Morrinsville Memorial Methodist Church

The foundation stone of the Morrinsville Memorial Methodist Church was laid on 10 October 1953. The inscription reads:

MEMORIAL / METHODIST / CHURCH / TO THE GLORY OF GOD / THIS STONE WAS LAID / BY P. RUSHTON ESQ. / AND F. WEST ESQ. / OCTOBER 10^TH 1953 / REV. J. H. ALLEN / PRESIDENT OF CONFERENCE.

The church’s jubilee booklet, published at the time that work on the church was underway, stated it was being erected as a memorial both to those who had served in two world wars and to those who had served Methodism in the district over the years. The new church was opened on 10 April 1954.

A marble First World War memorial tablet had been unveiled in the old church in 1919. This recorded the names of three members of the congregation who had given their lives (L.T. Lowry, J.C. Allan and J. Ireland). The memorial’s existence is noted in the church’s centennial history (2003), but its present whereabouts is unknown. However, the church does preserve a memorial baptismal font donated by bereaved parents after the Second World War. The tiny brass plaque attached to the base is inscribed:

Dedicated / In memory of / Pte Gordon M Johnstone. Died of wounds / In Crete, 26th May, 1941.

Sources: ‘Memorial Methodist Church’, NZ Herald, 12/4/1954, p. 10; Morrinsville Methodist Church Golden Jubilee, Morrinsville, 1953, pp. 9-10; Jean Nancy Whitehead, Morrinsville Methodist Church Centennial, 1903-2003, Morrinsville, 2003, pp. 7-9.