Sometimes the blog connects things out of the blue and it’s rather lovely.
When I posted the set of carnival images donated by the Craddock family via Peter Booth over the weekend, Peter had said to me he had a bunch of slide images that he was cleaning up depicting the construction and opening of Silver Street Methodist Church in Brownhills.
Well, Chris Booth (who I think may be a relation) posted what I suspect is that set on Facebook on Monday evening and gave me permission to share them here. They are utterly remarkable – not just for the engrossing subject matter – the novel construction of a beautiful, modern place of worship – but for the eloquence with which they speak of the period.
Edited 24th April 2019 8:55pm:
Turns out this isn’t the Craddock set at all – Peter is still beavering away on those. There are two: Chris Booth supplied these images taken by his Grandfather, Fred Booth.
To clear things up further, Peter is Chris’s uncle, so that makes the family connection.
Readers will know how important correct attribution is to me and the blog’s integrity so I’m all too happy to point this out and apologise for any embarrassment caused. – Bob
The people, the cars, the backgrounds. The open building site. The policeman looking on at the group before Mount Zion Chapel in the High Street. The dress and stance of the people laying the commemoration stone. The children.
The Craddock family were very much involved with the creation of this church – Roy Craddock was the Secretary of the Church Trustees at the time.
The church was built in 1967 to replace the and combine Mount Zion and the Wesleyan in Brownhills High Street which were lost to redevelopment and it has to be said, old age; latterly, the remarkable building whose design hasn’t dated at all has accepted congregations from other churches and chapels in Brownhills like Park View, Brownhills West and Coppice Side.
The Silver Street Church is busy and has an active congregation and you can find out more about it at their website here and Facebook page here.
Thanks to Chris for sharing a remarkable piece of local history.
As ever, if any members of the Church would care to drop me an email I’m happy to advertise your community events. Just drop me a line.
If you have any memories of the new Silver Street Church – or indeed, the ones it superseded – please do comment or drop me an email. BrownhillsBob at Googlemail dot com.