Chapel Next the Green (the history of Twickenham Congregational Church) index page
In this last pastorate history Twickenham Congregational Church becomes Twickenham United Reformed Church. ‘Chapel Next the Green’ was published in 1982 so covers the first ten years as a URC. I’ve not attempted to extend the narrative here. Ministers during more recent years have been Norman Setchell (1986-1990), Bob Warwicker (1991-1998), Janet Lees (ass.) (1996-1998), Terry Sparks (2001-2006), Jenny Snashall (2007-2019) and Stephen Lewis (2019 to date).
In October 1971 the Rev Harold Bennett, minister of Christchurch, Leicester, was invited to accept the pastorate and in February 1972 began his ministry at Twickenham. He served as minister until his death in 1985.
Mr Bennett was born in Sheffield and prior to entering the ministry trained as an engineer. Before going to Leicester he had served Churches at Leeds and Barnard Castle, Co. Durham. His wife, Beryl, was also a minister, though church members were enjoined at his induction service ‘not to expect two for the price of one’! Nevertheless Mrs Bennett played her part in the pastorate, also serving Hampton Hill Church as minister from 1979. Both had a strong calling towards the ministry of healing, and for many years from 1972 a weeknight service for worship and healing was held. Mr Bennett also served as the Free Church chaplain to West Middlesex Hospital from 1975.
The new pastorate began with a new Secretary, Miss Dorothy Cocker. Mrs Elsie Davies, retiring to Cheshire, was presented with a fine picture of Teddington Lock, painted by John Belderson. On October 5th 1972 the United Reformed Church came into being, an inaugural service being held at Richmond Green URC, which joined the Team shortly afterwards. The deacons were ordained as Elders and were given responsibility for pastoral oversight, taking over from the Church Friends. Although north of the Thames, established Team links led to Twickenham and Hampton Hill being placed in the Wimbledon District of the URC’s Southern Province. Over the next ten years Twickenham’s links with churches in the South West Middlesex area all but disappeared to be replaced by new friends in an area stretching from Lambeth to Dorking.
On June 9th 1979 members joined many others from the URC Southern Promise at the Provincial Day in Canterbury; sadly, they returned to learn that Mr Faers, Treasurer from 1946 to 1975, had died earlier that day.
Worship continued to evolve. In 1975 copies of ‘New Church Praise’, a URC book containing modern hymns were bought to supplement Congregational Praise. That year the organ was rebuilt and enlarged, after two years of fund-raising. 1978 saw the adoption of the sharing of ‘the Peace‘ at Communion services, an act already familiar to Anglican friends. The Church Meeting changed – from November 1976 a bi-monthly on a Sunday afternoon, followed by tea and a short service replaced the former monthly midweek evening meeting. In 1973 a third member, Mr John Burgess was accepted as a ministerial candidate. After training at Mansfield College, Oxford he was ordained at Gleadless, Sheffield in 1980, then serving in Zambia, Birmingham, and as a tutor at Selly Oak College.
The policy of progressively improving the buildings continued. Repayment of the loan incurred on rebuilding the toilet block was the first priority. In 1972 the garden was laid out with shrubs and seat, as a memorial to the wife of member. The same year saw the first of several generous gifts from Miss Mary Hadley, an elderly member, enabling the hall to be refurbished in 1973. Pine boarding replaced crumbling plaster and a new floor covering was provided. Following a gift day the renewed hall was suitably refurnished.
In 1977 the interior of the church was remodelled. A level concrete floor replaced decayed timber, a removable screen was fixed across the gallery front, a new heating system was installed and the walls were redecorated. The scheme was only possible because volunteers, under the supervision of Mr Ken Cole, carried out the last two items. The church building was reopened just before Christmas 1977. Carpet was laid in June 1973, and that October the pews were replaced with chairs, many given in memory of relatives.
The net effect of these alterations left a pleasant building which could be rearranged for special services or events. Nearly forty years later a massive refurbishment scheme transformed the building once again.
I concluded ‘Chapel Next the Green’ with these words.
And what of the future? On its formation the URC declared its intention to pray and work for the visible unity of the whole Church. Recently the church has discussed the report ‘Towards Visible Unity: Proposals for a Covenant” and has considered how far we can pursue unity without compromising the tenets that we and our predecessors, have stood for. Meaningful co-operation between local Churches has continued.
Following in others footsteps, we go into the future in faith. Today our membership is higher than fifty years ago. In the words of Mr Bennett:
“Our chief need is to deepen the Faith and Spiritual life of the Church Fellowship and with God’s help the Church will prosper and grow“
It will be for a future historian to record the nature of this growth.
Sadly over the last 43 years there has been decline rather than growth – numerically speaking, anyway – but Twickenham URC survives where a number of other local URCs have closed – Richmond Green, East Sheen and Thames Ditton to name a few – and is a centre of community activity. If you’ve read through the preceding pages you’ll recall that the church came close to closing in 1849 following the death of Sir Robert Shaw, was dissolved in 1879 following Samuel Fisher’s controversial ministry and came close to closure in the late 1920s when the congregation was riven with dissent. In each case it survived and came back stronger. So we pray for another revival in the years to come.
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