Northmoor Methodist Church 







 The Following Text was taken from the 70th Anniversary booklet of the Northmoor Road Methodist Church.

The bells that ushered in the new century had hardly stopped ringing when planners, architects and building contractors were taking a good look at the green fields of South East Longsight in the city of Manchester. In their vision they saw an area of terraced houses, shops, a school and even industry. It did not take long for them to move into these fields and develop them, seeking to make their vision a reality.

It was while this was going on that a Mr. William Young - a member of the Longsight Wesleyan Methodist Quarterly Meeting - took a stroll round this developing area. He too had a vision and saw a Wesleyan Methodist Chapel among those rows of terraced houses. So clear was that vision that he spoke of it to his colleagues on the meeting and indicated that the corner of Queen's Grove and Norman Grove was, in his opinion, the most suitable site. Although one or two of the members were impressed, and even caught a glimpse of the vision, the meeting decided that it was too early to build in an undeveloped area. The phrase, "THERE IS PLENTY OF TIME AND PLENTY OF LAND" was coined and was to be repeated over and over again as the question of the building was constantly raised. The meeting put its faith in a prominent Wesleyan Methodist of those days - a Mr. Jacob Earnshaw - who was the land agent of the Dean and Canons of the Manchester Cathedral, the owners of all the land in the district. He promised to let the Circuit know before all the land had been taken up. Despite this promise, and the complacency of the Wesleyan authorities, time was slipping by and the area was fast being developed.

At the Quarterly meeting of June 13th 1904 various members voiced their dissatisfaction particularly after being told that "all the land had been taken except for a site at the corner of North Road and East Road; even this had been leased to Mr. John Holt." On the motion of Mr. F. Marrison a committee was appointed to consider the question of a site in the North Road district 'for future development' and report to the next meeting. On September 12th 1904. the Rev. Allcock reported that open-air services had been held on Sunday evenings with considerable success and several of the residents had expressed a desire that some permanent form of Wesleyan Society should be continued in that Locality. The site committee recommended to the meeting on December 10th that the plot of land at the corner of North Road and East Road be purchased from Mr. Holt.

During the next two years this purchase ran into many difficulties. At one point Mr. Holt became unco-operative saying that the scheme interfered with his housing estate plans. There was also the problem of raising the necessary money to buy the land. In 1905 it was decided "to purchase the CHIEF RENT with the proviso that we can extinguish the chief at any time by buying it outright." Time passed, however, and no action was taken. Early in 1906 a notice board was erected on the site by Mr. Holt which read "SITE OF THE PROPOSED WESLEYAN CHAPEL FOR SALE, APPLY, etc." The circuit took exception to this and asked him to remove it saying that is was a reflection on the name of the circuit. It was not until December 10th 1906 that it was announced to the Quarterly Meeting that the site had been purchased subject to a CHIEF RENT of £22 per annum for a period of 999 years.

Even though these two years had proved difficult the next three and a half were to be more difficult still. In this time the vision of a worthy Church and Sunday School had become obliterated by reality and finally abandoned in favour of a "SUBSTANTIAL BRICK BUILDING SUITABLE FOR THE PURPOSE OF A SUNDAY SCHOOL AND PUBLIC WORSHIP, TO FORM PART OF AN ULTIMATE SCHEME." Plans were sought and a building committee appointed on June 13th 1910 In April of that year the ladies of the Longsight Wesleyan Sewing Meeting handed to the building fund treasurer a donation of £266. 10s 4d. from the proceeds of a bazaar that they had held. Various subscriptions were added to this bringing the total to £669 8s 4d.

The stone-laying ceremony took place on July 23rd 1910 and the brick-laying ceremony on October 1st. The opening ceremony took place on Sunday, January 11th 1911 and the premises were opened by the Rev. D. Williams. The Res. Thomas Allcock preached the sermon and took as his theme "VISIONS". So, with a vision of Christ's Kingdom here in Longsight, North Road Wesleyan Chapel was born and sent forth to preach - and teach - Jesus the Saviour, to all who entered within its portals.

As the vision gave way to reality those early stalwarts shouldered the problems that such a venture brought with it. On of the major problems was finance. The scheme had cost £1,633 to which the Chapel Committee gave a grant of £65 and by July 1911 the Chapel was in such financial difficulties that the Trustees 'called the attention of the Teachers Meeting to the question of the Sunday School paying rent for the use of the premises and while not actually asking for a definite rent for the first twelve months, they desired the Teachers Meeting to look carefully into the matter with a view to making some payment, if possible, especially as the Juvenile collections for the Building Fund had decreased so much.

By November 9th the first overdraft of £300 had been arranged with the bank. In 1913 the Sunday School was asked to pay 'a rent of £8 and in future years the rent would be £10 per year..' There was also difficulty in finding the Circuit assessment for at the Trustees Meeting of January 30th 1914 a grant of £3.8s.10d, was voted to the Circuit Quarterly Board to make up the deficiency in the Assessment. In 1918 the first finance committee was appointed and schemes were sought to elevate the financial situation. The envelope scheme was brought into being in 1920. By 1924 thoughts were turning to a "NEW FUND FOR THE PURPOSE OF EXTENSION OF THE PRESENT PREMISES." Though it took another thirty-five years to complete this was the beginning of an attempt to fulfill the original vision.

One extraction of those early days is worthy of mention: The caretaker, whose wage in 1911 was five shillings a week (rising to 10 shillings in the 1930's) had to be paid "FIXED RATES FOR CONCERTS, TEAS, SOCIALS ETC" by those who organized them; The rates were: CONCERTS ,with or without the platform and including refreshments for up to ten persons - 5s.0d; TEAS for 50 persons or part thereof - 2s.6d., for 100 persons or part thereof - 5s.0d.; SOCIALS the same rate as Teas, according to the number. No charge to be make for SOCIALS not including washing-up.

It was in 1932 that the effect of the decision to build a School-Chapel was felt. The Manchester Corporation - in those early pre-first-world-war-days - paved round newly built Churches free of charge. As they did not regard our School-Chapel as a 'Church' they carried out the paving on the condition that the Trustees built a Church within twenty-one years, and an agreement was signed that, as an act of good faith, a payment of £10 per year would be made to the Corporation. As a 'Church" was not built, at the end of the agreed period an account of £107 was received. Thus, with money already paid, this paving cost £317.

It is worthy of note that the NEW BUILDING FUND balance was £27.18s.2d. in 1932. In 1948 it was £328.16s.1d. and an attempt was made to formulate a building scheme, but it was not until 1956 that progress was made. At this period a money raising program was carried out so that the School-Chapel could be renovated, a total of £233.11s.11d. and was raised and with the building fund at £560.7s.9d. this gave the basis on which a building scheme could be undertaken. The position was further improved in February 1957 when £4,500 was received from the sale of the Chancery Lane Methodist Church. So the scheme developed and in 1959 the present Church was opened by the Lord Mayor of Manchester, Alderman Quinney. The renovated school premises were opened by Mr. A. Allen. Thus the vision of Mr. W. Young had, at last, become a reality.

In the last twenty-one and a half years it has not been easy to cope with the ups and downs of the financial difficulties (some brought on by inflation) but, with the introduction of the Stewardship Scheme in 1962 and the faithfulness and generosity of our members and friends, the Church has survived and lives to-day to carry out its calling in our day and age.