St John’s Church – Kathy Sinfield

Kathy SinfieldSt John’s Church in Old London Road was a second-hand tin church, transferred from the original site at the corner of Stanhope Road and Granville Road in 1909 when the new St Paul’s Church was opened at Blandford Road. It had been purchased by St Peter’s Parish Church in 1899, and was named St Paul’s Mission Church, to serve the new populations “on the other side of the tracks.” It was described as having a corrugated roof, a pump organ and also two stained glass windows, the Good Shepherd and St John the Baptist, which were designed by Francis Skeat in 1934. These windows were removed when the church closed in 1957and taken to St Peter’s church. It was closed despite active support by residents. Kathy Sinfield remembers the church.

Interview date: 16 June 2010. Interviewer: Eileen Harris

Comments

  1. John King

    I used to be a choir boy at St Johns in the early fifties,I have memories of it being made of green corrugated metal.
    I recall, maybe incorrectly, that you were assigned to pumping the organ if you had misbehaved. It used to be quite noisy and you had to know the order of service so as to get up to pressure for the organist to start playing.
    I lived in Longmire Road and attended St Peters School.
    I remember Caleys the off-license and a sweet shop on the road up to the main London Road and can still remember the window sign about the sweet coupons. Happy days.

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