Biography

St. George's Church - Invermay - 1887 - 2010

As early as 1885, a Miss Whiteford had started a Sunday School in Invermay, with 60 children attending. This gave incentive for the building of a hall which was used for Sunday services and Sunday School until the church building - another design by well-known architect Alexander North, was opened in 1925 on a site donated by Charles Kent. Up until 1921,, the church was ministered to by the clergy of Holy Trinity Church, but in that year, synod authorised the establishment of a new parish, which also included St. Barnabas, Newnham.  A booklet published by that centre in 1969 also covers some of the history of the wider parish.

According to the linked “canvass” booklet, the parish struggled financially, and remained in debt into the 1950s when the “canvass” campaign attempted to deal with the financial position.

In 1968, the church building was substantially damaged by fire, and it was not until 1975 that the building was re-consecrated after repairs.

The parish continued to struggle financially and in size of congregation, and in 2010, in a time of re-structuring that also led to the establishment of Riverlinks parish, the building was sold. It became a worship centre for Praise Methodist Church [link], which continues to own the building at time of writing (2025).