Comment

A joint Anglican-Methodist operation, Woodhouse Close church, in Bishop Auckland, celebrates its community festival

WOODHOUSE Close is a post-war housing estate on the edge of Bishop Auckland with problems of drink and drugs, poverty, petty crime and what the phraseologists call social incohesion. It could be the estate of the nation.

Its church was built by the Methodists in 1961, used by the Church of England soon afterwards - they'd originally planned their own building on the opposite corner - and since 1971, has formally been a joint Anglican-Methodist operation.

The seams seem invisible.

We'd last been there almost exactly ten years ago, to mark the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity - "an annual triumph of hope over reality," the column observed and little thereafter appears to have undermined the observation.

Since then, they'd raised £220,000 for a millennium makeover - it looks terrific - and the Rev Brenda Jones has breezed like a breath of fresh air off the Tyne, a vibrant, bouncy castle of a priest-in-charge with an accent that launched a thousand keel boats.

She supports everyone and everything, they say. We can't keep up with her, they say; she'll wear herself out, they say. She can communicate at all levels, they say.

"I can talk for England," translates Brenda.

A divorcee with a 23-year-old son, she knew next-to-nothing about Woodhouse Close before arriving six months ago. "I asked the bishop if I could be sent to a church that was really involved in its community," she says.

"It's wonderful, I love it. There are so many people working hard on the estate, so many organisations working together.

I landed in heaven when I came here."

The latest venture, the week-long Woodhouse Close Festival, culminated last Sunday with a service to celebrate creativity The 50-strong congregation includes John Armstrong, church stalwart and Durham diocesan ecumenical officer, recently released from what folk call a hard shift in intensive care.

He'd reappeared the previous week, welcomed with a standing ovation. The worst bit, says John, was that his sister Hilary - MP for North-West Durham - had given him a Sunderland half-season ticket for Christmas. "I became ill on Boxing Day. I've never been yet."

It was around the same time that wreckers twice caused extensive damage to the church's windows. "The police told me that people on the estate were very angry about it,"

says Brenda.

"You have to put it in perspective. You can replace windows, you can't replace people."

There, too, are Vera Barber and Eileen Welsh, two of the founders who'd help build the church with weekly door-to-door collections. "It was mainly sixpences and shillings," Eileen recalls.

"Half a crown was a real sacrifice in those days."

Both believe that the drugs and crime problem has worsened, though Brenda Jones gets the opposite impression. None doubts the increased activity and energy of the church.

"I've a family at home and a family here. This is my support team," says Vera, who at 83 still helps run the weekly Thrift Shop. "There's still a lot of poverty. People are very grateful for what we offer, especially clothes for young children."

Eileen believes the church has moved fast forward. "Everyone who comes here says how good it feels, how friendly it is. The estate still has its problems, but we can't just acknowledge them, we have to do something about them.

"The kids drink in the car park out the back. It's no use just getting someone to chase them away, we have to look at the reasons for it."

Customer and practice - all the better to see you with - the column takes a seat near the back. "Typical Anglican," they say.

We're also given a church information leaflet, a pew sheet and (more inexplicably) a copy of the Methodist Insurance Company's magazine. Record floods in Evesham. The first hymn's Come On and Celebrate: happy, certainly, clappy, discretionary.

The music group's in good voice.

The adjoining room has an exhibition of some of the week's art work - "Tip of the iceberg," says Brenda. There's even a graffiti section. In the true spirit of ecumenism, the Bishop of Durham voted the local Roman Catholic school the best. There'd also been a magic show for the we'ans, a tea dance, a variety evening and umpteen arts workshops and events, chiefly organised by Jane Crawford.

The service gets a bit arty, too, the congregation invited to draw an image on a post-it note of someone they really care about. Mine's a red dragon, but with a more than passing resemblance to an amoeba.

The elderly ladies behind are a bit confused, too. "Is this still a communion service?"

one asks. "That's what it says on the pew sheet," says her friend.

Brenda has good news for them.

"You'll be glad to hear that I'm not going to preach a sermon," she says, though what ecclesiastically is termed passing the peace occupies almost as much time.

Woodhouse Close encounters, it's as crowded and as cordial as Bishop bus station in the 1950s. "A bit of a scrush today" - lovely word - someone says.

Afterwards there's coffee and things.

Brenda - born in Felling, more recently in Chester-le-Street - talks of her time in banking, in accountancy and as a community worker before becoming a priest and serving a curacy in Jarrow.

"I'd always been involved with the church. One day an old priest said he was going to make me confront something: ordination.

"Raising funding is one of the biggest challenges here, but we're trying to live out our faith in a practical way."

Immediately outside, high noon, half the police cars in Co Durham appear to be heading towards a two-vehicle collision, relatively minor damage, no one hurt. The Rev Brenda Jones, it's greatly believed, will have rather more impact than that.

* Principal Sunday services at Woodhouse Close church are at 10am and, in winter, 3pm. The Rev Brenda Jones is on 01388-604807, church office 01388-602395.

9:55am Saturday 1st March 2008

Print

Email this

Comment

Add your comment

Name:
Email: *
Location:
**
	e.g. 123-123
Comment: Please note: All HTML tags will be ignored. Format Text:
By posting a comment, I confirm that I have read and agree to the terms of use. Comments are not moderated but we will react if anything that breaks the rules comes to our attention and we may delete inappropriate postings. Please treat other people with respect. You must not post anything that is abusive, indecent, unlawful or defamatory. Remember, you are personally liable for what you post on this site. If you wish to complain about a comment, contact us here.
* Your email address will not be displayed ** To avoid register now or login