If you have any feedback on how we can make our new website better please do contact us. We would like to hear from you.
This
20th Century history of BBC is written from both my personal memories and those
of friends and relatives in their late seventies and eighties, so I’m afraid
accuracy can’t be guaranteed. For those who want to delve deeper into the
history of the church, it seems (from talking to Monica Webster) that the
oldest minute books have been given to a Hertfordshire History Archive (which
she thinks is in Hertford).
Carole
Parker, 2007
With some corrections made with
reference to the 1872 - 1945 minute books (discovered at the back of a dark
cupboard at BBC) by Mary Moody, Nov 2012.
BBC
was built 140 years ago on the site of a disused Wesleyan Chapel. The first
minister at BBC was the Rev. Spufford, whose name can be seen on a plaque in
the front porch. After him, came a succession of Student Pastors, Lay Pastors
and Herts Union Evangelists.
In
the early twentieth century, after World War I, the Lay Minister was Pastor
Reading. He had eight children, 3 who were boys and 5 girls. All of the family
were musically talented, and they played and sang at the services. They lived
in Chipperfield Road, Bovingdon, where he had a house built. Needless to say,
he had a day job - and was initially paid just £10 pa for his services to the
church. In 1941 his stipend went up by £1 pa to £26. Miss Hinson, who lived in
Water Lane, Bovingdon, played the organ (which had to be pedalled hard). She
also took Sunday School together with the Walden family who came over from
Chipperfield.
In
those days, locals knew the church as ‘the Chapel’. Services were on Sunday
evening at 6.30 pm, with Sunday School at 3 pm in the afternoon. There were
also musical evenings at the chapel that were very popular with the villagers.
The Reading family all took part and played, sang, and did monologues.
Holding 'entertainments' with music 'of a sacred nature'
interspersed with readings, was a tradition that had begun in 1873. The first
of these was on Monday, October 27th, 1873, when the choir from
Marlowes Chapel performed at Bovingdon and 'were accorded with acclamation at
the close'. 36s / 6d was raised to kick-start a Harmonium Fund and the first
steps were taken towards purchasing an instrument to be played at public
worship.
The
chapel was heated in the winter by two solid fuel stoves, one each side of the
main room. The schoolroom at the rear of the church had an open fire, and one
end was also a kitchen (there was a sink under the side window, next to the
door). In the church a green velour curtain could be drawn across half of the
church, and there were curtains at the windows.
Church Meeting, November 1st, 1907
'It was decided to have Green Baize Curtain to shut off the lower
portion of the Chapel during the winter & make the Chapel more cosy &
warmer.'
The
seating was on long narrow wooden benches (three of which still remain). These
were placed in three neat rows, with a runner each side of the middle row from
the back of the chapel to the front. Lighting was by gas lamps, and naked flame
lamps were used in the porch. There was also a gas light at the bottom of the
path leading to the chapel.
There
were two doors at the back of the chapel, one each side of the wooden
panelling. The floor was bare boards, which were scrubbed about once a year,
with a carpet at the front over the baptistery. Preaching was done from the
platform behind. The minister could step up on to the platform / pulpit through
a door from the schoolroom. A text on a scroll adorned the wall behind the
pulpit, which read “Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts
with praise”.
A
brick shed at the back of the building housed a brick-built copper; we think
this must have been for heating water for baptisms and church functions. Also
there was a bucket lavatory at the back of the building only accessed from the
outside (now converted into the two toilets leading from the schoolroom).
Sadly,
during the war years, the congregation declined so much that the chapel was
eventually closed for almost a decade.
The old minutes book ends abruptly after the record of the Annual
Church Meeting, 29th August 1945, at which the attendance was 9
(including Pastor Reading). The tone of these minutes is 'business as usual'
with plans for a Harvest Thanksgiving in September, and to tarmac the path
leading to the church. Miss Hinson was re-elected as deacon.
The past sixty years
In
1955 the newly renovated chapel was re-opened. The first Pastor I remember
after the re-opening was Mr Dyer. He came with his wife and two children. I
don’t know where he came from. He may possibly have also been involved with
Chipperfield Baptist Church.
Services
continued to be at 6.30 pm and Sunday School began at 3 pm, taken on again by
Charlie and Lily Walden with some members of their family. The children were
divided into classes according to age with the oldest taken into the schoolroom
to study for the yearly Scripture Union exam (which they enjoyed and did very
well at!). Sunday school was full of humour and we felt valued and loved by all
the teachers. We had regular parties, and coach trips to the seaside organised
by the Waldens. Mr Walden was also secretary and treasurer for the chapel in
Bovingdon for some time.
Much
of the fabric stayed the same, except electric lighting was installed, and
electric fan heaters were placed on the walls. The heaters were very noisy and
had to be turned off during the sermon. Two toilets were added at the rear of
the building but access was still from the outside.
When
Mr Dyer left, we shared our first ordained minister for many years with
Chipperfield chapel. The Rev. Barnes lived in the manse at Chipperfield with
his wife and two children. I think he came to Bovingdon about once a month,
other Sunday services were lead by lay preachers from local churches, booked by
Charlie Walden. The congregation was small, mainly elderly ladies. We depended
a lot on the folk at Chipperfield in those days, especially Mr Walden.
Rev.
Bob French, also from Chipperfield, was a great support to us, preaching quite
regularly with his little dog sitting at his feet. I think Bob took over from
Rev. Barnes as minister at Chipperfield, was there for a number of years, and
came to us when he retired. Around this time a young couple from London moved
to Bovingdon. Their names were John and Sue Ratcliffe. They were keen to do
children’s work and began a Campaigners group at our church that was quite well
attended.
In
the seventies we had a preaching team headed by Rev. Graham Wise. One of the
team was a lay preacher called Reg Webster. Reg was given the chance to take
early retirement at the age of 58 and felt called to take on the role of pastor
at Bovingdon. He and his wife Monica moved to Bovingdon in the early eighties.
Due to their hard work and enthusiasm the congregation began to pick up with
several young families joining the church. We even had a family come over from
Dunstable.
There
was a small strip of land belonging to the chapel at the rear that was sold off
to make way for a road leading to Apple Cottages, I think in the eighties. New
double-glazed windows were put in during Reg’s ministry and also some essential
maintenance work to the structure of the building.
During
Reg’s ministry three young folk were assigned to our church from London Bible College, namely Steve (?),
Arthur Magahy and Nicola Taylor. Arthur and Nicky were shortly to become
engaged. After about five years, Reg Webster, owing to ill health, resigned
from the role of pastor and moved to Dorset. Arthur Magahy was appointed as
student pastor. Arthur and Nicky were married at her hometown of Eastbourne,
and began married life in a small Council flat in Old Dean, Bovingdon. Arthur
was later ordained and became full time minister of Bovingdon Baptist Church.
Nicky, who was now a qualified teacher, began work at Bovingdon School.
During
the late eighties and nineties the congregation grew. We had a thriving Sunday
school, Boys Brigade, and youth club. The church went through radical
modernisation, this included, modern central heating, a small upper gallery, an
office, modern kitchen, and new toilets. The front doors were changed so that
they opened directly into the main building. The old benches were replaced with
stacking chairs so that the room could be made use of by the B.B. and youth
club.
Arthur
and Nicky had two daughters during their time in Bovingdon. Hannah and Esther.
After about 15 years in Bovingdon, Arthur and Nicky felt called to go into
missionary work and were eventually sent to Guinea, in West Africa by the
Baptist Missionary Society.
The
church was led by a group of dedicated members for five years while they
searched for a new minister. In 2007 the church called Mary Moody to be their Lay
Pastor, and she arrived with her husband, Andrew, and two daughters aged 5 and
3 - doubling the Sunday School in one fell swoop. They moved to the village a
year later, and in November 2008 Mary was ordained as an accredited Baptist
minister.