St Peter’s Church, Beech

St Peter's Church

Welcome!

Dates for autumn/winter 2011

The following Services and Events have a different format to the weekly Sunday Eucharist at 9.15 and Family Eucharist on the first Sunday of the month.  Everyone is welcome to join in and we welcome newcomers.

The Beech Boys and Babes continue to play in The Family Services and they will play a big part in the Christmas social.

Please come and join in as we worship and socialise together.

  • Advent Service – Sunday 27th November, 10.30am at St Lawrence Church, Alton – led by Keith Underhill from the Methodist church (no St Peter’s Service)
  • Christingle Service – Sunday 4th December 9.15am
  • Saturday 17th December – join us for a Christmas social in the Church, 4.30pm – 6.30pm
    The Beech Boys and Babes will be playing; there will also be Carols, Readings and Refreshments. Everyone is very welcome to come and get into the Christmas spirit! Donations of Mince pies and cakes would be most welcome.
  • Christmas Eve – Carols Around the Crib 4pm
  • Christmas Day – Family Eucharist 9.15am
  • New Year’s Day – Parish Eucharist 9.15am (no Family Service)

Please come and celebrate with us!!

Back to the Future

4 churches 1 parish

Each of our churches has a rich history from its early beginnings to more recent histories of the many and varied activities. This will be an exhibition where each church is being asked to put together a small display about its history which will then travel from church to church.  We are calling all historians for ideas, photos/documents and memorabilia. Please contact Sarah Neish  565696 or Margaret Doores 88794.

St Peter’s today

St Peter’s Church (the “Tin Tabernacle”) is part of The Parish of The Resurrection which reaches out to the local community of Alton …

  • Vicar: Rev. Canon Peter Doores. St Lawrence Vicarage, Alton. Tel: 88794
  • Associate Vicar: Rev. Paul Barlow. All Saints Vicarage, Alton. Tel: 83458
  • With Supporting Ministers Rev. Ian Toombs (88130) and Rev. Tara Hellings (862810) and curate Rev. Adam Watson (362054).
  • And Peter Sperring (83687), our Church Warden.

Regular services

A service of Parish Communion is held at 9.15am each Sunday. On the 1st Sunday of each month this takes the form of an All Age Family Service which includes lively music from “The Beech Boys and Babes”, a Band formed by a group of children from Beech.

St Peter’s is an active and busy community whose members regularly worship and assist with cleaning, arranging flowers, reading lessons and prayers on a weekly basis. We are always looking for volunteers, so do please consider this and contact Peter Sperring if you would like to find out more.We hold District Church Council meetings twice a year (in March and September) to which you are all invited (See the Church Notice Board for more details.) We look forward to welcoming you as we continually look at refreshing the way we worship and work together as a community.

for more information contact: Sarah Neish (Tel: 565696)

A Brief History

At the beginning of the 20th Century there was a flurry of Christian Activity in Beech. The Wesleyan Methodists built a chapel and The Anglican Order of St Paul established an Abbey having moved from Wales.

The Abbey, whilst Church of England was not focused on the local community of Beech. It was concerned with its own prayer life, its overseas work and a social ministry to “men of the road” and “distressed seamen”.In 1902 with the growth of Christianity it was thought that Beech might be able to support a mission church and so Commander Anstis gave a plot of land for church use opposite his house on Wellhouse Road. The Mission was built in the wooden style of many of the “settlement” cottages and clad with painted corrugated iron, a design essentially the same to-day. The bell, which was cast in 1871, came from one of Commander Anstis’ early ships – the Tagus. 

The rising number of worshippers meant the building had to be extended by a third in 1904. It was then that the deeds of the land and building were formally passed to the Winchester Diocese. Then in 1904 the Bishop of Winchester licenced the building for the celebration of Holy Communion, Baptisms and Funerals. In 1926 the official name changed from “Beech Mission” to “St Peter’s Beech”, however, it took until 1974 before the church became licenced for weddings.

Photos: Peter Dilloway

St Peter's Church, Wellhouse Road, Beech