Cherry Church
170th anniversary service
Our 170th anniversary service will be held on Sunday 17th March 2019 at 9.30 am. Reverend David Houston will preach at the service, which will be followed by a shared morning tea.
• Invitations will be going out in the next few weeks with the RSVP on Sunday 3 March 2019. We are asking all who attend and can, to provide a small plate of morning tea please
• We wish to have a high definition video camera so that we can record the service and also transmit the picture and sound to the digital projector and project to the screen in the meeting room which will accommodate the overflow of visitors. If anyone knows of someone who might be able to loan us this equipment and hopefully set up and operate it for us, please contact Darryl Dyson.
From left: Wendy Perkins, Darryl Dyson, Ron and Phyllis Williamson, Dianne Dyson, Margaret Bennett and Revd. Paul Goh. 13 January 2019.
Cherry Gardens Uniting Church Carols
The Cherry Gardens Uniting Church Carols on Tuesday December the 18th was a great night with more than 150 adults and children attending. We are happy to thank: the Cherry Gardens Memorial Hall Committee, who provide the excellent venue free of charge for us each year, the Cherry Chatter committee for their support and publicity, our MC, Gill Marshman, Tabor Music, especially Dr Janelle Fletcher and music students, Beth, Sam and Nahni and soloist, Gabrielle King, soloist, Rebekah Nelson from Scott Creek and accompanist, John Penberthy, who has been a great support to our church over many years, the high quality sound system provided by Anthony Stewart of Red Brick Music and Steve Sherrah, vision by Anthony Hails, the members of the Cherry Gardens Uniting Church for setting up, for the supper, publicity, transporting the Clavinova etc., the organising Committee: Steph Dube, Gill Marshman and Di Dyson, Mr. Alan Light, the Cherry Gardens Men’s Poetry Group, especially the help from Terry Whittle in organising them.
Church History
A Ladies Church Guild formed in 1936, supported the church both spiritually and financially until recent times. The minister at that time was Revd. Thomas Owen. The Mail Newspaper in 1950 records the Cherry Gardens Guild donating £2 towards the aged accommodation at the Port Adelaide Central Mission (about $180.00 in today’s money). The Cherry Gardens District celebrated the centenary of South Australia with a number of events and a booklet on the area’s history being printed. During this time the present entrance porch was constructed.
The Cherry Gardens Methodist Chapel Centenary was held on 19 and 20 March 1949. The Revd. J H Pointon, President of the Methodist Conference, conducted the centenary celebrations on the Sunday. Revd. Pointon’s Grandfather, Revd. James Pointon preached at Cherry Gardens in 1850, and his father was an occasional local preacher there too.
Superintending minister was the Rev. George R. Parrott, celebrations secretary Mr. Ken Jacobs. The trustees at that time were: Arthur Robert Stone, John and Harry Lewis; Donald McGregor Ricks, Ernest Edmund Strange, Frederick Brumby, Kenneth Jacobs, and Ivan Lawrence Stone. Ken Jacobs was the secretary of the Trust. At that time, there was the weekly morning service with Sunday school in the afternoon, and an evening service conducted by the young people.
For most of its history, the church was never locked and it was known that some folk in the community let themselves in to spend a quiet time in prayer and reflection. However, following two thefts from the church it was decided to lock the building. In these thefts many of the Cedar pews were stolen along with the distinctive church clock. The pews were never recovered but the clock was discovered by an amazing event. Ray Dunn, a member of the congregation, was at the Police ‘recovered items’ storage site on an unrelated matter when he noticed the clock on a shelf and recognised it as the Cherry Gardens Church clock. The police said they would need proof that it was indeed the stolen clock. Ray was able to state that it had a paint mark on it in a specific place – it had happened when the walls were being painted – which proved to be correct, and the clock was returned to Ray on the spot.
The police also said at the time of the thefts that while the Cedar pews were in the building they suspected that the break-ins would continue. This caused the congregation to make the decision to sell the pews to members of the congregation and community at a nominal cost. The interior was then carpeted and comfortable chairs, that allowed greater comfort and flexibility in the use of the building, were purchased to replace the pews.
By 1986, Cherry Gardens Church found itself part of the Southern Hills Parish, along with Aberfoyle Park, Flagstaff Hill, Ironbank and Coromandel Valley. In the early 1990s, Aberfoyle Park and Flagstaff Hill formed a separate Parish and then, in the year 2000, each of the Churches remaining in the Southern Hills Parish - Coromandel Valley, Ironbank and Cherry Gardens - became a separate Parish in its own right. Later on, this Parish was dissolved and each of these churches began to manage their own affairs, which is the current situation.
When Lorraine and John Octaman commenced ministry at Cherry Gardens on 1 January 1985, the average attendance at Sunday worship numbered approximately 12. In time the congregation grew in number and frequently experienced attendances of 50 people.