All Saints
Allhallows, Kent
All Saints church has a thousand years of history in one building and there is too much to show on here so a visit is paramount.
Canvey Island is a town and civil parish built on land reclaimed from the Thames Estuary in and around 1622 by a team from the Netherlands led by Dutch engineer Cornelius Vermuyden. With an area of 7.12 square miles (18.44km2) and a population today of 38,170, it is separated from the mainland by a network of creeks and is accessed by two bridges.
Shortly after the end of the Second World War, a small group of Methodist Christians began to meet for Sunday Worship in rooms above a local Cafe. As the congregation grew in number, it became clear that there was both a desire for and a need for a building of their own in which to meet and to worship. Land was generously donated by a Mr Alderman George Britain, JP (Mayor of Lambeth) and a member of Benfleet Methodist Church and plans were drawn up in readiness for the building work to begin. However, work was delayed by the terrible 1953 North Sea flooding of low lying coastal areas which killed 58 islanders and led to the temporary evacuation of some 13,000 Canvey Island residents.
The heraldic crest of the old Canvey Island Urban District Council bears the motto, Ex Mare dei gratis - From the Sea by the grace of God, and that sentiment really also applies to the building and opening of Canvey Island Methodist Church on 21st November 1953. Not even the ravages and stormy inundations from the turbulent waters surrounding Canvey Island were sufficient to thwart the completion of this first small Methodist Church. Over the subsequent years, the work of this church and its congregation grew until on 11th June 1960 a new larger sanctuary, was opened alongside the existing structure, becoming the new church with the original building becoming the church hall. The new church was what, in the 1960’s was referred to as a “dual purpose church”, with a sanctuary at one end and a stage at the other; both were curtained off when not in use. The congregation faced one way towards to rostrum for Sunday services, and the other way, towards the stage, for meetings in the week or when putting on entertainments and drama’s.
A further extension at the rear of the first church hall was added in 1976 and then finally, a complete refurbishment of the entire building in 1996 with extensions to both the back and to the front of the sanctuary structures. This included a front foyer welcome area, an upper quiet meeting room, new store rooms, and a new rear kitchen which now serves into both the larger and smaller church halls.
Today Canvey Methodist Church continues to serve the local community both as a place of worship and as a centre for meeting for church and community groups.
