The Church Hall was originally the Church and was built in 1898, making it 126 years old this year. The official opening was on March 28th 1900.
The Present Church was built on land acquired in 1900 from the Revell Trust. It took the then trustees of the church 39 years to raise the funds, etc for the new building, which opened in 1939, making it 85 years old this year.
Saturday 3rd December 1938 saw the stone laying ceremony. A number of people have asked me what the numbers stand for at the front of the Church.
They were laid by:
No1. Mr J.R. Vincent on behalf of the Cobourg Street Trust
No2. Miss V. Winnicott on behalf of Sir Frederick Winnicott
No3. Mr J.S. Johns on behalf of the Sunday School
No4. Mr S. Trahair in memory of Mr and Mrs W.B Trahair
No5. Miss Cox on behalf of the Sewing Meeting
No6. Miss W Selleck
No7. Miss E. Folley (for Mr E.N. Parson)
No8. Mr A.J.Blackell on behalf of the Compton Trust
If you visit the Westminister Central Hall (Methodist) in London, they have got some old record books on who donated money to have it built. The then Wesleyan Church put out an appeal to all churches for members to donate one guinie to fund the building of Westminister Central Hall. When you look into the record books on who donated, there are lists and lists of names including several former members and families of our Church; for example, Mr Johns (Reg. Johns father), the German family (Rita, Ethel....), Mr Doige, Miss Foley.
Nigel Norris - Extract from The Compton News 2013
A bit more church history!
Notice the chimney(s)! Gone now of course. I wonder how the church was heated – Cast iron coal or wood burners ! Certainly not central heating as we know it! The ground around this building, including the ground on which the present church now stands, was used for sheep grazing. The 'village' of Compton was at that time very rural with many farms and small holdings. A place for a day out in the countryside for the city dwellers!
Extract from The Compton News July 2016