CHURCH JUBILEE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19871, 20 June 1927, Page 6

CHURCH JUBILEE

METHODISM AT ARAMOHO THE HALF-CENTURY PASSED Fifty years ago Methodism was officially established at Aramoho, when a small church was erected by the early settlers of that district; yesterday a later generation which is carrying on the work then commenced celebrated the occasion of the church’s jubilee, by special services and the dedication of a new pulpit and communion r“il. In the morning a children’s jubilee address was delivered by the Rev. W. J. Oxblow, of Hawera (chairman of the district), and a sermon, which had as its text the words of the new ribbon scroll above the pulpit, “Holiness Becomcth Thine House, O Lord, For Ever,” was preached by tho Rev. W. 11. E. Abbey. In the afternoon the same two preachers presided, Mr Oxblow delivering a dedicatory address, and the pulpit and communion rail being dedicated by Mr Abbey, who also pinned a silver inscription plate on the communion rail. The rbbon scroll, presented by the Girls’ Bible Class, was dedicated at the evening service, the girls also singing their camp chorus. At the morning and evening services the choir, under Mr Grace, rendered anthems suitable to the occasion.

To mark the occasion of the jubilee, the trustees of the present church have spent about £BO in renovating the building, and the circuit minister (Mr Abbey) has expressed just pride in the improvements effected. The pulpit and rail are of polished rirnu with Gothic panelling. In The Dim Past The present church at Aramoho is not the original building, the first church, on a site above the railway bridge, having been destroyed by fire, and replaced by a church below the bridge. It was on October 10, 1876, that a committee appointed by the Trinity Church quarterly meeting met to consider the erection of a church at River Bank (Arainnho). There were present the Rev. R. Bavin, Messrs J. Hurley, T. Annabell, A. Rickards, Rundell, W. G. Bassett, Veale, Chisholm, Campbell, and S. Peters. An offer of a suitable site was received from Mrs Gibson, and after some legal difficulty it was finally chosen. At a subsequent meeting, held on December 12, the tender of Messrs Jones and Peachey was accepted for the erection of a church with vestry and fencing at a cost of £3ll. The opening services took place on May 27, 1877.