A brief history of Wing Chapel   1857-1996

 

Before the beginning

In the eighteenth Century the Archdeacon granted licences to the following Dissenters to hold meetings in their homes:

1717 Mary Green

1776 Francis Cole

In 1829 there was a Cause in Wing of Particular Baptists – 20 members and a minister, J. Jehu.

 

In the beginning

On 19th October 1857 Wing Baptist Church was opened – a daughter Church of Lake Street Baptist Church, Leighton Buzzard.  The Chapel was then the present hall or school room.

 

The Chapel began with this declaration – “As it has pleased our Heavenly Father to bless the preaching of the gospel to the salvation of precious souls and incline the hearts of all to hear the Word of Life, we think it very desirable that a new Chapel should be built and a Christian Church formed of those persons who believe the doctrine of Christ for the extension of the Redeemer’s Kingdom and the glory of His Name.”

 

By the beginning of 1870, the work was declining and the mortgagee of the building, Rev. W.D. Elliston of Lake Street Baptist Church, Leighton Buzzard, sold the building to the Heley family of Wing, for £72.10s.  The Chapel then ceased to be Baptist and in April 1871 a new Church was formed by the Rev. George Moore, the Congregational minister of Wingrave, and William Heley of Wing.  The new Church was called ‘Union Chapel, Littleworth’ and it’s rules stated “the members of the Church shall consist indiscriminately of all denominations of Christians”.  The foundation stone of the present Chapel building was laid in April 1871 and in the twentieth Century, the back room was built.

 

There have been several ministers in the subsequent years – some shared with Wingrave, Aston Abbots and Rowsham.  These include - George Moore, J. S. White, John Barton, William Harrison, William Owen Jordan, Walter Edward Cheesley, A. W. F. Jacques, Sidney Wade, Richard Ellis Gruffydd, Albert Johnson, Graham Silver (and latterly Sandy Duncan).

 

During the ministry of Rev.Richard Ellis Gruffydd (1966-72) the Chapel became attached to the Congrgational Federation and after him the Chapel became affiliated to the Evangelical Fellowship of Congregational Churches.*

 

By 1991 the congregation had dwindled to a small handful and in April 1991 the services stopped altogether. The Rainbow playgroup still used the hall during the week but the whole building was suffering from years of neglect and much of it was very damp and rotten.

 

*Wingrave joined the United Reformed Church, but Wing Chapel stayed Congregational.  The Wingrave Chapel is now closed.

 

New Beginnings

In January 1991 a few Christians in Wing began meeting together once a week to pray for the village.  Within three months they heard that the Methodist Church in Wing was going to close and that services at the Congregational Chapel were going to stop.  They had begun to care about the spiritual life of the village and they didn’t want to let all ‘Free Church life’ stop without trying to do something about it.  Four families, then attending churches in Leighton Buzzard began meeting on Sunday afternoons for fellowship, prayer and worship followed by tea.

 

Those Christians had an evening of prayer to seek God’s guidance.  Some verses from Haggai reminded them that God’s work and His House should take precedence over their own – “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your panelled houses, while this House remains a ruin?  Give careful thought to your ways.  Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honoured.  Be strong . . . . and work.  For I am with you.”

 

These verses came as a reminder and a call to rebuild the House of God.  The question of the building had become urgent and although there was little money they decided to make a start by eradicating the dry rot.

 

On July 7th 1991 the two remaining deacons called an Annual general Meeting – the first proper meeting of any sort to be held since 1983.  At this AGM, eight new members were recognised and the name of the Chapel was changed to Wing Union Chapel.  During the Summer of that year the Chapel itself was renovated – pews and rotten wood removed, a damp-proof course put in, flooring renewed, walls plastered, windows mended, walls painted and a new carpet put in.  They sold old pews and tea and cakes.  They received many gifts of money, chairs, wood and some items from the now closed Methodist Church.

 

The Chapel was re-opened for services on 13th October 1991, 134 years since the first Chapel was opened.  In 1992 a lot of work was done in the hall which the Rainbow Playgroup continued to use regularly through the week.  In 1993 work began in the back room to make three new rooms – a kitchen, a toilet and a meeting room.  This work was completed in 1995.  More work was done in the garden and central heating was installed.  In the Chapel padded chairs replaced the old wooden ones and a loop was installed to help those with hearing aids.  Most of the work was carried out, and financed, by members of the Chapel.

 

The Chapel received lots of help – financial, practical and spiritual – from many different people, Churches, groups and also from Wing Parish Council.  Most of all it was clear that this was God’s work and without Him none of the renovation work would have been possible.

 

 

 

A brief history

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