The Boldmere Brotherhood

The Boldmere Brotherhood the forerunner of the Methodist Church began in 1911 when a group of friends were holding meetings in the tea-room at Powell’s Pool. The Boy’s Brotherhood was formed from these meetings and held at St Michael’s Lodge, a private school on the corner of Western Road and Highbridge Road. A home was sought for the Senior Brotherhood and a site found in Boldmere Road. The builder was G.T. Stephens who had also built the Congregational Church. In fact Mr Stephens was a member of the Congregational Church, but left and joined the Brotherhood after securing their contract. The stone laying ceremony was held in May 1912.

The Boldmere Brotherhood grew rapidly involving itself in many " good works ". An annual Boldmere Day was held when a hundred poor children from Birmingham spent the day in Sutton Park courtesy of the Brotherhood. When the Birmingham City Battalions camped in the park for training during the 1914- 1918, they were generously allowed to use the amenities of the club. A Boldmere Hall bed was given to Atherstone hospital, and Princess Alice School, an orphanage at New Oscott was a Methodist foundation.

Between the wars the Brotherhood had grown enough to warrant an extension. An army hut, left in Sutton Park since 1918, was bought, and this later became the Boldmere Branch Library.

Many services were kindly taken by the Rev. Bevan of the Baptist Church, including a reunion service for ex-servicemen after the Second World War. The English names disguised a very different background for some of these men. They had been refugees from Germany before the war and sent to Princess Alice orphanage where they came under the care of the Brotherhood. When war broke out, by changing their German names to English, they were able to join the British army. Two were killed in action.

There was a steady decrease in numbers after the war, a problem suffered by all denominations, and there were suggestions of the Brotherhood joining the Methodist Church. In 1948 a meeting was held and it was decided "that the Boldmere Hall be made available to the Sutton Methodist Circuit for the purpose of conducting social and religious activities and that after a period when legal and other matters had been cleared up, the whole work and building be handed over in their entirety".

The first service of the new church was conducted by Rev Hanley Smith in September 1948. Boldmere was welcomed to the circuit at a rally at Station Road, Erdington. The membership of the Methodist Church at this time, as opposed to the membership of the Brotherhood was sixteen!

In 1952 the old reed organ was found to be in bad repair and a secondhand reconditioned one was bought for £145. 1952 also saw improvements to the interior. The whole of the seating was reversed and a pulpit built from the old reredos. A new communion table was donated anonymously, and a new communion rail was bought.

Growth of the Methodist Church was slow but steady, in 1954 membership was twenty, with a Sunday School membership of sixty-four. In 1955 the membership was twenty-five and a new room was added. A number of oak pews were bought in 1957 and ‘Ambassador’, the church newspaper, published its first copy in 1959. The following year a new branch library opened in Boldmere and the Methodist Church bought back its army hut!

There continued a gradual increase in membership and by 1972 there were 115 members of the church. The original contribution to the circuit had been £3. In 1972 it was £1000, no small indication of the growth of the prosperity of the church. In the same year the church was completely rebuilt and refurbished inside, the architects, Botteley and Chaffer making a beautiful new interior, while the familiar exterior of the building remains unchanged.

The Methodist Church, Boldmere Road.

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