On Newington estate, St Christopher’s Church was dedicated on 26th September 1955 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher.
The congregation was crowded and loudspeakers relayed the service outside.
The church sits in Princess Margaret Avenue, at the heart of the estate, and has always been at the centre of the community.
In 2017 the church was one of the venues for the annual Winter Shelter scheme, providing food and a place to sleep for those on the isle who were homeless. But falling attendance and parish pressures resulted in temporary closure around 2019 and then the covid pandemic hit and the church never recovered. Services were transferred to St Mark’s Church.
Now, life has returned to the church thanks to a mutual partnership between the Parish of St Laurence-in-Thanet Local Leadership Team (LLT) chaired by Revd Catherine Tucker and the new group, Inspiring Positive Futures Newington {IPFN} made up of residents on the estate.
In August there was a big church grounds clear up followed by IPFN’s first community fun day at the venue.
Worship started up again on 1st September in the form of a bi-monthly, intergenerational Cafe Church. This was followed by a more formal Communion service – the first since 2020- celebrating Creationtide including themes of harvest and environmental concerns. The Mayor of Ramsgate Cllr Pat Moore attended and spoke with joy at the reopening of the church.
The Positive Futures group now hosts bingo, youth clubs, table top sales and the church is due to be used for Newington primary pupils’ choir practice. The church cafe is run on the first and third Sunday every month.
Inspiring Positive Futures Newington is headed up by Julie Coombs and her daughter Sophie Coombs, Marie Thomas, Sarah Nicholson and Sandra Herring.
It has blossomed from small beginnings when Julie and her family putting on a free Halloween event from their home in 2022.
Mum-of-seven Julie said: “A couple of years ago we did a Halloween event to provide something for the community that families could enjoy without worrying about cost. If families want to go anywhere that can cost £30 and a lot of people in today’s society have not got that money to do things with.
“So myself and my family did a little Halloween fun event at our house.”
Julie, who works at Broadstairs College, donated some of the funds raised to its food bank and this was repeated in 2023.
She said: “I thought we could be doing this for the community on a bigger scale but needed to think about where and when we could do it.”
With St Christopher’s languishing, an idea for reviving a community focal point began to form.
Julie, 50, said: “It was a loss to the community, so I messaged {the Church LLT} about getting it open for community events.
“I was expecting them to say no but they didn’t.”
From there Inspiring Positive Futures Newington was formed with estate residents Marie Thomas, Sarah Nicholson and Sandra Herring joining Julie, Sophie and other family members to create a place for the community.
Julie said: “We had a community family fun day and the community were amazed to see how it thrived back into use from nothing.
“It’s lovely and means so much to us as a group. We are slowly working towards where we want to be and getting the church back into use as a resource for the community.”
Since then there have been gardening days, family events, and the special communion service. During that service Lay Minister Judith Andrews led a commissioning of a new ‘Anna Friends’ group for those who work with dementia and potted flowers, bulbs for planting in the grounds and food gifts to be distributed to the Newington Community were donated.
More events are planned for the run up to Christmas.
Chartwell House care home has teamed up with the Parish of St Laurence and Newington Primary School to host its third Festive Food Pantry to support families in need at the church on Saturday, 14th December, from 10am to 2pm.
Inspiring Positive Futures Newington, which is supported by Orbit housing, will transform the church grounds into a winter wonderland to ensure families can enjoy a magical setup, complete with a special visit from Father Christmas.
There will also be a winter wonderland Christmas fair event on Sunday 15th December between 10am and 2pm.
To find out more visit Inspiring Positive Futures Newington on facebook
A potted history of St Christopher’s Church
Compiled by Marie Thomas
After World War Two, Newington Estate was developed.
The Vicar of St Laurence, along with an assistant priest, became the leading lights in the founding of a new church – St Christopher’s.
In 1950 a petition was signed by 500 residents, asking for an Anglican church to be provided for the estate. The petition was sent to Archbishop Fisher who gave the request his full support, it was then passed to the Secretary of the Canterbury Diocese and granted.
The Board gave a grant of £9000. The total required for the building was estimated at £14,000 which left £5000 still needing to be found.
In 1953 the Mayor of Ramsgate hosted a luncheon, where town and church joined forces to work together to raise the money for the new church.
Newington Sunday School opened on 16th November 1952 at Newington Infants School and by April 1953 some 300 children attended every week.
The task of raising the £5000 was entered into enthusiastically by the parishioners: Jumble Sales, Bring & Buys, Coffee Mornings and Sales of Work began to happen all over the town. More than £1000 was raised in the first month of the appeal and the successful ‘buy a brick’ campaign (cost 6d {2.5p} per week) and the Sunday School Farthing Collection were signs that the long journey to the target £5000 was well under way. There are still many people around the estate who ‘own’ a brick.
In 1954, the Archbishop of Canterbury launched an appeal fund for the church and the Mayor of Ramsgate launched the Ramsgate Appeal for Newington.
The largest fundraiser event was a fete, held in Ellington Park on 1st September 1955. The final fete profit around £1000.
St Christopher’s Church was dedicated on 26th September 1955 by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Geoffrey Fisher.
Today St Christopher’s is part of the St Laurence-in-Thanet Parish.
Brilliant news that the church is once again being used and thanks to the hard work and persistence of local residents is functional, well done to all concerned.