Abbey Wood Methodist Church - History

In the ‘30s there were, of course, trams travelling along McLeod Road and their noise was very obtrusive during services.  Representations were made to London Transport with the result that twice on Sundays during service times they posted an Inspector outside to waive down the trams to crawl past to cut down the noise.  One can’t imagine they would provide such service nowadays!

The Church continued to function during the Second World War and some of the younger men gave their lives in the forces.  The church was fortunate in that it did not suffer any great damage from the bombing. The numbers grew – some Sunday School classes overflowed into a
Co-operative Hall opposite.

Inevitably thoughts turned to extending the building and eventually the current church building was added and opened in 1954, with help from the Rank Foundation.

Since 1954 their have been many changes.  A Youth Club had been a thriving and successful part of the Church since the mid 1930’s but this eventually closed in about 1970 through lack of qualified and trained leaders.

A Wesley Guild was formed and this was a well-attended and popular mid-week meeting which only came to an end in the late 1990’s.

In the early days the Sunday evening service was the main service of the day attracting the largest congregation.  Morning services attracted only a few loyal people.  In common with most churches (of all denominations) this position has completely reversed.

Next

Home 
Activities
Giving 
History
News
Map