| Catalogue Reference | D/MS29 |
| Title | Records of Gosbrook Road (formerly Caversham and Lower Caversham) Wesleyan Methodist Church, Caversham |
| Description | Summary
Society administration
Trustees' meeting minutes, 1931-1966; trust accounts, 1935-1948; copy place of worship certificate (1909); leaders' meeting minutes, 1888-1974; General Church Council minutes, 1935-1944; Church Council minutes, 1974-2015; annual society meeting minutes, 1936-1963; General Church Meeting minutes, 1976-2017; Neighbourhood and (World) Mission Committee minutes, 1975-1990; Family Commiteee minutes, 1979; Organ Meeting minutes, 1996; general accounts, 1952-1994; collection journals, 1961-1993; annual statements of accounts, 1980/1-2009/10 (incomplete); Mission Statement and action plan, 1999.
Society organisations
Women's Own minutes, 1946-1968, and accounts, 1938-1979; Women's Fellowship minutes, 1968-1981, and accounts, 1979-1984; Women's Work minutes, 1974-1975; Girls' and Boys' Brigade miscellaneous, 1978.
Service of the church
Pulpit notices, 1906-1908, 1962-1983; reopening order of service, 1982.
Registration
Baptism register (informal), 1972-1988; marriage registers, 1901-2006.
Membership
Class books, 1931-1939; membership roll, 1966-1968; directory, 1979.
Sunday School and Sunday Institute
Teachers' meeting minutes, 1881-1912, 1925-1927; Sunday School Council minutes, 1912-1927; reports, 1881-1899 (incomplete), 1979; attendance registers, 1913-1932 (incomplete); cradle roll, 1976-1990.
Printed material/Miscellaneous
Jubilee programme, 1959; centenary programme, 1981; auction catalogue, 1982; yearbooks, 1954-1955. |
| Date | 1881-2017 |
| Repository | Berkshire Record Office (code: GB 005) |
| Level | Fonds |
| Extent | 43 vols, 19 bdls, 7 files, 13 docs |
| Admin History | An iron chapel was built in 1881 as Caversham Methodist Church. It was replaced in 1891 by a small chapel later used as the Sunday School. A new church was built in 1898-1899. After Caversham Heights (D/MS30) opened, the church in Gosbrook Road became known as Lower Caversham, and subsequently Gosbrook Road Methodist Church. |
| Acquisition | Deposited in August 1978 (acc. 2333); August 1988 (acc. 4269); September 1993 (acc. 5293); January 1997 (acc. 5959); August 2001 (acc. 6819); April 2003 (acc. 7195); February 2012 (acc. 8962); July 2021 (acc. 10786); May 2022 (acc. 10945); November 2022 (acc. 11031)
Schedule of accessions
Acc. 2333 (part): 1B/1
Acc. 4269 (part): 4B/1
Acc. 5293: 1A/1; 2A/1-2; 4A/1; 7A/1
Acc. 5959: 6A/1-3; 8/4-5
Acc. 6819: 2C/1
Acc. 7195 (part): 2A/3-5; 2B/1-10; 2E/1; 3A/1-7; 4A/2-8; 5A/1; 7B/1-3; 8/1-3
Acc. 8962: 1C/1
Acc. 10786: 5B/1-11
Acc. 10945: 2A/8-12, 14, 16-17; 2B/11; 2E/3; 6A/4; 8/6, 8
Acc. 11031: 2A/6-7, 13, 15; 2C/2-3; 2D/1; 2E/2; 3D/1; 7C/1; 8/7 |
| Arrangement | Classification scheme for Methodist society (chapel or church) records
[This scheme shows how the collection is arranged. This collection does not include every type of record in the scheme. See the summary for records included in this collection.]
1 Trustees
1A Trustees' meeting minutes
1B Trust accounts
1C Chapel property [deeds, certificates, licences, appointments of trustees]
1D Correspondence
1E Related committees
1F Other property [eg manse, hall, school]
1G Other
2 Leaders and society stewards/Church Council)
2A Leaders' meeting/Church Council minutes
2B Accounts
2C Committees
2D Correspondence
2E Other
3 Society organisations
3A Women's groups [except Women's Work
3B Men's groups
3C Joint fellowship [except Sunday Institute]
3D Youth organisations [except Sunday School]
3E Missions [including Women's Work]
3F Other
4 Service of the church
4A Pulpit notices
4B Orders of service
4C Ministers' papers
4D Other
5 Registration
5A Baptism
5B Marriage
5C Burial
6 Membership
6A Registers, class books and directories
6B Young disciples
6C Other
7 Sunday School and Sunday Institute
7A Sunday School minutes and accounts
7B Sunday School registers and cradle rolls
7C Other Sunday School records
7D Sunday Institute
8 Printed material/Miscellaneous |
| Related Material | Records in other collections
Circuit records D/MC1, 5-6, 21
Church property file, 1983-2010 D/MC6/3A/4
Quinquennial reports, 2006-2011 D/MC6/3A/31
|
| Access Conditions | With the exception of registers of baptism, marriage and burial, and other material whose contents have been made public, records of the Methodist Church are closed for 30 years, and pastoral records for 75 years, in accordance with Methodist Church standing orders.
Applications for access to closed records must be made in writing to the County Archivist. |