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The History of Longbridge Ecclesia
The following account of the history of the Longbridge Christadelphians has
been written by Barry Parkes, a member of the group for many years, still
regularly attending today.
Contents
The account has been written under the following broad headings:
a) The Ecclesial Hall
b) Preaching Through The Years
c) An Expanding Ecclesial Community
d) The Start Of Longbridge Sunday School
A. The Ecclesial Hall
A Friends Meeting House, built by the Quakers, on a grant of land by a local farmer in 1890,
the original building forms the central part of the present building. Extensions to both front
and rear have been made over the years, but in general the original shape remains, as the
painting of the hall in 1942 by Brother H. Hallam (hung to the left of the entrance) testifies.
The deeds of the Ecclesia are of historical interest as they were signed by the 20 members of
the Birmingham council of Quakers which included the signatures of both George and
Elizabeth Cadbury.
The entrance to the first building was via a small vestibule which stood where the first
window on the left hand side, facing from the front, now exists. There is now a narrow drive
down the left side to a small car park at the rear. The car park itself was originally used by
the Quakers as a memorial garden for deceased members of their community, but all
memorial stones were removed by them as a condition of sale of the hall to our community,
which sale occurred as a result of their diminishing numbers whilst Christadelphian members
were increasing in the Longbridge/Rednal area.
B. Preaching Through The Years
Preaching events began in the area as early as the first few years of the 20th century.
1905 was a significant year for the area as Herbert (later Lord) Austin purchased the land
behind the hall on which was a small bicycle factory and began to make motor cars to his
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own design. The history of the Austin Motor Company, its contribution to employment, and
its impact on the growth of the area has been well documented.
The same year (1905) there appeared an appeal in the Christadelphian Magazine for help in
supporting public meetings in the Rednal area. Such was the interest generated that on 12th
January 1911 the now small Ecclesia adopted a statement of faith at a regular meeting of the
Ecclesia. Public preaching has continued to this day using many forms, which include a
weekly public talk at the hall, billing, exhibitions, billboard advertising, open days, cooperation with other local ecclesias, local Birmingham campaigns and much more. (See
Section D for details from key ecclesial records).
The account in Appendix 1, found in the ecclesial records, gives a flavour of the times and the
area when the ecclesia was in its infancy. It is unsigned but clearly written by one of the sons
of Brother F.G. Owen, Stanley or Norman. The prose, according to those who knew them
both, strongly suggests that Norman was the author.
C. An Expanding Ecclesial Community
Numbers gradually increased after the first public meetings in 1905 so that on the 12th
January 1911, in the first recorded minutes of the ecclesia, there was an adoption of a
Statement of faith and supplementary questions. Brother Morgan was appointed Recording
Brother in place of Brother Beard, who was presumably acting in that capacity until that
time.
Further indications of the growth and maturity of the Ecclesia may be seen from the
following items taken from the recorded minutes over the years.
29th September 1914
5th January 1915
26th September 1917
2nd October 1917
17th January 1922
15th April 1924
A collection to be taken after the closing hymn and before the
closing prayer on three months trial.
Collection fixed. (A practice we still take part in today)
Brethren who smoke not to take an active part in public meetings.
A constitution of the “Rednal Ecclesia” adopted.
The name of the meeting changed to the “Longbridge Ecclesia”
An Ecclesial library began
(Key dates and events of interested are laid out in Section D).
Around this time, a Sunday school had been established with the first Sunday school outing
taking place in I925. A very interesting account of this was written for the C.I.L. news page in
January 1936 by Brother F.G. Owen, the father of Brethren Stanley and Norman, in whose
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car the children were transported. (See appendix 2 for a transcript of this account from
Brother F.G. Owen).
D. Key Dates and Events from Ecclesial Records
13th April 1926
12th January 1927
Ballot to be held on moving the Bible Class to Wednesday.
Twenty-Four rush-bottomed chairs purchased. (A number of these
were found in the loft in the 1980’s)
As war loomed ever closer in the 1930’s after the “Wall Street Crash” of 1929 and also
Nazism was growing in Germany, it was inevitable that difficulties arose within the
Christadelphian community. Allegiances of all types came under stress, and dealing with
them in a scriptural way became tests of faith of both parties. Being human and frail some
difficulties continually arise from time to time, for example, and returning to the records:20th November 1931
27th July 1932
19th January 1933
A marriage out of the truth took place but it was agreed not to
withdraw fellowship due to an acknowledgment of wrong doing.
Withdrawal of fellowship was made for joining the army.
It was agreed to accept the new hymn book from 4th June 1933
(now known as the 1932 hymn book)
During the next few years the number of members grew rapidly from 52 members in 1933
to113 in 1940. One wonders how the then small hall coped! At this present time of writing,
2015, an attendance of 50-60 would just be possible, but not altogether comfortable.
27th July 1934
22nd April 1936
13th April 1939
17th July 1940
Sunday school superintendent to attend Arranging Brethren’s
meetings
Building fund started
Duties of door stewards clarified.
A membership of 113 was noted -the highest number thus far
recorded
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Appendix 1
This text is attributed to either Brother Stanley Owen or Brother Norman Owen.
Childhood 1922+ (aged 4/5)
It must have been about this time that dad (Brother F. G. Owen) got some sort of promotion
in Wilmot Breedon. Selly Park was not the most salubrious of Birmingham suburbs – a bit like
Saltly, near the gas works, where dad was born. It was time to move on; this time to a real
house, not a timber chalet and not a plain terrace row. And it was out in the country, on the
city boundary and by the highly esteemed Lickey Hills at Rednal, The tramcar lines had
recently been extended to a brand new terminus at Rednal so that picnickers and trippers
could have a day out on the hills and in the pretty woods at Lickey and Barnt Green. It also
meant that hundreds of new homes could be built up the hill for the Austin Motor workers at
the Longbridge factory and for commuters to the city centre. Soon the quiet village, together
with its twin village of Rubery a mile away on the main Bristol road, became busy suburbs of
the great city – though it was 9 miles from the centre of town.
Happily, our new abode was in quiet and leafy Rednal Lane, half a mile from the trams. The
two-storey Victorian house backed onto fields which sloped up to Rednal Hill. There were real
cows and sheep and a garden back and front and stairs to run up and down. Life seemed
good, and I was about to go to school.
Longbridge Ecclesia
For the first time I became conscious of something called “the ecclesia”. In this case it was the
Longbridge ecclesia and as far as I could see it was an old chapel down a long lane from the
Longbridge tram stop where a group of old people held long meetings on Sundays. What was
more, we had to go to a thing called a Sunday School in the afternoon, run by a lady called
Isabelle Tomkinson who came on a bicycle with a loud bell. It was not long before we coined
the question: “Is-a-bell-necessary on a bike?” Her husband was the very austere gent in pin
stripes and spats who seemed to be the boss of this austere assembly, a fellow named Jack
Tomkinson. Soon I was aware that my mother and father were very respected members of
this community, and when I learned that my dad was an A.B. (an Able-bodied something or
other, I thought) I was proud of going to that funny place down Longbridge Lane where the
Christadelphians met. In truth, they were a kindly bunch. There were the Tomkinsons, the
Perrymans, the Overys and the Coxes. There were some nice youngsters too, and I fell in with
a young couple, brother and sister, Austin and Dorothy Eyre. Austin and I became buddies for
the next four years; it was Austin – of whom anon – who pulled me from the quarry pool.
Just about this time I learned that I was an oddity, a unique specimen of the human race. I
could froth at the mouth at the touch of a tiny cube of chocolate or a boiled sweetie. I could
swell up and seize up and defy the wisdom of the ancients. I could bring bewilderment to the
doctor who twice examined me – always too late of course, when the swelling and sickness
had died down. The first time mother and I were walking down the lane from the tram,
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relishing a bit of choc. By the time we were home I was a writhing mass of ugliness. I knew
little of death, but it would have been a happy release. By the time the witchdoctor arrives I
was contentedly sitting up in bed supping my bread and milk! The next week I went to a
party, at the little house of Sis. Doris Lloyd at the end of the road. A great time was had by all
until, following the passing around of the sweeties; I was carried home on the arms of two
burly youngsters. Again, I was in fine fettle when the medic arrived. But a judicial enquiry
established that a common factor in both occurrences was the presence of a Brazil nut in the
chocolate and the boiled sweet. Subsequent events confirmed that the same trick could be
worked with almonds and walnuts, though monkey nuts, for some dark Darwinian reason,
were not so potent. Whoops! This was living; I had an allergy; I was unique! Life took on new
meaning.
My School Life
The great day came when I was whisked off to school by the mater. My first real taste of the
outside world. It was good to get one’s feet on the ground. I suppose that was where all this
“feet first” stuff began. Couldn’t wait for the usual head first, then turned upside down and
rattled business, which midwives like to indulge in. It was the Rubery Primary, (on what is
now the main road to the southwest, the M5). It was all of a mile to the bottom of Rednal
Lane, then another mile along the Rubery Road. But we thought nothing of that in those days.
Today, kids want a school bus if the place is more than a few hundred yards from home. We
were made of sterner stuff. So I thought, until the day we decided to go larking in the quarry
near the bottom of Rednal Lane. It was on the way home, with my pal Austin and one or two
other lads. Rain had made a sizeable and deep pool in the bottom of the quarry and some
workmen had left a thick plank lying about. The said plank was maneuvered into place across
the muddy lake and all crossed safely until it was young Owen’s turn. The pangs of fear took
hold on me half way across, I wobbled uncertainly and then, with flailing arms disposed my
boyish bulk into the depths, with schoolbag flying in the other direction. It was only with the
utmost bravery that I was salvaged from two feet of water and gunge by the aforesaid Austin
and others, and the dripping mess was escorted home, closely surrounded by my pals (so as
not to be conspicuous, you understand!). There I was promptly put to bed until my Dad came
from work and administered the statutory “forty stripes save one”. Later on in life, I never did
understand how forty stripes could save one from anything!
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Appendix 2
The Start of Longbridge Sunday School - This text is attributed to Brother F.G. Owen.
It was about ten or eleven years ago that the Longbridge Ecclesia decided the time was ripe
for commencing a Sunday School. The Brethren and Sisters of the then small meeting were
rather scattered, and some of the children who might attend a school were quite young.
However, it was felt that the difficulties were not at all insurmountable and so a start was
eventually made, under the superintendorship of the writer.
We were favoured with having a nice quiet room in a country lane – the meeting room of the
Ecclesia then and now – In which to hold the school. Noise and the rush of traffic are not
conducive to either good teaching or good listening.
The “difficulty” of getting the younger children safely to school and back was overcome by
the co-operation of parents, teachers and the older scholars.
We commenced the school with about a dozen scholars-children of Brethren and Sisters-but it
was soon increased by the addition of children from outside. Some circularizing of our Estate
nearby and the conversation of Brethren and Sisters with neighbours, brought a number of
children of various types and ages., so that the numbers soon grew to twenty and onwards. A
great work can often be accomplished through children, and no opportunity of getting them
to a Sunday School should be lost. It is sometimes possible to get the parent interested in the
Truth as a result of the knowledge imparted to the children.
A calendar was drawn up, giving the title of the lesson, the hymns, reading and proofs for
each Sunday. We commenced as we think should always be done with a new school, with
lessons from the book of Genesis. Here of course, we have the foundations of the Gospel
truth, and the facts cannot be over impressed on the young minds.
The school was opened, in the orthodox Christadelphian way, with singing, reading a
scripture to introduce the lesson, and prayer, and was closed with singing and prayer. Singing
the hymns is of great value and importance. Care in the choice of suitable hymns is necessary
– Psalms of praise are particularly suitable. During the early years of our school we only sang
a small number of hymns, repeating them frequently with the idea of impressing tunes and
words on the minds of scholars.
Proofs from scripture of doctrinal and moral subjects, we likewise consider an essential part
of Christadelphian school work. We remembered the deep impression made upon our own
mind in our early days by such exercise. It is the foundation work of the truth.
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The question of prizes, of course, arose, and we were strongly of the opinion that every child
should be encouraged, so prizes were given, differing in value according to the merit of the
work.
So our school commenced and went forward in its work, and we are happy to know that this
branch of service to the Lord has been carried on continuously ever since at Longbridge, and
that many of the original and early scholars of that school now rejoice as Brethren and Sisters
of the Lord Jesus, rendering service to him in Sunday School and other work, and awaiting the
greater service of the Kingdom. God be thanked for all the blessings!