ON Friday, February 14 we were treated to an inspiring and entertaining talk by Rod Ellis on the subject of his book “Dissenters All! The story of the non-conformist churches of the Malverns”. Rod is a Methodist preacher who travelled extensively in his working life as a Royal Air Force officer. He was also a secondary school teacher and has lived in the Malvern area for many years.

Rod’s talk took us through the development of non-conformity in the Malvern area, where Malvern Priory took a central place in the town spiritually, and where another voice was that of the non-conformists. He gave us a flavour of how the relating churches and chapels developed and also how he came to write the book, which was published in 2008. The scope of the topic was kept close to the Malverns including Cradley in one instance and non-conformist fellowships were covered by geographic regions of the Malverns. The talk was well illustrated, as is the book itself. Rod emphasised that the content is focused on people and how the fellowships developed rather than purely on the buildings. Most of the photographs that accompanied the talk and book were taken by Rod personally.

There were six Countess of Huntingdon’s Connexion chapels in the Malvern area originally, Calvinistic in persuasion, and there are still 23 chapels in the English connexion today, mostly in the southern half of England. Whilst Methodist John Wesley wanted to take the Christian message to the workers, the Countess also felt that the nobility should receive the message. The two chapels in the Malvern area were the Emmanuel Church, now a fitness centre on the Wells Road, whilst the other was in Malvern Link and is now a Chinese takeaway. The congregation moved from there when it was closed to what eventually became the United Reformed Church in Malvern Link.

Methodists met in people’s homes until they were able to build a church in 1865 in Lansdowne Crescent. The land was purchased from Lea and Perrins of Worcester, land that was unusual for this area in that it was not owned by the Foley family! There were two groups of Methodists in Malvern, the Wesleyans and the Primitives, the latter being housed in a chapel in Newtown Road, which is now a pet shop. Rod then covered the Congregationalists who also met in people’s houses until they had enough money to build their own chapel, the North Malvern chapel, now used for commercial purposes.

The Baptist Church, built in 1893, was steered through difficult times by the Reverend William James Povey, who famously declared that he would endeavour to bring people not to the building but to the Saviour. He was prepared to get involved in the wider community: as he didn’t want taxes to be for the Church of England schools instead of Baptist churches, he and other dissenters ended up in court for not paying rates. He also preached about World War I and supported government action to go to war.

A few notable conclusions to Rod’s talk were that there was a strong influence on the non-conformists by the Anglicans, especially Lady Foley. The buildings had to look right to fit in, so often looked like Church of England structures. Secondly, there was co-operation. The Baptists held back until Holly Mount was built, and when a lot of the Second World War padres lost their lives, people from other denominations came and gave the services. Dr Grindrod raised money for Lansdowne Crescent.

Patrick Fallon gave the vote of thanks, emphasising how much the dissenters from the Church of England had actually been instrumental in drawing together both people and churches of Malvern. We had also been most interested to hear about the process involved in having one’s own book printed and published.

On Civic Society business, Clive Hooper reminded us that the next quarterly newsletter would be sent to most members by email, with a few hard copies available at the March meeting. It would be called Bandstand, reflecting the Society logo. The closing date for nominations for the Civic Society Award is March 31, and is for buildings that have been built or improved and completed by December 31, 2013. Bob Tilley gave an update on the Route to the Hills project and thanked all those who had offered to be volunteers.

For further information on Civic Society events, please see http://www.malverncivicsociety.org.uk.

The next talk, entitled Mary Macarthur and the Carpet Weavers of Kidderminster will be given by Nigel Gilbert. It will be held on Friday, March 14 at 7.30pm at Christ Church in Avenue Road. There is an admission charge of £1 for all.

DENISE PRESTON