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Strong in Prayer
The
Churches – and also the synagogue and Kingdom Hall – have
been a constant presence in Harold Hill right from the early days. The
Greater Plan For London, 1944, envisaged church facilities for 10
percent of the New Town population, while Harold Hill’s original
plans donated space to six different churches.
In fact, during the fifties there were two [Church
of England] premises built – St. George’s and St. Paul’s;
as well as churches for the [Methodists],
Evangelicals, Baptists, and the [Catholics].
The small communities of [Jews]
and [Jehovah’s
Witnesses] also erected their own centres of worship.
Although active Church membership was limited amongst adults, for the
children it was a different affair with parents en masse sending
their kids to Sunday School, mostly to seek some peace and quite. Because
of the estate’s youthful population, St George’s claimed at
one point that they had the largest Sunday School attendance in the country.
The Baptists founded their own permanent church on the estate in the mid-fifties.
Historically, they grew out of the Church of England, with the first congregation
in England being established in 1609. There followed centuries of persecution
as the established Anglican Church and the state tried to suppress and
marginalize them, which left the Baptists with a strong anti-authoritarian
streak.
The basic tenets of their organised faith being that the entire congregation,
not just the minister, should run the local church, and that the individual
church has autonomy within the wider Baptist framework. In particular,
Baptists believe that Christianity has to be the choice of the adult,
so baptism (that is, entrance into the church) can only be undertaken
once the individual is old enough to make a conscious and informed decision.
[Baptists]
and [Congregationists]
played an important role in the Garden Cities of Letchworth and Welwyn,
and they were to be a prominent part in Harold Hill. The two groups found
enough similarities to hold religious meetings together in the early years
of the estate, but the Baptists split away later to concentrate on building
their own church. At the time of purchasing the land on Taunton Road from
the LLC for £645, there were 70 Baptist churches in Essex, with
the local group on the estate using the Straight Road primary school for
services. The hall, opened in September 1954, was built to seat 250, and
was named after the late Rev. Hugh McCullough who had led a team of missionaries
called the ‘Essex Five’. At the opening ceremony the Rev.
W.H. Tebbitt, said,
“This is a very important day for many of us, and for Harold Hill and the whole great community here.
“I hope, too, that this is one of God’s great days, and it is certainly a red-letter day for us. There are a large number of problems but here is now a solid church which is worthy of what it represents. This is our gift to Harold Hill and, more than that, it is our gift to Jesus Christ.”
One
of the more bizarre stories in Harold Hill’s history was the ‘squashes’
religious revival of 1955. In January of that year the Romford Times
ran a front-page article entitled the ‘Miracle Story’. It
concerned Patricia Letty and her family who had converted to Christianity
after their prayers were answered, although the miracles were hardly of
Biblical proportions (one of which was finding their lost dog).
From there grew the ‘squashes’ movement that saw religious
meetings held in people’s houses. News of the revival spread around
the world and interest was shown in the United States, Australia and Canada.
The Romford Times journalist visited a ‘squash’ at
a particular house. 40 people, mostly teenagers, had gathered to celebrate
their faith. They were to be informed by a middle-aged woman that she
was once a cripple and could hardly walk – even with the aid of
sticks; but now God had given her strength to walk again. The journalist
reported: ‘There are many meetings such as
this on the Harold Hill estate. It is all part of a tremendous religious
revival that is taking place there.’ He observed the liveliness
of the ‘squash’:
‘It is surprising how happy these meetings are. Everyone sings at the top of their voice, and every now and then there are shouts of “Hallelujah,” which reminds one of the old Negro spirituals.
A blind man is there. He cannot read the words on the hymn sheets, but he taps out the rhythm with his white stick and every now and then joins in a chorus which he is familiar.
The revival is growing. More and more people are joining the hymn singing and the praying.’
One
of the largest religious communities on the ‘Hill were the Catholics,
an estimated one in eight to one in seven of the population being of that
particular faith. Presumably, this indicates that large swathes of the
original population were either Irish or had descended from Irish stock
there having been large-scale emigration from Ireland to England for centuries.
The early masses took place in the workmen’s canteen of W.C. French
– the private company responsible for building the estate. They
also took place at Harold Wood hospital and the Plough pub on Gallows
Corner, and for the particularly devout there was a weekday 6.30 am service
at the priest’s house in Tring Gardens.
The editor of the Catholic Herald opened the 1954 summer fete
of Petersfield Avenue’s Church of the Most Holy Redeemer: “There
are no fewer than 2,900 Catholics on the estate, an enormous figure in
relationship to the population of the parish.” Pointing out
a higher proportion of Catholics in Harold Hill than elsewhere in the
country, he said:
“This suggests that in this new Catholic community the Church has got in on the ground floor.
“We Catholics have certain beliefs about what is important and these things have formed for over 2,000 years the basis of our civilised community. It seems that in a Catholic community so strong these things can be a great factor for building up a centre.
“I know that Protestants are leading good lives, but we have a stronger idea of a good life.”
Concluding, he said, “this little gathering at the centre of the estate is beginning history.”
