Walmer Baptist Church     |     

                                                  

The History of WBC

Written by David G. Collyer

It was in February 1899 that the members of Victoria Baptist Church,

Deal resolved at their annual Church Meeting to start working to establish

a church in the fast-expanding adjacent residential district of Lower Walmer.

By April of the following year £800 was raised at a magnificent supper and

Mr W. Parkinson announced that he had secured part of `The Great Field',

and presented it to the Church. In June 1901 an informal dedication service

as held on the site of the new church building, followed by a tea,

and the foundation stone was laid in August 1903,

again with another tea being held on the site.

Group photograph taken at the opening of

Walmer Baptist Church building - July 21st, 1904

The contract for the building was awarded to Mr A.W Thompson,

of Walmer and was constructed of locally-manufactured red brick in the

`Early English' Style, with Bath stone dressings to the design of

architects J. Willis & Son of Derby at a cost of £ 3,500 .

The plan is cruciform, with shallow transepts and a fine off-set tower on the front elevation,

with seating for 500 persons, a gallery at the rear of the `nave' and features an open baptistery.

The organ was built by the local firm of F.W Browne,

whose works were situated in the first Deal Baptist Church in Nelson Street,

which had been vacated in 1881.

On 21st July 1906 the new building was dedicated by Dr

Glover of Bristol and was to be run as a branch church of

Victoria Baptist under the Revd Nicholas Dobson, with the

Revd John Bradford as assistant minister.

In 1908 Walmer Baptist became a separate pastorship under

Revd Bradford and took over the supervision of the newly

erected mission hall at Great Mongeham in 1911.

The Opening of the Mongeham mission in 1911

As sufficient land was available for expansion, a series of

additional rooms were added including the Sunday School

Hall and classrooms, a new Kitchen and a `Church Parlour' for

meetings, complete with `the usual offices' - The First World

War saw some eleven (?) members of both fellowships

making the ultimate sacrifice, and they are commemorated on

a marble tablet placed on the wall to the right of the pulpit.

In 1923 two semi -detached houses were erected next to the

Sunday School, in what was then `Park Road'. One for use

as a manse and the other to be let. As well as a the flourishing

Sunday School and a `Band of Hope', music played an

important part in the life of the church, led by our organist and

choirmaster Mr W.J.L Piper who had worked as a foreman

carpenter on the church building, before founding his own firm.

The new organ, which had been obtained after the original one

was donated to the Mongeham Mission was termed `one of the

finest in the district' by the guest organists who gave

occasional recitals, while the choir performed cantatas as

well as leading worship, which included introits, anthems, and

vespers during the evening service. A special feature was

the Harvest Festival, when produce which had been displayed

in the church on Sunday was sold at auction after the Harvest

Supper on the following evening.

The outbreak of Second World War came during the pastorship of Revd E.R Fowles, who evacuated with his family in May

1940 when the local population was reduced from some 20,000 to 6,000 almost overnight.

The Sunday School Hall was taken over as a First Aid Post, where lectures on Air Raid Precautions, Fire Drills and First

Aid were given by local doctors and the head of the local Fire Brigade. When a bomb fell in Dover Road near the church,

on 6th October 1940, the church was damaged, but

the Sunday School children were saved from harm by the

prompt action of the then Superintendent, Mr Leslie Burgess.

The Church invited Mr Cooper, superintendent of the

Wingham Water Works to undertake a temporary pastorship

who, together with Church secretary Mr A.C ``Bert' Laslett

guided the church through the remaining difficult war years.

Post War the Church invited Revd Gascoign to the pastorship,

which period saw the expansion of Youth Work at Walmer

Baptist, initially with a Boys Club, led by Mr Ernest Huntley

and who held several summer camps on the `Freedown', at

Ringwould when parents and friends were invited to visit of an

evening. There was also a Girls' Club led by Mrs Roper, these

being later amalgamated into the Young People's Fellowship .

This outreach was expanded during the pastorships of Revd

`Ted' Tribe and Rev `Jim' Wisewell, the former minister being

appointed as `Free Church Chaplain' at the Royal Marine

Barracks, leading to a vastly increased Sunday Morning

congregation with young R.M musicians and their `followers'

The choir also benefited by the appointment of R,M

Bandmaster Mr Jennings, who updated its repertoire and

introduced some more modern musical arrangements.

The founding of both a Girl's Brigade and Boys' Brigade

Company at Walmer Baptist, while the Y.P.F organized an

annual outing for the local OAP's and well as joining the Deal &

District Table Tennis League, moving on to an annual

weekend camp as well as trips for ice skating and ten-pin

bowling. The church continued to flourish under the

Pastorship of Revd Cyril Austen and joint services were held

on a regular basis with the Anglican friends from St Mary's

Church as well as joint missionary enterprises with the

Mongeham and Eythorne fellowships.

Under Rev Cobley's pastorship both a Men's Meeting and

Male Voice choir flourished, the latter appearing at the annual

Festival of Male Voice Praise at the Royal Albert Hall, Several

short-lived pastorships, witnessed the separation of the

mission hall at Mongeham as a totally independent fellowship

combined with a decline both in membership and attendance,

as well as the termination of both uniformed youth

organizations and the church choir. Although housing in

Walmer continues to expand it is now our facilities rather than

our message which seems to attract `outsiders' as our hall is

used both by a `Keep Fit' Club, the `Victoria Badminton Club'

and on occasions by the Walmer Parish Council. A `Sunday

School', Bible Class, our Junior Y.P.F, two meetings for ladies

and various missionary enterprises, such supporting the

annual Christian Aid Collection and `Tools with a Mission',

make up the majority of the activity nowadays.

However we work to make contact with, and minister to the

disillusioned , deprived and demonized , and a local mission

is being planned for the coming year, starting with `The Kid's

Kingdom' ,a parents and toddlers group, while regular our

Bible Studies; `Coffee & Chat' gatherings and our `Prayer,

Care and Share' group will continue under our new Pastor

Sean Carter.

March 2002

Written by David G. Collyer