Special service of thanks

A service of thanksgiving and farewell will be held at St Stephen's, the Stratford Methodist Church, this Sunday to which all past and present parishioners are invited, along with members of the community.

Secretary and treasurer of St Stephen's Church in Stratford, Shirley Hosking, says the service is to commemorate the sale of the church building.

This doesn't mean there are no Methodists in Stratford anymore, it is just the building is no longer being used as a church.

Shirley Hosking

Shirley says the church is "more than a building, it is about the fellowship and the people, and we are still here".

The decision to sell the building hasn't been an easy one, but was reached over the past couple of years says Shirley. "It would be a bit of a waste of parishioners money to maintain a building we aren't actually using for regular services anymore."

While it has still been used for weddings and funerals, the parishioners have not used St Stephen's as a base for their Sunday worship for the past five or so years she says. "Dwindling numbers and the general age of the congregation meant we had very few people attending our Sunday services, so we joined with the parishioners at the Anglican Church across the road and have been worshiping together for the past few years."

The building has been purchased by Brian Darth Funeral Services and will be used as a non-denominational funeral chapel says funeral director Pamela Reed. She says all of the staff at Brian Darth Funeral Services are excited about the new chapel, as it means they can offer a dedicated space for funeral services and cater for people of any or no faith.

"The chapel will be called the Mary-Alice Chapel, to recognise and honour my parents' mothers, Mary was my mum, Christine's mother and Alice was Brian's mother."

Shirley says she is pleased the church building will be used in this way, rather than being turned into a house or other business. "The church has a lot of history behind it, the site itself was bought in 1894, and by the end of that year the original church was built. The new church building was built in 1962 and was "the hub of the community," for many years she says. "All sorts of groups met there and were started up by members of the congregation, from boys and girls brigades to badminton and tennis groups, the young wives group and of course, many fellowship groups."

It is this sense of community that will remain, says Shirley, regardless of where parishioners meet to worship. "However, it is certainly the end of an era to formally close the building, so we are holding the special service and warmly welcome everyone who wishes to attend.

The service will be held this Sunday, August 30 at 2pm and all are welcome.