Hi, I'm Margaret. I live in Castlethorpe, have three grown up sons, and have recently become a grandmother for the first time!
It is a joy for me to walk the next part of my journey with the people at Stony Stratford Methodist Church
I came to the Milton Keynes Circuit in 1991. In 2006 I went to work for Methodist Homes, training Chaplains and developing spiritual care for those who are living with dementia. I have now retired from full-time service as a minister but have come back on a voluntary basis to look after Stony Stratford Methodist Church during a period of change.
Change is always a challenge and as a Church we need to think and talk about how we see our future and then together work out where God is leading us My prayer is that this challenge will enable opportunities and new ways of being church that will benefit us as individuals and the community in which we live. I look forward to getting to know you and working with you to further God’s work in Stony Stratford.
Methodism in Stony Stratford
John Wesley (1709-91), the founding father of Methodism, visited Stony Stratford on a number of occasions. Ordained as as Anglican ministers, John and his brother Charles, together with several friends at Oxford University, were renowned for their methodical approach to their faith, regularly engaging in Bible study, prayer and visiting the poor, the sick and those in prison. As a result they were nick-named 'Methodists', a term which has stuck.
During the tumultuous years of the 18th century, the Wesleys were concerned that the old parish system did not cater for the working classes of the new towns and cities that were rapidly expanding due to the trade brought about by the growing British Empire. Hence 'field preaching' - in the open air - became an important feature of taking to message of the Gospel to where it needed to be heard. The Anglican Church authorities became increasingly concerned by the message of radical Christian love that these 'Methodists' were proclaiming at market crosses and in other public places. Eventually, after John Wesley's death, those who practised Methodism diverged from the Anglican church.
In towns and villages, bands of Methodist followers formed 'societies' to support and encourage each other. In the 1770's a local group began to meet for worship in a large barn behind the Talbot Inn in Stony Stratford (now 81 to 85 High Street). It remained their meeting place until 1844 when the present church was built in Cow Lane near Coffereys (~Cow Fryers) Close. Cow Lane later became Silver Street and Coffereys Close is now Cofferidge Close.
John Wesley is said to have visited Stony Stratford at least five times and is reputed to have preached under a tree in the market square. The elm tree that stood there for many years died of Dutch Elm disease in the 2000's and was replaced by an oak in 2008.
Left: Silver Street in the early 20th century (?), with the Methodist church by the lamp-post (which is still there in its modern form - see picture on home page).
Top: Wesley's Tree in the market square circa 1905