A brief history of the Church on Suttons Farm
The Church on Suttons Farm closed on Sunday 26th September when the last service, a celebration service attended by over 100 people, took place.
Below is a brief history of the Church on Suttons Farm.
How it all began
The southerly end of the Parish had undergone considerable development during the 1960's and 1970's resulting in the Airfield, Suttons Farm and Gloster Green Housing Estates.
Although there were a large number of new houses, the only other amenity built on the estate was Scotts School, and later the Tesco Store (and its accompanying parade of shops in Airfield Way).
It became the dream of some members of St George's Church, Kenilworth Gardens, that a service of Christian worship be provided regularly somewhere in the Suttons Farm area, to help provide a spiritual focus for the new communities living there. Under the charismatic leadership of the Revd Albert Watson, a team of lay people prayerfully began making plans and setting things in motion.
Albert was already well-known and loved by the children and staff of Scotts School, and with the support and agreement of the then Head Teacher, Mrs Smith and Governors, the School Hall was hired for use of one hour each Sunday morning.
On Sunday 29th September 1990, the first ever service of The Church on Suttons Farm (CSF), as it became known, was held.
The Church on Suttons Farm was born.
In the early days, services were lead mainly by lay people, with clergy providing input on one Sunday a month.
All through its history, there have been some outstanding contributions from lay members who all worked together to enable the services to continue.
After Albert Watson left, and after a lot of thought, the church became independent of St George's and clergy involvement grew. Revd Philip Goodey became minister in charge of Suttons Farm as well as St George's, and with members of his family, brought a strong musical influence. Pat Wright has been our one continuing link with St George's taking services once a month.
The rent of the school hall, originally £10 per Sunday, rose to its current rate of over £80 (October 2010). A sum that continued to exercise our minds and our pockets.
Our first ever communion service was held at Suttons Farm on 29th March 1992, and generally followed on the last Sunday in the month thereafter.
On 24th August 1992 saw the first ever baptism service being held at Suttons Farm.
In July 1993, the Scotts School Head Teacher, Mrs Smith retired. Her replacement, Mrs Petula Allen was appointed from January 1994.
As Philip Goodey stepped back and eventually left the Parish, the Revd Barbara Baker's involvement was to prove another significant moment in CSF history. The membership were delighted to have effectively their own minister in charge (albeit a retired one), someone who could give the needs of CSF a higher stake in their overall workload than ever before.
As a consequence there was now a greater feeling of confidence in the church's future and that the Parish was putting a renewed determination to make the church known to those living on the estates.
The church was very encouraged by the number of children regularly attending services, and felt that the Sunday School, and 'child friendly' services would be paramount to its success. They had one advantage over other churches in that most of the children attending Suttons Farm Church were already very familiar with the Scotts School Building, and therefore very comfortable and confident in its environment.
The Church on Suttons Farm owed much to the goodwill of Scotts School, particularly of former Head Teacher Mrs Petula Allen and teaching staff. Viv Howard works in the school as a Classroom Assistant and has been able to liaise between the two parties. One outcome of our successful links with the school has been our Tuesday Club - an after school club which was always oversubscribed and a huge opportunity to reach un-churched children.
Barbara Baker has been a School Governor and was also involved in School Assemblies.
Our presence on the Estate became more widely known and the church was encouraged by the numbers of people who made an effort to attend, particularly at services such as Harvest, Anniversary and Christmas time.
Not having a building of its own was no longer seen as a particular disadvantage. In many respects a church is relieved of the worries of maintaining and keeping such a building secure, etc. Instead the membership can concentrate on coming together as a family, hopefully devoting more of their energies towards each other and the wider community and so growing in fellowship and enabling those to whom church is new to feel comfortable in an informal atmosphere.
In latter years there has been valuable help from St Peter's, Harold Wood and many from our own Parish. Our core members have ALL contributed in making our church a warm and welcoming presence (not least our bag ladies who have faithfully brought our portable church items week by week)!
With numbers not increasing and with the Parish needing to conserve its slim resources, the committee of CSF took the brave decision to complete its mission to the Estate on this its 20th Anniversary.
