| Description | Summary
CHURCH ADMINISTRATION : church meeting minutes, 1846, 1890-1979; correspondence, 1964-1972; miscellaneous, 1860-1964.
DEACONS : minutes, 1858-1874, 1881-1884, 1890-1972
ELDERS : minutes, 1972-1979.
COMMITTEES : Management Committee minutes, 1846-1854; School Building Committee minutes, 1856-1858; Entertainment Committee minutes, 1868-1869; Alterations and Additions Committee minutes, 1868-1869; Organ Committee minutes, 1869; General Committee Minutes, 1869; Chapel and School Enlargement Committee minutes, 1872-1876, and papers, 1899; Finance Committee minutes, 1884-1899; Twentieth Century Fund Committee minutes, 1900-1906; Wokingham Road Building Committee minutes, 1906-1907; Bazaar Committee minutes, 1934, Centenary Celebrations Committee minutes, 1946; minutes of joint committee with Broad Street Church, 1964-1965; Finance and General Purposes Committee minutes and papers, 1973-1977.
TREASURER : accounts, 1947-1954; balance sheets, 1962-1965; poor fund accounts, 1892-1936.
CHURCH ORGANISATIONS : Sunday School minutes, 1877; Young People's Committee minutes, 1923-1934; Young People's Institute minutes and papers, 1927-1938; Sunday School teacher's/committee staff meetings minutes, 1947-1978; Sunday School printed material, 1876-1883, 1902; Sunday School papers, 1894, 1971-1978; Society of Young Men programme, 1867; choir programmes, 1905, 1958; Youth Fellowship minutes, 1956-1959; and attendance register, 1956-1957.
REGISTERS : baptisms, 1916-1977; marriages, 1916-1978.
MEMBERSHIP : registers, 1891-1976; index, 1892-1900; miscellaneous, 1900-1916, 1946-1971.
SERVICE OF THE CHURCH : orders of service, 1895-1907, 1923-1970; certificate of registration as place for religious worship, 1938.
MINISTERS : photographs, n.d.; papers re calls and inductions, 1907, 1923-1924, 1962.
PUBLICATIONS : Trinity Times, 1966-1969 (incomplete), March-April 1979.
MISCELLANEOUS : 19-20C, including photograph of the church, mid 20C. |
| Admin History | Trinity Congregational Church was formed in 1846 following a secession from Broad Street Chapel by the deacons of that church and their supporters, who had quarrelled with the pastor, the Revd. William Legg. The seceders called themselves "the more intelligent, influential and respectable" members of the congregation. The church was built in 1846, and the first pastor appointed in July 1847. The deacons were the driving force behind Trinity, and unlike most Congregational/Independent churches, Trinity did not have a regular church meeting until 1891, and it was not until that date that deacons were elected for fixed terms. There were daughter-churches at Sulhamstead; at Basildon (founded independently in 1797, but came under Trinity's wing in 1882; closed c.1939); at Spencer's Wood (from c.1850); at Burghfield; and at Wokingham Road, Reading (now Park Congregational Church), which was built as Park Institute c.1907.
From the 1960s talks were held with other churches, including Broad Street, concerning possible mergers, but following the failure of these, the church was forced to close in 1979. Junior Church (Sunday School) had ceased in 1978. |
| Acquisition | Deposited in April 1980 (acc. 2523); May 1980 (acc. 2552); November 1984 (acc. 3486); December 1995 (acc. 5719); December 1998 (acc. 6348); December 2000 (acc. 6666); January 2008 (acc. 8169); May 2016 (acc. 9849)
Schedule of accessions:
Acc. 2523 : 1/2/1-8; 1/3/1-3; 1/4/1-4; 2/1/1-2, 4-18; 2/2/3; 3/1/1-2; 4/1/1-2, 6-11; 4/2/1; 5/1/2-4; 5/2/1,3; 5/3/1-2; 7/1/1-6, 14-16; 7/3/1-2; 8/1/1; 8/3/3-4; 9/2/1/4; 9/2/3/2; 9/2/4; 9/3/1-3; 10/2/2; 10/3; 12/1/1; 12/2/1; 14/2/5-6; 14/8-9, 11, 15
Acc. 2552 : 2/1/3
Acc. 3486 : 2/2/1-2,4; 4/1/3-5; 4/2/2; 5/1/1; 5/2/2; 7/1/7-13; 7/2/1; 8/2/1-3; 8/3/1-2; 9/2/1/1-3; 9/2/2; 9/2/3/1,3; 10/1; 10/2/1; 10/4; 14/1; 14/2/1-4; 14/3-7,10,14
Acc. 5719 : 12/1/2; 14/6
Acc. 6348 : 8/1/2-7
Acc. 6666 : 14/17
Acc. 8169 : 14/18
Acc. 9859 : 7/4/1-3 |