Oour picture of Methodists celebrating the opening of their new church hall in Kidlington in 1936 (Memory Lane, January 19) sparked memories among several readers.
The occasion was marked by a stage production with a cast of 35, mostly young people, although we still don‘t know what type of show it was.
As we recalled, the hall in Oxford Road replaced the old chapel in School Road.
However, the location we gave for the old chapel was wrong. It was near the site of 14 School Road, not Frank Cook Court.
According to John Amor, of the Kidlington and District Historical Society, the Methodists had an earlier meeting place – the building now occupied by a hairdressers in Mill Street.
They moved to School Road in 1861 and continued worshipping there until the new building opened in 1936.
Mr Amor writes: “I found the photograph you printed very interesting, knowing so many of the children.”
Among those in the picture was Alan Brice. He and Gladys Clarke were the Sunday School children chosen to lay the first bricks.
The new building cost £2,250. The site had been given by Sydney Smith, a timber merchant and prominent Methodist, of Lyne Road, Kidlington.
An anonymous donor gave £600 while £700 came from the sale of a former chapel in St Michael’s Street, Oxford.
Further extensions and buildings were added in 1970 and 1987.
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