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Whitton Baptist Church (St. Margarets Memorial)
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Whitton Baptist Church (St. Margarets Memorial)
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The money from the sale of the St. Margarets Church enabled present building to be erected and opened in 1935 with the Gospel Hall worshippers' forming the core of the new Church.
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These two pictures of the original drawings dated 1934 are for the proposed Baptist Church in Whitton.
Only part of the proposed
The section on the left, The 'spire' was also omitted. |
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The two foundation stones set into the front wall of the church carrying the date October 20th 1934. The inscriptions are now almost illegible after over 70 years exposure to the weather. (Larger pictures here) |
The first Minister Rev. Walter G. Davis was appointed in 1936, over the next few years the membership and Sunday School grew rapidly as new people moved into the area. The outbreak of the second World War halted this growth as men were called up and children evacuated. The church suffered some minor war damage fortunately there were no casualties from these incidents.
| The original gates were removed during the war. But the style of them can still be seen today in the grills at the front of the church. |
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| The entrance to the church c.1936 |
| Our current suite of halls were opened in September 1968 on the site of the old tennis court. These replaced our two previous halls, one of which was destroyed in a fire in 1966. The site of the other old hall is now part of our car park. |  |
The entrance to the halls. |
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| A view of the side of the halls facing the car park. |
| In 1970 the Rev. Derek Buckingham B.A. succeeded Mr Cassidy. During his ministry Communion was incorporated into the normal service, the celebration of Communion at Baptismal services and the introduction of the Family Church concept. In 1975 he moved to Falmouth. |  |
A drawing of the entrance in the 1970's. The brick arch and pillars no longer exist as they had to be demolished. |
Our next Minister in 1976 was Rev Barry Vendy B.A. B.D. He had
a deep concern for unity among the Churches and for the needs of
the under-privileged in the world. He succeeded in getting the
Churches in Whitton to use an unoccupied shop as a shoppers
creche, a tea/coffee bar and Christian book room, apart from its'
value to the community it provided a focus for the Churches to
work together. Although now closed the friendships remain. Barry
left in 1983 to go to Stroud Baptist Church.
Barry was followed in 1984 by Rev. Martin Smith J.P. M.A.
The 12 years Martin was with us saw the Church continue
to serve the community with the establishment of a Lunch Club on
Thursdays together with a number of evangelistic outreach
activities. The increasing mobility of the population means that
about half of our present membership joined during Martin's ministry.
Martin left us in September 1996 go to Shirley Baptist Church,
Southampton.
| In September 1998 the Rev. Andy Gore accepted
the call to the pastorate of the church, his induction took place
on January 30th 1999. Andy has continued to build on the work started by Martin in reaching out to the communtiy and has established links with the local schools. The 19th of October 2002 saw the induction of the Rev. Jennie Wakefield as Associate Minister. Jennie left us in October 2006 to go to Stalybridge Baptist Church in Manchester. |
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| Jennie and Andy |
In October 2006 we started a project to improve both the interior and exterior of the front of our building. The work involved changing the layout of the rooms at the front of the buiding, creating a new entrance vesibule and separate vehicle and pedestrian access. The work was completed in August 2007.
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| The old entrance and front of the church in October 2006. | The new entrance and front of the church in June 2008. |
Back to the early years
More history and old photographs.
You will find more about the history of Whitton, as well as an
interesting collection of photographs on Richard Milsom's website
