Tea party to celebrate 70 years of worship

On Sunday the 7th April from 3 – 5pm there will be a tea party to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of the original place of worship on the All Saints site in Rownhams Road, North Baddesley.

In conjunction with ROMDAG (Romsey Dementia Group) and the Memory Box Foundation the event will include live singing and memories from the 1950’s 60’s, plus, a display of photographs and memorabilia of the church through the ages. This is sure to be a popular event, so we are going to issue tickets nearer the time. We do hope those who have been part of the village over the decades will be able to attend. It was during the second world war that people moved out of Southampton to avoid the bombings in the city. Many set up temporary homes in North Baddesley and eventually bought land and built their own homes. In the 1950s the population of North Baddesley grew rapidly and housing estates started being built. Therefore, a place of worship was needed as St. John the Baptist on Flexford Road was a distance away from the centre of the village and difficult to get to if you didn’t have any means of transport. It was decided to build a Chapel on Rownhams Road which served well until the 1960s when All Saints Church was added to the site. The Revd Ian Hamel-Cooke was Vicar in the early 1950s and he worked tirelessly to raise funds for this chapel, inviting people to buy a brick for sixpence. The picture shows his son Christopher helping with a bit of brick laying!