We’re always pleased to receive copies of magazines, newsheets and visitor guides from other churches. Received since the previous issue of our magazine are these examples from Suffolk: Bradwell, St Peter & St Paul’s; Bury St Edmunds Cathedral; Bramford Road Methodist Church, Ipswich; the Parish of Ampton, Great Livermere & Ingham; Lavenham, St Peter & St Paul’s (which is also part of the same Benefice as Preston, St Mary’s!!!); Holy Trinity, Long Melford and St Mary’s, Woolpit. From other areas there was the Highwood Parish News, Chelmsford, Essex and magazines from St James’, Yeovil, Somerset; St John’s, Cirencester, Gloucestershire; Wells Cathedral, Somerset and Guildford Cathedral, Surrey.

We also regularly receive a copy of the magazine from our twinned Evangelisch-methodistische Kirche in Recklinghausen, Germany and John has found a way of bringing a translated version of this to you. This is available HERE.

As you probably know, Preston was the birthplace of Teetotalism. A recently discovered copy of Seed’s Street Directory for 1949 shows that no less than eleven establishments were still being listed as Temperance Hotels in the town. (Some of us are old enough to recall a number of them!! The County on Fishergate Hill is one example.)

Perhaps you will have noticed the headline in the Lancashire Post ‘Sir Tom’s Church Has Been Saved’ indicating that, at long last, Emmanuel Church on Brook Street has been rescued from demolition. Plans to restore it and create a building shared between religion and housing have finally been approved. Also the iconic cross on top of the tower is to be re-lit. (Sir Tom Finney and his bride Elsie were married there in 1945 and both their children were baptised there too.)

Did you read about the Canterbury church and its idea for solving falling attendances at Evensong? On the third Sunday of each month attendees are now offered a light supper in the adjacent church hall. The number enjoying socialising over the meal had grown and includes teenagers and young adults. Bigger congregations have meant the organisers have been able to attract a wider range of guest preachers. Sermons are kept to eight minutes too.

Thinking ahead to Christmas: one of the (sadly, disappearing) customs has been to attend a performance of Handel’s Messiah (NOT The Messiah but simply Messiah, by the way.) Also it was written to be performed at Easter rather than at Christmastime, but it somehow moved from one season to the other.

Did you know that we’re obliged to send a copy of each ‘Fulwood Methodist’ to the Agency for the Legal Deposit Libraries, Edinburgh? Legal Deposit helps ensure that a nation’s published output is collected and preserved for the future. As a publisher this means that our content will be securely preserved while also being made accessible in the reading rooms of the Legal Deposit Libraries. There are six libraries in the UK Legal Deposit system: The British Library; the Bodleian Library, Oxford University; Cambridge University Library; the National Library of Scotland; the National Library of Wales and the Library of Trinity College, Dublin.

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The October-November issue of Fulwood URC’s Newsletter contained the following notification:

A final service is planned for Saturday, 8^th January, 2022, to celebrate the life and witness of the church and will be led by Rev. Lena Talbot. Former members and friends will be invited to the service but numbers attending will depend on Covid guidelines in force at the time.

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Pew or Seat Rents were paid by church members wishing to retain the same seat regularly. Families would usually have two places for parents and their children might sit with them – although the young people would usually sit in the seats at the front of church. (Have you ever noticed the brass labels still attached to those pews?) The Pew Rents were collected quarterly by Mr Hindley.

There are also several references to payment ‘for cushions’ but no mention of the number bought or the price.

Being a stranger could be difficult: newcomers hoped for a good Door Steward to show them to a vacant seat. It was not ‘the done thing’ to sit in someone else’s pew, which could lead to strained relationships (….and that’s putting it mildly!) Pew Rents ceased in the 1950s.

During the First World War FMC was a popular venue for soldiers billeted at Fulwood Barracks: they obviously had a warm welcome and activities were specifically put on for them. The Circuit Stewards paid for the Soldiers’ Rents. After the war the military gave the church an annual contribution until 1930.