It was sad when The French Reformed Church in Queensbury Mews, Brighton, closed owing to a dwindling congregation (The Argus, February 15).

Its origin is linked to visitors who came by steamship from France. In those days, there was a French consulate in the town.

When as a family we came to live here, we knew the then resident consulate. My elder brother, while studying prior to returning to France after military war service, was a regular preacher there.

Pasteurs came and went. There was a period when there was a vacancy and my father, Charles Frederick Pocock, served as a voluntary pasteur for two years until a new one was called and installed.

The poor financial situation, due to the small congregation, meant that great care was taken to maintain the running of the building.

There were a number of interested friends who contributed and, with sales of one kind or another, the funds were sustained.

My father, a businessman, saw the value in some of the furniture, which he sold to help with the funds, to some consternation from members of the congregation, especially when the lavatory, of Victorian origin with a willow pattern, went for a price! He wasn’t popular.

The church also has memories for me as during its last pastorate I occasionally preached there and, on one occasion, conducted the funeral of a long family friend from our days in France, who for many years lived here.

It is good that the building stands, as it did for those many years while serving the Francophile interests, as a memorial to its worthy history and ministry to the town.

May the prospective owners, now it’s for sale, feel the warm and friendly ethos of their most worthy and honoured residence.

Pastor Charles E Pocock, Poplar Avenue, Hove