Description

Admin History:

The origins of the East Hull United Reformed Church lay in two chapels that had been started to support Congregationalists in the area, and who had had no place of worship since the closure of the Latimer Chapel in 1919. The first, was founded in 1929, and was called the Emmanuel Chapel. In 1933 this congregation joined with the other chapel, which had been meeting on Summergangs Road and had been overseen by the Albion Church. Together they formed the East Hull Congregational Church, which was to serve the area around Hull's Garden Village. Initially they met in the Reckitt Garden Village Hall but after this had been damaged by the bombings in 1944, they moved to a house on Westcott Street. Much of the work of keeping the church together during this period came from Sheila Holt (neé Sproxton). With the end of World War II, a site was acquired from the Finch family, on Clifford Avenue, at it's junction with James Reckitt Avenue. Built to a design by A.P. Taylor, the East Hull Congregational Church opened in 1953, with Rev. Alan Wright as the first pastor or minister.

The church would grow and for many years successfully served a large residential area in the east of Hull. It acquired allotments for church members as well as hosting a cadet division of the St. Johns' Ambulance Brigade, the 11th Hull Boy's Brigade and the Girl's Brigade and a 'Messy Church'. In 1972 nationally the Congregational Church in England and Wales joined with the Presbyterian Church of England to form the United Reformed Church (URC), which the East Hull Church supported.

In the latter part part of the 20th century, the East Hull URC was involved in two joint pastorates, firstly with the Holderness Road URC in Hull (1969-1993) and then when that was dissolved, with the church in Withernsea, in the East Riding from 1994. In 1997 the Rev. David Purse resigned as pastor at Withernsea, and although the joint pastorate was never formally dissolved, the two churches did retained some links. In 2011, the building itself sustained some consideable damage after pipes burst. In 2013-2014, Sue Ripley, the long time secretary to the church served as Convenor-elect of the Yorkshire Assembly. After several years without a pastor, and with the problems of a dwindling congregation, changing local demographics and issues associated with the coronavirus outbreak, the decision was made to close the church in September 2020.

Description:

Includes records of the East Hull United Reformed Church and Holderness Road United Reformed Church