The present Bethesda Chapel building we all know and love will be 200 years old in May 2020. First built in 1798 to seat 600 people, the chapel was deemed too small in 1813 by the trustees so the back wall was removed and the chapel extended to seat 1,000 people. The fire of Methodism grew in The Potteries and by 1819 the chapel was again too small so the 1813 extension was pulled down and replaced by the extension we see today. At the reopening services (one in the afternoon and one in the evening) on 7 th May 1820 Bethesda was full to excess with the evening congregation being about 3,000.

 

 

 

Over the past four years the Friends of Bethesda have been raising money to allow Bethesda to have toilets again. Each year we raise money for the general up keep and maintenance of Bethesda but we felt that Bethesda needed toilets to progress. The original chapel toilets were heavily vandalised after the chapel closed in 1986. Plans were drawn up to use one of two 1819 outside buildings and a cost was worked out to install toilets in the smaller building. We rolled our sleeves up and got to work raising this money. We had a setback when gale force winds severely damaged the roof of the proposed future toilet building and nearly every penny we had raised was used to replace the roof. Though a big setback this didn’t deter us. We held concerts both in Bethesda and elsewhere with the wonderful help of The New Victoria Theatre and The Potteries Museum and Art Gallery. In 2017 we found out about the City of Stoke on Trent Council’s Stronger Together Community Investment Fund and after talking to them we were told that we could apply for a grant from them. The total cost of the project is £74K and the grant we applied for was the maximum of £50K. We had the match funding but still fell a little short of the total cost but all our hard work in 2018 paid off and on 7th January 2019 work began to allow Bethesda Chapel to have its own toilets once again. The work is going along fine and should take about eight to ten weeks (weather permitting) making the project completed by April 2019. This will complete the first part of our plans to restore the outside buildings and put them in good use. Our hard work and fund raising will now carry on to restore the larger outside building.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Heritage Lottery Fund awards £5,000 to the Friends of Bethesda Chapel

to build a First World War Centenary Exhibition.

The Friends of Bethesda Chapel in Albion Street, Hanley, Stoke on Trent have received £5,000 from the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) to research the lives of the 274 men named on their WW1 Rolls of Honour and known as Bethesda Our Boys. Awarded through HLF’s First World War: then and now programme, the exhibition will focus on telling the story of the lives of the Bethesda Our Boys.

To mark the Centenary of the First World War, the project will tell the story of as many of the Bethesda Our Boys as possible from where and when they were born and grew up to where and when they enlisted, where their regiment fought, when they returned or died ending in what happened to them after the war ended. All the Friends research will be used to build an exhibition inside the chapel to enable local people to preserve the memories and heritage of the people who lived through the First World War. The Friends of Bethesda will collect photographs, newspaper clippings, documents, letters and photos of keepsakes, as well as family tales passed down to help build a picture of Bethesda’s roll in the local community during World War One.

This unique project has never been attempted before and the information gathered will be digitally recorded and placed on the Bethesda Chapel website (www.bethesda-stoke.info) where anyone can access and contribute information via our “Memories” link. The full research will also be offered to the Stoke on Trent City Archives for public family history research and to regimental museums for their records.

“The Friends of Bethesda are thrilled to have been awarded this grant and though it will mean lots of work we are looking forward to building a Bethesda Our Boys WW1 Exhibition that will both inform and please our visitors”

The Friends of Bethesda would like to thank Stoke on Trent City Council and the City Centre Partnership for all their help and encouragement.

Ends.

IMPORTANT NOTICE:  

Phase Two of the restoration of Bethesda Chapel is now completed and the chapel is open again to visitors. The Friends of Bethesda welcome organised visits to the chapel by established groups and schools.