Joyce Wright ran the Sisterhood for many years and played the piano during their afternoon devotions.
Barbara Brown (nee Willmott) says: “My mother Phebe Willmott was a long serving member of the Sisterhood. She made the teas and used to a buy a birthday card for every member.”
Hilda Braisby – at 94 our oldest church member – began attending Wollaton Road when she was two. Hilda, who was born in 1925, says: “My mother, Annie Bonser, went to Sisterhood on Wednesdays at 3pm. The ladies enjoyed meeting socially, listening to a speaker and rounding off the afternoon with a cup of tea and biscuits. They would also arrange outings to places like Skegness.
“We then lived in Wilkinson Avenue, next to the Hodgkinson family, who strongly supported Wollaton Road Methodist Church. When I was two, I asked Mrs Hodgkinson, whom I called Aunty Nellie, to take me with her to Sunday School. I can still recall my early years in the Sunday School – sitting on little chairs with the rest of the children in the vestry.”
Hilda attended Church Street School from the age of five and when she was 11 passed a scholarship to Brincliffe County Girls’ Grammar School in Nottingham.
Hilda left school at 15 and spent many years working at Bartons. The shorthand and typing she learned at college proved useful at church. When Mrs Starling died, Hilda became secretary of the trust and took the minutes at the trustees’ meetings.
Hilda also enjoyed playing the piano at services and was a long serving Sunday School teacher.
Footnote: The first Wollaton Road website said: “Although we describe ourselves as the Sisterhood, we welcome gentlemen to enjoy our time of fellowship together.” I wonder if any men were brave enough to join?
