Woosehill
is a large housing development, consisting chiefly of privately owned dwellings
situated to the south west of Wokingham, just off the Reading Road. Building commenced in 1980 and various
builders developed their own mini-estates within the development during that
decade. A Housing Association in
partnership with the District Council has more recently built 30 new homes on
what is about the last unused plot on the development. On Woosehill there is one Primary School
(which serves just half the estate), a video library, a community hall and a
Doctors’ Surgery.
When the school opened in 1981, the then Wokingham Council of Churches convened a meeting of all interested parties about forming a recognisable Christian presence on the estate. The overwhelming opinion expressed at the forum was that Christians on the estate preferred to link up with existing Churches in the Town and not develop a new congregation! Nevertheless St. Paul’s Church (Anglican) shortly thereafter bought a house in Jutland Close on the development and started House Groups, and held fortnightly services in the school. In early 1984, the entire ministerial staff of St. Paul’s parish left, and the Jutland Close house was sold. A loyal group of worshippers still continued to meet in one another’s homes, calling themselves The WOOSEHILL COMMUNITY CHURCH. It was subsequently recognised that the vast majority of Woosehill was in the Anglican parish of St. Catherine’s Bearwood. Rev. Haigh Etches invited Rev. Robert G. McBain, the Methodist Minister at Wokingham, who had previously been Minister of an Ecumenical Church in Nottingham, to consider together how the growing population could best be served.
At a meeting held at the school on 11th December 1984, representatives of the Woosehill worshippers, Wokingham Methodist Church and St. Catherine’s Bearwood unanimously resolved “to seek to develop an Ecumenical Project to enable Christians to worship, witness and share fellowship together, to the furtherance of Christ’s Kingdom”, and they also asked their respective Church authorities to put in hand the necessary procedures.
Commencing on the first Sunday in January 1985, a regular Sunday morning service with Sunday School (called Sunday Club) began in the Hawthorns School. Responsibility for the services was shared between the Anglican and Methodist traditions. The two Ministers were assisted by Mr. Jim Horsnell who was appointed as Pastoral Lay Assistant. (He was succeeded by Dr. John Alder in 1988 who served until his death in 1992). The Church Authorities were most supportive but Church formalities took a frustratingly long time and it was not until 21st January 1987 that the Church was officially able to hold its Inauguration service led by the Bishop of Reading and the Methodist Chairman of the Southampton District.
The Ecumenical Project functioned as a fully integrated Church with one Church Council, one common fund, and one set of Church Officers. It retained strong links with its “parents” St. Catherine’s and Wokingham Methodist, and was delighted to be able to hold its first Joint Confirmation Service at St. Catherine’s on 25th November 1987, the first one ever in Berkshire.
The Church Council adopted the following Declaration as The Purpose of the Church and has endeavoured to base its life and practice on it:
“We see our purpose at Woosehill Community Church to be a family of people committed to Christ and to each other, who together worship God with joy and love, and seek to be guided and empowered by the Holy Spirit. We hope to know and to care for each other, to support and encourage each other in the Christian life style. We see it as our task to apply our Christian Faith and moral values to every aspect of our lives as individuals and in our family, social, working and community life. We want to bring others to share our Christian life and help them to a personal experience of Christ and their own commitment to Him”.
The Worshipping Community grew rapidly and while enjoying a good relationship with the School Authorities, it was only possible to have the school for two hours on a Sunday Morning; other community groups had priority bookings during the evenings of the week. So that the work could progress beyond housegroups, at a Full Church meeting it was decided in May of l987 that the Church should seek to build its own premises to provide a base for its growing existing work and for the community.
With the help of the District Council Secretary, eventually an area of land very near to the school was identified that was designated for community purposes, and very protracted negotiations with the owners, Berkshire County Council, were begun. Early in 1993 a 999 year lease for the land was agreed. At the same time the area served by Woosehill Church was created a Conventional Anglican District, freeing St. Catherine’s Church Council from some of its legal responsibilities and allowing, in Anglican terms, the Woosehill Church Council to act in its own right. During the same period the Church had` ‘endured’ very tortuous negotiations with the Planning Authorities and with ecclesiastical solicitors. With the completion of the lease and the signing of the Sharing Agreement under the Sharing of Churches Act 1969, in the Spring of 1993 the Church were in a position to sign a contract with Stock Bros. Ltd of Leeds to build a suite of premises in Chestnut Avenue.
The building is not as large as was originally planned or hoped for but the resulting premises are the largest the planners will allow on the site.
The Church took possession of the building in September 1993, and the Opening and Dedication was on 4th December.
The Church members are greatly indebted to the generous help of many folk but especially to:
The Oxford Diocese Board of Finance
The local Methodist Circuit and
The Rank Trust
without whose aid the new building would not have been possible.