors moved on site to start marking out the “serpentine drive” and begin laying the attractive pattern of block paving.
In November a team of volunteers planted the new shrubs, covered the rest of the area in weed-suppressing green slate and added three large rocks as an added feature.
Today the site has matured and remains attractive to passers-by.
The Rev Doug Hosking and his wife Jennie arrived from Australia in the summer of 2003 for a two-year stay in Beeston. After making a positive contribution to the life of the church, the couple wrote a fascinating article for Outlook, telling how they returned home the long way round – travelling across Russia, Siberia, Mongolia, China, Hong Kong and eventually to Australia.
Our new minister the Rev Gerald Liu broke new ground during his two years in Beeston before returning to America. His innovative projects included a Christmas Eve communion service in a local pub and holding a dawn service to celebrate Easter Sunday – the latter event is now a regular part of Easter activities for Beeston Methodist Church.
The big news in 2006 was an exploratory approach by a developer agent, acting on behalf of a retailer, to find out if the Church Council would consider selling Wollaton Road Methodist Church. Seeking a one-acre site, the developer had already approached the owners of the adjacent Commercial pub and a disused factory behind the church. The proposal was rejected and the Circuit Superintendent the Rev Neil Stacey wrote to the developer confirming that Wollaton Road was not “for sale.”
The preacher for anniversary services that year was former minister the Rev Ken Stokes, who was involved in a joint venture to build a combined Anglican and Methodist Church in Salford.
A marvellous project came to an end in April, 2007 when the last church lunch was served. Grateful diners said “thank you” to John and Margaret Corrall and their loyal team of helpers for providing 46 luscious lunches during the previous eight years. The profit from the lunches between 2001 and 2007 was given to church funds to offset the cost of the refurbishment of the toilets and kitchen and decorating the schoolroom. Profit from one lunch each year was given towards the annual church charity.
In September, 2007, the Rev Chris Gray took pastoral responsibility for Wollaton Road while continuing as the minister for Chilwell Road and Rylands, where he had served since 2004.
He initiated moves by the Methodist Churches in Beeston and Chilwell to work closer together. Writing in Outlook, he said: “A small team is about to begin the task of seeing whether a new building on a new site is a feasible proposition. It will be interesting and exciting to see if progress is made.”
The following month a special edition of Outlook centred on Wollaton Road’s 125th anniversary during the weekend of November 17 and 18. Saturday’s event included a public exhibition, officially opened by the Rev Chris Gray in the presence of the Mayor of Broxtowe Coun Brian Wombwell, who had fond memories of being a youth club member at Wollaton Road in 1956 with John Corrall, Tony Beardsall and David Wright.
People flocked to church to see the beautiful flower arrangements, created by Sheila Kilby and her team (Mary Higgins, Barbara Brown and Hayley Bond). A series of displays was also staged by church groups and local organisations. Great interest was shown in the church history stand, compiled by Colin and June Sharpe, which contained some artefacts on public view for the first time. People also enjoyed looking at albums of photographs on the junior church display, compiled by Paul Tivey while the fascinating display covering the history of the 17th Nottingham Boys Brigade (co-ordinated by Tony and Jean Hudson) attracted lots of attention.
Guests came from near and far to attend the reunion tea and two birthday cakes, made by Mavis Lowe, were cut by the oldest and youngest members – Phoebe Willmott and Adam Walker.
Once the tables were cleared everyone enjoyed two hours of singalong entertainment provided by Trevor Lee. Special services on Sunday morning and evening were led by former minister the Rev Fred Ireland.
In 2008, the children’s charity NCH presented a plaque to members of the Beeston and Chilwell NCH Support Group in recognition of “60 years of dedicated service to vulnerable children, young people and their families in Nottinghamshire.” In September of that year, the charity – founded in 1869 – changed its name to Action for Children.
At an important event in 2010, entitled Envision, members of Methodist churches in Beeston and Chilwell area, were consulted on the level of commitment they could offer one another.
Two years later, after careful reflection, Clarke’s Lane, Chilwell Road and Wollaton Road Churches (and later Queen’s Road) committed themselves to the vision of a new church on a single site.
The Fine Dining Club made a one-off return in March, 2013 to raise £360 for the Queenswood minibus appeal and the Forever Angels orphanage in Tanzania, in which two younger members Rachel and Hannah Towlson would play a prominent part.
Outlook reported some sad news – the Church Council had regrettably decided to withdraw regular evening services at Wollaton Road from May 26, 2013.
On September 1, 2014, four Methodist churches -Wollaton Road, Chilwell Road, Clarke’s Lane and Queen’s Road – took the momentous step to unite and form a single society known as Beeston Methodist Church.
A new and challenging journey was underway, bringing together the commitment, energies and resources of a large group of people, who started worshiping together for morning services at Chilwell Road from Easter, 2016. Combined evening services were held at Wollaton Road.
The final morning service at Wollaton Road took place on Sunday, March 20, 2016, when the preacher was Tony Richmond.
During the past decade many locations in central Beeston were considered as potential sites to build a new BMC church but none fully met our needs. So, in 2017, the BMC Church Council decided to go ahead with a major redevelopment of the Chilwell Road premises. To help fund this project, it was necessary during in 2018 to put two of our churches – Queen’s Road and Wollaton Road – on the market. Both were sold in 2019.
A thanksgiving weekend was held at Wollaton Road on Saturday, May 18 and Sunday, May 19, 2019. Saturday’s activities included a coffee morning and in the afternoon a buffet tea was attended by former and present church members. Church archives were on display. On Sunday, May 19, 2019, the Rev Chris Gray had been invited and he led the final service of thanksgiving.