The Sunderland church which had queues out the door for a service 65 years ago this week
The church could not hold the number of people who wanted to attend
This wonderful scene was witnessed in Sunderland 65 years ago this week.
All of these people were queuing to be at the first ever service to be held at the new Fulwell Methodist Church on Seaburn Dene Estate.
But the problem was that the church, which cost £48,000 and took a year to build, could not hold the number of people who wanted to attend the event which also marked the official opening of the new building.
Crowds of people followed a procession from the old church which was opposite the Blue Bell pub in Fulwell Road to the new building that had been built in the middle of a housing estate.
The church was opened by the Right Hon Lord Lawson of Beamish and was constructed to accommodate the growing Seaburn Dene Estate.
It was designed by Sunderland-based architects Stanley W. Milburn and Partners, it was officially opened on May 27, 1961, and replaced the former chapel on Fulwell Road.
A Sunderland Echo report at the time said: “The congregation overflowed into the schoolroom below the church to which the service was replayed over loudspeakers, and more people sat on forms in the schoolroom's entrance hall.”
We would love to hear from you if you or a relative remember this, or any other Sunderland events from the early 1960s.
The church has featured in the Sunderland Echo on more than one occasion. This photo from 1974 shows the church dramatic society and their production of Mother Goose with Bill Usher, Colin Addison and Olywn Dent in the starring roles.
We also caught up with the church committee when they organised a 125th anniversary celebration of of the introduction of Methodism to Fulwell, in 2011.
Bill Usher, chairman of the anniversary committee, said back then: “There is something on here most nights, it’s very much a working church, not just a building.”
Get in touch with your own memories of Wearside life in the early 1960s. You might want to reminisce about a shop you loved, a restaurant, nightclub or pub.
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